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Fifty Days	By : sashocirrione Category: Death Note > Het-Male/Female > L/Misa Views: 2868 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
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CHAPTER 37: Cremation
At hearing Mikami's words, L's first thought was of Ide, but then he dismissed it. Even if Mikami had decided to go against the orders he'd received about avoiding the staining of Kira's reputation and killing NPA officers, Ide would be the worst choice. As the only NPA officer Mikami had met face-to-face, Ide was almost certainly being watched and trailed heavily. Trying to get information out of him would be either futile or risky, and it would be pure suicide to bring him back to the hideout.
For that matter, why is Mikami bringing any body here? Even if Mikami murdered someone the NPA would never watch, the notebook offers easy ways to dispose of bodies and make the deaths look natural. There is no need for anyone with Kira's power to haul around bodies. Every time I think Mikami is possibly Light's equal in intelligence, he does something idiotic, but then every time I think he is stupid he does something smarter than I expect.
By the time L was punching in the code to open the security door to the sealed-off first floor, he was mostly certain whom he would find. It almost had to be William Potts, the only temporary Watari he'd been forced to reveal to Mikami. It was regrettable, William was an entirely innocent victim, but Mikami needed to be given some allowances or he might get too suspicious, and if he unraveled the entire truth and then went into shock at the first Kira being already dead and the second Kira being a betrayer to L's side, it could risk far too many lives around the world.
Still, L felt dirty, filthy, nothing more than a rotten murderer as he waited for the door to open. He was soiled, hopelessly soiled and corrupted, by everything that had happened. It was logical but it wasn't nice. Being forced to join with the criminals, to side with serial killers, it was disgusting. Even as a temporary ruse, it had high consequences.
Just as the door began to slide open and L got a glimpse of one of the cars through the widening crack, with Mikami standing next to it and a dark, slumped form within it, there was suddenly an unholy yowl, rising in pitch and then cutting off. It made the back of his neck prickle, made him feel that anything could happen. L couldn't see the source of the sound, but he supposed it was perhaps hidden by the darkened windows of the car. It wasn't Ryuk. Ryuk was clinging soundlessly to the car roof, grinning like a maniac.
That was very high-pitched. Does he have a child tied up? William has no family, almost no friends, and he's a very reclusive hermit. Did someone surprise Mikami and make him panic? It will become complex if we need to deal with a kidnapped prisoner as well.
Mikami was already opening the car door, and then L saw William sprawled across the back seat, his wizened face slack and loose-jawed, obviously dead. He was wearing a long trench coat, and the few tufts of gray hair remaining on his head stuck up in all directions. He looked as if he had not combed or shaved in a couple of days.
This is entirely my fault. I can try to justify it by thinking that he was old enough that he would have died soon anyway and that nobody will mourn him, but it is still my fault.
L said, "You did make sure he didn't suffer?"
In a business-like tone, Mikami said, "Of course. I even made him happy in his last few hours. The death note can control emotions as well as actions."
"Why did you bring him here?"
"He was devious once he realized what I was doing; he was trying to find any way to resist. I suppose that I must have left some technical loopholes in what I wrote. He slipped a tracking device into my pocket during the interview. I might not have found it except that he admitted it five minutes later in response to a direct question. I was afraid to send him off and let him die alone in case he might be able to think of another trick, and I did not want to dump a body onto the street when we can cremate him here."
L said, "You have fully scanned him and yourself to be sure there are no more tracking devices?"
"Yes, I have, and the car and everything else as well."
L leaned over, peering into the car, and saw what "everything else" was. Almost hidden by the bulk of William's frame, on the other side of him, there was a cat carrier, and inside it a cat.
Is this William's only companion? I didn't know he had a cat.
It was a scruffy-looking, huge cat, a dingy yellow in color. Its face was wide and puffy, and showed evidence of a rough life. There was half an ear missing, along with a few old-looking but rather obvious scars. The cat stared back at L with an expression of pure hatred.
L said, "What is the cat doing here?"
"William Potts made me promise to find a good home for him. The cat is named Jojo. I did not have time to decide how to fulfill the promise, so Jojo will be our pet until we figure out how to ensure his happiness."
The cat's expression softened a bit, and he rubbed the side of his head against the bars at the front of the carrier with expressive thumps. L averted his eyes from the body and reached across tentatively towards Jojo. Jojo's expression became even more inviting, so L slid his fingers just through the bars.
In a flash, he was bitten and snatched his hand back. It hurt, and it was deep. Blood was already running down his hand. L backed up further so as not to soil the body.
Mikami said, "Do you need a doctor?"
L sucked on his bitten fingers, then removed them and said, "Do not worry about this. I deserve it, for not being able to save his life."
"These deaths pain you?"
