A/N: Now we'll start getting to a little bit of the action part. Hooray for mysterious circumstances. Oh, by the way…I plan on having Mello on here a little later. I'm not name-dropping just to tease you. He will show up.
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone…I really wish I did. I'm just copying other people's people though.
Once L arrived home, he briefly looked in at Watari's workshop to see if his grandfather had been worried.
Watari was busy painting a cuckoo clock, but he smiled at L and set the paint aside. "Ah, there you are. Did you stay after school?"
"Light was showing me around town," L murmured.
Watari nodded. "He's a good boy. He's the police chief's son and the senior class president. It was nice of him to walk you to school too."
L frowned, as if just realizing that. "Yes…he is overly helpful."
"I'm sure it's part of his job to help the new kids fit in at school. Every year he's on the welcoming committee for incoming students and he gives them a tour of the campus. He doesn't get to do that too often anymore. The last time anybody moved here was over three years ago. Word must be getting out."
L sighed. "I see." L headed back into the house. He grabbed a chocolate chip cookie on his way to his bedroom.
L set out his school books on the tiny desk Watari had put in for him to do his schoolwork. L lamented the fact that he did not know the homework assigned to his after lunch classes. Hopefully, he could make it up.
After his schoolwork was done, L began budgeting his tiny stash of allowance money for necessities he would need. A flashlight was the first thing on the list. A computer would be nice, but L didn't have the money, and he doubted Watari had the necessary equipment to hook a computer up to the internet. Since a computer was out of question, L decided to devote the remainder of his money to buying snack foods. He was lucky that Watari had chocolate chip cookies in the house, but cookies alone would not suffice. L needed candy and little snack packs of cookies.
L headed into the kitchen and began poking around the fridge and pantry. Watari had lots of fruits and vegetables in the fridge, and microwave dinners in the freezer. The pantry was rather small, but stuffed with jars of jam, boxes of crackers, and tins of coffee.
L sighed. If he was to survive at Watari's help, he would need to buy a lot more sweets. The cookies were good for breakfast, the jam was good for sandwiches, but L really didn't want to eat frozen dinners every day. The first night at Watari's, L hadn't even eaten dinner. He had taken a couple of cookies up to his room and had eaten them while he did his schoolwork. L was glad he had.
L wrote down a list of foods he needed to snack on to survive, and possible options for dinners. Anything that included something sweet was good for him. It would just depend on his budget. L got a glass of water and then headed to bed.
That night, L again dreamed of Light. This time, Light was tied to a chair with several heavy ropes and his hands were handcuffed. "I'm dangerous," Light warned. "You should stay away from me. I don't want to hurt you."
L woke with a groan. "What is it about Light that is causing these strange dreams?" L muttered. He rolled out of bed and looked into his closet. Well, Light was right. There really wasn't much to choose from.
"Why am I still thinking about Light?" L asked himself. He grabbed a sweater and a pair of jeans and got dressed for school.
When he walked into the kitchen, he half expected Light to be waiting there for him again, but he wasn't. There was only Watari, finishing his cup of coffee.
L grabbed a chocolate chip cookie and noticed sadly that they had almost run out. He would have to add cookies to his list. Speaking of his list…where had it gone? L looked around discreetly. No, it was missing. Well…he would have to make a new list anyway taking the price of cookies into account. But perhaps it was wise to make his budget after he had visited the grocery store.
"Have a good day at school," Watari muttered, walking off to his workshop.
L shouldered his backpack and began heading down the hill to school. He tried not to think about Light. Light wasn't obligated to walk him to school every day.
L tried to forget about Light as he entered his first class. Unfortunately, with such easy classes, his mind tended to wander. L was glad when the bell rang for second period.
As L headed down the hall to second period, he heard an unmistakable voice from around the corner.
"I don't care, Matsuda!' Light growled. "He's all alone, no family. No one will miss him. I won't get caught. I just have to do something to that kid."
"But it's too risky," Matsuda protested. "I thought we were going to go to college together. What's going to happen if you get in trouble?"
"Nothing will happen," Light insisted. "Why would anyone suspect me?"
As Light and Matsuda turned the corner, Light gave L a heated glare. L shrank back as the duo brushed past him. Light made a slight noise of disgust and deliberately turned his head away.
L slowly made his way to second period, wondering what he had just heard. It sounded like Light was proposing to murder someone.
By the time lunch had rolled around, L's stomach was in a knot. He wasn't even sure he wanted to see Light anymore. But he slowly headed towards Light's table. He noticed that Light wasn't there yet, but all of his friends were. They were all hunched over the table, whispering to each other.
"Hi," L said quietly.
Matsuda jerked out of the huddle, guilt written across his face. "Uh, h-hi, L. I didn't hear you walk up."
Misa also looked up at him guiltily. "L! How…wonderful to see you. Would you like to…sit down?"
"No thank you," L said stiffly. He could tell that they were just talking about him and he didn't want to sit with people who would talk about him behind his back.
Misa looked relieved. "Well, if you want to go sit by yourself, Misa will respect you privacy."
L headed off to his tree, noticing how they immediately huddled up again as soon as he was gone. It figured. He should have known it wouldn't last. They were just trying to gain his friendship while he was new. But now the novelty had faded away and they were probably discussing how weird they thought he was.
