The Aves of Maria

Ploratia Columba or "The Mourning Dove."
***

He had thought that he wouldn't see her until Sunday, but luck seemed to favor Light. Maria came to him.

Well, not to him, precisely, she came seeking his mother. The Christian woman appeared on the Yagami's doorstep around 15:00 and toppled, trembling, into Sachiko's soft, motherly embrace. Between her garbled sobs he could make out the name "Akito."

His heart swelled. She was pathetic, crying over a man so unworthy of her tears, but it didn't matter. She would get over it soon enough; Light was there for her now. Besides, she was beautiful when she cried.

Sachiko held the younger woman close, shushing her and rocking her body in a soothing motion. Gently guiding Maria toward the sitting room, she turned her face toward her son and asked him to bring them water and prepare some tea. Light assented and quickly made his way to the kitchen, somehow both relieved and agonized to be in a different room.

Maria stirred such powerful feelings within him. Oh, how he wanted to kiss those tears from her cheeks, to taste their saltiness in the corners of his lips! They would taste perfect, he imagined, like the purest ocean water, pure enough to baptize infants in. Her red, blotchy face was somehow alluring and he committed to memory her quivering chin, matted eyelashes, her hair—loosed from its usual bun—messily surrounding her head in a golden halo, the tears in her eyes making her brown irises sparkle like fine champagne, the way the usually indistinguishable peach fuzz on her upper lip seemed particularly pronounced, the anguished upward curve of her honey-yellow eyebrows, and the mottled redness covering her face like an unpleasant rash.

Light swallowed thickly and moved to the sink, quickly pouring three glasses of water. He downed his glass quickly after presenting Maria and Sachiko theirs, hoping to quell the furnace in his belly.

God, she was beautiful when she cried. Maria was a lovely figure ordinarily, but when she was hiccupping in distress, Light thought, she was the epitome of purity, divinity, of holiness. She was the wisteria to his pine.

'Blessed Maria… she is as an angel.'

He realized with something of a start that he was jealous of his mother's position. He wanted to tear Maria out of Sachiko's embrace and implore the angelic woman to sob into his shoulder instead. He wanted her to soak his shirt with her tears and runny nose. He wanted to whisper into her delicate ear and stroke her hair and rub her back and maybe slip his thumb under her shirt. The meager contact with the flesh of the small of her back would surely be Paradise.

He wanted to shove his mother to the floor and spit hurtful words at her like she was vermin.

Light quickly pulled away from the thought and stood to refill his glass as well as check on the tea. The kettle had just begun to simmer and he quickly turned the stove off and poured the steaming liquid into mugs. The teabags bled yellow-green.

'Get a grip, Light,' he told himself. To think such things about his mother, he had to truly be enamored with Maria. His mother didn't deserve to be thought of so cruelly. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, forcing his raging desire down to a soft lull. He downed another glass of water.

Feeling much more levelheaded, he put the teacups on a tray and took them to the two middle-aged women. Maria's body-shaking sobs had died down to trembling hiccups.

"How could this happen?" the blonde woman was saying, "He had been so happy, so healthy the day before! Why? Why did he have to die?"

Sachiko pulled Maria close as Light gingerly set the tea tray on the coffee table.

"I guess that's just how death works," his mother said, "It doesn't matter if we're ready or not. It just happens."

"Mom is right, Mashiro-san," Light said gently, sitting down on the other side of the woman. Maria lifted her face out of Sachiko's shoulder to look tearfully at him. His heart skipped a beat. "I did not know Takagi-san much at all, but I know you and how much you must be hurting. I am sorry you had to go through this," and he was, he truly was, for who wanted to see their loved ones in pain? "But please do remember that I—we are here for you."

"Yagami-kun," Maria murmured. Then she, much to Light's shock, threw her arms around his broad shoulders and hugged him hard. His breath caught in his throat.

"Mari—Mashi…ro…san?" he managed to force out. His mother was smiling softly and, encouraged, he hesitantly brought his arms around her to return the embrace. She felt wonderful against him.

"Thank you for your kind words, Yagami-kun. And you can call me Maria," She told him. His cheeks burned. "I will grieve, I need to grieve, but after that I am going to concentrate on what's important in life. I'm going to strive everyday to be a kind and generous and loving person."

Light let out a breathy chuckle, a slight smile curving his mouth. He moved his fingers a little lower on her back and relished in the feel of her tears and breath puffing against his neck.

"You are already one of the kindest, most generous, and most loving people I know, Maria-san." He was in heaven, enveloped by Paradise; the world could rot for all he cared, as long as he could hold Maria like this forever.

Maria continued, "I'm going to keep death right here, close to my heart, so that whenever I'm overcome with negative emotions or I start to forget, I'll see death and remember."

Sachiko set her teacup down, eyes distant and thoughtful and mourning. "That is a good thing, I think, Maria. I'm sure that Akito-san's spirit has found its way safely to Paradise and he's watching you, lovingly, from heaven. We should never forget those whom we've loved and lost, but keep them alive in our hearts."

