Kids, Ch. 6
Mar. 8th, 2007 03:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunmoonandspoonHello faithful readers! This one comes…slightly quicker than the last chapter, due to me actually sort of knowing what I was doing this time, and banning myself from making AMVs until I posted a new chapter. I've developed a bit of an addiction. So anyhow, chapter six is weird, but I'm proud of it, and I hope that you'll enjoy!
----------
Kids
Chapter Six - Passionflower Cake
----------
Morning comes and he's gotten no sleep, he's been far too keyed up watching Sachiko. Every second is a second she could snap awake, start talking to him about something that's not analytical. His brain is not wired that way, and he's never been more embarrassed. When she wakes up she will mock him, shun him, stomp away. And that will hurt but it will not matter, he won't have to deal with her anymore.
It takes time but she stirs, she's moving and murmuring for maybe half an hour before she actually awakens. L stares her down, time dripping by slowly. He's gnawing his fingers, hurting the burn, he wants this to just happen now already. Finally, finally, she blinks herself awake, sits up straight to look at him. "How long have I been sleeping…?" she murmurs, rubbing her eyes and no, there is nothing visually pleasing about that whatsoever, not to L. She's looking him over now, judging him. "Did you sleep?" she asks, "you look exhausted."
He's about to lie but he stops himself, actually he'd rather that she know he didn't sleep. Raging insomnia's a sign of insanity, if she fears him then she'll leave him and he can go back to his normal routine. Morning involves a few hours of work, a few hours of scrounging up junk food, and a few hours of maintaining connections and making sure work can be done. These days he hasn't time for much but work, but anyway he can't get started on any of that 'til she's gone. There are some government officials he's got to call, some data he has to go over and God good God he's craving candy. So "no," he says, "I didn't sleep."
"Well why in the world not?" Sachiko asks sounding steamed, she's in mommy-mode, that's clear. Possibly creeped out that he's been sitting staring at her all night long, but it's mostly out of wanting to control him. "How do you expect to do your job if you don't get any sleep? You can't be operating on full mental capacity. You probably feel terrible. Why don't you sleep?"
Let's see. Is the truth, that he's a plain old insomniac who'd rather spend hours not trying to sleep than hours failing, good enough? Or should he come up with some convoluted thing like sleep is evil, he has blood-drenched nightmares full of blood? Lying's second nature, crazy's what he's aiming for and so he says he never sleeps, he can't and he won't because when he tries he sees monsters, he sees death. And Sachiko's got her arms crossed, she's rolling her eyes because she doesn't believe him, not one word.
But what the hell, why not? It's not as if he's bad at lying, he lies all the time about everything, hardly anybody knows the full story of his life, hell he sometimes forgets what's real and what's not. He's convincing, she shouldn't be skeptical. "That's not it," she says, "if it were then you wouldn't say it so matter-of-factly. You'd be embarrassed. Also, you'd still realize that you had to go to sleep. Light used to have nightmares when he was a kid, and even though he'd wake up screaming more often than not, he wouldn't admit to it."
L balks, that makes no sense whatsoever. "Just because Light reacted to it one way when he was a child doesn't mean I'm going to react the same way now. We're different people, and I'm an adult. You can't decide that I'm lying based on generalizations."
She assents to this, says that all the same she doesn't buy it. "What I wonder is why you feel you have to make up something like that. Are you looking for attention, Ryuuzaki? Because one would think you get enough of that with your job."
He bristles, hops off the couch and crosses his arms. "It is extremely rude of you to presume that I'm lying, and it's even ruder to attempt to psychoanalyze me. You don't know anything, Mrs. Yagami." Ah, sweet bullshit. He is lying, he's not sure how she picked it up but anyway, he has his reasons. Being an attention whore isn't one of them.
"Oh, and that's not rude?" she asks, more amused than irritated. "I'm only trying to help you, but if you don't want me to then I certainly won't waste any more of your time." And she stands up too, rummages around for her coat and she's about to leave, he has no idea why but this panics him. He straightens up slightly, moves in to where she is and says he's sorry.
"You're right," he says, "I lied. The reasons would only insult you, but anyway, I'm an insomniac. That's it. I can't sleep, I can't ever sleep, I haven't been able to sleep since I was a kid. That actually does scare me, a little." And that's the truth, he's not lying and he doesn't know why anymore. The truth is endearing, she's smiling softly now and not leaving. Goddamn it.
"Maybe you should see a doctor for that," she tells him, hand touching his and that panics him, thrills him, she's in mommy-mode now and maybe that's what he wants but who knows? Who cares? "Even if it's not a sign of a bigger problem, it's going to cause you problems in the long run. I could write you an essay on what it'll do to your health."
