Law and Right
folder
Death Note › Yaoi-Male/Male › L/Light
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
26
Views:
7,764
Reviews:
19
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Death Note › Yaoi-Male/Male › L/Light
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
26
Views:
7,764
Reviews:
19
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Death Note, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Trial and Error
Warnings for this chapter: Angst, WIP.
SPOILERS: Volumes 1-7, 13 of manga, episodes 1-26 of anime, L's true name.
Important terms
Onigiri -- rice balls, traditionally triangle-shaped.
Umeboshi -- Japanese pickled plums, a common garnish for Onigiri.
~!~!~!~!~!~
Law and Right
Chapter 7: Trial and Error
~!~!~!~!~!~
It only took two days for a routine to form between Light and Ryuzaki in their new setting. Light would spend his day reviewing the file on the rapist, managing to keep his food down most of the time, but showering more agressively than he ought to. He would lay down at night and inevitably awake with a fresh panic attack.
Ryuzaki would be there, help him to calm himself, to remember he was safe, and then they would sit together for an hour or two in the dead of night. Talking of onigiri and umeboshi.
Always, they used the onigiri as a metaphor for the rape, the umeboshi as the effects it had on body, on mind. Sometimes, Light became angry, threw things, raged until he felt empty again. Sometimes he sat there, letting tears track down his face as they spoke. Sometimes he wouldn't talk at all.
Every time, with patient consistency, Ryuzaki sat, listened, considered and most importantly, validated. As the week dragged on, Light finally put aside the file for the last time and, that night, asked Ryuzaki to take it.
"I don't need to think so much about the onigiri as I do the umeboshi," he had explained, and Ryuzaki had understood.
"I think," Ryuzaki replied at length, "that Yagami-kun is growing more accustomed to the flavor of umeboshi. Eventually, you will have had so much of the umeboshi that you'll hardly realize you've eaten one," and with that, he took the file and left.
The following morning, a new file was waiting with a simple note in Ryuzaki's strange handwriting.
We have a case.
L
And so, Light forgot about the onigiri for a time, and hardly tasted the sourness of the umeboshi as he dove into the new case, let it consume his mind. He still had the panic attacks brought on by nightmares, but he was having less trouble and, surprisingly, able to speak more frankly about it with Ryuzaki.
The night they had closed the case, after Light had been talked down from another panic attack, he sat on the futon with Ryuzaki. He had just finished eating and it was, as it always was, time for them to speak about the rape. Light looked at the empty bowl, sighed quietly and poked at the leftover sauce with his chopsticks.
"Ryuzaki, tomorrow, I would like to know the outcome of the rapist's trial," Light said softly.
It was the first time since their conversations had began that Light used the word rape in any form. Ryuzaki raised an eyebrow. "If you feel you are ready, Yagami-kun, then I will bring the transcript down tomorrow afternoon."
"Thank you," Light said softly, getting up to put the dirty dish and chop sticks in the small kitchen sink.
"Is that all we are going to talk about tonight, Yagami-kun?" Ryuzaki asked lightly.
"Yes," Light nodded, cleaning the dishes quietly, focusing on the task at hand.
There was a long silence, and Ryuzaki decided he might as well not push his luck. "Sleep well, Yagami-kun," he said softly, then slipped out of the room. He 'forgot' to lock the door.
When Light awoke the next morning, he went about his business as usual until, while he was deciding on what to have for breakfast, he heard a small noise. He straightened, closed the door to the refrigerator and glanced in the direction of the entrance. One eyebrow slowly raised as he noticed with some amusement that the door was ajar. A wind from somewhere had pushed it open, enticing him to leave the room, to explore.
Escape!
The part of him that had once been Kira saw the door as an opportunity. He saw what could be, how, when. He could leave. He could run far and long until his memory was gone and...
The scenarios fell to pieces in his mind as he realized, remembered, that he was dead. The door may have been open to the rest of the world, but the rest of the world was not open to him.
