KIRA L - Ch 2

     L was sitting in the garden sipping on a cup of overly-sugared tea. This was nothing out of the usual. He was sad, however. It had been several weeks since he had given up the Death Note, stopping the mass murders, and announced to the world that the world was safe – but people were still jumpy, still fearful that at any moment, KIRA would strike, and the world would be plunged back into chaos. And so today he just sat in the white wicker chair in the garden, surrounded by finery and flowers sipping on his overly-sugared tea.
     [What was I ever thinking, letting that Shinigami trick me?] L thought to himself. [This is exactly what he wanted – chaos …Well you got it, Ryuk… you got what you wanted… I hope that was amusing enough for you…]
     Sound of steps quickly approaching caught his ear, and Watari entered the garden, flustered to say the least, a most worrisome look on his face as he stared his young pupil in the eyes. “L, you had better come quick. You’re not going to like this…”

     A large television screen blazed with the picture of the anchorwoman as she read aloud, “The deaths of over one hundred prisoners, all by heart attack, have police and authorities worldwide concerned. Is this truly the return of KIRA?”
     L grit his teeth, cursing under his breath… “Damn… damn! Damn that Shinigami!”
     “It’s obvious he has an endless supply of Death Notes,” Watari remarked.
     “He wasn’t even supposed to drop the first one. He told me that there would be a punishment for it, which means that there must be some sort of ruling Shinigami over him. I wish there was only a way to contact that ruler and have it put a stop to this… this madness…”
     “Normally I would say an idea like that sounds absurd, but given the circumstances, it’s not a bad idea. But how would we contact the Shinigami World? Ryuk is our only known connection.”
     “Yes, and I’m not sure if any human claiming to be a psychic is truly such… Put a request out for any and all people who strongly believe they can contact the spirit world.” A close up of L’s eyes reveal that deep within them is a burning determination, “In the meantime, I will find this KIRA, and put a stop to him.”

     The world’s governments convened, sending detectives and diplomats to discuss the current outbreak of deaths. From Japan came a detective by the name of Yagami, with him a sprightly young man named Matsuda. The politicians debated and argued amongst themselves about the righteousness or evilness of KIRA and what should be done to stop him, if anything.
     But that’s when a mysterious man in a trench coat came into the room. “If you want this case solved, you’re going to need L.” All heads turned to look at him, whispers raising from the crowd as the man slowly walked in, carrying a briefcase. He turned to them. “L has been investigating this case for some days now.”
     “W-Watari!” somebody in the crowd gasped.
     Matsuda looked to his chief, “Watari?”
     Yagami looked to his partner, “Watari is the only person who can contact L, but nobody knows who HE really is either.”
     “Silence please,” Watari announced. “You will now hear L speak.” Watari, with his hat shadowing out his face, picked up a laptop out of the case, setting it on the table. He opened it up, the large screen behind Watari being overtaken by the black and white logo.
     “People of the ICPO,” the mechanical voice called out. “I am L.”
     Amazed little murmurs rose from the audience.
     “The case before us is unprecedented in scope and difficulty. It is also a monstrous crime of mass murder and must be stopped at all costs. In order to solve it, I request the full cooperation of police worldwide, with a resolution passed to the effect at the Interpol meeting today. And, I strongly request the cooperation of the Japanese police in particular.”
     Yagami and Matsuda both quickly stand in surprise. “But,” Detective Yagami asked, “Why Japan?”
     “Why Japan?” L posed. “I’ll be able to show you why very soon, in a direct confrontation with the killer.”
     Yagami seemed intrigued, confused, and a bit angry all at the same time: “A direct confrontation?”

