Death Note/MoB Fic: Chapter 7
"The Possibility
Chapter 1 and intro. stuff
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7: Checkmate -- NC-17
[MoB]
"Are you finished with it?" asked Naoe as Nagahide dropped his backpack on the bedroom floor.
Nagahide shot him an exasperated glance. "I don't want to talk about it."
So he sidelined me, Naoe. What the hell makes it your business? It isn't news. It's nothing new. Nothing's new now, is it?
For a minute or two they said nothing. Nagahide gazed out the window of Naoe's room at the quiet green hillside. He always felt serene at the Tachibanas', at least a little closer to serene. Or was it Haruie who'd once described that way?
Naoe's mother broke the silence with a call of "Dinner!" She was over eighty but didn't sound a day over sixty-five. Nagahide kind of loved her because Naoe loved her-no-because she loved Naoe, and she'd seen him through those dark times after Minako. And she thought Nagahide was Naoe's girlfriend, which was cute. She made them all feel better.
***
For almost a week, they didn't talk about Kira-that is to say, Nagahide and Naoe didn't discuss Yagami and Ryuuzaki. The whole household, like every household, was discussing the Kira case: how the killings had stopped without explanation, without an arrest, how even the suspect under suspicion of being the Second Kira had been released.
Who were those two plotting to kill instead? Or had they already begun killing?
On the sixth evening, when they went to bed, Nagahide switched off the light and said, "I think I'll go back to the hotel tomorrow."
"Okay," came Naoe's voice in the dark. And after a moment: "Do you want me to come?"
"Best you don't."
"Okay."
Okay. Just like that. That's what one called giving each other space.
He heard Naoe sigh and turn onto his back. "We have no right to interfere."
"And that is the argument of a school teacher who says never scribble outside the margins."
"Nagahide-"
"It's ridiculous. They could kill anyone-in the world; you do realize that? Anyone with a name and face. And if you think they won't-" He stopped. "Never mind. I'm not going to fight with you about it."
"If you think it's easy for me-"
"I'm not going to fight with you."
They lay side by side in silence. Nagahide didn't like the way he saw the situation falling out. But he knew he wouldn't allow those two become the next Oda.
Ryuuzaki could kick him out as often as he liked. Nagahide still wouldn't let him sacrifice himself to that kid. He was too rare a creature. People were generally stupid, and generally, they could go to hell. But once in a while came a soul worth preserving. Nagahide lay still, miserable and stymied, aware of a rising lump in his throat and a frown pressing down on his mouth.
Naoe shifted closer and kissed his neck-not his lips, as he usually did. Nagahide was grateful; if he'd opened his mouth at that moment, tears would probably have slipped out. Naoe knew; he couldn't even see Nagahide in the dark, but he knew he couldn't kiss those hard-pressed lips.
His mouth was soft on Nagahide's throat. Nagahide pulled him close, relaxing into the comfort of this female body. He'd never been interested in being a woman, didn't intend to stay one for long. But in these early days, it made things easier for Naoe, easier for both of them.
Naoe loosened Nagahide's robe and pressed the left breast in that way that flashed currents up and down this body. Nagahide wrapped his legs around him, feeling their skin breathe together, like bittersweet old nights before battles when the moon silvered the clouds with... with that clarity... the clarity of endings.
They'd started having sex about five years after Kagetora's death, Nagahide still in a man's body. It had been awkward. Naoe didn't really go for men who weren't Kagetora. He'd had other men, of course, but mainly as Kagetora-training. And neither of them wanted Nagahide to be a manikin for Naoe's fantasies. Moreover, both wanted to be on top.
It was easier for Naoe with Nagahide as a woman-and, in a way, easier for Nagahide too. Things he just wouldn't do as a man were possible as a woman, things like sinking back in this bed and reveling at the feel of Naoe inside, at those broad hands warm on slender arms. Naoe's body was getting older, heavier; Nagahide enjoyed his weight.
Some people had a talent for painting or for logic or battles of wits. Naoe had a talent for sex in a way Nagahide had never had. Nagahide had reams of experience, of course, but experience couldn't impart that intuition that tuned Naoe to his partners' slightest moods and motions.
It was nice to receive all that on the night before the battle.
When they were finished and wrapped in each other's arms, Nagahide said, "You know I'm not ready to call it a day. You do know that, right?"
Naoe kissed his temple. "I wouldn't blame you if you did... when our friends have all moved on."
"Well, I'm not ready. It hasn't even been one lifetime since.... Since. I'm not done with my work here. Mind you, you're still an idiot for vowing to stick it out till, what, the end of time? You want to keep him alive; I understand that. But I can't imagine even the brat wanting to hang around that long."
Naoe made an ambiguous noise.
"Is he in his corner?" Nagahide asked. Once, he'd asked if he was having sex with just Naoe, or Kagetora too. Naoe told him what was left of Kagetora wasn't comfortable with it. (No kidding, Nagahide had thought.) "He retreats," Naoe had said. "It's as if he curls up in a corner till I've had what I need."
"He's with us," Naoe answered now.
"Is he telling you you're an idiot?"
A soft laugh. "He always tells me I'm an idiot. 'You idiot, Naoe!' he says." After a moment, he added, "He's telling you you're one too."
"Well, you tell him he's an idiot-tiger. And I'm not ready to call it a day." Not weak enough to leave you alone yet, Naoetora.
***
[DN]
"Will you cheer up!" said Light when they got to Light's room.
Ryuuzaki ignored him. Quickly, he set down his carton of ice-cream and scooped a heaping mass into a bowl.
"It's bizarre to watch you out there." Light plugged in his laptop and switched it on. "You're very good at playing dedicated detective on duty. I can almost believe you're still utterly engrossed by the Kira case. And, then, the second we're alone, I'm waiting for you to swallow the sleeping pills."
"It's not funny, Light." Ryuuzaki stowed the ice-cream carton in Light's mini-fridge and fished out the chocolate syrup.
Light crossed to him and pulled him by the arm to the computer. "I'm perfectly well aware it's not funny. Our timing is crucial, so I want us both to double check our subject's vacation plans."
Ryuuzaki sat by the computer next to Light and stared at his ice-cream. "Tuesday."
"Yeah, but let's double check it."
"All right, if you'd like to. But we'll have to do it Tuesday."
Quickly, Light ran through some of the data they'd mined on their first successor, reevaluating when he'd be best placed to step into the shoes of their first victim. Yes, it did look like Tuesday, day after tomorrow.
He'd known that, of course.... He just needed...
"You're not eating your ice-cream."
"I'm not very hungry."
