Kids, Ch. 20
May. 23rd, 2008 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunmoonandspoonHello, and welcome back to Kids! My sincerest apologies for the delay--I don't really have much of an excuse aside from the fact that I was busy with school, and that these scenes were quite difficult for me to write. Now that it's down to the wire, it's hard to negotiate appropriate reactions. But anyway, here's Chapter 20. I hope you'll enjoy it, and leave me a comment on your way out.
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Kids
Chapter Twenty - Ice Cream Soup
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"Ryuzaki," Light says, controlled as he can in spite of trembling limbs and burning hatred. L does not respond to him, choosing instead to wait him out. He picks at a half-formed hole in the knee of his jeans, gnaws on his lip and stares pointedly at Light, although he does not want to look at him. "Ryuzaki," Light says again with sewn-closed eyes and clenched fists. "You're going to have to wait for that shower-you and I need to talk."
Of course. Now that he has sinned and everybody knows about it, his psyche is public property. L has scooped the brains out of thousands of criminals, he has analyzed their every thought and motivation. Of course he should face the same fate. The great detective L should be tied up and tortured, question after question being drummed into his ears until he speaks.
Not that he wants that. He'd much rather have a civil conversation. "Alright," he says. "We can talk. What would you like to talk about?"
"Don't be stupid," snaps Light, standing directly in front of L and staring down at him with his hands placed girlishly on his hips. The chains of the handcuffs trailing down the side of his leg like a snake. "You know exactly what I want to talk about, and you pretending otherwise is offensive. I'm getting really sick of being lied to."
"I understand," L says, deadpan as he can as he stares up at Light. "I personally do not enjoy being lied to, either. However, I am sure you can comprehend my reasoning for not discussing this matter with you previously. It would have been quite detrimental to myself, and to your mother."
"I can comprehend your reasoning just fine," snarls Light, eyelids twitching as he talks. "Of course you wouldn't want to tell me about it, any idiot could figure that one out! What I want to know is what the hell possessed you to do in the first place. You do realize how inappropriate this is? You're not so socially inept that you don't understand?"
"I understand," he says again, knees shaking despite his alleged calm. The shaking is slight, so it's unlikely that Light will notice. All the same he tries to stay calm; even slightly jangled nerves could screw him over. "I can certainly see why you are upset, Light, but tell me, what exactly do you believe transpired?" With that he picks up his spoon and pretends he still has ice cream, scrapes the soupy, melted dregs from the bowl. He stares at Light, unblinking.
Light pulls up the battered folding chair that his father used earlier, sits with his legs straddling the back, and his arms folded firmly on top of it.
That position looks uncomfortable to L, but Light states frequently that he's surprised that the way L sits has yet to snap a tendon. So apparently, he's no judge on this sort of thing. Light does not answer his question, he merely sighs and rests his arms on the back of the chair. L does not allow his eyes to narrow, or his breathing rate to change. "Light," he says, flat as paper.
Light continues grudgingly. "It seems to me," he says, "that you've been having an affair with my mother--coercing her into committing adultery in order to fill some emotional void. That, and you're manipulating her into providing completely useless information about me."
"No information is useless," mutters L, hoping Light will take the bait and forget the rest of the conversation. It's not a point Light wants to argue, which makes sense, it was a lame attempt. L hadn't expected it to work, but all the same, he's disappointed. Everything he does should work.
"Ryuzaki," Light says, his voice so laden with unearned authority that it could only come from Kira himself. "What you've done is unforgivable. My mother is a married woman, you had no right to initiate this with her! You're a manipulative, immoral bastard, and you…did she even agree to this? You didn't…you didn't force her into anything…did you?" Light's features soften with panic, and L heaves a sigh, says,
"Go on, Light. Ask me if I raped your mother. I'm sure that that is what you want to hear."
"What are you talking about, why would I want to hear that?! If it's the truth then by all means Ryuzaki, please confess, but it's certainly not something I'm hoping for!" Light rubs his forehead, as if the stress of the situation could dissolve into the palm of his hand. "Well," he croaks, "Did you?"
