Chapter 4: Regrettable
Dedication: To Amanda
Nikki
Michelle
For obvious reasons. ♥
Thanks guys!
Onwards! ->
For a while, she just stood in the bus and stared. Stared at what was left of the body.
Crowds began to bustle around the scene. Whispers spread like wildfire.
"Oh dear lord..."
"How could this have happened?"
Kuro only caught a few sentences. Her attention was completely set upon the dead man. She was stumped. She could no longer feel her fingers, but she swallowed her fear, and began to lower herself down from the bus steps. Her legs shook. She was unstable.
"Oh my god," she said, barely a whisper. The scene had so much more impact once she had seen it without a glass pane in front of her. "Oh my god," she repeated again. That was all she could say. That was all she could hear.
"You there."
It took a good second before she averted her gaze from the dead body, towards Ray Penbar, the source of the arousement.
"Yes?" She replied, in unison with Light. For a brief moment, Kuro locked gazes with him, but they both immediately turned their attention back towards Ray.
"The truth is, I'm here in Japan on a top secret investigation," he said, breathing out a sigh of a probable relief, "So if the Japanese police..." He paused. "Well..."
"I understand," said Light, without breaking a sweat. Kuro on the other hand, still had problems forming the correct words. Ray Penbar had turned to face her and awaited her response. She opened her mouth, but it turned dry, and no audible words came out.
Resisting the urge to cry out in frustration, she bit her lower lip and nodded, hoping that Ray would understand her signals.
"We won't tell anybody we met you," Light said finally. She was eternally grateful. "That includes our fathers, of course." She raised a brow. 'How did he know...?'
"Well... then, I'll be going." Once the agent turned around in the opposite direction, he halted for a moment. He faced the two teenagers, his main focus on Kuro.
"Thank you, again...You saved my life today."
Another slight pause.
"I am in your debt."
"Yeah..." It was all she could say.
"Goodbye, Yagami-kun, Ukita-san."
And then he departed.
Kuro stared until his figure was out of distance.
"Kuro-san. Do me a favor."
She stared off into the distance, "No."
"That wasn't a question."
It was the first time the two had ever interacted.
She was unfamiliar with him.
She answered based on instinct and what she believed was morally correct, which was a first, in her case.
There was a short and tense silence between the two.
"I don't care. The answer is no."
She was honestly horrified at her responses. What would happen if Light had already pre-planned her death? Then he wouldn't have asked me for the favor, she thought. She was being bold, especially since she knew that Light had the power of the Death Note in his hands. She had a piece, but quantity was not the problem. She needed find a way to outsmart the prodigy.
"You have a week." He stared down at her. But she continued staring down at the street.
"He will die."
She swallowed down her gasp, and shut her eyes, warmth returning to her fingers. She crunched the piece of paper that was in her pocket. She had bitten her tongue to the point where she began to taste a metallic flavor in her mouth.
"You have one week. I'll meet you at the subway station after your time restraint."
There was a momentary hesitation on Kuro's part.
"What do you need?"
His handsome smile quirked into a devilish smirk.
"Go to the subway station on December 27th at 3:00 P.M."
She stood by the walls of the subway station, her eyes wandering this way and that.
"I can't do that."
"Yes you can. And you will."
People passed by. So much commotion.
"This isn't necessary! He knows you're not Kira."
"I know. That's why I'm using you."
"There sure are a lot of humans," said Ryuk from afar, "She's gonna do it here?" Light mumbled a few things, but under a whisper, for he needn't seem suspicious.
"Do it yourself."
"But he's eternally in your debt."
She fixed her sunglasses and slipped her hood over her head once she spotted Ray Penbar from a good distance. Right on time... she thought, and when he had passed her, she silently followed behind him.
"You just don't want to arouse any suspicions for yourself."
"That and the fact that you also have a piece of the Notebook."
"Penbar-san." The raven-haired man halted in his steps, "If you turn around, then I have to kill you." She bit her tongue. I can't believe I'm doing this...
"I'm Kira." She attempted to hold in the truth that almost shot out of her mouth.
"If you do this, I will never step foot into your life again."
"But if you choose not to..."
"If you turn around or reach into your pocket, I will have to kill you." She ran over her choice of words. "Let me show you that I am Kira..." Her eyes ran over to a nearby coffee shop, where a middle-aged man swept the floor lazily with one hand. "I'm going to have to kill that man with the glasses."
"I-Impossible!" Ray Penbar paled, lowering his voice into a whisper. "Stop!"
Next second, the man grasped the collar of his shirt, wheezing. He couldn't breathe, and he fell over onto the ground.
Dead.
Kuro stayed silent, and winced when crowds of people began to gather around him. She felt a slight sense of guilt. Slight. "I had to do it. I didn't think that you would believe me either. But that man, Ray Penbar... that man was a serial rapist who went free because there was a lack of evidence during his prosecution." A sigh escaped her lips, and she continued on with her script. "He was a menace to society and deserved his death." She spotted Light and Ryuk from the corner of her eye. The boy leaned against the brick wall in a nonchalant manner while the flying Death God looked on with much amusement. Kuro returned her attention back to Ray Penbar. "I believe you've heard from L, and you're probably already aware that if I don't know the face of the person I want to kill, I can't kill them."
"You're coming with me. I need to keep an eye on you."
"Well said."
