#ukita-san

[sanny-chan5]

Happy B-day! 8-9/10

Main: Aizawa, Calue, Beckman, Ukita.

8

Aizawa-sensei, from BNHA

Calue, from OP

9

Ben Beckman, from OP

Ukita-san, from DN

Others: Hinako (Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai), Utau Hoshina (SC)

[kusagrasskusa]

Light X Detective! Reader - "I am Kira"

Summery- Y/N is a teenager given the honor of working for the task force and is with the few who agreed to work in the Kira case. Both while discussing L and on her way to go to the hotel to meet L, she bumps into Light. They get along and have a two minute conversation before she's pulled away by Aizawa. Her biggest flaw is her incapability to shut up, so she sorta explains how she (rather than Pember's fiance) believes Kira can in many ways...

Sorry for the "read more" being so high up lol. When I look through hashtags, I hate it when there's an entire story I already read to scroll past before I can see new ones :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I just don't understand," Y/N huffed as she pushed her hair behind her ear. She clinched the papers in her hand and furrowed her eyebrows together while rereading all the reports that were concluded to be caused by Kira. She sat in a cold room, in a chair that wouldn't warm up, with a bunch of officers who were equally as ignorant and annoyingly loud as the next. A lot of them distrust L as well, creating an unwanted tension that bothers everyone.

"Excuse me, sir," called a brunette boy to another brunette. Okay, maybe not everyone is annoying and ignorant; Matsuda and the Cheif were alright. Y/N smiled to herself as she looked at the two congregating. It's nice to see these two making the atmosphere brighter, she thought. There's been a lot of stress since no one can even began to image how Kira is even existing right now. Whether it's a single person or a group, how can they kill someone from anywhere? Alchemy isn't even real, so how?

And before she knew it, two hours of nothing went by. That is, until, three officers went up to the Cheif and set stuff down on the table. "Sir, we're resigning from the Kira investigation."

The cheif stood up, wide eyed, "why!"

"Because we value our lives! Kira has made it clear that he'll stop whoever gets in his way! We have a family at home and we aren't going to give it up!" One explained, taking deep breaths. The Cheif was silent for a moment before sighing, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Take your badges. I completely understand your decision." The cheif stood up, looking around the room. "I want everyone who wants to leave the Kira investigation to stand up. You won't be fired but rather transfered to another case." And just like that, nearly every single person in the case stood up, looking around each other disappointly. Y/N looked around her, glaring at the men around her. Wow, she thought, and I was called weak for being a "little girl."

As people made their decisions on whether to leave, or stay, or whatever, Y/N simply stacked her papers and cleaned her desk. The one she shared her desk had left, so she had a lot more space to put her paperwork. To be honest she didn't really like him all that much; it's random but that man would make the most jokes about Y/N's age and gender. She was the only female and being surrounded by a bunch of guys called for many conversations focusing on how she would interact with people, as if her gender is a defining quality to ever conversation.

But thank God that's over with. As Y/N looked around the room, her eyes widened as her eyebrows furrowed. "What? Like everyone left!" She called out, counting the people left. Masuta chuckled from across the room and she received a disapproving glance from Aizawa. Well, thank God these two stayed. She would be so alone with someone to joke with and another to keep an eye on her.

Aizawa is almost like an older brother/father figure of sorts, which is hella comforting. Matsuda and Y/N have never met before their job, not even happened to lassby each other at any point in their life, yet as soon as they saw each other, they knew each other very well. Immediately they kicked it off and eventually he found a way to convince the cheif that she's worthy of being here with him. He may have even brought up Light to make the cheif feel more personalized. It worked somehow.

The few remaining in the office stood up to acknowledge each other better. And when L finally spoke up from the computerin the back of the room, it was time for the debate on whether we trust him or not. Y/N, the Cheif, Matsuda, and Ukita seem to trust L a lot. Aizawa and Ide seem distrustful, and Mogi is neutral. When L released them to go discuss their views on him, everyone was eager to go.

On the way outside, a smile hung on Y/N's features as she walked alongside Matsuda. He didn't exactly share her energy as he rather just stared at the ground with a look of questioning. "This is a good thing y'know? It finally means we have the chance of a lifetime: to meet L. He would know how to keep us safe so we would never end up like the FBI agents!" Y/N whispered to him, making a small look of relief cross his features. He smiled at her and nodded.

Just a little into the conversation, the group had already began to trust L at least a little bit more. A few minutes later, L was given them directions on how to find him. Like hell I will write this all out, so just know that this happened the same way it did in the anime :). Y/N smiled widely, gripping Matsuda's sleeve and giggling quietly to herself. "This is amazing! We get to finally meet the L!"

"Calm down, L/N-san," Aizawa scolded, sending her a disapproving look. Y/N giggled at his stern face, shaking her head. She leaned on Matsuda's shoulder.

"Come on, 'Zawa! You're not excited? Not everyone gets to do this, y'know," she replied. Chief Yagami sighed and rolled his eyes at her childish behavior.

~~~

Y/N walked the dark streets with Aizawa by her side. She's humming to herself before breaking into a light sing, "hirogaru yami no naka-"

"Do you ever be quiet?" Aizawa asked. Y/N shook her heard before continuing to sing. But this time, she spread her arms out and moved more, dancing to the rhythm of the song. "Stop it, you child! You're gonna draw attention to us!"

"No I won't~ After all, it's the middle of the night," she replied as she pointed around the empty streets with the exception of 3 pass-bys. "No one is gonna care about a stupid little schoolgirl with her "dad" walking around when their tired and want to go home." Oh, in order to keep up a lie that Y/N is related to Aizawa, they found it easier for her to dress in a schoolgirl outfit. After all,, it's a Wednesday so people would think she would have to go to school, meaning she was young enoigh to be his daughter. "It's not like I'm gonna run into someone, eit—" Pffb!

Y/N fell onto the ground and landed in on the pavement. She hit her head on a metal door when she was walking and somehow didn't see it; well, maybe that's because someone opened the door. "Sorry! I didn't see you there," called a soft, masculine voice. He extended his hand towards the girl who was rubbing the mark on her forehead. She looked up at him either an apologetic look as she took his hand and he pulled her to her feet.

"No, I apologize. I, um, wasn't looking," she responded. Her face was pink with embarrassment so she kept her head low. After all, how does one recover from embarrassing themselves in front of someone so damn attractive?

"Look what you did; I told you this would happen. I'm sorry, sir, for you— Light?" Aizawa asked with a questioning look on his features. The brunette boy smiled at Aizawa, waving.

"It's me, haha. Sorry, I'm not very good with faces. What's your name?" He kindly asked. Y/N looked up at him and admired his features. He looked so calm and collected that it was admiring to her.

"Aizawa," is all he said before Light nodded in remembrance.

"Nice to see you again, sir. Is this your daughter? She looks lovely," Light complimented as he turned towards the short girl, whose face remained as pink as before if not worse. She bit her bottom lip, looking up at him at waving.

"My name is Y/N, nice to meet to you Light," she responded with a bow of her head. Light bowed his head simultaneously with that calm smile never leaving his face. "Sorry again, haha. I'm sorta a clutz," she continued.

Light shook his head and scratched the back of his neck. "No need to be so worried, Miss Y/N. All's forgiven. Actually, I'm rather glad we did bump into each other like that. You're a sweet woman," he replied. Y/N chuckled nervously and felt his charisma hit her deep in the soul.

"I hate to break up you and your boyfriend," Aizawa stepped in. "But we have to get going. It was nice seeing you Light." Light nodded in understanding and YN posted her lip, though also understanding. She looked back at Light, smiling.

"Well, I hope to see you again, Light. Bye for now," she said her goodbyes as Light did the same to her before hey parted ways. "He's cute," she simply stated as Aizawa rolled his eyes.

"You teenagers and your weird romances..."

~~~

Y/N laid there; her books spread out on a table and her head in her arms, breathing softly as she stayed asleep. She was only allowed to work 4 days a week with the task force and this would be one of those days where she had to study hella hard since she wouldn't be able to every Monday and Tuesday. She's in a few advanced classes and they've been getting harder now that she can't focus all her attention on her classes. But damn, she was so tired today! But even so, a simple poke on the back woke her up.

"Excuse me ma'am, are you alright?" A soft voice asked. She stirred around before looking over at the owner of that voice, furrowing her eyebrows together. "Y/N?"

"Light?" Y/N asked, her face turning red in embaressment. "Oh! I'm sorry, were you going to sit here?" She asked eagerly as she gathered her things and put them in together as fast as possible.

"Oh no! I was just checking to see if you were okay, so please do whatever," Light responded. Y/N continued to blush as she mumbled an oh before setting her things back down.

"Sorry, haha... I sometimes get sorta caught up in my studies," she admitted, earning a chuckle from Light.

"No worries. I'd be glad to help if needed. What grade are you in?" Light asked as he set his coffee down on the table, sitting down besides her.

"Senior year. 18 and still can't grow up," she added a self depreciating comment as she rubbed her tired eyes and yawned. Light shook his head, brushing his hand in the air to singal "it's okay".

"No need to be so harsh on yourself. After all, everyone learns in a different way and perhaps the way you're teaching yourself isn't the right way. Instead of reading equations and writing down answers, let's try drawing out pictures of those equations and adding references." Light took the pencil from her side and and began to draw and write put several equations and problems. Needless to say, in about an hour, Y/N had understood every single thing she had worked on.

"You're doing great," Light complimented as he looked over Y/N's paper. Y/N giggled nervously, a Light blush coming to her cheeks.

"Thanks, with your help though," she replied. Light shook his head and handed back the paper.

"Not at all. I just showed you a new technique and told you what you got wrong. It was all you." Y/N thanked him once more before taking a sip of her coffee. It was maybe 9am by now and perhaps she should get going.

"It's getting a bit late. I need to go home soon," she spoke sadly. Light nodded, standing up from the table while Y/N collected her things. "Thanks again, by the way. Especially for staying with me for, like, an hour. That must be hard, heh heh."

