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All is Forgotten, All is Forgiven	By : cor-te-reducit Category: Death Note > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 1362 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I own no aspect or part of the Death Note community (characters, storylines, etc) I make no money off of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Title: All is Forgotten, All is Forgiven

Author: kathleenrose747

Pairing: L (Lawliet, Ryuzaki, Eraldo Coil, Denueve, Hideki Ryuga)/OC

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I have not, nor will I ever own anything relating to the idea, copyright, persons/characters and creation of Death Note. I also don't own any of the sweets mentioned in here. The only thing I own is Michiko Nakashima, a character of my own creation. I also do not own 'Tango to Evora' which is owned by the lovely Loreena McKennitt. Nor do I own 'Veil of Elphame' which was written by Gary Stadler.

Authors Note: I do use some of L's other aliases in the story. If you get confused, go to the Death Note Wiki or just look up L on Wikipedia to get a background on his aliases. I won't go into too much background with those names and their uses. Also, L is 29 years old in this story. So yes, we can consider it AU. Please review with constructive criticism. I would also like unadulterated praise, if it is available. :)

Chapter 7: Operation Tango

Michiko's phone woke her up with a shrill ring. As she slowly assessed her surroundings, she groaned as the lack of sleep slammed her between the eyes. Ty or Ana had opened the curtains before they had left and the sunlight streamed through the window into Michi's eyes. She groped wildly for her phone in order to turn off what she thought was the alarm. Instead she hit the 'Answer' button that had popped up on the screen. She pulled the phone to her ear without checking who the caller was and buried her head under the pillow to block out the light. "Hello?"

"Just letting you know it's 11:30." The caller hung up before Michi could yell at them for rousing her from her comforting sleep. When she hung up, she noticed who the offender had been. 'Damn it Ryuzaki. I don't get paid enough for this shit. I need more sleep.' Michi sat up and assessed what she was going to wear for the day. She settled on all black attire that consisted of loosely flowing pants, a long sleeve, v-neck shirt and black tennis shoes. If Ryuzaki or anyone else were brave enough to comment about her choice of attire, they were going to get hell. Michi was not in the mood to defend her wardrobe choices. She pulled her hair into a high ponytail and walked to the bathroom. At the very least, she had to wash her face of all the makeup from the night before. When she saw the black circles around her eyes and the red marks around her lips, she cursed herself for not having the wherewithal to have removed her makeup the night before.

Michi quickly cleaned off the offending makeup and put on a light dusting of face powder, rimmed her eyes with chocolate eyeliner and slapped on a little pink lip- gloss. Since she didn't have time to get a shower, she dabbed her favorite rose scented perfume onto the inside of her elbows and on her neck. She then grabbed her purse and threw in her wallet, keys, a book and her gun before running to catch her train. As she stumbled onto the Yamanote line, she wondered how she looked to her fellow train riders. As she glanced around, she noted with horror that she recognized some of the women from the night before. 'As if this day couldn't get any worse.' Michi settled into her seat and pulled the book out of her bag to distract herself and to hide her face from the other women. As she read, she ran through everything that had happened the night before. Most of it was fuzzy, but what she could remember was that Ryuzaki had been very protective of her, almost overly so. Not to mention that his attack on her neck had left a raised bruise that would take a couple days to heal. Michi wondered if she was jumping head first into a highly dangerous situation. Also, the fact that Ryuzaki had revealed himself to be the contact named Denueve really troubled Michi. 'I just hope he was borrowing that name because Andrei had brought it up.' Michi tried to reassure herself as she got off at her stop. She looked at her watch and cursed herself for not getting up earlier. She only had five minutes to get to Ryuzaki's office. That ruled out the option of getting a chai latte before work.

As Michi walked through the metal detector, the alarm sounded loudly. Michi swiftly berated herself for not taking the gun out of her bag before walking through. Before she could apologize to the security officer, he waved her on through. 'Ryuzaki must have warned them ahead of time.' Michi thought as she rushed to the elevator. As she stepped on, she looked up and saw the Chief looking her up and down with a puzzled look on his face. 'Damn it!'

"Is it your day off today, Nakashima-san?" The Chief adjusted his glasses as he appraised Michiko's outfit

"I was told that I should dress comfortably for surveillance work that needs to get done today." Michi prayed that the Chief wouldn't ask any more questions that needed more lies. When the Chief nodded and turned back to the folder he had been reading, Michi let out a quiet sigh of relief. The Chief got off at the fifth floor and turned back to Michiko.

