Futatsu no Tsuki

Futatsu no Tsuki

Chapter 28:

L slammed through the hospital room door, his tear-stained face livid. He didn't even pause when the sound of the door hitting the wall caused the teen sitting on the bed to flinch. Nor did he wonder about the surprise on the teen's face. L lunged.

"Ryuzaki, no!" The detective felt arms force him back, and heard the familiar voices from a distance. He'd never felt so angry - so full of hatred before. He wanted to kill the teen sitting frozen on the bed. "You must leave Light-san alone!" Matsuda and Mogi pulled L away from the bed.

"Let go of me. Yue's dead because of him...I'll..." L struggled against the arms around him.

"We don't know what happened. And the doctor said that Light-san still needs to rest before being questioned."

"I don't care." L growled, though he stopped struggling. He glared at the brown eyes that watched him.

Yue felt nauseous, like acid eating at his stomach, when he saw L's face. The pain on the detective's face wasn't something he'd anticipated. He unconsciously gripped the blanket over his legs tightly. It took all his willpower not to apologize and confess, he was sure that L's blind rage was the only thing that stopped the detective from reading the truth on his face.

"Shouldn't you be off investigating, Ryuzaki-san?" Yue spat, forcing his voice and expression to be icy. He matched L's glare with his own. "Find the one responsible for my brother's death, or be more productive and track down Kira."

L's eyes widened, then narrowed and he once again tried to lunge at the teen. The next second he thought better of it and stopped himself, instead speaking his anger through his cold glare.

"When I do find Kira, you'll be the first to know, Yagami-kun." L managed to turn around and leave the room before the urge to kill the teen came rushing back.

As he left Sachiko and Sayu entered; he bowed his head to them though neither seemed to notice as they hurried into the room. Their faces were soaked and red with tears.

'...when I prove Yagami-kun is Kira, and responsible for his brother's death, will their expressions be the same as now? Or worse?' L wondered and gazed into the room while the door closed. He saw Matsuda and Mogi bow to Sachiko, only to be ignored - her attention was solely on her son sitting on the bed.

L watched coldly as Yagami-kun tried to comfort his mother and sister while keeping emotionally distant. Calm, cool, collected - the teen expressed just the right amount of grief to not be considered inhuman.

'Kira...' L glowered, tempted to rush in and reveal the truth to the two Yagami women. His eyes returned to the teen sitting on the bed and narrowed at the teen's hands that clung tightly to the blanket. His eyes widened slightly. He stared at those hands, then at the bandages around the teen's arms.

"Ryuzaki, the police have sent a more detailed report of Amane-san's death..."

L blinked, still staring through the small window of the closed door. The knot in his stomach lessened with each second, instead filling with some kind of elation. He barely heard Watari's voice. His widening eyes were focused now on the bandage covering part of the brunet's neck and cheek.

His thumb rose to his mouth, rubbing along his plush bottom lip. The tears that threatened to drip with abandon were suddenly assuaged. He blinked again.

"Ryuzaki?" Watari approached L.

"...he's clenching the sheets nervously." L mumbled, squeezing his lip between his forefinger and thumb. "Why would he do that?"

"What? Ryuzaki?"

"...there's no way Light-san would be nervous. Even if he was, he wouldn't show it..." L continued, still not answering Watari. The nausea in L's stomach disappeared completely, replaced by the euphoria which stems from sudden insight. "Also, his recent burns are curiously located where Yue's scars would be..."

"Ryuzaki...?" Watari watched the younger man's face, the small changes in expression telling him all he needed to know about L's thoughts. "You think that this Yagami-kun is..."

"...he's Yue." L turned to Watari. "He has to be. Light wouldn't nervously clench the bed covers like that. Besides, I've seen Yue do that before..."

L's cheeks reddened, recalling where he'd seen Yue grab nervously at the bed-sheet before.

Two years ago in Los Angeles, the morning after they had had sex. Yue grabbed the sheets after awakening from a nightmare, the same way he did now.

'Yue...' L studied the teen through the door window.

0

Yue paled as he caught a glimpse of L and Watari hanging out outside his hospital room door, talking. The two remained outside the door even after Mogi and Matsuda exited the room. And Yue sensed the detective eyeing him, watching him closely even as he focused on trying to comfort his mother and sister. He barely noticed the way his fists balled around the blanket, until his mother grasped them tenderly and looked up at his face. Her tear-streaked face stared into his and her eyes widened.

