AN: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! I am really happy that you liked the previous chapter. I hope everyone could leave a review to let me know what they think of the chapter.
This is the ninth chapter. The first Acedia chapter. Acedia means sloth, by the way.
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own DeathNote or any of its characters.
Chapter 9: Acedia
"Have you found him already?" The low and cold voice greeted him as he entered. He smirked. As if that would work on him. The man was busy scanning some papers on his desk.
"No." He replied, making the man look at him. The man's eyes narrowed a bit.
"Then why are you still here? Didn't I tell you not to come back until you find him?" The man said, his teeth gritting in annoyance.
He laughed. The man was really failing to intimidate him if that was what he was trying. He went to the couch nearest to him and sat there comfortably. The man just watched him.
"Ryuk." The man started and he just yawned. "We had a deal."
He sighed and scratched the back of his head. Really. This man was irritating him. He wasn't exactly fond of others trying to order him around. But a deal's a deal.
"Yes, yes." He replied, getting to his feet again. He stared at the man who was still watching him. "By the way, you heard about that Mikami Teru?"
The man nodded.
"Another cockroach. I will instruct others to get rid of him. Just concentrate on finding that damn Yagami boy." The man replied.
Ryuk nodded. He didn't really understand why this man badly wanted to find the Yagami. But he never asked. He wasn't interested, anyway. But finding the boy was taking a lot of his effort and time. So at least, he wanted some reason or excuse that could probably justify this stupid search.
"Why do you want him, anyway? You interested in him or something?" He asked, earning a dark look from the man.
"Of course not, moron. I am planning to use him." The man said, and Ryuk raised his eyebrows in confusion. "I've heard about his incredible brains. He could help us get rid of cockroaches. Like that detective L, or whoever fucking one-letter man there is."
"Aren't you the one who's stupid?" Ryuk replied, laughing a little. "What makes you so sure that the Yagami would like to help you? You killed his family, remember?"
The man slumped on his chair, folding his arms on his chest.
"I will think of something to convince him. By hook or by crook."
Ryuk shrugged. Whatever. He's fine with any plan, as long as it won't take too much effort and time. He turned to walk towards the door. He let out a loud yawn as he closed the door behind him. He must find the damn boy as soon as possible. The sooner he finds the Yagami boy, the sooner he could get his long snack hours back.
He yawned again.
He'd worry about that boy later. For now, a good nap sounded very appealing.
--
Light woke up crying again. He had another nightmare. That same nightmare of Sayu, his mother and his father desperately calling for him. Seemingly asking him what he was doing there, reaching out to him, and trying to grab him. The dream wasn't scary. He was actually glad to see them in his dreams, reminding him of their voices and what they looked like. But then again, as much as he tried to prevent it, the despair inside him kept growing and it was gnawing at his heart. He wanted it to end, but he also wanted to hear them every night. He was never a man of emotions. But emotions were enemies you wouldn't want to fight. You will never win.
He slowly sat up and wiped the tears on his face. He immediately looked at his side. He sighed in relief.
Good thing there was no panda gawking at him.
He got out of the tangled sheets and headed towards the bathroom. Maybe a nice bath could completely make him forget about the nightmare.
--
Light twitched as he stared at the panda before him. The detective was holding a dreamcatcher necklace.
"What the hell is that?" He asked, pointing a slim finger towards the thing Ryuuzaki was offering him. The man blinked at him.
"This, Light-kun, is a dreamcatcher." The man replied, raising the object to Light's eye level. Light twitched in annoyance. A dreamcatcher, of course.
"Why in the world would you give me something like that?" He asked, glaring at the detective who was now munching a chocolate cookie.
"Light-kun is always having nightmares. I thought this would solve his problem." Ryuuzaki replied.
Light closed his eyes in annoyance. The man was watching him all this time!
"You were always watching on the cameras while I'm sleeping? Just how creepy can you get, Ryuuzaki?" Not waiting for a reply, he sat on the swivel chair beside the man. He wondered when they decided to work this close to each other.
"Light-kun's really apathetic." Ryuuzaki said, and Light just ignored him. The detective scooted closer to him and Light flinched at the sudden contact of their skin.
"What the hell are you doing? Aren't you already too close?" Light asked, his brow twitching in building irritation. The detective just stared at him and settled the necklace on the desk in front of Light. Light blinked at the necklace then turned to look at Ryuuzaki. The man was smiling.
Light sighed.
