Futatsu no Tsuki

Futatsu no Tsuki

Chapter 11

Sitting huddled at a computer in the net-cafe, Yue searched through Japanese News articles, categorizing them mentally. Those he determined that L would investigate and categorize as Kira-related, he skipped - instead focusing on those L would dismiss as not Kira. Many of those deaths - involving criminals dying seemly natural or logical deaths he measured unlikely to be connected to Kira, especially any such death that resulted in injury or death to a 3rd party.

'If Kira could cause someone to attack another, he would've killed L already. Or picked a different means of killing those FBI agents. There's a low chance that he is hiding such an ability in order to deceive, but L is his biggest threat and it is highly likely he would use such an ability if he had it to kill L. Therefore it is safe to assume Kira can't cause people to kill.'

Yue picked up the Styrofoam cup of coffee next to him and took a sip, the temperature of it keeping him from gulping it down. He placed it back down as he scanned another electronic newspaper page.

'If I take the idea that "Kira can only kill with heart attacks" as based solely on assumption and no proof, and then take the related idea that "Kira may be able to kill by other means, but hasn't" as based on incomplete evidence - I am left with the need to prove that Kira does not use other means for killing.'

Yue spotted the link to the article he wanted and clicked on it, the computer screen quickly loading the article's words and photo.

'A criminal with prior arrests…wanted for attempted robbery….who was on the run. Hijacks a bus, hallucinates, runs out of the bus and is killed in an accident. Truly this - if I take from the fact that Kira can control the time of death that it is possible that Kira can control actions prior to death as well - this death, if it had ended in a heart attack, could all be attributed to Kira. Especially since there was no motive for this criminal to highjack a bus, and that doing so alone is guaranteed to end in failure. I must investigate this further.'

Yue jotted down some notes in his composition notebook, the essential words encoded in a mix of numbers and scrambled English. He took a few more sips of his slightly cooler coffee and then clicked on a few other links of suspicious criminal deaths. He jolted down notes - including names and places - for each, his eyes narrowing with sleep. Yawning, his eyes glanced at the computer clock in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, the headline of a small article drawing his attention.

'An unidentified man found dead from a heart attack on a side street, with a butcher knife that had his fingerprints on the handle found nearby…this…this doesn't seem related since it's obviously wasn't a known criminal but….that knife with fingerprints matching the dead man's on the handle…it could mean nothing but could also mean the man had plans to commit a crime….'

"This…if it is Kira….could help prove Light's innocence, since there is no way he could've known about this man. We don't even live near the place the body was found." Yue began jotting down more notes, but instead switched to printing out a copy of the article. "I must check future articles for more information. If I can prove people died by Kira's power that Light could not have known about -"

Yue leaned back in the chair and stretched, blinking away the sleep from his eyes as he checked the computer's clock. 1:42AM. He stifled back a yawn and closed out of the News sites, only a few seconds passed as he gathered his notes and papers - one sheet falling out of the pile and onto the floor.

Half-asleep caramel eyes scanned it - it was simply a few notes jotted down about criminal deaths that occurred just days prior to the FBI agents' deaths; the essential information written in a code he created. Yet his eyes widened then narrowed with thought. As he picked up the paper his gaze locked back on the computer screen, and he reopened the web browser after placing the papers in his pocket.

"It's been a few years since I received a reply, but . . . ." He spoke softly, voice trailing off as he entered a web address and waited for the page to load. The clock in the lower right hand corner on the screen changed to 1:45AM as the fully loaded page awaited his gaze.

Chewing on his bottom lip, he typed in his user and password, opening up the private blog and web-page. The last entry he'd posted was from before Kira appeared, and it merely stated that he'd hoped for a reply from the only one who ever read his blog. The only person to ever figure out the pass-code needed to access his posts.

The clocked changed to 1:46AM as he blinked and focused on the message box, the word NEW in scarlet brightly next to the word message followed by the number one.

'A new message . . . Posted on . . . let's see, January 20th, this year. It's from . . . yes, it's from him -'

"I hadn't received a reply from him since July 13 of '02. . . ." Yue swallowed and clicked the link to open the message, disbelief gnawing at him until he saw the inscribed-in-code message. He blinked before focusing on the message, able to easily decipher the code of his own creation. His skin paled and eyes widened as he read it; he swallowed again lips pursed in unexpected anger.

'No. It couldn't . . . . It . . . .'

"Taeku wasn't the only one Kira got . . . I - damn it. Two people now, two people I knew have become victims of his."

