Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

The Sugar Cube Fort	By : sashocirrione Category: Death Note > Het-Male/Female Views: 2334 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
CHAPTER 11: AFTERSHOCKS
After Light bought the miniature camera, it was actually quite easy to get it into the building. Light had the taxi drop him off in front of headquarters, and as he walked through a blind spot he casually brushed his hand along a stone wall leading up to the steps that went to the first floor entrance, leaving the miniature camera sitting on a tiny protuberance of the rough stonework. Meanwhile, Rem had concealed herself in a nearby building. She followed about ten minutes later, grabbing the camera from its perch, quickly hiding the camera in her palm. Then she launched herself into the air, rapidly ascending to the roof.
This camera easily fit through the holes of a rooftop vent, and Rem carefully pulled it through the maze of air ducts with her solidified hand, keeping the rest of her body incorporeal and inside the walls most of the time, until she got to Light's room. Once again palming the camera in her hand, she went into Light's closet and deposited it within one of his shoes, as she'd agreed earlier. If Light did ever check her movements to see if they looked unsuspicious, the video should not make it look as if Rem was trying to be seen giving the mini-camera to Light.
Then Rem considered. Her last plan with the sand hadn't worked as well as she'd hoped. She had halfway expected that Light would have leaned down and whispered "I'm Kira" in L's ear, but his gloating smile had probably been just as good. L should now be one hundred percent certain of Light being Kira. Although, from L's previous conversations, that shouldn't be enough. Knowing Light was Kira and having evidence of it were two different things.
There were only two issues now: making sure that L searched Light for the camera at the right moment, and making sure that L definitely knew that Rem had delivered that evidence to him. It might not be safe to talk to L directly about that plan, even in L's rooms. The video was still recording there, albeit inaccessible except for those with higher security clearance, which probably meant only L himself and possibly Watari. But, as long as that video existed, Light might find a way to view it, and if he saw Rem and L openly scheming against him, he wouldn't get caught with any evidence. If he saw the other things, the sexual things, he would be shocked and perhaps mystified as to Rem's motivation, but it probably wouldn't affect the plan.
Unfortunately, Rem couldn't simply get L to the roof for another conversation drowned out by sounds of the heavy rain, because the rain had lightened to intermittent sprinkles. Besides, it would be quite odd for L to go to the roof at night, and it was important to tell L as soon as possible. Light couldn't get L's photo until L returned, but after that things might happen very quickly. Rem couldn't afford to let L catch Light by himself, or she wouldn't be in a position to bargain.
Rem once again moved through the building entirely within the walls, until she reached one of the vacant rooms. Every room had multiple cameras running all the time, but there was far too much video footage to ever sort through, so nobody ever looked at the unused rooms unless there was some reason to believe someone had gone in there. As long as she was quick, there should be no chance of Light ever seeing this. Rem rummaged through a desk, found a pad of paper, and began writing a letter to L:
Ryuzaki, this is from Rem. The sand trick did not work as well as I had hoped, but it did stop Kira's then-current plan. Now Kira is starting a new plan and I think I can get the evidence to you. Kira still trusts me and hopes to rely on me. I am sure that Kira will attempt to photograph you and Watari very soon, though I do not know exactly when. If you search Kira at the right moment, you will find a camera a few millimeters in size. I still can't tell you what I want, but it is a much bigger favor than the sand.
Then Rem folded the paper again and again until it was a tiny little square and used the same trick of slipping it through the air ducts all the way to L's rooms. She pulled it out of a vent there in one smooth motion that also hid it in her palm at the same time. Then she looked around to see a place she could hide it where L would certainly find it but the cameras wouldn't catch him doing so.
L didn't wear shoes, so she couldn't put it there. What about his food? In a few minutes, Rem had rummaged through the pantry, gotten out the sugar cubes, and constructed a little fort on the end table next to L's bed. The folded piece of paper had been carefully concealed inside the sugar cube fort. There. And now, just as Light had instructed her, it had been enough time since Light showed up that her reappearance shouldn't be too worrisome. It was time to go downstairs.
Just in case, Rem carefully kept herself inside the walls, and when she got to the main investigation room she came up from under the floor and pushed just her head through, hidden underneath one of the couches under the stairs. Light was there, but Mogi was missing. The investigators were all talking among themselves in low, urgent tones, with the same theories as before, except that this time they were less sure about any of them. They were drifting further and further into weird speculations and also into bewildered puzzlement. Every so often, they called Mogi to get an update about L and Watari, but it sounded like there wasn't much additional information. Either that, or it was being withheld. Still, Rem knew they couldn't be seriously damaged. If she had seriously injured a human, the rule would have kicked in and she'd be dead already. Then, finally, the news came that Mogi was bringing L back to headquarters.