Light chuckled, shaking his head. "You need to belive in yourself a little more, y'know. However, anyways, I suppose we should get going now. It was nice seeing you again, Y/N. I look forward to our next encounter." They walked each other out the door before finally saying their last goodbye and parting ways.

~~~

In no time, Light was part of the police task force as well. Side by side Y/N, who graduated with him, someone who he had got close to since their first visit in the cafe. Hell, this far into each other's company and how close they must be true to work, some may even say there's love. Light was that tall, sweet, intelligent, caring boy who never breaks in situations. Y/N was that kind, self-deprecating, cheerful but can be serious, smart, and thorough girl who looks as dumb as a rock. They're very similar in some places and different in others, which is the perfect mix.

"To be honest," Y/N sighed. "I'm really starting to doubt L. He focuses on you way too much, and we really don't have time for that. People are being killed everyday and nothing's being done to stop it." Light nodded, sighing as well. They sat on the top stairs of the roof of the headquarters. "And Kira's supporters give me mixed feelings as well. I understand that what Kira is doing seems righteous, I truly do. They say how these people were never the hero so why should they live? They should live because they shouldn't have to be heroes."

Y/N couldn't help but vent her feelings. After all, a tragic incident had happened to he recently so she couldn't help it. Light picked up on her way more serious attitude towards the investigation and asked what's pushing her so hard. After a little persuasion, he got her to talk about it in a private place. The whole time, she was trying her best to hold in tears when she spoke. "It's bothering me that these supporters think their morally right for thinking the way they do... My uncle, he was killed by Kira last week. And these supporters, they laugh and taunt him because hehe made a mistake when he was young," Y/N hissed, her tears threatening to fall.

"My uncle didn't mean to do it! He was friends with an officer who came over to his house for a party! They got drunk and my uncle wanted to scare awake his friend using a gun he thought was unloaded. He got to watch his best friend's head explode all over his fucking house, all because of a stupid mistake? I was 5 years old, going to the prison every week to him for the little amount of time I could. The officers who would search the visitors knew me; she knew me and who I was going to see, a kindergartener who was scared and hurt by the loss of her uncle. Due to the shooting being accidental, he had less time to serve. And that day, that day where he'd be free, Kira did it. It's fucking disgusting."

Light listened with a frown on his face, patting her back and she hugged her knees and began to cry. It's a shame, really. He sat out there with her for maybe two more minutes before she calmed down.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Y/N. I had no idea," Light spoke sadly, frowning. Y/N shook her head a smile forming on her face. It was clearly force and unhappy, but at least it made Y/N cry less.

"No, no, don't be. I kinda should've expected this. My uncle was a great, funny guy and I wish the world knew that. But anyway," Y/N wiped her tears as she stood up. She extended a hand for Light to take, which he did with a soft smile on his features, and pulled him up. A soft blush hit she cheeks when a

[ryusxnka]

"Captain Hitsugaya!" Captain Ukitake briskly approaches, carrying in his arms: an EXCESSIVE amount of sweets!

    “ Oh – Captain Ukita … !!! “

                   And as expeditious as the unruly hand of a broken horologe, the adolescent was defeated and engrossed, well almost, ‘neath an excessive quantity of delicacies. –  As per the conventional  exchange,  the elder captain had promptly,  unhesitatingly executed  the gesture sans a singular thought  of the following repercussion,  greeted him with an undesired offering – Treating him evermore like a child when he aspires naught but reverence.  It was infuriating, in truth,  but the boy could never  find it within  himself to repudiate Ukitake’s acts of kindness.

                                                                                      “ I … uuuuuh … Thanks? “ 

[cerastes]

Right-o, so now that I’m back to where I left this, considerations before proceeding into new grounds:

God damn this manga is horny. It’s not like I forgot about it, but it’s easier to notice more subtle things about the mangaka’s shameless self-indulgences with a pair of older eyes.

As far as shonen protags go, Kenichi is pretty alright. It’s definitely the rest of the cast that makes it a great trip (as if this was anything new with JP media), but Kenichi doesn’t detract from it, unlike other protrags, if you feel me.

Miu can fucking piss off, though, I still can’t stand her. I can stand her less now than I did before, if anything. I don’t throw this term around too much, but that’s a bona fide Mary Sue if I ever had the displeasure of meeting one. Bizarre, too, given the rest of the cast, you know, is charming and doesn’t make me want to beat the shit out of my own cranium with a taxidermy beaver.

Siegfried rocked when I was a teen and Siegfried still rocks now.

Very much a middle ground between hardline martial arts manga (Kengan Ashura) and faux martial arts manga that are simply fantasy combat manga with a martial arts flavor (fuckin’ 80% of the damn genre), leaning more towards hardline but never forgetting it is, indeed, shonen. It doesn’t ever devolve into ki blasts and easy cop-outs, and in fact, remains a fun shonen ride that definitely grows the beard as it goes, sans a few things that are sadly too essential to the core of the manga to hope for their correction (ie: Miu), and you can see why it lasted 583 freaking chapters (not counting those of the first Kenichi manga -- yes, there is actually a first Kenichi manga, this one is the second). A nice mix of very meticulous research on martial arts done by the mangaka with a healthy dose of shonen, basically.

I’m not 100% in love with how this handles tension, though. Things are way too convenient most of the time. Too convenient. You Were Never In Any Danger, Kenichi, As A Master Was Watching In The Distance. Yes, Masters never interrupt a fight between disciples, but it sort of dampens any sort of tension when time and time again, there really wasn’t any danger. It takes around 350 chapters for the mangaka to actually step away from this, an unacceptably long amount of time, but thankfully, since it’s a always charming shonen first, it works out in an “I guess” kinda way, in that you’re better off focusing on the parts that are done right.

God do I fucking hate Miu.

Man do I fucking love Siegfried.

Mangaka gets lazy about some fights, and they become these CLASHES of special effects that say “an intense superhuman fight is going on!” but ehhhh don’t like that, I like to see the actual blows. Kengan Ashura spoiled me.

BIG props to the mangaka for sticking to the cast. Ukita, for example, is exactly the kind of early game big mook dude that you’d think would get put on a bus at the start of the second arc and never be seen again. He absolutely sticks for the long ride and even gets some really nice character development. It didn’t fall into this hole that MA manga (and shonen, fuck) tends to trip into most of the time: Oversaturation of new characters as the new arcs arrive (you ever read Fairy Tail? Don’t) while putting perfectly cool and useful old ones out of focus (YOU EVER READ FAIRY TDON’T), mangaka has stuck to his guns and his initial cast of swashbucklers and we have ALL benefited from this. I couldn’t live in a world in which this manga would deprive me from seeing Takeda, Ukita and Siegfried ever again.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with it! Yeah it’s got its flaws (ie: Miu) but whatever dude it’s fucking fun and good in many other regards.

Really could use being less horny because by the 500th blatant Miu ass shot I’m already rolling my eyes like yes yes you want to bone your shitty Mary Sue can we please get going already, but really, it makes up for it in other ways (Ukita and Chikage’s dynamic? Gold).

So yeah with that said let’s do that baseball and tread into NEW TERRITORY.

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Appendix:  the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki, Part 23:  (1591) Gatherings Held in the First Month¹.

69) First Month, Eighth Day; Midday (shōgatsu yōka ・ hiru  [正月八日・晝]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/171736668039/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-61-riky%C5%ABs

70) First Month, Ninth Day; Morning (shōgatsu kokonoka ・ asa  [正月九日・朝]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/171807144834/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-62-riky%C5%ABs

71) First Month, Tenth Day; Morning (shōgatsu tōka ・ asa  [正月十日・朝]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/171875447130/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-63-riky%C5%ABs

72) First Month, Thirteenth Day² (shōgatsu jū-san nichi  [正月十三日]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/171974722421/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-64-riky%C5%ABs

73) First Month, Fifteenth Day; Morning (shōgatsu jū-go nichi ・ asa  [正月十五日・朝]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/171975281674/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-65-riky%C5%ABs

74) First Month, Fifteenth Day; Fu-ji (shōgatsu jū-go nichi ・ fu-ji  [正月十五日・不時]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/172044649333/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-66-riky%C5%ABs

75) First Month, Fifteenth Day; Midday (shōgatsu jū-go nichi ・ hiru  [正月十五日・晝]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/172113086042/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-67-riky%C5%ABs

76) First Month, Sixteenth Day; Midday (shōgatsu jū-roku nichi ・ hiru  [正月十六日・晝]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/172214129616/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-68-riky%C5%ABs

77) First Month, Seventeenth Day; Morning (shōgatsu jū-nana nichi ・ hiru  [正月十七日・朝]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/172285757340/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-69-riky%C5%ABs

78) First Month, Twenty-second Day; Evening (shōgatsu nijū-ni nichi ・ ban  [正月廿二日・晩]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/172355014395/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-70-riky%C5%ABs

79) First Month, Twenty-fifth Day; Morning (shōgatsu nijū-go nichi ・ asa  [正月廿五日・朝]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/172458371405/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-71-riky%C5%ABs

80) First Month, Twenty-fifth Day; Midday (shōgatsu nijū-go nichi ・ hiru  [正月廿五日・晝]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/172458945516/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-72-riky%C5%ABs

81) First Month, Twenty-sixth Day; Midday (shōgatsu nijū-roku nichi ・ hiru  [正月廿六日・晝]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/172531089603/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-73-riky%C5%ABs

82) First Month, Twenty-seventh Day; Midday (shōgatsu nijū-nana nichi ・ hiru  [正月廿七日・晝]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/172600763661/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-74-riky%C5%ABs

83) First Month, Last Day; Night (shōgatsu misoka ・ yoru  [正月晦日・夜]):

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/172700600106/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-75-riky%C5%ABs

_________________________

¹In addition to these, according to a note printed in the Sadō Ko-ten Zen-shu* several other chakai are also listed in the Hisada version of the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki for the First Month:

❖ First Month, Second Day; Evening (shōgatsu futsuka ・ ban  [正月二日・晩]), for Saishō sama [宰相様] (Ukita Hideie [宇喜多秀家])†.

❖ First Month, Third Day; Morning (shōgatsu mikka ・ asa  [正月三日・朝]), for Matsui Sado dono [松井佐渡] (Matsui Yasuyuki [松井康之])‡.

❖ An Atomi of the Same (onaji ・ atomi  [同・跡見]), though the guests are not mentioned in the footnote describing these chakai in the Sadō Ko-ten Zen-shu [茶道古典全集].

❖ First Month, Fourth Day; Night (shōgatsu yokka ・ yoru  [正月四日・夜]) for the Shin Monju [新門主] (Kyōnyo shōnin [敎如上人])**.

❖ First Month, Fifth Day; Midday (shōgatsu itsuka ・ hiru  [正月五日・晝]), for Kasuya naizen-tō 加須屋内膳等 (Kasuya Takeyori [糟屋武則])††.

    As before (see the previous post, entitled Appendix:  the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki, Part 22:  (1591) Twelfth Month,  Twenty-sixth Day¹, Morning; and Twenty-seventh Day, Morning), except for the dates and lists of guests, no other information about these chakai is provided in the Sadō Ko-ten Zen-shu. ___________ *This is the same note mentioned in Footnote 1, under the previous post.  While the gatherings listed for the Twelfth Lunar Month in the note in the Sadō Ko-ten Zen-shu do not seem to be found anywhere else (in any of the manuscripts), all of the ones mentioned there as having occurred at the beginning of the First Month of Tenshō 19 appear in the other manuscripts under the same dates during the Intercalated First Month.

    While there is no way to know which of the early sources may be correct, it is odd that, according to the majority of the manuscripts (with the sole exception being the one generally accepted to be the oldest -- and the one most likely to have been copied directly from Rikyū’s original -- namely, the Hisada-bon), Rikyū does not begin to offer New Year’s Tea until the 8th day of the year.  Though hardly “proof,” this fact does make the Hisada-bon accounts of these chakai (as having actually taken place during the First Month) believable.

†In the other manuscripts, a gathering that appears to correspond to this one is listed as having taken place on the 2nd day of the Intercalated First Month.  This chakai will be considered in the post entitled Appendix:  the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki, Part 24:  (1591) Intercalated First Month,  Second Day, Evening, which will follow this one.