"All right. I will take this." Light started, and the man smiled wider. "But I will never wear this… thing." Ryuuzaki nodded, still smiling, before distancing himself a bit from the brunette.
Light wondered whether he was starting to go soft on the weird detective. He shrugged. The man should be rewarded after all. He felt genuine feelings from the man, and, well… It flattered him to no end. Not that he actually enjoyed the attention. The man was somehow obsessed with him and the uncontrolled jealousy was always getting to his nerves. But sometimes, a jealous L could be cute. He froze. L? Cute? He shuddered. The thought gave him goosebumps.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the buzzing of his phone. He looked at the phone screen and raised a brow when Mikami Teru's name greeted him. He saw L curiously looking at the gadget as well and he didn't fail to notice the scowl on the detective's face. He smirked at the man and Ryuuzaki just pouted at him. Oh, yes, the jealous L is certainly a bit cute… He froze. What was that? He shuddered again at the thought. The nightmares must have disorganized his brain.
He unconsciously massaged his temples and Ryuuzaki blinked at him. He stared at the detective who was chewing his thumb and was staring at him, as well. He stared at the man's face for a while. Then his gaze traveled towards the thumb being chewed, tracing it and leading his eyes to the slightly parted pink lips…
"Goddamit!" He unconsciously blurted out, making Ryuuzaki and the rest of the investigation team gape at him curiously. He threw Matsuda and the others a glare, which sent them scurrying back to what they were previously doing. He glared with more intensity at Ryuuzaki, who did not even flinch a bit.
"This is all your goddamn fault!" Light bellowed. The buzzing phone stopped.
"Huh?" Ryuuzaki said, blinking in confusion, still biting his thumb. Light twitched in annoyance.
"Stop chewing your thumb!" Light hissed, and the phone started buzzing again. He glared at the phone which was now irritating him.
"What is wrong with Light-kun today?" Ryuuzaki asked, his brows creased in confusion.
"Nothing's wrong with Light-kun today." Light replied, indignantly. And ending the conversation, he grabbed the buzzing phone. "Hello?" He said, his voice a manifestation of his irritation.
"Are you not in the mood today, Light?" Mikami asked. Light rolled his eyes in irritation. Wasn't it obvious in his voice?
"Yes." Light replied, and Mikami said nothing. "Well?"
"I might have interrupted you, and I apologize." Mikami replied.
"No, I wasn't doing anything. Are we going to meet today?" He saw Ryuuzaki's face darken a bit.
"I'm afraid not. Somebody's following me all day and I don't want to put you in any danger. I just called to make sure you were safe" Mikami replied. Light raised an eyebrow. Mikami's being followed? Was it a lie? To make him really believe that Mikami was not Kira?
"I am safe, thank you for the concern. And yes, I agree it would endanger both of us if we meet today. Try to find out who's following you. Call me for updates." He replied. He gave a few more instructions to Mikami and finally ended the call.
"Mikami's being followed?" Ryuuzaki asked and Light nodded at him. "That could be a detective who was also suspecting him of being Kira, or that could be Kira's minions trying to stop him." Ryuuzaki continued and Light just nodded in approval.
"Could be. I already asked him to investigate. Let's leave the matter to him until we're sure he's not Kira." Light said, turning to his laptop to find something more about Mikami Teru and Raye Penber.
"Light-kun…"
"Hmm?" Light asked, without turning to look at the detective.
"I want to go out." The man said and Light immediately turned to look at him.
"You what?"
"I want to go out, Light-kun. I need to have my daily doze of sweets." The man replied, staring at him, seemingly pleading at him with those pools of dark orbs.
"Why don't you just ask Watari to buy some for you?" Light asked, but was already closing some of the program windows on his laptop. He saw Ryuuzaki smile, out of the corner of his eye.
"I had asked Watari to do something. He's not present at the moment." Ryuuzaki replied. The man got off the chair and smiled at Light. "Besides, I haven't gone out with Light-kun for a while."
Light sighed.
"We're in the middle of a battle here, L. It's Kira we're talking about."
"Of course, Light-kun. Our dates would never be pure dates, I'm afraid. So disappointing." The man said, to which Light rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, so disappointing." He said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Ryuuzaki chuckled and started walking towards the door. Matsuda and the others glanced at the detective curiously but said nothing. Light smirked. Really... it sure was nice being an L.
Ryuuzaki stopped walking and turned to look at him. He sighed again. Yes, yes.
