Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

How to Save a Life	By : saxonjesus Category: +. to F > D. Gray Man Views: 4511 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: We own nothing. The D. Gray-verse is only our playground, we make no profit from our littlle adventures.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
NOTE: Hey, guys! Sorry for not updating all that much
recently. Here's a little list of why: 1) ILLNESS. Seriously, one of us gets
sick, and by the time they're better, the other one has it. Em2 also has THE
WORST immune system on the planet, so she's been sick a good five or six
times in the past couple of weeks. 2) Em1 just broke up with her boyfriend of
almost 5 years. It's hard to write angst when you're actually angsting. Not to mention, he won't leave her alone. 3) Cosplay. We went to Armageddicon
(Anime Punch), so that took up a whole weekend when we could've written. And, finally, 4) SCHOOL. Life just hates us. Em1's classes
are really hard, and Em2's classes are numerous. So we're sorry--summer will be
better. Just a couple weeks until then! About three or four
weeks. Really, really sorry for not updating. Also, we'd like the thank our readers on adult fanfiction for keeping with us. Your reviews are much appreciated and we love hearing from you. We'd also like to make it know that the reason we aren't going to post here after HtSaL is not because of lack of reviews, we are not that type of author. We simply just don't like the way the site is set up, it is a pain to keep up maintenance on our old fics, you know, fixing errors and editing and such. So yeah, just thought we'd try and keep people as up to date as possible.

Chapter 16--The Trial

"Fiat inustitia et pereat
mundus." (Let justice be done, lest the
world perish.)

---Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Empire

December 12

The hotel bed was soft and comfy. The bed springs didn't groan or protest his
weight as he lay down on it. With a contented sigh, Lavi let his head fall into
the feathery recesses of the nearest pillow. So heavenly, so perfect--he'd
never been this comfortable before in his entire life. Placidly, his eyes
closed, severing his connection with the outside world. Except that he could
still hear Tiedoll huffing in outrage as he rummaged around the closet for an
iron; the plane had wrinkled his suit past presentability.

Beside him, Yuu sat stock-still, back straight. He was silent, just as he had
been since he'd heard the news from Lenalee. The redhead really wished he knew
what was going on, but every time he tried to bring up the subject, it withered
and died in his throat, because he just couldn't bear to see that horrid,
broken expression on Yuu's face again.

The sound of Tiedoll leaving the room was the only thing that would break the
silence for too many minutes. He really was far too great a coward for his own
good. The redhead was too afraid to reach out and get his roommate's attention,
even though it had been the only thing on his mind for the past eight days.
They had both been so busy trying to make up exams that neither of them had
been home more than a few hours straight, and none of those hours seemed to
coincide. Not to mention that Lavi's worry over Yuu's mental state had risen
exponentially as the week had progressed. And now he was too afraid to go
through with it.

He couldn't even sit up and drag Yuu to lay down with him. He was confused--why
was he being so timid? He knew he didn't want to hurt Yuu, but there was a
point at which something needed to be done, and he was quite sure the
dark-haired boy was at that point. Yes, he'd been at that point for a while. Moody, silent, responding only in grunts... not to mention that he
wasn't sleeping again. Lavi could tell because he wasn't sleeping,
either, nor had he really been sleeping much since he'd been taken off the
drugs at the hospital and had been sent home.

Which reminded him that he really wanted that fucking boot
off. He growled menacingly at it without moving, hoping that that would
cause it to just leap off on its own. When it didn't, he made to get up.

Yuu's hand on his booted toe stopped him, and he cracked an eye open (the
infernal gods of light made him squint in order not to be blinded). The
Japanese boy continued to silently undo the velcro and clasps of the boot before pulling the damn
thing off completely. The entire time, his face remained stoic and unmoving, as
if he was a robot surviving on the most minimum of functions.

And that was what Yuu was right now: a robot, going through life as he had
before he'd met Lavi and begun to heal. Never changing, just ghosting away as
if he was denying all thought and...

Emotion.

