Ah, feels good to be back! Well, please enjoy this chapter and keep leaving those positive reviews! :D
It's May and the trees are in full bloom. The atmosphere is unusually clean and fresh and, for once, I'm not worrying over anything. My dad is gone, the last parent I had, but I don't feel weighted anymore. At least I had Beyond.
After it became obvious about who he really was, everything else started falling into place, too. Our house was sold, along with everything non-personal in it. The only thing I had to retrieve was my old family photos.
That's where I was when Beyond finally became open about his past. The two of us were sitting on the floor of my old living room, scouring through the totes from downstairs. Akari was upstairs, doing her duty of cleaning out all personal belongings from there.
I sighed nostalgically, rubbing away the dust from a picture frame. Inside it held Dad, Mom, and I for my eighth birthday. I was adorable with pigtails, by the way. "I can't believe you missed out on all of this," I said, gesturing towards the memories held inside each picture, "just because Mom was too young when she had you."
Beyond gave a half smile and shifted while laying down on the floor. "Not gonna lie; it sucked not being apart of the family. I didn't even know what Mom looked like until looking at these pictures." Ever since he revealed the identity he'd been holding, he's been more relaxed now.
"So…" I said, trailing off eagerly. "What's your story of being a Miyoshi?"
He rolled his eyes. "Do I have to? It's so boring anyways." Furrowing my brows, I pouted with crossed arms. "Fine, whatever," he grumbled, giving in.
"Start from when you were young," I added, laying on the ground with my chin rested on my hands like a child, gazing up at him with wonder and curiosity.
"I grew up in an orphanage," he began, trailing through the memories in his head one by one. "In England. That's pretty much where I grew up all my life. Then one day I got bored and ditched." The mysterious spark in his eyes led me to believe that that wasn't the entire story, but I didn't push.
I snorted. "So that's when you decided to become a full-time murderer."
He narrowed his eyes. "Yes it was. Thanks for pointing out the obvious."
"Why?" I let the question that lingered in my mind slip out slowly. It always tugged at me deep down, not knowing why he had the urge to kill. "Do you… enjoy it?" Ugh, not the conversation I thought I'd ever be having.
He chuckled, hugging his legs and resting his head in between his knees. "It's not really something I would've seen myself doing; killing people. But I just couldn't stop after the first one. The rush of adrenaline, the wrath I let out on people. And the blood; it was kinda like strawberry jam, but just not as sweet."
I grimaced, trying to picture it longingly from his perspective, but failing. The flashing look in Beyond's red orbs made me shiver, so I brushed off that subject. "How did you find us in LA?"
"Dad," he answered simply, blowing away a blanket of dust from a photo. "That's when all his searching paid off. He'd finally found me, and so he called me from my apartment, which I may or may not have killed to get." I narrowed my eyes at the last part, but my brother just flashed a cheeky grin. "He said you two were visiting, gave me a description, and told me everything I needed to know."
"And that's how you found us," Akari stepped in, hopping down from the last step. Her hair had just been cut to her shoulder, and today she pulled it back in the smallest ponytail ever.
Beyond's eyes twinkled as she sat against the couch, on his left and my right. I gave an inward sigh as they ogled each other. Pathetic… Tugging at my silver braid with impatience, I spoke up. "So…" They instantly snapped out of their gaze with a blush. "Then you got caught, went to prison, escaped, and came back to meet us. I'm guessing he gave you our address." That's probably why he freely let Beyond come in that one night.
The raven nodded. "Yep. And now we're here."
My eye twitched as I blurted out a question that had peaked my absorption. "Beyond, why are you so interested in L?"
Surprised by my question, he was a little taken back. "Uh, what do you mean?" he responded, scratching aimlessly at his messy hair.
"You went to the trouble to find his name, and you got close to him with the LABB Murder Case… but why? Do you have some grudge or vendetta with him?" Even Akari seemed interested to hear that answer.
We stared at the motionless raven until he finally looked away. "Well, I-"
Before he could even answer, the doorbell rang. Tearing my stare away from Beyond, I sighed and pushed up from the floor. "It must be the realtors. Get everything personal into my car, okay?" They nodded and started to pack up while I made my way to the door. Smoothing my light pink shirt formally, I turned the doorknob and welcomed the guests. I guess some answers will have to wait…
After going over the letter the second Kira sent, I handed it back to Light for him to scan it thoroughly. Light. I was still going along with the fake girlfriend bit so L explained to Light that he also wanted me on the Task Force. That's why I'm here. So far he's not suspicious, but the time will come when I have to tell him.
We were all in L's new hotel room. Mr. Yagami, Aizawa, Matsuda, L, and Light. Beyond and Akari were at my old house helping the new family move into it.
The letter was directed for the real Kira, which we haven't heard much of lately. He's still killing criminals, but it's not as public. As for the second Kira, I knew he was obviously relating things to the real Kira. I don't know what he means by "notebooks" but I'm assuming it's something involved with his way of killing, along with Shinigami.
