Futatsu no Tsuki

Futatsu no Tsuki

Chapter 21

Evening approached, silent and swift; B, clothed all in black and body pressed against a concrete wall, drenched in shadow, studied the road before him with hungry eyes. It'd been too long since he'd felt the thrill - the ecstasy of stalking prey. The idea of biding his time as his sought-for victim ambled along, oblivious to the thoughts of carnage wrapping his brain with thoughts of murder, terrorized his ambivalent conscience. His whole body flooded with the impulse to attack his prey, yet this time - this time he would simply watch. The conversation he'd overheard that afternoon still chilled him with glee and a flame of fear. Caution, his mind told him, caution - his current prey had an inhuman guardian.

He heard her approach before he saw her; talking with the Shinigami, her voice carried, and he licked his lips. The idea of silencing her, of ripping her corpse into a beautiful puzzle of limbs held tight its hold on his imagination - using the death note wasn't the same as feeling the blood on his hands, of smelling its coppery scent. Anyone could kill if all they had to do was write down a name. A list of death, like a grim reaper legend, with Death claiming its victims indifferently. It was the distance that made it easy, made it plausible to deny any claims of guilt upon the conscience for the death.

It was a strange fact of human nature that death lost its impact the less proximal it was, and one didn't feel a murderer until he faced his victim, felt the blood on his hands, the weight of the gun or knife, or the numbness of his fingers after strangling his poor prey.

It was his one advantage over Kira. B knew how to kill. Though it had felt distant between his obsession and the knowledge that his victims were to die regardless of his actions, he had felt the thrill of murder. The awful dominance of its control.

'Misa Amane. You're safe until I get rid of that wretch Shinigami.' B watched as the model entered through the apartment complex doors, the Shinigami Rem following.

0

Light scowled as he lowered himself on his bed, sleep a distant stranger to his body. His thoughts raged against slumber, against being home while that detective continued combing through data with renewed focus. Yue's return had torn holes into all his plans, and Yue's meddling had allowed the taskforce to learn things he'd rather they hadn't.

'I wasn't naïve enough to think L would never doubt Kira killed only with heart attacks, but I hoped it'd take longer than it did. The only thing remaining to my advantage is that L doesn't know about the death note. That will only last until whoever has the other death note is captured - I agree with L that Yue must've found second Kira somehow and sent that Kira's death note to an accomplice.' Light pillowed his arms beneath his head, eyes focused on the ceiling as he thought. His eyebrows pulled together, he listened for Ryuk, expecting the Shinigami to whine for apples or from boredom. 'What is Ryuk up to? Nobody else is home, but….' He sighed and closed his eyes. He needed to clear his mind; to prevent L from finding out any more damaging info he needed to find Yue's accomplice first.

'According to L, B has escaped the prison where he was confined - however, other than that L refuses to release any info on B. At least not in my presence…..That makes it difficult, but there is the chance that Yue didn't send it to B….after all Yue would have to know B escaped. I doubt Yue would be stupid enough to leave the death note with second Kira, but….how did Yue send it? It'd have to be before his most recent suicide attempt. If I were Yue, I'd send it to someone I could trust, someone I knew, but that others didn't know I knew….' Light rose from his reclining position, as a memory of an email he'd read on Yue's cell-phone jumped from the back of his thoughts. 'That message, from 'Tenichi'. It's possible Yue sent it to him….' Adrenaline gushed through his blood - he knew. Beyond logic, in the marrow of his twin-ship with Yue, he knew Tenichi was the one he sought. 'Yue's second cell-phone should have Tenichi's number or email…if I can find it, I can contact him and set up a meeting….my voice is similar to Yue's, so I'm sure I can convince Tenichi I'm Yue over the phone….'

Light opened his door and stepped into the hallway; his elation diminished slightly as the sound of Ryuk's chuckling reached his ears. The Shinigami appeared to already be in Yue's room. Light's eyes narrowed as he opened his brother's door. He hadn't entered his brother's room since 5 years ago - shortly after hearing that his twin refused to return home from their aunt's. Growing up, he'd constantly felt annoyed by Yue, resentful at how Yue's attitude seemed to bail him out of trouble or helped him easily make friends. Until the last year of junior high, when he learned how to blend in, Light seemed to always alienate others - attracting only those who simply wanted to brag about being friends with a genius.