‡A gathering for Matsui Sado dono is mentioned in the other manuscripts on the 3rd day of the Intercalated First Month; though an atomi following that gathering is not noted.

    The chakai in question will be discussed in an upcoming post entitled Appendix:  the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki, Part 25:  (1591) Intercalated First Month,  Third Day, Morning.

**A gathering for the Shin Monju (the head monk of the Temma Hongan-ji, in Ōsaka) is said to have been given at night on the 4th day of the Intercalated First Month.

    This chakai will be described in a future post entitled Appendix:  the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki, Part 27:  (1591) Intercalated First Month,  Fourth Day, Night.

††A gathering for Ka naizen dono [加内膳殿] (Kasuya Takeyori [糟屋武則]), Funa Gorōemon [舟五郎右殿] (Funakoshi Kagenao [船越景直]), Miyagi Tōza dono [宮木藤左殿] (Miyagi Tōzaemon [宮木藤左衛門]), and Inoko sa dono [猪子左殿] (Inoko Kazutoki [猪子一時]) is listed in the other manuscripts as having been given on the 5th day of the Intercalated First Month.  This gathering was included in the Rikyū Chanoyu Sho, and described in the post entitled Rikyū Chanoyu Sho, Book 6 (Part 76):  Rikyū’s Hyaku-kai Ki, (1591) the Intercalated First Month, Fifth Day; Midday.

    The URL for the above-mentioned post is:

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/172701169418/riky%C5%AB-chanoyu-sho-book-6-part-76-riky%C5%ABs

²The time of day is not given for this chakai in the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki.  And though the Rikyū Chanoyu Sho states that it took place in the morning, the source for the editors’ assertion is unclear.

[twinky-dinky-doo]

Clutter

Character (s): Gotou Matabei, Kanbei Kuroda

Word Count: 956 

Warnings: N/A 

Notes: This was drabble prompt for domestic activities requested by @dai-rokuten-maou . It takes place before Kanbei went to gay baby jail and before Matabei had this pride crushed, but while they were with the Toyotomi. I based a part of it on this tweet

     It was the first warm day of the year and snow was long out of sight. Seeing how the colours of the bloomed Winter Cress and the orange sunrise over the horizon blended together gave kanbei enough vigour to perform a chore he had long put off; reorganizing his office. He already elected to take half the day off to enjoy the weather, so doing some simple, mindless, tasks will help the afternoon feel well spent.

    Kanbei stacked his dishes from lunch together then roared a long yawn as he stretched in the new warmth on the engawa. Sighing contently and patting his full belly. ‘Time to get to work,’ he thought to himself, walking to his office and leaving the door open to let in the breeze.

    Satisfied with the setup, Kanbei sat and surveyed his desk in near disbelief at the mess that had grown: out of date documents, books, opened envelopes, misshapen brushes, and useless ink nubs. Kanbei pressed his lips and grunted softly in his mouth. He couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed in himself for letting debris gather up, especially in a place he spends hours at every day.

    Kanbei exhaled sharply before diving into the task. He laid down a large cloth on the floor next to him and started tossing the envelopes and ink onto it. He slowly waded through the mess, pausing at the brushes to contemplate if they could be put back into shape. ‘Nah,’ he thought ‘These are easy to come by.’ and added them to the pile. After the basic trash was picked up, Kanbei set aside the books for later organization and began examining each paper to determine what was worth keeping. He had become preoccupied with letters of an old conversation between him and his father that he didn’t notice his subordinate enter his room.

    “Kanbei-san, what are you doing? Whatever it is, your mess is disgusting,” Matabei mocked, wrinkling his nose at the garbage pile on the cloth.

    “Eh?” Kanbei griped “Disgusting? That’s kinda rude. I’m just cleaning my desk. What’d you come in here for anyway? No way you came just to insult me.”

    “Nee! I can insult you if I please. I came to deliver a message, here,” Matabei explained, grabbing an envelope from his sleeve.

    “Ah, thank you.” Kanbei took the letter and opened it. As he read, Matabei took advantage of his distraction to peer curiously at the discarded papers.

    He shuffled through the heap slowly, trying to not make any noise. The last thing Matabei wanted was for Kanbei to think he had any interest in what he was doing. The mass was mostly filled with worthless scraps and letters he didn’t have the attention span to read. Matabei squinted and frowned, feeling a little foolish for his curiosity. Without realizing, he had allowed a particularly fat letter to fall on the floor.

    Matabei jumped at the soft fwap, spinning his head to see if Kanbei had heard; but he hadn’t moved an inch, still peacefully absolved in nostalgia. Matabei watched Kanbei a moment longer to make sure he stayed unaware. He sighed quietly in relief and continued his snooping. Eventually, he came across a map of a recent campaign he had taken part in; examining the markings and notions scrawled around it. It painted memories of that day, and if memory serves, Kanbei let that campaign turn fruitless.

    It had happened around the beginning of March and Kanbei was ordered to quell a small uprising in the Ukita territory. He would normally leave Matabei back in Osaka to take care of any business that may come up in his absence, but during this particular campaign, Kanbei had decided to take Matabei with him. However, Kanbei was told there would be fewer troops then was present and was outnumbered, forcing him to retreat.

    Matabei tsked in spite of himself. ‘How dare he,’ Matabei scorned in his mind, ‘Idiot probably knew how many troops there were and dragged me along just to humiliate me. Stupid! Idiot! Aho-Kan!’ In frustration he crumpled the map and threw it at Kanbei, hitting him square on the head.

    “Hey! What was that for!?” Kanbei shouted, rubbing his head even though it couldn’t possibly hurt. Matabei only scoffed and hurled more paper.

    “Stop that! You’re making more of a mess-,” Kanbei asserted, trying to block the onslaught, but was cut off by a brush hitting his nose. Kanbei grunted and covered his face.

    Matabei burst out into laughter and slapped his knee,“Ke! That’s for my pride!” he chortled.

    Kanbei grumbled, gritting his teeth but letting it pass. Though he had no idea what Matabei could be referring to, “Well, whatever. Since I’m cleaning up it’ll be a good time to burn that incense that Hanbei-san gave me. He said it’s supposed to ward off bad spirits, so let’s see.”

    Kanbei rummaged in his drawers to pull out a stick of incense and bamboo holder. He lit the end of the stick, pinching it to let it smoulder, and set it on the holder; licking the small scorch on his soft fingertips.

    Kanbei sat back and smiled at the thin smoke rising from the charring stick.

    “Ah,” he breathed, taking a deep inhale through his nose to enjoy the smell, “Hey, it’s pretty-”

    “It reeks!” Matabei interrupted “Stupid bear, your incense stinks,” he scolded, pinching his nose and waving his hand in front of his face.

    Kanbei turned to him with a quizzical look, but only saw Matabei stomp dramatically out of his room. He sat watching the empty door a moment to see if Matabei would come back. Realising he probably wasn’t, Kanbei shook his head and sighed; returning to his chore.

    “That is a weird guy.”

[jibuyo]

Few notes about Naoe Kanetsugu

Born as Higuchi Yoroku. He had two younger brothers - Yoshichi (Ōkuni Saneyori) and Yohachi (Higuchi Hidekane, who succeeded the Higuchi clan).

There are no documents that would suggest that Kanetsugu served as Uesugi Kenshin’s page or vassal. There are no documents suggesting he would serve as Kagekatsu’s page either, but that theory at least makes more sense. Uesugi Kenshin = Nagao Kagetora was of a different branch than Nagao Masakage, Kagekatsu’s father. Higuchi clan served Nagao Masakage. 

The first mention of Higuchi Yoroku is from 1580, when he was acting as Kagekatsu’s toritsugi (doing correspondence). Next year he married Osen and became Naoe Yoroku Kanetsugu. The marriage was ordered by Kagekatsu, so it is assumed Kanetsugu had to be around for some time, to be able to succeed a pretty influential Uesugi vassal’s clan. Kanetsugu was 21. 

Kanetsugu was never adopted by Naoe Kagetsuna. Kagetsuna died in 1577, Naoe Nobutsuna succeeded him, but was killed in an internal strife in 1581. 

The kanji in Kanetsugu’s name come from the Higuchi clan, not Naoe clan.

Kanetsugu is often compared to Kobayakawa Takakage or Katakura Kojūrō Kagetsuna, in terms of importance and power in administrative/clan, but there are big differences. Kojūrō was just one of many important vassals. Takakage was a relative of Terumoto and a Mōri clan’s kin. Kanetsugu held all the power in his hands and the only person above him was Kagekatsu and there was no one on the same level as him. Other clans tried giving power to someone unrelated to them, but that ended in internal riots - i.e. Shimazu, Ukita, Hori… Kanetsugu, for whatever reasons (loyalty, ability to hold power), never tried to become separate daimyo.

The reason why Kanetsugu held so much power, was because there were no relatives of Kagekatsu alive - Kagekatsu either killed them or they committed suicide during Otate no ran. His brother-in-law Jōjō Masashige (Hatakeyama Yoshiharu?) didn’t get along with Kanetsugu or Kagekatsu got angry at him, so he eloped. 

Those who were given important positions in Uesugi clan were only men from Ueda group (originally Nagao clan’s vassals Kagekatsu took with him, Kanetsugu himself was part of this group, originally) and Yoita group (Naoe’s vassals). 

While Kagekatsu was called “oyakata-sama”, Kanetsugu was called “danna” (boss, person of a high status).

Kanetsugu was really good at internal administrative and managing the fiefs. There are disputes over if he was a good general or not. The same goes for Kagekatsu.

He loved reading, he had an extensive knowledge of Chinese literature. When the Uesugi were dispatched to Korea, Kanetsugu brought back many important Chinese books.

During Yonezawa times, 1604, there was a dispute between him and his younger brother Ōkuni Saneyori (known as Yoshichi when he was young), who didn’t agree with Kanetsugu’s daughter marrying Honda Masanobu’s son, Masashige. Saneyori, who was acting as an Uesugi representative in Fushimi, apparently killed the messenger and run away to Kōya-san and didn’t return to Yonezawa until Kanetsugu died. Saneyori left his family in Yonezawa, so when Kanetsugu’s daughter died, Kanetsugu just adopted Saneyori’s daughter and married her to Naoe Katsuyoshi (Masashige). Naoe Katsuyoshi became Naoe’s heir, skipping Kanetsugu’s real son Kageaki, who was a hostage in Edo. [There are theories that one of them was supposed to become Kagekatsu’s heir, but in the end, Kagekatsu sired a son, who succeeded him. Kageaki died in 1615, Katsuyoshi/Masashige left the Naoe clan in 1611, going to serve the Maeda clan, taking many Uesugi and Naoe vassals with him helping out the Uesugi clan who were still overcoming the hard times caused by too many people, not enough money/food. After Kanetsugu’s death, the Naoe clan ceased to exist.]

In 1610, Kanetsugu changed his name to Shigemitsu. It’s assumed he took the “shige” from Masashige, the “mitsu” was again related to Higuchi clan.

There are several theories about the meaning of character “love” 愛 on top of Kanetsugu’s helmet. One of them says that it stands for Atago Gongen 愛宕権現, a bodhisattva Jizō manifested as a shintō deity and in Sengoku Jidai worshipped as a war god. This one seems to be the most credible one, because there are documents mentioning a flag that bore characters for Atago right next to Uesugi’s red circle on a white flag in Kagekatsu’s generation. There are historians that suggest that the helmet was given to Kanetsugu from the Uesugi clan. Other theories are benevolence 仁愛 and Aizen Myō'ō (Rāgarāja) 愛染明王.

[thatonekawaiigirl13]

Who Said Death Was Easy? [Death Note] Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen: Copycat

Keiko’s POV:

There were many members of the Japanese police force lying face down on the cold pavement all around Keiko. She didn’t have to try and check their pulse to realize that they were already dead.

Kira had gotten to them first, meaning that she was too late in trying to save them.

Tears were starting to form in her eyes, and she covered her mouth to try and keep from either retching or screaming. The smell of death could be quite overpowering, and she felt like she was simply about to go insane.

She closed her eyes a moment and tried to compose herself even though her heart was hammering about wildly in her chest and she could feel the pit of despair growing larger and larger in her stomach.

After a few seconds, she opened her eyes again. Now slightly calmer, she stepped carefully over the bodies as she went deeper and deeper through the darkened alleyway, hoping to find a place where the remains ended

However, no matter what, there were always more bodies appearing on the ground that she had to try and avoid stepping on. They just didn’t stop coming, and she was now a long ways down the pathway.

“Just how many people did you kill?!” she called out, “I know you’re here, Kira! Answer me, dammit!

“That does not matter. What matters is...showing you that this is what happens to those that dare to try and cross me,” the voice said from the shadows behind her. She looked back, but she saw nothing, only the darkness of the night staring back at her.

Turning back around, she then saw the familiar faces of the Task Force materializing right in front of her. There was Mr. Yagami, with his glasses and dark furrowed eyebrows, Matsuda with that stupid grin of his, Ide with his odd lack of eyebrows, Mogi with his spiky, black hair pointing out in every direction, and Aizawa, with his afro and steep eyebrows. On the very end, there was L, who had a thumb in his mouth, his raven hair was mussed up and his dark eyes were staring straight into Keiko’s.