"If I slept more then I wouldn't have time to do my job," he snaps, shoulders hunched and he's on the defensive, chewing his fingers again. "And you know what? Write me that essay. I'd like to see if you've got anything I don't already know."
"Okay," she says, hand to her mouth and she's laughing. "I will."
----------
Sachi slips inside, not sure whether she should hope they've noticed her abscence. If no one has that means no one cares, but if they have then she'll have to explain it. When she enters the living room she sees Soichiro picking up his briefcase, about to leave for the morning and he looks at her, confused. "Where have you been?" he asks softly. "I missed you."
He missed her, that's a new one. "I just went out for a walk," she says, pulling at her sleeves and smiling. "I would have asked you to come, but you were sleeping. You never have time to sleep."
And he nods, takes it without questioning it. She's a good wife who would never lie, and he has to get to work, get some things together at the station before he meets with L. Soichiro kisses her on the cheek and leaves.
----------
L makes his calls, spends hours arguing with portly old men about how much money should be funneled into the Kira case, how much manpower and time. He also has to fend off other cases, explain that his life is all about Kira right now, he hasn't the time and they'll have to find somebody else. "This is more important than an embezzlement case," he says, "you know it is so please don't argue." By the end he's exhausted, pissed off and he needs a break. Some aspirin maybe, his head's hurting again. Sitting at the computer won't help matters much, but he's too tired for anything else, and anyway, he's going to use the sliver of free time he's got to look up Sachiko. Because the woman will not leave his head no matter what he does.
Internet stalking doesn't get him far, if she's got a blog or a profile site she doesn't use her real name, and the only time she's mentioned is in reference to her family. There's a different Sachiko Yagami, this one publishing obscene poetry, and since she says she lives in Canada L's pretty sure that that's not her. His Sachiko shows up as Light's mother, Police Chief Yagami's wife, and he's going to have to yell at him for not keeping tabs on what people put online. What he finds has gone up in the past few days so he'll do him a favor, hack into the sites and get rid of it, change the names. Kira probably hasn't seen this already, though they ought to amp up security. And now he doesn't know how why he thought looking her up online was a good idea…there's not supposed to be anything online. His brain and logic haven't been getting along well for a while now. Maybe Sachi's right about the sleep thing-no. Agh, anyway, he'll take a look at what's here before he gets rid of it. There's got to be something that isn't just stats, that's her as a person and not a relationship.
There's one thing, just one, and maybe there was more before the whole 'clearing names from the public record' thing, but he doubts it. When Sachiko was fifteen she ran a small marathon and came in third. That's impressive, but that's all.
----------
The meeting's well underway and Sachiko has no idea what they're talking about, her ears perk when her son's name comes up but she tries her best to ignore it. Anyway she's nearly completed her masterpiece, an obscure recipe that took her ages just to find. Getting the ingredients was murder too, passionflower isn't typical grocery fare. And that's what she's making, passionflower cake, because passionflower's meant to be a sedative. She'll serve it at the end; she has no idea if it works or how powerful it is, but anyway, Ryuzaki needs a nap and goddamn it she's going to give it to him, like it or not.
The cake smells lovely once it's out of the oven, and the meeting's winding down. She can tell because half the conversation is about football. Her husband likes football, hell if she knows why, and from what she can tell Aizawa does too. So she brings the cake out with a whole lot of fanfare, she's skipping and smiling and when she sets it down she pecks Soichiro on the cheek. Yes it's silly but she's proud, that and needing to prove to everyone she loves him. Because she's not really feeling it now.
"This is a new recipe," she says, placing it down on the table, along with plates. "It might taste terrible, so please don't blame me if it does."
"I'm sure it will be delicious, Mrs. Yagami," Ryuzaki says, honing in on the cake and cutting himself the first piece. She's fine with that, it was made for him, but Matsuda's hand is shoved away in the process. He's not exactly thrilled. But pretty soon they're gobbling cake, she tries it herself and it's tasty. Sayu waltzes in and has a piece, over all it's a hit and they're all telling her how great she is. The fact that Ryuzaki eats three slices makes her heart skip and surely that's just because her plan is working. Of course it is. What else could it possibly be?
----------
That night, when L gets home, he sleeps. It's not for long and it's nothing to brag about, but he sleeps.
----------
And there's chapter six! My nerd-brain is incredibly pleased with the whole passionflower thing. I spent my art history class researching that, because I honestly don't care a wit about art history. I hope everyone liked their awkward bickering and the way they're slowly starting to care about each other. I'm a bit unsure about proper pacing, I don't want to hook them up too fast or too slow, so if anyone has any suggestions…anyhoo. I'll try my best to get the next chapter up soon, and I hope you'll all comment and have a great day!
