Away From Home
Chapter Twenty-Two
By Andruindel
lilililili
My face flushed as I stared up at L, and he stared down at me. His eyes were unguarded, and there was an obvious expression of fondness in them. They were soft, and shining playfully. I smiled, and leaned close to him as his arms went around my waist.
"You know what, Amy-chan?" He asked me, rubbing his cheek against my hair.
"What?" I asked him.
I looked up at him when he didn't answer right away, and found him staring down at me. Before I could ask him again what he had wanted to say, he leaned down and kissed me. His lips were soft against mine, and the kiss was gentle.
Suddenly, I was knocked flat by a... a unicorn?
I woke up with a start, unsure where I was. My momentary confusion was caused by the fact that we'd just changed hotels. I still wasn't used to our new location.
"Amy-chan?" L's eyes turned onto me from where he was sitting by his computer. The rest of the task force was just sitting around. We were still waiting for the two Kiras to make another move, which was boring work. I was expecting Misa to send her journal pages with the location she wanted to see Light. Then, I planned to tag along, to keep an eye on Light. I knew Matsuda was going to end up accompanying him, and I wasn't about to let Matsuda spend the day with Light without me there to make sure he stayed out of trouble.
Finally sure of where I was, I rubbed my eyes, glancing around. "I just had the weirdest dream." I claimed. No one really paid much attention to me. Light wasn't even there.
It was a pleasant surprise when L actually turned his full attention onto me. He didn't say anything, but I could tell he wanted to know what I'd dreamed about. So I told him the bare minimum.
"There was a unicorn..." I said slowly. I glanced up at him, wondering if maybe he would guess what was really on my mind, but he seemed satisfied with my explanation of the dream.
My thoughts were interupted when Watari suddenly entered the room. "Ryuuzaki,"
"Yes, Watari," L was suddenly all business, acting as though I wasn't even there.
"We have another message from the second Kira."
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This was exactly the moment I'd been waiting for. Chief Yagami had called Light to let him know about the message, and now Light was there. I quietly slipped into the background, not wanting to disturb the group as they discussed the implications of the journal pages.
"He wanted the journal shown on tv?" Light asked as he looked at the pages. "These entries are from last year..."
From his place in a chair, in his customary hunched position, L pointed out the entry for May 30th.
I watched Light closely as he examined the pages. I'd taken a look at them over L's shoulders a minute ago, just to refresh my memory. Since I knew what was going on, I had immediately picked up on the 'notebook' reference Misa had made. That was probably what was going through Light's mind, I thought as I watched him. He seemed intent on the pages he held. He was obviously trying to decide how best to deal with this new development.
"What do you think? Is it real?" L asked as he approached Light.
Light turned to look at him, considered for a minute, and then spoke lightly and almost apologetically. "At this point in time, all I can say for sure is: he must be stupid."
Matsuda agreed immediately. Poor Matsuda, I thought, watching him now. He was so fond of Light. Tears gathered in my eyes as I went over the events of the last episode of the anime. Matsuda really had made a big improvement that episode. Of course, I'd called it. I knew he had it in him.
As Chief Yagami explained that airing the journal pages would cause mass panic, L moved away to the low table, where a box of chocolates lay. Several of them were already missing, as he'd been eating them randomly all day.
"To be honest," L said as he selected a chocolate. "It's so stupid, I'm not even sure how to deal with this situation any more." I almost giggled. Not only had he spoken with his mouth full, but he sounded extremely put out by the fact that he didn't know what to do. The others followed him as he resumed his seat, and gathered around.
Deciding that I'd rather not be left in the background, I slipped past Light, being sure to keep a wide space between me and him, and then sat down between Aizawa and Matsuda. Matsuda glanced once at me, but said nothing. He was listening to L as he explained what he thought they ought to do.
L deserved his ranking as the top three detectives in the world, I thought as I listened to him speaking his thoughts on the problem aloud. He knew what he was doing, and he wasn't going to take any chances that the Kira copy-cat might get away with whatever he (she, I thought to myself) was up to. I gazed silently at him, never looking away from his face. He looked as calm as ever.
"We should also arrange to have undercover officers in both those locations on both dates." L finished his thought.
Matsuda spoke up, grinning. "I should probably go, since I'd blend in with the crowd there, y'know?" He said.
L set down his tea cup, considering.
"I'll go too," Light said suddenly, surprising everyone but me.