     Ryuk hung upside from a ceiling, looking at the new killer before him – not even a man, just a boy, a high school boy, who was too smart for his own good.
     “Well Light,” the Shinigami asked the boy. “How’s it feel to be the new KIRA?”
     “Very interesting,” Light said as he sat at his desk facing Ryuk, the Death Note before him. “But unlike the last KIRA, I will not be caught. Whoever he was, he made all the deaths too sudden and scared everybody into a panic. I’ll admit, for a while there, even I was afraid for my own skin… until L stopped him.”
     Ryuk chuckled, “Yes, L certainly did put a stop to it, didn’t he?”
     Light turned his chair front to the desk, the television in his room murmuring the reports of KIRA. “But I won’t be stopped,” Light said, a red shine to his eyes. “I’ll do it slowly, and kill criminals randomly across the world, that way people won’t panic… but they’ll all know that KIRA is watching…”
     Ryuk’s eyes were glazed red as he smiled, thinking to himself, [Humans are so interesting…]
     But then suddenly the TV went to snow, the horrible hiss following. Light looked over.
     “Huh? Hey, what happened?”
     And then suddenly the TV came back to a picture of a man, with black hair, sitting at a news desk, a plaque of his name, Lind L. Tailor, sitting in front of him.
     “Greetings KIRA,” the man said. “I am L.”
     “What?!” Light said in surprise, standing. “L?!”
     Ryuk laughed greatly.
     “I am making this worldwide broadcast in an effort to send a message to you. You WILL be stopped KIRA. I defeated the first KIRA. YOU will be no different.”
     Light grit his teeth.
     “You are a menace to society. You are nothing more than a murderer with powers beyond his comprehension. And,” the man said. “You are evil!”
     Light’s eye’s widened with anger.
     “You will be brought to justice, KIRA. Because, I AM JUSTICE.”
     Light sat back down at his desk, flipping open the Death Note. “So, you think you’re justice, do you?” He pulled out his pen, lifting it high. “Well you’re wrong! I am the god of this new world, and that means I AM JUSTICE!” He swiped the pen across the paper, writing the man’s name as it says on the plaque in front of him, keeping his face in mind. And then Light turned to the television, watching the man still talk, until suddenly, the man clasped his chest, screaming, and then flopped dead onto the desk, people rushing in to help him.
     Light laughed, almost maniacally. “I did it! I defeated L! The world’s greatest detective is no more.”
     Ryuk smiled that devil’s smile of his.
     When suddenly, the screen cut to a black and white logo – of an L.
     A mechanical voice called out.
     “Congratulation KIRA.”
     Light stopped. “What? …”
     “You’ve just proven to me where you are.”
     “What?!”
     “When we said this was a worldwide broadcast, we lied. I now know that you are in Japan – the Kanto region, specifically.”
     Light’s eyes widen, his adrenaline rushing with fear.
     “The man you killed was a convict on death row, scheduled to die today – so you can clear your conscience of having killed an innocent man. But wait, you didn’t know he WAS a criminal, did you? Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! And all this time I thought criminals were your only targets. It seems that you will kill anyone who gets in your way. That’s not very righteous of you, is it?”
     Light stands up, pushing his chair back, yelling, “Who does he think he is?!”
     “Well I am challenging you KIRA! I am standing in your way! So go on! Kill me!”
     “What?!”
     Ryuk broke out into a wild laughter, as if this whole drama were nothing more than a comedy to him.
     The taunting mechanical voice rang out: “Come on KIRA! You’re so powerful. Kill me!” A long silence passed, as if somehow the two men could deathstare each other through the television.
     “…You can’t kill me, can you?” L said. “You can’t stop me, KIRA. But I can stop you. Because…”
     Light braced himself for the next sentence
     “I AM JUSTICE.”
     And then the TV went to white snow, the fuzzing buzz forcing Light to turn the television off.
     “So Light,” Ryuk with shining red eyes asked the human, “What are you going to do now?”
     A close up of Light’s eyes reveal that deep within them is a burning determination, “I will find this L, and I will destroy him!”

     And so the chase was on, L trailing KIRA, and KIRA continuing his killings, leaving taunting clues for L to follow. A series of supposed suicides left a trail of notes, the tops lines put together to form the sentence, “L, did you know Shinigami love apples?”
     L grit his teeth, “I wish I had never known that.”
     His cell phone rang, and he picked it up, holding it in his peculiar manner
     “Yes Watari?”
     “We’re ready,” Watari said on the other end.
     “Good,” L said, making his way to his computer and microphone.

