Futatsu no Tsuki

Futatsu no Tsuki

Chapter 13

Light's eyes widened as he watched L exit the building housing the independent study classrooms, the detective not noticing him standing obscured by a group of trees. The brown haired college student studied L's retreating back, about to turn away himself until Yue exited through the same door.

'Damn. Damn. They must have been talking, L must have told him - even if he merely hinted at things Yue would catch on.' Light gripped a frustrated fist around the handle of the bag his school books and notes were in. Suddenly his stomach clenched as sharp eyes studied Yue flipping open his cell phone and reading the messages sent with widened eyes.

Alert caramel eyes glanced up from the cell phone and quickly spotted Light, the face housing them oddly flushed.

'Why is he so on edge? Even if L told him . . . .' Light approached Yue, eyebrows raised. He froze when he saw the mark on his brother's neck, his recognition of it dimmed by disbelief. Yue's suddenly blank face with slightly reddened cheeks and the fidgety hand that attempted to cover the mark drove the truth through his disbelief. Chocolate eyes widened at Yue and then darted toward where L had gone. 'Did that guy just . . . . Did he and Yue . . . .'

"Um. Aniki, uh . . . ." Yue read the question put forth by Light's expression and body language; he quickly grabbed Light's sleeve and dragged the slightly larger 18 year old away from the independent study building. "I think we should eat lunch somewhere else."

"Wha- somewhere else . . . ." Light glanced back at the door Yue had exited from, then blanched as he grabbed his younger twin's arm. "Yue, you did not just . . . ."

"Like I said we should eat somewhere else. And we should talk somewhere more appropriate for the conversation."

"Appropriate! Like you can say what is appropriate, you just . . . .you just. . . .what did you. . . . ?" Suddenly Light was engulfed in an icy anger, his eyes alighted with rage. The idea that the detective's plan was to secure Yue's loyalty by seduction scorched its mark on his thoughts. He attempted to escape Yue's grasp and hunt down the one calling himself Ryuga. "I'll teach that guy to take advantage of my brother. . . ."

Yue burst out laughing and let go of Light's arm, the sound dispelling his brother's sudden anger.

"'Take advantage?' Of me? Ha! It's more like I took advantage of him! He's so inexperienced…." Yue's laugh subsided and Light thought he saw a tinge of bitterness in the waning smile. It vanished as Yue stared straight into his eyes with a serious expression. "Aniki, don't tell anyone about this, okay? It's not going to happen again."

Light merely nodded and followed Yue toward the cafeteria, his calculating chocolate eyes studying the mark on the pale neck. It took only seconds after the truth settled comfortably in his thoughts for him to realize the damage he could deal to L if he'd revealed it to the taskforce. But he had to wait for the right time - Yue wasn't underage, even if it was only a couple months ago that he'd turned 18, so L couldn't be accused of statutory rape, thus Light had to keep the information secret until the time it would negatively affect L's credibility the most.

0

L sulked, his ears hurting from Watari chewing him out after the older man noticed the marks Yue left on him. Before arriving back at the hotel room where the taskforce waited, L had been forced to change into a shirt that covered the marks on his neck and into pants that weren't sweaty. He'd done so in another one of the rooms at the hotel - he'd always checked into more than one room at the hotels he stood at to make it more complicated in case anyone tried to track him - and listened to Watari's continued lecture.

The older man stopped only after L agreed that he wouldn't try to talk to Yue again without someone else around. To emphasize the necessity of the decision, Watari had refused to allow L any sweets for 5 hours. Torture considering that the detective hadn't had any sweets while at the university earlier.

L chewed on his thumb until the last minute of the 5 hours passed and looked expectantly at Watari - the taskforce members had been allowed by the detective to take a break from investigating while L formulated a new plan. In reality it was actually to keep them from wondering why the sweet loving detective was refused any sugared food by Watari - especially since his genius brain had to have sugar to run.