"No," says L, allowing a shred of emotion to slip into his tone--disgust is fine given the circumstances. "But I would think that the idea of your mother as an innocent victim would be more appealing to you than the idea of her as a willing party."
"That does not mean that I want her to be raped. Do you have any idea how traumatizing that would be for her? Why would I want anyone to have to go through that?" Light is fuming now, fists clenched and eyebrows knitted. "Listen," he says, "there is no possible way that she's a willing party here. Even if you didn't rape her, there is no way my mother would do something this terrible unless she felt she had to. You manipulated her until she said yes on her own."
"You should give your mother little more credit," L says as he gnaws on his nail bed. "She's an intelligent woman--I don't think I would find her easy to manipulate, if I chose to attempt it. However, the fact is that I did no such thing. She confessed her feelings to me while I was recovering from a fairly serious illness. I was in no condition to think things through." Briefly, L considers smirking-he does feel a bit smug right now-but he refrains. "I know you want to blame me, and I do admit to being partially responsible. But you must acknowledge her culpability." He drops his voice, says, "I actually quite resent her for disrupting my life as she has."
"Well, what about her life?" Light snaps, right hand staying the left. L can see that the boy wants to hurt him, his fists are shaking with it. L rips a cuticle and sighs.
"I'm sure that for her it was a pleasant diversion. She feels neglected, lonely. Her husband is not there for her. Her children are not there for her. She has no career with which she can achieve fulfillment. Many housewives have affairs under these conditions-it's to be expected, really."
"That does not in any way make it acceptable," Light snaps, pounding the chair with his fist. An unsightly red dent soon appears on his skin, and he winces slightly, continues his moral tirade. "What about my father?" he asks. "How do you think he feels about this? I'm sure your understanding of love is minimal, but he does love her you know, she's his wife."
"Are you saying that marriage can be automatically equated with love?" L asks, as if this is relevant. Loveless marriages exist in abundance, but Light isn't about to believe that his parents have one. And if L himself loves Sachiko, than surely Soichiro does too-he's ignoring her completely now, after all, and her husband has never done that. L doesn't know if he does love her, but that isn't the point. What the point actually is…well, his handle of that is tenuous. The point is that he doesn't want to have this conversation anymore. The point is that he misses her deeply, this woman who transformed him into a sex-crazed sinner.
Light doesn't answer his question. L's diversions are pointless, and he doesn't remember how to think anymore. Sachiko has robbed him of that ability, and yes, he will blame her for every mistake he ever makes. It doesn't have to make sense, because Sachiko has gunned down his logical abilities. He does not have to engage Light in a battle of wits, his mother has stupefied him. "Listen," Light snarls. "I don't care what your excuse is, and your attempts to distract me are pathetic. What you've done is repulsive. I still respect you as a detective, but as a human being, you're scum. I'm not going to forgive you for this."
Of course not. He has strayed from the path. He has broken out of L to become…nothing. He has no Sachiko, no pedestal, he's been reduced to a contemptible human. And Light seems acutely aware of his contemptibility. He's snarling at him, and cracking his knuckles violently. As if preparing to throw a punch. Watari smiles wanly at Light and says that he really shouldn't resolve this with violence. "You should both get back to work," he says. "Or get some sleep. Something more productive than fighting. You've made it quite clear that you're capable of such things, there's really no need for it now."
All the same, Light throws a punch. There's no strength in it, and it won't leave a mark, but that does not appear to be the point. L isn't sure just what the point is--perhaps he wishes to assert his dominance? He returns the punch with a half-hearted kick, an eye for an eye after all, but they don't go any further than that. Light seems to be put off by the gun nestled in Watari's pocket, and L just doesn't care. He's exhausted. Done with this. He has no idea what he's defending anymore. He's scum.
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Security is a nightmare. Sachiko knows they've switched locations, driving to the station with a car full of melting baked goods and finding nothing has cemented this in her head. Still, she doesn't expect it to be so hard to get into the new place. There's a sheaf of paperwork that she's obliged to fill out, and her husband has to go through a retinal scan. She gnaws her bottom lip as he submits to it; she's heard that these scans can blind you. When he looks up at her with unmarred eyes she heaves a sigh. "Do we have to go through much else?" she asks, staring down at her ill-fitting pink shoes. Soichiro shakes his head, says that the only ordeal is the one they'll face once inside.