     On the other end of the line, Watari opened the laptop for all of the police on the Task Force to see. Detective Yagami, the head chief on the KIRA case, waited intently for L to speak.
     “Let’s begin, shall we?” The chief said.
     “Very well,” the mechanical voice called, as if L were nothing more than a highly advanced computer program.
     The projection screens in the room filled with information as L spoke. “We know that all KIRA needs to kill someone is a name and a face. He can also manipulate an individual’s action leading up to their death. All that’s left to figure out is who KIRA is.”
     “What are our leads?” Watari asked.
     Yagami stood, scanning over his report, “All major crime syndicates in the Kanto region are under surveillance, but so far the only talk of KIRA has been fearful. The Pathology and Biowarfare Departments of the government are running tests on any victims they can get their hands on, but so far no viral pattern has emerged.” Yagami takes off his glasses to rests his eyes for a moment. “I hate to say it, L, but this is a case without any suspects.”
     “I have a suspect,” L says, and all of the police officers move forward in their seats. A picture of what looks like a schedule or an itinerary comes onto the screen. “This is a recording of the average times that KIRA strikes, categorized into day of the week and time of the day.”
     “Hey,” one of the detectives says, “It looks like he’s practically killing at the same time everyday.”
     “Yeah,” another one says. “Except for weekends it looks like. Then it seems more random.”
     “Which means our perpetrator has a normal life to attend to,” Yagami says. “Killing isn’t the only thing on his mind.”
     “I propose it is a student. The schedule followed would be correct. Also it is somebody smart, and idealistic. He only kills criminals – minus what happened during our broadcast.”
     “Wait,” Matsuda asks. “When you say student, how old are we talking here? Do you mean this could be just a kid?”
     “No – older than a child, but younger than an adult. A teenager perhaps. Because as we all know, when we get to be teenagers, we’re legally insane.”
     “What do you mean by that?” Yagami asks.
     “Once someone hits puberty, the chemicals in the brain begin to change and neuropathways transformed. The human brain isn’t fully developed until the age of 25. And so with such great chemical imbalances, it can be said that all teenagers are legally insane.”
     Matsuda giggles at the humor behind the science, but a glance from Yagami silences him.
     “All right,” Yagami says, looking back to the laptop, “So it can be anyone from a middle to high school student.”
     “High school?” Matsuda asks, looking back at the killing schedule on the screen. “Hey, isn’t that Light’s class schedule?”
     “Matsuda!” Yagami yells at his partner, Matsuda quickly covering his mouth, realizing what a stupid thing he’s said out of sheer innocent curiosity.
     “Light?” L asks.
     Yagami grumbles reluctantly. “…My son.”
     “Your son. Hmm, that would explain a lot.”
     “What do you mean?”
     “I’ve also noticed that KIRA seems to have intimate knowledge of police records, and everything we know, he seems to know. You wouldn’t happen to have access to police records at home, would you?”
     Yagami grumbles again, not wanting to bring his son into this mess. “We all do. Everyone on the Task Force can access files at home.”
     “I see. I’ll need a list of names of everyone on the Task Force who has teenagers in their family, and those teenagers put under surveillance.”
     “WHAT?!” One of the detectives stands angrily. “You mean you want us to spy on our own families?! That’s insane!”
     Lots of angry clamor rises from the group, and Yagami raises a hand to settle them down. He sighs. “The only way to prove our family members’ innocence is to investigate them. But I have to admit L, the investigations would be slanted if we were the ones doing surveillance.”
     “Very well then,” L responds. “This will require help from someone outside Japan. Until then, don’t let anyone know about what has been said here tonight.”
     Yagami narrowed his eyes angrily, knowing that he would have to keep such a secret from his family.

     And so, houses were fixed with cameras, by FBI agents from America, so that not even the Task Force members would know where the cameras were. It was difficult walking around one’s own house being so paranoid, wondering where the mechanical eyes were watching from.
     
     L and Watari were in their underground lair, watching, waiting to see if anyone of these people would pull out a Death Note.
     “We’ve got some movement at the Yagami household,” Watari said, L scooting over in his rolling chair, looking at the screen.
     A teenage boy, tall and of brown hair, came walking through the front door with his backpack slung across his shoulder. He greeted his mother, she fiddling around in the kitchen. The boy reached for the fruit basket on the bar and took something with him.
     “What does he have?” L asked.
     “I can’t tell,” said Watari. “It’s too far away and too fuzzy.”
     The boy walked up the stairs, and then suddenly stopped when he got to the door of his room.
     “Why is he hesitating?” asked Watari.
     L stared as he chewed on his thumbnail, “…He knows we’ve been there. Look at the way he’s checking his door – like an animal who knows someone’s been in its den. This may make it more difficult. He won’t act normally if he knows someone’s watching…”
     Watari looked back at the screen. “…I’m curious L. In addition to the Death Note, shouldn’t we be able to see Ryuk?”
     “Hmm, I’ve been wondering that myself,” L said as he wiggled his toes. “Cameras are imperfect in comparison to the human eye. And not having a physical body, the light does not bounce off Ryuk, hence there is nothing for the camera to pick up… but you never know…”
     And they waited patiently, to see if something, anything would happen…

