Chapter 23

Hey everyone, welcome back to DNTOS. I know it's been a while and I apologize. I actually wrote a special event that happens later and then realized that I forgot to write this chapter. I just finished writing it all up so it's time to get typin'!

Tokyo…this city…is beautiful…

. . .

January 12th

I stare out at the beautiful city below me and take in the rays from the sun.

You'd never guess that Kira is even out there…people may be in fear, but they sure don't show it. Down there; they just go about their business. The peacefulness from looking down upon high is astounding…I just wish that would stay this way even without Kira…

A noise catches my attention and I turn my attention to it.

"Lunch is read-oh. Do you wish to eat by the window?" It's Watari; he seems surprised that the table moved.

He'd be even more surprised to find out how it moved…

"Yes. If you could please bring our food out here I would appreciate it." I turn to Ryuzaki and then back to Watari.

"Very well." With a bow he heads back into the other room.

I fidget and pull my foot up onto the chair and wrap my arms around my knee. It's almost like the way that Ryuzaki sits, but half-assed. I rest my head on my knee and watch the clouds roll by.

"Here we are. Miss Matsui; I wasn't quite sure what to make so I made you Italian. Spaghetti and meatballs." He sets it down in front of me. "For Ryuzaki I brought Strawberry Shortcake, and if you wish to try some of Miss Matsui's food here's an extra plate." He sets the rest down on the table and I unfold and turn to face it.

Wow this smells really good…can't remember the last time I had this. We've been eating pretty good with Watari as our cook, but damn…

"I'll be right back with your drinks." He leaves and I twirl some spaghetti with my fork. I glance up for a second' Ryuzaki is staring at me; I set the fork down.

"Did you actually want to try some Ryuzaki? It might not be sweet enough for you." He smirks slightly.

"Yes actually I would like to try some, it looks very appetizing." I nod and spoon some onto the extra plate as Watari reappears.

"Here you are Miss Matsui, a …and for Ryuzaki a coffee with extra sugar. Oh my." He stops as he notices the extra plate has spaghetti on it. He recovers quickly from his mild surprise and bows like a butler. "Enjoy your meal. Call me if you need anything; otherwise I'll check on you both in a bit." I nod and Watari walks away.

Wonder what that was about…wait…Ryuzaki is childish by admission; I wonder if Watari made a big deal about it if he would reconsider and not try it…

"Suzuki?" Ryuzaki calls my name and I realize that I must have been spacing out.

"Yeah? If you wanna try it go ahead Ryuzaki, you don't need my permission." I begin to twirl my fork but stop for a second and add some parmesan cheese that Watari left for me.

"Would you try some first?" I glance up as his question hangs between us.

It's not like it's poisoned…is he scared of something or does he just wanna know that it's good?

"Sure." I shrug and continue to twirl the fork, ever gathering spaghetti. Out of the corner of my eye I see that he's watching my every move. I place the fork in my mouth and begin to chew the spaghetti while savoring it. My taste buds explode into joy at the flavor.

Oh my god this is really good!

I quickly twirl more on my fork and shovel it into my mouth, but I'm careful not to be gross.

"So…it's good I take it? What does it taste like?" Ryuzaki's leaning in in anticipation for what I'm about to say.

"There's no real way to describe it; you just have to try it. I know you're used to sweet things, but Watari's cooking is amazing, just try it." I finish speaking and take a sip of Dew to wash it down. Out of the corner of my eye I spot movement and as I fully glance at it I see Watari leaning in the doorway behind Ryuzaki watching us. He sees me and places his finger to his mouth in the 'shh' gesture. I quickly turn back to Ryuzaki who twirls some pasta onto his fork and then holds it to his mouth with his index and thumb.

"Here goes nothing." I watch as he sloppily tries to put it in his mouth.

Y'know that part from Beauty and the Beast where Beast is trying to eat Oatmeal and he makes a fucking mess; exactly like that. He manages to get it in his mouth but there are red sauce fleck all over his white shirt.

I laugh at the sight. "Jeez did you get any in your mouth?" He sets his fork down and gently picks up a napkin; wiping the sauce from his face. "So did you at least enjoy what you did get in your mouth?" He sets the napkin down and I get a good look at his face.