"The punishment period is over, and I will definitely not repeat the mistake of talking to Yue anywhere alone. So, Watari, will you bring me that triple chocolate cake I know is still in the kitchen? I really, really need the sugar….."

Watari sighed, hiding his smile as he nodded to the childlike detective's request - L acted like he always used to when punished for wrongdoing by being denied sweets. Of course L accepting the punishment without a fuss meant the detective at least partly agreed with it, and Watari had no doubt that L regretted what had happened earlier.

"….Yue initiated it, though I admit I didn't do much to stop him. I will not allow him another opportunity to do so again." L said as he dug into the cake Watari placed in front of him, taste buds relishing the delicacy. "It will mean I cannot keep track of Yue's investigation on Kira, but I cannot risk the taskforce finding out about what happened between us in the States."

'Wait….is that what Yue wanted? For me to avoid him so he can investigate secretly? That…even if it is true I cannot do anything other than avoid being alone with him. That….I truly hope he doesn't decide to join Light, because battling two geniuses with intelligence similar to mine will be impossible.'

0

"Tenichi, yeah. So I was right…and the name, who was….? Ah. Ok. No, I'll look into it myself. Thank you." Yue ended the phone call as he stared out his bedroom window, his hair newly dyed a rich shade of auburn and trimmed closer to ear length. He wore a sleeveless turtleneck that was a bright silver and fashioned similar colored arm warmers to completely cover the bandages around his arms. Legs clothed with rich black pants that clung snuggly without being too tight, he felt his spine tingle under a now familiar chill.

'There is something here….something that hangs around aniki. Something that seems cold like death….' Yue sat down at his desk without reacting to the chill, and thought about the other information Tenichi had sent him. Hacked from the police headquarters' files were images and information about each of the criminals killed by Kira so far, including all the data unreleased to the public. Including the messages sent to L by Kira.

-L, do you know, Shinigami eat nothing but apples?-

'I hope it isn't true, but….considering the incredibleness of killing someone by just knowing their name and face, it could be possible for Shinigami to really exist….' He pulled a stray strand of his hair behind his ear, and picked up a pencil from the metal container holding various writing utensils on his desk. Twirling it between his fingers, he leaned back in the brand-new wheeled and cushioned chair his parents had just bought him and closed his eyes in thought. 'Though it is certain that Kira needs a name and face to kill, what medium does he use? Does he just imagine the death? If so, why does he need a name when a face would be sufficient for the imagination? Does he have to speak the name while imagining the death? No, that's absurd - he'd be caught by now if that were so…..besides if he simply had to speak the name, misspellings wouldn't factor in at all. But names that were reported using the wrong kanji or spelling in the case of foreign names, while being pronounced correctly did not result in death. And they were criminals Kira would surely have killed by now.'

Dusk descended neat and slowly outside his window as he grew sleepy, his arms cradled behind his head. The pencil dropped from his fingers as he nodded off, his deductions continuing even as he dropped into a subconscious, dream-state.

'….names…misspellings….surely writing them is….more likely…..that would require…..'

His mother's shout wrenched him from his reverie, his heart thumping in his chest from both picking up on the anxiousness in her tone and the deduction that entered his thoughts just prior to being awoken.

"What…?" Yue shot up from his chair and into the hallway, blood freezing as his mother's words penetrated his ears. Hearing the bedroom down from his open, Yue glanced back at Light who stared at him pale-faced.

'Dad….'

'…heart attack?'

It took only a half second later for them to race down the stairs.

0

Souichiro opened his eyes as his oldest son entered his hospital room followed by the younger; already in the room crouching on a chair against the wall sat L, finger tapping his lip. Silence remained undisturbed until the two brothers neared their father's bedside and inquired about his health.

"It was just from stress, the doctor said. I've been unable to care for myself properly because of the case." Souichiro said in response to his eldest son's inquiry, while his eyes roamed over to his younger son. Eyes hidden behind shiny brown strands of hair, Yue didn't speak and simply stared at the bed's sky-blue blanket. The paleness of his face and the fidgeting of his fingers spoke for him - Souichiro read his youngest son's worry easily.

