Away From Home

Chapter Eighteen

By Andruindel

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"Thank you, Light."

"Not at all. After all, I want to catch Kira as much as you do, Ryuga."

That was not what I wanted to wake up to. Ever. Waking up to Light's voice was not something I enjoyed. It was about as pleasant as waking to find that a nightmare I'd had, a nightmare that was truly terrifying, had become real. No, it was worse than that. It was like waking up to find that the person I most dreaded meeting was standing barely three feet away from me.

I struggled to open my eyes, hoping against hope that I was dreaming. Anything was possible, right? Hoping, praying that my mind was playing a cruel trick on me, I sat up, squinting against the bright light.

Against every prayer I had uttered silently in the last five seconds, I saw that it was indeed Light's voice that I had heard. I swallowed hard, against the raw pain in my throat, and sank back down onto the couch with a groan. It took a moment for the fact that I was lying on the couch to register in my brain. At some point during my fever-induced sleep, someone had moved me to the couch sitting against the wall – I assumed so I would not be in their way- and placed a blanket over me. I didn't recognize the blanket. I wondered where it had come from.

No one seemed to notice that I was awake. At any rate, L and Light kept talking. I listened, drifting in and out of consciousness, as the others introduced themselves to Light, and then as L led Light toward the TV. Alerted by the movement, I let my eyes follow them. I hadn't expected Light to glance sharply at me. For a split second, as my eyes met his, I couldn't breath. I was looking right at Kira. But as suddenly as he had looked at me, he looked away, and continued listening to L. I closed my eyes again, swallowing despite the pain in my throat. I didn't want to have to look at Light again. Not yet, anyway.

Eventually, I felt my weight shift slightly as someone leaned against the couch.

"How're you feeling, Amy?"

Matsuda... It was just like him to check on my like this. A wry smile tugged at my lips as I squinted up at him.

"I feel pretty crappy..." I muttered. Nothing could have been truer. I did feel crappy. My entire body ached, and my throat was sore. The sunlight streaming through the window sent pain tearing through my head, even though I was squinting to try and prevent it, and the sheer curtains were drawn, too. Of all the insane ways to get a head-ache…

"Who's here?" I inquired, feigning ignorance. It would never do to let them know I knew who Light was. Especially if I decided to tell them that Light was Kira.

Matsuda smiled lightly. "Light, Chief Yagami's son." He replied lightly.

I nodded once, and then stopped because my head was pounding. "Where'd the blanket come from?" I asked. As I looked closer at the blanket, I notice the pattern. It was covered in music notes. I couldn't keep from smiling. Music had been a big part of my life for years. It made me feel closer to home to have the music note blanket over me. I pulled the blanket up and buried my face in it as Matsuda answered.

"Ryuuzaki sent Watari to get it." He replied lightly. "He wasn't sure if you'd like the pattern, but I think it's kinda pretty."

I smiled again, lowering the blanket and tracing one of the music notes with a finger. "I like it…" I said slowly. And then I looked up and around. "How long was I asleep?" I asked.

Matsuda shrugged. "A few hours. And, by the way, Ryuuzaki made me promise to make you take some Tylenol or something. It'll reduce the fever."

I grimaced, but then sighed. "Fine. If it'll make me feel better." I gave in. The chills that had plagued me for most of the day were terrible. I hated being sick in general. But fevers were the worst of all sicknesses. Matsuda seemed to agree with me on that point. At least, his sympathy was sincere.

Normally, Matsuda's movements were quick, enthusiastic, and rather startling at best. More than once I'd been drowsing, only to jump a foot out of my chair when Matsuda made a sudden move. The others were more… calm in their movements. None of them ever made sudden movements, especially L. But, as I watched Matsuda carefully carrying a glass of water to me, I realized that even he could be conscious of the speed of his movements.

On the other hand, Matsuda was always gentle. He was even soft-spoken, unlike the others on the task force. My mind flicked idly toward thoughts of L at this point, and I couldn't stop a smile from crossing my face. There certainly were a lot of differences between L and Matsuda. Matsuda was loud and obnoxious at times, but he was always kind, and gentle, and caring. And he never said anything hurtful, at least not that I knew of. L on the other hand… He was so different, so outlandishly weird; it was hard to describe him.

My train of thought took a detour as Matsuda handed me the glass of water, and two Tylenols. With a grimace, I downed the pills, one at a time, and then gulped the rest of the water. I wished I hadn't, because it just served to hurt my throat. Handing the glass back to Matsuda, I smiled as he ruffled my hair before leaving to put it away.

"Thanks, Matsu…" I murmured. I was still sleepy, despite having slept for a few hours. Plus the few hours before that. That was the worst part about being sick. I slept so damn much, and missed a day, or sometimes days, of my life, wasted them lying around. However, even though I was sleepy, I couldn't go back to sleep at the moment. Even when I was sick, my body could only handle so much sleep at a time. And besides, there was no way I was going back to sleep with Light around.

Instead, I curled up on the couch, resting my head against the arm so I could keep an eye on Light and the others. For a moment the others stood watching Light as L explained his task to him. He was supposed to watch the videos; those cursed videos of Misa's. I could feel anger mounting, and quickly took a deep breath to try and stop it. I had more important things to do: like making sure L remained safe, as safe as could be expected any way, while Light stood barely a foot away from him.