     “Hey Light!” Ryuk called loudly. “Why don’t you answer me? I know you hear me.”
     Light scribbled in his homework book on a piece of looseleaf, and then moved it aside.
     BE QUIET. WE’RE BEING WATCHED
     Ryuk looked at the paper and cocked his head to the side. “Whaddaya mean we’re being watched? There’s nobody here. Now give me that apple!” Ryuk reached for it, but Light swiped it up and took a big bite out of it! “Hey!!!”
     Light wrote on the paper again: YOU CAN’T HAVE IT. IF THEY SEE A FLOATING APPLE, THEY’LL KNOW SOMETHING’S UP
     “Then throw it out the window Mr. Paranoid. I’ll eat it outside!”
     THERE MIGHT BE CAMERAS THERE TOO
     Ryuk growled, “Damn it!” He hovered next to Light, smiling. “Well then, what does this mean for your Death Note? I supposed you can’t write in it with someone watching, can you?”
     NO
     Ryuk laughed. “Well you’re so smart. I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

     As the days passed, surveillance continued, with nothing sticking out at them. L sent the FBI agents to tag along behind the suspects, a one Mr. Ray Pember in charge of trailing Light.

     One night walking home, Light was stopped when Ryuk, flying next to him, whispered, “You’re being followed by another human.”
     Light stopped, frightened.
     “You’re not very observant. He’s been following you all day.”

     As can be imagined, Ray Pember is found dead – from a sudden heart attack no less – as well as the other FBI agents who came to Japan – even Pember’s fiancée was found to have died.
     L angrily drew a sugar cube across the table as if it were chalk, a burning hatred in him.
     [Damn that Shinigami! DAMN that Shinigami! I bet he’s clueing KIRA into how I work. Ryuk already knows my name and my face. If KIRA really wants me dead, he might just hand Ryuk an apple and make it happen! Damn!]
     “L,” Watari said as he came into the room.
     “Not now, Watari! I’m sulking!”
     Watari halfway smiled at L’s childishness. “I’ve been thinking about the deaths of the FBI agents.”
     “I have too! What else is there to think about?”
     “Of all the deaths, there is one in there that caught my attention.”
     L looked to his teacher.
     “Ray Pember’s fiancée committed suicide, but not before she had gone to Task Force Headquarters requesting to speak with someone.”
     “Who’d she speak to?”
     “No one. That was the day you had the remaining Task Force members meet with you at the hotel.”
     “What information did she have?”
     “The man at the police station said it had to do with the KIRA case.”
     “What happened after that?”
     “She left with someone – Light Yagami.”
     L’s eyes widened.
     “After that, she committed suicide. Of course nobody linked it to Light. They all assumed it was because her fiancée was dead.”
     “But we know better, don’t we Watari? Light was being trailed by Pember. Pember ends up dead. Pember’s fiancée meets Light. She ends up dead. Coincidence? I think not.”
     “I’m starting to think more and more that it might be Light Yagami.”
     “Me too,” L said as he began slowly spinning around in his chair, thinking. “He’s incredibly intelligent, so say his test scores and high school rank… his father is the chief of the Task Force, meaning of all the files he could access, he could open the most top secret…” The room spun round and round L, his mind an equal whirl of thoughts. He stuck out his foot, hitting the desk to stop himself, and he stared intently at the surveillance screen before him. “But we’re lacking the most important clue of all…” He glared at the image of Light on the screen, the boy doing homework at his desk. “The Death Note…”
     Watari nodded. “I haven’t seen Ryuk with any of the suspects, not even Light.”
     L suddenly stood up. “That’s it! We can’t see Ryuk through the cameras!”
     “Yes, I thought we discussed that already.”
     “It’s so obvious! We should have done it from the beginning!”
     “Done what?”