Apparently he wants the real Kira to go to Aoyama so they meet. Of course we couldn't let that happen. "What do you think?" L asked Light expectantly. "Is it real?"
"Pff, of course it is," I mumbled, catching Light and L's attention. The rest of the Task Force furrowed their brows in thought.
"How can you say that with confidence?" wondered Light, folding his arms and looking at me questioningly. "All we can really tell is that he must be an idiot."
"But he's throwing out presumptions," I contradicted, sitting up in the chair. Crossing my legs in the seat, I laid my arms on the armrests sophisticatedly. "Aoyama, notebooks, Shinigami… all this stuff can't be made up. If he's confident enough to make public the connection between them, then he must be true."
Light gave a laugh, almost mocking me. "Oh really? What if he is making it up? We can't be 100% sure, at least not right now, or we'll be going on your false leads."
I let a small glare slip as I stared at Light. He seemed to be changing, but ever so slowly, like he was almost becoming a more arrogant person. Now he was growing confidence himself, challenging me to see if I could handle it. That, or he really was annoyed with me (though I couldn't possibly know why because who doesn't get along with me, right?).
Matsuda laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck and stepping in between us. "Hey guys, don't fight right now. Yuki, I-I think Light may be right." He winced like I was gonna explode and/or massacre him.
But I didn't. "Fine. I guess he is more experienced than me." Giggling with amusement, I hopped up from the chair and pecked my boyfriend on the cheek, causing him to blush. "Don't go growing a big ego, though," I added playfully.
"To be honest," L said, guiding everyone back to the matter at hand while simultaneously eating a piece of chocolate, "it's so stupid, I'm not even sure how to deal with this whole situation anymore." Still chewing, he moved to a different chair and continued on with this reasoning. "If we make the diary public, then we'll be forced to make some televised announcement canceling the game on the 30th."
"Would the second Kira even show up to any of the places in the diary if we canceled the game?" I wondered, plopping down at the end of the couch and crossing my legs.
L thought for a moment, peeling off another candy wrapper. "Chances are he wouldn't. But if we don't we can be sure the second Kira won't do anything."
Matsuda and Aizawa shifted over to the couch to join me, and Mr. Yagami took the other empty chair. "Won't canceling the game make him angry?" Matsuda asked, sitting next to me in the middle of the white furniture. "There's no telling what he'll do."
"Frankly that's not a big concern," the detective replied with his monotone voice. "From what we've witnessed, it's safe to say the second Kira admires the real one and he gave his word to the Kira we invented that he'd refrain from killing aimlessly. I'm inclined to believe that."
Apparently he's not the only one who believes that the second Kira tells the truth I thought bitterly, stealing a glare at Light, who was standing next to his father, when he wasn't looking. When I realized the disdainful feeling in my stomach toward the brunette, I knew I couldn't be pulling off this act for much longer. I'll conference with L sometime tonight and see when he thinks I should break up with that egotistical charmer.
"I say we make it public," L voiced, glancing to everyone around to room for their attention, "and we air an announcement canceling the game. At the same time, we'll announce that on May 30th we're gonna set up checkpoints on all roads leading to the Tokyo Dome."
I opened my mouth to interrupt, but quickly shut it, reminded of the last time I expressed my opinion and received a negative view. Again, I shot an unnoticeable glare at Light.
"And finally…" L concluded, rubbing his lip in thought. "We'll send a response from our invented Kira. Something like 'I understand and I agree to meet you there.'"
"We can't lie to him" I said, the same time as Mr. Yagami blurted out "Ryuzaki!" We exchanged a glance before I let him go on. "You don't honestly expect him to go there if we set up checkpoints around the Dome, do you?"
"And Yuki's right," Matsuda spoke up meekly, glancing at me. "If he does go there and finds out that Kira didn't actually show up, he'll be angry! Who knows what he'll do!" Inside I wanted to hug Matsuda for agreeing with me because usually it seems like I'm the only one with a different opinion.
"I don't think that Kira would even consider going," L finally replied after the demanding statements. "But it's possibly the other one might. It all depends on how stupid he really is. Besides," he looked between Matsuda and I, "we really don't have another choice, now do we? The only way to catch this impostor is to lead him directly into our hands."
Our eyes met and locked for about two seconds before he teared his attention away from me and back to the others. I frowned, wanting his lovely dark eyes to gaze back at me longingly. Yuki, you are truly crazy if you expect him to ever do that.
Picking up the page from the diary between his thumbs, he carefully held it level to his face and stared it down. "However, assuming he's not actually the idiot we think he is, there could be another message hidden in this diary. One that's not so obvious."
Maybe the notebooks, because why would a killer have a notebook? Unless it's related to his killings, I'd have to assume it's a code.
"If there's a message written here in only some code that people who have this Shinigami power can understand, there'd be no way for me to decipher it. Still, it would only make sense for us to look into all the places that were mentioned in the journal."
Aoyama on the 22nd. Shibuya on the 24th.
L continued in a serious aura. "We have to be prepared for the possibility that all of our efforts will be fruitless so let's keep an eye out for people with notebooks in Aoyama and people in clothing stores in Shibuya."