Light blinked in feigned shock, then wondered if he ought to be genuinely worried. "Are you sick?"
Ryuuzaki set down his bowl. "No. I just don't need the energetic input. My mental faculties aren't being taxed."
For some reason, that struck Light as an insult. "They will be, once we get moving on this. We've made the first turn into the maze, that's all."
"Yes." Ryuuzaki rose and stuck his bowl in the fridge.
"Ryuuzaki." Light followed him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Cheer up. We're building a new age."
"We should stop."
"Ryuuzaki-"
"Before it's too late."
"For you, you mean." Light faced him and stared until Ryuuzaki stared back. "If you try to arrest me-"
"You're welcome to keep your recordings of me."
Light smirked. "Then, it is too late. You've made your choice." On impulse, he leaned in and kissed Ryuuzaki lightly. "So make it work with me." He kissed him again, and it was stupid... stupid to treat Ryuuzaki like Misa, as if he could just be kissed into submission. But it wasn't just for that. He wanted...
Don't back out on me now, not when you promised we'd do this together.
Ryuuzaki's expression was dull, but his lips responded.
That's right. Please, don't make me kill you.
"There's no letting go," whispered Light and kissed him harder-lost himself a bit, like when he was with a girl and didn't have to think till they were done having sex, so he'd shut off his brain and just let himself feel her, like any guy his age.
Though Ryuuzaki wasn't like those girls. He was... He wasn't like anything.
He was better. He was heat itself surging through Light's body.
Still kissing him, his jowl, his cheek, Light propelled him toward the bed, pushed him down onto the covers and climbed half on top of him. His heart hammered, a little voice inside him wondering, How gay is this? and Just how far do I want to go? Another part marveled, This is L. My Ryuuzaki is L, the L. And he's here with me. Of course, he is: who else could be? But mostly, Light just felt hard and ready.
Then, he pulled back to catch his breath and saw Ryuuzaki just sort of... there, his face a blank, eyes half closed. That bothered Light, who was accustomed the devouring stare.
Light's penis pushed taut in his pants against Ryuuzaki's thigh, but Ryuuzaki wasn't hard at all. A chill gripped Light, and his own arousal slackened.
Finally, Ryuuzaki looked at him. "What's your plan?"
The question was absurd... because it was Ryuuzaki's business to figure out Light's plans, not ask about them, because who said that to someone they were about to have sex with?
"Pinochle," said Light.
Ryuuzaki barely smiled. "I mean, what do you want to do?" Between their shirts, Light could feel Ryuuzaki's heart pound fast.
"I figured I'd play it by ear."
"That's not like you."
Light pulled back a little more. "You know, what I really want not to do is engage in badinage right now."
Ryuuzaki looked away again. "Sorry."
"Sorry?"
"Sorry." For a moment, his face contorted. "I'm just not..."
"What? Gay? Interested?" He peered hard into that face. "Is this your first time, Ryuuzaki? Or are you freaked because it's your first time with a man?" He thought a little further. "Or are you freaked because it isn't?"
Ryuuzaki passed a tired hand over his face.
Light swallowed. Girls were much easier. Anyone was easier. "Were you molested as a kid?" he asked in a harder voice than he'd intended.
"No," said Ryuuzaki. "I'm not traumatized; I'm just... bad at it."
Light studied him for a moment, absently caressing his shoulder, disdaining the pity that welled inside him. The idea of pitying Ryuuzaki galled him. "So have you ever done it? I mean, with either a man or a woman?"
Ryuuzaki reached up and ran long fingers through Light's hair. "Yeah... with a woman. Well, once."
Light smiled tightly. "Well, everyone's bad the first time, right?"
"Except you, right?"
"I was... not at the top of my form."
Ryuuzaki dropped his hand to Light's shoulder as if unsure what to do with it. "It's more than that for me though. I've just never had much of an interest."
"So you're saying you're not interested in me-that way."
Ryuuzaki hesitated. "I don't know what to say." He made a scramble to sit up, and Light let him, watched him lean against the pillows and pull his knees up.
Light propped himself on his elbow casually, head on his hand, feeling cold and hollow where Ryuuzaki no longer touched him. "If you're not interested, why are you here?" When Ryuuzaki made no reply, he added, "Because if you're trying to seduce me, you need to work on your moves."
He expected some acknowledgement of the joke, but Ryuuzaki ignored him. He just sat still, hands on his knees, gazing into the middle distance. "Sometimes I want sex," he said after a time. "But I can't make myself want it. It's... It was like that with my girlfriend."
Light smiled in spite of himself. The idea of Ryuuzaki having a girlfriend...
Ryuuzaki sank back a little further into the pillows. "She-Sarah-she was hurt because I wasn't really attracted to her."
"Then why were you dating her?"
"A colleague set us up, and I thought, 'Why not?' I thought things were going pretty well. We always kissed goodnight. She was a bit boring, but so was work at the time. We talked a lot about Linux."
"Sounds romantic as hell."
"But one night-" He gave a funny smile. "One night, we were playing go, and she burst into tears and said she didn't understand why I found her unattractive and that I treated her exactly like her ex-boyfriend, who, I guess, she found insensitive."
"Welcome to the world of women."
"That conversation ended with us going to bed. And that-" Ryuuzaki broke into a long, low chuckle. It wrinkled up his whole face, made him look years older. It struck Light that he'd never seen Ryuuzaki really laugh. He laughed a long time. "That led to a longer conversation, in which I tried to explain that it wasn't her fault that I couldn't get it up-not entirely unlike the conversation we're having now, is it?" He chuckled again.
Without thinking much, Light sat up and put an arm around him. He'd held someone like that before, a long time ago... When? Sayu, about four years ago, when she'd had a fight with her best friend. "But you did sleep with her?"
"We went to sleep finally-when she finally stopped crying."
"Yeah, seems like there's always crying sooner or later."
"But around-oh, 3:20 in the morning, I think-we woke up. We were kind of groggy, and we did it."
Light waited for details, but none were forthcoming. "That's it?"
Ryuuzaki settled back against him. "No, it got worse. Three minutes after we finished, she bolted up in bed and said-she said-" He went on in that British English of his: "'Fucking hell! We forgot the fucking the condom!'"
Light guffawed; he couldn't help it.
Even Ryuuzaki smiled a little. "You never forget the condom, do you, Light?"
Light refrained from saying he had a box stashed in nightstand.
Ryuuzaki gave a little, disappointed sigh. "Well, she dashed into the bathroom, and I could hear her banging around for a long time. When she came out, you know what I said?"
"Uh, that you'd pay child support but you had no intention of marrying her?"