"When you get the chance, I have a letter for you. The person was very insistent it got into your hands only. Just drop by my office before you leave today." Michiko nodded her consent as the doors closed. She got out her key card and swiped it through the reader. Upon arriving at the necessary floor, she walked swiftly towards the door. Before she could knock, Ryuzaki opened the door.

"Just in time. Come in." As he walked back to the desk, Michi looked around behind her for whatever surveillance camera had given away her arrival. When she did not see the offending camera, she turned and walked into the room. After closing the door behind her, she looked around for her chair. When she didn't see a chair for her, she looked over at Ryuzaki. He looked up from the folder her was reading and ushered her towards the desk. When she got there, she saw her papasan chair on the other side of the desk. 'Great. So I have to sit next to him again.' Michi sighed and walked behind the desk, placing her bag next to the chair. As she struggled to get comfortable in the chair, she saw a small smile on Ryuzaki's face. He was watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"I dare you to try and sit in this thing comfortably." Michi retorted. When she tried to pull her left leg into the chair in order to sit cross-legged, she pulled back too quickly and the chair began to fall backwards dangerously. She closed her eyes tightly and braced for impact with the floor. The chair jerked suddenly and Michi felt that she wasn't falling anymore. As she slowly opened her eyes, she looked up to see Ryuzaki's face only inches away from hers. He had somehow gotten out of his chair and grabbed hold of the sides of her chair before she could hit the floor. 'Damn. Talk about quick reflexes.' As she looked into his eyes, Michi noticed that he was not in any hurry to put her chair upright. Her sense of smell and hearing heightened as Ryuzaki's scent and the sound of his heartbeat assaulted her. Her nerves felt raw and electric. As they continued to stare at each other, Michi's heart began to race. 'I don't feel like I'm in danger. What the hell is going on?' Her brain screamed at her that she needed to breathe and she took in a few soft, shuddering breaths to shut up her internal monologue. Her eyes left Ryuzaki's gaze for a split second as her attention turned to his lips. She briefly wondered if he tasted like all of those sweets he constantly ate in her presence. When she realized what she was contemplating of doing, her brain snapped to attention and she silently screamed at herself to not have thoughts of that nature around (or about) her boss. After another tense moment, Michi cleared her throat, effectively breaking the spell. Ryuzaki blinked and then pulled her chair upright.

"It's all about balance." he remarked before sitting back in his chair. Michi rolled her eyes before turning to the folder Ryuzaki had been reading when she arrived. To her shock, she saw a picture of herself staring back at her. It was a picture from when she had worked with the Chicago Police. They had been required to pose for portrait photos, which would be used for media releases, should anything happen to them on the job. Why Ryuzaki had her personal file confused her at best and terrified her at worst. When he saw the panic on her face he closed the file and turned towards her. "Don't worry so much. I just needed to check on your track record with the police force. It seems you did quite a bit to help crack down on drug crime."

Michi licked her lips. "Yeah. I worked with the drug task force and youth counseling sector while I was in Chicago. But I think you know that already." She looked around at the computer monitors. She had to look at anything other than Ryuzaki. Her heart was still trying to calm down and, for some reason, looking at him just set her pulse racing again. 'Stop it, Michi! There is nothing there. For crying out loud, this is the same guy in the taxi that creeped you out when you arrived. And, for all you know, he could be helping the enemy. You're smarter than your emotions, so calm the fuck down!' Michi took a deep breath and looked back at Ryuzaki. He had his head tilted and was looking at her inquisitively.

"Are you okay?" Michi nodded. "Good. Here, I think you might need this before we continue." He reached behind the monitor and pulled out a cold chai latte and a turkey sandwich. Before Michi could thank him, he put his hand up. "I figured since you slept in so late you wouldn't have gotten food beforehand. It won't be a very rigorous day today, but I need you to be on your toes." Ryuzaki looked at his cell phone on the desk and nodded. "You have half an hour to eat. We're going to be getting a call from one of my contacts in Russia at one. Provided he's in the office on time." Michi nodded and dug into her sandwich as Ryuzaki typed away on the computer.

As they fell into a comfortable silence, Michi slipped into what she called an "attentive meditative state". She was still fully aware of her surroundings, but she allowed her body to relax and let her mind wander. Any thoughts that came in left just as quickly as she focused only on slowing her breathing and relaxing any tension in her body. After a couple minutes went by, Michi felt she was calm enough to continue the job at hand and opened her eyes. As she reached for her drink, she felt Ryuzaki's gaze on her. She then sat back with her drink and tilted her head, silently inviting him to speak.

"I wasn't aware you knew how to meditate." Ryuzaki stated, softly.