From my vantage point, I could clearly see Light's face. I focused mainly on him, as he watched the video's, and found myself repulsed. When I'd first started watching the anime, I'd found him attractive. Even now, I realized that he was actually really cute. But the fact that I was staring straight at Kira was terrifying enough to over-ride that. I was staring at L's eventual killer.

I'd never stopped blaming Light for L's death. Even though people insisted it was Rem's fault, because she was the one who actually did it. It was Light's fault. I would never stop blaming him…

I swallowed, forgetting for a moment my sore throat. But I remembered as soon as I had swallowed. I still felt pretty crappy, but, I realized, I was no longer shivering. I was pleasantly warm, and for a moment I let myself relax, snuggling deeper under the blanket. My eyes fell on Matsuda, and then I looked at L. He was watching Light, but as my gaze fell on him, his eyes swept up and met mine.

I smiled.

For a few seconds L continued to stare at me. I stared right back, trying to communicate how exactly I felt about Light's presence. I hated having Light so near me. Especially when I wasn't exactly sure what my presence meant to him. So far he didn't seem to care, or even show any curiosity toward me at all. He knew I was there. But he didn't seem to care.

It made me nervous, in all honesty.

"So, what do you make of this, Light? Have you come to any conclusions?"

It made me uncomfortable to have to watch L approach Light. He had no idea who Light was. Sure, he suspected him. And from my experience in watching the anime, I suspected that he had known all along that Light was Kira. But no one else believed him. I wanted to scream at them that Light was Kira. But I remained silent, watching L.

L and Light stared at each other for a moment. I fancied for a moment that I could see Light's frustration. But the only visible sign he gave was digging his fingers into the arm of the chair; it was only my imagination, a result of having watched the anime.

"It's hard to tell for sure, but it looks like there might be another person out there with Kira's power." Light finally responded as he pulled himself to his feet. I pulled in a quick breath, for his movement had brought Light even closer to L. There was no doubt in my mind that, given the chance, Light would kill L then and there.

That was when I realized. It was my job, my obligation, to make sure L didn't die. I was not going to leave L's side; I would never leave him and Light alone, if I could help it. It was probably unnecessary, seeing as I knew the exact time that L would die. But still… it would make me feel better, at least. And I might even be able to figure out a way to save him, in the end.

"With Kira's power?" Chief Yagami seemed shocked. I turned my eyes to him for a moment, registering his look of total surprise. "But, what do you mean by that, Light?"

I grimaced. Chief Yagami loved Light. And he had no idea what his son was going to become. I had never really liked Chief Yagami. But things had changed since my arrival in Death note land. Now, I found that I pitied him. He was too blind to see that his son was Kira…

"At the very least," Light replied. I hated the way he could remain so calm, despite working in such close proximities with L, his enemy. "I'd say these videos were not made by the Kira we're familiar with. It's extremely out of character for him to use these kinds of victims for his killings."

I nearly laughed. Indeed, I had to struggle to prevent it. I had just realized that everyone assumed Kira was a guy. They never said 'she'. They always referred to Kira as 'he'. Why was that? I was curious now, but Light's presence made me nervous. Too nervous to speak. I held my silence, and hoped to catch L alone later on, so I could ask him.

For now, I turned my attention back to the discussion at hand. I was anxious to hear what else was said. I didn't want to be caught unawares if I ever had to voice my suspicions about Light.

"And since we've established that he needs a name and face to kill, it makes you wonder how he was able to kill that detective and those two officers right outside the television station like that." Light continued. He was being smart again. Too smart for his own good, I thought. But, then again, he was a genius.

Too bad he'd end up the biggest mass murderer of all time. He'd already killed a lot of people.

I watched as everyone uttered exclamations of surprise. They obviously thought Light was a genius too. Honestly, when I compared the two and their appearances, Light looked the part more than L did. I watched them closely, listening as they talked. Personally, I believed any theory L came up with. That may have been foolish, especially if he'd been the kind of person to make up stupid theories. But, as it was, he wasn't. So it was that much easier to believe his theories.

I flinched when L suggested that Light play the part of the 'real Kira'. The irony –if it really was irony, I'd always had a hard time understanding the idea of irony – was killing me.

"Me, as Kira…?" Light asked.

"Yes, you're the only one I can think of who can pull something like this off…"

I couldn't help it. I broke into laughter. Everyone, including L, looked in my direction. I could only pull the blanket up and over my head, my face burning from embarrassment. It wasn't my fault. They had no idea how funny that had been for me. Of course Light was the only one who could pull something like that off.

He was the real Kira!

I waited for several minutes, until they started talking again, and then, drawing as little attention to myself as possible, I stood up, still with the blanket over my head, and started toward my room. I had a feeling that at least one of them was watching me. But I just fled as quickly as possible to the relative safety of my room.

I was still planning on asking L why people referred to Kira as 'he'. But I was going to wait until everyone else went home first.

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-insert evil laugh here- Yes, I finally updated! -cheers- It's been a while. I hit a little thing called Writer's Block. But I think it's gone for now. As you can see, Light made his appearance. Finally. And, as you can also see, Amy's going insane. I think someone should comment on her lack of surprise in any given situation... Since she knows what's going on, it makes sense that she wouldn't be surprised, right? So someone should notice and be like 'Why aren't you ever surprised?!'. Anyway... I think I'm rambling... O_O Review, please?