Light was sure he was starting to go soft on the man.
But he wasn't going to admit that to himself just yet.
--
L blissfully devoured another chunk of cake stuck in his fork. He closed his eyes to savor the sweet, addicting taste. He heard a snort coming from the beautiful man across him. He set his fork down to stare at the brunette and smiled. He got a scowl in return.
"You sure look content. And you made me go with you just to witness your ecstasy." Light remarked, a scowl plastered on his face.
L chuckled. How he loved annoying this man! The face of an annoyed Light was enough to amuse him.
"Light-kun's scowls are always charming." He said, and the brunette's face darkened more.
L laughed. There was never a moment of boredom when he's with Light. He even thought that staring at the man all day was more interesting than solving cases. Which was a little bit disturbing on his part since he practically considered solving cases his life. Does that mean that Light was his life now? He shoved the thought out of his mind. It would not do him any good if he entertained that line of thought.
He watched as Light brought the cup of coffee to his lips. The young man raised an eyebrow and set the cup down on the table.
"Why didn't you tell me about Mikami's relationship with Penber?" Light asked, and L just stared at him. "You knew about him being involved with Raye Penber, right?"
L nodded. He restrained himself from frowning at the mention of the prosecutor's name. The man was obviously interested in Light. Not that he was worried about that. Light was obviously not interested in the man, but the thought of having a rival, aside from that perky model Misa Amane, just didn't sound alright with him. He was indeed a very selfish man.
Light rested his elbows on the table, his fingers intertwined with each other. L stared at the man, his eyes tracing the strands of the brown locks down to the captivating pools of chocolate orbs, then to the perfectly carved nose, and to the thin, kissable lips. He remembered how soft they were.
He snapped out of his thoughts when the lips smirked.
"Stop drooling." Light said, bringing him out of his thoughts completely. Was he drooling? He mentally chuckled. He smiled at the man.
"I can't help it, Light-kun." He replied, to which Light snorted in response. "You need to stop seducing me on purpose, Light-kun. Or I might die trying to control myself." He added, and Light scowled at him, darkly. He chuckled. Really… Teasing the man was the best thing in the world.
"Who's seducing who?" Light retorted. "Going back, you knew about Mikami's affair with Penber. Yet you decided not to tell me."
L picked up his fork again and stabbed a strawberry on top of his slice of cake, and shoved it into his mouth.
"I though it was unnecessary to talk about my subordinates' personal lives." L replied. Light stared at him, eyebrows raised in question.
"Subordinate? Who? Penber?"
"No. His wife. Naomi Misora. She worked for me in a case."
Light nodded.
"If you knew about Mikami's illicit affair with Penber, why didn't you tell me about it? You knew it could be Mikami's motive for investigating. Yet you never told me of that possibility."
L stopped eating and looked at the man across him.
"I wasn't testing you, Light-kun, if that's what you think. I did not know that issue until he mentioned Penber on your meeting. I asked Watari to investigate it." He replied.
"And you still didn't tell me until now."
L smiled.
"You found out already. Without me spilling it to you." He said, and Light glared at him. "Is Light-kun mad because he thinks I do not like confiding in him?"
"As if. I was just curious as to why you didn't tell me about it."
L pouted.
"Was Light-kun really curious about such a trivial matter? Or was Light-kun really interested in Mikami Teru's backstories?" He asked. The thought of Light being curious about the prosecutor almost took his appetite. Light sighed and crossed his arms on his chest.
"Why do our conversations always turn into one of your jealous antics?" Light asked and L just shrugged in reply. "Sometimes, I do really wonder why I let you act like that. You sound like my lover when you're jealous and it's really creeping me out." Light continued.
L stared at him for a while before chuckling.
"I'd take that as a compliment. It means that Light-kun's starting to accept me. I'm glad Light-kun's just horrified at the idea and not against it completely." L said, smiling at the brunette. Light rolled his eyes.
"Who said I wasn't against it?" Light countered and L just smiled at him sweetly. Light twitched. "Think whatever you want." Light continued, ending the conversation.
L chuckled again before turning his attention to his cakes. He knew they were supposed to talk about the case, yet somehow he didn't want this atmosphere to be ruined.
"Ryuuzaki." L turned to look at the brunette who was staring behind him. He turned to look around and blinked when a tall man, wearing gothic clothes entered the café. The man's skin was pale and he was wearing long dangling silver earring on one ear. He was also wearing a belt which was adorned with silver chains. All in all, the man was creepy.