'I sure hope aniki isn't Kira, because I swear I'll . . . .' He closed his eyes, the ring-tone of his cell phone cutting through his thought-trail. Calming himself, Yue answered the phone without bothering to look at the caller ID - he recognized the ring-tone. It was a friend from the States, the one who told him to forget about Taeku.

"Hello, Ten. Did you get what I asked for? Good, send it to my email and . . . There's something else I need you to look into . . . ." Yue's eyes gleamed from the light of the computer screen, his thoughts focused as he told his friend what he wanted done.

0

Light clenched his fist as he stood next to his bedroom door, eyes narrowed lips pressed together. Ryuk's laughter behind him irritating - the Shinigami had woken him up with its laughing, and had revealed when pressed that Yue had snuck out.

'How do I deal with this now? I can't sleep knowing he's out investigating, but if I'm the first one to discover he's missing . . . it'll make me seem suspicious. Damn it.'

"Light, how about getting me some apples now since you're up?"

The brown haired teen simply glared at the Shinigami, expression enough to silence Ryuk who backed away. An handful of seconds passed before Light carried himself back to the bed and sat down on the mattress. He massaged his forehead with his left hand, mentally solving some of the math problems from the textbooks to calm himself.

The time dragged by so slow. Silence suffocating now that Ryuk had stopped his laughter and had decided to relax. Light felt his palms become sweaty and his chest tighten before realizing the similarities of the present to a night 5 years ago.

"Light, Sayu. We have something to tell you. Concerning Yue..." Souichiro glanced at Sachiko, who held Sayu in her arms. He steadied himself as he looked up at his elder son's face.

Light stood motionless as he awaited his father's words, thoughts racing about the razorblades he'd collected from Yue's drawer. His heart pounded terribly in his chest, threatening to break free and abandon him.

"Yue...he had an accident and is in the hospital."

Chocolate brown eyes caught the brief glance his parents gave each other at the word accident, his lips asking what kind of accident before he could prevent them. The moment the words 'car accident' graced his ears, along with the location where it occurred, Light knew.

'That busy street has a pedestrian bridge over it, Yue would've taken that if he was in a hurry...he just got out of the hospital two days ago from his other 'accident'...and those razors...'

"...he's in intensive care right now and is unconscious, your mother and I called your schools. You can take tomorrow off to..."

Light shook his head and broke away from his father's outstretched arms; he raced upstairs to his room and locked the door. Trembling, he jumped onto his bed and buried himself under the blanket, eyes burning with the tears he struggled to keep from falling.

+ 'I hate you, I wish you'd just go away. My life would've been a whole lot better if you'd never been born, Yue!'+

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean..."

+ 'I suppose that's true, huh...' Light watched as Yue turned away, the response mind-numbing.+

"I'm sorry. Please don't die, Yue. I didn't mean it."

Tears drenched the 13 year old's cheeks and pillow as the body curled into a ball shook. He heard his dad's voice at his door, and the loud knock; he sobbed harder.

"Light, please come out. I...your mother is going to the hospital with Sayu. I'll stay here until you're ready."

Light shook harder and swallowed back another sob – teary eyes peeked out from under the blanket and locked on the box hidden next to his trash basket. The place where the blades he took from Yue's drawer were. Holding back a breath, Light left the bed and dived toward the basket; he ripped open the box and eyed the sharp blades with teary eyes.

He brought one to his own small wrist, his hand shaking too terribly to press down and cut. Instead it dropped from his hand during the next sob escaping his throat – he flinched as it pierced the top of his bare foot. Tiny and shallow like a paper-cut, the resulting wound didn't hurt but simply formed a crimson line.

Ryuk tilted his head, eyes showing surprise as he watched a tear slide down Light's face; the teen's panic attack gradually fading. He approached cautiously, bewildered by the strange behavior that seemed to start mere moments after Light closed his eyes while sitting up in his bed. The teen opened his eyes suddenly to the noise outside his room – the sound of something dropping. Light glanced at his clock, reading 3:01 AM. The next second he rushed to his door and opened it.

Yue blinked up at Light, his form crouched as he stooped down to pick up the notepads he dropped. Slowly Yue smiled sheepishly and stood up, stuffing his notes in his pockets.

"What are you doing, Yue?" Light inquired, unable to mention anything about knowing Yue had sneaked out. He cursed himself as he noticed the dampness of his cheek and struggled not to wipe at it. The shadows obscured his face enough that Yue wouldn't notice.