Maria sniffled, "Yes." She let go of Light then, pulling away to sit up on her own, and Light nearly cried out at the loss of contact, biting the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood.

"Thank you, both of you," the blonde woman said, wiping away tears. She reached for tea and sipped at it delicately. "It's delicious."

Light clenched one hand into a fist, digging his fingernails into his palm to reinforce self-control. He wanted to scream, wanted to pin Maria to the couch and do unmentionable things to her body.

He stood and bowed lightly to the two women. "I think I'll give you a bit of time to yourselves, now. For girl talk, yes?"

Maria's brow furrowed, her eyes rimmed with bright pink. "Oh, yes of course. I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable, Yagami-kun."

He smiled down at her. "No, not at all, Maria-san. Please excuse me."

Light went straight to the bathroom. Breathing heavily, cheeks flushed, he hovered over the sink, his hands clenching at the porcelain sides. Now that he was in a private space, he let the lid on his emotions fall away.

It was revitalizing, allowing this meager loss of control. His entire body tingled and trembled and very shortly thereafter his pants had tented. The blood in his veins boiled with desire. Never had he wanted Maria so badly than he did at this moment. It was as if he grew more and more passionate about her every day.

"Each day I love you more, today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow," he quoted to himself, "Oh, Maria; beatus, sanctus, venustus, benigmus, virgo Maria; blessed, sacred, lovely, benevolent, merciful, virgin Maria."

Unable to restrain himself any longer, Light stripped bare. Goose flesh rose on his arms and legs, his skin constraining to hold every bit of heat it could. He wrapped his fingers around his aching manhood, and rested his heated forehead against the cool glass of the mirror.

He cursed his mother for prompting Maria out of his arms, though that thought quickly faded as he remembered her tearful, sparkling eyes. Her tears… why did they arouse him so?

His erection was in a remote place between pleasure and pain, the crown purpling with hot blood. He pressed his free hand harshly against the mirror. He imagined that Maria was just on the other side of the mirror and his twitching fingers desperately sought to touch her; a lock of hair, the sleeve of her shirt, or the back of her hand, her lips.

Remaining silent so as not to alert anyone in the house of his activity was difficult. He couldn't stop, didn't want to stop, thinking about her tear-shimmering eyes, the pout of her mouth as she held back sobs, the desperate way she clung to him as she cried, so deeply within kissing distance. Had his mother not been present, he might have snapped and ravished her right then and there. The fantasy of her crying, pleading for him to stop his advances; yet, unable to resist her own body's yearning turned him on like nothing else.

When release came, he nearly sobbed, her name escaping his lips as a harsh whisper. He held onto the blissful feeling as long as he could, milking his need until his body could bear it no longer and he sank to his knees, gasping. Beats of sweat clung to the crevices of his body.

Head bowed, Light chuckled darkly under his breath. "The things you do to me…"

He decided to take a bath, despite the early hour. His skin was sticky with sweat and he felt drained of energy. Gathering his wits and dignity about him, he wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped into the shower/bathtub room. As he was rinsing himself off, the tub slowly filled with water.

Light reached for the mirrored medicine cabinet to retrieve soap when Ryuk's grinning head suddenly phased through the glass. Light's neutral expression twisted into a fierce glare.

Ryuk laughed. "You sure are one interesting human, Light-kun. You get more interesting every day."

Light looked away as if dismissing the shinigami. He worked the bar of soap into a thick, white lather. "How much did you see?"

If possible, Ryuk's grin widened. "Plenty."

Light didn't respond.

"Hyuk, hyuk, you don't notice anything other than yourself when you're getting off like that. It's funny! I guess not just the apples in this world are juicy. Hyuk hyuk hyuk!"

"What do you want?" The human man snapped. The death god's words were chaffing his ego.

"Just thought I'd tell you that you had better cure yourself of your pitiful little crush before L notices it's affecting the number of criminals you kill every day."

Light looked at the other being then, glaring. "My feelings for Maria are not some 'pitiful little crush.'"

Ryuk's goldfish-like eyes gleamed. "How interesting. A few weeks ago, you would have defended yourself against L, not that old lady."

"Shut up. What do you know about human psychology, anyway? Nothing; you know nothing."

The death god looked like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it. "Well then, if you're not going to dismiss your infatuation, what do you plan on doing about it?"

Light allowed himself a smirk, his irritation evaporating as he imagined seducing Maria. "Simple. I will make her fall hopelessly in love with me."

"And how will you do that?"

"One day at a time, Ryuk."

Ryuk laughed forebodingly. "I don't think you'll be able to do it. Know why? Because you're only a cute little kid to her, that's why. She's double your age, Light-kun; she'll never see you as a potential lover."

Light glared at the Shinigami. "She will have to give in to me. She will. Angels don't have free will, and I am God. Maria will be mine."

Ryuk only continued to laugh.