She reached out to them, but as soon as she was within arms length of touching them, they slowly disappeared back into the night without leaving a trace.

She heard a maniacal laugh ringing throughout the alleyway, “I just got rid of one of them, that damned Ukita and they’ll be next! You know, that is, if I don’t get to you first!”

“No! We’ll catch you, together as a team, as the Task Force! I swear, I won’t rest until you’re caught and arrested!” Keiko yelled out, looking out at the night sky as she did so. However, Kira didn’t give her a proper response, instead he started to laugh again, his laughter making her cover her ears.

“I’d like to see you try!” he said after a while. Keiko crumpled down onto the ground, defeated, grasping at her heart in pain. She could quite literally feel the life draining out of her. She opened her mouth, trying to scream, but nothing came out. What else could she do? She slowly started to close her eyes, letting death overcome her.

“Keiko-chan!” a voice cried out suddenly, and she could feel herself being shaken, “Keiko-chan! Please, wake up!”

“H-huh?” Keiko’s eyes bolted open, and she could feel the sticky sweat that had formed in the shape of a puddle clinging to the back of her shirt and to her forehead. The first thing she saw was Matsuda’s face hovering just slightly right above hers. His round, dark brown eyes were full of concern.

What the…?! It was just a dream? I must have fell asleep while L was going over the video tapes...but...it felt so real. Ugh, Keiko shivered, her mind was slowly trying to switch gears back to reality, I can’t let that nightmare actually become a reality. I can’t let Kira kill me, I can’t be one of his many victims. No, I refuse to let that be my fate.

As soon as Matsuda noticed she was awake, he breathed a sigh of relief, slumping over on the couch cushion next to her, “oh thank goodness, you’re finally up. You were moving around a little and making a lot of noise in your sleep, it sounded like you were having a-”

“Nightmare,” L finished for him, glancing at Keiko, who moved so that she was now sitting up on the couch properly, “anyway, it’s a good thing Matsuda-san finally woke you up. You were starting to distract me from my work. It would’ve irritated me.”

“Ryuzaki-san!” Matsuda called out, eyeing the great detective warily, “i-it’s n-not her fault she was having a nightmare! I have to admit, I’ve been having quite a few of them myself lately...anyway, I think we should send her home. It’s late, it’s already past midnight now.”

A couple seconds of silence passed, and Keiko glanced from L to Matsuda, still trying to process what what going on. She felt pretty groggy. While she had slept, the quality of her sleep had been poor. She fought a yawn and decided that coffee would be just the thing to wake her up. Stretching a little, she stood up and headed over to the coffee machine in the corner of the hotel room.

“No,” she heard Matsuda correct as she poured herself a cup.

He was now giving L a hardened look, glaring him down, “I take that back. We should have sent her back home hours ago, after she first showed up. She was crying when she came here, she was in no state to help us.”

“Are you quite done with your theatrics, Matsuda-san? I’m trying to work here,” L questioned darkly, glancing up from his papers to look over at Matsuda. He looked rather irritated that he was still being interrupted from his work. Clearly the last thing he wanted to do right then was to listen to Matsuda’s grumbling.

“No..I’m not...listen, Ryuzaki-san,” Matsuda continued, “it’s clear that she’s having a tough time right now, and she’s just a kid. Don’t you think she should have more of a break?! You’ve been pushing her pretty hard, even making her spy on Light while she’s supposed to be just on regular dates with him! It has to be rough on her, considering that her boyfriend is your primary suspect. And after what happened earlier tonight, well, as I said, you should have sent her home. She clearly isn’t ready to come back to the Task Force yet, it’s draining her.”

“Matsuda-san, you idiot. You’re talking like I’m the one who's responsible for her,” L responded, glancing over at Keiko. She could see a yet another quick flicker of annoyance cross his face, “do I look like her mother? Anyway, I clearly told her the very first day I met up with her that she would be able to come and go as she pleased. Therefore, it’s up to her, not up to me. She came back today on her own accord, and while her interruption earlier was rather abrupt, Keiko-”

“Keiko is right here and she can hear you two, you know,” Keiko interrupted irritability after taking a sip of her coffee and realizing they were talking about her, “Ryuzaki’s right though, Matsuda-san. I’m here because I want to be here. While I admit that living a double life is hard, there’s no other way I’d have it. I can’t just sit still, not when I now have the chance to help you guys out. Please have faith in me and understand, I want to...no...I have to prove myself and make my father in heaven proud. I have to prove that I’m not just a ‘kid’, like you say I am.”

If my father were alive, even though I didn’t really have a chance to get to know him that well, considering he was always traveling around for cases and I was fairly young when he died, I have a feeling that he would want me to investigate this case. After all, my mother says I get my sense of justice from him. Matsuda has to understand that I can’t step down now! I have to survive until the end, until justice is finally served!

Matsuda sighed, running a hand through his already mussed hair, “But Keiko-chan, you’re the youngest one here, it might be a bit too much for you. U-Ukita-san just...well..you know...and this case, I suspect that it will only get worse from here on out...look at how it’s starting to affect yo-”

“Mind your own business, and don’t be stupid, Matsuda-san! I’ll be fine,” Keiko snapped out. She then frowned, feeling instant regret for how agitated she just sounded. The investigation had apparently been wearing her down more than she realized.

Dammit…the last thing I want to do is make him feel bad, L already does a good enough job of that. He only means well.

She then spoke softer, but was still determined in her response, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you, I know you only mean well, you always do...but please, don’t worry about me. Besides, even if I’m the youngest one here, I’m not the only one who is having a hard time. What about you and the rest of the Task Force, especially Yagami-san? Light may be my boyfriend, but that’s his son that is under the most suspicion right now.”

“She has a point you know. It’s not just her that’s going through a hard time right now. I think the Chief is having a pretty difficult time himself considering he already worked himself into a heart attack...therefore, Matsuda-san, I’m sure Kagami-san knows and understands the dangers of this investigation,” L commented, no longer bothering to look up from his computer screen, “and she already said that she wants to be here, no, that she is determined to be here. So just let her be. No matter what, there’s a one hundred percent chance you won’t be able to change her mind.”

Matsuda opened his mouth to speak, but he decided against it when he saw Keiko looking rather fiercely in his general direction as she sipped her coffee. He just sighed, giving into defeat.

“Thank, you, Ryuzaki-san,” Keiko muttered, realizing she had just won with Ryuzaki’s help. She moved closer to where he sat in his chair, getting a closer look at the raven haired detective.

“There’s no reason to thank me,” L replied, his eyes still glued to the screen despite her close proximity, “I didn’t do anything spectacular. All I did was state the truth of the matter.”

“I guess so,” Keiko started, throwing away the paper coffee cup in a trash can nearby his desk. She then took a good look around the room, “anyway, why is it just us here? Where are the others?”

“Well, Mogi-san is at the police station. Chief Yagami decided that it would be best that, unless Ryuzaki-san has a meeting that he wants us all present for, we should have someone at the station at all times, just in case,” Matsuda explained, “as far as the rest, they went back to the station as well for a bit, as they had to sort out some official business with the higher ups because Uk-Uki...well they should be coming back shortly.”

“Like right about now,” L announced, looking over at the door.

Keiko glanced behind her, watching as the door slowly opened, revealing a tired looking Mr. Yagami, with Ide and Aizawa trailing behind him.

“Did we miss anything?” the chief questions, walking over to where Ryuzaki was sitting.

“No, on the contrary, you’re right on time,” L responded, holding up one of the tapes, “I’ve just finished reviewing the tapes...they were definitely interesting.”

The rest of the Task Force gathered around L, watching him as he set the tapes on the desk out in front of him, “you see, if the police had said yes, and cooperated with Kira, then tape number three was supposed to be aired. If the answer was no, then tape four. Tape three details the conditions for cooperation, quite simply, he is requesting that we broadcast the names of more criminals every night on the news. He seemed particularly interested in criminals that have assaulted others, criminals who have hurt or taken advantage of the weak and defenseless. Of course, Kira would play the role of a judge in all of this. Furthermore, as proof of the police’s cooperation, he wanted the police force and L, myself, to appear on T.V. and announce to the world that they sided with Kira.”

“What about the contents of tape four, if we had said no?” Mr. Yagami questioned.

L held up the tape, “well, it was more or less the same thing, just a different wording.”

“So bottom line was, he wanted you guys to show your faces on T.V…,” Keiko replied.

Interesting indeed...this definitely proves that Kira at least needs a face to kill someone...but how about a name…? Come to think of it, Ukita-san didn’t have his real name on him when he died, all the policemen have been carrying fake badges around with them...looking at all the past suspects, Kira has needed both a name and a face, how come that suddenly changed? And these video tapes aren’t characteristic of Kira at all either...

The sound of L’s voice interrupted Keiko from her thoughts, “yes, it would appear that way. He needs our faces to kill us in case we were to anything suspicious, so in other words, he would be holding our lives as insurance if we had said yes.”

“That’s just sick,” Matsuda muttered, earning him the stares of everyone else in the room, “what? It’s true, I’m just the only one vocalizing it.”

L pointedly continued on, “Yagami-san, it should go without saying that the answer is no. Please, give Sakura T.V. the okay to play tape number four tomorrow on the news. Oh, and Watari-san? Please get me some cake...”

How could he even think about cake even at a time like this? Keiko wondered, giving him a strange look.

“What?” L questioned, “I can have Watari get you a slice of cake as well, all you have to do is ask...if that’s why you’re staring at me.”

Keiko just shook her head, “no thank you.”

A few minutes and a slice of cake later, L turned on one of the T.V.’s in the hotel room, popping in the fourth video tape to show the rest of the Task Force, “I think that it is unfortunate that your answer is no. It is clear that the police wish to oppose me. This will not go unpunished. So I will start by taking the life of either the director general of the National Police Association or the detective known as L who is currently leading the investigation against me. The director general or L? Who will pay the price for your refusal to cooperate with me? You have four days to decide.”

With that, the tape ended, going to static. L turned off the T.V. and faced the Task Force.

“Given the options, I would think that the top police officials of all the nations would probably rather have me appear on T.V. rather than you, Chief Yagami. That would be the most reasonable and right choice,” L said, taking a bite of the strawberry cake in front of him, “well, we still have four days before before it happens. Perhaps we can find some countermeasure...I mean, after all this, it would really annoy me if I am killed by the first person to jump on the Kira bandwagon.”

“Ryuzaki-san, what exactly do you mean by that?” Light’s father asked, leaning forward closer towards L.

“I mean that there is a strong possibility that this Kira is a fake...no we should think of him more as a second Kira,” L calmly replied.

“A-a second Kira?” Matsuda furrowed his eyebrows, and Keiko could hear the collective gasps from the rest of the people in the room.

A second Kira…? Looking at the evidence, that could definitely be a possibility. It even makes a lot of sense.

“I don’t understand,” Aizawa commented, “why do you think that there’s a copycat Kira? Please explain it to us.”

Keiko jumped in, “I agree with Ryuzaki-san...let’s see...first of all there’s the fact that this whole broadcast was very unlike Kira, the Kira we have been searching for up until this point didn’t seem like someone who would pull a stunt like this, he even killed innocent people, which goes against his ideals.” She swallowed hard, “also, this Kira didn’t need Ukita-san’s real name in order to kill him,” Keiko finished, earning her a smirk from L.

“She has a point, a very good point. There is a strong possibility that this Kira may only need a face to kill someone, which pokes a hole in the theory that Kira needs both a name and a face to kill someone, which had been the pattern up until this point, indicating the chance of a second Kira,” L replied, “beyond that, I looked at the victims he used for his predictions on tape number one. Their purpose was to prove to Sakura T.V.’s staff that he is Kira. Both of the victims were only reported in tabloids and daytime talk shows, so they weren’t exactly hardened criminals. The real Kira has no need to prove himself using such insignificant criminals, but in the second Kira’s views, he wanted to make absolutely certain that he didn’t predict the death of a criminal that the original Kira might end up killing first.”