"I said, 'Can you get the day-after pill on the NHS?'"
"National Health...?"
"Service. That was the wrong thing to say, wasn't it?"
Light wrapped an arm around Ryuuzaki's ribs. "Just a little."
"She said she'd like me to leave... she said, no offense, but she'd like me to leave."
"So did she get pregnant?" The answer was pretty obvious, but it was fun to ask.
"No, she got the day-after pill." His hand slipped absently to Light's thigh. "She missed work the next day, and the day after, she came in looking pretty haggard. It has side effects, you know. I think they hit her kind of hard. She told me she thought we didn't fit, is how she put it. Which is was obviously true, of course." He lapsed into silence.
"Ryuuzaki, please don't take this the wrong way: your story is very funny."
"Only sometimes."
Ryuuzaki's hand resting on his thigh was making him hot again. "So do we fit?" he asked softly.
"You know the answer to that."
Light kissed his cheek and, when Ryuuzaki turned to him, his mouth. "You don't have to perform for me. Well, not sexually."
"Okay." Ryuuzaki pressed a hand to Light's face and kissed his neck.
Light pressed against him. "That's nice. Can we just go with it?"
Ryuuzaki went on kissing him. His hair tickled Light's cheek. He smelled like generic soap and sweat; the scent of his skin permeated his shirt-of course, he wore his clothes to death between washings. Light smiled; the idea of him made Light smile. He kissed his shoulder, by the neck of his shirt, felt Ryuuzaki's arms tighten around him, muscles like iron, like an athlete.
Light clamped himself against that body, pushing him back against the bed again. Quickly, he unzipped his pants and groped for one of Ryuuzaki's hands. "Touch me?"
Ryuuzaki let Light guide his hand, grasped his erection, awkwardly-it pulled uncomfortably. For a few moments, they fumbled to rearrange his fingers; then, Light sank contently into the rhythm of Ryuuzaki stroking him with a broad hand, fingers thicker than his own. His thighs pressed hard against Ryuuzaki's.
A little, immeasurable time went by, counted out only by panting breaths and the thrusts of their hips, and Light realized with a start that he could feel Ryuuzaki hard against his belly. It was... embarrassing to arouse another man. At the same time, he'd wanted this: for Ryuuzaki to need him.
He lifted his head to watch Ryuuzaki's face, flushed and round, lips parted. His eyes met Light's for a moment. Then, he closed them, frowning in concentration; he looked like a baby, unconscious of the play of its own expressions. He looked a bit ridiculous-Light enjoyed that.
He shifted his weight to free a hand and found the button of Ryuuzaki's jeans. Since they fastened the same way as women's jeans, it was no trick for Light to undo them. A bit trickier to find the right grip to make Ryuuzaki heave against Light's palm. They smashed against each other in conflicting rhythms, then slowly settled into sync.
But Light was already nearly there and felt himself moving faster and faster. He ached and writhed. Then, the rest of the world went away, and he came with a long, wrenching growl.
At once, he returned to himself, eyes locked on Ryuuzaki shuddering beneath him, in his power. His mind flashed to those moments before Asuka had hurled Ryuuzaki's soul back into his dead body, those moments when he'd lain dying in Light's arms. It was like that but less bitter... and less triumphant too.
For another ten minutes, Ryuuzaki thrashed against Light, face red and eyes tight closed as if in a delirium. After a while, the glow of his power palled for Light, and he felt almost sorry for him. He's lost when this takes hold of him. No wonder he doesn't like sex. At last, he thrust deeply and came-in absolute silence; it seemed he even held his breath.
He pushed away from Light at once. They zipped up their pants and lay, side-by-side, a little apart. Light wanted a shower and a change of clothes, but he wanted to stay beside Ryuuzaki more.
"You're very quiet," he said after a moment. He almost added, During sex, I mean, not now, but decided it would sound too stilted.
"You do it quietly in an orphanage," said Ryuuzaki, taking his meaning.
Vexed at their sudden distance, Light leaned over him and brushed his fingers through his hair. Ryuuzaki didn't move. A beam of westering sunlight colored his cheek with gold.
"That was nice," said Light, hoping it was true. "You can't say that wasn't nice."
Ryuuzaki looked at him with something akin to that resentful "you made Rem kill Watari" expression. But the hand he lifted to Light's face was gentle, if unpleasantly cold and damp with semen.
Light kissed his lips. "Do you want to shower with me?"
"I have some work I have to do."
"That's bullshit," Light whispered to his forehead. "It's not even inventive bullshit. But I understand." If he were Ryuuzaki, he'd want time alone now too.
Ryuuzaki nodded and sat up. He opened the drawer of the nightstand, fished for a moment, and tossed the box of condoms onto Light's lap. With parting glance, he went out.
***
In the hall, L ran into Matsuda, who asked him something about something. All L could think was I smell like sex. Please, God, let him be too stupid to notice. Apparently, Matsuda was: he just nodded in response to whatever L had managed to say in response and went on his way with cheery wave.
L walked quickly to his room, shut the door behind him, and leaned against it till it chilled it back. His was slightly dizzy from walking around just after an orgasm when all his body wanted to do was curl up and sleep.
He felt emotionally bruised. A lump rose in his throat.
I can't believe I told him those things. He's going to use them against me. Every weakness I show he's taking down in his mind.
He thought of his Death Note in this room safely hidden, of the man he'd already killed with it-that man had been sentenced to die. But now it was Sunday, and Tuesday they'd start the real killing. Could there be a way out between now and then? He had all of Monday to talk to Light, to convince him to make better use of his talents. But the Death Note had deafened Light to mundane reason.
And perhaps Light was right, perhaps he was born to be the leader. Perhaps L's cowardice alone impeded their work.
L saw two people when he looked in the mirror: the human face and the Shinigami, skeletal under the surface. His Shinigami self had been so young, so self-righteous. So much like Light. So desperate to heal this world that he'd consigned himself to this human prison. Now, he'd be too craven to see it through.
The other part of him knew it had nothing to do with cowardice. Light was a fool, a megalomaniac.
I'm having sex with a megalomaniac.
L could smell Light on his clothes: his sage soap, his balsam shampoo. He could taste the faint mint of Light's mouth. Light's semen stained his shirt, his hand. The trace of Light's fingers still tingled on his penis. He's tainted me. He's lime; he's dissolving my walls, till all that's left of me is a beach-wide and empty, grains of sand pushed around by the tides.
But isn't this what I came to earth for?
L could close his eyes and see that face-like glass, deadly sharp and smooth as ice. Smooth, unlined, almost a child's.
I'm banging a teenager. He's so young. He's never learned that the world outwits us.