     Light was walking through the park one day, quite happy with himself, Ryuk hovering over his shoulder. Mothers were playing with their children, pushing them on the swing set. Ice cream men passed out their frozen treats with joy. One woman walked her dog, the little mop stopping to look at a band of construction men as they moved in and out of a manhole, doing their work. [Look at it. Everyone is so happy] he thought to himself with a self-righteous smile. [They can walk freely without fear. There are no criminals hiding around the corner waiting to attack them. This is the world I want…] He narrowed his eyes in thought. [But still… there are those who would oppose me] he grew angry [Why would they want to let criminals still exist?]
     He thought back to the television broadcast, the criminal staring him in the face, saying “You are evil!”
     He grew even angrier: [I am not the evil one! Anyone who lets criminals run free are the evil ones!]
     “Hello… KIRA.”
     Light stopped in his tracks, chills tingling throughout his entire body. He sensed a presence behind him.
     “Do not turn around, or I can guarantee you will die. And tell that Shinigami of yours not to try anything funny. That’s right. I can see Ryuk.”
     Light was breathing quickly, his heart pounding, his eyes quivering, but he tried not to let his voice shake. “Who are you?”
     The man’s voice rang loud and clear in Light’s ears: “I am KIRA.”
     Light’s heart stopped. “KIRA?! Y-you mean the original KIRA?!”
     “Do not make a scene. We wouldn’t want to draw attention to ourselves, now would we Junior KIRA?”
     Light never moved his head, but he talked telepathically to Ryuk (having used the Death Note so long, he created quite the psychic connection to the demon): “Ryuk! You never told me the first KIRA was still alive!”
     Ryuk chuckled in his mind, responding telepathically as well: “You never asked.”
     “Now then,” KIRA said to Light. “If you’d be so kind as to hand over the Death Note, and we can leave all of this behind.”
     “Why,” Light lowly said. “Why do you want it?”
     “Because it’s not yours to have. You have no right to kill people.”
     “And you do?” Light questioned, never turning to face his persecutor. “What makes you so different from me?”
     “I was wrong, Light Yagami. I stopped killing people. And you need to stop killing too!”
     Light smirked. “Why should I? I’m not afraid like you are. L may have stopped you, but he won’t stop me.”
     The man narrowed his eyes, the hood of his jacket covering most of his face.
     “Or maybe you’re not afraid to kill again. Maybe you just want the Death Note so you can resume being KIRA.”
     “No! That’s not it at all!”
     “You’re mad that someone else has taken your place – someone who’s better at it.”
     Even though Light wasn’t looking at him, he knew that he was making the man mad.
     “And besides,” Light said to him. “It’s not like you have a Death Note.”
     The man’s guard was down for a moment
     “If you did, you could have killed me already if you’re so intent on stopping me. You already know my name. You’ve already seen my face. So what are you waiting for? Go on! Kill me!”
     The man clenched his fist, and when Ryuk laughed, he shot deathstares at the devil.
     “Shut up, Ryuk!”
     Ryuk continued to laugh regardless
     Light continued his taunts. “Come on KIRA! You’re so powerful. Kill me!” A long silence passed between the two of them “…You can’t kill me, can you?”
     “I already told you, I’ve given up killing.”
     “In other words you mean you don’t have the power to.”
     “Oh I have the power to.” And the man raised his hand and snapped his fingers. In about two milliseconds, cops with guns surrounded Light.

     Not too far away in a police surveillance van, Light’s father watched in horror. “No! Don’t shoot!”
     Matsuda held onto his headsets as if his head were going to fly away – “Oh my god! Get out of there, Light!”

     In his surprise, Light did in fact turn around to see the fact that he was surrounded. And now he saw the face of KIRA – black hair, huge black pupils of eyes that look like they haven’t slept in years, and an unchanging, unfriendly stare.
     Ryuk chuckled in his mind, [Oh L, you sly devil…]
     “So what’ll it be, Yagami? You, or the Death Note?”
     Light’s mind quickly scrambled, but then with a slow smirk, he reached for the inside of his coat.
     “He’s going for a weapon!” One of the officers shouted, all of them tightening their aim on the boy.

     “Stop!” Detective Yagami called on the radio. “I ORDER you not to shoot!”

     And Light pulls from his jacket a black notebook, its front cover facing him. The moment L saw the book his eyes widened and he made a run for it – but Light threw his arm back and flung the book high in the sky!
     “No!” L screamed as he watched the book go flying, and he turned to run after it, Light turning the other way and making a run for it.
     “Halt!” An officer yelled.

     “DO NOT SHOOT!” Light’s father ordered. “Apprehend him, but don’t harm him!”

     The book plummeted straight for the open manhole, nearly hitting a man on his way out. “Hey! Watch it!”
     L ran after it, running into the street, getting ready to climb down after it.
     Light looked to the Shinigami, telepathically communicating with it: [Ryuk! Take the book and all the memories that go with it!]
     “Sure thing,” Ryuk said and spreading his demonic black wings, he sped off, zipping right passed L and down into the sewer.
     “No!” L said, watching the Shinigami go.

     Matsuda in the van continued to watch. “Sir! I’ve lost track of L! I don’t see him on the screen anywhere!”
     “Keep looking!” Yagami ordered, and then turned back to the radio as an officer called on it.
     “Sir, we have the suspect apprehended.”
     Detective Yagami sighed, both out of relief and disappointment, wiping the sweat from his face “…I never thought I’d hear my son referred to as ‘the suspect’…”

     L climb down the ladder into the sewer, but all too late, for he saw Ryuk swipe up the notebook and go flying down the tunnels with it… L’s only evidence was gone…

(To Be Continued…)