Sachiko slowly studied her son before her, taking in every aspect of his face and the parts of his body above the blanket. Because of the bandages and his emotionally controlled demeanor, she hadn't questioned the identity of her surviving son; she'd simply believed what the doctor had told her - the name her son gave the doctor. Light.

Her lips started trembling and her grip on her son's hands tightened. The way those hands had clenched the blanket - she remembered the motion. Every time her youngest son woke from a nightmare or was anxious she could tell by that hand motion. And his eyes, though similar to his brother's, was always a few shades lighter than her eldest son.

"Mom..." Yue swallowed, side-glancing at the hospital room door.

"Sayu, there's a vending machine down the hall, why don't you go get something to drink for us and your brother." Sachiko interrupted her son, and instead took some change from her purse and handed it to her daughter. Her eye caught the sight of someone standing outside her son's hospital room.

"But..."

"Please." Sachiko looked down at her daughter, then whispered something. Sayu's eyes widened, and after a few seconds she nodded and left the room.

Taking in a deep breath, Sachiko waited until the door clicked shut, her eyes on the hospital room window. Her heart thumped in her chest, and for a moment she faltered, doubting herself. She swiftly swept it from her mind, and instead sat down on her son's bed.

"Mom..." Yue studied his mother, wondering if the look in her eyes was real or simply his paranoia. His hands curled even tighter around the blanket.

"I don't know why you think you have to pretend that..." Sachiko began after a pause, once more staring directly into her son's eyes. Her body blocked all view of her son from the doorway. "...but I wouldn't be much of a mother if I couldn't tell my sons apart." She embraced her son's hands with her own. "...Yue."

Yue swallowed as he heard his mother say his name and felt her hands holding his. He couldn't speak, nor could he endure not saying anything. It was his mother: though she was filled with grief she'd seen through his facade, and now waited patiently for him to acknowledge it.

"Mom, I..." He hesitated, noting unconsciously how Sachiko's body blocked all view of the door. He glanced down at their hands. It was comforting, her familiar hands holding his, the way she'd always done whenever he'd woken from a nightmare.

"Yue..." Sachiko whispered. "I'm glad you're alive. I love you, and..." She paused, her lips trembling as grief renewed itself alongside her thoughts. The idea that she was happier that her surviving son was Yue and not Light cut sharply into her. "...I just want you to be you. If there's a reason you can't, please...explain it to me."

Yue closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He opened them slowly, trying to figure out what to say.

"I'm sorry, it isn't something that...that I expect you to be able to..." He faltered as Sachiko squeezed his hand, her eyes holding an indiscernible emotion.

"I...I can handle anything you tell me."

"Even if I tell you that aniki was Kira...?" Yue asked before he could stop himself, his reason giving way to his emotions.

"Wha..." Sachiko began, her head pounding. She blinked as she felt Yue's hands tremble and saw his eyes darken. "That...couldn't be...it can't have been..."

"...I just wanted him to stop. I didn't mean to..." Yue sucked in a breath and stared at his bed, unable to stomach the stricken look on his mother's face. "I meant to shoot myself, not aniki. I..."

Suddenly Sachiko wrapped her arms around Yue, pulling him tightly against her chest. Tears streamed abundantly down her cheeks. She didn't know what to say or think, but the distress on Yue's face and in his voice stopped her from accusing him of lying.

"Mo..." Yue began as he wrapped his own arms around his mother, completely forgetting where he was until he looked behind Sachiko's shoulder.

L stared down at mother and son, his lithe body standing just two feet from the bed. His onyx eyes locked on the teen's caramel ones, mesmerized by the fear within them. Silently he chewed on his fingernail.

"...so I was right." The detective muttered, still watching the brunet.

Yue blanched, wondering what L meant and how long he'd been eavesdropping. Had he heard Yue name Light as being Kira? Though Yue hadn't said so directly, if L had overheard that part he wouldn't give up until Yue told him everything.

"Ryu..."

Before Yue could get the words out, Sachiko turned to the detective, her expression fearful but determined. Instinctively she used her body to shield Yue from L's view.

"What do you want?" She demanded, glaring at the detective.

L blinked, surprised momentarily by Sachiko's reaction. The next moment the image of a mother lynx coming to the defense of her young popped into his head. He backed up half a step, still nibbling at his finger.

