Death Note Fan Fiction ❯ Rules ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 2 )

Rules

 

A/N: For a cryptogram puzzle of the rules that Elijah must follow, please visit this story on FanFictionNet.

 

Chapter 1

 

Light repressed a sigh as he followed behind his new "friends". He had come to the conclusion that Americans were the loudest people on the planet. They talked constantly. And most of the time, they would talk over each other, not bothering to wait politely for the other to finish before launching into their own string of inane chatter. At least this group talked about more intelligent things than what was the latest gossip about the "in" celebrities or who was screwing whom.

 

Ethan's loud laugh drew his attention to the first of the friends that he had met. The tall junior seemed, outwardly at least, painfully average. He had nondescript brown hair and eyes, an ordinary face, and all the interests that a young man of his age should have: essentially girls and sports. But he was also very much into literature, particularly poetry, and had apparently been the class genius before Light arrived. In addition, he had given up that title without an ounce of resentment.

 

Mark, Light had decided, was far less intelligent. His interests, other than girls and sports, ran more towards art. He had a particular fascination with pop art and had damn near concussed Light with a ridiculously large stack of manga upon their introduction. The sophomore apparently carried the stuff around with him at all times in a rolling suitcase. Light stared at the back of the black-haired young man's head. He could easily see the excited gleam in Mark's rich brown eyes as the conversation ahead of him progressed. Idly, Light wondered if one of these times, Mark would knock Annie over with the frantic waving of his hands that he did so often.

 

Now Annie had terrified Light upon first meeting her. She was rather short, blonde, and bubbly. He had had instant Misa flashbacks. However, this girl was considerably calmer and brighter than his Gothic girlfriend. She also, thankfully, seemed to be interested in Mark. Also a sophomore, her interests varied from classical music to modern literature to sculpture to dance. She was not, however, interested in sports, which had already caused several disagreements in the short week that Light had known them. Light had rated her slightly above Mark but considerably below Ethan (and himself) in terms of mental capacity.

 

Bored, Light let his attention wander away from the trio in front of him. Although he didn't like it, he had to concede that for a group of American idiots, they weren't too bad. None of them, not even Ethan, would provide a decent mental challenge for him, but he hadn't really expected them to. No one had come even close to challenging Light since …

 

With an internal grimace, he stopped that line of thought before it could proceed any further. There was no need to think about him anymore. He was long gone and good riddance. For him, for Kira, and for the world.

 

Light refocused his attention on the conversation in front of him to try to rid his head of unwanted thoughts. They were talking about something they had gone over in class that morning. Arguing some of the finer points of using mental illness as a defense in court. Light smirked to himself. He didn't need to think about such things. Kira did not consider "insanity" to be a defense.

 

"Hey, Light," Ethan called over his shoulder. "You're pretty quiet back there."

 

"I'm fine," Light replied easily with a ready smile. "Just thinking."

 

"About what?" Annie questioned with a playful grin. "Bet it's a girl." Ignoring Ethan's blatant eye roll, she pressed on, "You've got a girl at home, don't you, Light? A good-looking guy like you?"

 

Light clamped down on the snort that threatened to erupt from him. "Sort of," he answered, managing another light-hearted smile. To himself, he added, She's more like a stalker though.

 

Thankfully, Mark came to his rescue by turning the embarrassment back on the instigator. "Notice how she always thinks of relationships when we're going over to Julie's house."

 

Light winced a bit at the use of Professor McCormick's first name. He didn't think he would ever get used to that aspect of this country.

 

Annie had turned an impressive shade of purple at Mark's "aside" to Ethan. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not interested in Elijah?!" she demanded.

 

"Sure you're not," Mark replied, grinning.

 

Light shook his head at them both. Of course she wasn't interested in Elijah, whoever he was. She was clearly interested in Mark which he would see if only he would shut up and pay attention to her for once. Love was so stupid. Definitely part of the reason he had no interest in it.

 

"Come on, knock it off," Ethan ordered good-naturedly. "We're here already."

 

They had stopped in front of a small colonial-style house a little more than halfway down the current street. Most of the other houses on the street were similar to this one: small to medium in size with decent yards, little driveways leading to garages with one or two sedans, everything neat and clean and rather cookie-cutter suburbia. Light shrugged his shoulders a bit and followed Ethan up the few stairs to the door. Professor McCormick hadn't seemed like the type to live in such a stereotypical middle-class neighborhood, but if it was housing provided by the campus, she probably hadn't had much choice.

 

Ethan didn't bother to knock or ring the doorbell. Instead, he opened up the door and stuck his head in. "Julie!" he called. "We're here!"

 

"Come on in!" his professor's voice floated back. "I'm in the kitchen."

 

The four of them stepped inside, Light bringing up the rear. Still within the front hallway, he toed off his shoes. That was one custom he saw no reason to part with just because he was now studying in a different country. He looked up in time to notice Annie disappearing into the kitchen to help their hostess and Ethan and Mark moving into the living room next to the hallway.

 

"Hey, 'Lija," he heard Mark say to someone already in the room. "How ya been?"

 

"Adequate, thank you, Mark," a male voice replied.