“Hmm...Ryuzaki-san, if you had to put a number on it...what are the chances that there is a second Kira?” Mr. Yagami asked, adjusting his glasses.

“I’d say it’s...more than seventy percent. I really don’t like the way he operates. As Kagami-san said, it’s not like Kira. Aside from killing those who were going after him, he has stayed away from killing the innocent. Anyway, if we can capture one of the Kiras, I think that we will gather a lot of insight as to how to catch the other one.”

L paused for a few moments, letting his words sink in before he continued on again, “Chief Yagami, I mentioned before that I was thinking of adding your son to the Task Force. I think that this would be the perfect time to do so. Therefore, may I ask your son to cooperate in this investigation? Oh, and Kagami-san, is this okay with you as well?”

Before Keiko could answer, the Chief looked over at Ryuzaki, “if you want my son to join the Task Force, does this mean that he has finally been cleared of suspicion?”

“Well...I can’t say that he’s been completely cleared, but to be honest, I could use his deductive skills.”

“If Light-kun wants to join, then so be it. It’s fine with me, and that means I no longer have to lie to him or spy on him for you. That would be some good news for me,” Keiko responded, looking at Light’s father, “unless you disagree with adding him?”

“No, no. I agree with you. Ryuzaki-san, if my son wants to cooperate with you, then I have no reason to stop you.”

“Good, good. However, please, neither of you tell him that this latest Kira might be a fake. I don’t want him to know that yet,” L said, polishing off the last of his cake and pushing the empty plate forward on the table, “I want to make it appear to him that we are still chasing after one Kira. Is that understood?”

“Yes, of course,” Mr. Yagami replied, and Keiko nodded, the wheels in her head were turning as she tried to figure out what L was thinking.

This has to be some sort of test...he must want to see what Light is going to conclude from all this. Seeing as he still suspects Light, if Light answers in a way that is suspicious to L, that could end up with L suspecting him even more...however, I still think that there’s not a big enough possibility that my boyfriend is Kira, so it should be fine...and if Light joins, I will no longer have to lie to him, and that’ll mean I will get to see him more, which is another plus! I think, ultimately, adding Light to this investigation will end up being a good thing. Hopefully, at least. Only time will tell.

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Fourteen

[secretshinigami]

Wishful Thinking

Author: @silvia-aivlis For: @abbadon-abandon Characters / Pairings: Light Yagami & L Lawliet; Ryuk Rating / Warnings: Teen and Up; Major Character Death Prompt: Light and L in an AU where Light works as a cop for L Summary: Old identity: Light Yagami, 18, college student, Kira suspect under surveillance. New identity: Light Yagami, 23, NPA detective, sworn member of L’s Kira Investigation Task Force. Light is in love with this new world. It ends in nothing. Author’s notes after the end.

It can’t get any better.

He wouldn’t say this had not been unsettling, but now he was getting used to this slightly taller and stronger body. It was starting to feel natural. It was still his own body. Just taller and stronger. Better. And from everything he had gathered so far, his situation here was also much better than in his original world.

Not that he wouldn’t try his best (and eventually succeed) if he ever returned to his original world. But he had found no way to return (nor even to explain this sudden overhaul) so far, and he was not one to object to favourable circumstances. He can do this, he assured himself. He can.

All was great. Except, perhaps, for the gun that was currently pointed to the right of his brain.

Calm down. Do not panic. Think of the fact that not even this is worse than your old world. Light Yagami remembered the day Soichiro Yagami had pointed a gun at his own son, and smiled sardonically. Yes, if he was able deal with that, he could deal with this.

The bullet from his father’s gun had turned out to be blank. As for this one, well, it would not even fire. He was going to make sure of that.

‘Watari-san,’ he greeted, making sure neither his voice nor arms trembled. ‘And Ryuzaki is here as well. I assume this is your order, then.’

He watched ‘Ryuzaki’ enter the room like a leopard, quiet, lethality concealed under a casual hunch. He glanced at the digital equipment in the room (nothing was out of the line) before resuming his gaze on Light.

Or not Light.

‘Ryuzaki’, or rather, L, the best detective in the world, did not beat around the bush. ‘You are not Light-san. I’d like to know where the real Light Yagami is.’

‘What are you talking about, Ryuzaki? I am Light Yagami.’ The cylindrical metal on his skin felt more distinct, as was his accelerating heartbeat. Perhaps it should not have surprised him that Ryuzaki would figure out something was amiss in two days. The detective was proficient when he put his mind into it.

And perhaps pretending was not the best strategy. It would be extremely easy to see through his bluff in a prolonged interrogation. Ryuzaki only needed to know what to ask…

‘When we first met, I talked to each of you individually to ascertain that none of you are Kira. What did you and I talk about?’

Time to change tack. ‘Let me rephrase.’ Light drew a deep breath. ‘I’m not the Light Yagami you’re familiar with, but I am Light Yagami nonetheless. I can’t say I understand all that has happened myself, but you can say that I’m Light Yagami from a parallel universe.’

Light registered Ryuzaki’s surprise — veiled but still discernible from his eyes widening — and Watari’s complete lack of reaction, and internally applauded the older man’s composure. Was that a lack of fear? Lack of belief in Light’s tale? Or lack of concern whatsoever? The gun did not move one inch closer or further from his head.

Light turned his attention back to Ryuzaki. He told Ryuzaki as much truth as he could afford. That he was eighteen-year-old Light Yagami keeping a close eye on the supremely unusual Kira case, and then he woke up one day as twenty-three-year-old Light Yagami being an actual NPA detective, working with L and select colleagues at the very mystery. That was two days ago.

‘I don’t know why the world changed overnight, but the truth is there’s nothing I can do about that. I’ve tried, but there isn’t any clue. And frankly, I don’t mind if my only option is to live my best in this world. There aren’t too many differences between the two worlds, but so far the changes in this world are for the better.’

There he felt it again, the excitement about this unknown yet appealing world. Even Watari’s unmoving gun seemed less frightening as he envisioned what he could do here. In this new world.

Ryuzaki had remained stoic and speculative since recovering from the initial shock. He did not react as Light gushed on about the ‘better’ things in this universe.

‘To be able to finally join the NPA officially and tackle a case with such wide-reaching impact… It’s a great honour. Exceedingly so, and I’m so glad I can finally contribute officially, instead of just watching my father drown himself in work and risk his life every day…

‘And Misora-san and Ukita-san.’

As Light expected, this strategic pause successfully piqued Ryuzaki’s curiosity. Ryuzaki’s gaze bored into Light’s, but Light did not budge. How many would dare to initiate a staring match when one word from the opponent’s mouth could trigger the gun at his brain? Sometimes his boldness surprised even himself. It was unexpectedly… thrilling.

‘Pray tell. What of Misora-san and Ukita-san?’ Ryuzaki was calm, as if he had not just yielded to his own captive’s wish by asking. But perhaps he was just confident that this battle would not cost him the war.

‘They are alive here, and both working with us. In my world, Ukita-san was killed during the Second Kira’s first Sakura TV broadcast, and Misora-san vanished without a trace, and was presumed dead.’

Ryuzaki remarked coolly, ‘Are you suggesting that they’re both alive in this world just because you’re five years older?’ There was a hint of amusement in his voice.

‘No, please don’t misunderstand. I’m just saying that it gives me hope. The side of justice managed to save two more lives from Kira. Even if Kira is still at large, this is still very encouraging. I just feel that I could do so much more here!’

Light mustered all sincerity he could convey in his eyes, willed Ryuzaki to get it. Could he get it? That man’s eyes were often a black hole sucking in all and refusing to reciprocate.

Ryuzaki took a step towards Light, his two hands languidly finding their way into jean pockets. ‘If this world is filling you with hope, I wonder if your world is filling our Light-san with dread. Is he feeling frustrated, trapped in the body of his eighteen-year-old college freshman self and a slightly grimmer universe? Or perhaps he hasn’t gone to your world, but has simply… gone?’ Ryuzaki’s eyes began assessing every inch of Light’s face again, intense as if daring Light to lie. ‘Assuming you’re telling the truth, you wouldn’t know where he is, would you?’ He sounded almost… concerned.

Light wondered about the relationship between his parallel self and Ryuzaki. Before the gun, Light would say Ryuzaki did not seem much different than his counterpart.

Then he suddenly remembered the first day — or rather, the first hour — he found himself in this new body and new world, when Ryuzaki greeted him from a mouthful of donut. Hadn’t the detective sounded a little less probing and more friendly than he had remembered?

He thought it was a nervousness-induced illusion, and as the overt friendliness never reappeared, he assumed he had been right. Now he rethought it, he had probably given the wrong reaction and sparked Ryuzaki’s suspicion at that very moment.

Ryuzaki was still gazing at Light, waiting for an answer. Well, Light did not wish ill upon his counterpart, but honestly, there was nothing he can say about it at the moment.

‘I don’t know where he’s gone to. I’m sorry, Ryuzaki.’

There was a moment of silence. Light discreetly observed, pondering the existence of an unironical friendship between Light Yagami and Ryuzaki, L…

‘… Assuming you’re telling the truth, no one can say it is your fault.’ Ryuzaki finally conceded, eyes still speculative but his tone softening just a little.

Light found his breath again when Ryuzaki signalled Watari to withdraw his gun and bow out of the room. Looking too hopeful would be looking like a fool, so he opted for a resolute look when he raised his head again.

L pulled a chair and settled into his usual frog-like posture opposite Light. Light wondered if that would be the very last thing to change in any parallel universe.

‘Your testimony is interesting though difficult to prove or disprove. Even to the best detective in the world, parallel universes are something new. But perhaps a more productive step to take is to ascertain that you’re not Kira. Let’s begin your own individual talk with me.’

Light blinked.

His legs were ready to jump up and he wanted to exclaim in celebration, but he checked himself to appear calm and proper. Only the spark in his eyes disclosed his excitement at Ryuzaki’s announcement.

This was indeed such a better world. This was what should have happened all along. Something to prove his innocence, that was actually achievable.

He liked this Ryuzaki already.

He decided that this Ryuzaki did not need to know he was a Kira suspect back in his old world.

His new life had started. Let bygone be bygone.

***

Another thing different about this universe were the dates. Kira started in spring instead of winter here, the killings usually occurred once or twice a week, and the Yotsuba Group, on which Light had been keeping tabs back then, had not done anything suspicious to warrant further investigation yet. In fact, the Second Kira in this universe did not emerge until the end of June.

The only constant seemed to be Ryuzaki insisting that the team move into his specially built, unreasonably large investigation headquarters on the first of August, so as July reached its end, everyone in the Task Force had to multitask moving preparations and the search for Second Kira in Aoyama.

‘Why shouldn’t I go to Aoyama? Didn’t all of us agree that I’m suited for this mission?’

‘Yeah, Light-kun has a keen eye for the Second Kira! For one, I’m still alive thanks to him swiftly picking up the fact that they can kill with just a face!’ Ukita offered his support to Light. ‘Maybe he’d be able to spot the Second Kira in Aoyama!’

‘Yes, Light-san did excellently during the Sakura TV broadcast. That’s exactly why I’d like him to be back support this time. As long as every individual from the frontline reports information promptly, the back will be able to obtain comprehensive information more quickly than the front and make the best decision for everyone. That’s part of why I’m always at the back, myself.’

Ryuzaki left for the pantry area, signalling no room for objection.

Light did not try to argue and even helped (not like Ryuzaki even had the intention to do so) to pacify Ukita and Matsuda, who still wanted Light in the Aoyama mission.

But today was his shift to stay behind at night, and he was not going to waste the opportunity.

‘I don’t buy your explanation in the afternoon. Do you refuse to let me go to Aoyama because you don’t trust my abilities?’

‘No,’ Ryuzaki said quickly. ‘And why don’t you “buy” my explanation?’

‘There may be truth in what you said, about you finding it beneficial to have all information.’ Light carefully treaded the line between forthrightness and incivility. ‘… But you don’t seem to find it important for anyone that’s not you to have that information. When you assign video feeds for inspection, you’re always the only one to watch all of them. No matter how “excellently” I did during the Sakura TV broadcast, it doesn’t seem enough to warrant your trust.’ He took a deep breath and added with just a little more force, ‘I think you didn’t allow me to go to Aoyama because you don’t trust me. Do you think I’m incapable for this mission?’

