The Light and the Dark: Chapter One
Death Note Rule # 11. The person in possession of the Death Note is possessed by a god of death or Shinigami, its original owner, until they die.
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*Age 12*
"Check."
Blake Bond moved her white pawn a square forward, blocking her enemy bishop's path to her King, in response to the winning move.
"Why do you two continue to play, even though it always ends in a tie?" L mumbled as he watched the two girls play the challenging game of Chess. Sitting in his normal stance-Balancing on his toes, legs folded underneath him like a frog- his eyes followed the black bishop as it slowly made its way and knocked over the white pawn.
A long-fingered hand plucked the fallen pawn off the checkered board, and placed it in her collection of the white pieces, only missing the King piece now. Chuckling and wearing her sly grin, Artimi Lau responded with, "We play in hopes of finally beating each other. Oh, and check."
Blake shifted her King diagonally, and pushed the black bishop to the next square. She snatched the bishop off the board and the bishop was put in her almost complete set of black pieces.
"That is an idiotic reason," L said thoughtfully, pushing a lock of black hair out of his eyes.
"I don't care what you think, L," Artimi said with a growl to her voice; she didn't exactly like L, though she put up with him for Blake's sake. She looked around the room. tan carpet, mossy green walls, chairs set around the room, and a table, which was now decorated with a chess board, was all that personalized the bland room. Her gray-blue eyes then scanned the board, and saw, once again, that the two friends had resulted in a tie; only two Kings standing.
Blake furrowed her brow, green eyes staring at the board, and jaw stuck out at the sight of another tie, "Wanna play again?"
"Nah, its about to be dinner time," Artimi yawned and pushed back in her chair, almost falling when the chair's legs caught on the carpet. She looked over to L and threw him a death glare.
"We'll see you at the usual table, L," Blake said as she shoved the chess pieces in a blue bag, and put the chess board and bag in a drawer. She grinned at L, and then said to Artimi, "You ready?"
"I'm always ready for food," Artimi said, face splitting into a sparkling smile that matched Blake's.
Then the two girls left for dinner, arm-in-arm.
.....
*Age 16*
Blake and Artimi stood in front of the pair of newest orphans to arrive at Wammy's Home for Orphans. The only reason they were there was because Wammy had asked Blake to "welcome them to the Orphanage and give them a short tour around the place". Artimi had just tagged along.
One of the male pair was fair-skinned with odd white hair, dark eyes, and a strange demeanor. The other had shoulder-length orange-yellow hair with bangs sweeping into his hazel eyes and was eating a chocolate bar. The Chocolate Bar Guy loomed over all of them, even though they were all supposedly the same age- sixteen. They didn't seem to be brothers, but the two males appeared to know each other.
"Hello. I'm Mello," said Chocolate Bar Guy, " and this is Near. Pleased to meet you."
Chocolate Bar Guy- Mello- reached his delicate hand out, as if to shake. After a moment's hesitation Artimi grasped his hand and shook. Mello smiled and quickly bent down and kissed the back of her hand, keeping eye contact, as if his was from other times.
Blake eyed him. She didn't like the looks of this guy.
Artimi took her sweet time, and pulled her hand back, blushing. She smirked and folded her hands behind her back.
"Excuse me for interrupting your flirting, uh, Mello. But were just here to escort you two around here," Blake said.
"Its no problem. I can continue my flirting as soon as we start on this tour," Mello smiled a sickly sweet smile at Blake, before smiling a genuine smile for Artimi.
Artimi looked over to Blake, who didn't reply, just stared at Mello as if she could set him aflame with her eyes. "Yeah, um, lets show you guys around now!" Artimi uttered softly.
Artimi and Blake slowly showed them around the Orphanage. Mello and Artimi talked up a storm in the back of the group, as Blake- unsuccessfully- made small talk with Near in the front. She was usually a great conversationalist, but its hard to keep a conversation going when Near would just mumble short answers or ignore her all together. It quite upset her.
After walking around and showing the new orphans the more important parts of the Orphanage, Blake and Artimi lead the pair back to the front doors. The girls were surprisingly both tired and night had fell during the tour. Mello and Artimi's yakking had diminished as the stood in front of the front doors yet again.
"Alright. There's the Orphanage for you. Here's your rooms, I hope we never see you again, and a goodnight," Blake ended her sentence sharply. She yanked a piece of paper out of her pocket with their room numbers written on it. Shoving it at them, when no one made a move to grab it, she let it flutter to the ground. She stomped away, grabbing Artimi's arm as she left.
"Wait," said Mello. He grabbed Artimi's free hand. Both of the girls-one exasperated with his talking and the other wanting to talk with him more- whipped around at the sound of his voice. He let go of Artimi's arm, but they didn't move, as he broke off a piece of chocolate. "Chocolate?"
Mello looked at Artimi with the chocolate held out, and a wicked look in his eyes. He smiled, but it wasn't the dazzling smile that she loved; it was looked as if it belonged to a shark. His tall frame made him menacing. Grabbing Artimi's hand, he dropped the chocolate in it, winked, and then walked back over to where Near had picked up the paper with their room numbers scribbled on it.
Both shocked at the events that just happened, Blake softly tugged Artimi's hand and they quickly walked away together. Away from the strange pair.