Light grimaced, a chill passing through him as he stepped toward the desk; he wouldn't allow himself to feel resentful - to dredge up the sense of abandonment - loss - he'd felt back then. It had no connection to the present.

"Ryuk, what are you doing?" The brunet questioned the Shinigami, his chocolate eyes coldly observing Ryuk rummaging through Yue's backpack placed beside the desk. His eyes widened a sliver at the shiny red apple peeking out from the bag.

"Oh. Yue wrote a message saying I could have these apples if I promised not to interfere."

"….you not interfering is fine, but if Yue left you a message it means he knows about you." Light closed his eyes briefly. '…though it's not like Yue can be much of a threat while he's in a coma.' Ignoring the Shinigami, he started searching through his brother's desk; opening and rummaging through the drawers without caution. In the third drawer he opened - the first two being practically empty - a CD-Rom glared up at him within its plastic case; 7123 inscribed with a black sharpie on its otherwise blank surface.

'….7,1,2,3.…that's the same number from that email message….but….the way each number is written makes it look boxy. Like a child drew them.' Light picked up the CD, opening the case without thinking; the echo of a memory gnawed at the recesses of his brain. The number - no, more the way the number was written - jumped out at him, refusing to release its hold on his concentration. 'A child…wait, the way Yue wrote this reminds me how he wrote when we were in elementary school. It was easy to tell his handwriting apart from mine then, since he enjoyed making his letters look like numbers, just reversed or flipped….'

Light blinked. 'That's what this is. Yue meant for 7,1,2,3 to be substituted for letters - English alphabet letters….that's why it's familiar. 7123 is Liue, the name he and I came up with when we were kids. The first two letters of my name written in English and the last two of his.' Light chuckled bitterly, messaging his temples as he sat down on Yue's computer chair. 'It's stupid that I didn't realize it sooner. Well, Yue obviously meant this disc for me….' Light flipped open the lid of his brother's laptop which he'd also found in the drawer, and pressed the power button. He then waited, his ears keen for any sound of the front door opening. He was certain he could fool his mother or Sayu, but he'd rather not to have to deal with questions about why he was in Yue's room.

Face stoic and eyes focused on the screen, Light inserted the disc into the CD-Rom drive and waited - he had to see what Yue had left, and if it contained anything dangerous, he planned to destroy it.

"….hm?" Light's eyes widened slightly then narrowed as a pass-code screen popped up; below the space in which to enter the password was the sentence: One try only. 'So I only get one chance to unlock this disc. At least I know Yue wasn't being completely idiotic by leaving this here. It's possible that he has the disc set up to delete itself or completely lock itself if the correct password isn't entered on the first try.' Light bit down on his inner cheeks, his eyes focused on the screen; beside him he heard Ryuk munching on the apples Yue had left in his backpack. '….one attempt to enter a password only Yue and I know. It can't be anything from junior high since we barely got along and Yue ran away. And since we created the name Liue in elementary school, the pass-code most likely is something from that time. Yue wouldn't be stupid enough to use liue or 7123 at the pass-code.'

He leaned back on the chair and glanced at the ceiling, his eyebrows knitted together. Remembering his elementary school years, and especially those times with Yue, was difficult. After Yue ran away he'd expended so much mental energy to pretend Yue didn't exist, to block out all recollection of his brother, that when he tried to recall them, they were all blurred. He closed his eyes and massaged his temple.

'If it's a specific time, I could focus and remember, but just trying to remember everything about Yue and I growing up gives me a headache. The pass-code would have to be something Yue believed I would remember, but it can't be something that's public information or L could find out about it…..it's something that we know that has to do with 7123 or liue…..but that no one else could figure out…..' Chocolate eyes widened and tightly pursed lips parted, as Light returned his attention to the laptop screen. He smirked. 'Of course, the date we created the name Liue….the day after our eighth birthday. We'd know it, but no one else would.'

"Hey, Light…." Ryuk began, hovering beside the brunet and holding a backpack empty of apples. A question had suddenly occurred to the Shinigami. "If Yue's in the hospital, how is he supposed to get me more apples?"

