The majority of Wammy House was an abnormally self-centered bunch because (1) that lifestyle suited anyone who was aiming to become the next L, and (2) they were still children, some of them barely teenagers and now striving through that awkward phase in life.
But unlike other children their age who were brought together under the same roof to learn, they wouldn't be going home to a family after school let out. To call Wammy House a school would be to insult the intelligence of the population as a whole. It implied that learning and life were two separate things, split down the middle. That learning only took place in a building surrounded by chalkboards and under the supervision of instructors, while the living was done outside that building: at home, in town, and generally wherever tests weren't given.
To learn – was their life. Everyone in this orphanage needed to become smarter. For whatever reasons was their own business, but they were all motivated more than your average teenager. They would have to be, since they had been hand-selected to become a part of this institution.
Obviously, no one expected them to be in study mode twenty-four-seven, and a few of them were prolific crammers: Matt being notoriously known for his sleepy-eyed look come the day of the exam.
Everyone had their own style of learning and Roger would leave it up to them. The institute had a remarkably hands-off approach. Roger watched over them while they had morning classes and gave them suggestions, but his role was more to observe, to be L's eyes when the man was not around. He provided all the material, but it was left up to them on how they would utilize it in order to score high on the exams.
To them, Wammy House was so much more than a school for the gifted. It was a place where you were constantly being rewarded for your efforts; and it was none of that complimenting crap with a smiley-faced sticker either, that for all its good intentions still seemed overly-patronizing to any child that had his eyes set higher. When anyone showed marked improvement, or continually kept their spot in the top three, they were usually given whatever they wanted. It was one of the reasons why Near's toy pile was now bordering on the monstrous, Mello had a diet that more or less consisted of chocolate, and Matt could always be seen with a new game come every week.
No one was encouraged to study because "good boys and girls learned their lessons." If Roger had ever tried to feed them that dose of bull (and the man was so much smarter than that), they would have laughed in his face.
They all made an effort because not only were they given the chance to take over a name as prestigious as L and become a world-class detective (possibly the coolest job in existence), but they were being rewarded for their improvements every time exams rolled around.
It also didn't hurt that they were provided with the latest technology that money could buy. No one ever had want for anything at the Institute since Wammy and L provided for them with the alacrity of a doting parent. And unfortunately as a result, it took no liberties in speech to say the children of Wammy House were spoiled rotten. To the point where personalities were unaccommodating, and they came off mostly as intolerable to outsiders who did not understand their ways.
But that was merely another pit stop in their journey to become the best. If you cared about what others thought of you, then the title of "L" did not belong to you; nor would any of the residents allow you to even have a glimpse at it.
It took a special breed to walk these hallways due to the amount of pressure that regulated their daily life. What came off as terribly self-absorbed (and they were, no point in denying that) was their great attention to detail and how insanely dedicated they were to their studies.
However, as bad as they came off, their most self-involved resident was not necessarily one of them. Nor was he a child that was coming into his own, as he was almost at the end of his teenage years and long matured in what others expected of him. This was apparent from the refined manners he displayed at dinnertime, when half of them were playing with their food; the immaculate dress that for all its casualness never showed a wrinkle, while theirs had grass and food stains all over it; the polite and yet blatantly haughty tone he took with each of them, but was careful not to use around Roger or Miss Bethany.
He was vastly different from what they were used to dealing with when a rare addition was made to their ranks. Both him and the girl.
The girl even more so. They were at a total loss on how she fit into the picture. But they had their suspicions and many believed her to be L's girlfriend; he would have to be serious if he trusted her enough to bring her home with him.
Though most contested that assumption by pointing out that Minako was always making kissy faces at Kiyoshi. She also hung out with the brunette more than she did with L, and while that should have been enough proof to settle the question of who exactly Minako was going out with, those who had already pegged her as L's "kanojo" were not quick to change their minds.
Nor was her bickering with their mentor (which to them seemed like something a girlfriend would do) and him subtly egging her on, serving as discouragement for their young minds. Not when the mindset at the Institution for expressing crushes was usually to insult that person in front of everyone, and then harass them until they altogether ignored you or (and this was if you were lucky) tried to attack you on the playground. They had seen Minako slap L a few times, so for them that was as good a sign as any that she was his girlfriend --
Or she hated his guts…
Whatever the reason and whoever of the two was her boyfriend, everyone could agree that there was something very strange going on there. Most of the older kids would joke around and call it "ménage a trios" while others defined it as an old-fashioned "love triangle."
