The Chess Match

2

--L/L--

Light had been told that the animal below him would be able to sense if he were nervous and react accordingly… but this was just too much. He hadn't been nervous, still wasn't, although now he was beginning to lose his temper. His thigh muscles, wrapped neatly in nearly nude-colored tights, were protesting in agony as he fumbled with the reins. The horse, that was reputed to be the gentlest in the Ashford Stables, danced sideways, tossing her long brown mane, and showing off the whites of her eyes. Light twined his gloved fingers into the mare's mane, hoping it would prevent him from being unseated as the mare continued to prance excitedly. His knees tensed reflexively, but he quickly relaxed them, trying to stretch his booted legs down around the sides of the mare instead as the equestrian club coach had instructed him during the last two days. The mare tried to leap forward, but the reins Light was still gripping tightly caught her by the bit.

This was not going as planned, he thought, his eyes following Lelouch's mount as the other boy rode in fluid harmony over the fences.

Lelouch finished his round, a smirk rising to his lips. It had been a clear round, no faults. Light wanted to rip his face off. This was technically a challenge between their physical abilities and everyone knew Lelouch skipped gym so often because he was unfit; Light, on the other hand, excelled at sports. His first time on a horse two days ago, and the equestrian club was begging him to join. He was a natural in the saddle, moving through all three gaits and over fences within an hour.

Lelouch cued his horse out of the arena, the slight smile never leaving as he looked Light and the mare up and down disdainfully. Light gave the mare a rough kick to move her forward into the ring, and she shot through it, nearly taking Light's leg off as she raced through the narrow entrance. As he pulled the mare back to a halt, he swore he could hear Lelouch laughing melodically from behind him. And with it, Light knew that somehow the bastard must have cheated.

He saluted Milly Ashford who had enthusiastically agreed to be the judge, dropping one hand from the reins and nodding his head once. The Student Council President stood and nodded back, the signal for him to proceed with his ride. Light gathered his reins, and shut out the rest of the crowd.

He took a deep breath. All he needed to do was get this horse over the fences in the correct order. He'd spent hours practicing yesterday, albeit with two different animals, but they all had the same commands in them. Squeezing or kicking meant forward, sitting up and pulling back on the reins meant stop. Pull on the left rein to turn left, the right to turn right. It was intuitive, and it had worked on the four other horses he had ridden. So why was this mare being so damn difficult?

He squeezed his legs, and the mare snorted as she moved abruptly into a brisk canter. Light's scarlet jacket flared out around his waist, and he moved into a more forward position to approach the first fence, coming around the outside bend of the ring.

It was the moment the chestnut mare saw the first obstacle that Light completely lost control. The mare charged forward like a rocket launcher and it was all he could do to cling to the saddle, his own momentum taking several strides to catch up with the mare's frantic pace. Thirty feet from the fence, Light managed to regain his balance enough to gather his reins, but the mare just stuck her nose straight into the air and galloped madly on. Light sat up, burying his weight firmly into the saddle, dimly remembering that his own body weight should, in theory, affect the horse as well, hopefully causing her to slow down a little. One massive stride from the fence, Light gave up hope and grabbed onto the mare's mane with both hands.

Shit, Light thought, his capacity for intelligent reflection leaving his mind at the same moment the horse left the ground. Together, horse and rider lurched awkwardly over the fence, Light trying to close the angles in his body for a more streamlined appearance while the mare hollowed her back and brought her head nearly into Light's face. The teenager shut his eyes before the strands of chestnut mane whipped him across his eyes, and clutched on fiercely as his instinct for survival kicked into overdrive. He no longer thought about whether his heels were down or if there were a straight line from his elbow to the bit, he would be content as long as he didn't fall off the damn beast.

Muscles screaming fiercely, blood rushing through his ears nearly in time with the mare's echoing hoof beats, and eyes squeezed shut, Light didn't notice the rail fall behind the mare's hocks as she charged towards the next fence. Opening his amber eyes, Light tried in vain to pull the mare back again, but she just pulled harder against his hands. Realizing horses were inanely stupid and dangerous, Light vowed to never mount another horse again if he managed to survive this ordeal, his plans for nobility be damned.

The shrill sound of a whistle pierced his ears and he turned his head quickly to the source. Milly Ashford was standing and pointing excitedly somewhere behind him, emitting the high-pitched noises from a silver whistle between her teeth.

"Lelouch wins!" She shouted, dropping the whistle so that it hung by the chain around her neck. She pointed again at the fence behind him, so that Light was forced to twist sideways in the saddle to look back at it and the fallen pole that spelled his defeat. He had lost… to the physically-inept Lelouch?

"Look out!" Milly shouted frantically, suddenly looking directly at Light, but it was too late. With her rider still sitting crookedly, the mare lurched happily over the second fence, hitting the top rail square in the chest, and stumbling as she landed. Luckily she kept her footing, and Light was able to cling on somehow, his entire body whiplashed around in the saddle. At any moment, he felt his legs were really going to give up. Light heard Ryuk laughing from a perch outside the ring, but ignored him, focusing instead on the rapidly approaching side of the arena. The horse would stop before hitting that, right?