'...now is probably not the best time to question Yue...' L watched Yue's mother closely. 'Sachiko Yagami seems ready enough to attack anyone who threatens her son...'

"Mom?" Sayu asked after entering the room, her eyes riveted to the scene greeting her. In her arms were three cans of soda. "What...?"

Sachiko simply motioned her daughter towards the bed, standing up only as Sayu sat down beside Yue.

"If you don't need anything, please leave." Sachiko demanded while glaring at L, all her thoughts focused on protecting her children even if she didn't know from what.

"...I need to talk to your son, Yagami-san." L regained control of his voice as his surprise died down. "I must insist on it."

Sachiko continued to watch him, her maternal instinct yelling at her to throw the detective out of the room. If what Yue said about Light was true, she couldn't allow anyone outside the family to know.

"Mom, it's okay." Yue spoke up. "Ryuzaki isn't a threat. He...I need to talk to him too."

"Yue..." Sachiko turned towards her son, her lips trembling as she looked down at him. After a moment of silent communication she nodded, beckoning Sayu to follow as she left the room.

0


"...thank you, it seemed like your mother was ready to rip me apart, even though I didn't give her any reason to think she should..." L mumbled after the hospital room door clicked shut, his eyes trained on the brunet.

"How much did you overhear?" Yue cut through the detective's effort at unrelated conversation. He waited as L paused and tapped his lip.

"Enough to know that I can close the investigation without worry."

"...I never actually stated that..."

L hushed Yue by taking out a computer disc from his back pocket and allowing him to see the writing on it. Yue's eyes widened as he recognized it: the only other copy of the disc he'd left for Light to find. The disc he'd sent to the address B had given him when they were communicating through the website.

"I received this shortly before coming to the hospital and had Watari listen to it. He just finished telling me what it said." L approached the bed, his onyx eyes studying the teen's response. "It proves more than just my theory about Kira, but proves you did know B...otherwise how would you know about Roger and the orphanage?"

"Ryuzaki..."

"...I'm not sure whether to hate you and your interference or to thank you. The idea that you could've just been using me..." L glared at Yue as the teen started to protest. "How long were you working with B? You helped him plan the Wara Ningyo murders, helped him pick victims."

"I didn't! I just hacked...the DMV database..."

"Which helped him choose his victims. You also tried to switch suspicion from your brother onto B." L hid his eyes beneath his bangs. "I have enough evidence to charge you as a possible accomplice in the Wara Ningyo murders and for interfering with the Kira investigation. Not to mention the murder your friend Takashima took the blame for."

Yue pursed his lips, his hands clenched around the blanket. He shivered as L stepped even closer and he felt the detective's presence just inches above him.

"...L, please...I can't..."

"Can't what? Take responsibility for your own actions even though you have no scruples about orchestrating a means for your brother to avoid answering for his crimes?"

"Aniki's dead, please don't..." Yue swallowed and pulled his knees to his chest.

"Look at me, Yue." L spoke, staring down at the teen. "Look at me."

Yue did so after a second of hesitancy, his caramel eyes red-rimmed. He blinked as he noticed the wetness of L's cheeks, but was silenced by the detective's lips descending on his.

The kiss expressed to Yue the raging emotion L kept hidden behind his stoic exterior, its passion and hunger uncontainable. He leaned into the kiss and reached for L, not caring about the conversation or anything else. The trauma of the fire, and the deaths of his brother and father left him hungering for comfort.

The detective broke the kiss.

"L..."

"If I'd wanted to, I could've brought you in for questioning at any time since we met. I could've used any means to force you to tell me what you knew about your brother. Unlike other officers, I don't concern myself with protocol or legality when hunting criminals." L slowly wrapped his hands around Yue's. "...why do you think I didn't arrest you after you told me about Takashima? I could have."

Yue's vision blurred slightly from tears that threatened to fall, yet he bit down on his trembling lip to keep them at bay. '...It's too much...even if he does mean what he's implying...he's L, he didn't become the world's greatest detective by being honest...'

"Yue..."

"...what do you want me to say? You've already figured out my plan and you know my brother's dead, what more do you want?" Yue bitterly replied and pulled his hands from L's.