How much blood would they spill before he learned it? How many decades till his self-assurance fell into despair?
L caught a sob lurking in his throat. He checked it and went still and calm with the ease of childhood years spent studying never to show his weakness.
He could destroy his Death Note. But then Light would just revert to Misa; he'd kept her around for exactly that contingency. L could haul Misa back in, but he had to assume they had a plan for stashing her Death Note before her arrest. That meant there was a good 87 percent chance Light would get a hold of it...
L took a deep breath. He had the rest of today and all of Monday to figure out a new approach. Now, he was clammy, so he took a shower. But his thoughts refused to surrender to the warm rush of water.
He could turn Light in. The last few days, he'd recorded reams of incriminating material. Of course, Light had too, and Light would incriminate him right back. And if L weren't convicted as an accomplice, he'd minimally face entrapment charges-and then Light might go free, and L couldn't watch him.
But that wasn't the problem. The problem was...
L couldn't do it. He couldn't betray him... not that... not him.
They'd take him away and execute him. They'd kill him. I'd kill him.
Damp and clean, he put on his other pair of jeans and his second favorite shirt, the slightly grayer, slightly smaller one.
I'm as bad as he is. I'm worse than he is because I know it will never work.
Unless it did. Maybe? Maybe this headlong cliff jump would find them flying?
He jumped at a knock at his door.
He took a breath. "Yes? Who is it?"
"Asuka."
His heart went cold. "This is not a good time."
"I don't really give a damn. I need to talk to you."
He'd revoked her security clearance. But all she had to do was hypnotize someone into letting her in. In any case, best get it over. He opened the door.
She strode in past him. "You have to arrest him."
"I don't have enough evidence-"
"You're league with him, Ryuuzaki." Asuka-san paced the room. "Of course, you have the evidence."
There was nothing to do but deny-like Light. "I believe you're suffering under a misapprehension."
She stopped pacing. "Ryuuzaki, you know you can't let Kira go free. Kira, Ryuuzaki. He'll be dictator of the whole damn world." She put her hands on his shoulders; he didn't like it but tolerated it. "I understand you love him, but you have to do your duty. Look, if you can't bring yourself to arrest him, then kidnap him, lock him up in a cellar. Do whatever you have to. Just don't... don't immolate yourself on his altar."
Steel crept into his heart. "Asuka-san, I am not at liberty to discuss this case with you, and as you are no longer part of the case, I must ask you to leave."
"Don't."
"We have had this conversation before. Please consider this your final warning."
"Not like this."
He walked past her and opened the door.
For a moment, she stood still. Then, slowly she nodded. "Okay." She moved to the door. "Okay," she said with an air of resignation and went out. He closed the door behind her.
He heaved a sigh and crossed to his bed. If she came back to pester him once more...
Halfway through the thought, he realized his mistake.
He bolted to the door, but she was gone from the hall.
He dove for his cell phone: call security-no-she'd hypnotize them into setting her free. Call Light; get Light on guard...
No, it didn't matter how on guard he was; she was a possessor. She could fling his soul out of his body-as she'd threatened in Kyoto. And there wasn't thing Light could do.
But limits, limits. There were always limits. Think. She could only possess him close up-he hoped. And she wouldn't want to be seen in public.
He speed dialed Light. One ring... two...
He made for the closet where he'd hidden his Death Note.
"Hello?" came Light's voice.
"Where are you?"
"Just heading back from the dining room. What's wrong, Ryuuzaki?"
"Asuka-san is going to kill you."
"What? What makes you think--?"
"Never mind that." L groped behind the ironing board for Death Note. "Just go back to the dining room or the nearest room with lots of people." The ironing board banged his shoulder and toppled to the ground. He kicked it out of the way and seized his Death Note.
Light was asking something.
"Wait," said L.
He threw open the Death Note on his bed, had no pen, lunged for the one on his desk. Light was still babbling through the phone. "Just go to the dining room!" L commanded.
On the page he scribbled the old samurai's name:
Yasuda Nagahide
And below it, just in case:
Kobayashi Asuka
Kobayashi Saori
He heaved a sigh of relief.
In forty seconds, she'd be dead...
And that wouldn't stop her because she was a possessor. She'd just leave that body and hurl her soul against Light's.
How could a Shinigami stop a possessor's soul? There was no way. No power over anything but bodies.... But power to control the time of death. To buy time. Get Light away from her.
He scribbled instructions: she would leave the hotel at once, take the train back to her place of employment. At the train station, she would hail a taxi, stumble into the street and be fatally hit by a car. He scrawled in a plausible time frame. Slammed the book closed, an old Shinigami habit.
"Light?"
"Talk to me, Ryuuzaki! What the hell is going on?"
"Are you back in the dining room?"
"I just have to go to my room for a minute."
"What?!"
"Just for a minute."
That wasn't Light.
She wasn't planning to possess him. She'd hypnotized him... to go to his room alone... to kill himself... with a knife from the dining room.
L hung up on him and speed dialed security. No. He cancelled that call too and dialed for an emergency medical team to Light's room, barking instructions as he ran down the hall.
Elevator... four flights up would take more time than a flight of stairs. At the end of the hall, he took the stairs three at a time, sprinted to Light's room. The door, of course, was locked. Thank God he had enough foresight, at least, to keep master key cards in all his pants.
He swiped the card, flung back the door...
And saw nothing but blood on beige carpet. Beige. Beige of Light's pants. Light gurgling as blood streamed from his throat, flopping faintly, like a half-crushed bug. L fell to his side, gathered him up, tried to cover the gash with his hand-worse than futile. Light stared at him with terrified, child's eyes. When he moved his lips, blood streamed from his mouth like gutter in the rain.
Then other people were there with medical equipment, pulling him back. L could see them out of the corner of his eye, soft-edged blobs against the deep red dyeing the carpet.
Someone-Yagami-san-was there, yelling at him, something: who had done this?
That made enough sense for L to respond, "It was Asuka-san. She hypnotized him."
More yelling-yelling about police pursuit.
L sat and watched the blood turn darker on the carpet until the medics had gone. Someone spoke to him, but he didn't feel like speaking back. The person left. The blood went black. His hands were cold-cold red-black. The red and the black-revolutionary dreams of a better France. Dreams of transforming the world.
Someone came to ticker tape the room. He let himself be pulled into the hall. Someone-Mogi-was standing there telling him that Light had been pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. That seemed a singularly stupid thing to report since he'd obviously been as good as dead the moment his life spurted pomegranate bubbles on the carpet.
"Thank you, Mogi-san," he said and went back to his room, ignoring the bustle of people who called his name along the way.