Yes, Yuu was denying his emotions again. Which was bad.
What if he had another attack while they were in court? Any evidence he could
bring to the table would become questionable and might be discarded. That
couldn't happen. Maybe if the redhead used that approach, he might finally be
able to get through to his stubborn roommate.

Sitting up slowly and wiping the last vestiges of his attempted nap from his
eyes, Lavi kneed his way next to Yuu and plopped down with his legs hanging off
the edge of the bed. He winced a bit when his foot hit the ground, sending a
grinding ache through his entire leg. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the
dark-haired boy look over at him with a dully concerned expression on his face.
Was that all he could manage? Lavi became even more worried for his roommate.

When the redhead moved his arm so that it was behind Yuu's back, the boy
straightened as if he was on a skewer. Immediately, all his muscles were tense,
and there was a slight twitching in the vein at his right temple. Lavi ignored
all this and leaned closer, moving so slightly and so nonthreateningly
that the other boy would have to recognize that he could do no harm.

"Hey, it's me," he said in a hushed voice, just barely loud enough to
be heard. If no one else but him and Yuu could hear it, the Japanese boy's
pride could not be insulted. "Remember, I won't hurt you."

Yuu grunted it response, an angry grunt that could have meant "shut
up" but which Lavi knew could be interpreted as "I know, baka,
so shut your trap before I solder it shut."

"Get over yourself," Lavi scolded bravely.
He completely expected the punch that struck his shoulder a moment later.

"Why don't you shut the fuck up!?" Yuu
yelled, finally becoming animated for the first time in days. It was the
loudest noise Lavi had heard him make since he'd gotten the phone call.

"Why don't you--" He broke off what he was going to say. He didn't
need to be demanding, and he was going to say something regrettable if things
kept going this way. No one needed a fight. This was wrong, there was too much
emotion, they were so overwhelming...

"Why don't I what?" Yuu hissed, eyes flashing.

"Tell me what's wrong," Lavi whispered, averting his own eyes. He
hated that a blush came to his face.

The sparking lightning in the atmosphere diffused abruptly.

"Idiot," the dark-haired boy remarked, and stood up, walking out of
the room just as Tiedoll came back in.

Lavi flopped back down, feeling completely useless.

"Oh, merde," Tiedoll muttered, and
ran back out, presumably after Yuu. They didn't return for a long while, and
when they did, it was with a very suited, very drab-looking lawyer whom Lavi
didn't trust at all.

---

December 14

Yuu was not nervous. Nor was he anxious to see the man who had murdered his
parents and plagued what few nights he didn't dream about the faces. Lately,
all he'd been seeing in his dreams was his mother's chest being ripped open
over and over and over, blood spurting as ribs cracked free of the breastbone.
He'd awoken numerous times, strangling his screams so as not to wake his
slumbering roommate.

And speaking of his roommate, he thought as he glowered at Tiedoll, who was
fussing over the knot of his tie, Lavi was just so off lately, like he
was pitying him. Yuu didn't want that--he just
wanted the entire world to leave him alone until the damned trial was over and
he could finally put some of the skeletons in his closet to rest.

But back to the Lavi issue at hand--Yuu still couldn't think of what to make of
karaoke night. The redhead had been staring at him. No, that wasn't the
right term; perhaps glaring would be a better word for Lavi's gaze. Whatever
the phrasing, though, Lavi had obviously been upset, and when he'd stormed off,
it had almost seemed like he was jealous. Yuu was not blind, nor was he
oblivious. He'd never experienced anything to do with love or like or
lust--besides his annoyingly persistent feelings for his roommate, which he was
not discussing right now--but he'd seen Lenalee, Allen, Daisya,
and Marie all go through the ups and downs, the angst, and he understood
jealousy as a side-effect. And that look, that pained, hurt look, was the gaze
of a tortured, jealous soul seeking an outlet for his frustrations.

