Futatsu no Tsuki

Futatsu no Tsuki

Chapter 1

1 week later:

Deep brown eyes tinged a rich red gazed at the full moon through the hotel window. The night sky seemed a black shroud dotted with colorless jewels, and the sounds below a soft coo. Tentative fingers touched the glass overlooking the city, the busy lights and growling vehicles below seemed like insects. Small and far away. It almost matched the lonely regret hidden in a sliver of his heart. He pressed his ear against the glass, but the night birds did not chirp and the wind remained still.

“Taeku-san.” He slipped to his knees, clenching a newspaper in his fingers, opened to the obituary page. Tears fell from his caramel rich eyes, trailing over his smooth cheeks to his shirt collar. “I have nothing left.”

Behind him the hotel room door opened and rushed footsteps approached; the light switched on broke through the heavy darkness. He shivered and pulled the black long-sleeve top tighter around him, his raven dress pants marred with red. His wrist bled, the cuts already clotting.

“Yu…Yue! What have….” His friend’s voice merged with another from five years ago, his recollection blurred as he closed his eyes. He simply wanted to dissipate into the nothingness behind his eyelids, his body numb to his friend’s arms shaking him. Only when his friend tugged at the newspaper in his hand did he open his eyes.

“Let go.” He pulled the paper from the other’s grip and held it close to his chest.

“Yue, are you still hung up on that guy? He deserved what he got…he was a criminal.”

“He changed. After he got out of prison he was going to make amends….”

“People don’t change, Yue, and criminals are garbage….Kira is right to kill them off.” The friend paused as he saw Yue wince, the slender fingers clenched around the paper until the knuckles turned white.

“People do change…no one’s born evil….” Yue returned to gazing out the window, placing the newspaper under his shirt as he closed his eyes. The window glass cool against his cheek, it's surface reflecting his face now that the light filled the room. He brought his left index finder to the smooth surface, tracing the kanji for moon (tsuki) on the glass. His eyes fluttered open and he gazed up at the silver orb amid the specks of stars. "Sometimes I wonder how they're doing . . . It's been so long since I've seen my family. Five years . . . ."

"Yue . . . "

"My brother and I use the same kanji for our names . . . The kanji for moon - but the pronunciation of his name is Light. Mine's Yue."

"Yue . . . You can't stay in hotel rooms forever, you don't have a job and what about school? You can't waste an academic year just because of Takashima . . . "

"I've put in for a transfer to a Japanese University. I just need to find an apartment." Yue stood up, the cuts on his arm fully clotted and caked with drying blood. He shook his head to his friend's outstretched arms and instead made it to the hotel bed alone. His steps slow and tired.

0

A few nights later in Japan:

L nibbled on his fork, his shadowed black eyes watching every passing second on the surveillance cameras. He tilted his head as he glanced at one monitor that showed an unused room. Not empty, but not storage either - it looked like an old bedroom turned into a shrine.

He eyed an aged photograph framed on the desk as he placed his fork down. Already he had several theories why such a room would be kept and dusted once a week, but Souichiro Yagami hadn't answered any of his queries. Talk about the room seemed taboo, and Yagami-san seldom glanced at the monitor displaying it.

"That room has nothing to do with the Kira investigation - it's been unoccupied for 5 years now. No one but Sachiko goes in there." Was all Souichiro would tell him, though he allowed the camera to remain in that room.

L had to admit, it seemed pointless to monitor the uninhabited room - besides Sachiko none of the Yagami's entered the room and she only cleaned it when she was alone. One time he saw her sitting on the bed in the room, the photo held tightly in her arms - but Souichiro had been taking a break at the time so he couldn't watch his reaction.

'Perhaps . . . a shrine to a deceased child? Or perhaps a missing one? Maybe I should have Watari look up police reports from 5 years ago . . . . though it has nothing to do with the Kira case.' L sipped some tea while he heard the door behind him click shut, Souichiro returning from a restroom break.

"You're watching that room again, Ryuzaki? There's nothing there that's connected to this case."

"I apologize if it upsets you, but I find it interesting how everyone except your wife ignores the room. Your son's Light's reaction is the most interesting . . . "

"Ryuzaki . . . " Souichiro began, his throat tight and voice harsh - something that made L pause.