L munched his jelly sandwich. It was hard to see Light's friends rejecting him after how they had showed him around town the day before. It was such a sudden shift in behavior. L had hoped that his popularity with Light's group might last through at least the first week. It was unfortunate that-
"Hey, L?"
L looked up from his sandwich. Mikami was standing in front of him, looking worried.
"Yes, Mikami?" L asked icily.
"Have you seen Light?"
"No, isn't he with you?" L squinted over at the table. Light was absent from his spot next to Matsuda.
"No, he's not with us," Mikami said curtly. "I thought he would be with you since he's been spending so much time with you lately."
"Well, he isn't here, as you can obviously see."
Mikami sighed. "I haven't seen him all day. I wonder if he's ditching again."
L thought back to third period Calculus. Light had been there, but he hadn't made an attempt to sit next to L. But then again, L hadn't made an attempt to sit next to him either after the incident in the hallway.
"Matsuda and Light were discussing something in the hallway," L said slowly. "Something about hurting someone. Perhaps Light has done whatever it is and has been suspended from school."
Mikami shifted uneasily. "Oh…that. Well, I think Light was thinking about fighting this little freshman creep from the journalism club. I wouldn't worry too much about Light getting in trouble over it."
"I see," L murmured.
Misa headed across the grass. "Mikami, has he seen Light?"
"No," Mikami sighed. "It looks like Matsuda was the last person to have seen him."
Misa pouted. "He didn't say anything to Matsuda about ditching. That isn't fair."
"He didn't say anything to me yesterday either," Matsuda said gloomily.
"So, was he talking to you about fighting that Mello kid?" Mikami asked Matsuda. "L said something about Light being in trouble."
Matsuda looked frightened. "N-no, Light didn't fight him."
Mikami looked exasperated. "But was he going to fight him?"
Matsuda looked uncertainly between L and Mikami.
"I overheard Light talking to you in the hallway,' L murmured. "He sounded very angry at someone. I am wondering if he got into a fight with this person and is now in trouble."
Matsuda licked his lips nervously. "Light won't do that. H-he's just talking about it. He's not going to do anything."
Mikami threw up his hands in disgust. "Then we have no idea where Light is. Just great. Come on, Matsuda. Let's go look for him."
As Mikami stormed off with Matsuda, Misa looked at L hesitantly. "He'll come around," she said quietly as she walked away to follow them.
Light was absent from chemistry class. L assumed that Light was gone for the day. He had probably left right after calculus.
In fifth period, L approached his teacher to ask for yesterday's assignment. "Mrs. Badger? Yesterday, I-"
"Oh, are you feeling better today?" she asked earnestly. "I was so sorry to hear of it."
"Umm, yes, I'm fine," L said, a puzzled look on his face.
"Oh, I bet you wondered how I knew." She smiled pleasantly. "Light came by earlier and told me you had food poisoning. It was so nice of him to make sure you got home safely. I hope you didn't have lunch from the cafeteria. It would be awful if the cafeteria caused it."
"Umm…no, I bring my own lunch. I probably just let the lunch meat sit out too long."
As L returned to his seat with yesterday's work, he was even more mystified by Light's behavior.
In sixth period, L had P.E. with Matsuda. "Light's back," Matsuda whispered to L as they took their places on the badminton court.
'Where did he go?" L whispered back.
"It's up to him to tell you," Matsuda said softly. "He's been wrestling with a lot of personal issues lately. I don't want to gossip about him. It's up to him."
L was put through the paces dodging Matsuda's wild badminton swings for the whole hour of P. E. Matsuda again apologized profusely and followed L all the way from the locker room out to the front gates of school.
L was startled to see Light standing there, waiting for him. Light glared at Matsuda angrily and Matsuda said good-bye quickly and scampered off.
"I'll walk you home," Light said curtly. He started walking off briskly, leaving L to follow after him.
"Light?" L asked hesitantly. "Where were you earlier?"
"None of your business," Light snapped.
"Well, your friends were really worried about you."
Light snorted. "Matsuda, I bet. He can't stop worrying about me for even a second. He's like my mother!"
L edged away from Light. "I don't want to force you to do anything you don't want to do. If you don't want to walk me home, don't. I don't need anyone pretending to be my friend when they don't even like me."
Light whirled around. "Is that what you think?"
L sighed. "You're obviously mad at me. I don't know what I did to make you so angry, but I apologize for whatever it is. Now, please give yourself some time to cool off."
Light groaned. "It's not what you think it is. I'm not mad at you. I wasn't trying to avoid you."
"Then what were you doing? Why are you in such a bad mood today?"
Light clenched his jaw. "This doesn't concern you. There are things going on that you'll never understand. You have your secrets and I have mine. Come on, let's go home."
They walked the rest of the way in silence. Light walked with L all the way up the hill, to Watari's doorstop. "I'll see you tomorrow," Light said abruptly. He turned back to head down the hill.
L walked inside, trying to make sense of the day. He settled onto the couch.
"L?" Watari called from inside the work room. "Was Light with you?"
"Yes,' L called back.
"His father just called. He wants Light to go meet him at the police station."
L ran out the door to go tell Light to go straight to the police station instead of going home. "Light?" L called. "Light? Your dad just called and-"
L frowned. He didn't see Light anywhere, just the dirt path ahead of him. "No one can run that fast," L muttered. He squinted, looking all the way down the patch for Light's figure at the bottom of the hill, but still saw nothing. As L headed back inside, he pondered the mystery that was Light Yagami.