Ryuzaki did not answer immediately. Taking a large bite of strawberry shortcake, he turned to look at Light, curious. ‘Did you know me back in your world?’

Light’s heart skipped a beat at the abrupt question. But he had been careful to stick to information that he could obtain here, so there was no real threat. Don’t fret. Be as relaxed as possible. ‘Well… I just knew L from the Lind L Taylor broadcast on TV… which also appeared here, correct?’ Ryuzaki nodded. Relax. Jest a little. ‘Did you also shout “I’m justice” for the entire Kanto area to hear as well? That was a feat, wasn’t it?’

Ryuzaki did not even blink. ‘Justice will prevail.’ He replied neutrally.

Be natural. ‘… Anyway, why did you ask?’

‘… Because your characterisation of me is fairly accurate.’ Ryuzaki turned to his plate, holding his fork with two fingers to fiddle with the last strawberry. ‘Though I did distribute the video feeds like you said the past few days.’

‘Well, yes. Now I have answered your question. Can you answer mine?’

‘I have another question.’ This made Light frown. ‘You were not the one who averted Ukita’s death. What makes you think that you should be treated exactly like your more experienced but now lost counterpart?’

‘So not only don’t you trust Light Yagami, you especially don’t trust this Light Yagami.’ Said Light Yagami sighed dramatically. ‘You do have a point, I am less experienced and less trained. I’m not insisting that I should go to Aoyama, but I thought I could at least be useful in some way, since you took the pains to induct me to the team instead of kicking me out, after all… What?’

Instead of lifting up his plate like a decent human being, Ryuzaki bowed down and stuck his tongue out, licking the crumbs on the plate like a dog and showing every sign of boredom. Light rolled his eyes.

‘I’m bored.’ Raising its head, the dog dared to announce. ‘Snooker?’

‘Snooker?’ Light repeated neutrally, unsure why Ryuzaki was asking. He was even more perplexed when two exceptionally ugly masks were pulled out from a cabinet.

‘Snooker,’ Ryuzaki murmured serenely. Then all movement halted as he took in Light’s rising intonation. ‘Snooker… unless… you don’t play?’

‘… I know the basics.’ Light replied, but he got the idea that this was not the answer Ryuzaki hoped for.

He knew he was right when Ryuzaki made his most scandalised face since meeting the 18-year-old Light Yagami.

‘I assume we’ve discovered another difference between my old world and this world.’

Ryuzaki stared at the ceiling, his mouth agape, and made no reply.

‘Is it really that shocking? You look like you’ve gone bankrupt. And I know you’re dirt rich.’ Still no response. ‘… Do you play tennis? I don’t know if there’s a tennis court around here… but maybe we can find an afternoon for a few rounds… if you play at all.’

‘I want to play snooker. Now.’ Ryuzaki whined.

Light sighed even more dramatically than before. ‘It’s not like I don’t want to play. Just that you’re probably way more skilful than me that you’d probably be bored anyway. What’s more, we’re supposed to be on guard… What again?’

Ryuzaki was grabbing Light’s wrist with a firm hold, and Light found that very disconcerting.

‘We don’t have to leave the hotel. Watari will inform us of anything worth mentioning.’

***

The mask had, for some reason, three red ugly faces, and was therefore much larger than necessary, even covering part of his ears. Light peered at his cue through the eye holes of the middle face, and waited for his turn.

The other mask in the hotel’s snooker room had only one face, but Light could not determine whether it was of a woman turning into a skeleton or a skeleton masquerading as a woman.

When asked where he had found these monstrosities, the other mask bearer replied cheekily, ‘Aren’t they fun?’

The hideousness of the masks did not bother Ryuzaki as he methodically hit ball after ball into pockets. Red, colour, red, colour. As expected, Ryuzaki was an excellent player. Even with a generous handicap, he still managed to beat Light with a considerable margin for three consecutive frames.

At least Light was getting better. He was a fast learner, after all.

‘Were you close with, um… the Light Asahi I don’t know?’

Light was given in a second’s full view of the skeleton-woman mask before Ryuzaki turned again to the table and bent over for his next shot.

‘… He was an exceptional snooker player, very elegant.’

Light could not figure out whether being ‘elegant’ was a compliment in Ryuzaki’s standards.

‘Why ask?’

‘Just curious.’ Light hesitated, but curiosity won. ‘Do you miss him?’

In the old world, Ryuzaki had called him ‘his first friend’, and if true, old Ryuzaki had a very peculiar way of treating friendship. But this Ryuzaki, while not that different from the old one, had always been a bit friendlier to him after ensuring he was neither Kira nor old Light’s kidnapper. Light supposed he could feel sorry for this Ryuzaki, if his appearance had indeed cost him his only friend.

Not that he could bring the old Light back. There was nothing he could do about that, but if needed, he could try and be a good friend for this Ryuzaki. Together (and with everyone in the Task Force, too) they would catch Kira and make this new world an ever better place than it already is. He would get better at snooker, and perhaps get new Ryuzaki to try tennis as well.

‘Do I miss him…’ Ryuzaki was still thinking even as he stepped away from the snooker table, letting Light take his turn. ‘The thing I disliked the most about him was that he always sided with his father whenever we disagreed.’

Light had little time to ponder on this abrupt change of topic before Ryuzaki delivered another punch:

‘Not that I expect much to change now. You’re still wearing the watch Asahi-san gave you every day.’

‘… You two do seem close, if you know about the watch.’

‘Omega speedmaster, also named “Moonwatch”. Quite a well-chosen gift, of course.’

‘… Circumstances considered, it shouldn’t be too surprising that I’m rather attached to the gift I received just after entering university. Anyway, I’m glad the other Asahi father and son were also on good terms…’

He considered whether he should add in a word of being a good son to his new father as well, but now that Light had sent the last ball to the pocket, Ryuzaki’s attention was already on the score board.

Thus Light saw no need to trouble him with the mystery that he had not been able to take the watch off ever since he arrived in the new world, and that he strongly suspected the watch to have travelled to this world with him.

He was careful not to let his large three-faced mask bump into Ryuzaki as he checked the score board himself. ‘Oh — oops, sorry…’ The mask scratched Ryuzaki’s shoulder as Light jolted in surprise, but no complaint came from the skeleton-woman mask. ‘… I won.’

‘Yes. In your fourth frame.’

‘Well, by one point and with handicap.’

‘Yes. But still impressive.’ Ryuzaki’s expression was masked, but Light was pleasantly surprised that he did sound impressed. ‘As I’ve always believed, talent is more important than training.’ He mistook Light’s stillness as need for elaboration, and added, ‘The world’s best three detectives were all self-trained, for example.’

‘This is still about whether I’ve been trained or not?’ Light asked, incredulous. ‘But you’re changing your tune… But you’ve always believed? Wait… How long have you been planning to say this?!’

‘Since you won the frame.’

‘Then why did you criticise me for being inexperienced?’

‘I didn’t criticise, I just asked out of curiosity. I don’t see someone with as much confidence in talent as me every day.’

‘But…’

‘But I still advise against you going to Aoyama in this case. I want to focus on finding the Second Kira and don’t want to deal with the consequence of any potential difference between two parallel universes along the way. Better wait until you’re more informed about this world.’

‘… I got it. Really.’ Light suddenly wished they weren’t wearing masks to protect their faces from the hotel’s security cameras. He wanted to see for certain the concern he thought he heard from Ryuzaki so as to justify the warmth he felt at heart.

He liked his new world so much.

***

Light Yagami had been an important asset to the police force. Now he was an important asset to the police force and the Kira Task Force. His deduction skills were so impressive that Naomi Misora said he reminded him of L. Ryuzaki looked slightly disgruntled at the comment, but Light positively beamed.

This almost made him forget the apprehension creeping up as the Kira investigation stumbled.

‘On the up side, Kira has stopped killing.’

‘On the down side, that wasn’t because of our doing, Matsuda-san. And judging from the nature of the extremely scattered heart attacks recently, the Second Kira hasn’t given up — even if the First Kira has stopped.’

‘And the First Kira stopping now means that we’ll have fewer chances to gain new clues on them. Not that clues have been forthcoming from the get-go, but still.’ Light supposed it would be best that he bring up the point himself. ‘And since Kira had always worked on an irregular schedule, we can’t even pin down the exact date they stopped. We can only surmise that they’ve really stopped because of their unusually long silence.’

‘I thought that’s because the First Kira is letting the Second Kira do their biddings?’

‘Those being killed aren’t the First Kira’s usual victims. The Second Kira may not be following any orders.’

‘Or they’re following an order to appear not to be following any order.’

‘Is it possible that the First Kira is simply saving up for the next big strike?’ Aizawa asked.

‘We shouldn’t rule out any possibility,’ Ryuzaki replied grimly.

Only Light knew of the permissible possibility that the First Kira might have stopped after Light entered his new world. Or after the ‘old’ Light Yagami left this world.He intended to be the only one who knew of this.

If worse came to worse, Light could certainly argue that he was a different Light. But he would not let it come to worse. He would not risk raising Ryuzaki’s suspicion again, not when this all hit too close to what had occurred in his old world — which it was all the more necessary to keep a secret now than ever.

Light needed progress. He needed to find Kira — First or Second did not matter — in this new world. And if what he had learnt in the old one could help him make this world a better one, he would use it.

***

Light’s hands trembled as he flipped through multiple reports to double check every cross reference. The sea of paper extended but he never lost his bearing. One fact connected to another and then to another.

He sprang after a tortuous round of triple checking, unable to withhold excitement any longer. A short dash was enough to bring him to Ryuzaki’s location.

Ryuzaki was shoving M&M’s into his mouth when Light arrived. His hand looked smaller than usual when compared to the bowl of chocolate beans that it was clawing into.

Light rolled his eyes but refrained from further reaction. I’ve just known L ‘Ryuzaki’ for three weeks and shouldn’t be showing annoyance that accumulated over more than three months, he reminded himself.

Still, he could probably afford to voice his opinion in this new world. ‘As the leader of our investigation team, don’t you think you ought to behave a bit more… properly?’

Ryuzaki looked at him as though he had just told a dumb joke. Maybe he did thought he had told a dumb joke. Ryuzaki had been clear about his priorities, after all. ‘Yeah yeah yeah, actual talent is what matters the most and other things don’t worth a cent to you.’

‘If you already anticipated my response, there was no point in complaining, unless just to make yourself feel better.’

‘Maybe it does make me feel better,’ Light murmured, more to himself. Then he added, a bit more loudly, ‘And you’re just eating more and more junk food these days. At this rate, we wouldn’t be able to verify whether it was Kira’s doing if you died of heart attack.’

A smile. ‘I must avoid being killed by Kira, then. This is to keep myself from getting bored.’ Another shovel of M&M’s. ‘Things are a bit too quiet when the First Kira is lying low.’

‘Both Kiras need to be caught. And closing in on the Second may lead us to the First.’

‘That’s what I hope. The First Kira is definitely the big fish.’

Ryuzaki sounded excited and Light humphed. ‘You sound like you’re just after Kira for fun.’

‘Just like you’re just after Kira because you’re a cop.’

Light almost gawked. ‘Your meaning being? I couldn’t be after Kira if I wasn’t a cop. I knew this from my old world.’

‘I mean that you’re not really upset that criminals are getting killed. You’re just upset that Kira is also a criminal.’ Ryuzaki did not elaborate.

Light stood still and stared, his thoughts too busy to remember what he had come here for. But he recovered as soon as Ryuzaki snatched Light’s files with his hand still greasy with M&M coating and began reading himself. ‘I’ve pinned down where the hair, powder and fabric on Second Kira’s envelope to Sakura TV came from.’ Light reported quickly.

‘Misa Amane?’ Ryuzaki peered at the young model grinning and posing slightly seductively in a photo. Then he raised a very thin eyebrow. ‘Well, let’s hope this gets us to the big fish.’

Very slowly, Light smiled.

***

As they waited for Amane being brought to the investigation headquarters, Light found himself recollecting a memory from his old world — His father was brought to hospital due to a heart attack — A misfortune that had not happened in this new world, probably because of his adult son’s extra assistance at work (yet another reason this world was incredible and must be protected at all cost) — Then his father — his old father — said that Kira was unfortunate to have possessed the ability to kill.

Considering how removed Light now felt from that world, old Soichiro Yagami’s voice rang exceptionally clear in his mind.

He could even feel it still, the intense displeasure upon hearing this comment. But that was such a long time and an entire world ago, so he could not remember why this angered him so. He just thought of it again after Ryuzaki said he did not mind criminals being killed by Kira.

Why did he not like the notion of Kira being unfortunate?

‘While I do think the criminals targeted by the First Kira are pretty worthless, it’s just that I do not condone criminals. As you said, Kira is also a criminal.’

