Death Note Fan Fiction ❯ Rules ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 5 )

Rules

 

Chapter 4

 

"So where are the apples?"

 

Light cracked open one eye blearily and found himself staring into the grinning visage of a Death God. Ryuk's pasty face was mere inches from his own, and his buggy eyes were so close that Light could see himself reflected in the red irises. He probably would have screamed if he had not been used to it.

 

"On my desk," Light answered with a growl. He was not happy at being woken up at -- he looked at the clock beside his bed -- 5:30? The growl rapidly morphed into a full-blown snarl.

 

"I thought you said you had tons," Ryuk commented around a mouthful of apple.

 

"That was a lie to get you here without having to be blatant about it in the email." Light sat up in bed and scratched the back of his head. He had forgotten how annoying Ryuk could be early in the morning.

 

Ryuk's lips had pulled down at the other's admittance of trickery. "You shouldn't lie about apples," he grumbled with something almost resembling a pout.

 

"You should be glad I got you any at all!" Light snapped.

 

Ryuk considered this for a moment and then nodded and popped another apple into his mouth, whole. "So," he said once he could speak again, "why did you want me?"

 

"L is alive."

 

The Shinigami froze in the act of biting into his third apple. After a long moment, he moved again, only to shock Light tremendously by putting the fruit back down on the desk. Red eyes gleamed.

 

"Really? How interesting."

 

Light leaned forward a bit at this reaction. "You know something about it then?" he asked, allowing a small bit of hope to seep into his tone.

 

"Hmm?" Ryuk replied absently. Then, he shook his head. "Nope. Don't know anything." He reached out to retrieve the apple.

 

Light's brows drew together dangerously over his eyes as he frowned. "You don't know, or you know but won't tell me?"

 

"I really don't know," Ryuk answered, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm only interested in killing humans. Where the soul goes after death is not my concern. That's someone else's job."

 

The young pajama-clad genius considered this for a moment. "Didn't you tell me that humans who use the Death Note cannot go to Heaven or Hell?" he queried. "How would you know that if you don't know about what happens to the soul after death?"

 

"Because someone who did know told me," the Shinigami answered, unfazed by the suspicion in the other's voice. He grinned, showing all of his teeth. "I'm not holding anything back from you, Light. Not this time."

 

Light snorted and leaned back into his pillows. Ryuk certainly had a reputation for sitting on information until it was absolutely necessary to reveal it. Like the time he had waited until Sayu was in her brother's room looking for homework help to announce that if she touched the Note, she'd be able to see him. He had also made it very clear that he was not Light's friend or ally, but rather just an observer, albeit one with an irritatingly loud mouth. This time, however, Light felt inclined to believe the Shinigami when he said he knew nothing about this new twist.

 

"So where is he?" Ryuk questioned. He stuck his head inside Light's closet -- through the wooden door -- as if the student were hiding the reincarnated L in his bedroom.

 

"He's been adopted by one of my professors," Light answered. "He's living with her."

 

"Oho! That is very interesting!" His glinting red eyes turned to regard Light with blatant excitement. "You should take me to see him."

 

"Why?" the young man asked, bored. He threw his arms over his head and stretched lazily. "It's not like you're allowed to tell me his new name so I can kill him."

 

"True," the other returned. "But if there's anything supernatural hanging around him, I might notice." He floated upwards until his head was part-way into the floor above him.

 

"If you notice something," Light asked in a knowing tone, "will you tell me?" Ryuk only ducked his head down for a moment to grin at him and then went back to spying on his upper-floor neighbors. Light sighed and threw off his covers. "Fine," he stated. "I'm going to go take a shower. Then, after classes, I'll take you over to her house."

 

He had opened the door and stepped halfway through when he heard Ryuk mutter, "Ugh, classes. Boring." Rolling his eyes, he shut the door only slightly louder than necessary.