'Of course it's impossible, Ryuk.' Light thought silently but otherwise ignored the Shinigami; he entered in the pass-code, confident, though his heart still pounded. Depending on what Yue left on the CD, he'd have to destroy it. There was something about it, something concerning Yue that gnawed at him from within. It was fear, but of what or why, Light didn't know. 'I'll think about it after I check out the files on this disk.'

- Light, you and I both know the truth. - Yue's voice came from the speakers as the first file, an audio file, auto-played from the disk. The suddenness of it surprised Light, though he noted that the volume wasn't set that high.

'And what truth is that, Yue?' Light mentally questioned, though with a sneer on his lips. He knew what Yue meant, but wondered if his twin would foolishly say it on the disk. Leaning forward to hear better, Light listened to his brother's recording, his heart thumping.

- Yes, the truth. You know what I mean, and it is pointless to doubt that I know. I don't plan on denouncing you to those whom the truth concerns, instead I request that you abandon your grandiose schemes. Not through confessing or admitting the truth, but just to do nothing more. If you do not, if you persist with your deluded scheme, then I…..-

His brown eyes burning with anger and his facial muscles tensed with rage, Light closed out of the file, not needing to hear more. That his brother would be stupid enough to tell him to give up when his plans were getting closer to success…..Light needed no more proof of his brother's foolishness, nor evidence of which side Yue chose.

'Yue, that you know and haven't told anyone yet will be your fatal mistake. Once L is dealt with, I will make sure you never wake up.' The brunet glared at the laptop screen, arms crossed; it took him a second longer to realize that the audio file he'd just exited from had disappeared from the disk files. 'Did Yue set each file to delete itself once it is closed? That alleviates some of my worries in case it got into the wrong hands, but I'll still destroy it once I'm through combing through the files….'

Light barely touched the computer mouse when the next file opened, displaying an image of a lined sheet of paper. An ordinary sheet of paper, yet Light's eyes widened as he read the words written on the page. It was the details of Hirose's death, all of them, including those that pointed towards the Los Angeles B.B murders.

'This is a scan of a death note sheet…Yue….he is the one who killed Hirose and that other person…' Light paused and scrolled down to the next page contained in the file. 'Yes, that information is here too….I…if it's as L said and these suicide are connected to the B.B. murders…then there must be at least two more. And….' He scrolled down further, smirk appearing on his face as he read the details of the third suicide, along with the victim's name and place of death. 'It's in two more days….and it's not far from here; it's….at an elementary school? But that….' Light froze, recalling the information L had told them earlier about the B.B. murders. One of B's victims had been a thirteen year old. 'Yue couldn't have written a child's name using the death note….it….that hypocrite, he's against me killing those who deserve to die, yet he's willing to kill innocent people and perhaps even a child? That's….'

"Yue, if this third victim is a child….I don't care if you're for or against me, to kill a child, especially with the death note….I'll make sure you regret it. Hypocrite." Light clenched his teeth and fist, his stomach twisting with nausea. Since first becoming Kira, he'd made a point of not writing down the names of any one under the age of 16 in the death note; and those few sixteen and seventeen year olds he did kill had committed heinous crimes. School shootings or violent rapes or murders.

"Light! I want more apples." Ryuk hovered behind the brunet, then placed his feet on the floor while reading the screen Light was glaring at. "Oh, that's an interesting way for someone to die."

"Ryuk, shut up." Light's narrowed eyes remained locked on the laptop screen as he scrolled down to the last page.

0

Lying quietly on the hospital bed in the darkened room, with the steady beep of the machines breaking through the otherwise silent air, Yue opened his eyes. He listened to the sound of footsteps in the hallway as the night nurses made their rounds, and kept his breathing steady and slow.

'….I'm still alive. That means it's possible...as long as Tenichi doesn't get caught too soon. And if I can get a hold of what I need...' Yue trembled and closed his eyes, focused on controlling his fear – his whole plan was rash, filled with variables. '….Light isn't here? Did he not find the CD yet? Or did he simply fail to listen to my message all the way through?'

Caramel eyes glanced toward the window and the sliver of the silver moon partially hidden by cloud. Yue watched it motionlessly, the expression in his eyes growing colder each passing second. 'If Light continues as Kira...I have no choice but to proceed with my plan...I just wonder if they will be able to live with it.'