Chapter 1 and intro. stuff
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7: Checkmate -- NC-17
[MoB]
"Are you finished with it?" asked Naoe as Nagahide dropped his backpack on the bedroom floor.
Nagahide shot him an exasperated glance. "I don't want to talk about it."
So he sidelined me, Naoe. What the hell makes it your business? It isn't news. It's nothing new. Nothing's new now, is it?
For a minute or two they said nothing. Nagahide gazed out the window of Naoe's room at the quiet green hillside. He always felt serene at the Tachibanas', at least a little closer to serene. Or was it Haruie who'd once described that way?
Naoe's mother broke the silence with a call of "Dinner!" She was over eighty but didn't sound a day over sixty-five. Nagahide kind of loved her because Naoe loved her-no-because she loved Naoe, and she'd seen him through those dark times after Minako. And she thought Nagahide was Naoe's girlfriend, which was cute. She made them all feel better.
***
For almost a week, they didn't talk about Kira-that is to say, Nagahide and Naoe didn't discuss Yagami and Ryuuzaki. The whole household, like every household, was discussing the Kira case: how the killings had stopped without explanation, without an arrest, how even the suspect under suspicion of being the Second Kira had been released.
Who were those two plotting to kill instead? Or had they already begun killing?
On the sixth evening, when they went to bed, Nagahide switched off the light and said, "I think I'll go back to the hotel tomorrow."
"Okay," came Naoe's voice in the dark. And after a moment: "Do you want me to come?"
"Best you don't."
"Okay."
Okay. Just like that. That's what one called giving each other space.
He heard Naoe sigh and turn onto his back. "We have no right to interfere."
"And that is the argument of a school teacher who says never scribble outside the margins."
"Nagahide-"
"It's ridiculous. They could kill anyone-in the world; you do realize that? Anyone with a name and face. And if you think they won't-" He stopped. "Never mind. I'm not going to fight with you about it."
"If you think it's easy for me-"
"I'm not going to fight with you."
They lay side by side in silence. Nagahide didn't like the way he saw the situation falling out. But he knew he wouldn't allow those two become the next Oda.
Ryuuzaki could kick him out as often as he liked. Nagahide still wouldn't let him sacrifice himself to that kid. He was too rare a creature. People were generally stupid, and generally, they could go to hell. But once in a while came a soul worth preserving. Nagahide lay still, miserable and stymied, aware of a rising lump in his throat and a frown pressing down on his mouth.
Naoe shifted closer and kissed his neck-not his lips, as he usually did. Nagahide was grateful; if he'd opened his mouth at that moment, tears would probably have slipped out. Naoe knew; he couldn't even see Nagahide in the dark, but he knew he couldn't kiss those hard-pressed lips.
His mouth was soft on Nagahide's throat. Nagahide pulled him close, relaxing into the comfort of this female body. He'd never been interested in being a woman, didn't intend to stay one for long. But in these early days, it made things easier for Naoe, easier for both of them.
Naoe loosened Nagahide's robe and pressed the left breast in that way that flashed currents up and down this body. Nagahide wrapped his legs around him, feeling their skin breathe together, like bittersweet old nights before battles when the moon silvered the clouds with... with that clarity... the clarity of endings.
They'd started having sex about five years after Kagetora's death, Nagahide still in a man's body. It had been awkward. Naoe didn't really go for men who weren't Kagetora. He'd had other men, of course, but mainly as Kagetora-training. And neither of them wanted Nagahide to be a manikin for Naoe's fantasies. Moreover, both wanted to be on top.
It was easier for Naoe with Nagahide as a woman-and, in a way, easier for Nagahide too. Things he just wouldn't do as a man were possible as a woman, things like sinking back in this bed and reveling at the feel of Naoe inside, at those broad hands warm on slender arms. Naoe's body was getting older, heavier; Nagahide enjoyed his weight.
Some people had a talent for painting or for logic or battles of wits. Naoe had a talent for sex in a way Nagahide had never had. Nagahide had reams of experience, of course, but experience couldn't impart that intuition that tuned Naoe to his partners' slightest moods and motions.
It was nice to receive all that on the night before the battle.
When they were finished and wrapped in each other's arms, Nagahide said, "You know I'm not ready to call it a day. You do know that, right?"
Naoe kissed his temple. "I wouldn't blame you if you did... when our friends have all moved on."
"Well, I'm not ready. It hasn't even been one lifetime since.... Since. I'm not done with my work here. Mind you, you're still an idiot for vowing to stick it out till, what, the end of time? You want to keep him alive; I understand that. But I can't imagine even the brat wanting to hang around that long."
Naoe made an ambiguous noise.
"Is he in his corner?" Nagahide asked. Once, he'd asked if he was having sex with just Naoe, or Kagetora too. Naoe told him what was left of Kagetora wasn't comfortable with it. (No kidding, Nagahide had thought.) "He retreats," Naoe had said. "It's as if he curls up in a corner till I've had what I need."
"He's with us," Naoe answered now.
"Is he telling you you're an idiot?"
A soft laugh. "He always tells me I'm an idiot. 'You idiot, Naoe!' he says." After a moment, he added, "He's telling you you're one too."
"Well, you tell him he's an idiot-tiger. And I'm not ready to call it a day." Not weak enough to leave you alone yet, Naoetora.
***
[DN]
"Will you cheer up!" said Light when they got to Light's room.
Ryuuzaki ignored him. Quickly, he set down his carton of ice-cream and scooped a heaping mass into a bowl.
"It's bizarre to watch you out there." Light plugged in his laptop and switched it on. "You're very good at playing dedicated detective on duty. I can almost believe you're still utterly engrossed by the Kira case. And, then, the second we're alone, I'm waiting for you to swallow the sleeping pills."
"It's not funny, Light." Ryuuzaki stowed the ice-cream carton in Light's mini-fridge and fished out the chocolate syrup.
Light crossed to him and pulled him by the arm to the computer. "I'm perfectly well aware it's not funny. Our timing is crucial, so I want us both to double check our subject's vacation plans."
Ryuuzaki sat by the computer next to Light and stared at his ice-cream. "Tuesday."
"Yeah, but let's double check it."
"All right, if you'd like to. But we'll have to do it Tuesday."
Quickly, Light ran through some of the data they'd mined on their first successor, reevaluating when he'd be best placed to step into the shoes of their first victim. Yes, it did look like Tuesday, day after tomorrow.
He'd known that, of course.... He just needed...
"You're not eating your ice-cream."
"I'm not very hungry."
Light blinked in feigned shock, then wondered if he ought to be genuinely worried. "Are you sick?"
