Truth and Justice

Warnings for this chapter: Anal, Angst, COMPLETE!!!
SPOILERS: All manga, all anime, L's true name, Another Note, Law and Right.

Important terms
Fundoshi -- Japanese loincloth.

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Truth and Justice

Chapter 19: Calling

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Light glared flatly at Near. "No."

"I thought you wanted to make up for having me sent to prison," the smile on Near's face was downright creepy.

"I'm not going to parade around in underwear for you," Light folded his arms over his chest.

"We haven't even gotten to the worst part yet," Near scolded lightly. "Don't come out until you have it on."

Light scowled as the door closed, looked at the long strip of orange fabric he'd been given. With a weary sigh, he undressed and put the fundoshi on. When he left the room, he was wearing nothing but that and a deep frown.

The large jars of acrylic paint didn't soothe him any. Irritated and humiliated, Light stood still for nearly an hour as Near painted him in orange, then began going over it with black, drawing little stripes over all his scars.

Five stripes in, Light finally realized exactly what Near was doing. "What is the point of this?" He pressed his lips together when Near dotted the corners of his mouth with the black paint.

"I'll explain when I'm finished," Near replied and went back to drawing black stripes. Another hour passed before he sat back, looked at his work. "All right. Stay here and I'll be right back."

Light didn't even want to think about how strange he looked. When Near left the room, his gaze dropped to the little stripes of black that lined him. Across his arms, his legs, his chest and belly. Even his feet and face had been painted orange.

Tiger stripes. It made him smile a little. Near had probably been listening to the communication channels when he'd been talking to H. He sighed softly, looking up when Near came back in with a camera, cringed a little. "Do you really have to take pictures?"

"Yes. Now, look ferocious," Near ordered.

Light cocked an eyebrow as the first frame was snapped. "Ferocious?"

"Yes. Like a tiger," Near looked up from the camera for a moment. "It's not like I'm going to blackmail you with the photos."

With a sigh of resignation, Light screwed his face up into what he thought might be an angry expression, curled his hands into claws and crouched. Near snapped off another picture, told him to make it look more real.

Twenty minutes later, Near was growing impatient. "If you haven't got any anger left in you, then why are we even bothering?"

Light glowered. "This wasn't even my idea!" he took a step forward, hissed when the flash bulb went off, blinding him for a moment. It went off again and again as Light proceeded to chew Near out for what he was doing until he finally stormed off of the makeshift set and into the nearest bathroom to get the paint off.

When he came out an hour later, he still wasn't in a very good mood. It soured even more when he saw that H had come to pick up her briefcase.

Near was showing her the photographs.

"That's enough!" Light snapped, snatching them out of Near's hands. "It's bad enough you put me in that stupid paint. You don't have to show it around."

H laughed warmly at Light. "You really did get ferocious!"

Huffing softly, Light glanced at the pictures, scowled. "I still don't get the point," he grumbled, shoved the pictures back at Near. "I'm going to pack. I'm taking a flight back to the orphanage at ten tonight."

He'd have to leave at seven, so he had to eat dinner before he went. He settled in front of the table at six when Near ordered Chinese. The boxes were scattered across the table and Light quietly dished his own food out.

"I have a gift for L if you wouldn't mind delivering it," Near said as he went about picking the mushrooms off of his plate, stuffed them into his mouth.

"Fine," Light replied tersely.

"Are you really still so angry about that? I thought you would have realized why I'd done it by now," Near tilted his head to the side, dropped a single lo mein noodle into his mouth.

"How the hell would I know why you do things?" Light snapped, sitting back and rubbing his face with his hands. "It was stupid and humiliating."

"And yet, you're feeling better than you have in months," Near pointed out.

"How would you know if I was or wasn't?"

"Your shower was short, your skin wasn't pink when you came out. You were angry, but not enraged. You're acting like a man offended, instead of a man defeated," Near reasoned. "The point of the exercise was to turn a zebra into a tiger."

Light sighed deeply, ate in silence and stalked off to put Near's present for L into his luggage. He secured it, checked it, double checked it... and thought.

Quarter to seven, Light emerged from his room, his single bag slung over his shoulder. "Thanks," he said as he walked to the elevator, punched the button.

"Feeling sorry for one's self does no good at all for the world, Watari," Near gave Light a small, kind smile. "I'll be returning to the orphanage myself in a few weeks. I look forward to seeing you then."

Light paused as the doors slid open in front of him. "Yeah. We'll be there. Next time, if you want to show me the Eye of the Tiger, I'd rather do it with boxing gloves," he smiled a little, stepped into the elevator, and was gone.

Near chuckled to himself. So Light actually had been watching those boxing movies over his shoulder. He made a mental note to get Light the box set for the next gifting holiday.

Light didn't have to peek into Near's present to know what he had given L. That didn't mean he had to be in the room when L opened it, though. In fact, he thought it was probably a pretty good idea that he make himself scarce, lest he turn the color of a tomato and make an even bigger fool of himself.

For finding the Truth, and serving Justice.
No hard feelings.

Near

The note was a strange one, L had to admit, but it made him smile. Light had handed over the box and immediately gone off to do some falsified errand. L hadn't paid attention to the lie Light had given so that he could escape. It could only mean one thing.

There was something highly entertaining inside the box. So, L gently pried it open, lifted out the contents. He nearly howled with laughter at the first image, falling out of his chair.

In the next room, Light visibly wilted, the children asking him what was wrong.

L managed to get through the set of photographs without laughing himself to death and, at the end of them, found another short note.

I thought he could use a little reminder that he's a tiger, not a zebra.

Such an odd thing to write, but he supposed it made sense. Tiger versus zebra, predator and prey, action and reaction. It all boiled down to the same thing and had a smile blooming on his face.

L slid his fingers along the scars, kissing them slowly, gently. "You're sure?"

"Yes," the word was barely there, beneath the long moan. It grew louder still when L filled him, filled his entire world. They were slow, sweet, sensual. Kisses, eye contact, soft gasps and moans as the pace increased, carefully.

Light reached his orgasm with a roar, found himself trembling afterwards, curled up with his lover, his husband. It was the first time L had taken him since before the kidnapping, before B had gotten his hands onto Light again.

A month passed, no panic attack came. The unease, the terror that bubbled in the back of Light's mind had faded into a placid pool. He and L worked as Watari, assisting the orphans around the world that had succeeded in the Wammy House, that were working diligently towards Wammy's goal. Towards Watari's goal.

Towards their own goal. To make the world a better place.

In the end, when they would face the King of Death, they would all find that they had succeeded.

And when they had stayed there, floating in the nothingness, the Mu, they would discover the greatest gift that the gods could give them.

A chance to do it again as Mu became a womb, as their hearts began to beat, pure and white as snow. As they were ushered into the world once more, clean of the sins from their past lives, and given another chance.

Another turn to serve the purpose, the high and righteous purpose that Wammy had instilled in them, that religions across the globe tout as the Will of God.

To make the world better for all who exist within it.

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A/N: And it's over! Over! I could cry. XD Coming up next, a chapter for bonus materials much like in the first. This time it will include the origins of chapter names and the reasoning behind Mikami and the Death Eraser.