"Sit up!" He heard the voices of the crowd yelling, shouting, and shrieking directions to him. "Use your voice!" That was from one of the equestrian club members. Light doubted the soft aid would be any use at this point. "Pull back!" Light did as he was told, yanking back on the reins, yet the horse paid him no mind. "Turn left!" Light pulled sharply on the left rein, exhilarated when then mare's neck twisted… and then he heard everyone gasp in time with his heart skipping a beat. The chestnut mare's head was nearly facing him, but the beast was still galloping madly straight ahead.

"Give her her head!" came another cry, tinged with fear, but this one Light recognized as Lelouch's.

Light dismissed all other thoughts as he closed in on the single thing approaching him: the gleaming white wooden fence. He released his grip on the reins, eyes widening in terror—he knew instinctively there was no way to stop in time—the horse was going to kill him. He felt the mare suddenly sit back, her hindquarters sliding under both of them, her head flinging backwards towards Light's face, but they were moving too fast, still sliding, dirt flying—

The last thing Light saw was the sky somehow below him and then he was swallowed up by gleaming white.

--L/L--

"I still think it was a little careless of you, Lelouch," the green-haired woman told him, her gold eyes on her favorite stuffed toy. Cheese-kun, however, seemed to have his eyes focused on the purple-eyed boy.

Lelouch frowned. "My plan worked."

"Too well," C.C. finished for him. Lelouch cast her an irritated look, but she wasn't paying him any attention for as involved in a conversation as she was. He sighed, watching as she huggled Cheese-kun tighter.

"Well, he's not dead," Lelouch said at last, finally making C.C. look up at him. "A concussion is certainly part of the inherent risks of equestrian sports. It's not like he didn't know the consequences."

C.C. stared at him for a moment, and Lelouch wondered who he had been trying to convince. Obviously, the woman in front of him hardly cared about the matter… she looked back to Cheese-kun. How irritating.

"I'm going out," Lelouch announced, already striding towards the door as C.C. nodded absently.

Lelouch grabbed his jacket from beside the door, slipping his arms through it as he shut the door behind him. It wasn't as if there had been anyway he could have known the mare would throw Light into a fence… certainly he had bargained that Light would have had difficulties controlling the Thoroughbred after he had tripled her sweet feed the night before. He wouldn't have proposed the idea of a jumping match otherwise. That, and the other preparations.

Lelouch knew from experience that horseback riding used muscles that no other sport did. The former Britannian prince had taken lessons when he lived with his mother, and living next door to the equestrian club had kept those memories from fading. For as good at sports as Light was, Lelouch had been betting on the fact that the former Eleven had never been near a horse before. Being in great physical shape already would assure the other boy that he had a leg-up, so to speak, on Lelouch. And so after offering up the challenge, Lelouch had immediately taken him to the stables and each of them had picked a horse from the field. Neither of them would ride these horses until three days later, the day of the match. Until then, Lelouch graciously had allowed Light to practice as much as he wanted on any of the other mounts. Light had swallowed it all up and practiced several hours each day… only to find that muscle soreness always seemed to be the worst on the third day. Combined with a horse he had never ridden and was too hot to control, Lelouch knew it would be an easy win.

And the benefits were worth it: everyone was reminded that Lelouch was still their unbeatable vice-president, and that Light was really some kind of commoner masquerading as a Britannian. He couldn't even ride a horse, something the rest of them had learned at an early age.

Lelouch sighed. Still, if he had a fault, it would be that his plans had a tendency to work too well, just as C.C. had said. Hadn't he nearly wiped out an entire town with an earthquake that had been aimed at Britannian troops? Of course, the town had been evacuated for the most part… but it did show that perhaps sometimes he went a little overboard.

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, and looked out across the lawns of the Academy. But it was better to be over-prepared, he mused, than under-prepared and dead. Or, in the latest scenario, under-prepared and a loser.

The chess match rose up in his mind again, and the cold wave of horror that he had experienced when he had lost recalled itself to his mind. He replayed the battle in his mind, remembering how it had gone exactly, move for move. In hindsight, he saw exactly where he had made his mistakes, and yet… had he really been too wrapped up in what Light had been saying, in the way his amber eyes burned like molten amber, the way his voice persuaded him that he was greater than Zero, to notice that he was going to be defeated? It seemed utterly ridiculous now. Impossible.

But it didn't change the fact that it had happened.

Lelouch found himself cursing aloud. Why didn't he feel satisfied with his win against Light? Why did he feel as if there was something more to the Japanese teenager that he couldn't see, hiding beneath the smiling surface? What was it that drew Lelouch to him, a pathetic moth to his eager flame, and despite how Lelouch knew it, he still felt the invisible pull?