"I don't know what I'll do when I see Ryuzaki," he says, fingers curling into fists. Those shaking fists make it obvious, but Sachiko does not point this out. "I might not be able to control myself. Please, Sachiko, if I become violent, do everything in your power to stop me. I will do my utmost to maintain control, but I cannot guarantee it." He stops, heaves a sigh and says, "I'm not furious, not right now, but if I see him that could change."
"Remember earlier when you tried to hit me and didn't? You're not violent, Soichiro. You might like to think you are, because it's 'manly' or whatever, but you're not." Soichiro shakes his head at this, furrows his eyebrows in an angry attempt to convince her that yes, he is capable of violence.
"I didn't hit you because I love you," he growls. "Besides, you stopped me. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't. I have no such feelings towards Ryuzaki. I once respected him, but that's the extent of my positive feelings towards that man." Sachiko says nothing. She doesn't know why her husband wants her to believe that he's a brute--perhaps he believes it himself. But Sachiko can't imagine him hurting anyone unless he has to. He'd had to take a day off work the first time he used a gun on duty-he couldn't handle the guilt, couldn't face what he'd done until Sachiko spent hours convincing him that he hadn't done anything wrong. She had wondered about the injured criminal's mother, but she never said anything about that.
"Right," she mutters softly. "Well, let's go."
With that, they lock hands and march towards the cold computer room, where Soichiro has sworn that they will find their son.
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When she sees Light she wrenches her arm from her husband's grasp, runs towards her baby at full speed. She rubs her cheek against his cotton shirt, ignores the tiny buttons that press painfully into her flesh. She squeezes him so tightly that he yelps. She pulls back at the sound, apologizes for being so emotional. He isn't a little boy anymore, she cannot cling to him, or claim him as her own. He's half a foot taller than her, now. All the same, she hasn't seen the kid in months, and he must be in hell right now. Maybe he doesn't mind a hug from his mother. Now she doesn't know whether it was right to retract her arms.
"Mom?" he asks, "what are you doing here?" It isn't clear from his voice whether he knows or not, and it isn't clear from Ryuzaki's stance whether he does. Ryuzaki's eyes are as blank and cold as ice cubes, and his mouth is a pixie-stick-straight line. The lack of emotion makes her shudder, but she ought to be used to this by now. She will not look at Ryuzaki now. Light will be her only focus, at least until she ascertains that he's okay.
"I just…I just…" She stops, not knowing what to say. Does Light need to know that she's been roped into this? Surely he would not want her to worry; surely he's humiliated by his accusation, surely…surely he does not need to know that his mother's been screwing the man who has handcuffed and detained him. Oh, the handcuffs. It kills her to see her son in chains. "I just came to see you," she finishes lamely. "I've missed you."
Light shakes his head, his meticulously clipped hair flying briefly into his eyes as he does. Sachiko tries to distract (convince) herself by staring at the unwashed mess on Ryuzaki's head. How could she have ever wanted him? He could never give him what Soichiro's given her, he could never give her such a perfect son. Her son says, "I think that there's another reason, Mom. I don't think I'm the only person you wanted to see."
"Your father's been home," she says, nervous because she knows that isn't what he means. She fiddles with her wedding ring, comes so close to taking it off that suddenly her husband's eyes and Ryuzaki's are both focused on her finger. "I came here with him, to see you. Just you, I…" She stops. Light's mouth is just as hard a line as Ryuzaki's. He knows about this, she doesn't know how but he knows. Ryuzaki may have told him, just as she told Soichiro. There is no one in this room who does not know. "Okay," she croaks. "Light, there's something we need to talk about."
There's an old man standing in the corner with his hands behind his back. Until Ryuzaki exchanges glances with him, Sachiko refuses to take note of him. And she does not realize until now how focused she's been on Ryuzaki. She wants Light to be her only thought. She doesn't want to care about Ryuzaki anymore. But she does, and she snaps to attention when he clears his throat, says, "perhaps you ought to do this elsewhere--it's quite impolite to go barging into other people's high-security buildings to hash out your family business."
