Death Note Fan Fiction ❯ Rules ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 3 )

Rules

 

Chapter 2

 

Throughout most of dinner, Elijah just sat in his chair and observed Light. Conversation bubbled and flowed all around him as it always did at Julie's house, and Light had fallen into it with graceful ease. The young man had obviously recovered from his initial shock, although Elijah noted with amused interest how little things throughout the night would catch him off guard. Things like the kiss Julie had pressed against Elijah's cheek when she served him his unique dinner or the way Rich, finally arriving home after a long day at work, ruffled Elijah's hair as he passed by on the way to his own seat. Such things were commonplace in a normal family, but Elijah, in his former life, had never been part of a family and Light knew this. The flickers of surprise that passed over the student's face amused the older man greatly.

 

Normally, these little dinners of Julie's would bring out the talkative side of Elijah. They were for his benefit after all: her favorite students brought home to encourage him to socialize with people closer to his age. Tonight, however, he said nothing. His silence would increase the pressure on Light, and it would not alert anyone else's suspicions since they all knew how he behaved around strangers. So instead of talking, he spent his time playing with his dinner and, every so often, eating it.

 

Julie, in her intelligence, had not bothered to force any beef stew on him. Instead, she had given him a couple of pieces of bread, generously drizzled with honey and pre-cut into fork-friendly pieces, and several sliced strawberries. She had also placed a small salad next to him in a gesture of eternal optimism. Elijah had not even looked at it. He would only consider eating lettuce if it was soaked in caramel or chocolate sauce or … no, forget that. He would never consider eating lettuce.

 

He had eaten the bread first since, if he ate it quickly and didn't think too much on it, he could almost pretend that it was cake. The strawberries, however, were not ripe enough for him. Normal people would have considered them perfectly ripe, but he preferred fruit, if he was expected to eat it naturally, to be over-ripe so that the sugars in it were more prominent.

 

Carefully, Elijah speared a strawberry slice with his fork and brought it up to eye level to examine it.

 

Ever watchful of him, Julie noticed the baleful look. "Staring at it won't make it go away, Elijah," she commented teasingly. When he turned a blank expression to her, she added, "And don't bother asking for the sugar because you aren't getting it." She draped a hand protectively over the little bowl at her elbow.

 

Ignoring Annie's giggles, Elijah lowered his chin so that he could glare at his pseudo-mother through his bangs. "You are an unnaturally cruel woman," he informed her.

 

"I know," she answered without flinching. "But if you want any of the fudge cake I got at the bakery for dessert, you'll eat all of them."

 

Elijah sighed and focused his attention on the little red annoyances on his plate. He quickly assessed the amount of leftover honey he had and began calculating the amount he could smear on each strawberry without running out.

 

"You haven't contributed much to the conversation, Elijah," Light commented, breaking into his complex formulations. "Are you not interested in criminal psychology?"

 

Inwardly, Elijah smiled. Light's tone of voice had been very casual and mildly concerned, but the older man had recognized the challenge hidden in the words. Light was probing him, testing him, just like all the times L had tested Kira. So Yagami-kun, the games begin. Now, to calculate where this conversation will go …

 

Within seconds, he had concocted a plan that would not only put further pressure on Light but would also gain him a piece of fudge cake without having to eat the accursed strawberries. All he had to do now was wait for the conversation to catch up.

 

Ethan answered Light's question, just as Elijah knew he would. "Don't worry, Light. He's not usually this quiet. It's just because it's the first time you've been here."

 

Light transferred his attention to the junior a few seats down the table. "Because of me?"

 

"Yeah." Ethan grinned at him. "He's analyzing you."

 

"Analyzing me?" Light echoed with surprise on his face. Elijah considered the emotion carefully. Fake. Definitely fake.

 

Ethan thought it was real though. He laughed lightly, waving a hand a bit. "It's okay. He did it to all of us. He's calculating your worth as a friend based on his own strange matrix of knowledge and reasoning ability. Then he'll file you away in his head and go back to being normal."

 

"I see." Light turned his head back to Elijah with a smile. "Well, I hope you'll let me know where I measure up in your standards."

 

Elijah's inner self smirked. I'm gone one year, and you've become this easy to read?

 

"Of course he --"

 

"No. I won't," Elijah interrupted Ethan, putting down his fork and wrapping his hands around his knees.

 

His good friend blinked at him. "Why not?"

 

"Yeah," Mark added. "You told me what you thought of me even after I asked you not to!"

 

Next to him, Annie smiled and jabbed him in the side with her elbow. "You're just sore because he put me above you."

 

"Why not, 'Lij?" Ethan repeated softly. He had leaned forward a bit in his chair, anticipating that something was wrong.

Elijah brought his eyes up to stare pointedly into Light's. "Because," he answered in a flat tone, "I don't like you."

 

Small sounds of surprise and protest erupted all around the table. Elijah ignored them. He held Light's eyes firmly with his own, watching the way thoughts and emotions flickered in those brown depths. Light tried his best to hide it, but eventually, it leaked through: fear. Elijah allowed his lips to curl slightly in a semi-triumphant smile. The first half of his plan had worked.