"Yue, aren't you going to say anything?" Light stared at his brother as the worry he'd felt for his father melted away, and instead a flame of superiority over his brother flared up. That he was able to act like a proper, concerned son at their father's bedside while Yue acted sullen seemed like a win against his twin.

"…." Yue bit down on his tongue, eyes narrowed behind his hair as thought upon thought cropped up. His true thought impossible to say and terrible to think, he mumbled instead a stereotypical phrase common during such occasions. 'Why did that thought crop up? It….how can I be a good son if….yet….If dad had died, by Kira's power, it would've lent proof that aniki cannot be Kira.'

"Yue, are you all right?" Souichiro asked, leaning closer to see the teen's face. Within seconds, after caramel eyes looked up and settled on his form, his youngest son's demeanor changed.

"Wha -? I'm fine, dad, it's you who needs to be worried about. It's you in the hospital bed, lay down and rest. I'm all right." Yue pushed passed his brother to Souichiro's side, attempting to get his father to settle back down on the bed. The genuineness of his worry deeper than anything Light could express using words alone.

"Ha ha, you're acting like Sachiko. She wanted me to simply relax as well."

"It's advice you should take, father."

"I'll see about doing so, but first…." He turned his head toward L, further words unneeded as the detective quickly started speaking.

"I've approached you both already, as L - your father can confirm that I am that detective -" L paused as Souichiro nodded and two sets of eyes stared into his face. "….I'd like to have you both join the Kira investigation team, provided your father allows it."

Light blinked at the raven haired detective's words before his father's sigh pulled his attention back to the bed. When no protest passed from Souichiro's lips Light felt his stomach knot.

"I'd much prefer not to." Yue replied curtly, eyes cold as he glanced at L - the detective's words from earlier echoed in his thoughts. 'You won't even entertain the notion that you could be wrong, L.'

"Yue! If you investigate on your own, you'll be in more danger! If you must investigate…." Souichiro stared wide-eyed at his youngest son, parental fear dressing his eyes and lips.

'Ah. So dad already knows Yue is investigating….' Light felt the uneasiness lessen its knot in his stomach; his chocolate brown eyes calm as he turned to his brother.

"It is safer, Yue, to investigate with the taskforce. Plus, I'm certain they'll have more information than you can gather yourself."

"….aniki…." 'If you only knew….' Yue averted his eyes to the bed as his most recent deduction flowed to the forefront of his thoughts - right before his mother's voice informed them of their father's heart attack, he figured out the only connection between names and misspellings that could exist.

A notebook. Kira used a notebook of some sort to kill. Misspellings only factor in when writing the name and to write one needed paper - which more likely would be bound together in a notebook than as loose-leaf.

'I know what to look for, L doesn't….further if I told L right now he could get a warrant to search aniki's room….a notebook containing a list of names of Kira's victims….that'll be specific enough for a warrant especially if the warrant is requested by L.'

"Aniki, father….I know you worry about me, but I must decline. At least for the time being. They say don't put your eggs all in one basket - if the unthinkable happens, and Kira is able to infiltrate the taskforce, I'd be in the same danger. If I investigate on my own the danger I face will not spill into the danger the taskforce faces."

"That is a valid point, Yue-san." L nodded in agreement, thumb at his lips. His large pupil eyes caught the suspicious gleam in Light's brown ones. He felt his heart jump as Light turned the same eyes to Yue. "Does Yagami-kun have an objection?"

"….you two must have talked a lot earlier today, for you to be on a first name basis already…."

"Aniki, Ryuga - L-san, simply mentioned referring to us both as 'Yagami-kun' would be confusing so I gave him permission to use my given name. I've spent much time abroad so being called by my given name sounds more natural now." Yue replied before L's brief hesitance could be detected - the raven-haired man didn't know their tryst had been discovered.

"Ah….I see."

'Yagami-kun knows? That Yue and I….? Damn…we should NOT have done it on school grounds….'