Kids, Ch. 18
Jan. 17th, 2008 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunmoonandspoonHello hello, and welcome back to Kids! I don't want to beat you over the head with another excuse for not updating sooner, so I won't. Doesn't matter as long as I get it out, right? Anyway, infinite thanks to everyone who's left comments, I adore you all for saying such wonderful things about my work. You guys rock. Also, thanks again to Iron Chief, my beta. He helped me a lot with this chapter.
I hope you all enjoy, and that you'll leave me more of those awesome comments! On with the show!
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Kids
Chapter Eighteen - Raspberry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
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L has been alternating between wanting to drug Light into sleep or drug him into wakefulness all day. He is dreading the conversation with Soichiro, but he would also like very much to get it over with. He can explain himself, really, there's nothing wrong with forming a friendship with his wife. It does not have to be a romantic relationship, even though L is sure that that's what Soichiro assumes. They are, after all, years apart in age. Sachiko could be his mother. There is nothing whatsoever pointing to the fact that their relationship is anything but chaste. He will have to admit to a relationship, but that's fine. It is not against the law for L to have a social life.
After what seems like several centuries, Light proclaims himself exhausted. "I'm sorry," he says, "I know we've still got some work to do, but my vision is blurring I'm so tired. You needed to talk to my father about something anyway, right?"
L nods, chewing slowly on his thumb. "If you could push the bed towards the door and go to sleep there, that would be ideal. I would rather not have to moderate my voice to keep from disturbing you, and this will make it possible to me to remain outside of the room while I talk to your father."
Light nods slowly, apprehensively, and assents to this. Most likely, he will listen at the door, and L would rather that he didn't, but there's nothing for it, now. The handcuffs aren't long enough for proper distance, and letting him loose is out of the question. People can feign sleep, and they can wake up from real sleep, too. He will absolutely not allow Light to wander off.
They make their arrangements, and L dials the phone, drags Yagami out from work or sleep to speak with him.
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Yagami stands before him, making a rather obvious attempt not to wring L's neck. L has summoned Watari, too, and he is standing by the doorway, eyeing them patiently with his hands behind his back. L feels much safer knowing that there's a loaded gun in those hands. Not that L thinks it will be necessary. Yagami is a sane and decent man. All the same, it helps. The threat of death is everywhere, and L does his best to make sure he's protected. Besides, even if he tells him not to, Watari will protect L until death claims one or both them.
"You seem distressed, Yagami," L says quietly, wishing he had something to eat as he spoke. He's craving ice cream, but he does not dare send to Watari for something. He tries to focus on his need instead of what's coming, tries to decide what flavors of ice cream would be best suited for today. Yagami doesn't allow him to get past raspberry chocolate chip, however.
"I am," he says, "I am very distressed, Ryuzaki. I have been for quite some time now, because of your actions towards my son. Justified though they may be, I'm sure you understand that they cause me a great deal of distress. I'm looking forward to see how you'll justify your latest…involvement, with my family. I am less distressed than I would be if it were my daughter, and I'm hoping there is no reason for any negative feelings at all. So please, explain to me, Ryuzaki, why is my wife writing letters to you telling you to sleep?"
L keeps a lid on his feelings, refuses to let the nervous breakdown come to boil. He will not let Yagami know that he's perturbed by this at all. "I don't know," he says. "Perhaps I appear sleep deprived, and she is simply expressing her concern. She is missing half her family, after all, so she might feel the need to be maternal in other ways."
The chief isn't buying it. Heavy wrinkles have set in on his brow, and it's obvious that this hypothesis has brought him no peace of mind whatsoever. It takes some time for him to respond, but when he does he confirms L's thoughts, says, "you and I know that there's more to it than that, Ryuzaki."
He says, "I have forged a friendship with your wife. There is no need to be upset or get defensive. My purpose is to further the case, and that's all. I have no intention of using her cruelly; I just want details about your son's life that you yourself might not be able to provide. She's spent far more time with him than you have, after all." Yagami looks more disturbed by this than he has by anything that's been said so far, and it takes L some time to work out why. "Oh," he says, "I didn't mean to insult your parenting skills. It's just, she stays at home all the time, and you work. That's all."
"I don't approve of this at all," Yagami says, sitting down on the folding chair that L has brought out for this purpose. He himself is perched in a cumbersome armchair. He is hoping to make the chief feel humbled. He continues, says, "the members of my family are not lifeless sacks of information, Ryuzaki, they are human beings. You cannot trick my wife into giving you information--irrelevant information! My wife couldn't tell you anything pertaining to the case that I couldn't. She could give you a blow-by-blow report on his toilet training, but she couldn't tell you anything of import!"