"What, Light-kun? You haven't seen a man like that before?" L asked, turning to look at Light again.
"That was not the point. The man saw me and then entered the café." Light replied, and L's face suddenly became serious. He watched as Light tensed and he heard footsteps coming closer to them. The steps halted and he felt a presence behind him.
"Hey." The voice was gruff, and playful at the same time. L turned to look at the man behind him. The man glanced at him then turned towards Light.
"Are there any apples here?"
Light blinked. L blinked. They looked at each other for a while, then Light laughed. L turned to look at the man again.
"Apples? I'm not sure. You can ask the waitress over there." Light said.
The man looked around and spotted a waitress, who was three tables away from them. L and Light watched as the man scratched the back of his head.
"Tsk. Nevermind. It's too tiresome." The man replied. Light raised an eyebrow.
"The girl's just a few meters away from you, you know. But I guess it would be better if you'd find a store or something. A fruit stand to be more precise." Light said.
The man blinked at him and then let out a low chuckle. The chuckle earned a few nervous glances from the other patrons. L just stared at the man.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks, anyway." The man replied, then turned to walk away. L and Light watched as the man dragged his feet towards the door. When the man disappeared from their view, Light spoke.
"He sure was… weird." L looked at him and smiled.
"There are different kinds of people, Light-kun." L said, and brought his cup of coffee to his lips. Light smirked.
"Yeah. And the two of you belong to the weird type."
L pouted and Light just laughed.
--
Ryuk walked out of the café and scratched his head. He should be finding Yagami Light. But it was too tiresome. And where the hell would he start looking? Really, his master's always giving him troublesome orders. He sighed.
He looked around to find a fruit stand, as the young man in the café had suggested. He saw one which was almost a block away from him. He scratched his head again. The fruit stand was too far. He sighed. Maybe he should really find Yagami Light now. He brought out a crumpled picture of the man from his jeans pocket.
He blinked at the picture. The face was familiar. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Fair skin. Pretty face…
Isn't this… the young man in the café? Ah, yes. That was actually the reason why he entered the café.
He looked back and stared at the faint outline of the café's sign board. He scratched his head. It was too tiresome to walk back to the café. He would just find the man tomorrow.
For now, another good nap sounded appealing.
--
L frowned when he opened the door to Light's room. He knew he should tell Light to lock his door, but that would surely ruin his nightly visits. He wasn't exactly visiting Light to just see him sleep. Well, that was one of the reasons… But he actually wanted to be at Light's side when he was having nightmares. Light would scream at him and tell him to leave the room immediately if he knew of his visits. But he just can't watch the brunette on the security cameras.
L watched as Light frowned in his sleep. The nightmare had started. L knew that after the frown, Light would start tossing and turning in his bed. And after the tossing and turning, L knew he would see the tears on the brunette's face. Then there would be a momentary silence, and that would be his cue to leave because Light would wake up after that.
L sighed as he saw the glistening tears on the brunette's face. He wiped the tears carefully, so as not to wake the young man. He sighed in relief as the momentary silence began. He turned to walk towards the door. He gave Light one last glance before shutting the door and heading to his room.
--
Light was already awake when L wiped his tears. He knew he should snarl at the man and shoo him away but he chose not to. He wasn't sure why. Was the man always coming to his room every night, checking up on him? He pretended to be asleep and the man seemed not to notice. He just let L wiped the tears. And it somehow calmed him completely. When the door to his room closed, an indication that the detective was already gone, he slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. Why didn't he let the man know he was awake? Did he really want the man's presence?
He brought his right hand out from the tangled sheets and stared at it. He was clutching the necklace. The dreamcatcher necklace L gave him. He wasn't exactly sure why he clutched it while sleeping. Did he really think it would make the nightmares go away? Well, it certainly did not filter his dreams.
But it served its purpose. It calmed him, along with L's fingers softly brushing the tears away. He wasn't exactly sure what to feel. He wasn't really angry at L for invading his privacy, but he wasn't happy either at the idea that L has always been watching him in that horrible state.
He clutched the necklace tightly. He decided not to tell L that he already knew. He would be forced to reprimand the man and prevent him from setting foot on his room again.
Still clutching the necklace, he closed his eyes. He should sleep.
And wake up tomorrow as if nothing happened.
--
AN: Reviews please…