Away From Home

By Andruindel

Chapter Nine

--

When we got back to the hotel, I followed Aizawa inside at a trot. He seemed anxious, and that made me anxious. I wanted to know what was going on. But I didn't dare ask him again. I knew he would just ignore my question.

The first thing Aizawa did when we got into the hotel suite was go to into the workroom and immediately toward L, who sat at his computer. Everyone else was already there. They all looked worried.

L looked up as we entered. His eyes met mine, and I raised my eyebrows at him.

"There is no time to deal with your distractions tonight, Amy-chan." L started. I felt my heart sink at that, although I wasn't quite sure why. "I need you to go to your room now."

There was something different about his tone, and the way he looked at me. I almost didn't like it. But, at least he wasn't sending me to my room like a child this time….

I lifted one shoulder in a shrug, and started toward my room.

It looked like another long night…

--

"Amy, get up!"

My bed started suddenly shaking, and I let out a yelp. For some odd reason I had been lying half-way out of my bed. The result of that was my falling hard to the floor as the bed shook. I fell heavily on one shoulder, and then just lay there. After a minute I sat up.

"Ow…"

I whimpered, having finally comprehended what was going on, and who was in my room. "That was mean." I snapped. Aizawa was not my favorite member of the task force. He never would be, either. The fact that he had just turned me out of my bed, for no good reason, did not make me like him any more.

"Ryuuzaki has something to tell us all." Aizawa told me. He expressed no concern for my well-being, after I had fallen to the floor, and probably gotten bruises. I glared after him as he left, rubbing my shoulder, and muttering to myself.

Too tired to do anything else, I shrugged my hoodie on. I pulled the hood far over my eyes, and left my room. Whatever L wanted to tell me, it must have been important.

Everyone was waiting for me in the work room. I glared at them from under my hood, my eyes narrowed. I was in a dangerous mood. If anyone dared talk to me, or touch me, they would meet a doom far worse than any even I could have imagined. Or, at least… I fondly imagined that they would.

I met Matsuda's gaze, and he seemed just as confused as I was. He was also a lot more awake that I was. Resenting the fact that I'd been woken so early, I settled into my corner.

I was just beginning to drowse when L turned to face the room. Jerking awake, I looked up and around. I was just in time to catch L's eye as he glanced in my direction. Our gazes held for a moment, and then he turned to address the room at large.

"I have determined that Amy is not Kira…" He said slowly.

I didn't wait to hear anything else. I let out a sigh of relief, and lowered my head to my knees. L didn't think I was Kira any more. It was like a huge load had just fallen off my shoulders.

With a relieved smile on my face, I looked back up. I hadn't heard anything that L had just said. Apparently it didn't concern me, because no one was looking at me. They were all looking at L. Since no one was paying any attention to me, I slipped quietly out of the room, and back to mine.

I needed to tell Panda the good news.

--

Now that I was no longer Kira, I was not being watched constantly. I could go anywhere in the hotel suite without anyone caring. It was like heaven after having been trapped in the presence of people for so long.

Even with my new-found freedom, I spent a lot of time with the task force. I really had nothing better to do. I found myself spending a lot of time with Matsuda. Whether I was just sitting watching him work, or talking with him when he had some free time, I was with Matsuda almost constantly.

Sometimes, I think I got on his nerves…

A few days after L had decided I wasn't Kira, I was sitting on the window seat, basking in the sun. My eyes were half-closed, but I was listening to what went on around me. Nothing much was happening. I couldn't quite understand what was going on. All I knew for sure was that some FBI agents had died.

I sat up suddenly, looking around. Matsuda glanced at me, and then went back to work. I had just heard L mention the name 'Raye Penber'. Now I remembered what was going on. Kira had just killed twelve FBI agents. And L suspected that it was Chief Yagami's son.

"Ryuuzaki?"

L glanced at me as I interrupted whatever he had just been saying. I flushed as the activity in the room ground to a halt, and everyone looked at me. But I was determined to ask my question.

"Ryuuzaki, why is Kira killing all these people?"

I had often struggled to understand, from Light's point of view, the reason behind the killings. I had never agreed with what he was doing. But, now that I was in Death Note land, I wanted to know more about what was going on. I wanted to understand why Kira… Light, was killing all those people. Especially the innocent ones like Raye Penber.

I could almost literally see L searching for an answer. It wasn't often that I could see through L's blank mask, but I was pleased whenever I did. This time, I didn't like what I saw.

Everyone was so silent; I was beginning to feel self-conscious. Maybe I'd asked a stupid question. Just as I was about to tell L to forget it, he answered.

