"A hug is a handshake from the heart." –Author Unknown
-o-
"Am I missing something? Who is Naomi Misora?"
Shika was tossed a case file by a tired Aizawa. "She's—was, I guess—the fiancée to Ray Penber, one of the FBI agents killed. She went missing a while ago."
The techie flipped through the file and stopped on a picture of a pretty, twenty-something young woman with black hair. Her stare at the camera was cold, and somber. Shika felt oddly sympathetic toward her and her almost-sad stare.
The task force, minus one Chief Yagami and newly appointed Light Yagami, had been in the hotel room since noon. Now early evening, the room smelled like bitter coffee and pastries. Honey-colored light filtered through the curtains of the room. It had been a few days since Chief Yagami's heart attack, and the task force felt empty without their official leader.
"Regarding Naomi Misora's disappearance, shouldn't we open an investigation into this matter?"
"If we do, it should be coordinated separately from the Kira case. Also, we should use police sketches instead of actual photos." Ryuuzaki replied.
"We're talking about someone who's been missing for four months already." Aizawa said. "Chances are she's probably dead."
"If you're right about that, I find it odd that we haven't found a body yet. If we did, it might provide us with some much-needed physical evidence."
"There must be a million places to hide a body in the city." Shika added. "She must be out there somewhere, right?"
"Yeah," Ukita said. "But if we conduct this case separate to the Kira case, no one will be interested. If we do attach it to the Kira case, everyone will be too afraid to say anything."
The hotel room door closed with a heavy thunk, letting Watari in. "Ryuuzaki, something seems to be happening on Sakura TV."
They clustered around the small, low-quality television in the hotel room to the tabloid channel, to reveal the grainy images of three hosts and a hostess. The man in the center was speaking. "…In other words, all the members of Sakura TV are now Kira's hostages. Aside from that, we have a professional obligation to share this message with you. I assure you that this is not a hoax, and that Sakura TV is not airing this for the purposes of sensationalism."
"Kira's hostages?" Matsuda whispered.
"Four days ago," The host went on. "Our programme director here at Sakura TV received four tapes. After a thorough examination, there could be no doubt that they are from Kira himself. The first tape we received contained a prediction regarding the time of death of two suspected criminals who had recently been arrested. And as predicted at the specified time, both men died suddenly of heart attacks yesterday. Kira has instructed us to air the second tape today at exactly 5:59pm, and we do intend to comply with his demands. This tape should offer proof of his powers by predicting yet another death. Beyond that, we understand that it contains a message to all the people of the world from Kira."
"This has to be another fake, don't you think?" Ukita asked no one in particular.
"I doubt it. I'm pretty sure even Sakura TV wouldn't stoop that low." Matsuda replied.
"Ryuuzaki? What do you think?" Shika asked quietly, but got no response.
"And now, the video." The host informed them, and the screen went white. The word KIRA was written across the screen in ornamental font.
There was a beat of dead air. Shika heard someone swallow nervously.
"Ahem." The voice was modulated. "I am Kira. If this video is being aired on April 18th at exactly 5:59pm as I requested, then the time now is 5:59:47, 48, 49…Please change the channel to Taiyo TV. The news anchor, Mr. Kazuriku, will die of a heart attack at exactly six o'clock."
A ripple went through the investigators. "Change it!" Ryuuzaki demanded.
Shika hit the next channel. The news anchor was slumped back in his chair, head rolled back so his face couldn't be seen. Orange-jacketed crew members rushed on to the set to shake his shoulders and make cut-the-tape motions at the cameras.
"Change the channel back." Ryuuzaki snapped. "I need you to bring us another TV, Watari. No, make it two."
"Yes." The old man said, and left immediately.
"Now, I will present you with more proof. My next target is NMHN TV commentator Mr Seiji Koizumi, who is scheduled to appear in a live broadcast. He too has dared to defy Kira."
"Ryuuzaki!" Shika insisted.
"Change it to channel 24!" He replied sharply. Sure enough, when she shakily turned the channel, the commentator was dead in his chair, surrounded by distressed cast members and stage crew. "Please change it back." He said quietly.