 

xXx

 

It only took two rings of the doorbell before Elijah remembered that Julie was not yet home and that he was supposed to answer the door. Mildly annoyed, he abandoned his half-finished jigsaw -- put together picture-side down to make it more difficult -- and shuffled his way over to the front door. He opened it to reveal Light with an awkward smile and a small white box.

 

"Hi," Light said. He held out the box. "I brought a peace offering."

 

Elijah leaned forward a bit to peer into the box. Through the small window of frosting-smudged plastic, he could make out a miniature strawberry cheesecake. Not changing his posture, he lifted his eyes to stare at the student through his bangs. "Are you trying to buy my friendship, Mr. Yagami?" he asked dully.

 

"No," the other answered quickly. "But I hoped we could start over and try again, and then I thought that this might help." He smiled sincerely and pushed the box even further towards the older man. Slowly, Elijah lifted his hands and took it.

 

"May I come in?" Light queried when Elijah moved to shut the door in his face.

 

"Do you want to come in?" came the return question. Elijah knew perfectly well that Light did, but he felt like being difficult at the moment.

 

"Yes."

 

"Why?"

 

Light tried that dazzling smile on the other again. "Because I'd like to get to know you better, and I feel really bad that we got off to such a bad start."

 

And you want to test me when there's no one else around. "Fine," Elijah answered. He pushed the door open wide and then walked away. "Come in."

 

"Arigato, Elijah," Light said, stepping into the house and shutting the door behind him.

 

The first test. Based on what little information he had given about himself, Elijah should not have any idea what Light had just said. The student wanted to see his reaction, wanted to see if he remembered that he was supposed to only speak English.

 

Without stopping or turning around, Elijah asked, "What does a windy Spanish cat have to do with anything?" He dropped the box onto the kitchen counter and began to dig for a plate and utensils.

 

Behind him, Light laughed, "Sorry. All I said was 'thank you' in my native tongue. I'm usually good at not slipping, but sometimes I still do."

 

"I see." Internally, Elijah was debating with himself. Should he offer a slice of the cheesecake to Light or no? If he didn't, Light might infer that he already knew the other young man did not like sweets -- a fact he should not know. If he did, however, Light might accept anyway, and then he'd have to share his cake. He finally decided not to offer. Elijah had as much of a reputation for being anti-social as L once had, and besides, he had already declared his dislike for Light. Why would he offer cake to someone he didn't like?

 

Light had seated himself at the table and was continuing to talk. "You know, I was thinking, and I wondered if maybe I reminded you of someone from your childhood, someone you didn't like, and that's why you took a disliking to me even though we had just met."

 

"I don't remember any of my childhood," Elijah pointed out. Coffee would taste good with this. Now to find where Julie hid the extra filters.

 

"You could remember subconsciously," the other argued. "Just because you can't access those memories doesn't mean they aren't there."

 

"That may be so," the elder conceded, "but even if such memories exist, I can assure you that they had nothing to do with my assessment of your character." He turned then and fixed his coldest stare directly onto Light. "I don't like you, Light Yagami. Yes, you are intelligent, but you are also arrogant, self-serving, and have little to no regard for the feelings or well-being of others. While I cannot claim to the last myself, I at least do not hide the fact behind a fake show of friendliness and affability. I am honest, where you are most definitely not."

 

Light's mouth had fallen open slightly at the start of this speech, but by the end of it, his lips were pressed together tightly in a hard line. "And you learned all of this from one dinner conversation?" he accused.

 

Elijah smiled lopsidedly at him. "I am observant." His eyes flicked to the half-assembled machine in front of him. "Coffee?"

 

"What?"

 

"Are you going to want any coffee?" His gaze returned to Light as he clarified, "I'm only asking because Julie will be very upset if she learns you were here and I didn't offer."

 

Light rested his head in one hand, assuming a hurt expression. "No thank you, Ryuzaki."

