Precursor || Death Note [ON HOLD]

Chapter Ten: Kaori

CHAPTER TEN: {Kaori}
I stared at L in complete surprise.
"Y-you-!" I sputtered. "When did you-why-what's going on?!"
"You said you needed your notebook," L said calmly. He held it out to me.
I took the notebook, still completely flabbergasted. "But-"
"Please excuse me," L interrupted. "I have to go present my speech." He nimbly walked around me, and then up the stairs.
"It is a pleasure to be here...," he began once in front of the mike.
But I heard nothing after that; I was in too much shock to comprehend anything. I just walked to the seat Sally had saved, not seeing anything around me.
I sat down in a daze.
"Who's he?" Sally hissed to me from my right. "Do you know him?"
I nodded mutely.
"Ooh, is he the guy you came here to meet?" Lola asked from my other side.
I nodded again.
My heartbeat slowed; I calmed down enough to where one thought could bounce around my head.
L is here. L is here. L is here. He's here.
Then:
Why?
---
"I don't really see how you could like him... I mean, he looks alright, but... Oh, no offense or anything!" Elise said to me as we crossed paths during lunch.
"No...no, that's fine," I murmured distractedly.
I hadn't been able to concentrate through any of my classes. Not that I needed to, anyways. It was the first day, and all of the teachers had droned on and on in long introductory speeches.
"Hey! Over here!" called Lola, waving at us from a bench by the tennis courts. "We've got sandwiches!"
"Coming right over!" Elise shouted back.
"Jeez, for a short girl you're pretty loud," I noted.
"You're not so tall yourself, Miss five foot..."
"Four. Five foot four," I admitted sheepishly.
"Exactly. We're the same height, so look who's talking." Elise grinned. She broke into a run. "Now, hurry up!"
"H-hey!" I protested, having no other choice but to run after her.
But someone's voice stopped me.
"Kay," the voice said, using a nickname that I hadn't been called since I was nine, the last time I'd actually heard the voice up until today.
I stopped and turned around.
It was him.
"Hello," he said to me. "Pleased to meet you again, after all these years."
"Y-yeah. Sure...," I muttered, embarrassed and confused and elated and scared, all at the same time. "Why are...you here? Is it...to see me? I-I didn't expect..."
"I shall tell you more later," L said, "but yes, it was to see you. The reason might not be what you suspected, though."
For some reason, "not" and "suspected" stood out. I wondered why. Was he sending a code of some sort? Or was I hearing things?
"U-um, what should I call you?" I stuttered.
"Ryuzaki, please. Thank you for checking." He looked down at his watch. "I have to be in my next class at one on the nose. What about you?"
"Checking"..."in"..."on"..."you"? Those were emphasized, too. Could this really be a code? The emphasized words make perfect sense when strung together.
"Uh..." I consulted my schedule. "I'm in...Psychology at one."
"I am as well," Ryuzaki replied. "Since we are here for the same reasons, I assume we have the same classes."
Now that one did have a hidden meaning: I'm in all your other courses on purpose.
"Yeah." I slowly backed away. "But...I'm sorry, Ryuzaki-san, but I...I have to go meet my friends."
"So you've already made friends... You're the exact same Kay I knew back then, aren't you?" Ryuzaki probed.
"Oi, Kaori! Who's this? Ryuzaki, right?" Elise called to me. She, Lola, and Sally were rapidly approaching Ryuzaki and myself.
I looked wildly at Ryuzaki, feeling cornered despite the rarity of that feeling occurring.
"It's alright. You may tell them as much of our history as possible," Ryuzaki responded, looking the exact opposite of my panicked look, looking and acting as calm and unemotional as usual.
That statement was another with a hidden meaning. Tell them what you like, so long as it doesn't reveal what the Wammy House is or who I am, Ryuzaki was saying in that one.
"This is...this is Ryuzaki," I said nervously once my three new friends had gotten within hearing distance. "He's...he's the one I told you about. You know, the one I came here to see."
"Yes...I decided to show."
Ryuzaki, despite what his appearance might have you assume, looked at my three friends interestedly, taking in everything from Lola's pink, button-down shirt to Elise's slight overuse of makeup and Sally's half-zipped fly. (I made a mental note to tell her about that situation later.)
"Yup, he sure did!" I said, acting upbeat despite the slight inner turmoil. I brushed it off, though. Most people had worse lives than me; what right did I have to get confused about something that should be considered good?
"So, are you two..." Elise trailed off and sent me a look that said, "Sorry, but I had to know."
"Friends," Ryuzaki answered mildly, slightly raising an eyebrow. "Is there anything else we would be?"
Though I could've sworn I'd gotten over L during childhood, his comment was like a slap to the face; Lola, Sally, and Elise sent me apologetic looks.
An uncomfortable silence followed.
Then Ryuzaki decided to break it.
"Ladies, would you mind terribly if I borrowed Kaori for awhile?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck.
"Of course not!" Elise gushed, secretly grinning at me.
"Shall we go, then?" Ryuzaki turned to go.
"Go full-power on the romance," hissed Sally, beaming. "Maybe he'll come to his senses and see how great you really are."
Girls, this is L, the world-famous detective. He probably already knows how I once felt. Instead of egging me on and turning me down later he's being sympathetic and making it easier for me to forget those feelings.
I sighed. But I can't tell them. Oh well, then. That's that.
I smiled at the three of them and waved, walking away. "See you lot later!"
---
Ryuzaki took me to a cafe, and we found a booth at the very back. It wasn't too crowded, but it was still safer. And it ensured that his way of sitting was, for the most part, ignored and ungawked at.
Once we'd ordered (coffee for him, chamomile tea for me), Ryuzaki leaned forward and stared intently at me.
"You're four inches shorter than me," he noted. "It used to be two, despite the four year age difference."
I turned slightly red. "Hey, I stopped growing early. Is there a problem?" I asked, going on the defensive.
"I never said there was."
There was a slight pause in conversation, then Ryuzaki pointed out something else.
"Your hair is a bit lighter. It's still short, though."
"Yes," I said, playing along with his little "obvious game." "But it's still brown, and it's still hair."
There was more silence.
Our drinks came.
Ryuzaki used his thumb and forefinger to drop one heck of a lot of sugar cubes into his coffee. He stirred, and took a sip.
Then he leaned forward.
"I suppose you may know why I'm here," Ryuzaki said in something close to a monotone, "but I may as well say it aloud so we're on the same page."
I nodded, mouth dry. I sipped my tea, but it did nothing to help.
"And?" I asked, barely breathing, waiting and dreading what my childhood friend was about to say.
"You are a suspect in the Kira case. The Task Force and I have reason to believe that you are Kira."