Ryuuzaki set down his bowl. "No. I just don't need the energetic input. My mental faculties aren't being taxed."
For some reason, that struck Light as an insult. "They will be, once we get moving on this. We've made the first turn into the maze, that's all."
"Yes." Ryuuzaki rose and stuck his bowl in the fridge.
"Ryuuzaki." Light followed him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Cheer up. We're building a new age."
"We should stop."
"Ryuuzaki-"
"Before it's too late."
"For you, you mean." Light faced him and stared until Ryuuzaki stared back. "If you try to arrest me-"
"You're welcome to keep your recordings of me."
Light smirked. "Then, it is too late. You've made your choice." On impulse, he leaned in and kissed Ryuuzaki lightly. "So make it work with me." He kissed him again, and it was stupid... stupid to treat Ryuuzaki like Misa, as if he could just be kissed into submission. But it wasn't just for that. He wanted...
Don't back out on me now, not when you promised we'd do this together.
Ryuuzaki's expression was dull, but his lips responded.
That's right. Please, don't make me kill you.
"There's no letting go," whispered Light and kissed him harder-lost himself a bit, like when he was with a girl and didn't have to think till they were done having sex, so he'd shut off his brain and just let himself feel her, like any guy his age.
Though Ryuuzaki wasn't like those girls. He was... He wasn't like anything.
He was better. He was heat itself surging through Light's body.
Still kissing him, his jowl, his cheek, Light propelled him toward the bed, pushed him down onto the covers and climbed half on top of him. His heart hammered, a little voice inside him wondering, How gay is this? and Just how far do I want to go? Another part marveled, This is L. My Ryuuzaki is L, the L. And he's here with me. Of course, he is: who else could be? But mostly, Light just felt hard and ready.
Then, he pulled back to catch his breath and saw Ryuuzaki just sort of... there, his face a blank, eyes half closed. That bothered Light, who was accustomed the devouring stare.
Light's penis pushed taut in his pants against Ryuuzaki's thigh, but Ryuuzaki wasn't hard at all. A chill gripped Light, and his own arousal slackened.
Finally, Ryuuzaki looked at him. "What's your plan?"
The question was absurd... because it was Ryuuzaki's business to figure out Light's plans, not ask about them, because who said that to someone they were about to have sex with?
"Pinochle," said Light.
Ryuuzaki barely smiled. "I mean, what do you want to do?" Between their shirts, Light could feel Ryuuzaki's heart pound fast.
"I figured I'd play it by ear."
"That's not like you."
Light pulled back a little more. "You know, what I really want not to do is engage in badinage right now."
Ryuuzaki looked away again. "Sorry."
"Sorry?"
"Sorry." For a moment, his face contorted. "I'm just not..."
"What? Gay? Interested?" He peered hard into that face. "Is this your first time, Ryuuzaki? Or are you freaked because it's your first time with a man?" He thought a little further. "Or are you freaked because it isn't?"
Ryuuzaki passed a tired hand over his face.
Light swallowed. Girls were much easier. Anyone was easier. "Were you molested as a kid?" he asked in a harder voice than he'd intended.
"No," said Ryuuzaki. "I'm not traumatized; I'm just... bad at it."
Light studied him for a moment, absently caressing his shoulder, disdaining the pity that welled inside him. The idea of pitying Ryuuzaki galled him. "So have you ever done it? I mean, with either a man or a woman?"
Ryuuzaki reached up and ran long fingers through Light's hair. "Yeah... with a woman. Well, once."
Light smiled tightly. "Well, everyone's bad the first time, right?"
"Except you, right?"
"I was... not at the top of my form."
Ryuuzaki dropped his hand to Light's shoulder as if unsure what to do with it. "It's more than that for me though. I've just never had much of an interest."
"So you're saying you're not interested in me-that way."
Ryuuzaki hesitated. "I don't know what to say." He made a scramble to sit up, and Light let him, watched him lean against the pillows and pull his knees up.
Light propped himself on his elbow casually, head on his hand, feeling cold and hollow where Ryuuzaki no longer touched him. "If you're not interested, why are you here?" When Ryuuzaki made no reply, he added, "Because if you're trying to seduce me, you need to work on your moves."
He expected some acknowledgement of the joke, but Ryuuzaki ignored him. He just sat still, hands on his knees, gazing into the middle distance. "Sometimes I want sex," he said after a time. "But I can't make myself want it. It's... It was like that with my girlfriend."
Light smiled in spite of himself. The idea of Ryuuzaki having a girlfriend...
Ryuuzaki sank back a little further into the pillows. "She-Sarah-she was hurt because I wasn't really attracted to her."
"Then why were you dating her?"
"A colleague set us up, and I thought, 'Why not?' I thought things were going pretty well. We always kissed goodnight. She was a bit boring, but so was work at the time. We talked a lot about Linux."
"Sounds romantic as hell."
"But one night-" He gave a funny smile. "One night, we were playing go, and she burst into tears and said she didn't understand why I found her unattractive and that I treated her exactly like her ex-boyfriend, who, I guess, she found insensitive."
"Welcome to the world of women."
"That conversation ended with us going to bed. And that-" Ryuuzaki broke into a long, low chuckle. It wrinkled up his whole face, made him look years older. It struck Light that he'd never seen Ryuuzaki really laugh. He laughed a long time. "That led to a longer conversation, in which I tried to explain that it wasn't her fault that I couldn't get it up-not entirely unlike the conversation we're having now, is it?" He chuckled again.
Without thinking much, Light sat up and put an arm around him. He'd held someone like that before, a long time ago... When? Sayu, about four years ago, when she'd had a fight with her best friend. "But you did sleep with her?"
"We went to sleep finally-when she finally stopped crying."
"Yeah, seems like there's always crying sooner or later."
"But around-oh, 3:20 in the morning, I think-we woke up. We were kind of groggy, and we did it."
Light waited for details, but none were forthcoming. "That's it?"
Ryuuzaki settled back against him. "No, it got worse. Three minutes after we finished, she bolted up in bed and said-she said-" He went on in that British English of his: "'Fucking hell! We forgot the fucking the condom!'"
Light guffawed; he couldn't help it.
Even Ryuuzaki smiled a little. "You never forget the condom, do you, Light?"
Light refrained from saying he had a box stashed in nightstand.
Ryuuzaki gave a little, disappointed sigh. "Well, she dashed into the bathroom, and I could hear her banging around for a long time. When she came out, you know what I said?"
"Uh, that you'd pay child support but you had no intention of marrying her?"
"I said, 'Can you get the day-after pill on the NHS?'"