Sachiko blinks, says, "Ryuzaki, this concerns you too. My husband already knows, and I'm about to tell Light, so there's no use pretending nothing's happened. We need to deal with this like adults."
"Why did you tell the chief?" he asks, fingers going white as glue as he grips his fraying pockets. "I had a perfectly plausible story for him. The truth was completely unnecessary. I'm not trying to destroy your marriage, Sachiko, but it looks like you've gone and made me do it anyway."
"The truth is never unnecessary," her husband snarls, his fists curling in a pitiful attempt at violence. He would never hit her, or Ryuzaki. She has to keep on believing that, or she won't be able to get through this encounter. How in the world does Soichiro expect her to stop him if he does attack someone? She isn't afraid of him, not really. Because she knows she has not married a violent man. No matter what happens, no matter what he says, she'll believe it. And he continues, says, "Ryuzaki, I…I'm absolutely furious with you. Livid. I don't…I hardly even know what to say here. Ryuzaki, she's my wife!"
"I'm aware of that," Ryuzaki says, seating himself on his massive, overstuffed armchair. "If she were not your wife, why would I make any attempt to hide it from you? In fact, how would I have met her in the first place? Yagami, I am aware that what I've done is wrong. However, I want you to reconsider your treatment of this woman. She wasn't unfaithful to you because of my charm. I'm the first to admit that I have very little of that."
"That is not what we're here to discuss," Soichiro mumbles, crimson creeping across his face as he stares at his loafers. "I don't appreciate you turning this around on me. My shortcomings are no excuse. Not only is this a gross betrayal, but it's unacceptable of you to involve her in the case. I don't know if I can continue working with you after this, Ryuzaki."
Sachiko clasps her husband's jumping fingers, says that she would like to hear what Ryuzaki has to say. "I know it might be painful to you, but you already know how I feel. I want to know how much he understands about our relationship. I want to know how much of this is all in my head."
Maybe he doesn't want to, but her word appears to be enough. Soichiro nods, and gives Ryuzaki permission to continue.
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Your reward for stopping by is Bent by Matchbox 20. My mother has been blasting their old CDs all night, so this song is stuck in my head. Enjoy!
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Kids
Chapter Twenty - Ice Cream Soup
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"Ryuzaki," Light says, controlled as he can in spite of trembling limbs and burning hatred. L does not respond to him, choosing instead to wait him out. He picks at a half-formed hole in the knee of his jeans, gnaws on his lip and stares pointedly at Light, although he does not want to look at him. "Ryuzaki," Light says again with sewn-closed eyes and clenched fists. "You're going to have to wait for that shower-you and I need to talk."
Of course. Now that he has sinned and everybody knows about it, his psyche is public property. L has scooped the brains out of thousands of criminals, he has analyzed their every thought and motivation. Of course he should face the same fate. The great detective L should be tied up and tortured, question after question being drummed into his ears until he speaks.
Not that he wants that. He'd much rather have a civil conversation. "Alright," he says. "We can talk. What would you like to talk about?"
"Don't be stupid," snaps Light, standing directly in front of L and staring down at him with his hands placed girlishly on his hips. The chains of the handcuffs trailing down the side of his leg like a snake. "You know exactly what I want to talk about, and you pretending otherwise is offensive. I'm getting really sick of being lied to."
"I understand," L says, deadpan as he can as he stares up at Light. "I personally do not enjoy being lied to, either. However, I am sure you can comprehend my reasoning for not discussing this matter with you previously. It would have been quite detrimental to myself, and to your mother."
"I can comprehend your reasoning just fine," snarls Light, eyelids twitching as he talks. "Of course you wouldn't want to tell me about it, any idiot could figure that one out! What I want to know is what the hell possessed you to do in the first place. You do realize how inappropriate this is? You're not so socially inept that you don't understand?"