 

Still having not responded to any of the questions or comments born from his announcement, Elijah uncurled himself from his chair and stood up. "I'm going up to my room," he told no one in particular and turned away from the table.

 

Julie had risen from her chair, parental instincts kicking in full force. "Elijah McCormick, apologize to Light!"

 

His head snapped in her direction. "That is not my name," he said coldly. "I allow you to call me that because it pleases you, but I am not your child. If you intend to retract your offer of shelter, you may do so at any time. You only need to inform me."

 

Julie had taken a step back from him, her hand flying to her mouth in shock and dismay. Her soft brown eyes were already beginning to fill with tears. There, in that expression, was his fudge cake. She would bring some up to him later as a peace offering. With that pleasant thought and the warm satisfaction of a double victory, Elijah left the table and climbed the stairs to his room.

 

Once the door closed behind him, however, he felt an unfamiliar pain in his chest. An unpleasant twinge that crept upwards to pinch the back of his throat and downwards to roll around in his stomach. Julie's upset face floated into his mind unbidden. He blinked several times into the empty room at the unfamiliar sensation. This was an illogical response to his recent success. Confused, he shuffled over to his desk and to the bottom drawer where he kept a secret stash of sweets hidden from Julie. Perhaps some chocolate would fix whatever was wrong with him.

 

As he settled into a chair and unwrapped a caramel-filled Hershey kiss, his mind contemplated what Light's response would be to his challenge. He truly doubted the younger man would just turn tail and flee. That wasn't Light's style. The fear would not last much longer anyway. Light would quickly come to the correct conclusion that Elijah was not going to unmask him as Kira, although he would probably attribute it to lack of evidence. The next point of interest would be whether or not Light tried to kill him again. Elijah cocked his head a bit as he sucked the caramel out of the candy currently in his mouth. That would definitely be fascinating.

 

Of course, he reminded himself, he would have to play all of these mind games with his old rival while keeping to the rules. While he welcomed this second opportunity to wage psychological war against Kira, he had also been intrigued by the revelation that no soul had yet made it to the one year mark. He intended to be the first, and in no way would he allow Light Yagami to rob him of that accomplishment. In fact, if his relationship with Light ever progressed to the point where he worried he would break the rules, Elijah would just disappear. Go back to the streets and leave Light behind …

 

Leave Julie behind.

 

Elijah paused in the act of licking melted chocolate from his long fingers and shifted his gaze to the darkening sky outside his window. Julie. She was always trying to ensure that he was happy. Giving him things, doing things for him, not because she worked for him but because she wanted to. Yes, she bugged him about his posture now and then and attempted to get him to eat foods that were healthier for him, but she was always kind and supportive about it. Not overbearing or excessive. She always treated him with respect and affection.

 

Julie. Tonight, he had hurt her. Willingly. And if Light got too close, he would leave her without a second thought.

 

Elijah swallowed. Suddenly, fudge cake did not sound so appetizing anymore.

 

xXx

 

Light crashed down into his desk chair and, resting his elbows on the nicked and scratched surface, dropped his head into his hands and buried his fingers in his hair. L was alive. It didn't matter when or how. He was alive. And Light didn't believe for a moment that he had lost his memory like Ethan said he had. That look in those wide blue eyes had said something different. There had been deep and intricate knowledge in them. The mind behind those eyes had known that murderer and victim were staring each other in the face.

 

Half-unaware of his own actions, Light retrieved the two Death Notes he had with him from their hiding places. He shoved Misa's to the side and instead stared at the one that had once belonged to a pale Shinigami with a fatal streak of sentimentality. His fingers trembled slightly as he opened the book to one of the first pages. It was still there, scratched out in Rem's heavy handwriting. L. Lawliet.

 

Light traced his fingers over the letters and debated what to do now. Should he kill L/Elijah? The man now definitely knew that Light was Kira, but he had no proof and no longer had the resources to acquire it. So was this reincarnated form of L still even a threat?

 

Light's fingers twitched. Of course he was. He was L. And L's brilliant mind and tenacious spirit were rivaled only by Light's own. Elijah's words and actions this evening had been a challenge, a "come and get me if you dare". The older man had no intention of letting Light just continue on with his life unhindered. For the first time, Light cursed his decision to finish his degree abroad. If he had stayed in Japan, this never would have happened.

 

Somehow a pen had made it into Light's hand. He placed the tip in the empty space beneath L's name, and Kira took over. Fifteen seconds later, the brunet stared down at what he had written: Elijah McCormick, accident. And tomorrow's date, time 2 PM.

 

The pen tumbled from Light's fingers onto the floor. His fists curled tightly into themselves and began to shake.

 

It probably won't work. It's not his real name. But his real name is already in the Note, so writing it a second time won't work either.

 

Light dipped his head. The shaking had progressed up his arms and down his torso.

 

But what if it does work?

 

His stomach lurched at the thought, and Light realized the truth. He had missed L. Had missed the only other person on this planet who had given him a decent challenge. Who had understood him and related to him. Their battles had been exhilarating, even if he had been fearful for his life throughout most of them. Since L's death, nothing had come close to giving Light that feeling of mental satisfaction.

 

He stared at the page on his desk. Tomorrow. 2 PM.

 

Light buried his face in shaking hands and, for the first time in his life, cursed Kira.