Yue paused for a moment, feeling a brief chill, before placing his hand behind his head.

"I goofed. I forgot my door was locked from the inside and now can't get back in."

"...you sneaked out. For how long?"

"Hh...C'mon aniki, just let me crash in your room for a few hours. Enough with the third degree, I'm about to zonk out."

Light thought a moment before allowing Yue to enter his room, stern expression on his face. He ignored the surprised look on Yue's face.

"I will not keep it from dad that you sneaked out. But it is better to do it when he wakes up in the morning rather than in the middle of the night."

"Yeah. I guess." Yue glanced around the room, and then at the single blanket on the bed. He bit his inner cheek, almost voicing his inquiry before sighing. His eyes locked on the empty expanse of floor between bed and desk. "I guess I'll just..."

"Bed." Light pointed, holding out another blanket he'd taken from the hallway closet while Yue had hesitated. "I will not be held responsible for you getting a cold sleeping on the floor."

"...thanks, aniki." Yue lay down on the bed, wrapped in the blanket Light had handed him, his arms cradled under his head for a pillow. Sleep quickly overtook him.

Light stood at the side of the bed, lips about to form the sentence 'you take the pillow' – he blinked when he realized Yue was deeply asleep; he glanced at his desk behind him.

'For a moment I thought he simply wanted to use this as a ploy to inspect my room while I slept, but...' Light lied down on his bed, glancing at Yue wrapped snugly in the blanket on the left side. Quietly, the older twin placed his head on the pillow and brought his blanket to his chin. 'I guess Yue is pretty exhausted...he probably came home from abroad so I guess jet-lag finally kicked in. Anyway, I'll be alert enough to notice if he wakes up before morning.'

0

L grimaced as he listened to the voice on the other end of the phone, the beginning of an headache gnawing at his temples. He stirred his sugary tea absentmindedly as Watari wheeled in a tray of cakes and icecream. Behind him he heard the Taskforce members yawning and stretching as they awoke. The clock on the wall showed the time as 5:42am, the seconds ticking by.

"Yes. Yes. Please look into it." L concluded the phone call then turned to Watari. The old man paused as he read L's expression, eyes widening slightly.

"What is it, Ryuzaki?"

"At 3 this morning, Japan time, someone hacked into a computer at FBI headquarters. Furthermore, it was discovered that the Japanese Metropolitan Police headquarters had computers hacked into yesterday evening."

Watari's eyes widened, his lips opening for another question when Matsuda's voice piped up. The clumsy officer had been searching through the dessert tray for a wake-up snack and had overheard.

"Huh? What? Hacked? What got hacked?" wide-eyed Matsuda's words attracted the attentions of the other officers, who then stared at L expectantly. The detective grumbled unhappily before he turned to face the present Taskforce members.

"Ryuzaki, what happened? You're not trying to hide anything from us, are you?" Aizawa glared at the detective, irritable from just waking up.

"I'd rather have waited until Yagami-san came back later today and I had time to gather more information about it..." L tiltled his head, lips slightly frowning and dark eyes glancing at his reflection in his cup of tea.

"Ryuzaki..."

"It seems between 10:30 yesterday evening and just around 3 this morning, there were two major incidents of hacking by a hacker referring to himself as TenOne." L picked up his spoon and stirred the tea, making ripples that distorted his reflection. "The first incident occurred yesterday evening and the target was the Japanese police headquarters...all files on criminals and currently open cases were accessed by the hacker. The second incident occurred at 3 this morning and the target was the FBI headquarters." He took the spoon out of the sugar rich liquid, allowed a few drops to fall from the spoon back into the tea, and then placed the spoon down. "This second incident is the most bothersome since the only info hacked was about cases I collaborated with the FBI to solve."

"But then...couldn't this be Kira's work? To find out more about you and the investigation?"

L frowned, noticing the sense of expectation mixed with relief spread among the taskforce members. 'If the hacking was Kira's work, then suspicion on Light could be lessened' – that was the thought-line he read on each face.

'They haven't grasped that this could be Yue's doing. Though Yue could glean information about the case by other means...but hacking information about prior cases I solved is just too strange. What does Yue wish to find? Or just as important, who is Yue working with? The city the hacker was traced back to is in America. Yue could not have done it, but it is too coincidental if he is not behind it.' L sipped some of his tea, ignoring the conversation buzzing among the officers. 'This hacker calling himself TenOne must be found. Preferably before he gives the information he's hacked to the one he's working with.'