He needed to know more. And he hated it, the feeling of dependence on someone else, especially someone he didn't like, especially Light Yagami. That arrogant… peasant.

There was no way he'd apologize for besting him… but he figured he should probably visit him in the nurse's office, at least to keep up appearances.

Lelouch cursed again as he realized he was only making excuses, but his feet were already taking him to the nurse's room.

--L/L--

"The Royal Guard is requesting to speak with you," Watari said calmly. He set down the tray carefully, and then proceeded to pour tea.

"Ah, thank you," the detective said, taking one of teacups, his eyes still focused on several screens in front of him. The light reflected off his large dark eyes as he took a sip. "Tell them I will speak with them."

"They are on line thirteen," Watari informed the detective. L looked up at his caretaker for the first time since the older man had entered the room.

"Then I shall tell them myself." Leaning forward in his unnatural crouch, L switched over the phone line, and positioned his microphone closer.

"This is L."

The response came back somewhat crackly through his speakers. "I am Captain Randolph Mayer of the Royal Guard." L twisted a knob and the reception became clearer. "The Royal Family seeks your aid in a most distressing case. You will be well compen—"

"What case?" L interrupted him. Captain Mayer was too long-winded for L's tastes. Of course L would be paid for whatever work he performed. But if they wanted him to work on another case, did that mean Britannia didn't acknowledge that he was already working on the Kira case? Did they believe he had given up? …Or failed? L chewed on his thumb, a faint frown crossing his face.

"His most esteemed Highness, the Emperor of Britannia, wishes for the criminal known as Zero, currently active in Area Eleven, to be put behind bars," Captain Mayer intoned. L's eyes widened. Of course, he had already been watching Zero closely himself… the man that hid his name, his face, and attempted to stamp out the evil in Area Eleven with his vigilante Black Knights… did the Britannians also guess what he had mused over? Time to test it.

"And what of the Kira case?" L pressed.

"At this point, his Highness believes Zero to be the more pressing threat and—"

L interrupted again, his voice eager, but it didn't really come across through the voice modifier. "More of a threat than a killer who only needs a name and a face?"

"Well, I can't really say, I mean, his Highness—"

"I believe that Kira and Zero may be the same person. At the very least, they are very similar people who use similar tactics. It is likely they are in contact with one another," L stated succinctly. There was no response from the other end. L could almost hear the strangled gasps of surprise that were probably erupting from members of the Royal Guard in some locked room hundreds of miles away. L bit the tip of his thumb, finding that the thought required him to hold back a smile.

"I will take the case. You may negotiate a price with Watari."

L switched the phone line off, turning slightly and tilting his head to look at Watari. He took another slurp from his teacup, before setting it back down. Watari waited patiently for his young charge to speak.

"We will be going to Japan again, Watari. Please make preparations… I would like to stay outside the settlement in Area 11 with papers identifying myself as an Eleven."

"Then you intend to try to make contact with the Black Knights? Fieldwork has never been your style," Watari stated bluntly.

The detective's face suddenly transformed with the addition of a slight smile. "I think I lie well enough… and I won't need to disguise myself otherwise. I certainly look like I'm from the Ghetto."

L watched Watari sigh to mask a groan. L looked up at him curiously. "Do not think that was meant to reflect on the care you have given me. It is simply how I choose to present myself."

"I know, L," he said drolly, but then his demeanor became more serious. "Do you think you will catch Kira this time? And that he's Zero?"

L took picked up his teacup and inspected it carefully. "I'm hardly sure if Kira and Zero are one and the same… but perhaps I am not wrong." His dark eyes focused on the flowery pattern around the handle. "And as long Britannia doesn't interfere again, I will certainly catch Kira. If he isn't Zero…."

Watari nodded as L trailed off. Neither of them were entirely fond of Britannia, its tactics in the Kira investigation having destroyed all that L had managed to find on the murderer. Perhaps they'd let Zero have his way a little longer while they used Britannia's funds to capture Kira. And as long as Britannia believed Zero was Kira, they'd give him everything they had.

L found himself smiling again. This was going to be fun.

--L/L--

So, wow. All the reviews… THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I tried to reply back to everyone with answers, thoughts, etc, which stemmed some really interesting conversations and input from you guys. This was really just supposed to be a random crossover, but after getting all your thoughts, I figured I'd make it worth your while and put some real thought into it. Thus you see the power of your own reviews: a longer, more fully developed story.

Also, a lot of people seemed upset to see Lelouch lose to Light in the previous chapter, so here we have Light making a fool of himself and Lelouch winning at something Light is normally best at. Another direct result from your reviews. (Thank you!)

After much thought, I've decided that it will eventually feature a Light/Lelouch pairing and that it will most likely be central to the storyline (I was tossing around the idea of that pairing and keeping it a separate chapter that could be skipped over without losing much, but decided it'd be too hard), but for those of you who objected to yaoi, I'll put a warning at the top of chapters that have yaoi in it to be fair. I hope you'll still keep reading until then.

As always, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter!