"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"
― Abraham Lincoln
-o-
Shika sat down on the wall outside the tennis court fences, while Light and Ryuzaki went in to set up for their game. She sat on the side from which Ryuzaki would be serving, meaning she was facing Light until they switched sides later in the game. As she got comfortable on the little wall, she watched them talk and glance politely at each other, but couldn't hear what they were saying. That's probably an interesting conversation.
Ryuzaki served the ball; or, she thought he did. It was served with such excessive force that Light had no time to even move for it, and it slammed into the chain link fence with a resounding clash. The light-haired student froze and looked over his shoulder. "Whoa, Ryuuga, you don't mess around." He called over.
Ryuzaki's response was frank and immediate. "He who strikes first wins."
The games continued. It was hard to track the ball; both of them were unbelievably good at tennis for some reason, but that wasn't all. There was definitely some kind of underlying tension. Both parties were hitting with way more ferocity than needed, and the tennis balls popped furiously back and forth across the court. Light looked the part of a young tennis prodigy, but Ryuzaki's athleticism surprised her. One would think that sitting around indoors and eating sweets all day wouldn't be doing wonders for one's fitness, but he was keeping easy pace with Light.
A crowd was beginning to gather around the fences to the courts. It was hypnotizing watching them, and Shika found she was surrounded by the fourth game. A group of students talking about the people involved caught her attention. Trying not to make it too obvious that she was eavesdropping, she inched over a bit on the wall.
One man came running down the steps, out of breath. "You won't believe this! I'd thought I'd heard the name Light Yagami somewhere before so I looked it up. Apparently he was the '02-'03 Junior High Tennis Champion. Apparently during the third year awards ceremony, he announced he was hanging up his racquet, and I guess he hasn't played competitively since."
"Hey hey, what about my Ryuuga?" A girl defended, getting a contemptuous look from her friend. "Don't say you haven't noticed him holding his own against this former Junior High champ!"
"Sorry to barge in," Shika barged in. "But do you know anything else about this Yagami guy?"
"He tied top of the freshman class with that weird-looking guy." The girl's friend said, holding off disgruntled objections from the bespectacled girl. "Everyone says he's totally loaded, but I don't believe it."
"If nothing else, he's definitely smart." A guy, one of the crowd whom Shika could tell by a glance was not a freshman, interjected. He had tinted goggles on. "I heard they both got perfect scores on the entrance exams. That's practically unheard of."
"You're kidding." The hacker said.
"Wish I was. The little guy's rich for sure, but I don't know much about this Light Yagami." He said. "He's just a freshman, after all. Probably just another child prodigy who'll become some CEO in fifteen years."
"You make it sound like it's a bad thing."
"It's not a bad thing," The girl's friend said. "But some of us worked really hard to get here, and other people just got it handed to them. You can't blame us for being a little bitter."
"I guess not. But don't you think something seems off about him?"
"Like what?"
"Never mind."
The games went on. In the middle of a match, Shika made a quick trip to the quad for a couple water bottles. She was forced to shoulder her way back through the people in order to get back up to the fence; she had returned just as they were switching sides. L was coming over to her side.
"Hey, Ryuuga, here," Shika pushed the water bottles through the chain link fence. "I got some water. Give one to Light, too."
"Thank you." Ryuzaki accepted one, and tossed the other across the court with unsettling force. Light caught it and waved over to them in thanks.
"So, what do you think?" Shika asked. "About Light."
"I can't judge him based on just a tennis match." Ryuzaki said, after drinking half the water in one go. "But he's going for the win."
"What do you mean, you can't judge him based on just a tennis match? I thought you were better than Holmes." The hacker grinned.
Ryuzaki glanced at her. "If I were that good, we wouldn't be here."
"I know you know that was a joke." She looked over his shoulder, where Light was clearly getting impatient without anyone for him to converse with. "You better get back to it. Your adoring public calls."
He copied her action. "Yes. It would be rude to leave the match unfinished."
-o-
The game began with L one win behind.
Light was good; very good, even. Better than expected. The outcome of the set, like he had told Shika, couldn't on its own determine if Light was Kira: that would be ludicrous. Regardless, it provided an interesting opportunity to study his personality.
The way the game was going, it didn't look like L was going to win. Light was brutal. He played with a robotic ferocity that was hard to fight. That on its own was an interesting trait. If Light won, it was game and set. If L won, it was a tie to be decided by at least two more games.
L fell back to save the ball at the last second, surprising Light and gaining him a point. "Yeah!" A voice whooped. "You go, Ryuuga!"
One of the girls on the sidelines had been cheering for him all game. It wasn't Shika. L pretended not to hear her, rather, concentrated on Light, who was about to serve. The point ended badly for L. As he got ready to serve, another female voice chimed in. "You got this, Ryuuga! Kick his butt!"
That was Shika. L instantly biffed the serve off the base of the racquet, and it only struck with about half as much force as intended. If he'd had time to dwell on it, he would have sighed or maybe grit his teeth a little. He didn't like that she'd made him falter; not because he was now on the losing end of the point, but because she had distracted him at all. L had just spent the larger part of the game ignoring the other girl on the sidelines, but…there was no time for him to reason out an unreasonable thought. He would think it over later.
Light ran up to the net, literally ran up to within several inches of it, and spiked the ball back down the other side, securing his already predictable win. The yellow ball bounced under L's arm, flying behind to rattle against the back fence.
"Game and set!" The line judge called. "Light Yagami wins, six games four!"
L watched Light carefully. He wasn't reacting to the win very much…or maybe that was an indicator on its own. Light would have to meet someone on the task force for it to proven that L was who he said he was. Would Shika do? No, she wasn't a licensed officer. It would have to be someone Light knew…someone like his father.
"Good job, Ryuuga." Shika jogged up onto the court, toting yet more bottles of water.
"Thank you. Although, I did lose." He accepted another bottle from her.
"I suppose. That doesn't mean you can't still enjoy yourself, though." She slugged back some water from her own bottle.
L thought back to his back return during the game after she cheered for him. He observed her, again trying to pick apart that incident. Shika noticed him and raised an eyebrow, smiling. "Why are you looking at me?"
"No reason. Ah, Light," L turned to his tennis opponent. "Here's your racquet back."
"Thanks. You're pretty good, Ryuuga." Light accepted the racquet.
"Thank you."
The people who had crowded around the courts dispersed, chattering about the match, and leaving a path again. Light, L and Shika walked back out onto the quad. The tension had settled back around them like a cobweb which, although briefly blown away, had floated back down to rest stickily over the trio. Every time someone spoke, it felt scripted and awkward; L was aware he was doing the same thing.
"Say, Ryuuga, I know a nice café nearby. Would you like to go get a drink there? It's the least I can do after our tennis game." Light's suggestion, as well as stopping their walk, brought the group up short. "And of course you can come too, Miss Shizuka."
Shika shook her head. "No thank you. I'm getting dinner. I'll see you soon."
The last statement was directed toward L, and warmly said in comparison to her chilly treatment of Light. Shika exchanged a quick glance with L when she turned away from Light, eyebrows hopping up slightly to indicate a contemptuous opinion of her new classmate. She passed close by him as she walked off; the air in her wake carried the scent of fabric softener. It made him slightly dizzy.
-o-
"Dinner" had been Shika's way of phrasing that she was going to get take-out, a few bags of candy, and spend the rest of the night writing code. At home, she left the TV on to broadcast the news. Recently she had been leaving it on to see the criminals and subsequent Kira reports.
While eating at her computer, she got a phone call from a blocked number. Knowing already who was on the other end, she picked up and held the phone up to her ear with her shoulder and kept typing. "Hello, Ryuzaki."
"Shizuka? It's Matsud—I mean, Matsui!"
"Oh! You weren't who…Never mind, what's wrong?"
"Chief Yagami's just had a heart attack!"
Shika nearly inhaled some rice, and coughed sharply. "What?"
"Yeah, we just got the call—he's in the hospital right now!"
"Wait, he isn't dead?"
"I don't know, we haven't heard much since then…"
A beeping on the phone muted out some of Matsuda's speech. "Hold on, I'm getting another call." Shika hit the call button. "Hello?"
"Shizuka. It's Ryuzaki."
"Is this about the Chief's heart attack?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
"Matsuda just called. He's on the other line."
"Ah. I just left the hospital where Mr. Yagami is staying. He is alive, but needs to rest. Please meet the task force at the hotel room tomorrow morning so we can discuss what to do next."
"Is he…was it Kira?"
"No, the doctors said it was stress-induced. However, with Mr. Yagami currently incapable of working, we should discuss our plan of action. Also, I have brought Light Yagami onto the case."
"Why? Isn't he a suspect?"
"I think it would be wise to keep him close. His deductive skills are remarkable, but I want to keep an eye on him."
"I see. I should get Matsuda off of hold; I'll make it to the hotel tomorrow. Good night."
-o-
-This chapter was hard to write xO. I couldn't make it sound right, but here it is. Next chapter is exciting plot development wow driving busses into things and yelling at each other