But why would Lavi be jealous of him? What did he,
Yuu, have that Lavi didn't? The Japanese boy was positively worthless in
comparison. Lavi felt, and though he didn't understand most of his
emotions, he was no longer denying them. He was smart, probably smarter than Daisya, and that was tough to be. He was so endearingly adorable.
In contrast, Yuu was nothing. He was empty, used, and emotionally exhausted. He
was dull. Lavi was shining like an unattainable beacon. It was like being on
the wrong side of the glass, separating the bleak winter that seemed to
permeate every aspect of his life from the warm summer sun. It was there, it
was visible, but it was also elusive.

Something particularly annoying and French-like jabbed him in the shoulder, and
he turned his gaze on the frizzy-haired boulder in front of him so that he
could glare at it properly.

"Oi, watch where you're poking, old man," he said crossly, reaching
up and loosening the tie that Tiedoll had just pronounced "perfect."
The French whine that followed this action announced
that he'd done his job properly. He never had liked ties anyway. Sure, he
didn't mind having things around his neck, but ties reminded him of cold days
and small beds and the bright, bright industrial light flickering above his
bruised and abused body. So painful. Arching, arching,
unwillingly panting, and then the hands that came around his neck, the voice
that whispered "be still" in a thick Osakan
accent, and then the rope that replaced the hands a moment later. Each movement
he made tightened whatever knot was in place, and by the end, he'd forgotten
all about whatever was being done to him just because it was so very difficult
to breathe.

Of course, that was not now, and he really didn't need to be remembering those
sorts of things. He cleared his head with the deep breaths that he had been
denied during that memory and moved back into the present with surprising
fluidity.

"--fter all the hard work I put in to that!
Please, Yuu-kun, be more considerate of the people who are trying to..."

Yuu decided that it was best he continue to tune his guardian out. He kind of wished Lavi was in the room to interrupt. But he
was in the bathroom, taking a shower, being late as usual. Seriously, the boy
didn't know a thing about punctuality. He glanced hopefully at the door, but
the water ran on, an endless drone of tardiness.

He became aware that Tiedoll had stopped speaking and was in fact blinking at
him expectantly, his frizzy French face falling a
little, so Yuu said the first thing that came to mind: "Che. Whatever."

Tiedoll looked as if he wanted to scold the Japanese boy, but he didn't, which
was good, because Yuu really wasn't in the mood to be lectured any further. In
a little less than an hour (God, would Lavi just hurry up already!?), he
would be within twenty feet of his parents' killer, and he still wasn't sure
how he was going to react upon seeing the bastard.

The water finally shut off, and Yuu sighed in relief, finding himself only a
bit peeved when he realized Tiedoll had done the same. They stood there
awkwardly until Lavi came out some two minutes later, toweled off and dressed
in Daisya's old suit, which was a bit short in the
arms and seemed to be stretching, too tight, across Lavi's broad chest. The
buttons bulged a bit, so Yuu rolled his eyes, walked over, and undid them. His
fingers began to fumble around the second button, and by the time he was to the
last one, he was shaking in an emotion he was too afraid to identify. Fear? No. Some kind of sexual tension?
No. It was something altogether different, like a mixture of dread and hope and
anxiety and maybe a little tiny bit of nervousness.

Oh, shit. He was nervous.

What if he said the wrong thing? He'd gone over things with his lawyer a few
days prior, but still, there was always room for error, just like in
swordsmanship. If he made just one tiny stutter, one show of minuscule
weakness, his enemy would take advantage of it, and he'd find himself defeated
and on the floor. He couldn't let that happen. This trial was too important.

Sturdy arms wrapped around him and pulled him into a light but firm embrace. He
didn't know how to react, but he did notice that Lavi smelled a good deal like
honey. It didn't suit him as well as the usual sandlewood
dusted with something citrusy. And then there was the constant tang of ink that
was always missing directly after a shower. And he always managed to smell a
little bit like a library, like old dusty tomes, only not quite. Still,
regardless of the scent, Lavi was warm and bright as usual, even when he was
being serious like this. Yuu just let himself breathe deeply, take comfort in
the softness of freshly-scrubbed skin.