It was just another scenario for the mystery pile they had at the Institution. Others that had come long before it being, "Was Mello really a flat-chested girl in denial?", "Did Near ever study?", and possibly the biggest conundrum so far, "Why the hell did Matt wear those stupid goggles every where he went?"
Although as far as scratching one's head over the sketchy details of her presence, everyone generally liked Minako. She was very different in comparison to the adults that they had encountered so far. Not as puzzling as L, or mean-spirited as Kiyoshi. Apparently, she was really…
… silly. She laughed a lot and came off as a regular ditz, but she was possibly the friendliest person they had ever met. She also, for the life of her, couldn't keep any of their names straight, and she had come up with nicknames for all of them. And while they appreciated the thought, some of the things she called them were so embarrassing and cutesy that some of the boy couldn't help but blush and mumble anytime they were in her presence. Some of the girls loved it, while others were just as embarrassed as the boys were and ran like the devil were at their heels when they saw her coming.
No one knew if her personality was merely a front, because it was difficult envisioning, as L had mentioned upon introducing her, a normal girl like this helping him out with the Kira case.
All of them knew how to disguise their intellect behind an oblivious façade. So was Minako really as dumb as she was letting on? Anyone who came here was obviously hiding another side to them, one that did not fit in with regular society, and the fact that she knew L was more than enough to be suspicious of.
Both Kiyoshi and Minako came off as totally foreign to the Institution. Not because they were from Japan -- a good majority of the children were not native born either -- but because they seemed to have been taken right out of a fashion magazine.
It was possibly the most bizarre sight known to man to see all three of them sitting in a room together. You would think "hell would freeze over" or something to that effect if people this different inhabited the same space for more than a few seconds.
Minako: cute, cheerful, and constantly dressed in black, like she was in a perpetual state of mourning; the Gothic Lolita wear was a new thing for them, but they would be all lying if they said they didn't like it on her.
In contrast to her was Kiyoshi, who was as uppity and handsome as your well-groomed heir. He was always simply dressed, and yet always able to make himself look like the classiest person in the room.They thought it might be the wonders of an ironed-shirt at work, but they supposed it also had something to do with the aura of "touch me with your grubby hands and die" that constantly followed him around.
Then there was L, who also stood out in the looks department… just not for the same reasons as Kiyoshi and Minako. They liked to think that that was his strong point, because the only way L would be able to conceal his intellect was if he hid it behind a wall of equal bizarreness. And if they might add, that wall of bizarreness had to be pretty big to hide that amount of genius.
Certainly this environment and the circumstance that had brought them all here had turned some of them strange. But no matter how many generations came and went, they could all say with confidence and possibly some relief, that none of them would ever be able to match L in that regard.
Truly, he was in a league of his own -- a really bizarre league that liked to eat cake while sparingly offering up advice that could either be very helpful or could make absolutely no sense, and worse off, freak them all the hell out.
Overall, everyone would agree that L had not changed much over the years. He still looked as sloppy and out of it as ever. Nothing at all like the appearance-conscious friends that he had brought back with him. Really, to compare those two to L was like comparing the night to the day. They simply had no idea how their mentor had made friends with, or more to the point, how he had even come across them in the first place.
Of course being more than willing to solve this mystery, everyone had already come up with their own interpretation as to how it had happened, the two prevailing scenarios going a little something like this:
Scenario #1: Kiyoshi somehow had connections with the Japanese police. L noticed him through these connections. And if Minako was Kiyoshi's girlfriend then that would explain how they'd all come to know each other.
Scenario #2: L had seen them on the street and kidnapped them. They wouldn't put it past their mentor to do something like that. Not to insult L, but he seemed like the sort of person that whenever he saw something he liked, he would simply take it, no matter the consequences.
And for anyone that had ever witnessed the detective's forceful cake-eating etiquette (as if he believed the thing was trying to run away from him), it made a strange sort of sense that L would acquire friends in the same take-charge and indelicate manner.
The only problem with scenario two -- other than the wild supposition it had started from -- was that while they could understand why L would want to kidnap somebody as cute as Minako, they were unsure as to why their mentor would then turn around and voluntarily subject himself to the evil that was Kiyoshi. No matter how smart, handsome, and charming the package that it arrived in was, evil was still evil.