The detective inwardly sulked at the sudden loss of the teen's hands, and stared into the brunet's eyes wordlessly. Though he hadn't foolishly expected Yue to suddenly reveal everything he knew, L felt irritated at the teen's words. The way Yue cast aside the closest thing to a true confession of feeling L had ever uttered irked him.

"...you think I only want something from you? I thought you were dead, and you think I only have ulterior motives for telling you how I feel?" L's voice was lower than Yue had ever heard, and more bitter.

"...I...I'm sorry." Yue mumbled and lowered his head, forcing back the part of him that wanted to believe the detective's sincerity. Somewhat easy considering that the detective hadn't actually said how he felt. "I...I understand you've treated me differently than you would others, but..." Yue laughed briefly before returning his eyes to L's. "You haven't actually said how you felt or what you think of me."

L felt his chest tighten as Yue glowered at him, those caramel eyes seemed to be accusing him.

"...even if I said it, you wouldn't believe it. 'I love you' - you'll scoff at me if I told you that." L whispered and grabbed the startled Yue's hands, pining them behind the teen's head. The next moment he straddled the brunet. "...just to push me away."

"Ryu- "

L silenced Yue by bringing his lips to the brunet's, the kiss more passionate than the one earlier. He shivered at the taste of Yue's tongue, craving for an even deeper kiss. His body seemed ravenous, growing hotter the longer the kiss continued.

He broke the kiss and moved instead to an unbandaged part of Yue's neck, releasing the brunet's arms as he did so. The sound of Yue stifling back a moan yet making no move to push the detective off, invigorated L. Even as his mind yelled at him to stop, his body refused. The arms that suddenly pulled him closer, clinched that refusal.

Nothing mattered but the heat that he felt radiating from his body and Yue's; it'd been too long for both of them.

"L..." Yue whispered into the detective's ear, his warm breath sending a shiver through L's body. His teeth nibbling at the detective's earlobe sent an even stronger jolt to the older man's groin.

"...I like you, Yue. And I think I do love you." L lifted his mouth from Yue's neck and mumbled. "I won't force you to tell me anything."

Yue wrapped his arms tighter around L, and trembled, the tears he'd been holding back falling from his eyes.

"...but you're going to leave, now that the case is over. And I can't leave mom and Sayu, especially since...It...it's my fault. I..." Yue stumbled over his words, but succeeded in explaining to L what had happened in the warehouse. As well as how he'd discovered Second Kira and realized that his brother was the first Kira.

There was silence as he confessed everything to L, even the fact that he'd written both his father's and brother's name in the death note. The detective listened with rapt attention, but no real surprise until Yue came to B.

L tensed as Yue told him how close B had come to raping the teen, but instead of showing relief at the teen explaining how the shinigami killed his would-be rapist, L's face took on a strange expression. He sat up and stared down at the brunet.

"...you're sure B died? The shinigami killed him?"

Yue gazed up at L, his eyes widening as he saw the doubt in the detective's expression. "I saw it happen, it...I didn't check his pulse, but with all that blood..."

Suddenly a sharp pain stabbed through Yue's chest, cutting off his sentence. It paralyzed him, he couldn't speak and could only watch L's horrified face pale, the detective's lips shouting his name.

That too, was soon swallowed up by darkness.

0

The dark clouds made the night even darker as L stared out the window. Behind him, encased by shadow was a new hotel room empty of all furnishings except a computer. His eyes narrowed, barely noticing the horizon, the edges red and puffy.

"B..." L growled, and placed his hand on the window. The coldness of the glass kindling the hate brewing inside him. It'd been a week since he'd talked to Yue in the hospital room - a week since his one happiness was taken from him.

Yue had died before L could tell him that only Light's body was found inside that warehouse.

"...I'll kill that son-of-a-bitch." L bit into his bottom lip, drawing blood. His words echoed eerily through the empty room; the lifelessness of his surroundings stinging his heart.

Yue hadn't been B's only victim.

"Watari...Roger..." L clenched his fists as he remembered who else B had killed - starting first with the orphans B had encountered at Wammy's House. Watari and Roger too were killed, before B moved on to the officers connected to the Kira investigation.

L alone survived B's spree. And only because B had never seen L's face.

"I'll kill you, B - I swear I'll find you and kill you." L slammed his fist against the window. The next second sinking to his knees, tears falling silently down his cheeks.

0

End of Futatsu no Tsuki

To Be Continued