 

Another test, and a much sneakier one. Light obviously wanted Elijah to protest that that was not his name, thereby admitting that he recognized it as something more than just an unknown word. Unfortunately for the student, the other young man was more than capable of playing mind games while trying to work a temperamental coffee machine. "Is that another of your native words, Light?" He scratched the back of one calf with the other foot and commented thoughtfully, "First feline abuse and now a word that sounds like regurgitated wine. I don't think I like this language of yours."

 

After a few heartbeats of complete silence, Light suddenly burst into laughter. "Not 'reused sake', Elijah. Ryuzaki. He was …" His voice unexpectedly died, and for a brief moment, Elijah couldn't tell if Light was still acting or if for once he had allowed a small bit of truth to enter his words. "He was a good friend of mine. You remind me a lot of him. I guess …" He turned his gaze to his fingers as they drew random pictures on the tabletop. "I guess that's why it's so important to me that we at least try to become friends. Because I … miss him."

 

Elijah cocked his head and regarded Light. Now what was this new trick? What did Light want to accomplish by telling Elijah of Ryuzaki? Because he didn't for a moment believe that the younger man had no ulterior motive for this revelation. He found himself wondering, however, whether Light had unintentionally let his true feelings slip through. Elijah had noticed the flicker of real sadness behind Light's eyes.

 

He had also noticed that there were only four apples in the fruit bowl on the table. He could have sworn there had been five.

 

The silence between the two stretched out until the coffee began to drip. Once the pot had filled enough, Elijah pulled it out and filled two cups. He then crossed to the table and put one in front of Light.

 

The brunet looked up in surprise. "I said I didn't want any."

 

"Yes, but you've slipped twice today," the blond replied. "Based on the assessment of your character that I did, I have concluded that you must be tired. Hence the coffee." He put down his own cup and proceeded to dump half the sugar bowl into it.

 

Light looked at the cup for a minute. "Thank you," he eventually said.

 

"You and your breezy cat are welcome," Elijah replied. He had settled himself into his chair with the plate of cheesecake on his knees and began to systematically destroy it. At his words, Light began to laugh again. It was a pleasant sound, Elijah decided. One to which he could become accustomed. He would have to be careful about that.

 

Light stayed for half an hour, chatting lightly about his life and asking innocuous questions about how Elijah came to stay with Julie. He did not attempt to trick Elijah again. When the two finally walked to the front door so that Elijah could see Light out, the elder allowed himself to wonder if the younger's offer of friendship was at least partially genuine.

 

However, when he came back to the kitchen and noticed that there were now three apples, he knew Light had not been alone.

 

L, do you know Death Gods only eat apples?

 

Elijah pushed aside his empty plate and sat down at the table with a fresh cup of coffee and the rest of the cheesecake still in the box. He smiled to himself. Your Shinigami can't help you this time, Yagami-kun. You're on your own.

 

xXx

 

"He looks good as a blond."

 

Light would have given just about anything at that point to be able to wring Ryuk's neck. Just to get him to stop talking.

 

"He's almost cute. Bet the girls love 'im."

 

The suffering genius flinched. Did Ryuk just call L cute?

 

"Ryuk?"

 

"Yes?"

 

"You started chortling the moment you saw him and didn't stop for nearly twenty minutes. What was that about?"

 

"Well, Light, I have some good news and some bad news."

"Give me the bad news first."

 

"Nope, that'll ruin the effect. The good news is I can tell you what I saw above the new L's head without breaking Shinigami rules."

 

Light sighed and rolled suddenly tight shoulders. He could feel a nasty headache creeping up on him. "So what's the bad news?"

 

Ryuk flashed him a huge grin. "The bad news is there's nothing to tell."

 

Light stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk and stared at his winged companion. "What?"

 

"The guy has no name," Ryuk explained. "Where his name is supposed to be, there's nothing. Oh, and his lifespan? It's infinite."

 

Light's mouth fell open. At the moment, he didn't care how ridiculous he looked. "Infinite? What does that mean?"

 

"It means," Ryuk answered, beginning to laugh again, "there's absolutely no way you can kill him."