They were only glad that Mello, the resident evil, had been forced into hibernation and was currently studying his butt off to thwart the new evil, because there was no way they would be able to put up with the physical bullying from him and then have to enter the classroom and be mentally bullied by Kiyoshi.
But as bad as things were at the moment, they could not lose faith. There was a silver lining to every dark cloud, and while it may be cheap, their silver lining happened to be the very same thing that Kiyoshi inflicted upon them on a daily basis with his condescending attitude and unfair tests.
Plainly put, they pestered him every chance they got.
Kiyoshi had a cold, humorless personality that was difficult to offset. Any insult that came his way would usually be met with the "I'm rubber, you're glue" state of mind, and in the end they would usually be left feeling unsatisfied because nothing seemed to faze the brunette.
The only upside to their constant harassment was that sometimes, if they were annoying enough (and oh they could get pretty annoying), Kiyoshi would make this overly prissy face at them and suddenly relocate. It was funny to watch, and it had reinvigorated their fighting spirit a number of times.
Kiyoshi had those airs about him that made it feel like to approach him was the world's greatest insult. It was unnerving, but at the same time many of the children liked to see the different degrees of disgust (and there was a wide array) that would unconsciously cross his face and remain there until they stopped bugging him.
They could tell he didn't want anything to do with them. But that only spurred them on the more in terms of seeking him out. And again, he would get such a prissy look on his face at their questions that most of the children found it impossible to leave him alone when that happened.
Right now, for example. He was kneeled over by the gates, lacing up his sneakers, and looking like he was going out for a morning jog.
A few of them had broken away from morning recess to pay him a visit. Their thoughts: since he was making them so miserable, it only made sense that they returned the favor. Not to mention it was tons of fun.
"Kiyoshi."
The brunette glanced at them and then returned to knotting his laces, dismissive.
They always found it hilarious how irritated he would look when someone called out to him without a honorific. Call it his Japanese sensibility at work, but he let it slide like it was nothing for Roger and Miss Bethany.
"Where're you going?"
"Where does it look like I'm going," he answered coldly and stood up, tapping the front of one of his sneakers on the concrete, and then tugging the back to fix it in place. When he realized that they weren't going anywhere, he rolled his eyes and waved them away, like they were a bunch of untrained dogs.
"But we wanted to ask you a really important question," one of the other boys chimed in, grinning. "Like what was up with that loud shattering noise in your room Friday?"
"Noise? Oh that," he said, like they weren't worthy to be let in on the secret. "I'm amazed that everyone has the time to ask me about something so trivial when exams are coming up? Or is the material not challenging enough for you."
"Sca--ry."
And it was not an exaggeration on their part to describe his expression as such. Kiyoshi had the classic Jekyll and Hyde personality. He would be smiling politely one minute, and right after all the adults left the room, he would tell them in so many words to "get lost." They assumed he was showing his true face because he didn't think their opinions mattered either way.
"I hope he doesn't have anything breakable on him. He might throw it at us."
Everyone burst into laughter, but instead of ignoring them like he usually did, they found the brunette smirking along. He was also staring over their shoulder and waving at someone.
"Roger-san," he called, voice now suspiciously a tone higher than usual, and unbelievably girly sounding.
They all knew what a tone like that meant.
"I think you have some strays over here. I'm worried one of them might sneak out with me," he laughed, pointing to children at the front of the pack.
"Recess is about over," the older man noted as he glanced at his watch. "Yes… I think it'd be best if everyone came in now. It's actually quite warm out there today." Roger began to round up the children by the stairs and everyone playing in the yard could not help but groan out loud.
They had fifteen minutes left, dammit.
Looking up from his duties of shepherding the smaller ones inside, Roger called out, "Are you going for a run?"
"Only around the block. Don't mind me; I just wanted to get some fresh air." He opened the gate and took one last look at the group that had been bothering him. "Judging by the last scores on your mock exams I'd say I'm doing you all a favor by sending you in early to study. If it were up to me, none of you would have recess at all. Not with pathetic scores like that."
The gate clanged behind him and they heard him chuckle something about "the next L, my foot" before he started off with a light jog down the sidewalk, looking like he couldn't give a rat's ass about the half a dozen teenagers glowering at the back of his head.