"Now that you have seen proof of my powers," Kira continued. "You should know beyond a doubt that I am Kira."
There was a pause; then, Ryuuzaki gasped so suddenly it made a few officers start. "Stop this broadcast! We can't let him finish!"
"Get Sakura TV on the line!" Matsuda was the first to stumble to a phone and frantically dial in the number.
Aizawa was next on his mobile. "I'm trying, but it's no good! None of my contacts at the station have their phones on."
"And no one is picking up at reception, either!"
"Dammit!" Ukita ran to the door and threw it open. "I'll stop this broadcast myself!"
Shika watched the officers run around about her and was struck with a sense of uselessness. What could she do amongst these men, in this situation, against something like Kira? All she could do was go on computers, and what use was that when it was a TV station in jeopardy?
"People of the world, please listen to me." Kira went on. "The last thing I want to do is kill the innocent. I hate evil, and love justice. I want the police as allies, not as enemies. I intend to create a perfect world that is free from evil. If you offer to join me in my mission, I know we can make it happen. And as long as no one tries to catch me, I promise the innocent will not die."
Watari entered with the new TV's. "Here, Ryuuzaki."
"Thank you. Shizuka, help him."
"Right." She shook herself out of her self-deprecating trance. Together, she and Watari balanced the TV's around the first one. Shika dove behind the systems' wiring and got everything hooked up to the power. They were small, portable televisions that took no maintenance at all.
Kira went on and on. The wavering English letters swam before Shika's eyes, and she tuned out the distorted voice. She could barely stand to watch the TV show hosts die, and hardly cared what Kira was saying. Something about a new world without crime. She leaned up against Ryuuzaki's chair.
On the smallest TV, the camera changed to one outside the broadcasting studio. Ukita's cop car pulled to a screeching halt in front of the doors. He banged on the doors, but it didn't look like they were going to let him in. In a last resort, Ukita pulled his gun and…collapsed. He seized up and dropped to the ground. A pin could be heard dropping, if even there was that much noise in the hotel room.
Then, "Ukita." Aizawa's voice was shaking. "Dammit. Kira did this." With a snarl, he started walking away.
"Mr. Aizawa!" Ryuuzaki said suddenly. "Where are you going?"
"Where do you do think? I need to go there."
"Please, don't. Think about this rationally."
"You want me to just sit here and watch TV?" Aizawa exclaimed.
"I'm going too." Shika got to her feet. "I need to do something! I'm useless otherwise."
"See? We're out of here." Aizawa said. "Come on, Miss Shizuka."
"No! If this is the work of Kira, you'll just meet the same fate if you go there."
Aizawa spun around. "You told us that Kira couldn't kill without a name! So how could this happen?!"
"The aliases and fake ID's are worthless!" Matsuda chimed in. "What are we gonna do, L? You don't think Kira has all our names already, do you?"
"That's a definite possibility." Ryuuzaki said carefully. "However, you'd think it would be easier for him to kill off the entire task force before making a move. Initially I deduced that Kira needed both a name and a face to kill. But from what we've just seen, I'd say it's not entirely impossible that Kira can kill with only a face. All we can know for sure is that Kira is either in that TV station, or somewhere close by, a place where he can watch everyone who enters the building. If he c—"
"If Kira's in the are then isn't that why we should get down there?" Aizawa snapped.
"For all we know, he could have just placed surveillance cameras in the area. If we rush down there unprepared, all of us will be killed—"
Aizawa stepped forward and grabbed Ryuuzaki by the shoulder. "Wasn't it you who said we had to be willing to risk our lives to catch Kira?"
"Aizawa!" Shika grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him back. "That's enough!"
"Back off!" He pushed her away. "We deserve answers!"
"I meant what I said." Ryuuzaki mumbled. "But risking my life and doing something I know will rob me of my life are two completely different things."
"Oh, yeah?" Aizawa shouted, but stopped. Shika blinked, and looked down at Ryuuzaki. His hands were tight around his ankles. He was shaking.
"Please control yourself." The detective said, voice not as steady as usual. "We've lost Ukita. I understand you want to go there, but if something was to happen to you as well…"
Some of the fire drained from Aizawa. He took a step back. Matsuda and Shika glanced at each other. For the moment, it seemed the fighting had calmed down.