"I understand," he says again, knees shaking despite his alleged calm. The shaking is slight, so it's unlikely that Light will notice. All the same he tries to stay calm; even slightly jangled nerves could screw him over. "I can certainly see why you are upset, Light, but tell me, what exactly do you believe transpired?" With that he picks up his spoon and pretends he still has ice cream, scrapes the soupy, melted dregs from the bowl. He stares at Light, unblinking.
Light pulls up the battered folding chair that his father used earlier, sits with his legs straddling the back, and his arms folded firmly on top of it.
That position looks uncomfortable to L, but Light states frequently that he's surprised that the way L sits has yet to snap a tendon. So apparently, he's no judge on this sort of thing. Light does not answer his question, he merely sighs and rests his arms on the back of the chair. L does not allow his eyes to narrow, or his breathing rate to change. "Light," he says, flat as paper.
Light continues grudgingly. "It seems to me," he says, "that you've been having an affair with my mother--coercing her into committing adultery in order to fill some emotional void. That, and you're manipulating her into providing completely useless information about me."
"No information is useless," mutters L, hoping Light will take the bait and forget the rest of the conversation. It's not a point Light wants to argue, which makes sense, it was a lame attempt. L hadn't expected it to work, but all the same, he's disappointed. Everything he does should work.
"Ryuzaki," Light says, his voice so laden with unearned authority that it could only come from Kira himself. "What you've done is unforgivable. My mother is a married woman, you had no right to initiate this with her! You're a manipulative, immoral bastard, and you…did she even agree to this? You didn't…you didn't force her into anything…did you?" Light's features soften with panic, and L heaves a sigh, says,
"Go on, Light. Ask me if I raped your mother. I'm sure that that is what you want to hear."
"What are you talking about, why would I want to hear that?! If it's the truth then by all means Ryuzaki, please confess, but it's certainly not something I'm hoping for!" Light rubs his forehead, as if the stress of the situation could dissolve into the palm of his hand. "Well," he croaks, "Did you?"
"No," says L, allowing a shred of emotion to slip into his tone--disgust is fine given the circumstances. "But I would think that the idea of your mother as an innocent victim would be more appealing to you than the idea of her as a willing party."
"That does not mean that I want her to be raped. Do you have any idea how traumatizing that would be for her? Why would I want anyone to have to go through that?" Light is fuming now, fists clenched and eyebrows knitted. "Listen," he says, "there is no possible way that she's a willing party here. Even if you didn't rape her, there is no way my mother would do something this terrible unless she felt she had to. You manipulated her until she said yes on her own."
"You should give your mother little more credit," L says as he gnaws on his nail bed. "She's an intelligent woman--I don't think I would find her easy to manipulate, if I chose to attempt it. However, the fact is that I did no such thing. She confessed her feelings to me while I was recovering from a fairly serious illness. I was in no condition to think things through." Briefly, L considers smirking-he does feel a bit smug right now-but he refrains. "I know you want to blame me, and I do admit to being partially responsible. But you must acknowledge her culpability." He drops his voice, says, "I actually quite resent her for disrupting my life as she has."
"Well, what about her life?" Light snaps, right hand staying the left. L can see that the boy wants to hurt him, his fists are shaking with it. L rips a cuticle and sighs.
"I'm sure that for her it was a pleasant diversion. She feels neglected, lonely. Her husband is not there for her. Her children are not there for her. She has no career with which she can achieve fulfillment. Many housewives have affairs under these conditions-it's to be expected, really."
"That does not in any way make it acceptable," Light snaps, pounding the chair with his fist. An unsightly red dent soon appears on his skin, and he winces slightly, continues his moral tirade. "What about my father?" he asks. "How do you think he feels about this? I'm sure your understanding of love is minimal, but he does love her you know, she's his wife."
"Are you saying that marriage can be automatically equated with love?" L asks, as if this is relevant. Loveless marriages exist in abundance, but Light isn't about to believe that his parents have one. And if L himself loves Sachiko, than surely Soichiro does too-he's ignoring her completely now, after all, and her husband has never done that. L doesn't know if he does love her, but that isn't the point. What the point actually is…well, his handle of that is tenuous. The point is that he doesn't want to have this conversation anymore. The point is that he misses her deeply, this woman who transformed him into a sex-crazed sinner.