Is he blushing? Is he embarrassed?

I look past him to see that Watari is still watching; he gives me a thumbs up. I quickly look back to see Ryuzaki inspecting his stained shirt.

"Yeah, I think that shirt might be ruined, Ryuzaki…" He sighs and slides his plate away, retrieving the cake plate instead. "Wasn't good enough to finish?"

"Everything was fine." He looks down at his ruined shirt again then wipes his sauce covered fork on his napkin and sticks it in the Strawberry atop his cake. "It was decent, but you're right; I do prefer sweet things."

"Oh, I see…" I scoop up the remainder of my spaghetti and place it in my mouth before cutting my last meatball in half and eating that too.

"I'm not saying I didn't like it…it just might be too messy for me. Perhaps we can try again a different time." My heart skips and my eyes shoot up to meet his.

Is he asking me out on a date?

"Y-yeah, I'd like that Ryuzaki." I look past him and see Watari approaching.

"Great; it's a date then."

WAIT WHAT?!

"It appears you are finished Miss Matsui, would you care for anything else?" I stare at Ryuzaki, but then snap out of it and turn to Watari.

"What? Oh um no, Watari, thank you." He turns to Ryuzaki as I process.

What the hell? Did he actually mean it like a date date or just a normal date? Ugh he's so oblivious…I wish I knew what he was thinking.

"Oh no, it seems you've gotten sauce all over your shirt. Let me fetch you another one." Watari grabs our plates, but not the cake plate, and leaves. I continue to stare at Ryuzaki to try and read his mind.

"Are you alright? Y'know if you want cake all you have to do is ask." He looks at me with mild concern.

How do I change the subject? How do I make that date comment go away.

"No Ryuzaki; I'm fine. Actually I was just thinking about how we've never really talked before, I mean we talk, but I mean about ourselves. You're still pretty much a mystery to me." I rest my elbow on the table and place my chin in my hand. Ryuzaki places a piece of cake in his mouth.

"Hmm is that so? I never noticed, well what do you want to know?" He talks with his mouth full, but I'm more surprised at his willingness to answer my questions.

"Well uh…I didn't think I'd get this far…I guess I wanna know what your childhood was like, were you always called 'L', where did you grow up, what's your favorite color…" I trail off as Watari reappears with one of Ryuzaki's white shirts.

"Here we are, Ryuzaki." All of a sudden he begins to take off the dirty shirt.

"Ahh what the hell!" I quickly look away and put my hands in front of my. I peak every so often to see if he's finished.

"You can look now." Ryuzaki's voice is cool as a cucumber, as if this is totally a normal thing to do. I look back wearily and glance at Watari who's holding the dirty shirt. He seems to be just as shocked as me. "My childhood was pretty normal, but how about we make a game of sorts out of this? Ask a question and then I'll answer and ask my question and then you'll answer and so on. We'll go back and forth asking and answering one question each."

What the literal fuck?! You just stripped in front of me and now you're not even gonna discuss it? I mean I don't mind, but that really took me by surprise…fuck…my heart is racing…gotta calm down.

"Ah…okay I guess…" I look to Watari again who just shrugs and leave.

Jeez…not only did he surprise me, but Watari is so speechless he left the room…

"My turn; what was your childhood like Suzuki?" My heart skips and I look down at the table.

"I don't remember much, but I remember my parents being…well my adoptive parents…being pretty wealthy but never home. They never noticed when I left home to do…things." I fill the need to change the subject. "Now it's my turn; were you always called L?"

"Yes; why can't you remember?" He quickly evades and further insight to his life and seems really interested in my life.

"Hey! Woah, why did you just give me a one word answer? You can't do that."

"One; you can't ask a question before you answer the one I've given you and two; I answered the question so I haven't broken any rules." He smirks and sips his coffee.

"Fine. I don't know why I can't remember. They said there's some barrier in my brain that I can't get past blocking the memories. Where did you grow up?" I fold my arms annoyed.

"In England at one point. What happened to your birthparents?"

Hmm England huh? That explains Watari's accent.

"Dunno, I think they said my original house burned down in a house fire, so maybe they died in it. Yours?"

"Don't know either, they abandoned me. You have any friends?" His expression stays the same.