"We should place surveillance cameras in both places," I suggested diffidently, unsure of how my proposal would be taken.
L's inexpressive face softened slightly as he noticed my meek manner. "I think that is an ideal motion. We should set up cameras in Aoyama and Shibuya in hopes that we might catch something. We should also arrange to have undercover officers in both locations on these dates."
Matsuda and Light volunteered to go undercover. Seeing as how they were young enough to fit into the crowd, they were the perfect people to search for the second Kira. I wish I could go…
Instantly I jumped up from my seat and stood on top of the couch cushion. "Ryuzaki! Can I go?!"
Before L could respond, Light intervened. "No way Yuki. It's too dangerous."
I frowned with dissatisfaction, stepping off the couch and onto the hard floor. "How is it dangerous?" I questioned. "Besides, I'll have an actual officer with me so-"
"He's right," L cut in, setting down his teacup carefully. "I think it's best that you stay here with me." For a moment my hands clenched, the feeling of being treated as some sort of fragile doll, but then I realized I'd be staying here with L. A smile of pleasure almost flashed across my face, but I remembered Light was with us.
"Actually," Mr. Yagami chimed in, clearing his throat, "would you mind watching Sayu?" Immediately my heart dropped with sadness. "My wife is working late tonight so no one will be home when Sayu gets there, seeing as how the rest of us will be staying late as well. We would like someone to be there with her just in case."
A kind, but forced, smile fluttered onto my face. "Yeah, I guess." I glanced at the clock on the wall. "I'd better get going then. She should be home anytime." Saying goodbye to everyone briskly, I stole a longing glance at L before slipping out of the room.
Sayu and I were in the middle of binge watching the first season of Black Butler when the door opened and her mom shuffled in. "I'm home girls!" I paused on episode 9 where Mey-Rin, Bardroy, and Finnian were trying to take of picture of Sebastian under Ciel's orders.
Mrs. Yagami popped her head into the doorway and smiled at the two of us curled under the fuzzy blankets on the couch. "Hey Mom!" called Sayu in her usual peppy voice.
"Seems like you two are having fun," her mom noted, eyeing us with a sparkle of amusement in her eyes. Setting her purse on the counter, she slipped off her coat.
"Hey Mrs. Yagami!" I called back happily, trying to imitate Sayu. "Have a good day at work?"
"Yes I did," she laughed before sinking into the chair next to us. "To be honest, I'm ready to relax."
"Then I'd better go," I replied casually, reluctantly pulling the warm blankets off of me and pushing up from the couch. "But do you mind if I use the bathroom first?"
"Go ahead," her mom responded kindly. I nodded and headed upstairs.
Turning down the hallway, I made my way to the bathroom door, but quickly halted. My eyes snuck a glance at Light's bedroom door. Slowly, I tiptoed over to it and made sure to look for anything out of place; like a slip of paper in the door or the knob being adjusted. I remembered what L had told me he'd observed from the security cameras he'd placed in the house previously.
When I found nothing, I silently opened the door and slipped stealthily inside. Shutting it just as quietly, I made sure I was alone before tiptoeing over to Light's computer and sitting in the rolling chair.
Pressing the power button, I waited patiently for the machine to start up. When it did, that one dreaded word that blocked me from revealing Light's most darkest searches popped up. Password:
Like the first time I attempted to get into Light's computer, I tried all the basic things; birthdays, family names, previous pet names, and favorites of his. Heh, you know a lot about a guy when you're forced to be his girlfriend.
Leaning back in the chair, I sighed. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tilted my head back to face the ceiling and thought harder. What's one thing that's important to Light? Important enough to keep all his secrets locked away? I shifted through the memories of all my encounters with the brunette, thinking back to anything that seemed unique or important to him.
Then, it hit me. Like lightning hits a tree. Like a bowling ball hits a pin. Like a car hits a deer. Like a wrecking ball hit a hobo. Well, maybe not the last one, but you get my point.
Shooting forward to face the screen, my shaky hands typed the seven letter word in all caps. JUSTICE Instantly, I was logged in.
With a squeal of excitement, I hurried myself to open a new tab and check his browsing history. Finally, the moment I'd been waiting for. I could catch this schmoozer. He has to be Kira. I was so desperate for him to be the psycho killer that I didn't care about anything else.
Clicking on his history, I waited until it popped up… and I gaped. Literally, my mouth dropped all the way to Hell. My hands went from shaking with adrenaline to a mix of anger and disappointment.
He had deleted ALL of his browsing history. That son of a biscuit deleted everything he ever searched. And there was no way I could see it.
If things couldn't get ANY WORSE, the door opened and Light stepped in, only to stop in his tracks and stare at me. His darkened eyes skimmed over my figure leaning in front of his computer. "Yuki? What are you doing in my room?"
… Busted. Aw poor Yuki. Now she'll have to do an excruciatingly awkward walk of shame out the door with her head down. Just kidding, I don't really know yet. But it will be interesting to see what happens next… hehehe ;)