"Let's go," Lavi breathed into his ear. Yuu shivered and nodded. The
tickle of moist breath against his ear felt good, but
the redhead was right; they were late. Stupid, lagging
rabbit. And damn him for smelling so good, even with the too-sweet scent
of honey clinging to him like Gladwrap.

They left the building and got in the (impatiently) waiting taxi. Traffic was,
thankfully, not an issue, and they managed to get to the courthouse with eight
minutes to spare. Tiedoll then insisted on brushing off Yuu's suit jacket, as
if it had gotten an invisible layer of dirt on it between the hotel and the
courthouse that only he was privy to. And, of course, Lavi just had to hug him
too tightly to "wish him luck." But then he was walking in to the
annex room with his lawyer, and the shaking was back, and he was still nervous.

He poured himself a glass of water from the pitcher in the middle of the table
and took a drink. It didn't go down well, seeming to hesitate in its path down
his esophagus. Was the water Japanese, too? He glowered at the half-empty glass
(Lavi would probably say half-full, the fucker) in his hand, hoping that the
expression would do something to calm his nerves.

It didn't.

But it did make the sloshy feeling in his throat go
away. And that was close enough for him to accept for now.

The Lawyer patted his shoulder, mumbled something about it being time, and
ushered him into the courtroom. The shakes started once more.

---

As Lavi walked in, he couldn't help but notice that Yuu looked pale. And not
just his usual "I haven't been sleeping well, and the sun is my sworn
enemy" pale, but pale, as in "dear God in Heaven, save me now."
He took his seat next to his roommate, and, hoping to give him some form of
comfort, Lavi shot him what he dearly wished was a winning smile and a thumbs
up. And maybe it was, because Yuu rolled his eyes and returned his attention to
the empty panel past the rail.

At exactly quarter till nine in the morning, the door to the judge's chamber
opened, admitting the judges, who were followed soon after by the Saiban-in. The spectators grew silent as the
other members of the defense and prosecution filed neatly into their seats. A
few minutes later, after the shifting of chairs and fumbling of papers had
quieted, a door to the right side of the room opened, presenting a man, who,
even though time, both worry and guilt included, had not been kind to him, Lavi
recognized immediately from Yuu's sketchbooks. The man was skinny, balding,
with the remnants of graying hair that looked to have been recently buzzed. He
still had the recognizable tan of someone who had worked outside for most of
their life. The man gazed out at the courtroom with an air that was not quite
imperial. He scanned the faces of the crowd, pausing only a moment to flash a
tiny, almost confused smirk in the direction of the long-haired boy in the
front row. It made Lavi's blood boil--to think that that monster could
still smile after what he'd done. The man was led to his seat right in front of
them, his face obscured only by that of his guard, who saw fit to sit in the
vacant seat next to the man.

The clock above the judges' heads ticked into position at the twelve and the
nine, signaling the start of the proceedings. The presiding judge cleared his
throat, and remnants of conversation that had sprung up again with the entrance
of the convict died. The judge looked to be an austere sort of individual who
didn't appear all that pleased to be there so early in the morning, nor to have
been dragged from his coffin to preside over the affairs of mortals.

"This court is hereby in session," the old judge ground out in the
most formal of Japanese. It seemed to Lavi, as the man turned in his chair to
face the defendant, that he could hear the geezer's bones creaking with the
effort. "Please step forward to the witness stand for questioning."

The murderer all but sauntered over to the stand.

"Please state your name, date of birth, registered domicile, residence,
and occupation for the court."

"Yamashita Juntarou, born on March 8, 1942, from
Hiroo in the Sibuya ward of
Tokyo. I'm living in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and I'm a gardener." Lavi could
almost hear Yuu scoff, but the boy was obviously too far gone in nerves to be
remarking on the man's occupation.

There was a rustling of papers as the facts were verified. The presiding judge
adjusted his large, thick-rimmed glasses before speaking again. "This trial
is being held regarding the charges against you of homicide and attempted
homicide."

Then it was the prosecutor's turn to read off all the charges; the defendant
was then informed of his rights. It was all very boring, very usual stuff, and
it didn't keep the redhead's interest at all. What he was waiting for was
coming up next.