If Ryuzaki was startled by the choice of topic, he did not show it. Not moving any part of his body except the eyes, he glanced at Light and then glanced around to make sure everyone else was occupied, before replying in a low voice, ‘Thanks for the confirmation. Glad to know I’m right.’

‘Ha, ha,’ Light’s laughter was dry and hollow. ‘I can’t even identify if that’s sarcasm or completely sincere.’

‘That’s completely sincere.’

‘Ha, ha. As long as you know the main point is that I do not condone criminals.’ Was he hoping that the sudden boldness would prevent Ryuzaki from ever suspecting him being Kira? This move made him slightly uncomfortable and yet giddy at the same time. The adrenaline was even making him facetious. ‘Now it’s your turn. Just confess that you’re not doing detective work out of a sense of justice.’

‘I’m not doing detective work out of a sense of justice.’ The reply was so quick that Light glared. Ryuzaki took a bite of cupcake and continued in what should not have been such a calm and matter-of-fact tone, ‘It’s a hobby to keep boredom away. But I’m so good at it, I’ve become justice in the process.’

Light glared more, but then he smirked and a wicked glint sparked in his eyes. ‘I really want to let the world know that the great detective L isn’t even trying to do the world good. You should hold another broadcast about it, Lind L Taylor style.’

L raised an index finger and shook it before Light’s nose. ‘Wrong. Didn’t I say I’ve become justice? I’m justice. I am, ergo the world is done good to.’

‘You’re hopeless,’ Light tried so hard not to snicker too loudly that he eventually had to catch his breath. ‘But… but… but… as long as you don’t judge me for thinking low of Kira’s victims, I won’t judge you for treating all this as a game.’

Ryuzaki’s reply was locking his eyes with Light’s and exchanging a mischievous, knowing smirk.

Light was still smiling by the time Watari announced the arrest of Misa Amane and the arrival of evidence gathered from her apartment. He was happy with where his conversation with Ryuzaki had ended. It really was astounding how much not being a Kira suspect had improved their relationship and understanding of each other.

This is the way to go. Light felt more certain than ever. He would achieve everything he could and more that he could not achieve back in the old world. And he would keep on achieving more. Take full use of what already is better here to create an even perfect world.

When the items collected from Misa Amane’s apartment arrived at the headquarters, Light picked up a black notebook.

***

The roof of the headquarters building seldom had visitors, especially now when construction work was ongoing beside the helicopter parking lots. Most of the Task Force did not understand why Ryuzaki suddenly wanted to build a tennis court. Light just smiled when he heard the news.

And now he was taking advantage of this desertedness.

He watched the flying creature land before him, folding its large wings behind its back. Funny, because the wings were definitely black in his eyes, though everyone else, Ryuzaki and the rest of the Task Force, seemed to see them as white. ‘… Must I call you “Rem” in this world?’ he was cautious, not sure whether to immediately point out or ask about the wings’ colour.

‘… If not “Rem”, what name do you propose?’ The shinigami seemed a bit bored. It took out and ate a shrivelled fruit that looked like an apple-pepper hybrid, which did not seem to improve its mood.

But the sight of the fruit proved something useful for Light. ‘Oh, had Misa not fed you enough apples from the human world? Don’t worry, I’ll give you plenty.’ He smirked. ‘Take them as my goodwill. And to answer your question, how do you think about the name “Ryuk”?’

The undeniably dark shinigami (which looked white to other people) widened its mouth and showed Light what probably was intended to be a grin, though even Light thought it appeared more creepy than goofy. ‘So you saw through me. Again.’

He rarely ever saw through anyone else, but he always saw through Ryuk because he no longer attached anything to it.

Light raised an eyebrow. He observed Ryuk more closely than before, almost counting each feather attached to the shinigami, and asked tentatively, ‘… Could it be … Are you from the old world as well?’

‘You mean the world where you lost your memories after the Amane girl was caught, not before? “Old world”, huh.’ Ryuk said dully.

It took Light a while to recover his speech ability. Then too many questions fought to be asked that he did not know which to say first. In the end he opted for a comment. ‘So you’ve taken up Rem’s role here. Is that why everyone else sees you as white? Does Rem the white shinigami just… not exist anymore?’ The sun was setting but the sky turning orange did not distract Light for long. ‘That’s one of the more interesting changes in the new world.’

‘Yes, Rem the white shinigami does not exist anymore. Hasn’t existed for a long time, I should say.’

‘This world probably did not have a Ryuk, so when you came here, you became Rem.’

Light could not say he cared too deeply about that, Ryuk’s name change or Rem’s disappearance, but he stored the new knowledge about replacement rules at the back of his mind, just in case.

‘This is just as well. If “Rem” was really that Rem, I wouldn’t want to risk her wrath by killing Misa. I might not have been able to regain death note ownership and recover my memories so quickly.’ He touched the watch that had never left his wrist in the new world. Everything in this world has a purpose, he realised. Everything in this world helps me succeed as Kira and create the perfect world. I might have temporarily forgotten my mission, but the world always remembers my promise.

‘You killed that girl so quickly. You didn’t even know who I was but were so sure that I wasn’t in love with that girl like Rem was, huh. You never doubt that things will go your way. I never understand why.’

‘Oh, please, Ryuk. You didn’t even show an ounce of concern for Misa down there. And you haven’t got any, have you?’

‘No, I haven’t.’

Light smiled in satisfaction. ‘It’s a pity I can’t make use of Misa’s shinigami eye anymore, but now that I’m not a Kira suspect, killing Ryuzaki is no longer a priority.’

‘And you probably want to sway him to your side, too, am I right?’ Ryuk asked flatly.

Ryuk watched Light gape, as if he had never considered the idea before, and then lowered his head to contemplate the idea. This human never got any better, the shinigami thought in disinterest.

Said human raised his head, an answer ready. ‘You’re right, Ryuk, it is worth trying. Most people can be swayed one way or another, and Ryuzaki doesn’t seem to oppose Kira out of principle.’ He sounded airy, and wore a very faint smile as he spoke. ‘Maybe we can still fight alongside each other… on Kira’s side…’ He was looking suddenly dreamy, his gaze wandering far, far away.

Ryuk looked around. This was supposed to be evening, so it supposed Light was enjoying the sight of a beautiful, or even romantic, orange sky.

He might or might not be feeling romantic — Ryuk was not a very good judge at that — but when he was done doing dreamy, he began doing excited. So capricious.

‘Yes. I will sway Ryuzaki to my side. Why not? I can achieve more here, even more than I could back in the old world. L could only be Kira’s enemy back there, but here, he can be Kira’s supporter! And Kira…’ The human gasped, as if he just realised something great. ‘You know what, Ryuk… I’ve never liked the title “God of the New World” as much as now. Yes, I will be God, to protect this wonderful new world!’

Geez. ‘You never give up on this, don’t you.’

Light looked at Ryuk, dismayed. ‘You seem pretty disgruntled today. Is it because of apples? Let’s get some at the pantry first, then. We shouldn’t leave the others for too long, anyway.’

Light took his steps to the exit, but Ryuk could not find the motivation to move. In fact, it could not find the motivation to play along anymore. ‘That’s no use, Light. Just as the shinigami apples can never be disguised, I can never taste the “human apples” in your little fantasies. Let’s end this. Please try not to start again this time.’

‘What again? You’re talking strange.’ Light turned, his brown eyes filled with confusion.

Ryuk sighed. It really did not want to explain again. The King said it might help enlighten the human and stop this once and for all, but so far nothing had worked. The human held too many passions with him, the King said.

‘You really should stop coming up with these dreamy “new worlds”.’ Where Light Yagami envisioned an enamouring sunset, Ryuk only saw a desolate corner of the shinigami realm. Potent orange only existed in illusion; reality was a piece of anaemic bleakness. ‘In no “world” will you ever “win”. You already lost. You already died. Accept this and you can finally rest. And I can finally take a break too, because I must be the one to end each of your “new worlds”. That’s the rule.’

‘What?’ Light was clad in a black suit because he imagined himself to be a police detective. To Ryuk it only looked like the clothes he wore on that cold January day, the day Ryuk ate his last human apple.

Now Light Yagami was panicking as he saw Ryuk take out a black notebook and a shinigami pen made of bone. He was shouting, telling Ryuk to stop, asking what Ryuk had meant (he probably was not going to be enlightened this time either, Ryuk thought sadly), and trying to grapple with the shinigami.

‘What? What?! What?! I died?! I didn’t! I’m still here! I wouldn’t be here if I died! There’s nothing after death! You said it!’

‘Not like this meant anything either, Light. Everything is nothing when you only imagined them.’

‘Help! Help! Ryuzaki! Dad! Watari! Misora! Ukita! Matsuda!’

‘Have you not gone on enough? Sometimes you get along with Ryuzaki. Sometimes your father isn’t an NPA officer. Sometimes Misa Amane and Kiyomi Takada are the same person. Sometimes you remember a lot. Sometimes you don’t remember a thing.’

He crafted universes with all that he could feel — greed, anger, confusion, hatred, love, malice, desire — they created beautiful nothingnesses and he believed in them all.

‘No! Stop! I can’t end here! I still have so much to do!’

Ryuk sighed. It seemed Light Yagami would still fight in nothingness next time. Why must there be a next time when there was no next time? ‘You sound the same every time, just like that first time.’

Light Yagami had forty seconds to comprehend Ryuk’s words.

—END—

Author’s notes:

Light’s mask in the snooker scene is loosely based on Asura from Buddhist legends — both god and demon, controlled by passions such as wrath, pride, violence and greed, always fighting, never at peace. I think it rather fits Light.

L’s mask is extremely loosely based on hone-onna from Japanese folklore. Hone-onna is a beautiful woman unknowingly rising from the dead to return to her loved one, and said loved one will have their life sucked out if they enjoy being with hone-onna too much and do not recognise the bone woman for what she is. Basically think the illusion produced by the Resurrection Stone in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And as I said, it is an extremely loose reference.

Two of the many places you can read about Asura and hone-onna if anyone is interested:

http://yokai.com/ashura/

http://yokai.com/honeonna/

[lawlight-week]

Lawlight Week Exchange

Title: He’s Nobody Name of creator: @mrskandycane Created for: @pashmina-dhaage Prompt:  "kid!Light meeting detective L (who’s probably like, 18? this is a non-ship prompt obviously)“ Characters: Light, L, Soichiro, Sachiko Rating, warnings and no. of words (for fics): 2033 words

The curtains were were zipped together as tightly as they could be stretched, but reddening strips of light slipped through the cracks in a jagged line against the wall - in Light’s mind, a crude sundial as it crept onto the floor with the evening. Deliberately, he faced away from the window - an empty cup, balmy with the pads of his fingertips in his hand - but the sound of engines humming in the street were acute in his ear, each louder as they became more scarce.

When one of those engines didn’t fade into the distance, instead it’s wheels grinding to a crawl, Light perked like a doe at the sound of a cracking twig. In an instant, he was up and winding around the wall, cup falling from his hands and socks drifting over the hardwood floor. Just as he had reached the door, the lock began to click and grind -

“Hey, Light-kun!”

Matsuda waved at the child from Soichiro’s side, a dumb smile plastered on his face - much to Soichiro’s chagrin.

It was not typical for Light’s father to return home with his co-workers, but he had recognized all of them - if not by their name, their appearance or voice. Matsuda, Ukita, the man with the flat hair, the bulky one, Aizawa -

I don’t recognize that one.

Light had frozen in front of the team, and quickly Soichiro was shuffling inside and closing the door behind him. “Good work today, everyone -” He had tried to say shortly, only for a tipsy “Get some rest, chief!” to be slurred out before he could shut it.

There was a brief pause, a stale air between a father and his silent kin. “Hello, Light. Were you trying to get the door for us?” Soichiro started, with a kind-of-smile in his voice, crouching over to untie his shoes.

“Yeah.”

“That’s very polite of you,” he laughed, ”You should save that for girls, you know. Dad has keys.” His shoes were put to the side, and he rose again, swatting his hands across the front of his pants. “Did you do well in school today?”

“No, there was no school.”

“A-ah. Did you enjoy your day off, then?”

“It was quiet here.” Light stepped back as his father stepped forward, the man putting away his coat as he went.

“—What happened at work?”

Soichiro gawked at the boy, freezing in place - and then resumed with an exhale, like nothing had happened. “You know what I do at work, right?”

“… Crimes. You solve crimes.”

“Well, that’s what we did today,” he proclaimed, with a hint of pride - a warmth in his voice that only fruitful labor could inspire. He spoke shortly, but there was no subtlety in it.

“Who was that man?”