Irritated by Light's use of the nick-name "Matsui", I took a stand. "I want to go, too." I said, surprising myself with the vehemence in my tone. "I want to do something helpful, instead of just sitting around all the time watching you guys work on catching Kira." I glanced at Light as I spoke, angry that I couldn't just confront him then and there. "Please say you'll let me go, L," I pleaded, turning to L with my best puppy-face on. "I'll blend in just as well as Matsuda,"
L considered my words for a long time, gnawing thoughtfully on his thumb-nail. I looked around the room, trying to decipher the looks on the groups' faces. Matsuda looked a bit worried; obviously he would be concerned for my safety. Chief Yagami looked disapproving, as though he thought I should have kept quiet and not interupted them. Light seemed like he was lost in thought; he was staring absently at me, but in a way that indicated he wasn't really looking at me. Aizawa just looked uninterested. He was the most annoying out of the group. Except for Light, of course, but Light was more on the 'I'ma kill you, first chance I get' scale.
Finally, L looked up at me. I turned to face him again, hoping that he would say yes.
"My brain tells me not to let you go, because you may well be a liability to our undercover officers." My heart sank, only to rise again as he continued. "But something tells me that letting you accompany Matsuda and Light would be a good idea. You may go with them, so long as you promise to follow Matsuda's orders perfectly, and not to do anything stupid."
Happy beyond all reason (I was going to be exposed to Misa's insanity, after all) I leaped to my feet, rushed at L, and hugged him. Before I could stop myself, I had kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Ryuuzaki-san," I grinned at him. He stared up at me, obviously very surprised by my kiss. The rest of the group were trying to act as though they hadn't seen me kiss him, but they were failing at acting innocent. I smiled to myself, pleased that I had confused the entire group.
I was also already making plans for my under-cover mission. There was the question of what to wear, how to do my hair, and how to act. Maybe me and Matsuda would need a back story, to help the illusion along. As I made my way toward my new room, I smiled to myself. Finally, I would be doing something at least a little helpful. I'd have to keep my eyes out for Misa, though, I thought to myself, hoping I remembered what her disguise looked like.
"Oh, Panda!" I fairly sang the instant I had closed my bedroom door behind me. "Guess what! I'm going on a secret mission with Matsu!"
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Later that night, as some of the others were beginning to drift away, I sat watching L, as I had been for the last hour or so. I was trying not to make it obvious, but I couldn't get the dream I'd had earlier out of my head. It was haunting me, in a manner of speaking. And all I could wonder was: "What if it came true?" And: "Can L tell I've been dreaming about him?" The questions were torturous as they wound through my head again and again.
So, to distract myself, I abruptly stood, and followed Light, Chief Yagami and Matsuda outside. It didn't look like Matsuda was planning on going home yet, but even if he was, I'd just say good bye and then go back upstairs. At least it would give me something to do.
Matsuda wasn't planning on going home, he was just talking over our 'trips' as Light called them, with Light. I stood near the door, watching them as Matsuda said good bye, and Light drove away. When Matsuda turned back to me, I smiled at him. And then his phone rang.
I couldn't hear who it was, but I knew it was L, asking Matsuda to keep an eye on Light while we were out. I looked questioningly up at him when he hung up. He said nothing, but he put an arm around my shoulders and we walked inside together. He looked worried, and my spirits dropped. I kept forgetting just how fond of Light Matsuda was.
"So, Matsu," I started as we got into the elevator. Talking helped distract me from the fact that I hated elevators. "What'd L have to say?"
He looked at me, confused.
"I guessed," I said quickly. "I mean, he's always calling you for random reasons, right?"
Matsuda laughed. "Yeah, I guess he is. He just wanted to make sure I knew to keep an eye on you when we're under cover."
I tipped my head to one side. "Really?" I asked. I was more than a little suspicious.
Matsuda nodded. "Really." He said, and he was completely serious.
I considered the implications of that. Did L really care? I smiled as I thought about it. Maybe he really did give a crap what happened to me after all.
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Hahaha, secret mission comes in the next chapter. ;D And, Panda-san made another short appearance, I'll probably have him come in again a few chapters from now. I'm finally getting back into the flow of things! I love watching the anime again, even though I'm a bit lost, because I haven't seen it in so long! L is so awesome, haha
Anyways, thanks for reading, and again, I'm sorry for the length. It's kinda weird, trying to get back into the flow of a story I've left for so long. x.x I'm looking forward to reviews!