----------
Kids
Chapter Six - Passionflower Cake
----------
Morning comes and he's gotten no sleep, he's been far too keyed up watching Sachiko. Every second is a second she could snap awake, start talking to him about something that's not analytical. His brain is not wired that way, and he's never been more embarrassed. When she wakes up she will mock him, shun him, stomp away. And that will hurt but it will not matter, he won't have to deal with her anymore.
It takes time but she stirs, she's moving and murmuring for maybe half an hour before she actually awakens. L stares her down, time dripping by slowly. He's gnawing his fingers, hurting the burn, he wants this to just happen now already. Finally, finally, she blinks herself awake, sits up straight to look at him. "How long have I been sleeping…?" she murmurs, rubbing her eyes and no, there is nothing visually pleasing about that whatsoever, not to L. She's looking him over now, judging him. "Did you sleep?" she asks, "you look exhausted."
He's about to lie but he stops himself, actually he'd rather that she know he didn't sleep. Raging insomnia's a sign of insanity, if she fears him then she'll leave him and he can go back to his normal routine. Morning involves a few hours of work, a few hours of scrounging up junk food, and a few hours of maintaining connections and making sure work can be done. These days he hasn't time for much but work, but anyway he can't get started on any of that 'til she's gone. There are some government officials he's got to call, some data he has to go over and God good God he's craving candy. So "no," he says, "I didn't sleep."
"Well why in the world not?" Sachiko asks sounding steamed, she's in mommy-mode, that's clear. Possibly creeped out that he's been sitting staring at her all night long, but it's mostly out of wanting to control him. "How do you expect to do your job if you don't get any sleep? You can't be operating on full mental capacity. You probably feel terrible. Why don't you sleep?"
Let's see. Is the truth, that he's a plain old insomniac who'd rather spend hours not trying to sleep than hours failing, good enough? Or should he come up with some convoluted thing like sleep is evil, he has blood-drenched nightmares full of blood? Lying's second nature, crazy's what he's aiming for and so he says he never sleeps, he can't and he won't because when he tries he sees monsters, he sees death. And Sachiko's got her arms crossed, she's rolling her eyes because she doesn't believe him, not one word.
But what the hell, why not? It's not as if he's bad at lying, he lies all the time about everything, hardly anybody knows the full story of his life, hell he sometimes forgets what's real and what's not. He's convincing, she shouldn't be skeptical. "That's not it," she says, "if it were then you wouldn't say it so matter-of-factly. You'd be embarrassed. Also, you'd still realize that you had to go to sleep. Light used to have nightmares when he was a kid, and even though he'd wake up screaming more often than not, he wouldn't admit to it."
L balks, that makes no sense whatsoever. "Just because Light reacted to it one way when he was a child doesn't mean I'm going to react the same way now. We're different people, and I'm an adult. You can't decide that I'm lying based on generalizations."
She assents to this, says that all the same she doesn't buy it. "What I wonder is why you feel you have to make up something like that. Are you looking for attention, Ryuuzaki? Because one would think you get enough of that with your job."
He bristles, hops off the couch and crosses his arms. "It is extremely rude of you to presume that I'm lying, and it's even ruder to attempt to psychoanalyze me. You don't know anything, Mrs. Yagami." Ah, sweet bullshit. He is lying, he's not sure how she picked it up but anyway, he has his reasons. Being an attention whore isn't one of them.
"Oh, and that's not rude?" she asks, more amused than irritated. "I'm only trying to help you, but if you don't want me to then I certainly won't waste any more of your time." And she stands up too, rummages around for her coat and she's about to leave, he has no idea why but this panics him. He straightens up slightly, moves in to where she is and says he's sorry.
"You're right," he says, "I lied. The reasons would only insult you, but anyway, I'm an insomniac. That's it. I can't sleep, I can't ever sleep, I haven't been able to sleep since I was a kid. That actually does scare me, a little." And that's the truth, he's not lying and he doesn't know why anymore. The truth is endearing, she's smiling softly now and not leaving. Goddamn it.
"Maybe you should see a doctor for that," she tells him, hand touching his and that panics him, thrills him, she's in mommy-mode now and maybe that's what he wants but who knows? Who cares? "Even if it's not a sign of a bigger problem, it's going to cause you problems in the long run. I could write you an essay on what it'll do to your health."
"If I slept more then I wouldn't have time to do my job," he snaps, shoulders hunched and he's on the defensive, chewing his fingers again. "And you know what? Write me that essay. I'd like to see if you've got anything I don't already know."
"Okay," she says, hand to her mouth and she's laughing. "I will."
----------
Sachi slips inside, not sure whether she should hope they've noticed her abscence. If no one has that means no one cares, but if they have then she'll have to explain it. When she enters the living room she sees Soichiro picking up his briefcase, about to leave for the morning and he looks at her, confused. "Where have you been?" he asks softly. "I missed you."