"Is there anything the defendant has to say in response to the
charges?" The wizened judge cocked an eyebrow, leaning in as much as his
already bent back would allow. It seemed that the entire room was mimicking the
interest.

"I would like to say that I know what I did was wrong, that I am sorry,
and I would like to ask the council to be lenient in their sentence." The
words hung hollow in the air. Lavi saw Yuu's jaw clench against the scoff that
the redhead was sure he most desperately wanted to make.

The defense council repeated the statement in a slightly more eloquent manner,
but it was obvious from the way the young, well-dressed lawyer was standing
that he knew that this was going to be a long, hard, upward battle for him.

After a few more opening formalities, they moved on to the examination of
evidence and the opening statements. It was a long and painstaking process as
the court examined the murder weapon that had been left on site, along with
fingerprints and DNA collected from the crime scene. It seemed to take hours,
though when the redhead looked at the clock, only two had passed. Lavi
considered it a mercy that the slideshow the prosecutor had provided had mercifully
left the photos of the crime scene off. The descriptions the prosecutor
provided were enough to get the picture, and from the looks of the judges and Saiban-in, who actually had the honor to see
the prints, it was a good thing they were kept away from public viewing. When
the court appeared satisfied with the documentary evidence, it was time for the
witnesses to be called.

The first witness was a young woman, somewhere in her early thirties, with
long, dark hair tied in a loose ponytail. She walked up to the witness stand
with a cautious look to her right, where the man she had worked with all those
years ago sat.

"I swear that what I am about to say is accurate to the best of my
knowledge and that I will not conceal any fact, nor speak falsely. Witness Ito Natsuko, formerly Murita Natsuko."

A few more procedural statements were said and done, and Lavi observed the
defendant. The man didn't appear nervous at all; he just stared calmly at the
woman on the witness stand. He almost appeared as if he was going to fall
asleep. It just rubbed the redhead the wrong way that he could be so calm when
everyone else was so agitated. He tried to keep the fact that he was being a
hypocrite by thinking that as far from the front of his mind as he could. After
all, how many times had he affected the same look while staring at a bloody,
torn-apart soldier?

The prosecutor was the first to question the young woman, speaking clearly and
kindly, so as to keep her calm.

"Please tell the court, Ito-san, what your occupation
and working conditions were like in the Kanda household."

"I was the child's nanny while the parents were at work during the day. I
was responsible for making sure that he was fed and bathed and had whatever
homework he had finished. They were very nice people, and little Yuu-chan was
such a sweet thing that it wasn't any trouble balancing my schoolwork with
taking care of him, being in college at the time and all." She spoke with
a nostalgic tone that made Lavi picture the small house that must have been
nicely furnished if the parents could afford a nanny. He imagined a small boy
running up the front steps to be greeted by a smiling young girl who would make
him dinner and look after him just like a good older sister would. He imagined
the little boy smiling as his Onee-san
tucked him into bed and kissed his forehead goodnight. Imagining all that left
him feeling, somehow, incredibly sad that it all had to come to such a tragic
end.

"When can you say that you first started noticing something off?" The
prosecutor asked briskly, keeping the flow of questions moving.

"It was about a month before the... incident that I first noticed
Yamashita-san looking at me strangely. At first I thought nothing of it and
figured that he just thought I was pretty or something, him being 30 years my
elder. But, things got a bit... affronting after he came up to me while I was
watching Yuu-chan in the backyard and... touched my...
chest. It was shocking and not something I could ignore, because what if he had
wanted to do something to Yuu-chan? So I told Meiko-san,
the victim." There was a note of regret in her voice, as if she thought
that it was her fault. Perhaps she was thinking at that very moment that if she
had only kept quiet, the Kandas would still be alive.
And maybe that was true, but the redhead knew the regret would get her nowhere,
and he hoped she still didn't blame herself too much for what had happened.

"And what did she do, when you told her about this incident?"