"Well, Freudian theory states that a child's toilet training can have great impact on their personality," Ryuzaki says, voice garbled by the finger crushed between his teeth. He does not go any further with this thought, it's bullshit and that's obvious to both of them. He says, "I'm simply trying to get as clear a picture of the suspect as I possibly can. I have not harmed her in any way, and I don't intend to. I think, Yagami, that you are not thinking clearly due to being overworked. If you were thinking clearly, I am sure that you would not have formed such baseless suspicions, and you certainly would not have reported them to your superior. Especially not when there is work to be done." With that, he stands and turns away from him, says, "that will be all," with a dismissive wave.
Yagami is fuming, and L knows this won't be the last he hears of it. But for now, he has a case to work on. It needs to get done, and besides, there's no better distraction the world than one's job.
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The confrontation is not unexpected. Sachiko has spent every waking moment going over the various outcomes in her head. She has just broken a dish due to a lack of attention, and she knows she shouldn't do the dishes when she's distracted. It's not like this exercise has been helpful in the least. It would have been helpful before she sent the letter, but it isn't, now. There is not a single possibility that makes her happy. Whatever happens, something will be lost, and whether there is anything to be gained is unclear.
The worse possible thing that could happen is the loss of her children. Not physically, Soichiro would never take Sayu away from her mother if they got divorced, and Light's already gone. But she will lose their respect, and she can't believe she thought that was okay.
Whatever happens, though, she will simply have to make due. "I'm coming home," her husband had said, "and I want to talk to you." She knows what she means, and she can't unsend the letter. It's too late to change a thing, and Soichiro will be home any moment, now.
She buries her face in her soap-coated hands, ignores the sting in her eyes as she does so.
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When Soichiro arrives there is no light anymore. The late hour darkens everything, and Sachiko can't bring herself to turn the lamps on. She sits there, shaking, in darkness. Light would emphasize the wrinkled misery of her husband's face, and she doesn't want to see what she has done to him.
"Sachiko," he says sitting beside her on the couch. He takes her hand, separates finger from finger. This hurts, but she doesn't say anything. "I know that I've brought this up before, and I know that you've denied it, but I have to bring it up again, I saw your letter-"-he pauses, Sachiko's face is turning to stone, so he backs up, says, "I'm sorry. I know I was invading your privacy, but I didn't think there'd be any problem with my reading a letter to Light. I thought you might have been upset about not seeing him, and I thought…I was worried about you." He gives Sachiko a vague smile, one that quickly disintegrates. "Clearly," he says, "I was wrong."
"You weren't wrong!" protests Sachiko, eyes widening before she casts them to the ground. The darkness prevents her from finding small details to focus on. "I do miss Light, I miss him terribly, and I…well, thank you for worrying about me." She stops, takes a deep breath and tries to continue. She wonders just how far her husband's suspicious go, what she can say that won't wreck everything.
Thinking her finished, Soichiro starts in. "I'm sure you do miss him," he says, "I'm not saying you don't. But that wasn't the purpose of the letter, was it? Sachiko, you asked our son to lie to me. You have no right to put him in that position, it isn't fair to him. That's you being a bad mother, and I know you're not, normally." He stops, twists her wedding ring in circles 'til she wants to tear her hand away. "Sachiko, the fact that you're going behind my back…well, it makes me suspect that you've been unfaithful. I'm going to ask you again, and this time I want an honest answer. Are you, or are you not having an affair with Ryuzaki?"
He has not asked this question when the answer was yes, before.
Sachiko has never been especially good at lying.
She doesn't really know what to say.
"No," she starts, and Soichiro snaps, don't lie to me. As if he can possibly know the truth before she says it. He has speculations, nothing more. How can he be so presumptuous? Never mind that it's true, never mind that she's betrayed him just as she swore she would not, never mind! "Soichiro," she says, "I would never," and he tells her, again, not to lie. Begs her, with his hand crushing hers and his voice sounding shredded. Sachiko can't keep this up for long. Her stomach tying itself up in knots tells her that much. "Yes," she whispers, wresting her hand from his, "Yes, Soichiro, I'm so sorry, but I am."
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Your reward for reading/commenting is a completely irrelevant song about mugging Santa Claus. Enjoy 'Father Christmas' by The Kinks.