"Of course they do. Human deaths need to mean something, even when they are for a good cause. If I ever became callous and unfeeling about deaths, then I would not be a suitable partner for Kira. She combines stern judgment with perfect compassion, and I must try to emulate her example as best as I can. This is why we delegate all killing duties to our soldiers. We cannot allow our finer emotions to wear away until they are gone. Kira's rule must remain stable and uniform."
Mikami bowed his head and said, "It is true. The process of experiencing this power, I can feel it changing me, deep inside. My emotions are different than they were. It is exhilarating. Kira is very strong to resist exercising this power directly."
Mikami sighed, looked suspiciously at the cat and then said, "Jojo looks and behaves more like a stray tomcat than a pet, and he has no collar. Do you think William Potts could have tricked us with some rabid feral cat? Perhaps it is a scheme to kill us."
"That would be extremely difficult to set up during the limited time he had to plan. I am sure we can find records of the cat, and of it being vaccinated. However, just to be safe, I will get rabies shots regardless of what we find."
Ryuk laughed and said, "Sending a cat to assassinate you! That would be fascinating."
L leaned over and said, "There is an easy way to test if this is really William's cat."
Holding the latch at the top of the carrier, L carefully pulled it back while keeping his hands out of biting range, then let it loose and darted backwards at once. The door swung open. The cat blinked a few times, looking disbelieving, and then cautiously stuck its head out of the carrier's door, staring and watching.
After spending its sweet time deciding what to do, it slinked out of the carrier, looking bulkier than ever as it was fully revealed. It was muscled, strong, and had obviously been in plenty of fights. It did not look afraid at all, but rather disdainful. Its head swiveled around, one way, and then another, as it sniffed the air.
Jojo turned to look directly at L and gave him a stare of intense hatred.
Why does this cat hate me so much? It can't be intelligent enough to know I had anything to do with this. Shouldn't it hate Mikami, the man who was there when its owner died?
Delicately, Jojo stretched out, sniffing at the corpse's knee. It made a weird half-moan half-meow and the hair on the back of its neck rose. It sniffed at various parts for several long minutes, then climbed up William's form and settled down on a shoulder. Its eyes looked bigger than ever, bulging as it stared down at the lifeless face.
Ryuk's face was suddenly, alarmingly close to L's own and he said, "How are you going to remove the cat and toss the body in the furnace now?"
Toss him in the furnace? As if he's a piece of wood.
L said, "I am no good at this, but we'll give him a funeral. He deserves much better than to be dumped and burned."
Mikami said, "If you bring a priest here, I'll need to kill him too."
If I get even one additional person involved, Mikami will probably kill that person, regardless of how discreet I am.
L said, "It wouldn't be a priest, it would be a rabbi, but there will be no more deaths for this. We'll manage as well as we can with our available resources, without involving anyone else. Jewish funerals are quite simple, and William didn't care much for tradition anyway, so perhaps we won't be too terrible at it. Technically, we shouldn't cremate him, but I don't think it would have bothered him if he thought his body would be burned. He was quite the opposite of devout."
"What should we do?"
"If we were going to do a good job," L said, "we should undress the body, wash the body, dress it in a white burial shroud, and say some Psalms over it. During the entire process, he should never be placed on his stomach and he should never be unwatched. Then we'll put the body in the furnace and cremate it. However, that will be considerably difficult with only the two of us and, with his weight, he's going to be difficult enough to move at all."
Ryuk laughed and said, "I'm not going to help you even if you bribe me with apples. It would be much more amusing to watch the two of you trying to give a bath to a dead naked three-hundred-pound old guy."
I shouldn't let myself become too involved in this, and I shouldn't let it become amusement for Ryuk. Even if I could do all the correct ceremonies with a rabbi here, it wouldn't even be slightly enough to make up for William's murder.
L continued, "We should probably give him a washing that is more symbolic than usual. We can wash his hands and face, put him in a white blanket, and say some Psalms. I'll leave you with him while I get supplies. When I return, please take the cat into another room. There is an animal control leash in the equipment room, the kind with a pole and a grappler. Be gentle."
L felt sick during the entire process of preparing. It was all so wrong, so very wrong. The white blanket he found just didn't seem suitable. His guilt ate at him until he procured a proper Jewish shroud and a prayer shawl, difficult things to get in Tokyo on short notice. L considered doing the entire traditional washing, but he still couldn't bring himself to undress a corpse no matter what tradition called for. It just seemed far too improper, especially with the knowledge that Ryuk would probably be laughing and making comments, and so they instead put on the shroud over William's regular clothing.
L then read things for half an hour that sounded silly and meaningless coming out of his mouth, anxious for it all to end but trying not to do too bad of a job. When they started up the furnace L's mind drifted away as he stared at the flames beginning to consume everything. L couldn't help but imagine his own body there, and it probably would be if he failed. Mikami had fourteen days of life left. The decision would be made, one way or the other.
L hated himself, and he hated every remaining day of Mikami's life.
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- 37
- 38
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Fifty Days