"She told me that she would take care of it and that I shouldn't worry.
The next day, Yamashita-san was gone and everything was calm for a while--well,
until it all happened, anyway--but I didn't find out until I came to the house
and found the police there." Once again, she sounded regretful, but who
could really blame her?

The prosecutor sat down, and the defense questioned Mrs. Ito, asking her
whether the case had been reversed--it wasn't that Mr. Yamashita had been
hitting on her, but perhaps she had been leading him on--and all the other
classic attempts to clear your client's motives of any wrong-doing, but it was
obviously not working. The former-nanny was confident in her answers, and if
she had been lying, even Lavi would have been fooled.

The witness was dismissed after a few minutes. And then it was Yuu's turn. The
boy was veritably shaking as he stood up and walked over to the witness stand.
Tiedoll patted his charge on the shoulder, but all that succeeded in doing was
almost making Yuu crumple to the ground as his knees gave out. He recovered
gracefully and continued his trek up. Lavi didn't know why his stomach felt so
knotted.

The prosecutor walked up to the witness stand and gave what was a hopefully
reassuring smile to the dark-haired boy and then proceeded to ask him what were
probably the most difficult questions he would ever have to answer.

"What do you remember about Yamashita Juntarou-san?"

"I just remember that he was our gardener and that I was kind of afraid of
him. I never paid him much attention, and he never said anything to me."
Lavi was glad that Yuu's voice didn't sound too shaky. He looked over at the
defendant's chair, and he saw the gardener making a strange, almost unbelieving
look, and for the life of him, the redhead could not figure out why.

"What do you recall about the night of June 12, 1998?" This was the
question everyone had been waiting for. A real, first-person account of what
had actually happened.

"I had had a nightmare and was sleeping in my parents' room that night. It
wasn't something I normally did, but they let me stay for some reason, and I
fell asleep. I remember it was really early in the morning when I heard the cat
hissing at something. I woke up to shoo him away when I saw Yamashita-san
standing over my father. I couldn't really see because it was still kind of
dark, but there was all this black sticky stuff on the sheets and chichi
kept making these weird, wet-sounding noises, and he was trashing about a bit.
He kept trying to grab at Yamashita-san's arms and at the hedge clippers he was
holding, but he couldn't. I just remember hearing a really loud snap and then
he stopped moving." Yuu paused for a moment, as if waiting for something
to happen; when nothing did, he continued. "I couldn't move--I was mostly
hidden under the blankets--and I was afraid that if I tried to get away, he
would hurt me too. I thought he was going to leave, but he just walked over to
the other side of the bed. I don't know why she hadn't woken up yet, because
there was so much blood and she couldn't have slept through the snapping
and gurgling that was going on, but she wasn't awake, and Mr. Yamashita just
stabbed the clippers through her chest, and there was such a loud crack and so
much more blood that I screamed. I think that was when he finally realized I
was there, because he looked me right in the eye."

"But he didn't kill you?" The prosecutor interrupted dramatically.

"No, he didn't. I don't understand why he didn't, I had seen everything,
but he just dropped the clippers and walked out of the room."

---

At one o'clock, the court went in to recess. Yuu's questioning had been long
and arduous and more than a little boring after a while. The courtroom filed
out, and finally, finally, Lavi could see his roommate again. The boy was
sitting in the main entrance, surrounded by media pigs, but Lavi was
experienced at getting where he wanted to go. He had been trained by one of the
best Bookmen, after all. A couple nudges, a few pushes, and several 'scuse mes
later, Lavi was sitting down on the hard, wooden bench next to Yuu.

He didn't really expect the hug that almost threw him from his seated position,
but he took it with good grace and folded his arms along Yuu's back, allowing
the other boy to take whatever comfort he needed. And yeah, maybe he did add a
little tiny kiss to the top of Yuu's head, and yes, one of the pigs had
probably snagged a picture of it, but it was worth all the trouble that would
invariably come about to feel Yuu shudder in what he assumed was pleasure.