He missed her, that's a new one. "I just went out for a walk," she says, pulling at her sleeves and smiling. "I would have asked you to come, but you were sleeping. You never have time to sleep."
And he nods, takes it without questioning it. She's a good wife who would never lie, and he has to get to work, get some things together at the station before he meets with L. Soichiro kisses her on the cheek and leaves.
----------
L makes his calls, spends hours arguing with portly old men about how much money should be funneled into the Kira case, how much manpower and time. He also has to fend off other cases, explain that his life is all about Kira right now, he hasn't the time and they'll have to find somebody else. "This is more important than an embezzlement case," he says, "you know it is so please don't argue." By the end he's exhausted, pissed off and he needs a break. Some aspirin maybe, his head's hurting again. Sitting at the computer won't help matters much, but he's too tired for anything else, and anyway, he's going to use the sliver of free time he's got to look up Sachiko. Because the woman will not leave his head no matter what he does.
Internet stalking doesn't get him far, if she's got a blog or a profile site she doesn't use her real name, and the only time she's mentioned is in reference to her family. There's a different Sachiko Yagami, this one publishing obscene poetry, and since she says she lives in Canada L's pretty sure that that's not her. His Sachiko shows up as Light's mother, Police Chief Yagami's wife, and he's going to have to yell at him for not keeping tabs on what people put online. What he finds has gone up in the past few days so he'll do him a favor, hack into the sites and get rid of it, change the names. Kira probably hasn't seen this already, though they ought to amp up security. And now he doesn't know how why he thought looking her up online was a good idea…there's not supposed to be anything online. His brain and logic haven't been getting along well for a while now. Maybe Sachi's right about the sleep thing-no. Agh, anyway, he'll take a look at what's here before he gets rid of it. There's got to be something that isn't just stats, that's her as a person and not a relationship.
There's one thing, just one, and maybe there was more before the whole 'clearing names from the public record' thing, but he doubts it. When Sachiko was fifteen she ran a small marathon and came in third. That's impressive, but that's all.
----------
The meeting's well underway and Sachiko has no idea what they're talking about, her ears perk when her son's name comes up but she tries her best to ignore it. Anyway she's nearly completed her masterpiece, an obscure recipe that took her ages just to find. Getting the ingredients was murder too, passionflower isn't typical grocery fare. And that's what she's making, passionflower cake, because passionflower's meant to be a sedative. She'll serve it at the end; she has no idea if it works or how powerful it is, but anyway, Ryuzaki needs a nap and goddamn it she's going to give it to him, like it or not.
The cake smells lovely once it's out of the oven, and the meeting's winding down. She can tell because half the conversation is about football. Her husband likes football, hell if she knows why, and from what she can tell Aizawa does too. So she brings the cake out with a whole lot of fanfare, she's skipping and smiling and when she sets it down she pecks Soichiro on the cheek. Yes it's silly but she's proud, that and needing to prove to everyone she loves him. Because she's not really feeling it now.
"This is a new recipe," she says, placing it down on the table, along with plates. "It might taste terrible, so please don't blame me if it does."
"I'm sure it will be delicious, Mrs. Yagami," Ryuzaki says, honing in on the cake and cutting himself the first piece. She's fine with that, it was made for him, but Matsuda's hand is shoved away in the process. He's not exactly thrilled. But pretty soon they're gobbling cake, she tries it herself and it's tasty. Sayu waltzes in and has a piece, over all it's a hit and they're all telling her how great she is. The fact that Ryuzaki eats three slices makes her heart skip and surely that's just because her plan is working. Of course it is. What else could it possibly be?
----------
That night, when L gets home, he sleeps. It's not for long and it's nothing to brag about, but he sleeps.
----------
And there's chapter six! My nerd-brain is incredibly pleased with the whole passionflower thing. I spent my art history class researching that, because I honestly don't care a wit about art history. I hope everyone liked their awkward bickering and the way they're slowly starting to care about each other. I'm a bit unsure about proper pacing, I don't want to hook them up too fast or too slow, so if anyone has any suggestions…anyhoo. I'll try my best to get the next chapter up soon, and I hope you'll all comment and have a great day!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-03-11 02:33 pm (UTC)Saetta
no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 03:11 am (UTC)The interaction between Sachiko and L is priceless. I love how he tries to irritate and deny everything she says, but it totally backfires. Oh, and Sachiko's in-depth plan to make L get some sleep is just adorable.
I'm addicted to this freaking story. Thanks for giving me one more thing that takes over my life, you jerk! ...No, but really, it's awesome. YOU'RE awesome.