Sparrow awoke to the feeling of a heavy weight lying across her body. She groaned and turned her head to the right, trying to pull the covers further up her body to fend off the cool breeze that came from the open window.
Wait, she thought I could have sworn I closed that window.
Sparrow opened her eyes slowly, closing them quickly when they met the harsh light of the sun streaming through the open curtains of the open window. She turned her head back to her life as she slowly regained her senses. As this happened she became aware of a soft voice whispering something about "a long journey ahead of me" she wondered briefly what that meant. Sparrow also became aware of a slight tickling sensation going up her right arm.
She once again opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the light before she turned her head to see what was causing said tickling sensation. There, lying across her body was Near, driving one of his toy cars up her arm and to her shoulder, when he reached her shoulder, she was surprised to hear him whisper something about trying to make across the 'Twin Mountains of Death'.
Sparrow sighed. "I sagest you make a detour and go around the 'Twin Mountains of Death' Near," Near snapped his head up, gazing straight into her face. Other then the slight pink tinge across his cheeks, Near's face showed no emotion.
"Good morning Sparrow, happy birthday," he said in a slightly louder voice then he had used when talking his car through its journey. Sparrow flopped back down onto her soft pillows and brought her arms up above her head, stretching out her body, ignoring Near who moved ever so slightly as she stretched.
"God Near, sometimes I swear you're secretly a professional pervert that writes that series of books Roger seems so fond of. And thank you," Near wriggled further up her body, the two now lay face to face Near's chest resting on Sparrow's.
"I stole one of those books once, just to see what it was about," Near admitted, resting his head in the crook of her neck, Sparrow's arms wrapped around the small boy as she felt him play with a lock of her long, dark hair.
"And?" the young woman inquired curiously.
"I didn't like it," Near said, shuddering lightly as the memories of the horrible book flashed through his mind. Sparrow snickered slightly, she flipped them over so that Near was lying on the bed and she was resting on her knees staring down at him. Sparrow looked over at the small alarm clock that resided on the bedside table. Eight fifteen.
"Alright Near, I think it's about time I got up, after all times a wastin'" she said smirking when a slightly frustrated expression crossed the pale boys face. She got of the bed as Near mumble something about using proper English, she giggled as she remembered how Damien would also reprimand her for not using proper English as well.
It had been little over a year since he had left.
She stretched her body out again, bending backwards and touching the floor before straightening up and bending forwards to do the same. Near watched, mildly impressed as always, as Sparrow dropped and did the splits, first sideways, then straight on. She got up again and began rummaging through her draws, Near flinched and turned his head as she brought out her undergarments. She went to another draw and pulled out a short, yellow sundress, and a pair of white of tights. She place her mobile phone in one of the pockets of the dress before standing up again.
Sparrow headed out the door of her room, heading to the girls bathroom, Near followed close behind.
When they reached their destination Near waited outside by the door. Sparrow quickly showered and washed her hair. She turned off the running water and rapped a towel around her body and exited the shower cubical, she quickly dried and dressed herself and walked over to the wall that held the benches and mirrors.
Sparrow picked up her toothbrush and toothpaste; she began thoroughly cleaning her teeth, making funny faces as she went. She rinsed her toothbrush off and began to gurgle some water, almost choking on it when she thought about how funny the word "gurgle" was. Sparrow spat out the water and wiped her mouth; she then proceeded to pick up her hairbrush and pulled it through her still wet hair. She replaced her hairbrush back next to her toothbrush and toothpaste, identical to the other five sets of toiletries.
Sparrow looked down the long bench. Every girl had an assigned colour so they wouldn't get their things mixed up, Linda was blue, Brandy was green, Joy was pink, Thyme was purple, Ink was orange and Sparrow was red.
Sparrow grabbed her pyjamas and towel and walked towards the door dumping her pyjamas in one of the two hampers by the door and her towel in the other one. As Sparrow exited the bathroom she wondered if the boy's bathroom had the same system, she had never bothered to ask Damien or L for that matter. Maybe she could ask Near.
Her thoughts were forgotten however when she noticed Mello and Matt had joined Near by the door. Mello was being awful to Near, as per usual. She watched silently as Mello jabbed a finger into Near's side, trying to get a reaction from the white haired boy. Sighing internally, Sparrow stalked behind Mello and grabbed him. Mello shouted in shock, Matt look up from his game system and chuckled at Mello's shocked expression.
"Mello, how many times have I told you to stop being horrible to Near?" she said, scowling at the blonde boy. Mello disentangled himself from Sparrow's grip and rubbed the back of his neck, looking down guiltily.
"Happy birthday Sparrow," Matt said, smiling slightly before turning back to his hand held gaming system. Mello's face instantly brightened.
"Yeah happy birthday Sparrow!" the blonde boy gushed, latching on to Sparrow's waist. Sparrow gasped, for a small boy, he had a vice like grip.
"Oh, and Roger wanted to see you," he said, letting her go and stepping back.
"Great," she said, her voice heavily laced with sarcasm. "Well I better go see what he wants okay, I'll be back soon, and be nice!" with that, Sparrow turned and began her work through the various corridors and stairwells until she reached Roger's office.
Sparrow straightened her hair and knocked once on the door.
"Come in," came the reply. And I was half expecting him to say 'ENTER' in a creepy voice, Sparrow thought as she opened the door and walked into the large office.
"Please, take a seat," Roger said, motioning to the chair in front of his desk, not taking his eyes off the computer in front of him.
Sparrow did as she was told and waited patiently for what he had to say. She twirled a strand of her still damp hair, resisting the urge to zone out. Finally, he took his eyes of the computer and turned to her.