Light doesn't answer his question. L's diversions are pointless, and he doesn't remember how to think anymore. Sachiko has robbed him of that ability, and yes, he will blame her for every mistake he ever makes. It doesn't have to make sense, because Sachiko has gunned down his logical abilities. He does not have to engage Light in a battle of wits, his mother has stupefied him. "Listen," Light snarls. "I don't care what your excuse is, and your attempts to distract me are pathetic. What you've done is repulsive. I still respect you as a detective, but as a human being, you're scum. I'm not going to forgive you for this."
Of course not. He has strayed from the path. He has broken out of L to become…nothing. He has no Sachiko, no pedestal, he's been reduced to a contemptible human. And Light seems acutely aware of his contemptibility. He's snarling at him, and cracking his knuckles violently. As if preparing to throw a punch. Watari smiles wanly at Light and says that he really shouldn't resolve this with violence. "You should both get back to work," he says. "Or get some sleep. Something more productive than fighting. You've made it quite clear that you're capable of such things, there's really no need for it now."
All the same, Light throws a punch. There's no strength in it, and it won't leave a mark, but that does not appear to be the point. L isn't sure just what the point is--perhaps he wishes to assert his dominance? He returns the punch with a half-hearted kick, an eye for an eye after all, but they don't go any further than that. Light seems to be put off by the gun nestled in Watari's pocket, and L just doesn't care. He's exhausted. Done with this. He has no idea what he's defending anymore. He's scum.
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Security is a nightmare. Sachiko knows they've switched locations, driving to the station with a car full of melting baked goods and finding nothing has cemented this in her head. Still, she doesn't expect it to be so hard to get into the new place. There's a sheaf of paperwork that she's obliged to fill out, and her husband has to go through a retinal scan. She gnaws her bottom lip as he submits to it; she's heard that these scans can blind you. When he looks up at her with unmarred eyes she heaves a sigh. "Do we have to go through much else?" she asks, staring down at her ill-fitting pink shoes. Soichiro shakes his head, says that the only ordeal is the one they'll face once inside.
"I don't know what I'll do when I see Ryuzaki," he says, fingers curling into fists. Those shaking fists make it obvious, but Sachiko does not point this out. "I might not be able to control myself. Please, Sachiko, if I become violent, do everything in your power to stop me. I will do my utmost to maintain control, but I cannot guarantee it." He stops, heaves a sigh and says, "I'm not furious, not right now, but if I see him that could change."
"Remember earlier when you tried to hit me and didn't? You're not violent, Soichiro. You might like to think you are, because it's 'manly' or whatever, but you're not." Soichiro shakes his head at this, furrows his eyebrows in an angry attempt to convince her that yes, he is capable of violence.
"I didn't hit you because I love you," he growls. "Besides, you stopped me. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't. I have no such feelings towards Ryuzaki. I once respected him, but that's the extent of my positive feelings towards that man." Sachiko says nothing. She doesn't know why her husband wants her to believe that he's a brute--perhaps he believes it himself. But Sachiko can't imagine him hurting anyone unless he has to. He'd had to take a day off work the first time he used a gun on duty-he couldn't handle the guilt, couldn't face what he'd done until Sachiko spent hours convincing him that he hadn't done anything wrong. She had wondered about the injured criminal's mother, but she never said anything about that.
"Right," she mutters softly. "Well, let's go."
With that, they lock hands and march towards the cold computer room, where Soichiro has sworn that they will find their son.
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When she sees Light she wrenches her arm from her husband's grasp, runs towards her baby at full speed. She rubs her cheek against his cotton shirt, ignores the tiny buttons that press painfully into her flesh. She squeezes him so tightly that he yelps. She pulls back at the sound, apologizes for being so emotional. He isn't a little boy anymore, she cannot cling to him, or claim him as her own. He's half a foot taller than her, now. All the same, she hasn't seen the kid in months, and he must be in hell right now. Maybe he doesn't mind a hug from his mother. Now she doesn't know whether it was right to retract her arms.