Instantly, there was a recognition in his eyes. For a moment, Light could see so clearly the plates of his skull shift, his jaw tighten and release, the temporomandibular joint rise and then snap like a fault line. Something like annoyance, something like embarrassment.

“… Who are you talking about?”

“The…” His father’s team were all men. Thick, tall, with skin too big for their bones, with graying or whitening hair, voices that sounded like gravel. That man Light had saw, who stood with them like he was one of them, looked barely an adult. His suit didn’t fit him like they fit the others.

“—The teenager.”

“Teenager…” Soichiro murmured back. “He’s nobody.”

—

“Now that wasn’t too long, was it?”

Twenty-two minutes, Light didn’t say. His father opened the car door and slid inside, jostling the car side-to-side as he shifted into his seat. Light sat silently in the back, relieved that they could get going again. There was something vaguely alien about Soichiro’s place of work, that it was private and secluded in its own professional bubble in the middle of a loud, bustling city.

Before Soichiro could fish his keys from his pockets, there was a knock on the car door. Outside his window, with the hand still wrapped against the glass, was a young-looking man, hunched down to Soichiro’s eye level.

Soichiro looked unsettled, but he quickly rolled down the window for him. “Ryuuzaki? Did I forget something?”

“You did -” He pulled up a manila file, stuffed neatly with a small stack of papers. “You were supposed to take these with you.”

“What? What are they for?”

The man paused, and his gaze slid from Soichiro to his son. In that moment, Light recognized him - the teenager behind my father, a source of shame. Light saw himself reflected in the man’s slate eyes. His expression was indiscernible, but that blankness itself was an emotion conveyed.

“… Homework.”

“Alright. Hand it over.”

The man reached out - with long, unnatural fingers, and pale like ivory - and Soichiro took the folder from him and slid it into a compartment. “Have a safe ride home, Soichiro-san,” he rushed out as he withdrew from the window. Light watched him as he walked away for as long as he could, until he finally faded away past a fence.

There was a palpable tension in the pause that followed - a silence that lasted only long for Light to notice it before it was broken with the clattering of keys.

–

Sachiko was watching television when there was a knock at the door. It was an odd time for it, and so she expected solicitors. Peering through the fish-eye glass revealed a young man - around the age one would be doing such work.

Warily, she opened the door half-way. “Hello,” she said shortly, “do you need something?”

“Yes - ah, hello. I’d like to speak with Soichiro-san.”

That caught Sachiko by surprise. He looks far too young to be a police officer. “A-ah. You’re one of his coworkers, aren’t you?”

Without a word, the man fished into his jacket pocket. He held up a card between his finger and thumb, handling it as delicately as he would evidence from a crime scene.

She looks the card over, initially not registering it’s purpose. “Oh, that’s… alright, thank you, Ryuuzaki. Soichiro isn’t home right now - he’s gone off on an errand. He’ll be back soon.”

The man scrubs his molars. “You won’t mind if I wait for him here, will you?”

“Is it something important?”

“I don’t mean inconvenience you.”

“No, no, I don’t mind if you stay and wait. Please, come in. It shouldn’t be long.”

Sachiko takes a step back, opening the door wide for the man to step through. He does, making a point to wipe his shoes on the matt. He hooks the tip of his shoe into the back of the other, pushing his heel out of it, before doing the same with his now-free toes. After shoving the shoes into the corner, he takes a step up and follows Sachiko into the living room.

“Take a seat,” she offers as he’s halfway onto the coach, “What’s it like working with Soichiro?”

He hummed as he leaned into the endless leather under his back. “Soichiro… He’s very durable, I very much appreciate that about him. He doesn’t complain about petty things like the others do, as much as he’d like to. He detests that.”

Light stood against the kitchen wall, head peaking around the corner. In the next room, the man held an ominous presence, dense enough for gravity to swell around him.

Durable. Light knew his father as someone who sometimes forgot to come home from work, someone who sometimes forgot to sleep, someone who sometimes forgot what day it is. Nothing about the man was as passive as the word described.

Sachiko walked past Light, wringing her hands together. When she noticed the creeping child, she stopped.

“Light, don’t eavesdrop like that,” she chided, as she leaned over to face him. “That man is going to be staying here while he waits for your father to get back. It shouldn’t be long - but stay away from the living room until he’s gone, alright?”

For a moment, Light wore an unintelligible expression, considering what she’d said - and then nodded.

Sachiko’s dissatisfaction with his response was apparent, but she left it at that.

Light waited on his mother’s steps. The sound morphed from clicking to tapping as she moved from room to room. When the steps echoed through the walls, as they did when the stairs were being climbed, he made a glance around the corner.

He moved into the next room. The man, who Light’s mother had forbidden him from seeing, sat patiently on the couch, flipping through a stack of notes in his hands too quickly for him to have been reading them.

He wore a coat that was too big for him. With the awkward way he sat, slouched into the couch, his head appeared burrowed inside of it, hiding his chin. The sleeves didn’t reach up all the way of his forearm, unable to hide the bones of his wrist that protruded like rocks in the sand. They shifted under the skin with the movements of his hand. It mesmerized Light.

This man was… embarrassing.

“You stare a lot,” the man said, startling Light, “you’re eyes are very big when you get like that. Have you noticed something?”

“You’re young,” Light returned quietly.

“That’s not fair. You’re much younger than me, you know.”

“My dad is 41 years old. He’s been a police officer for 14 years.”

The statement, seemingly coming out of nowhere, made the man put his cards down. “Soichiro-san? I’m well aware of your father’s experience. He enjoys making a point of it.”

Light continued, “You don’t respect him. I don’t know how old you are, but he must be twice your age. He works hard, and you talk down to him.”

For his age, there was something incredibly serious in the way Light spoke.

“I’ve never been confronted on my manners by a child.”

“Don’t treat me like that. It’s not about how old I am.”

“You should know that your age matters for quite a lot,” he said, but stopped to think. “You want me to take you seriously… would you like to know what I’m working on?”

Light’s eyes went wide. “… Your police work?”

“These cards,” the man starts, holding up the notes he had been flipping through earlier, “I’ve written down on them the current details of a case I’m working with your father on.”

“A man - the perpetrator, as far as we can currently derive - was caught on a street camera - hurting another with man with a weapon. Immediately afterwards, he ran to the nearest alleyway, and disposed of the weapon by throwing it into a dumpster.”

“However, despite having a clear view of that dumpster during 6 hours it took for the police to arrive, when it was searched there was no such weapon inside.”

For a long moment, Light stood and thought, rolling over the information in his head. “—I don’t get it. What happened to the murder weapon?”

“Oh, you weren’t supposed to figure it out. We have no idea either, that’s why we’re working on it. But that’s the point - we’re missing information, and so despite knowing that a weapon was used, and that it was disposed of, there’s a gaping hole where that information should be.”

“… Point. You’re giving me a lesson?”

“Very smart of you,” the man congratulated, “Yes. In your case, you know that your father works with me, and is older and more experienced than me - but I have no formal need to refer to him respectfully.”

With you. “You’re his superior?”

“… You’re very close. I’m not a police officer, I’m a detective.”

Soon enough, their conversation was cut short by Light’s father, and Light would be admonished for going against Sachiko’s word. The conversation the man would have with his father was short, and not long after arriving he’d left again. Light would not speak with the man again for many years.

The man held a strange place in his memory. He was at the same time a childhood obsession and the object of an anger that seemed childish after it had faded. He had no name to be referred to, only an image - one that was both fiendish and solemn.

[jibuyo]

Western Army’s generals after Sekigahara

I wanted to have a list, so here it is. Comes from Japanese Wikipedia. I only picked up important people.

(Toyotomi Hideyori - Osaka (2,220,000) - reduced to 657,400)

Ishida clan related

Ishida Mitsunari - Ōmi - Sawayama (194, 000) - main forces - executed (6th November) - his children were spared, but the Ishida clan disappeared from history (several of his vassals went to serve Tōdō Takatora)

Ishida Masazumi - Ōmi and a part of Kawachi (25, 000) - Sawayama - suicide (23rd October) - Mitsunari’s brother. His oldest son died with him, his younger son went to Kōya-san, but committed suicide at the beginning of 1601.

Ishida Masatsugu - Ōmi (30, 000) - Sawayama - suicide (23rd October) - Mitsunari’s father

Uda Yoritada - Yamato and a part of Kawachi (13, 000) - Sawayama - suicide (23rd October) - Mitsunari’s father-in-law. The clan disappeared from history.

Fukuhara Nagataka - Bungo (30, 000) - Ōgaki castle - suicide (7th November) - Mitsunari’s brother-in-law. The clan disappeared from history.

Bugyō, tairō, main guys

Mashita Nagamori - Yamato - Kōriyama (200, 000) - Osaka castle - renounced the world, entered Kōya-san, after that put under custody of Kōriki Kiyonaga. During Siege of Osaka refused Ieyasu to act as a mediator in peace negotiation. After he allowed his son to fight for Toyotomi in the Summer siege of Osaka, as a responsibility he was ordered to commit suicide.

Natsuka Masaie - Ōmi-Minakuchi (50, 000) - main forces - retreated to his castle (sent some forces to help Shimazu’s retreat) - suicide (8th November) - his head was shown together with Mitsunari, Ekei and Yukinaga at the Sanjō bridge in Kyoto. The clan disappeared from history.

Maeda Gen’i - he was basically neutral (only his name was used), so he was left alone

Ukita Hideie - Bizen - Okayama (574, 000) - vice-commander - main forces - escaped to Satsuma where he was hidden and protected by the Shimazu clan, in 1603 Shimazu Tadatsune told Ieyasu, Hideie was kept captive and in 1606 he was sent to exile to Hachijōjima (a small island), his descendants returned to the main land after Meiji Restoration

Uesugi Kagekatsu - Mutsu - Aizu (1, 200, 000) - fought Date and Mogami - lost all of his fiefs and was given Naoe Kanetsugu’s old fief in Yonezawa. Final kokudaka 300, 000

Ōtani Yoshitsugu - Echizen-Suruga (50, 000) - main forces - died in battle (21st October) - his 1st son Yoshiharu fought for Toyotomi as Osaka and died, his 2nd son died from illness after the defeat, 3rd son lived (the question is if they were really his children or if all of them were adopted). The clan disappeared from history.

Konishi Yukinaga - Higo (200, 000) - main forces - executed (6th November) - his eldest son was executed by Mōri Terumoto. The clan disappeared from history.

Mōri clan (played a big part in overthrowing the shogunate some 250 years later)

Mōri Terumoto - Aki - Hiroshima (1, 120, 000) - commander - Osaka - reduced to 298,000. Thanks to a land survey increased to 369,000.

Ankokuji Ekei - part of Iyo (60, 000) - main forces - executed (6th November) - to take responsibility for Mōri clan.

Kikkawa Hiroie - Izumo - Toda (142, 000) - main forces, communicated with the Eastern army - relocated to Suō - Iwakuni (30, 000). Later his kokudaka was increased to 60, 000 by Mōri clan’s head. Strangled relationship between the main branch and Kikkawa branch - bakufu treated Kikkawas as their own daimyo, Mōri clan refused to acknowledge it and treated them as their vassals. It was fixed in Bakumatsu.

Mōri Hidemoto - Suō Yamaguchi (200, 000) - main forces, leader of Mōri clan’s forces on the battlefield - given 50, 000 (60, 000?) koku from Terumoto

Mōri (Kobayakawa) Hidekane - Chikugo - Kurume (130, 000) - attacking Ōtsu castle - change of rank, changed his surname back to Mōri after Hideaki’s betrayal got known. Died in 1601 from sickness. Mōri Motonari’s 9th child.

Mōri Katsunobu - Buzen - Kokura (60, 000) - main forces - put under custody of Yamauchi Katsutoyo - his son fought for the Toyotomi at Osaka and after the fall of the castle the son committed suicide with Hideyori’s assistance There’s no relation between this guy and the Mōri clan from Aki. I’m just keeping it here to remind myself.

Shimazu clan (played a big part in overthrowing the shogunate some 250 years later)

Shimazu Yoshihiro - Satsuma Kagoshima (609, 000) - main forces - returned to Satsuma and planned to fight Ieyasu, in the end peace was made without losing anything

Shimazu Yoshihisa - Hyūga-Takagi (28, 000) - main forces - died in battle during retreat (21st October) 

Others

Sanada Masayuki - Shinano - Ueda (38, 000) - Ueda castle - confined to Kōya-san (Kudoyama)

Oda Hidenobu - Minō - Gifu (123, 000) - after the fall of Gifu castle escaped to Kōya-san, it took him a while to get permission because of his grandfather, Nobunaga, and even after he was allowed to become a monk, he faced persecution. Died in 1605 and Nobunaga’s first son’s line died out.

Satake Yoshinobu - Hitachi - Mito (545,800) - kinda not really participating, made an alliance with Uesugi at first, then just... did nothing - relocated to Dewa - Kubota (205, 800)

Hachisuka Iemasa - Awa Tokushima (173, 000) - son fought for the Eastern army, so he was left alone, despite sending his forces to help Western army

Tachibana Muneshige - Yanagawa (132, 000) - Ōtsu castle - lost his status as daimyō, but got 10, 000 koku in 1603, so his status was renewed