"But... that also means, that I can kill everyone I can see from here." Not that I want to, she thought in despair. She decided to skip her next line. It was too sadistic.
"I believe that you're Kira," said Ray Penbar, his grip on his briefcase tightening, "Don't kill anybody."
"If you try to attempt anything out of the ordinary, I'll kill you."
"Of course."
"It must be agonizing..." she whispered, "...To have someone you hold dear to be killed instead of somebody here." Some sort of sympathetic look formed in her eyes. "Please assume that she might be currently held hostage."
Kuro could feel him tense.
"You can't mean..."
"Oh, but I do..."
But she had to continue her script. It was part of being a good actress. In any case, Light was standing afar, and he could easily take the chance to kill her. But she knew he couldn't. He wouldn't. She was too valuable, and the chance was risky.
"If you do anything that varies slightly from what I tell you, I'm going to have to kill you." She swallowed down her guilt. "I'll kill everybody...including your family." He seemed to have given in. She had done her job well. "I understand," he said, his grip on his briefcase loosening, "What do I have to do?"
"You have a computer with you, right?" Please say no. Say no. Say no. He nodded. She was reluctant, but she continued, "On your computer, is there a file with information regarding the agents in Japan?" He hesitated. "This laptop is for work, so I always have it with me. But I don't have a file like that."
"Take this envelope," she said, handing him a manila folder. He took it without looking.
"First, take out the transceiver and put the earphone in your ear." With that said, she left from the scene, heading towards the nonchalant boy who was still leaning against the wall.
"Now," said Light, "finish your job."
She obeyed, much to her distaste. She had no choice. She couldn't die. Not yet. It was crucial to gain his trust. She needed to complete her assignment.
"It doesn't matter which direction," she said, morbidly into the headphone. "I'm going to be watching you constantly from somewhere close by." She walked away from the boy. She could feel him watching her. "Even if you're on the train, please keep your eyes focused on one spot in front of you." She stood watching from a good distance away from Ray Penbar.
"Don't forget that I can kill you at any time."
She took a deep breath before continuing.
"When you get on, please sit in a corner seat near the door. If they are all occupied, please wait until one is free." The train screeched to a halt in front of the blue-eyed man. He had his eyes narrowed, as to make sure no mistakes were made while he executed the steps she had given him.
"First, let me ask you something," she spoke quietly into her collar, stepping onto the train a few yards away from him, "if your answer differs significantly from what I expect, I'm going to have to kill your fiance." A sigh. "How many FBI agents are in Japan, and how are they organized? Answer quietly into the transceiver." She took out a notepad and a ballpoint pen from her coat pocket, awaiting his answer.
"Four teams," he said, "I heard there are 12 people in total."
"Now," she continued, glancing at him every so often, "please remove the contents of the envelope." She needn't see how he'd react to the contents.
"Please write the name of your direct superior, who is in command of all those agents, in the top hole on the folder," she paused as she took one look at what he scribbled down, "open your computer." He did as he was told. "Soon, you will receive a file from your superior. A file with the names and pictures of every F.B.I agent in Japan." His mouth opened slightly, from shock. "Okay. Now, the same as before, write the name of each agent on the envelope while carefully looking at their faces."
He looked puzzled, but he obeyed to her command.
"I suppose you're finished..." she said, watching as he closed his laptop, "Now, put the transceiver and the envelope with the names on it into the first envelope and put it on the luggage rack," Out of the corner of her eye, she took a glance at Yagami Light, who stood a few feet away from her. He nodded. "Continue riding on this train, without moving from where you are, for at least 30 minutes." She kept eye contact with the boy, "Then, once you've determined that no one will notice you forgot the envelope, get off of the train."
She had finished her job, and she removed the her ear-piece. She took a seat next to Light.
"Good job," he said, leaning back, "Consider taking up acting as a profession. It seems to be your forte."
"Thanks," she said, "Consider taking up a career in bullshitting. It seems to be yours."
He smirked. She didn't see it, but she could feel it. "Already am."
"Why...why did you tell me you were...?"
He didn't answer.
"You're not afraid of me, are you, Kuro?"
"On the contrary, I am."
About twenty minutes passed in dead silence, and Kuro decided to take a look at her watch. 4:41 P.M. The train screeched to a stop.
"Go."
She did, and she watched as Ray Penbar departed from the train alone. She followed behind him, but she stayed in the train. She grabbed the manila envelope that was on top the luggage rack. It's coming... She braced herself for the worst.
Ray halted in his steps. His hands immediately went to his chest. He struggled to breathe, but he fell down onto the ground with a grunt.
She watched with horror-filled eyes as he turned around. He caught sight of her.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I...was in your debt."
She gasped.
He attempted to reach his hand out, but the door closed, and the train took off.
"You did well."
She sat herself down in the empty seat once occupied by the now-dead Ray Penbar. Her breath fell short. Everything was a blur. But she bit back her tears. She had to continue her goal. A certain vendetta.
She looked up, her rich chocolate eyes glossy.
"What's my next assignment?"
Light: Good job. Consider taking up acting as a profession. It seems to be your forte.
Kuro: Thanks. Consider taking up a career in bullshitting. It seems to be yours.
Well, Kuro wasn't always a bitch. ^^
Thank you...
Amanda
&&&&&&&&&&&;;;
Nikki
It wouldn't be out if it wasn't for you wonderful ladies. ♥
