Away From Home

Chapter Thirty-One

By Andruindel

lilililili

A day or two later, I was wonderfully recovered. My bruises were still sore to the touch, and my left arm was stiff and painful, but at least I could walk around on my own without too much pain. This was why I was down in the work room again, watching the task force work. I was bored. I had Panda and Teddy with me, to keep me company since L was so busy, but it wasn't the same. Matsuda wasn't around, he was working as Misa's manager, and they'd been gone all day, fliming some stupid movie. Groaning, I stretched. My muscles protested, but not as loudly as they had the first day out of the hospital. As I stretched, I realized something. My arm itched.

I tried to ignore the itch, but it was so itchy. Trying to keep my mind off the itch, I turned my gaze to L, watching as he did whatever it is L's do best. Actually, at the moment, he was drinking tea, after putting several spoonfuls of sugar into it. Watching him wasn't enough to distract me from the itch around my stitches. Speaking of the stitches, I thought as I surreptiously tried to scratch the itch, I was due to get them out in a few days.

"Amy-chan," L didn't even turn to look at me. "Don't scratch."

"But L," I was whining, I knew it. "It itches."

L almost never sighed in exasperation, or gave any other sign of his emotions, but I could tell, as he stood up, that he was slightly exasperated. "Here," He said as he approached me. "Let me take your mind off it..." Before I could ask how he intended to do that, he leaned down and kissed me. This kiss was different. It was still soft, still gentle, but slower. His lips lingered on mine for a long time before he finally pulled away.

"Better?"

"Mmhmm," I murmured, letting my eyes close and my head rest back on the arm of the couch.

I didn't exactly fall asleep. I was still too worried about Light, too uncomfortable around him, for that. But I did close my eyes, and let myself doze a little bit. So I was at least coherent when L decided to divulge the fact that he was, in fact, the top three detectives in the world. I smiled. That was one of my favorite facts about L that you found out in the anime. It was just so typical of L to be the top three detectives, under different names.

I giggled to myself, and Mogi glanced in my direction. Honestly, I didn't really care that I was giggling to myself over apparently nothing. I knew what was funny, and that's all that mattered. I giggled even harder when L jokingly bribed Mogi and Mr. Yagami with a strawberry, so they would 'keep it a secret, okay?'.

L hadn't been paying too much attention to me that day. It was getting late, and I was finally getting tired. I sat quietly on the couch, cuddling Panda and Teddy, while L briefed his two criminal buddies on their mission. Only when Watari's screen popped up on the computer did I realize what events were happening, right then. I jumped to my feet. "Oh no! It's Matsuda!"

A few people glanced at me, but I was intent on L. He didn't seem all that concerned. In fact, he just seemed bothered that Matsuda had ruined his plan. I stood by the couch, torn between worry for Matsuda, and slight anger at L for not caring that Matsuda was in danger. My anger at L instantly disappeared the moment he started his phone conversation with Matsuda. His switch from cold, calculating L to normal, well, just normal, was so funny, I had to laugh.

Aching, I paced forward, moving through the crowd gathered around L, until I stood beside him. I let my hand rest on his shoulder, but he didn't react. I was getting steadily more and more worried about Matsuda, but finally, L decided that there was a way to save him.

I remained by L's side as we watched. Misa had somehow convinced the entire Yotsuba group to go to her stupid little 'reception' thing, and now we could watch everything that went on. I wanted to take the phone from L when Matsuda called, and beg Matsuda to be careful, but I knew it wouldn't do any good. So I just waited for L to finish the phone call. I remembered the first time I'd watched the anime. This episode had freaked me out, because Matsuda was my favorite character, after L. But now I knew what was going on.

Right after L hung up the phone, they all rushed to get ready.

As they put the plan in motion, I stood to one side, watching. I caught L just before they all rushed away, pulling him off to the side. "Please make sure you help Matsuda," I begged him. "And please, L, please be careful."

"Of course," L promised me, and then kissed me swiftly before following the others. They had work to do, and I was left alone in, as usual, just waiting.

lilili

That time of waiting was so painful, I felt sick. I knew it was all going to work out, but I still couldn't help being worried. What if something went wrong? Wasn't my presence there proof that things could change? I was hoping for a change anyway! I couldn't let Light kill L.

Finally, everyone came back. I rushed to the door, ignoring my aching muscles, and hugged Matsuda tightly. "Please don't do anything stupid like that again, Matsuda," I pleaded with him, though my words were muffled.

"I'll try," Matsuda reassured me. I smiled up at him, and then went to greet L, feeling a little guilty that I hadn't gone to him first. He didn't seem to mind. He was already sitting at his computer. I came up behind him, wrapping my arms around his neck from behind.

"I'm glad you're safe, Ryuuzaki," I murmured in his ear.

"Me too..."

lilililili

Ehehehe, L is so funny. I always found this episode the most stressful, even when I knew what was going on. The only other episode I stressed out about more is the one where a certain someone is shot thirteen times. ;-; Anywayz... Thanks for reading, and don't forget to hit that review button!