"I don't know, Amy." He replied slowly. "However, if I were to make an educated guess, I would say that at first, his motivation was ridding the world of crime and violence. But, I think his priorities have slipped. He feels threatened, and so he kills whatever is threatening him at the time…"

I looked away, digesting that. So his motivation had been some-what good at first. But he'd been corrupted by power. It could happen to anyone, I guess. At that moment I wondered if I could simply tell L who Kira was, and how they killed.

But that would only get me back into suspicion again…

I sighed, and closed my eyes. With so much to think about, I spent the rest of the day dozing on the window seat, until I finally fell asleep in the sun.

--

I woke some time later, cramped and confused. "I've got to stop falling asleep in weird places…" I muttered to myself as I sat up. That was when I realized that L was inches away from me, staring.

I blinked, and swallowed, trying to find words. But my mind was drawing a blank. I had absolutely nothing to say. Which was not unusual under normal circumstances… But these were hardly normal circumstances.

Finally, I looked away, running a hand through my hair. "Don't you have something better to do?" I asked, trying to hide the fact that I was blushing.

"Not really, no…"

I didn't look at him. I didn't really want to.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Four hours. It's not a good idea to take a nap so late in the afternoon, Amy-chan. You're going to have trouble sleeping tonight."

I yawned, and stretched. "Thanks a lot. I'll remember that." I replied. At the moment, I felt like I could sleep for the rest of the night. I probably looked like a zombie or something, too.

That was half the reason I wouldn't look at L.

But, when he spoke again, I glanced at him.

"The question you asked earlier intrigued me, Amy…"

"Really."

I was in no mood to talk. I was actually in the mood for food. Ha… that rhymed. Apparently I was in a random mood, too. Either way, I didn't want to talk about Kira. Kira always put me into a bad mood.

I heard L backing off, and he sat in his usual chair, in the usual way. Didn't anything ever change around here? Even the food we ate was always the same.

As I turned to look at him, narrowing my eyes, I saw the look in his eyes, and frowned. Before I could snap at him to leave me alone, he spoke.

"What brought that question to your mind, Amy?"

Taken by surprise, I hesitated. L had never really shown this much interest in me. I found it alarming, and even slightly flattering. That just goes to show how disoriented I was from staying inside for so long. I would never have put so much meaning behind a few simple sentences normally.

A moment went by while I thought, my head tilted to one side, and my eyes on L. And then I shrugged. "I just wanted to know… I'm trying to understand what's going on with Kira. Why is he killing people? And if he's trying to rid the world of crime and violence, why are you trying to stop him?"

"Do you think I shouldn't be?"

"No!" I exclaimed, lest L get the wrong idea. "No one should have that much power. The power to control life and death is something only… well, God should have." I hesitated, shrugging. Sometimes my mouth seemed to get away with me before I could think of what I was saying.

L seemed to be pondering what I had said.

"Do you believe in a God?" He asked finally.

I gave him a look I reserved for people who asked something stupid. "Yes." I replied shortly. "I do believe in God." I emphasized the lack of 'a' in the sentence. I was curious to see what L would say in response to that.

L said nothing. He merely let his gaze wander away from me, and fell into silence.

I was still half-asleep. Pretty oblivious to what was going on, I stood up, and wandered into the kitchen. I wasn't necessarily hungry, I was just bored. For once L had shown an interest in me, and I had cut the conversation off short.

I blinked as a thought struck me. "L," I called as I stepped back into the work room. "I've seriously got nothing to do around here. Do you think you could take me to get some books tomorrow?"

L turned his eyes on me, and nodded once. "Very well." He replied.

Pleased, I smiled. I even thought about hugging him. But I thought better of it, and instead blew a kiss at the back of his head. I knew he wouldn't see it. Giggling, I retreated to my room before L could ask what was so funny.

I was looking forward to our excursion to the book store the next day.

--

Mmmmyes... Well... Andy's running out of chapters! OO I've got chapter 13 finished, but I'm kinda stuck on chapter 14. I think that's only because I was kinda messed up with my Death Note time-line. ; Now that I know what's going on in the anime, I should be able to continue writing, no problem. I know, nothing really big happens in this chapter. But.. Hey, it's fun.

By the way, does anyone know L's religious views? o.o; I was planning on having them have a big ol' religious discussion. Then again, religioun in a touchy subject... So, give me an opinion in your reviews, please! If you want to see a big ol' discussion between Amy and L, please, do tell me! Anyway, thanks for reading, and I'll try to update soon.