Michi nodded as she put her tea on the table. "I was going through a lot in my life at the time. My counselor saw how stressed I was and invited me to join a student meditation group that she led. Now, whenever I feel stressed, I just use those techniques without even thinking. It's helped me keep my cool in a lot of situations." Ryuzaki nodded. He was about to ask something else when the phone suddenly rang. Michi's body immediately tensed up and her brain went into translation mode. Ryuzaki nodded at her and pressed the speaker button on the phone.

"Good morning, Terrence." Ryuzaki smiled into the speaker so that his voice sounded pleasant. "Rough night?" Michi promptly translated for him.

"Ugh... afternoon Mr. Coil. And, yeah, you could say that." The man on the other end of the phone sounded worse than Michi felt. Vodka was the likely culprit. The man began to speak again, "Did you get a new translator? I don't remember if the last one knew Russian."

"Yes, this is my new translator. Forgive me if I do not divulge her name. I want to make sure she stays safe from all of this." Michiko looked over at Ryuzaki as she translated. There's that protective nature again. Terrence laughed at Ryuzaki's response.

"Don't worry, Mr. Coil. She'll be safe. So, what information are you looking for?"

"I have to keep this really brief, so I'm just going to just give you the highlights and you give me what information you can."

"Yes, sir."

"Does Obarin have a Death Note in his possession?" Michiko leaned closer to the phone. Her nerves were on fire waiting for the answer.

"We can't confirm or deny that yet. We think he either has one, or is in the process of trying to create one himself."

"Have there been any unexplained deaths or disappearances in the past two weeks?"

"Just your standard teenage runaways."

Ryuzaki frowned. That wasn't the answer he had been hoping for. "Well, that was all I had to check on. I know you're busy."

"Thank you, Mr. Coil. I hope that helped somewhat. Until next time." There was a click and then the dial tone. As Ryuzaki sat there in silent contemplation, Michi nervously sipped at her chai latte. She then quietly reached into her bag and pulled out her book. She had learned early on not to disturb Ryuzaki when he was deep in thought. As she read, she wondered why Ryuzaki had only asked two questions. It looked like the statement about the runaways had really disturbed him. Does that mean that there is more trouble in Japan than there is in Russia? Michi hoped that wasn't the case and read her book as a way to distract her mind.

After an hour and change had passed, Michi saw movement out of the corner of her eye and looked over. She saw Ryuzaki offering her a dark chocolate Kit-Kat and a weary smile.

"So. What do you know about dancing?"

***

Michiko was still trying to comprehend how she had ended up here. Only a few days ago, she had accepted a job offer as a respected translator for the National Police Agency. Now, she was looking at potentially dancing with her boss. How did she let this happen?

'I let him talk me into it.' Michi shook her head as she and Ryuzaki walked out of the elevator. The seventeenth floor of the building was comprised of various workout rooms that fellow police officers used to keep in shape. As she followed Ryuzaki down the hall, Michi took a moment to get a good look at her surroundings. Some rooms contained cardio equipment such as treadmills, elliptical machines and the like. Another room was set up with boxing bags and a make shift ring for sparring practice. There was even a good-sized racquetball court. Michi briefly marveled at the police department's ability to spring for such a top-notch workout facility. She then noticed that Ryuzaki had disappeared. She turned around and saw an open door to her left.

She poked her head in and saw Ryuzaki at the far end of the room, fiddling with a CD player. Between the two of them was an expanse of dark mahogany flooring. The walls were decorated with a beautiful cream wallpaper which was imprinted with silver bamboo that seemed to jump off the walls with a three dimensional effect. A waist high rail followed three walls, which told Michi that some of her colleagues must use ballet stretches to keep themselves limber. Four wall lamps cast the room in a comforting, warm light. Michi noted the dimmer switch to her left, which could brighten the room, if needed. What truly impressed her, though, was the mirror. The ceiling and right wall connected in what looked to the naked eye like a single pane of glass. Michiko knew better, but the effect still took her breath away.

"Since I don't know how long it has been since you were last on a dance floor, you might wish to warm up first." Michi jumped as Ryuzaki spoke up from across the room. She had almost forgotten he was there. She nodded and rummaged through her bag for her iPod. As she walked across the floor, his words penetrated her brain and she looked up at him.

"How did you know I used to dance?" Ryuzaki shrugged as he stepped back from the CD player.

"A few of my former associates used to dance and I've noticed they walk with more purpose than the average person. You have a dancer's walk. I would say ballet, but I know that is generalizing it too much." Michi nodded.