"Mom?" he asks, "what are you doing here?" It isn't clear from his voice whether he knows or not, and it isn't clear from Ryuzaki's stance whether he does. Ryuzaki's eyes are as blank and cold as ice cubes, and his mouth is a pixie-stick-straight line. The lack of emotion makes her shudder, but she ought to be used to this by now. She will not look at Ryuzaki now. Light will be her only focus, at least until she ascertains that he's okay.
"I just…I just…" She stops, not knowing what to say. Does Light need to know that she's been roped into this? Surely he would not want her to worry; surely he's humiliated by his accusation, surely…surely he does not need to know that his mother's been screwing the man who has handcuffed and detained him. Oh, the handcuffs. It kills her to see her son in chains. "I just came to see you," she finishes lamely. "I've missed you."
Light shakes his head, his meticulously clipped hair flying briefly into his eyes as he does. Sachiko tries to distract (convince) herself by staring at the unwashed mess on Ryuzaki's head. How could she have ever wanted him? He could never give him what Soichiro's given her, he could never give her such a perfect son. Her son says, "I think that there's another reason, Mom. I don't think I'm the only person you wanted to see."
"Your father's been home," she says, nervous because she knows that isn't what he means. She fiddles with her wedding ring, comes so close to taking it off that suddenly her husband's eyes and Ryuzaki's are both focused on her finger. "I came here with him, to see you. Just you, I…" She stops. Light's mouth is just as hard a line as Ryuzaki's. He knows about this, she doesn't know how but he knows. Ryuzaki may have told him, just as she told Soichiro. There is no one in this room who does not know. "Okay," she croaks. "Light, there's something we need to talk about."
There's an old man standing in the corner with his hands behind his back. Until Ryuzaki exchanges glances with him, Sachiko refuses to take note of him. And she does not realize until now how focused she's been on Ryuzaki. She wants Light to be her only thought. She doesn't want to care about Ryuzaki anymore. But she does, and she snaps to attention when he clears his throat, says, "perhaps you ought to do this elsewhere--it's quite impolite to go barging into other people's high-security buildings to hash out your family business."
Sachiko blinks, says, "Ryuzaki, this concerns you too. My husband already knows, and I'm about to tell Light, so there's no use pretending nothing's happened. We need to deal with this like adults."
"Why did you tell the chief?" he asks, fingers going white as glue as he grips his fraying pockets. "I had a perfectly plausible story for him. The truth was completely unnecessary. I'm not trying to destroy your marriage, Sachiko, but it looks like you've gone and made me do it anyway."
"The truth is never unnecessary," her husband snarls, his fists curling in a pitiful attempt at violence. He would never hit her, or Ryuzaki. She has to keep on believing that, or she won't be able to get through this encounter. How in the world does Soichiro expect her to stop him if he does attack someone? She isn't afraid of him, not really. Because she knows she has not married a violent man. No matter what happens, no matter what he says, she'll believe it. And he continues, says, "Ryuzaki, I…I'm absolutely furious with you. Livid. I don't…I hardly even know what to say here. Ryuzaki, she's my wife!"
"I'm aware of that," Ryuzaki says, seating himself on his massive, overstuffed armchair. "If she were not your wife, why would I make any attempt to hide it from you? In fact, how would I have met her in the first place? Yagami, I am aware that what I've done is wrong. However, I want you to reconsider your treatment of this woman. She wasn't unfaithful to you because of my charm. I'm the first to admit that I have very little of that."
"That is not what we're here to discuss," Soichiro mumbles, crimson creeping across his face as he stares at his loafers. "I don't appreciate you turning this around on me. My shortcomings are no excuse. Not only is this a gross betrayal, but it's unacceptable of you to involve her in the case. I don't know if I can continue working with you after this, Ryuzaki."
Sachiko clasps her husband's jumping fingers, says that she would like to hear what Ryuzaki has to say. "I know it might be painful to you, but you already know how I feel. I want to know how much he understands about our relationship. I want to know how much of this is all in my head."
Maybe he doesn't want to, but her word appears to be enough. Soichiro nods, and gives Ryuzaki permission to continue.
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Your reward for stopping by is Bent by Matchbox 20. My mother has been blasting their old CDs all night, so this song is stuck in my head. Enjoy!