Aizawa said, "How do we know this is a good idea? If their names have been written down, by a shinigami or by Kira, then they are being controlled. Watari already deleted all our data. Ryuzaki could be coming here to sabotage the investigation and leak our identities to Kira."
Matsuda said, "Well, what are we supposed to do? Kick him out of his own building and shut down the investigation?"
"Wait," Light said, "that doesn't make sense. If they are being controlled, they could leak our identities and ruin the investigation no matter where they go. And, we don't have a good enough reason to restrain them. For that matter, why give us any warning at all? Kira's other victims don't need to get sick at the beginning of the controlled period. The best plan for Kira would be for them to sabotage the investigation without us suspecting them."
Of course. Light didn't want L and Watari to be sent away, because then he wouldn't be able to photograph them. Furthermore, if they stayed away, they could be creating all kinds of plans without Light or Rem being able to monitor them. Still, L would never want to leave the death note at headquarters without himself to watch over it, and Rem couldn't imagine the rest of the team allowing L to run off somewhere else with the death note, especially now.
Soichiro sighed and rubbed his temples. "Nothing about this is making any sense."
There were mumbles of agreement all around, and from then on there wasn't much conversation, just a lot of drinking coffee and nervously glancing at the monitors showing a video feed of the parking garage entrance. It looked like the video cameras were now working, though if all data had truly been destroyed, then the footage from before this night should be gone.
At last, the monitors showed a car with darkened windows driving into the underground parking garage, and then Mogi and L making their way through all the security checkpoints, having their retinas scanned, typing in codes, pressing their hands against panels so their fingerprints could be read, and having to empty their pockets of all metal objects, putting them into special scanners before they could go through. During this entire process, Light looked distinctly nervous. He was trying to hold it in, but he was clearly afraid of L. Of course, nobody around him noticed, especially since they were all pretty nervous too, but in their case that was from not knowing what the hell was going on.
At last, the elevator doors opened on the main investigation room and L walked out. Before anyone else could speak, L said, "Well, here I am, back from the dead. Did you miss me?"
L was staring right at Light. For a split second, Light looked as if he wanted to punch L, but then he wiped the expression off his face and joined in the general chorus of everyone else who was expressing sympathy and good will for L.
Then Matsuda said, "Ryuzaki, are we going to die? The shinigami is gone and, there was this pile of sand and..."
L interrupted, saying, "Mogi has already told me what happened here in my absence. And, the shinigami is hiding under that couch over there."
The investigators leaned down to see and at the same time Rem came out. Everyone except L and Light looked extremely frightened. There was a pained silence, during which Rem slowly sat down on the couch, staring at the investigators as they stared back at her.
Then Aizawa broke the silence. "What is going on, Ryuzaki? Is your name written down? What about our names?"
L said, "I doubt any of our names have been written down yet, because I think we would either be dead or we would be controlled in a way that would more clearly benefit Kira."
Mogi said, "What happened today was a direct attack by the shinigami, without it using its notebook. Ryuzaki has been explaining it to me."
"Yes," L said, "if the shinigami were going to kill us with its notebook, why attack us physically? Especially in a way that didn't truly harm us?"
"No," Soichiro said, "Rem wasn't near you when you collapsed. I know that video footage is gone, but all of us were standing there, and we didn't see a thing."
In response, L grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it off, revealing a bruise on his chest the exact size and shape of Rem's hand. It wasn't a very bad bruise, but it stood out so starkly against L's pale skin that it looked extremely dramatic. Everyone gasped.
Matsuda said, "So then, Rem can become invisible too?"
"No," L said, "this is from another day. I have been performing experiments with the shinigami. Rem can reach inside a human body and do various things to it."
L was gazing right at Light when he said that, with a very calculating look in his eyes. Light just looked confused. After a moment, L looked as if he had deduced something. What? Ah, he was testing Light to see if he knew anything about shinigami-induced orgasms. Light's confusion was a definite "no."
Still staring at Light, L continued, "Right before Watari collapsed, Rem came up to him and put a hand into his neck. He felt a cold pinching on the inside, and collapsed seconds later. In my case, Rem was unable to reach as far as my neck without being noticed, so she did something else to make me fall out of my chair and then attacked me in the same way as Watari once I was on the floor."
Matsuda said, "It must have hurt a lot. You were spasming quite a bit."
Suddenly, comprehension came into Light's features, quickly followed by revulsion. He was staring at L in a sick, angry way. Then, Light's expression changed, and he looked ashamed, disgusted with himself. He'd obviously just realized that he'd held an orgasming man in his arms, not just any man, but the one who was both his declared friend and his greatest enemy. Light looked very uncomfortable, and his face kept alternating between looking like he wanted to strangle L and looking like he wanted to crawl under a rock and die of shame. Then he gained control of himself and his face was once again neutral and calm.
