• Chapter Eighteen

    Otaku/eL

    It was a dark and stormy night and we were trapped inside with a murderer. And I’m not exaggerating one bit. It was POURING BUCKETS outside, and we all sat in the Investigation Room with Light, twiddling our thumbs. So… maybe not AS dramatic as it sounded at the beginning, but I told the whole and complete truth. It’s still a dark and stormy night, and we’re still trapped here with a murderer.

    And that’s when eL called Light into the hallway.

    * * * (eL’s POV)

    I stood and placed a hand on Light’s shoulder. He looked up at me.

    “Can I talk with you… alone?” I asked hesitantly. A bit confused, Light stood and nodded.

    “Okay…?” he responded, sounding a bit suspicious. When Light’s back was turned, headed for the doorway, I glanced over at L. His eyes were wide in fear; he was shaking his head ‘no’ frantically, trying to stop me. But, at this point, not even the Greatest Detective in the World could stop what I was about to do. ‘An innocent experiment… or a suicide mission?’ I wondered, realizing that this might be one of the last times I ever saw L or Otaku again. My eyes flickered over to Otaku. She was watching us, looking more confused than normal. L was still waving at me frantically, doing everything he could to get me to just forget about it. No chance. I turned around to follow Light out the door. L stood. He knew that there was nothing he could do to stop me… nothing at all. ‘Would I regret this decision?’ I thought, suddenly wanting to turn back. ‘Would I look back at this and think ‘Oh, how stupid of me’?’

    “You have to go on. You have to Prove to yourself that I am real, I am not just a figment of your imagination. Prove that I am trustworthy,” I felt like crying. Arrrgggg!!!!!! That VOICE again!?!?!! But… she was right. This would prove that I wasn’t crazy, that I hadn’t completely gone off the deep end!! So I followed Light out the door, just wanting to get it over with.

    “Elizabeth Hedwig Austin (LAST NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED),” I said quickly. Light blinked, clueless, an expression on his face I had only come to expect with L buying gifts.

    “… Who?” he asked. I sighed.

    “That’s me. That’s my full, real name. Not eL, not Hattie. Elizabeth Hedwig Austin. Do you want a spelling?”

    “Um… why are you telling ME this?” Once again, I had no answer.

    “I dunno,” I responded, trying to sound nonchalant. “I thought you might like to know,” I added quickly, then left before Light could say any more. The look L gave me once I reentered the room could have bored through metal walls. He was angry. I had deliberately disobeyed him, I had put my life in danger when he had begged me not to. I just hoped that he didn’t hate me for it. But, then again, what did it matter if he hated me; I might be dead.

    Otaku, on the other side of the room, was still looking lost.

    “Er, could someone please explain this to me, I-I’m kinda confused here,” she broke the silence uncertainly.

    “Nothing, Taco,” I replied, still trying to act normal, using the name I knew she hated, and the answer she hated even more. Otaku stuck the tip of her tongue out at me, and crossed her arms defiantly.

    “Its OOOOOH-tak-UUUU!!!!! Not ‘Taco!’!!! You came up with the dang name, say it right!!!” she corrected me for the millionth time, exaggerating the vowels I’d missed loudly. I smiled slightly.

    “Get over it,” I replied, rolling my eyes in her direction playfully. (Otaku; Gal, you really want to just annoy the CRAP out of me today, huh!?! eL; Of course, Taco!! Otaku; AAARRRRGGGGG)

    * * * (Otaku’s POV!! :3)

    Well, I never got a decent explanation out of anybody. I went to Light, and he just brushed me off. (I kinda wanted to hit him, but I only had my bare hands. A machine gun would have been better, but I happen to have a lack of machine guns right now.) No matter how much I pestered eL, she was stubborn and refused to say ANYTHING on the matter. So, I tried L last, knowing, if anyone was going to keep a secret REALLY good, it would be both of the L’s. I no longer had hope, but I tried anyway. And, of course, L just looked up and said, “It won’t really make much difference to you. Don’t worry about it.” So, he was nicer than eL and Light, but the answer was the same; Butt out.

    And that’s when Aizawa and Ide walked in. Ha ha. I had reasons to hate the both of them. Aizawa left the Task Force because he didn’t LIKE L, and Ide didn’t even take the time to meet him, just left. So both of them could fall off a cliff, and I’d just wave. If I was even facing their direction.

    “L-I mean, Ryuuzaki, who is that?” Aizawa asked, pointing at me.

    “Well, hello to you, too, Aizawa,” I put in bitterly. “Aren’t YOU so polite.” Aizawa looked over at me as though I’d just grown a second head or something.

    “How do you know my name?” he cried. I blinked. ‘CRAP!!!’ I thought angrily. ‘I can’t just tell him I read a BOOK about him!’ So, I decided to play it cool, hoping he’d just be a good little detective and forget about it.

    “Who knows,” I replied smoothly. “I could have the Shinigami Eyes, I could have simply over heard your name, you could be wearing a name tag!” At this point, Aizawa actually looked down and checked to see if he really WAS wearing a name tag. He wasn’t. “The world might NEVER know,” I added mysteriously. eL, glaring at me out of the corners of her eyes, stood and reached out to shake Aizawa’s hand.

    “I’m eL, spelled with an ‘e’,” she explained to them, then used her thumb to point at me over her shoulder. “And THAT is Otaku.” Both men leaned over eL’s shoulders to peer out at me. I waved and smiled. Ide, who, up until now, had been pretty quiet, piped up.

    “Aliases, I’m guessing?” he asked. We nodded, basically at the same time.

    “You can never be too careful with HIM around,” I said, nodding over to Light.

    “So you’re still stuck on that whole Light-Is-Kira, thing?” Aizawa growled.