There were not many things in life that Near hated, or even cared about enough to have such a strong reaction to. He could list instances that he could do without, like having to go outside for long periods of time or when his favorite play-spots were occupied by his peers.
There were not many things he disliked, but there was one thing he found detestable.
Near stared into the cupboard where they kept the boxes of cereal, stared in particular at the one he wanted, yet was residing on the last shelf and clearly out of reach.
Why did they always do this?
No one except the adults were tall enough to reach the top shelf without using a chair, so then why was it that cereal was always kept on last shelf?
Did Miss Bethany or Roger not understand that children ate cereal too? Or did they forget that there was a big difference in height between them?
Whatever the reason, he would need a chair.
Near continued to stare at the last shelf where innocently resided the desired box of cereal.
Was it even worth it at this point?
Before Near could answer that question for himself, he heard familiar voices and turned in time to see Kiyoshi walk into the kitchen, L following behind. L went straight for the refrigerator and shoved his head in all the way, like he was ready to climb in and close the door behind him. It was safe to say he had not noticed that anyone else was in the kitchen. Kiyoshi, on the other hand, had immediately noticed him and seemed to recognize his plight. Near could tell, because one side of his mouth twitched up, like he thought it was funny.
"Do you need some help?" he asked, all fake nice, and for lack of anything to say, Near pointed at the one he wanted. Everything was packed in solidly so Kiyoshi used one hand to keep the unwanted items in place while he pulled the box of cereal from the shelf with the other.
Curling a strand of hair around his finger, Near watched the brunette listlessly. He had never wanted to accept his help in the first place, but he was stubborn to let Kiyoshi think his presence bothered him. That would only lead to the brunette having an even greater sense of superiority over him and that would not do.
However, if he walked away now, he could avoid the hassle of this situation all together. Near thought about it and decided that he liked that approach better. He turned to leave, but as he was doing so, something peculiar caught his attention.
Kiyoshi was wearing a t-shirt. Now there was nothing strange about that. It was summer and light clothing was preferred. It might be a little odd to see him sporting the regular t-shirt without a button-up over it, but this small discrepancy was nothing to blink at.
No, that was not the problem. The problem was that when he had stretched both hands towards the cupboard, his t-shirt had ridden up just a little. But because he was wearing his jeans low (no belt today), a part of the almond-hued skin of his lower back went exposed, and Near found himself staring at two bruises adjacent to each hipbone, in exactly the same spot, like they were mirror reflections of the other.
"…"
How exactly did someone get bruises like that?
Fortunately, he was provided a clue -- a rather big one -- when Minako ran into the kitchen like she was on fire. "Help!" she shouted, jogging on spot and pointing at the door like that would make anyone understand her.
"One of the boys tried to eat something from a toy he was building. I think he's in trouble because he won't stop crying. What should I do?!"
"If he's crying then he's not choking," Kiyoshi interjected calmly, handing him the cereal and walking off towards the blonde.
"Most likely he is crying because it did not taste good," L added. "They might look very appetizing, but I have been let down by one too many Lego blocks in my childhood."
There was a pause before the girl abruptly turned to Kiyoshi – possibly because L was giving her strange answers – and asked again, more emphatically this time, "What should do?! I don't want to tell Roger-san one of them swallowed something and it made him sad."
"Then don't," L told her, not even caring that the question had been for Kiyoshi. "You can stay with us and eat cake. I think that would be preferable." Though possibly the worse part about all of this was that he didn't even have to think about the answer he was giving her.
"I wouldn't worry about it," Kiyoshi added while he took a seat at the counter. "All the children here are pretty..." He glanced over at L, substituting the actual word of special for the image of a person who casually admitted to eating colorful blocks in his childhood and lived to tell about it. "They're pretty… resilient," he finished, having found a more appropriate word, "so I doubt any one of them could be brought down so easily. In fact," he said, as nonchalant as ever, "I'm only surprised he did something as normal as swallowing one block and didn't find some way to swallow the bucket instead."
Not exactly models of the responsible adult, Near thought, grateful that he was solely under the charge of Roger and not any of these three.
"I was thinking I shouldn't tell anyone either," the girl said in conspiring tones, "but then I felt bad because Roger-san told me I should come to him if anything goes wrong."
"That is just a formality," L enlightened her as he shoveled a large piece of Bavarian Almond Torte into his mouth. "He does not actually want you to contact him if something were to go wrong. That is why Miss Bethany is here. She actually cares."