-o-
The atmosphere was…relieved. A tired, drawn Chief Yagami collapsed into a mini-couch in the hotel room. The excitement of the night, driving a van into the front gates of SakuraTV to stop the broadcast included in the festivities, had left the recently stressed police chief exhausted. However, he had provided the task force with a valuable asset: the tapes sent by Kira.
The officers milled about, still buzzing from all the adrenaline. Shizuka was worrying over Chief Yagami, chatting with Matsuda when she wasn't asking if he needed water.
L observed the contents of the bag from Chief Yagami. The stamp is from Osaka, but Kira could have delivered it from Osaka without going there himself. "Mr. Aizawa, can you please take this to the crime lab right away."
"I still have a couple of friends down there." Aizawa said, taking the bag. "I'll make sure they go over every inch of this."
"Thank you, please do so. While you're doing that, I'm going to watch these tapes to see if they can tell us anything."
The officers filtered out. Aizawa left immediately, as promised. The Chief Yagami went, helped out by Matsuda and Shizuka. Watari was the only one who remained. "Do you require anything else, Ryuuzaki?"
"No, thank you. You're free to leave." It was an exchange they were both used to.
"Very well." The door clicked shut after him. L stretched and went to see if there were any sweets still left.
A few minutes later, the door opened again. L looked over his shoulder to see Shizuka peek in. "Hi, sorry. I came to get the extra TV's."
"Ah. Yes, I suppose I won't need them again for a while."
Shizuka looked around. "Did everyone else go?"
"Yes."
She was watching him. Clearly, she wasn't back just for the TV's. "Ryuuzaki…I'm sorry about earlier. Aizawa was out of line, and…so was I. Neither of us should have been shouting like that."
"It's all right. I understand your desire to help the case. However, I would like to keep the loss of life to a minimum. Ukita's death is a regrettable lack of foresight on my part." L focused on a spot above her head.
"You couldn't have known he would die." Shizuka looked down, then back up. "I saw you shaking. I know that you're affected by all this death, too. You're just better at hiding it than us. So, I'm sorry."
Like it was just that simple, she walked up to him and gave him a hug. L inhaled and held the breath, while automatically picking up on little details. Sometimes, his intellect was as much a curse as a gift. He was hyper-aware of every detail over the handful of seconds they were pressed together. A puff of warm air near his neck indicated her breathing. Her breasts pressed into his chest; he could feel her heartbeat. A scent neither flowers nor coffee hit him. Should he hug her back? No, just stay still, hold your breath, just wait for it to be over. The hug seemed to last forever. It wasn't bad, just...not his forte. Was she waiting for him to hug her back? No, no, she was pulling away. L slowly exhaled.
Shizuka beamed at him. "Well, that was more awkward than I thought. Anyway, I'll take the TV's out." Her eyebrows pulled in and up, smile remaining. "And, try to get some sleep, okay?"
She wrangled the small TV's together and carried them out in a whisk of wires, and was gone with a click of the hotel door.
L blinked a couple times, hard. What had just happened? It felt more like a hallucination than reality. He could barely recall the last time someone had hugged him. In retrospect, he wished he had returned the hug. But, the past was the past, however recent. L put the first tape in the remaining TV, now unable to get the un-scent of not flowers, not coffee, out of the room.
-o-
-Wow, so…forget to update much? Ehehhe…sorry. I got writer's block so bad I couldn't stand it. Which is part of the reason I trimmed this chapter a little.
-Aw, hugs. Writing that was so endearing. I like to think that in his heart of hearts L likes physical contact with people, even though on the surface he isn't a fan. As for Shika, that's easy: she's a hugger! A tired one, I guess. But a hugger nonetheless! She's gotta have something in common with Chihiro, right? Ahahah
-Poor Ukita…that shocked me the first time I watched it. He got killed off so suddenly! The way all the characters cope with death to me is really interesting.
-Anyway, bluh! Rambling. I'll try to get the next chapter out quicker. This was such a bad lapse for me. Don't forget to drop a review if ya feel so inclined! :