In the room, Artimi thew away the chocolate, while Blake sat in bed not able to keep her mind of the pair.
.....
*Age 17*
"Shut up, Artimi!" Blake shrieked in response to Artimi singing in the shower. She sat cross legged on a throw-pillow in front of the TV. Blake's brow was still furrowed from watching the stunning recording of L talking over television to Kira.
L- yes, the same L that previously lived in the Whammy House- had become of age just at the end of last year and left the Home to purse a life of fighting crime. Only a year after leaving, and he was already one of the most accomplished detectives in the business. So, when Kira started killing, L became interested and when asked, became the leader of the Kira Case- a group of Japanese police officers trying to find Kira and lock him up.
"So what do you think of all of this," Atrimi said, walking out of the bathroom with her pajamas on and damp hair on her shoulders. She thought about it, before continuing with, "this trunk-load of drama stuff?"
"Trunk-load of drama stuff?" Blake asked. Her eyebrows softened, but then directly went into a skeptical look. Amazing how eyebrows could change a look completely.
"Yes; truck-load of drama stuff," Artimi said, nodding her head and smiling at her choice of words.
Blake just sighed and rolled her eyes with a grin etched upon her face. "Well, uh, I think that L is doing a great job at catching Kira, and Kira better be caught soon, or I'll complain to L," Blake joked.
"So you don't think that Kira is doing the right thing?" Artimi asked.
"Of course! Anybody who does is completely pshco- wait. Do you?" Blake was looking at Artimi as if she grew a second head. Breathing hard, she waited for her best-friend's answer.
"Blake listen to yourself. Does that really sound like me?" Artimi questioned, making a funny face that was suppose to be an offended look, but ended up horribly wrong. It caused Blake to roll her eyes yet again.
Blake bite her lip and looked around their humble room, thinking about an answer. Dresser and mirror combo, twin-sized bunk beds, a TV, and throw pillows tossed about the room was all that decorated the domain. The walls were painted a dark turquoise and a fancy design was sketched up and down the walls. They never got around to painting it.
A door lead to their "office", though in most senses it wasn't an office. Sure, it had a nice desk, a top-of-the-line laptop, and a spinning chair, but that was all shoved in a corner. A fashionable white chasce lounge was placed in the center of the room, though the colorful throw pillows were absent. The lounge faced the flat-screen they owned. They hid in there, feasting off the snacks and sodas in their min-fridge, when they wanted to escape from reality.
Yet, the only reason they could afford luxury things, un-like other orphans, was because they both worked early morning shifts at a small gym. They both loved it. The girls got a free workout whenever they want to, unlimited access to the snack bar, and got to sneak looks at cute guys. And, best of all the perks, they get paid! It was a win all around in the girls' eyes.
"I guess not. But it sounded like you agreed with Kira's actions," Blake said, trying to cover up the suspicious tone in her voice.
"Hey, at least Kira isn't killing innocent people. He- well, we don't know so maybe she- is only killing the bad people in Japan. Criminals," Artimi used her hands as she talked with her eyebrows raised and eyes drifting around the room.
Blake was taken aback. It truly sounded like Artimi was defending Kira. "It doesn't matter that Kira is only killing 'Criminals'; he is still killing! He is a cold-blooded murderer and I can't believe that you are on his side!" "Blake said, shocked.
"I'm not on his side!" Artimi almost pleaded as she said this.
"It sounds lik-" Blake started
Exasperated, Artimi explained, "Look. What about when a criminal is to be executed? They're killed, right, by the executioner? Its the same concept, its just that Kira is the executioner!"
"That's different," Blake said blandly. "They only kill criminals who do very, very wrong crimes!"
"And Kira is only killing very bad people," Artimi said calmly. She didn't want to get in a fight with her best-friend, but Blake was being stubborn and not listening to her. "Kira is only killing the worst of people!"
"Kira is the worst of people!"
"If he's so bad, then so is everyone else in the world who wants justice. Including the police, and everything involved with the police."
Flabbergasted, Blake took in a sharp inhale of breath. Here she was, thinking that she actually knew Artimi, but she busts out with claims saying that Kira was a good person! She didn't want to fight with her friend, but she would not be friends, not colleagues, with someone who sides with evil Kira! "Do you know what? Forget it! I'm gonna be the bigger person and drop it!"
Blake stood from her pillow. Turning her back on surprised Artimi, she stomped over to the light switch and flipped off the lights, enveloping the room in a still darkness. "Good night," was all that Blake said before she slid into her bottom bunk.
Artimi sat in the darkness, not wanting to believe that she just lost her friend. She hadn't wanted to fight; she just wanted Blake to respect her opinions. She had dealt with Blake's stubbornness for six years now, for friendship-sake, but it always ticked her off when she wasn't respected.
But, she had to give up on the friendship now. This fight had been the last straw in her eyes. Sure, she was loose friends with mostly everyone at the orphanage, but Blake was her only real friend. It saddened her that she just lost Blake.
So, putting the events of the night out of her mind, Artimi simply replied with a, "Good night," and resulted to sleeping on the floor
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A/N: First real chapter up! Its amazing! :D
But I had someone ask how to pronounce "Artimi" so the answer is "Art-E-My". Also, just wondering, who do you agree with so far? Tell me in the comment box! ;p