"Yeah, that is over generalizing it." She flipped through her iPod looking for an appropriate song to warm up to. "I tried ballet, but I was never that graceful. So, I took up jazz when I was eight and picked up hip-hop in middle school. It's more to my tastes, anyways." Michi settled on a slow piano and vocal piece titled 'Veil of Elphame'. She wanted to take her time so that she could thoroughly stretch both her body and mind.

After a few minutes, she was warmed up and calmed down enough that she could handle whatever Ryuzaki had to throw at her. Hopefully. She looked over at him and saw that he was flipping through her music collection. He caught her glance and pointed at the iPod. "What would you recommend for a tango?"

"Probably 'Tango to Evora' by Loreena McKennitt. There are no words to worry about and the music itself is easy to dance to." Ryuzaki nodded and continued looking for the song. Michi, on the other hand, began to panic. 'What the hell? A tango? I thought it would be something with more space between us. damndamndamndamn!' Her curses were cut short as Ryuzaki walked up to her.

"Have you done any partner dancing before?" Ryuzaki tilted his head, observing the panic that Michi was trying so hard to squelch. If there was one thing he had learned in his twenty-nine years, it was that people's eyes never lied. And Michi's eyes were screaming discomfort at the mere mention of dancing with him. But why?

"I'm more experienced with the waltz. Though, I did take a basic tango class when I was in college to fulfill my health requirement." Michi chuckled at the memory. "We had more females than males in that class, so I volunteered to learn both the lead and the follow parts."

"Well, I can only hope that class was taken not too long ago. I don't think we can both afford to trip over ourselves. It would give too much away." Ryuzaki stretched his back before offering his left hand to Michi. She looked at the hand and tensed up internally. She didn't want to fall back on base emotions again. Michi closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her self. 'It's just for work. Don't read more into it than there really is.' She then placed her right hand into Ryuzaki's hand and let him pull her closer to him. As her body adjusted to the shape of its new partner, Michi had to fight back the emotional maelstrom that welled up inside her. Unfortunately for her, their bodies fit perfectly together. It was almost as if the Universe was issuing a direct challenge to both of them: 'I dare you to try and resist each other now.'

Michi shook her head and glanced at Ryuzaki. He looked as if he was running through steps in his mind. As soon as she noticed it, she felt a light pressure on her lower back and in her right hand, which signaled her to start moving backwards. Both partners were rusty in the beginning and many signals got crossed which ended up with their bodies falling all over each other. After many false starts and several musical changes, they got used to each other's movements and the dance became much more fluid and seductive. During on particular cadena, Michi looked up at Ryuzaki's eyes. She was startled to notice that his eyes were not as black as she had previously believed. Rather, they were a beautiful dark grey. Yes, the sleep deprivation set off the bloodshot quality of the whites of the eyes. But the grey was unmistakable.

As the song ended, Ryuzaki let go of Michi's hand and allowed her to step back. "Well, I can say we will not have to worry once the party comes around. You may go on home, if you wish." He shuffled towards the door and threw a parting wave over his shoulder before disappearing around the corner. Michi walked to the CD player and removed her iPod before turning off the equipment. She then walked to the door and turned off the lights, taking her time as she walked to the elevator. She then remembered that the Chief had stated that he had a letter for her in his office. She looked at her watch and was startled to notice that it was already 16:25. Time had certainly flown by while she had been dancing with Ryuzaki.

Michi arrived at the fifth floor and turned left to walk towards the Chief's office. The door stood propped open and Michi rapped lightly upon it as she stuck her head in. A woman looked up from her desk and smiled at Michi.

"Chief Itou is out of the office at the moment. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yes. I was told I had a letter waiting for me here. The name is Nakashima, Michiko."

"Ah yes. He told me you would be by to get it." The woman rustled through some papers and procured a small envelope. She then walked around the desk and held out the letter with both hands. Michi accepted the letter with both of her hands and bowed slightly to the woman. The woman returned the gesture, smiled, and then walked back to her place behind the desk.

As Michi walked back to the elevator, she pulled open the flap of the plain white envelope. Inside was one sheet of paper, folded in half. Michi pulled the paper from it's housing, flipped it open and read the contents. She then stopped in her tracks and looked over the paper again and again. 'Is this some sick joke?' Nonetheless, Michi lengthened her stride and took the stairs instead of the elevator. She could not risk being late for what could be her most important meeting, to date.

The man you are working for is not telling you the whole story. If you wish to know more, meet me at Tama Cemetery before 17:30. I will not be waiting long.
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All is Forgotten, All is Forgiven