"Now usually, when one of our residents turns eighteen they are no longer needed here," Roger started, but he was cut off by Sparrow, her eyes shooting daggers through his head.
"Yes you made that quite clear when you told Damien to leave last year," venom dripped from her voice.
"He left of his own free will,"
"Yeah, sure."
"Anyway, we think it would be best if you stayed here," he continued.
"We?" she asked.
"Watari L and I," he clarified.
"You mean I have to live in an orphanage forever?" actually that wasn't so bad, more time to spend with Near and the others.
"That is an option, or, if you'd like, L said you could live in his mansion with Watari and himself," Sparrow was taken off guard.
"L has a mansion?" she whispered, a look of confusion clear on her face.
"Well actually its Watari's mansion, but for the purposes of this conversation, yes, L has a mansion."
"Wait, why do I have to stay so close?" she asked.
"You have proven to be an irreplaceable asset to L, even when Watari and I decided to have you trained to accompany L in his cases we never thought you would get as good as have. Watari and L don't want to lose you; they doubt anyone else could do what you are capable of doing. And besides, let's face it almost every other orphan here is socially awkward in one way or another. But you're not, you're a social chameleon, somehow you just blend in.
Sparrow sat, taking it all in. True, she had been trained for the very purpose of helping L with the difficult parts of his cases, i.e. interacting with people other than Watari to gain information. Not to mention she was an expert when it came to disguises. She doubted she could count all the various wigs, coloured contacts, glasses and outfits she had. She could change from Blonde to redhead in half a minute. Not to mention she was lucky to live through all the training methods they had put her through, the martial arts instructor had no mercy. They had taught her various ways to break into a building without setting of the alarms and even more ways to get information from a person without arising suspicion. Some of the orphans here even referred to her as L's personal spy.
"Listen, I know it probably isn't the life you would have wanted for yourself," actually she didn't really want to do anything else, she loved what she did. "But just think about it."
"Is that all?" she asked, getting up off the chair.
"Yes, that is all," he said dismissing her.
Sparrow exited the office and walked down the corridor, just as she was about to turn the corner, her phone went off. It began to play a song from CATS the musical. Sparrow hurriedly fished the phone out of her pocket that was the ringtone she had assigned for Damien.
"Hello?" she said into the mouth piece.
"Good morning Sparrow," came Damien's calm reply. "Happy birthday."
"Aw chucks, you did remember!" Sparrow giggled as she imagined the face he was pulling at that remark.
"Well yes, I do have a photographic memory," he replied.
"As you keep saying."
"And we hope you have enjoyed your flight, thank you for flying with Virgin Blue." Sparrow's brow furrowed, what was he doing on a plain?
"What are you doing on a plain Damien?" she asked
"Flying," he replied, well obviously.
"Hey Sparrow, I've got to go, I'll talk to you soon," he said hurriedly. A flight attendant was probably coming to tell him off for using his phone.
"Okay, bye!"
"Goodbye."
What did he mean he mean he would talk to me later? Sparrow wondered. Ah well.
Meanwhile, in Japan,
Damien exited the plain, heading for the terminal with all the other passengers. He didn't stop once he got there, instead heading straight for the baggage collection area.
Once he reached the baggage area, he stopped and looked around, scanning the crowd for a certain man. Found him.
Damien walked quickly over to a man clad in a trench coat and a broad rimmed fedora hat.
"Watari," he greeted once he reached the man.
"Damien," Watari greeted back, the two men shook hands before they went to retrieve Damien's luggage.
Once they had retrieved Damien's two suit cases the men made their way to a limousine parked at the front of the airport.
"Don't expect Sparrow to pack so lightly," Damien joked light-heartedly.
"Don't worry, I expect her to take what you packed and times it by six," they chuckled as they loaded the suitcases into the boot.
Watari opened the back door of the limo and the younger of the two slid in.
"Ah well," Damien sighed once Watari had gotten in the driver's seat. "I guess it can't be helped with her profession."
Watari nodded in agreement. "Yes, she worries us all."
The rest of the ride to the hotel was spent in silence.
Back in England
Sparrow and Matt sat upside down on the couch, playing two player on his PS2. The TV was turned upside down also, making it easier for the two to understand what was going on.
Mello stood behind the couch, staring at the two and shaking his head before munching on his chocolate bar again. Near sat near Sparrow's head, playing with his toy robot.
"You might as well give up now," came Matt's taunting voice.
"What do you mean? I'm owning you at this game!" Sparrow replied. I've got this in the bag! Sparrow thought.
A sudden vibration sent Sparrow falling onto the ground, landing on her head and almost crushing Near.
The three stunned boys watched as the young woman squirmed on the floor and reached down the front of her dress to pull out a small phone.
"Hello?" Sparrow said, standing and straightening her dress.
"Sparrow, this is L... Happy birthday," came the reply.
"Aw, thanks L," at this all three boys dropped what they were doing and snapped their heads in her direction.
"L?" they said in unison. Sparrow to several steps back as the boys came charging at her, trying to get the phone.
"Matt, Mello and Near say 'hi'" she quickly said, trying to keep the phone away from the eager little munchkins.
"Tell them I say hi back."
"He says 'hi' back!" she all but yelled, trying to stop their oncoming attack. The boy settled going back to their previous activities, just glad to be noticed by the L.
"I know this is short notice, but do you think you can come to Japan?" L asked.
"Japan? Why?"
"I need help with the Kira case."
"Yeah, I'll be on the next plain to Japan," she said her face turning serious.
"Thank you," was all L said before he hung up.
YAY!
And that's chapter 2!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Deathnote, no matter how hard i pray
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