 

Light blinked. Something about it seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it. Shaking his head to clear the strange feeling, he walked forward to follow the other two young men. He rounded the corner and stopped. His eyes widened; his breath caught. There, sitting in a plush recliner, was a ghost. It must have been. The figure sat crouched with his bare feet on the seat, shoulders hunched and head bowed. He delicately held a single sheet of newspaper in front of his face by two fingers on each hand, the rest splayed out in the air as if he held something unpleasant.

 

Mark was unzipping his ever-present suitcase. "Brought you that puzzle that I told you about last time." He reached into the bag and pulled out a small metal sculpture: one of those puzzles where you had to remove the ring from the complicated maze of tubes. Smiling, Mark held it out to the person in the chair.

 

The newspaper came down, and Light nearly had a heart attack. Oh the irony, a nasty voice in his head sneered.

 

His hair and eye color were wrong, and the skin color and facial structure were definitely Caucasian, but there was no mistaking that expression. Light swallowed hard. L …

 

The ghost took the puzzle and held it in one hand as he had held the newspaper. His empty and yet still sharp eyes roamed over the metal for approximately five seconds. Then, he lifted the other hand and, in one smooth movement, removed the ring. He handed ring and puzzle back to Mark without comment.

 

"Damn," Mark breathed, staring at the solved puzzle in his hands. "It took me weeks to figure that out."

 

Ethan's fingers closed around Light's upper arm, causing him to jump slightly. Pulling Light further into the room, he turned to Elijah and said, "This is Light, the new guy Julie told you about. Light, this is Elijah, Julie's son."

 

Blue eyes regarded Ethan with interest. "I am not."

 

Ethan sighed. "Adopted son, then."

 

"No papers were signed. I am also legally of age."

 

Dropping Light's arm, Ethan turned to Elijah in exasperation. "Well, hell, 'Lij. What do you want me to call you? Some homeless guy that Julie brought home so she could finally have the family she's always wanted?"

 

Elijah raised a thumb to his lips and bit the nail. Light resisted the urge to vomit.

 

"Why not? It's what I am."

 

"Forget it," Ethan stated with emphasis. "Julie loves you like a son, so you're her son. Deal with it."

 

The eyes fell and stared at a spot on the carpeted floor. "Very well, Ethan."

 

A small, caring smile appeared on Ethan's face. Light noted it with curiosity. The two were close, quite possibly best friends. A powerful and ugly new emotion washed over Light in waves. L had never bothered to make friends before. He had stated that Light was the first friend he had ever had. Now suddenly he was best friends with Ethan? An inferior mind?

 

What the hell? Light blinked at himself. Why was he thinking these things? And what was this nausea in his stomach?

 

"Anyway," Ethan had continued, "you're making a rotten first impression on Light. Stand up and greet him properly."

 

Elijah complied. Slowly, he unfolded himself from the chair in a manner that Light knew very well. Bare feet hit the carpet, hands hid themselves deep in pockets, and shoulders hunched down into a posture that would give normal people backaches. Elijah looked up at Light through strands of unkempt reddish hair.

 

"I am pleased to meet you," he said solemnly. "Light Yagami."

 

xXx

 

Elijah watched the "stranger's" expression carefully. Clearly, Light had lost some of the ability to hide his emotions. However, he had also spent the last year in relative safety, so it was not all that surprising that his walls had weakened somewhat. Elijah knew he himself had not allowed that much surprise to show on his face when he had heard Julie happily talking about her new student, but then again, he had known that Light was alive somewhere. He just hadn't expected him to be here.

 

"Hey guys," Julie called from the kitchen, "I could use some help setting the table!"

 

"I'll do it," Ethan offered. As he passed Elijah, he clapped the elder young man on the shoulder. "If you do it, we won't be eating until next week," he joked.

 

"My method of setting the table significantly reduces the risk of items being dropped," Elijah informed him, playing along with the game. He truly liked the younger man's openness. It was nice to have a friend who was intelligent and yet who made statements that did not have half a dozen layers of meaning. Quite unlike his relationship with Light.

 

Ethan snorted at him. "One plate at a time, I might be able to understand, but one piece of silverware?" When Elijah just fixed him with a lopsided smile, Ethan laughed and kept going into the dining room.

 

From the floor, Mark stopped looking mournfully at the solved puzzle long enough to ask, "Do you know what we're having for dinner, 'Lij?"

 

Elijah rolled his eyes up to the ceiling to help him concentrate. "I believe I saw Julie preparing something that looked like a beef stew. There were certainly more vegetables than I was comfortable with. She also mentioned something about rice, green salads, and French bread."

 

Mark smirked at him. "Are you going to eat any of that?"

 

"Most unlikely."

 

As Mark laughed, Elijah quickly flicked his eyes over to Light to see the other's reaction. He was rewarded with a slight flinch. Internally, Elijah smiled. He could just imagine the turmoil going on in Light's mind right now. It certainly did not take a genius like Light to piece together the obvious clues that were in front of him and arrive at a feasible solution. At this moment in time, the part of him that was Kira was probably panicking and half-expecting Elijah to denounce him here and now. Unfortunately, that was most certainly against the rules he had to follow.

 

Light didn't know that, though.

 

Elijah raised his thumb to his mouth, one side of which crooked into a tiny grin. This was going to be very interesting.