    “How can you NOT tell that he is Kira when he is LITERALLY staring you right in the face?!?” I cried. “I mean, look at him! He even LOOKS like a murderer!!”

    “Hey!” Light cried, spinning over to face us. Aizawa, looking pain staked, turned to me.

    “Light looks absolutely NOTHING like a murderer, where did you get that?!?!” he asked warily. I glanced over at Light and realized he was right. Prim and proper, Light looked more like a business man than a crazed Death Note murderer. But I guess when your dad is Chief Yagami, that’s how you dress on a daily basis. For the first time, I felt sorry for Light.

    eL’s eyes slipped over to the wall clock and she let out a gasp. “Oh, it’s time!” she cried. We all looked over at her. Her eyes were shining with sudden excitement. She and Matsuda exchanged wicked smiles. I was worried. She grabbed L and I and began dragging us towards the door.

    “Hey, what are you doing!!!” I resisted, but, really? Am I going to be able to get out of eL’s killer grasp? L looked a bit frazzled, but he didn’t really fight. “What’s going on, would someone care to explain to me WHAT THE CRAP is going on here?” Please, please, not everyone at once.

    Somehow, eL managed to get the door to the hallway open and slung L and I out into the empty corridor.

    “When I say you can, you two can come back inside!” she ordered us and slammed the door in our faces, allowing no time for any more questions. For a second, I waited, as though she was going to open it back up and say ‘SIC!!!’ but no. I turned to L, a bit shocked.

    “You know, I think we’ve been dissed,” I stated. L smiled a bit bitterly.

    “I suppose so,” he replied. I sighed and sat down on the floor, resting my back against the wall. Who KNEW how long they were going to take in there, discussing their secret things that L and I couldn’t hear!! This was going to be very frustrating.

    L knelt down and sat next to me. We just sat in silence for a while. I listened to the rhythm of L’s breathing, slow and steady, and I, too, fell into his consistent pattern. If it had been any quieter, I could have heard his heart beating. Suddenly something occurred to me.

    “Hey-“

    “Otaku-“ We both stopped, having interrupted each other. A brief smile flitted across L’s face, and I smiled brightly back at him.

    “You can go first,” L told me courteously.

    “M’kay,” I started, beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea after all. “Er, I’ve just kinda been curious, you know, and I know that it’s dangerous and all, and I don’t want to put you in danger, or any kind of awkward situation or anything, so if you don’t want to tell me, just say so,” I said nervously, hoping he could understand me. Sometimes, when I get going, I can talk REALLY fast. (Especially on the phone. I talk really loud and really fast on the phone! LOL!) But, luckily, it seemed L could tell what I was saying, because he smiled.

    “You want to know my name?” he inquired. I gasped.

    “How, how did you-“

    “I’m good at guessing that kind of thing. But, don’t worry. I’ll tell you. Actually… actually, I wanted to know the same thing.”

    “What your name is?”

    “No, no, what YOUR name is.”

    “Oh,” I said, feeling stupid.

    “My name is L,” he began carefully. “L Lawliet. The letter was my given birth name,” he explained. My eyes widened.

    “Really?” L nodded. “Wow, that’s so pretty!!!” I gushed, then stopped myself. Would a guy be offended if told their names were pretty? “I-I mean, er…” I stammered, praying he wouldn’t be insulted. But instead, L simply smiled and patted my hand.

    “Thank you,” he said, ending my embarrassing stutters. “Only Watari knows my name, but he has since I was born, so there was no need for any compliments.” My heart leaped. Was I the first to compliment him on his name?!

    “Now you tell me your name,” I looked up.

    “M’kay, but mine is SOO much more boring than yours!! You’ll be disappointed,” I prepared him. L didn’t respond, only gave a small chuckle.

    “My name is Kaitlyn Nicole Volle,” I told him. “SO common!! Do you know how many ‘Kaitlyns’ there are?! And that’s just with that spelling!!! There’s K-A-I-T-L-I-N, and K-A-Y-T-L-I-N, and C-A-I-T-L-Y-N and C-A-I-T-L-I-N and-“ I stopped abruptly when L’s fingers hovered, gently, just over my lips.

    “Your name is beautiful,” he assured me quietly. A shiver ran through me. ‘Really?’ I thought, ecstatic. ‘Does he really think my name is beautiful?!’ I gazed, wide-eyed, into his sincere, solemn face, his blank, empty black eyes… so sweet… so lovely… his features were perfect, everything about him, too good to be true, too hard to believe that he cared to ask my name, that he called me a friend, that he called my name beautiful… that his fingers were touching my lips… His face was closer to mine, now. He was leaning over my knees to get closer to me. Slowly, entranced by him, my knees sank lower, sliding out flat in front of me, but all I saw was his face. I was mesmerized by his beauty. He tilted his head slightly, but I caught every motion. His fingers slipped from my lips, to my arms, holding me, drawing me closer to him. His warmth surged through my body, placing an unnamed joy, peace in my chest. I rested my head on his shoulder.

    “Hey, L, Ota-“ Hattie cut off. My head snapped up in the direction of the now open doorway. Hattie stood there, looking wide-eyed and shocked. Then I realized we must have looked rather strange, L just sitting there holding me.

    “Er, I can go…” Hattie began backing up awkwardly.

    “No,” L stopped her. He stood, looking as though girls caught him with their best friends in hallways all the time, not embarrassed or awkward. He turned and reached down to offer me his hand. I took it and he pulled me to my feet.

    “Alright,” eL said, shaking off the surprise. Opening the door, eL stepped aside to show us what she had been working on. My eyes widened and I gasped in shock at what the door had hidden.