Light walked to the door, pulled it open and propped it that way. At least now he could get a breeze, he supposed, and picked out his breakfast.
That afternoon, the door was still open when Ryuzaki came down to bring the rapist's file, and he certainly didn't seem surprised as he walked through the open doorway.
Light rose to meet him, reluctantly taking the file, looking at the plain envelope for several long moments. Then, he flipped the back open, paged through until he found what he was looking for. When he read the words, he fell to his knees, trembled slightly. "Thank you," he whispered thickly. It was all he could to do keep from crying in relief.
He cried enough at night to begin with. He didn't need to start doing it in the light of day. He closed the folder, handed it back. He'd seen all he needed to.
Guilty on one count of Rape and two counts of Sexual Assault.
Light didn't even care about how long the man's imprisonment would last, how much the bastard would suffer. It was enough to simply know that he was believed. That Justice had been served on his behalf, even after he had supposedly perished.
"I was right," Light said softly.
"Hmm?" Ryuzaki was licking chocolate off of a strawberry.
"You are Justice," he smiled, and somehow managed to stave off the tears that wanted to slip from his eyes. Instead, he gave a weak laugh, turned his gaze to the ceiling. The laugh bubbled up from a dark place inside him and the tears he'd been holding off managed to slip from his eyes.
The laughter just wouldn't stop. It grew louder, until it was bouncing off the walls, reverberating in his skull, drowning out the panic, the thoughts that he shouldn't be laughing like that. That he was cracking, breaking, shattering into pieces. Again, again, again!
Unbidden, the memories of the rape flooded his mind. The painful thrusts that burned him. Again, again, again! Until the laughter was almost a scream, his eyes were blinded to everything around him and all he could do was struggle to breath between the keens of that terrifying laughter.
He was only vaguely aware of the pinch of a needle before that insane, all-consuming laughter faded into unconsciousness.
"That was not the reaction I was expecting," Ryuzaki mused as He moved Light to the futon with Watari's help.
"I doubt it was what he expected, L," Watari smiled beneath the rough gray eyebrows. "He has been through a great deal. It is only expected that he will face occasional setbacks."
"Hn," Ryuzaki replied, sighing as he looked down at Light. "Do you have any suggestions to help him?"
"As a matter of fact..."
So L listened, weighing heavily the advice that Watari had given him. It was, he decided, rather silly. Then again, sometimes it was the silly things that could help.
~!~!~!~!~!~
A/N: And so, another chapter! They just won't stop! =O
Frozen Wishes: Haha! Yes, when I get a plot bunny this vicious, I update like crazy. Unless I'm struggling with a chapter, like I did a bit with this one. Last time I got a plot bunny like this, I churned out a full length novel in only six weeks. It wasn't any good, but it sure felt amazing! Even so, I hope this plot bunny doesn't last that long, but you never can tell. x.x As for Misa in chapter three, I wanted to show the side of her that we see very early on in the series. The Misa that is intelligent and, while she is in love with Light, she is still quite reasonable. One would think that, after the news, Misa would know that Light is going to be taken from her, and would have steeled herself against it. Then, of course, L interrupts and she gives him a bit of a tongue lashing. (Remember that tongue lashing. It's going to be important during a Big Reveal!) Even so, I couldn't make her entirely not-annoying. XD She's Misa, after all! The most annoying female character I've run across since Relena of Gundam Wing! She will be mentioned again, but that's the extent of her actual participation in this whole thing, and Light felt that, after all she had done, for him to let her down as he was doing really didn't seem fair. So it wasn't so much a 'Light cared about her' as a 'Light felt bad for not finishing what he started with her' kind of thing. And then chapter four had its intended effect! I almost -- almost -- followed it with a HUGE time skip, but decided afterwards that it wouldn't be right to skip over the recovery from the rape. Especially since it's the driving plot device. That and it really wouldn't have been right for L to shove him in solitary for a few years and, you know, then develop feelings for him. I'm looking forward to Light taking some small steps towards recovering, focusing on the milestones instead of drawing it out into a twisted braid of angst. Stay tuned! I'm starting work on the next chapter right now. =3 I hope my work continues to please!