"National Health...?"
"Service. That was the wrong thing to say, wasn't it?"
Light wrapped an arm around Ryuuzaki's ribs. "Just a little."
"She said she'd like me to leave... she said, no offense, but she'd like me to leave."
"So did she get pregnant?" The answer was pretty obvious, but it was fun to ask.
"No, she got the day-after pill." His hand slipped absently to Light's thigh. "She missed work the next day, and the day after, she came in looking pretty haggard. It has side effects, you know. I think they hit her kind of hard. She told me she thought we didn't fit, is how she put it. Which is was obviously true, of course." He lapsed into silence.
"Ryuuzaki, please don't take this the wrong way: your story is very funny."
"Only sometimes."
Ryuuzaki's hand resting on his thigh was making him hot again. "So do we fit?" he asked softly.
"You know the answer to that."
Light kissed his cheek and, when Ryuuzaki turned to him, his mouth. "You don't have to perform for me. Well, not sexually."
"Okay." Ryuuzaki pressed a hand to Light's face and kissed his neck.
Light pressed against him. "That's nice. Can we just go with it?"
Ryuuzaki went on kissing him. His hair tickled Light's cheek. He smelled like generic soap and sweat; the scent of his skin permeated his shirt-of course, he wore his clothes to death between washings. Light smiled; the idea of him made Light smile. He kissed his shoulder, by the neck of his shirt, felt Ryuuzaki's arms tighten around him, muscles like iron, like an athlete.
Light clamped himself against that body, pushing him back against the bed again. Quickly, he unzipped his pants and groped for one of Ryuuzaki's hands. "Touch me?"
Ryuuzaki let Light guide his hand, grasped his erection, awkwardly-it pulled uncomfortably. For a few moments, they fumbled to rearrange his fingers; then, Light sank contently into the rhythm of Ryuuzaki stroking him with a broad hand, fingers thicker than his own. His thighs pressed hard against Ryuuzaki's.
A little, immeasurable time went by, counted out only by panting breaths and the thrusts of their hips, and Light realized with a start that he could feel Ryuuzaki hard against his belly. It was... embarrassing to arouse another man. At the same time, he'd wanted this: for Ryuuzaki to need him.
He lifted his head to watch Ryuuzaki's face, flushed and round, lips parted. His eyes met Light's for a moment. Then, he closed them, frowning in concentration; he looked like a baby, unconscious of the play of its own expressions. He looked a bit ridiculous-Light enjoyed that.
He shifted his weight to free a hand and found the button of Ryuuzaki's jeans. Since they fastened the same way as women's jeans, it was no trick for Light to undo them. A bit trickier to find the right grip to make Ryuuzaki heave against Light's palm. They smashed against each other in conflicting rhythms, then slowly settled into sync.
But Light was already nearly there and felt himself moving faster and faster. He ached and writhed. Then, the rest of the world went away, and he came with a long, wrenching growl.
At once, he returned to himself, eyes locked on Ryuuzaki shuddering beneath him, in his power. His mind flashed to those moments before Asuka had hurled Ryuuzaki's soul back into his dead body, those moments when he'd lain dying in Light's arms. It was like that but less bitter... and less triumphant too.
For another ten minutes, Ryuuzaki thrashed against Light, face red and eyes tight closed as if in a delirium. After a while, the glow of his power palled for Light, and he felt almost sorry for him. He's lost when this takes hold of him. No wonder he doesn't like sex. At last, he thrust deeply and came-in absolute silence; it seemed he even held his breath.
He pushed away from Light at once. They zipped up their pants and lay, side-by-side, a little apart. Light wanted a shower and a change of clothes, but he wanted to stay beside Ryuuzaki more.
"You're very quiet," he said after a moment. He almost added, During sex, I mean, not now, but decided it would sound too stilted.
"You do it quietly in an orphanage," said Ryuuzaki, taking his meaning.
Vexed at their sudden distance, Light leaned over him and brushed his fingers through his hair. Ryuuzaki didn't move. A beam of westering sunlight colored his cheek with gold.
"That was nice," said Light, hoping it was true. "You can't say that wasn't nice."
Ryuuzaki looked at him with something akin to that resentful "you made Rem kill Watari" expression. But the hand he lifted to Light's face was gentle, if unpleasantly cold and damp with semen.
Light kissed his lips. "Do you want to shower with me?"
"I have some work I have to do."
"That's bullshit," Light whispered to his forehead. "It's not even inventive bullshit. But I understand." If he were Ryuuzaki, he'd want time alone now too.
Ryuuzaki nodded and sat up. He opened the drawer of the nightstand, fished for a moment, and tossed the box of condoms onto Light's lap. With parting glance, he went out.
***
In the hall, L ran into Matsuda, who asked him something about something. All L could think was I smell like sex. Please, God, let him be too stupid to notice. Apparently, Matsuda was: he just nodded in response to whatever L had managed to say in response and went on his way with cheery wave.
L walked quickly to his room, shut the door behind him, and leaned against it till it chilled it back. His was slightly dizzy from walking around just after an orgasm when all his body wanted to do was curl up and sleep.
He felt emotionally bruised. A lump rose in his throat.
I can't believe I told him those things. He's going to use them against me. Every weakness I show he's taking down in his mind.
He thought of his Death Note in this room safely hidden, of the man he'd already killed with it-that man had been sentenced to die. But now it was Sunday, and Tuesday they'd start the real killing. Could there be a way out between now and then? He had all of Monday to talk to Light, to convince him to make better use of his talents. But the Death Note had deafened Light to mundane reason.
And perhaps Light was right, perhaps he was born to be the leader. Perhaps L's cowardice alone impeded their work.
L saw two people when he looked in the mirror: the human face and the Shinigami, skeletal under the surface. His Shinigami self had been so young, so self-righteous. So much like Light. So desperate to heal this world that he'd consigned himself to this human prison. Now, he'd be too craven to see it through.
The other part of him knew it had nothing to do with cowardice. Light was a fool, a megalomaniac.
I'm having sex with a megalomaniac.
L could smell Light on his clothes: his sage soap, his balsam shampoo. He could taste the faint mint of Light's mouth. Light's semen stained his shirt, his hand. The trace of Light's fingers still tingled on his penis. He's tainted me. He's lime; he's dissolving my walls, till all that's left of me is a beach-wide and empty, grains of sand pushed around by the tides.
But isn't this what I came to earth for?
L could close his eyes and see that face-like glass, deadly sharp and smooth as ice. Smooth, unlined, almost a child's.
I'm banging a teenager. He's so young. He's never learned that the world outwits us.