"Yeah back home I do or did…You?"

"None, except Watari." My heart pangs. Jeez…aren't we friends Ryuzaki? "What were their names?" I laugh and remember how long my list of friends actually is.

Do I only tell him about my friends back home or include the ones from the other worlds?

"Actually I had a lot of friends, but back home my friends were Kiki Tigres, Terra Jones, her brother Vladimir, and Maxx Agito. You've never had a real friend; you ever had a girlfriend?" My heart skips as I ask, but I just sip my Dew and ignore it.

"Never. You?" My heart sinks and skips all at once and I feel sick.

"Girlfriend no; but Maxx was actually my boyfriend for a while…"

"What happened?" I ignore the fact that I didn't ask him a question and give a sigh.

"Ahh…I don't know... I came back one time and he just broke it off, made a big scene, that's when I cut myself off from everyone and threw myself into my schooling. Maxx actually showed up a few times on campus, begging for me to take him back and when I said no he got really aggressive and campus police had to drag him away. When I entered Interpol the guys there helped me get a super restraining order and everyone know that if they saw him I was most likely in trouble. I don't know what happened to him…maybe he got into some drugs while I was gone…but he just, snapped. One time I even found out that he broke into my apartment…I moved a lot to escape him, and I still have no idea what caused him to go crazy y'know? It's frustrating; I'm just glad that I'm here in Japan with you guys now. Not only am I across the ocean, but we jump from hotel to hotel and I'm always surrounded by officers…I feel safe." I stop and smile a little as I stare at my hands. I'm safe; maybe that's why it won't answer me.

"You have my condolences. I never knew you had it that bad." I hear the pity and concern in his voice.

"Y'know I've fought all kinds of monsters, but humans…humans are always the scariest…" I glance up and out the window at the evening sky.

How long have we been sitting here talking?

"I understand completely…" I turn my head back to Ryuzaki; he seems sad. I'm about to ask him if he's okay when I hear noise coming from the surveillance room.

"Woooo! That was some nap!" Matsuda comes through the door with his hands above his head, stretching. When he spots us he stops in his tracks. "What the…"

"What's-a-matter?" Aizawa appears behind him and stares at us.

Oh shit…

"Hey Chief c'mere, you'll never believe this. Suzuki and Ryuzaki were on a date when we were sleeping. I knew something was up with them." My face goes red immediately; I can feel it tingle with embarrassment.

"NO! It's not like that! You all went to sleep and Ryuzaki and I got hungry so Watari made us spaghetti." I wave my hands in the air to protest.

"Oooo I see, a little bit of Lady and the Tramp action, huh?"

The movie flashes in my mind, especially the part where they kiss because of the spaghetti.

"No! No! Nothing like that!" The Chief emerges from the room rubbing the back of his neck.

"What's going on, Aizawa?"

"Suzuki and Ryuzaki were on a date!" Matsuda turns and makes room for the Chief to walk by.

"No! Don't listen to them Chief it's not like that at all." He looks to me with a smile as he sits on the couch.

"A date you say?" I groan and hang my head in defeat.

"It's no use…"

I hear movement and look up to see Ryuzaki getting up from his chair. He leaves his coffee cup at the table. Everyone quiets down as he walks toward them with his hands in his pockets. As he reaches them they all move aside.

"It wasn't a date." His voice is cold and I can feel it as the small part in my heart that wished it was dies. "If it were a date wouldn't I take her to someplace nice, like a restaurant, instead of a crowded hotel suite where I can here Aizawa snore from two rooms over?" Everyone is stunned, but I begin to laugh as Ryuzaki basically drops the mic and heads off somewhere else.

"Wow…burn…" Matsuda deadpans at Aizawa who looks flustered.

"I do not snore!"

The Chief laughs along with me and we all burst into laughter at Ryuzaki's sick burn, my embarrassment melts away.

This team…my friends…this feeling I have with them…this must be what family feels like.

Well there you have it folks Chapter 23! Jesus that took so long to type…I was super distracted the whole time by the internets. Well what do you think? I know it isn't really like Ryuzaki to act this way but I seriously need to get the ball rollin' on these two 'cause it's annoying me. Doesn't look like any new Favorites or Follows so I guess I'll see you next Chapter.