SPOILERS: Volumes 1-7, 13 of manga, episodes 1-26 of anime, L's true name.
Important terms
Onigiri -- rice balls, traditionally triangle-shaped.
Umeboshi -- Japanese pickled plums, a common garnish for Onigiri.
~!~!~!~!~!~
Law and Right
Chapter 7: Trial and Error
~!~!~!~!~!~
It only took two days for a routine to form between Light and Ryuzaki in their new setting. Light would spend his day reviewing the file on the rapist, managing to keep his food down most of the time, but showering more agressively than he ought to. He would lay down at night and inevitably awake with a fresh panic attack.
Ryuzaki would be there, help him to calm himself, to remember he was safe, and then they would sit together for an hour or two in the dead of night. Talking of onigiri and umeboshi.
Always, they used the onigiri as a metaphor for the rape, the umeboshi as the effects it had on body, on mind. Sometimes, Light became angry, threw things, raged until he felt empty again. Sometimes he sat there, letting tears track down his face as they spoke. Sometimes he wouldn't talk at all.
Every time, with patient consistency, Ryuzaki sat, listened, considered and most importantly, validated. As the week dragged on, Light finally put aside the file for the last time and, that night, asked Ryuzaki to take it.
"I don't need to think so much about the onigiri as I do the umeboshi," he had explained, and Ryuzaki had understood.
"I think," Ryuzaki replied at length, "that Yagami-kun is growing more accustomed to the flavor of umeboshi. Eventually, you will have had so much of the umeboshi that you'll hardly realize you've eaten one," and with that, he took the file and left.
The following morning, a new file was waiting with a simple note in Ryuzaki's strange handwriting.
We have a case.
L
And so, Light forgot about the onigiri for a time, and hardly tasted the sourness of the umeboshi as he dove into the new case, let it consume his mind. He still had the panic attacks brought on by nightmares, but he was having less trouble and, surprisingly, able to speak more frankly about it with Ryuzaki.
The night they had closed the case, after Light had been talked down from another panic attack, he sat on the futon with Ryuzaki. He had just finished eating and it was, as it always was, time for them to speak about the rape. Light looked at the empty bowl, sighed quietly and poked at the leftover sauce with his chopsticks.
"Ryuzaki, tomorrow, I would like to know the outcome of the rapist's trial," Light said softly.
It was the first time since their conversations had began that Light used the word rape in any form. Ryuzaki raised an eyebrow. "If you feel you are ready, Yagami-kun, then I will bring the transcript down tomorrow afternoon."
"Thank you," Light said softly, getting up to put the dirty dish and chop sticks in the small kitchen sink.
"Is that all we are going to talk about tonight, Yagami-kun?" Ryuzaki asked lightly.
"Yes," Light nodded, cleaning the dishes quietly, focusing on the task at hand.
There was a long silence, and Ryuzaki decided he might as well not push his luck. "Sleep well, Yagami-kun," he said softly, then slipped out of the room. He 'forgot' to lock the door.
When Light awoke the next morning, he went about his business as usual until, while he was deciding on what to have for breakfast, he heard a small noise. He straightened, closed the door to the refrigerator and glanced in the direction of the entrance. One eyebrow slowly raised as he noticed with some amusement that the door was ajar. A wind from somewhere had pushed it open, enticing him to leave the room, to explore.
Escape!
The part of him that had once been Kira saw the door as an opportunity. He saw what could be, how, when. He could leave. He could run far and long until his memory was gone and...
The scenarios fell to pieces in his mind as he realized, remembered, that he was dead. The door may have been open to the rest of the world, but the rest of the world was not open to him.
Light walked to the door, pulled it open and propped it that way. At least now he could get a breeze, he supposed, and picked out his breakfast.