How much blood would they spill before he learned it? How many decades till his self-assurance fell into despair?
L caught a sob lurking in his throat. He checked it and went still and calm with the ease of childhood years spent studying never to show his weakness.
He could destroy his Death Note. But then Light would just revert to Misa; he'd kept her around for exactly that contingency. L could haul Misa back in, but he had to assume they had a plan for stashing her Death Note before her arrest. That meant there was a good 87 percent chance Light would get a hold of it...
L took a deep breath. He had the rest of today and all of Monday to figure out a new approach. Now, he was clammy, so he took a shower. But his thoughts refused to surrender to the warm rush of water.
He could turn Light in. The last few days, he'd recorded reams of incriminating material. Of course, Light had too, and Light would incriminate him right back. And if L weren't convicted as an accomplice, he'd minimally face entrapment charges-and then Light might go free, and L couldn't watch him.
But that wasn't the problem. The problem was...
L couldn't do it. He couldn't betray him... not that... not him.
They'd take him away and execute him. They'd kill him. I'd kill him.
Damp and clean, he put on his other pair of jeans and his second favorite shirt, the slightly grayer, slightly smaller one.
I'm as bad as he is. I'm worse than he is because I know it will never work.
Unless it did. Maybe? Maybe this headlong cliff jump would find them flying?
He jumped at a knock at his door.
He took a breath. "Yes? Who is it?"
"Asuka."
His heart went cold. "This is not a good time."
"I don't really give a damn. I need to talk to you."
He'd revoked her security clearance. But all she had to do was hypnotize someone into letting her in. In any case, best get it over. He opened the door.
She strode in past him. "You have to arrest him."
"I don't have enough evidence-"
"You're league with him, Ryuuzaki." Asuka-san paced the room. "Of course, you have the evidence."
There was nothing to do but deny-like Light. "I believe you're suffering under a misapprehension."
She stopped pacing. "Ryuuzaki, you know you can't let Kira go free. Kira, Ryuuzaki. He'll be dictator of the whole damn world." She put her hands on his shoulders; he didn't like it but tolerated it. "I understand you love him, but you have to do your duty. Look, if you can't bring yourself to arrest him, then kidnap him, lock him up in a cellar. Do whatever you have to. Just don't... don't immolate yourself on his altar."
Steel crept into his heart. "Asuka-san, I am not at liberty to discuss this case with you, and as you are no longer part of the case, I must ask you to leave."
"Don't."
"We have had this conversation before. Please consider this your final warning."
"Not like this."
He walked past her and opened the door.
For a moment, she stood still. Then, slowly she nodded. "Okay." She moved to the door. "Okay," she said with an air of resignation and went out. He closed the door behind her.
He heaved a sigh and crossed to his bed. If she came back to pester him once more...
Halfway through the thought, he realized his mistake.
He bolted to the door, but she was gone from the hall.
He dove for his cell phone: call security-no-she'd hypnotize them into setting her free. Call Light; get Light on guard...
No, it didn't matter how on guard he was; she was a possessor. She could fling his soul out of his body-as she'd threatened in Kyoto. And there wasn't thing Light could do.
But limits, limits. There were always limits. Think. She could only possess him close up-he hoped. And she wouldn't want to be seen in public.
He speed dialed Light. One ring... two...
He made for the closet where he'd hidden his Death Note.
"Hello?" came Light's voice.
"Where are you?"
"Just heading back from the dining room. What's wrong, Ryuuzaki?"
"Asuka-san is going to kill you."
"What? What makes you think--?"
"Never mind that." L groped behind the ironing board for Death Note. "Just go back to the dining room or the nearest room with lots of people." The ironing board banged his shoulder and toppled to the ground. He kicked it out of the way and seized his Death Note.
Light was asking something.
"Wait," said L.
He threw open the Death Note on his bed, had no pen, lunged for the one on his desk. Light was still babbling through the phone. "Just go to the dining room!" L commanded.
On the page he scribbled the old samurai's name:
Yasuda Nagahide
And below it, just in case:
Kobayashi Asuka
Kobayashi Saori
He heaved a sigh of relief.
In forty seconds, she'd be dead...
And that wouldn't stop her because she was a possessor. She'd just leave that body and hurl her soul against Light's.
How could a Shinigami stop a possessor's soul? There was no way. No power over anything but bodies.... But power to control the time of death. To buy time. Get Light away from her.
He scribbled instructions: she would leave the hotel at once, take the train back to her place of employment. At the train station, she would hail a taxi, stumble into the street and be fatally hit by a car. He scrawled in a plausible time frame. Slammed the book closed, an old Shinigami habit.
"Light?"
"Talk to me, Ryuuzaki! What the hell is going on?"
"Are you back in the dining room?"
"I just have to go to my room for a minute."
"What?!"
"Just for a minute."
That wasn't Light.
She wasn't planning to possess him. She'd hypnotized him... to go to his room alone... to kill himself... with a knife from the dining room.
L hung up on him and speed dialed security. No. He cancelled that call too and dialed for an emergency medical team to Light's room, barking instructions as he ran down the hall.
Elevator... four flights up would take more time than a flight of stairs. At the end of the hall, he took the stairs three at a time, sprinted to Light's room. The door, of course, was locked. Thank God he had enough foresight, at least, to keep master key cards in all his pants.
He swiped the card, flung back the door...
And saw nothing but blood on beige carpet. Beige. Beige of Light's pants. Light gurgling as blood streamed from his throat, flopping faintly, like a half-crushed bug. L fell to his side, gathered him up, tried to cover the gash with his hand-worse than futile. Light stared at him with terrified, child's eyes. When he moved his lips, blood streamed from his mouth like gutter in the rain.
Then other people were there with medical equipment, pulling him back. L could see them out of the corner of his eye, soft-edged blobs against the deep red dyeing the carpet.
Someone-Yagami-san-was there, yelling at him, something: who had done this?
That made enough sense for L to respond, "It was Asuka-san. She hypnotized him."
More yelling-yelling about police pursuit.
L sat and watched the blood turn darker on the carpet until the medics had gone. Someone spoke to him, but he didn't feel like speaking back. The person left. The blood went black. His hands were cold-cold red-black. The red and the black-revolutionary dreams of a better France. Dreams of transforming the world.
Someone came to ticker tape the room. He let himself be pulled into the hall. Someone-Mogi-was standing there telling him that Light had been pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. That seemed a singularly stupid thing to report since he'd obviously been as good as dead the moment his life spurted pomegranate bubbles on the carpet.
"Thank you, Mogi-san," he said and went back to his room, ignoring the bustle of people who called his name along the way.