"Oh." Minako said simply. Then she covered her head with her hands and made a pained sound. "That means she'll yell at me. I don't want to be yelled at." Grabbing onto Kiyoshi's forearm she tried to pull him from his seat. "Please come with me," she pleaded. "Nothing bad will happen if you're there."
By the face he was making at her, Kiyoshi seemed to disagree. "I don't want to," he said plainly and glanced over at the detective. "Why don't you take her?"
"If I were to show up Miss Bethany would think that I was somehow involved in the incident. However, if you were to go then she would know that the child was being stupid on his own. I would rather if that were the case."
"I still don't want to."
Whoever it was could have died by the time L and Kiyoshi had finished listing the reasons why the other was so much better suited to deal with the situation of small child swallowing strange things.
Since Kiyoshi was especially stubborn and would not budge an inch from his seat – he apparently did not want to go anywhere near the dwelling grounds of five year olds – L had relented and offered to accompany the blonde. She, of course, turned him down flat, grabbed Kiyoshi by the arm, and started pulling again. Which was obviously not the best way to go when dealing with said brunette, Kiyoshi yelling at her and then at L, and getting both to exit rather quickly.
Though not before L handed him the plate of Almond torte (because children loved cake and he would not share) and told him to "keep it safe" until he returned to claim it once more.
Near had moved over to the side in order to get away from the commotion. He had been wondering what the chances were that someone would walk into furniture not only twice, but hit themselves in practically the same spot, except on the other side. Probability wise, it didn't seem very likely. The shape and location of the two bruises were way too similar for it to be accidental; neither did Kiyoshi come off as clumsy. Plus, as soon as he had seen Minako, it wasn't hard to piece it together and conclude that his aggressive girlfriend was giving him hickies in weird places.
A good amount of the children believed, for some reason, that Minako was L's girlfriend, but Near was more inclined to believe that she was with Kiyoshi. The majority of the time she was hanging off his arm, not to mention that during the past few weeks, he had even seen her sneaking out of his room early one morning.
With bowl of cereal in hand Near climbed up on the closest stool and began to eat. Beside him, Kiyoshi was graciously helping himself to L's cake and looking none to troubled over his actions.
So much for keeping it safe, Near thought, further wondering why L had hired such a disobedient guy to work for him. For someone to casually partake of L's precious cake -- knowing full well the high regard he held for each slice -- was possibly the second greatest insult the detective could be made to suffer, the first being to insult his intelligence.
"How are your studies going?" the brunette asked, as he drew the fork out of his mouth slowly, tasting the last remnants of the stolen cake.
"Fine" he answered dryly. "But I don't think that's any of your business since you're the enemy."
"Enemy?" He gave him a somewhat wounded look. "Sure I've said some harsh things, but I only do it for your own good."
For his own good?
Ever since meeting Kiyoshi, it had always bothered Near how confident he was of his victory. It seemed unreasonable to continue to think that way when even though more qualified, L had yet to announce him as his successor. That had to say something. And yet here he was, still so confident of himself.
Was there something that Near was missing?
He stared at Kiyoshi as if it would become apparent if he looked hard enough.
Where did his confidence come from?
When Near noticed the brunette fixing his shirt over his beltline, the thought that 'those two marks would be about there' sprung up on his mind before he could do anything about it. He felt a rare discordance settle among his thoughts, and as if to avoid it bodily, he glanced up quickly. Unfortunately, a pair of amber eyes were waiting for him, boring into him rather icily and freezing him to his spot so he could not even turn away.
"Hmm." He could hear the smile in his voice. "Did you get a good look?"
"At what?" Near asked, densely.
"That's what I'd like to know. Don't tell me you're hitting puberty."
Near could brush off any comment aimed his way, but sometimes he found himself oddly bothered by the brunette's casual way of talking down to him. And as much of a hassle as it was to respond to Kiyoshi's nasty little insults, Near would make a special exception for this big mouth.
"I wouldn't know," he answered sedately; "but you and the 'bruises' near your hip would probably be able to tell me."
Kiyoshi stopped what he was doing and turned to look at him.
"And none of your files said anything about how much of a little smart-ass you are," he chuckled, appearing not particularly bothered that Near had noticed them. Actually, he seemed amused. "I would have been more cautious if I thought for even a second you knew what a hickey was."