L was staring at Light in a pleased way. What was this? Perhaps he liked making Light lose his cool and become upset. After all, L took cases that interested him, so he must like poking Kira and watching him react.
Then L said, "I believe what the shinigami did is what is called a 'sleeper hold' in martial arts, except that she put pressure on the carotid arteries from inside the neck. It is not painful and usually leads to unconsciousness in ten seconds or less. It is dangerous, since if it approaches or exceeds twenty seconds it can lead to permanent brain damage. They determined I have no brain ischemia from it, but Watari is still having periodic episodes where he has feelings of weakness and double vision. If these symptoms don't go away within 24 hours, it means he has received some permanent damage. The hospital is keeping him until then."
Rem said, "Watari is not harmed. I am unable to seriously injure a human through direct attacks. I could only do it by writing down such an injury as a detail of death, and then that person would die later of that injury or of some other cause."
L put his shirt back on, and then said, "Rem, these rules you always mention, what would happen to you if you broke one of them?"
The corner of Light's eye tightened for a moment, and then suddenly his entire face was even more neutral than before, completely expressionless, a mask of unnatural calm.
Rem replied, "I cannot break rules."
Aizawa suddenly said, "We don't know if the shinigami is telling us the truth about anything. It could attack us at any time, lethally or not, using its own notebook or not. How do we know? Our names could already be written down."
L said, "If the shinigami wishes to kill us, then it is a mystery as to why it didn't do so before now. But, if Rem's physical attacks don't kill or injure us, then why attack us for no reason? Rem, is it okay if we go look at your sand?"
"Yes," Rem said, "I asked for that sand to be private, but since everyone has already seen it, there is no point to it any more."
Aizawa said, "Wait. The shinigami asked for a pile of sand to be left on the floor?"
L answered, "Yes. Watari arranged it at Rem's request."
As L and the rest of them began to walk to the room with the sand, L said, "Rem, was there ever a point to that sand? Why did you ask for it?"
L knew at least part of why she'd asked for it. It had to do with the deal she'd offered him, and was supposed to save his life. But why ask in front of the others? It must be for Light's benefit. If L didn't ask about the sand, Light would wonder why. L had to at least put on an act of investigating everything. On the other hand, it might be a real investigation. In some ways, L looked as confused as ever. He didn't know why he'd been attacked or why the whole thing had happened, and, as a detective, he must be very anxious to start figuring things out.
Rem replied, "It is a characteristic of shinigami. We like sand that is private."
L nodded and didn't say anything. When everyone arrived at the room with the sand, L made a motion with his delicate, long fingers indicating that the others should stay back. He approached the pile of sand very carefully and slowly, slouched over much more than normal, his face searching the floor. Then he crouched next to the pile, placed his hands on top of his knees, and stared at it for a while.
Finally, L said, "Watari would have made a single neat pile. Quite a number of grains have been scattered across the floor. There are marks in the pile of someone raking fingers through it, but the fingers are too close together to belong to the shinigami's hand. While raking through the pile, someone knelt at the end that is nearest the door. There is a place there, shaped like a kneeling mark, where not a single grain fell, and also the direction of the finger-rakes confirms the person's position. Someone entered this room and immediately came to the pile, searching through it."
Aizawa said, "Light was the first person here. He called in the rest of us, and then when we left we locked the room again. It could only have been him. Nobody else was alone with the sand."
Without looking up, L said, "Light, what did you hope to find within the sand? Why did you rake through it so vigorously?"
Light said, "I was very distraught at your supposed death, and I thought this was a clue. Of course I searched it. And then, I thought I was about to die, so I ran off to see my girlfriend without telling the others I had been investigating the sand."
L turned his head to look at Light, his eyes very penetrating. With his voice almost a whisper, he said, "Light, since you thought I was dying, why did you smile at me as you held me?"
Everyone looked a bit uneasy, including Light. Light said, "I smiled at you because I thought that's what you wanted. After all, you set the mood by reaching up and embracing me."
L quickly said, "That was not intentional. I wasn't in control."
But now, L was looking confused. Perhaps Kira's smile hadn't been one hundred percent convincing. There was that slim chance that the smile had been a genuine response to a hug. Rem remembered the smile. It was triumphant and evil. But, even so, L had been robbed of a bit of his certainty now. Rem could see it in his face and his movements, in the way he hugged his legs closer.
L said, "Why would the shinigami choose to attack at exactly that time? It is suspicious, isn't it? We were about to test the only thing that could put Light and Misa back on the list of suspects, but the shinigami interrupted us. This will probably delay the test by a day only. What purpose would that serve?"