I hope you all enjoy, and that you'll leave me more of those awesome comments! On with the show!
----------
Kids
Chapter Eighteen - Raspberry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
----------
L has been alternating between wanting to drug Light into sleep or drug him into wakefulness all day. He is dreading the conversation with Soichiro, but he would also like very much to get it over with. He can explain himself, really, there's nothing wrong with forming a friendship with his wife. It does not have to be a romantic relationship, even though L is sure that that's what Soichiro assumes. They are, after all, years apart in age. Sachiko could be his mother. There is nothing whatsoever pointing to the fact that their relationship is anything but chaste. He will have to admit to a relationship, but that's fine. It is not against the law for L to have a social life.
After what seems like several centuries, Light proclaims himself exhausted. "I'm sorry," he says, "I know we've still got some work to do, but my vision is blurring I'm so tired. You needed to talk to my father about something anyway, right?"
L nods, chewing slowly on his thumb. "If you could push the bed towards the door and go to sleep there, that would be ideal. I would rather not have to moderate my voice to keep from disturbing you, and this will make it possible to me to remain outside of the room while I talk to your father."
Light nods slowly, apprehensively, and assents to this. Most likely, he will listen at the door, and L would rather that he didn't, but there's nothing for it, now. The handcuffs aren't long enough for proper distance, and letting him loose is out of the question. People can feign sleep, and they can wake up from real sleep, too. He will absolutely not allow Light to wander off.
They make their arrangements, and L dials the phone, drags Yagami out from work or sleep to speak with him.
----------
Yagami stands before him, making a rather obvious attempt not to wring L's neck. L has summoned Watari, too, and he is standing by the doorway, eyeing them patiently with his hands behind his back. L feels much safer knowing that there's a loaded gun in those hands. Not that L thinks it will be necessary. Yagami is a sane and decent man. All the same, it helps. The threat of death is everywhere, and L does his best to make sure he's protected. Besides, even if he tells him not to, Watari will protect L until death claims one or both them.
"You seem distressed, Yagami," L says quietly, wishing he had something to eat as he spoke. He's craving ice cream, but he does not dare send to Watari for something. He tries to focus on his need instead of what's coming, tries to decide what flavors of ice cream would be best suited for today. Yagami doesn't allow him to get past raspberry chocolate chip, however.
"I am," he says, "I am very distressed, Ryuzaki. I have been for quite some time now, because of your actions towards my son. Justified though they may be, I'm sure you understand that they cause me a great deal of distress. I'm looking forward to see how you'll justify your latest…involvement, with my family. I am less distressed than I would be if it were my daughter, and I'm hoping there is no reason for any negative feelings at all. So please, explain to me, Ryuzaki, why is my wife writing letters to you telling you to sleep?"
L keeps a lid on his feelings, refuses to let the nervous breakdown come to boil. He will not let Yagami know that he's perturbed by this at all. "I don't know," he says. "Perhaps I appear sleep deprived, and she is simply expressing her concern. She is missing half her family, after all, so she might feel the need to be maternal in other ways."
The chief isn't buying it. Heavy wrinkles have set in on his brow, and it's obvious that this hypothesis has brought him no peace of mind whatsoever. It takes some time for him to respond, but when he does he confirms L's thoughts, says, "you and I know that there's more to it than that, Ryuzaki."
He says, "I have forged a friendship with your wife. There is no need to be upset or get defensive. My purpose is to further the case, and that's all. I have no intention of using her cruelly; I just want details about your son's life that you yourself might not be able to provide. She's spent far more time with him than you have, after all." Yagami looks more disturbed by this than he has by anything that's been said so far, and it takes L some time to work out why. "Oh," he says, "I didn't mean to insult your parenting skills. It's just, she stays at home all the time, and you work. That's all."
"I don't approve of this at all," Yagami says, sitting down on the folding chair that L has brought out for this purpose. He himself is perched in a cumbersome armchair. He is hoping to make the chief feel humbled. He continues, says, "the members of my family are not lifeless sacks of information, Ryuzaki, they are human beings. You cannot trick my wife into giving you information--irrelevant information! My wife couldn't tell you anything pertaining to the case that I couldn't. She could give you a blow-by-blow report on his toilet training, but she couldn't tell you anything of import!"