Lavi's button-up--his suit jacket long since discarded and under Tiedoll's protection--was becoming a bit warm, and a moment
later, he realized it was getting wet, too. Yuu would never forgive him if he
let him be caught in public like this. So, glaring at the crowd, he pulled Yuu
just a little bit closer, attempting to hide the tender emotions Yuu had
bottled up for too long.

Tiedoll eventually came around and shooed the pigs away, for which Lavi was
glad. They went outside of the courthouse and walked down the street until they
found a nice restaurant, where the dark-haired boy slipped away into the
bathroom until their food had come. By the time they returned an hour later,
all evidence of the tears were gone.

But Lavi didn't miss the way Yuu's back straightened when Yamashita Juntarou was called to the witness stand again.

The defense counsel gave a light interrogation of the defendant, going into as
little detail about the actual murders as possible. Which
didn't leave much to talk about besides his upbringing and his life before
working at the Kanda household, trying to make him as sympathetic as possible.
But soon it was time for the prosecution to speak.

The prosecutor stood before the witness stand, looking out at the spectators.
It was obvious to everyone present that the man before them was guilty beyond
any doubt. He did not need to ask him how he did it; that was as clear as the
rows of evidence bags sitting on the table. The only thing that there was any
question on was why. Why had he done it? Why had he decided to destroy a
family? Why hadn't he killed Yuu?

"Yamashita-san, before I leave you to the judges' mercy, I have one
question: why didn't you kill Kanda Yuu-san when you killed his parents?"

The man stared at the prosecutor a moment, before shrugging his shoulders.
"I didn't have it in me to kill a little girl," he said, and chuckled
darkly.

The prosecutor raised an eyebrow. "A little girl?"

"Well, can you blame me for the mistake?" The gardener
gestured over at Yuu with his cuffed hands.

Without realizing it, Lavi stood up, blind with rage. Maybe everyone else was
talking, for the presiding judging looked like he was calling for order, but
Lavi couldn't hear anything. Someone yanked his arm--maybe it was Tiedoll,
maybe it was Yuu, he couldn't really tell. All he knew was that he was very,
very angry. He'd seen pictures of Yuu when he was younger--granted, not quite that
young--and he'd looked nothing like a girl. For someone to mistake Yuu
for the other gender, which was already a sensitive subject for him, especially
after years of working for his family... well, that was simply unacceptable.

But before he could begin to yell, the yanking arm pulled so insistently that
he fell back hard into his seat. The silence was immediately torn away, and Yuu
was punching him in the shoulder--which hurt--and Tiedoll was looking at him as
if he was an idiot.

The questioning, meanwhile, continued. "So you thought Kanda Yuu-san was
female?" The prosecutor asked.

The gardener nodded almost gravely and then cracked a cackling smile. "If
I'd known differently--" He shut up.

"Please continue, Yamashita-san," the prosecutor ordered, and had
Lavi been in the gardener's position, he would have cringed at the coldness in
the prosecutor's voice.

"If I'd known differently," the gardener continued, "there would
have been no one to testify against me."

The court was silent. Whatever hope the gardener had had of getting off even
slightly easier had been vanquished. He was already clearly unrepentant,
despite his earlier statement, and now he was showing the outright will to kill
again.

Yuu stood up and walked out of the room with heavy, echoing steps. The door
resounded loudly enough to be heard throughout the room long after it had
closed behind him.

---

A/N: ^^ And we all wonder what the sentence will be! Dun-dun-duuun!

All our info about the Japanese judicial system came from this website:
http://www.courts.go.jp/english/proceedings/criminal_justice.html

For those of you who are too lazy to read that long-ass webpage, here's a
definition for you:

Saiban-in=they act sort of like judges.
According to the website, "Under the new Act, six Saiban-in
selected from the public participate in trial proceedings for serious criminal
cases, such as fact finding and sentencing together with three professional
judges. Saiban-in proceedings are
conducted for serious crimes such as homicide, robbery causing death or injury,
arson of inhabited buildings, and kidnapping for ransom."
- 15
- 16
- 17
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

How to Save a Life