Warnings for this chapter: slight sexuality
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. This is a non-profit fan work.
Break the Haughty - Chapter VI
L kept watching for a while after the thugs were gone, but Light didn't move. He didn't even pull up his briefs. He just kept on lying there, on the cold asphalt floor. There was nobody passing by, no promenader strolling around to find him. L grew uneasy in his hideout. His erection died down and he felt a tormenting guilt sweeping into his consciousness. He did let this happen. He could have prevented it all. He bit his thumb and waited a while longer. Nobody came. Light didn't move. A faint whimper came from the body but nothing more.
L felt he had to do something. He couldn't just let him lie here. Light was probably in shock and that could turn out fatal if untended to. He snuck out from the bush and crawled over to the Benten shrine, keeping as close to the waterside as possible. It was not too far away. He brought a good distance between him and Light until he figured he was out of earshot. Then he produced his mobile from his back pocket.
"Watari? Please book a single room for me in the Mitsui Garden Hotel in Ueno."
"Yes, for tonight. And please get some of my stuff over as well."
"Hm... about a week's worth of clothing... and my laptop, of course... and my university stuff!"
"Just make it look like I live there, OK? And don't forget a sufficient supply of sweets!"
"Thanks. Bye."
He clicked the mobile shut and ambled towards the shrine again. If Light was still there, he was going to "find" him. It was implausible that he just happened to go for a walk after university as well, but he could easily have a separate room at Mitsui Garden Hotel for his studies and just went for a walk now, to ponder the Kira case. That's what he was going to tell him and what Watari organised for him right now. Not that he minded lying to Light. But Light wouldn't want to go home, so...
He sat down on the steps to the illuminated shrine. "Come on, Light, you'll have to give me some clue!" There it was, a faint whimper. L stood up and wandered past the shrine towards the feeble sound and towards the place he knew Light had been. Outside the light of the shrine, it was so dark he didn't see Light at first. He almost tripped over him and managed a genuinely surprised exclamation of:
"Light!"
No reply. L hunkered down and gently touched his shoulder.
"Light?"
"L?"
Light slightly turned his head and looked him in the eyes. It was dark, but in the distant light of the shrine, L could still see his eyes. They were alarmingly dull. Ah, right. He might be in shock. L reached for Light's hands. They were clammy and cold. He knew he had to keep him warm and get the blood back to his brain. He couldn't do both out here. But he grabbed his feet and held them up against his shoulders, so gravity could do it's job.
Light opened his mouth to say something but hastily turned around and threw up on the pavement. L didn't blame him. His buttocks were bloody and soiled with semen, as were his briefs and trousers. His shirt was torn and there was dry blood between his nose and mouth. One of his eyes was swollen and his hair totally messed up. Not to mention his intestinal tract must hurt like hell. He was L. It didn't take the world's greatest detective to figure out what had happened.
He took off his sweater and gave it to Light.
"You better put this on."
Light wiped his mouth. His eyes looked like those of a drunk person. But he received the sweater and pulled it over the remains of his shirt.
"Thanks."
L remembered, when dealing with shock victims it was important to keep them conscious, talking to them, calming them, comforting them.
"I should bring you home."
"I can't..." Light didn't finish the sentence but L knew what he wanted to say.
"I understand. Here. You can use my phone." L extended his hand and offered Light his mobile. Light stared at L, then at the mobile. Then he took it and silently dialed the number of his family's home.
"Mum? It's me. ... I just called to tell you that I'm staying at my girl-friend's tonight. ... Yes. ... Don't worry. ... I love you, too." He pressed the "end call" button and gave the phone back to L. Who was impressed by the calm and casual performance Light put on for his mother, while he could clearly see the boy trembling before him.
"So you will sleep here?" L asked tauntingly.
"I can't go home. Not like this."
"You should really go to the hospital, you know."
"I don't want to go to the hospital."
Light stared on the floor. L knew he must be embarrassed. This was not supposed to happen to him.
"I'll take you home with me, then," L said.
"What?"
"If you don't want to go home and you don't want to go to the hospital, that's the only locgical consequence. I can't just leave you here, can I?"
"But-"
"No 'but'. You're in shock. People tend to be irrational in this state. Come on, I'll help you."
It would be difficult to take him to the hotel if he collapsed. So L hoped it wouldn't happen and pulled him up by the shoulders, supporting him with both arms once he stood. He was weak and shaky, so L tightened his grip and slowly started walking towards the shrine.
Author's note: I hope you liked the proceedings of the story and L doesn't come off as a total bastard. Please tell me what you think.