"Well, Freudian theory states that a child's toilet training can have great impact on their personality," Ryuzaki says, voice garbled by the finger crushed between his teeth. He does not go any further with this thought, it's bullshit and that's obvious to both of them. He says, "I'm simply trying to get as clear a picture of the suspect as I possibly can. I have not harmed her in any way, and I don't intend to. I think, Yagami, that you are not thinking clearly due to being overworked. If you were thinking clearly, I am sure that you would not have formed such baseless suspicions, and you certainly would not have reported them to your superior. Especially not when there is work to be done." With that, he stands and turns away from him, says, "that will be all," with a dismissive wave.
Yagami is fuming, and L knows this won't be the last he hears of it. But for now, he has a case to work on. It needs to get done, and besides, there's no better distraction the world than one's job.
----------
The confrontation is not unexpected. Sachiko has spent every waking moment going over the various outcomes in her head. She has just broken a dish due to a lack of attention, and she knows she shouldn't do the dishes when she's distracted. It's not like this exercise has been helpful in the least. It would have been helpful before she sent the letter, but it isn't, now. There is not a single possibility that makes her happy. Whatever happens, something will be lost, and whether there is anything to be gained is unclear.
The worse possible thing that could happen is the loss of her children. Not physically, Soichiro would never take Sayu away from her mother if they got divorced, and Light's already gone. But she will lose their respect, and she can't believe she thought that was okay.
Whatever happens, though, she will simply have to make due. "I'm coming home," her husband had said, "and I want to talk to you." She knows what she means, and she can't unsend the letter. It's too late to change a thing, and Soichiro will be home any moment, now.
She buries her face in her soap-coated hands, ignores the sting in her eyes as she does so.
----------
When Soichiro arrives there is no light anymore. The late hour darkens everything, and Sachiko can't bring herself to turn the lamps on. She sits there, shaking, in darkness. Light would emphasize the wrinkled misery of her husband's face, and she doesn't want to see what she has done to him.
"Sachiko," he says sitting beside her on the couch. He takes her hand, separates finger from finger. This hurts, but she doesn't say anything. "I know that I've brought this up before, and I know that you've denied it, but I have to bring it up again, I saw your letter-"-he pauses, Sachiko's face is turning to stone, so he backs up, says, "I'm sorry. I know I was invading your privacy, but I didn't think there'd be any problem with my reading a letter to Light. I thought you might have been upset about not seeing him, and I thought…I was worried about you." He gives Sachiko a vague smile, one that quickly disintegrates. "Clearly," he says, "I was wrong."
"You weren't wrong!" protests Sachiko, eyes widening before she casts them to the ground. The darkness prevents her from finding small details to focus on. "I do miss Light, I miss him terribly, and I…well, thank you for worrying about me." She stops, takes a deep breath and tries to continue. She wonders just how far her husband's suspicious go, what she can say that won't wreck everything.
Thinking her finished, Soichiro starts in. "I'm sure you do miss him," he says, "I'm not saying you don't. But that wasn't the purpose of the letter, was it? Sachiko, you asked our son to lie to me. You have no right to put him in that position, it isn't fair to him. That's you being a bad mother, and I know you're not, normally." He stops, twists her wedding ring in circles 'til she wants to tear her hand away. "Sachiko, the fact that you're going behind my back…well, it makes me suspect that you've been unfaithful. I'm going to ask you again, and this time I want an honest answer. Are you, or are you not having an affair with Ryuzaki?"
He has not asked this question when the answer was yes, before.
Sachiko has never been especially good at lying.
She doesn't really know what to say.
"No," she starts, and Soichiro snaps, don't lie to me. As if he can possibly know the truth before she says it. He has speculations, nothing more. How can he be so presumptuous? Never mind that it's true, never mind that she's betrayed him just as she swore she would not, never mind! "Soichiro," she says, "I would never," and he tells her, again, not to lie. Begs her, with his hand crushing hers and his voice sounding shredded. Sachiko can't keep this up for long. Her stomach tying itself up in knots tells her that much. "Yes," she whispers, wresting her hand from his, "Yes, Soichiro, I'm so sorry, but I am."
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Your reward for reading/commenting is a completely irrelevant song about mugging Santa Claus. Enjoy 'Father Christmas' by The Kinks.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 10:11 pm (UTC)(The bit about Watari protecting L made me feel so good ;)
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-18 03:52 pm (UTC)"Well, Freudian theory states that a child's toilet training can have great impact on their personality," Ryuzaki says, voice garbled by the finger crushed between his teeth. - This line made me giggle. xD;;;
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-19 02:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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