"I'd rather not know, since what you and your girlfriend do is your own business."
For some reason the smile that Kiyoshi turned on him was downright mischievous. "You're right. It is none of your business what my girlfriend and I do together. I don't think Minako would appreciate me having this conversation with anyone, but then again, those marks have nothing to do with her. Or not those particular ones anyway," he said with a distinct leer.
Near felt a knot in his stomach and he was tempted to get up from his chair and walk away. It would be the first smart thing he did since he had run into Kiyoshi.
"Do you want to know who gave them to me? It's definitely something that you and Mello should know about -- being his successors and all."
This guy couldn't possibly be suggesting… was he simply making fun of him? It seemed like it, but wasn't it taking it too far to joke around about something like this?
"Did you think I was bluffing when I said you two have no chance against me when it comes to L? I wasn't only alluding to the mental gap between us."
Joke or no joke, Near thought, this was not funny. "You have a bad sense of humor."
"Humor? I'm being completely serious. I might have fun teasing you, but I'm not one to divulge my business unless I need to make a point.
"You see," he said, resting chin in hand, "L and me are…" he tapped a finger against the counter thoughtfully. "How should I put it so a thirteen year old can understand?"
For the first time in his life, Near was genuinely stunned. He hadn't expected anything like this to come out of his mouth. Even with the amount of tactless comments aimed his way whenever he found himself in the brunette's presence, this was unimaginable…
"Someone should have informed you about those kinds of things by now, and if they haven't, I'm certain you found out on your own, seeing as how you're always playing with dolls and whatnot…"
As if things couldn't get any worse, now he was being patronized to death. Near continued to stare at him, much too insulted by what he was hearing to do anything else.
"I won't go into details, but we've … been going out for two years now. From that alone you should at least be able to grasp how serious things are between us, and what kind of position that puts me in over you."
Leaning more into the arm propping him up, those graceful fingers spread against his cheek, the middle and ring finger resting against the edges of an tawny-colored eye and the little finger brushing against the corner of his mouth, emphasizing the smirk there.
"Of course you noticed he's stubborn to hand over his title, but the fact that he let me participate despite that feeling says he's not totally against the idea. No matter how disagreeable he may be when business is involved, he's far from unbiased, and is just as susceptible as the next person to make judgments based on what he thinks will benefit him more. I have more to offer in terms of his happiness than either of you brats, therefore it only goes without saying that he'll chose me hands down. Truthfully, I don't expect him to last another month against me, so expect to hear the results of his choice very soon."
Near stared at Kiyoshi and could not bring himself to say a word in edgewise. What was he supposed to say to someone flagrantly telling him they were sleeping with his mentor? It wasn't like it was a challenge that he could respond to.
It was the first time he had ever been put into a situation where he was at a complete loss for words. Something that Kiyoshi was taking full advantage of.
"Oh, but don't get the wrong idea," he said, intimidating tone giving way to fake pleasantries, "I'm not a bad person. It's just that…L is holding me to totally different standards from you two -- standards that actually have nothing do with how much smarter I am than you. That puts me in a tough position where if I don't cover all my bases," and by the way he stressed the word all, it was obvious what was being implied, "I'm not going to even be considered to compete.
"I would fight fair if L wasn't already putting me at a disadvantage," he justified, "but unfortunately I don't have that kind of luxury. Not like you or Mello."
Then he casually added, as if causing the injury wasn't malicious enough, now he had to rub it in, "But how awful that you had to find out this way. Though I doubt he would have said anything to either of you. He's one selfish guy. Doesn't even stop to think how his actions will affect his successors.
"If I were you," he instigated, "I'd be pretty upset right now. I mean, how irresponsible of him to allow someone he's sleeping with to enter into your race – isn't that what you're thinking?"
This guy… Near looked at his face and found nothing that he could turn into doubt. It had to be a lie, and yet what was with his perfect poker face?
"If he's permitting this to happen right under his nose then he must not think very much of you, flippantly jeopardizing the integrity of your race like this." He stood, straightening the hem of his t-shirt again. "Not that I could care any less," he said meanly and walked over to the door.
Resting his hand gently on the entranceway, the brunette stopped and looked at him over his shoulder. "Oh, and it may be too late to say this now," he smiled at him, "but as far as each side's circumstances will allow it, let's have a fair fight. Okay."