Aizawa and Mogi both glanced at Light suspiciously then caught each other's eyes. Light didn't see the exchange of glances since both men were behind him.
Matsuda said, "Maybe Rem doesn't want us to use her notebook that way."
"No," Light said, "that's not it. The shinigami was fine with Kira killing hundreds upon hundreds of criminals. It can't object to us killing a vastly smaller number. I think it was coincidence. The blackout happened at the same time. The shinigami didn't want us to see her attacks. Otherwise, she would have attacked Ryuzaki in an obvious way."
Once again, L's confidence looked as if it had been undermined just a bit. Light was so good at coming up with plausible alternate explanations for everything. L was probably still mostly sure that Light was Kira, but his perfect certainty had been taken away from him by his conversations with Light.
L said, "Rem, what you did was very dangerous and all of us would appreciate it if it never happens again. Would you like to tell us why it happened?"
Light's glance flickered briefly to Rem. Light was telling her to behave. There was no explanation Rem could think of that would sound suitable. So, she raised herself to her full height, unfurled her wings for extra emphasis, and said, "I do not need to answer questions from humans. I have been very patient so far with your interrogations and experiments. Count yourself lucky. Most humans who encounter gods of death are very misfortunate indeed."
With that, she gave one mighty flap of her wings and soared through the ceiling and into the room above. Then she stopped and considered. From the investigators' conversations it had sounded like the death note would be transported elsewhere for the 13-day test, but that the test wouldn't be started until Watari was back. Light probably wanted L and Watari to die before the death note left the building. He might even try to photograph L right away, before Watari returned.
It was very important to get the note that explained things to L as soon as possible. But L rarely went to his rooms until late at night, and if Rem tried to hint he should go to his rooms, Light would certainly catch on. But Light might go to his room at any moment, get the camera, and photograph L, then hide the camera again. If L didn't search Light while Light had the camera on his person, he might miss the evidence altogether. Worse yet, an unsuccessful search might tip off Light to try some other plan, one where Rem couldn't deliver the evidence so neatly to L. There really wasn't anything else to do other than shadow L, as usual. That shouldn't be at all suspicious.
Rem went back to the room with the sand, but the investigators weren't there. Next, she checked the main investigation room, and everyone was there, having an argument. There were a number of frightened glances in her direction, but nobody spoke to her. The argument was about how they should rebuild their data after having it all erased. Aizawa was especially angry that a mechanism had been installed to erase the data in the first place.
Finally, L said, "The assumption I made was that, if I died, Watari could still catch Kira, but if Watari died, that meant Kira had won. I did not expect Watari would have an experience where he thought he was dying."
Soichiro said, "Ryuzaki, things have been incredibly stressful and confusing lately, and now that we need to duplicate so much of that work again... I think all of us are at our breaking point. Maybe we need some time off."
L sipped his coffee and said, "I'm sorry. It was my miscalculation. I will be pulling an all-nighter to help alleviate the damage I've caused. Anyone who wishes to stay can help me, but those with families, such as Aizawa, should probably go home and let off some steam."
If L was going to stay awake all night working... would that mean he wouldn't go to his rooms at all? He already had Matsuda making coffee and delivering various sweets to him. There wasn't anything in his rooms he would need.
Aizawa clenched and unclenched his fists, looking at the floor. Then he said, "You always think, because I have a family to care for, I can't handle these things."
Then Aizawa was storming toward the elevator, muttering angrily to himself. The others silently watched him go, afraid to say anything. The moment Aizawa was gone, conversation turned back to the best way to rebuild their data, especially that giant database of deaths that had been destroyed so soon after it had been built. Rem took the opportunity to sneak through the walls and check on the mini-camera. Yes, it was still in Light's room, inside the toe of a shoe in his closet. Relieved that Light hadn't started quite yet, Rem quickly went back to the main investigation room. Now, she should just keep an eye on Light and L simultaneously, while only seeming to watch L. Things should work out. They had to.
Then, horror washed over Rem as she watched another shinigami enter the room by phasing through the wall. Rem tried to remember her name. Yes, this was Midora, the short one who looked kind of like a salamander with an enormously bloated head. Rem pretended she didn't notice Midora, but she was now approaching, looking like she was about to say something. No, this was the wrong time. Things could get difficult. Rem's plan was so delicate, anything could throw it off.
A/N (Author's Note):
Rem has been scheming a lot, and I realize she's probably smarter in this fic than canon Rem, but she's also been making some mistakes like not thinking through the sand scheme well enough to catch Light right then, so perhaps that helps alleviate the imbalance.
I wanted things to become a bit more complicated, so another shinigami interferes.
- 10
- 11
- 12
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Sugar Cube Fort