"I do not mean an interesting way that increases suspicion. It's just that Light-kun gives that room a wide berth. Whenever he walks past it he keeps closer to the opposite wall. Otherwise he ignores it." L took another sip of tea, while studying Souichiro's reaction out of the corner of his eye. The man stared intently at the hallway on the monitor as Light passed by the room - his mouth slightly opening as he watched his eldest do as L had mentioned.

"Light . . . . " Souichiro's gaze grew distant before he leaned back in his chair. " . . . Yue . . . "

"Yagami-san, if it's a missing child case I could help find him . . . . I just need his name and age."

"That's unnecessary, he's not missing. He's staying overseas with relatives . . . He and Light never got along, and he, Yue, ran away when they were 13."

"Oh? Light's twin? Yue Yagami . . . ?" L rubbed his thumb over his lip, the teacup safely placed back on the table. ‘Yue? What kanji is that written with? The kanji for moon?’

"Yes, though they're not identical twins. Light's the older one . . . Yue….” Souichiro closed his eyes, hands braced on his knees. He inhaled deeply before he opened his eyes and focused on another monitor screen. “This has no relevance on the Kira investigation, so let's stop talking about it."

"Yagami-san, I think that now I'll feel terrible if Light does turn out to be Kira . . . You already have one child that's not around, if you have to lose another . . . "

"Yue isn't dead, and no evidence ties Light to being Kira, there's still hope."

"Yagami-san . . . . " L picked up his fork, poking at the solitary strawberry on his plate. He nodded at Souichiro’s request to switch off the monitor to Yue’s room, his words of regret not empty lines he simply used to ensnare the guilty. ‘If Yue is simply staying with relatives, why the preference not to talk about it? It seems more like he’s missing or….’

He took a mental note to pass a request to Watari to research missing children cases from 5 years back.

0

“Hey, Light, why doesn’t anyone go into that unused bedroom?” Ryuk asked as he phased through the wall, curiosity and boredom pulling him to explore the rest of the house while Light studied. The brown haired teen simply ignored the Shinigami and wrote out practice problems for the entrance exams into his school notebooks. “Hey Lig--Oh yeah, the cameras and bugs…you can’t talk.”

Ryuk sat against the wall beside Light’s desk, bulging eyes roaming around the room’s layout, mind craving entertainment while his taste buds craved apples. After a sigh he flew to the bed and lied down on it, his senses keen for signs of Light preparing to go outside. The wind began blowing hard against the window, the clouds outside gathering into a heavy gray above.

“Ah, man…seems it’s going to rain.” Light mumbled and stretched, his unsuspicious words aimed at the Shinigami - his signal saying tonight was an indoor night. “Too bad.”

“Hey, Light, you’re not going out? But there’s so many things I want to ask….and I want apples….” Ryuk jumped from the bed, hovering over Light as the teen began changing into his nightclothes, the Shinigami almost tempted to throw something despite the cameras. Instead he settled for speaking even if Light wouldn’t respond back. “Light, why is that bedroom there if no one uses it? I notice it gets cleaned every week, but I never see anyone entering it. It seems unusual and strange, though the photo on the desk in there is the most interesting….”

“….” Light paused as he lifted his nightshirt over his head, Ryuk’s mention of the photo chilling him. He bit his lip while the shirt blocked his face from view, though his expression became once more impassive once that barrier between the cameras and him was gone. The sky outside grew darker, the chill wind growling against the window - he turned toward the window, passing off his glare at Ryuk as an observation of the weather outside. “It’s really going to storm…aw well…it can’t be helped.”

“…the boy in the photo is interesting…he looks similar to you, but he isn’t….yet he has the same written name….the same kanji….” Ryuk continued, his eyes taking in Light’s unchanging demeanor as the teen flipped off the light switch and climbed into bed. “…I also noticed you always step toward the opposite side of the hall when you pass by that room….”

Eyelids closed over his brown eyes, Light lifted the blanket over his head and bit his lip again, the nauseous feeling in his abdomen growing. While hidden by the covers he glared toward the direction of the Shinigami’s voice, his eyes gleaming as he swallowed back his anger.

‘Shut up, Ryuk…that room…there’s no way I do such a thing as that….avoiding it….that guy’s room is….’ Light forced his body to relax, something easy as the Shinigami’s words finally ceased; the teen drifting off to sleep after ten more minutes.