That afternoon, the door was still open when Ryuzaki came down to bring the rapist's file, and he certainly didn't seem surprised as he walked through the open doorway.
Light rose to meet him, reluctantly taking the file, looking at the plain envelope for several long moments. Then, he flipped the back open, paged through until he found what he was looking for. When he read the words, he fell to his knees, trembled slightly. "Thank you," he whispered thickly. It was all he could to do keep from crying in relief.
He cried enough at night to begin with. He didn't need to start doing it in the light of day. He closed the folder, handed it back. He'd seen all he needed to.
Guilty on one count of Rape and two counts of Sexual Assault.
Light didn't even care about how long the man's imprisonment would last, how much the bastard would suffer. It was enough to simply know that he was believed. That Justice had been served on his behalf, even after he had supposedly perished.
"I was right," Light said softly.
"Hmm?" Ryuzaki was licking chocolate off of a strawberry.
"You are Justice," he smiled, and somehow managed to stave off the tears that wanted to slip from his eyes. Instead, he gave a weak laugh, turned his gaze to the ceiling. The laugh bubbled up from a dark place inside him and the tears he'd been holding off managed to slip from his eyes.
The laughter just wouldn't stop. It grew louder, until it was bouncing off the walls, reverberating in his skull, drowning out the panic, the thoughts that he shouldn't be laughing like that. That he was cracking, breaking, shattering into pieces. Again, again, again!
Unbidden, the memories of the rape flooded his mind. The painful thrusts that burned him. Again, again, again! Until the laughter was almost a scream, his eyes were blinded to everything around him and all he could do was struggle to breath between the keens of that terrifying laughter.
He was only vaguely aware of the pinch of a needle before that insane, all-consuming laughter faded into unconsciousness.
"That was not the reaction I was expecting," Ryuzaki mused as He moved Light to the futon with Watari's help.
"I doubt it was what he expected, L," Watari smiled beneath the rough gray eyebrows. "He has been through a great deal. It is only expected that he will face occasional setbacks."
"Hn," Ryuzaki replied, sighing as he looked down at Light. "Do you have any suggestions to help him?"
"As a matter of fact..."
So L listened, weighing heavily the advice that Watari had given him. It was, he decided, rather silly. Then again, sometimes it was the silly things that could help.
~!~!~!~!~!~
A/N: And so, another chapter! They just won't stop! =O
Frozen Wishes: Haha! Yes, when I get a plot bunny this vicious, I update like crazy. Unless I'm struggling with a chapter, like I did a bit with this one. Last time I got a plot bunny like this, I churned out a full length novel in only six weeks. It wasn't any good, but it sure felt amazing! Even so, I hope this plot bunny doesn't last that long, but you never can tell. x.x As for Misa in chapter three, I wanted to show the side of her that we see very early on in the series. The Misa that is intelligent and, while she is in love with Light, she is still quite reasonable. One would think that, after the news, Misa would know that Light is going to be taken from her, and would have steeled herself against it. Then, of course, L interrupts and she gives him a bit of a tongue lashing. (Remember that tongue lashing. It's going to be important during a Big Reveal!) Even so, I couldn't make her entirely not-annoying. XD She's Misa, after all! The most annoying female character I've run across since Relena of Gundam Wing! She will be mentioned again, but that's the extent of her actual participation in this whole thing, and Light felt that, after all she had done, for him to let her down as he was doing really didn't seem fair. So it wasn't so much a 'Light cared about her' as a 'Light felt bad for not finishing what he started with her' kind of thing. And then chapter four had its intended effect! I almost -- almost -- followed it with a HUGE time skip, but decided afterwards that it wouldn't be right to skip over the recovery from the rape. Especially since it's the driving plot device. That and it really wouldn't have been right for L to shove him in solitary for a few years and, you know, then develop feelings for him. I'm looking forward to Light taking some small steps towards recovering, focusing on the milestones instead of drawing it out into a twisted braid of angst. Stay tuned! I'm starting work on the next chapter right now. =3 I hope my work continues to please!