Arcadia

Title: Arcadia

Disclaimer: Death Note is not mine.

Pairings: Eventual LxLight

Warnings: These will be evolving as we go. For now, just cross-dressing, and the disturbing idea that is Ryuk as a secretary.

As a side note, this story is not set in Arcadia, Greece. It's in a nameless urban area somewhere in America. According to Webster's Word of the Day, An arcadia is "a region or scene of simple pleasure and quiet". I like irony. Also, since this is meant to be my peaceful happy place to write when TYA's being a bitch, it suits.

-----

In the end, Mello left me with more questions than answers. Then again, as she was kind enough to point out, I'm a detective-- finding answers is my job.

Turned out Mello's "friend" was actually her step-brother, one Nate Rivers. Nate, known more commonly as "Near", was a quite sought-after prostitute at a discreet gentleman's club. His specialty was his appearance; Nate was legal, but you couldn't tell from looking. In the only photo Mello had of her brother, the kid appeared soft and young, huge dark eyes avoiding the camera and one finger curled in his hair while he played with a toy robot.

Interestingly enough, Mello didn't seem to approve of her brother's occupation. She'd bit off the words as she said them and gave me a challenging stare. This was in direct contrast to the matter-of-fact way she'd stated her own occupation as dominatrix.

Either she worried what I'd say about the kid, or she didn't want to face what her baby brother did.

I had a feeling Mello wouldn't care one way or another what I really believed if I didn't make her listen to it. That same feeling told me that if I said something close to insulting Nate, she would shoot me. I made a mental note to attempt being especially polite in her presence. I could make it to one of my guns long before she could pull hers from the suitcase she used as a purse... but as a general rule, shooting the clients is bad for business.

Besides, I hate to kill innocents. Even if that 'innocent' was a violent dominatrix... a man's got to have a moral code.

Nate had been getting calls lately, threats and heavy breathing on the phone, all from untraceable numbers or payphones with no security cameras nearby. This was nothing new, but Mello informed me it had been getting worse and Nate had finally asked Mello to find a good P.I.. Neither trusted the police, and in Nate's situation too much attention from the men in blue would be anything but positive.

Of course, I'd had shady clients before-- some of my more interesting cases, in fact. As long as the grayer shades didn't slip into true darkness, I saw no reason to kill them.

Near the end of my interview with Mello, Ryuk ducked into the room. As usual, he was wearing enough black to outfit a Gothic nightclub. The centerpiece of his ensemble was his favorite belt, a massive affair affixed with a skull belt-buckle larger than my fist. I would enforce a better dress-code, but the money it would take tailoring to Ryuk's frame wasn't cost-effective. Anyway, the clothes helped his image. I couldn't imagine Ryuk wearing anything that a normal human might be inclined toward, and I still don't know what he looks like without his make-up.

He was carrying a tray of tea.

Mello's head jerked to Ryuk as he entered, and her fingers clutched her purse. I leaned back in my chair, tilting my head to clear the bangs from my eyes and hiding my amusement at her reaction. I wondered if she was more tempted to grab for the reassurance of her gun or one of the chocolate bars. I was also mildly certain that asking that question out loud would get me shot at.

"Ryuk," I greeted my secretary with a dry edge to my tone. The big man had an insatiable curiosity, and he wasn't above finding excuses to enter the room when a particularly attractive female client was inside of it. I didn't think Mello would have hit his radar, however.

"I brought tea," he told me.

"I'd noticed that," I responded. "How very... thoughtful of you." I accepted the cup he'd offered to me, adding one cube and stirring. Mello stared at the tea as if it might actually be poison and waved it away.

"Yeah... sure." Ryuk looked to Mello again, then shuffled to the door. "...Guess I'll be going."

Clearing my head of the amusement that occasionally struck me when studying my assistant, I focused on Mello again. "You were saying...?" I urged, trying to appear as though Ryuk playing butler were a normal occurrence. Ryuk hadn't been acting as he would around a beautiful woman, which led me to believe that something about Mello had concerned him.

Shaken by Ryuk's entrance-- or possibly just a naturally neurotic and impatient person-- my cross-dressing femme-fatale took her leave shortly after the interruption.

As expected, Ryuk returned as soon as the office door closed.

It quickly became clear that Ryuk wasn't just concerned about Mello. He was... nervous. For a man approaching seven feet who shrugged bullet wounds off as though he couldn't feel them and treated my night job like a comedy act, this was a first.

"Hey, Light, that guy..." he prevaricated. I had never been able to break him of calling me by my first name. Then again, Ryuk knew more of my secrets than any living human. Maybe he had earned it.

"It's polite to refer to the transgendered by their identified sex, Ryuk," I chided dryly.

This earned me a chuckle. "Always PC, huh, boss?" He grinned at me, black-painted lips separating to reveal his jagged teeth.

"What did you need, Ryuk?" I prompted.

"Well..." Ryuk scratched the back of his haphazardly trimmed hair. Turning his face away, he appeared to make up his mind. "You know I don't take sides around here, but I thought I should warn you. In the spirit of friendship, right?" He laughed, a sound that was so consistent in his conversation I rarely noticed it. "That guy... I recognize him. I've seen him around when I dice with Sidoh."

Sidoh was a low-ranking mafia peon, little more than a gofer. Still, Ryuk's ties to him had provided me with valuable information in the past. "Thank you, Ryuk," I told him sincerely. If Mello had a connection to the mafia it would have shown up when I did her background check in any case, but it was never a good idea to scorn information freely offered. Treating Ryuk as though he'd actually been useful cost me nothing.

Ryuk relaxed, happy he'd helped me. People are easy to manipulate when you know what drives them. For all of his frightening appearance, Ryuk was an easy-going and simple man.

"So, Light... you going out tonight?"

I sighed. Really, his curiosity was unavoidable. Leaning back in my chair with my legs crossed comfortably, I considered whether to speak. Of course, Ryuk could be trusted-- that wasn't the issue. After I receive a new client, I prefer to take time to myself, hack into a few databases and generally stick my nose where it's not wanted to see what they're really about. One thing I've learned from this job is exactly how consistent the phrase 'everyone lies' really is. In my life, I believe I've only met two truly honest people: one being my father, and the other... my secretary.

So rather than deciding if I could talk to Ryuk, I had to decide if I really felt like it. The man was the closest I had to a friend, but at the same time... really, he was an idiot.

Relenting when the thick-skulled man showed no signs of taking the hint and leaving after several minutes of contemplative silence on my part, I sat straight again and took another sip of tea. "No, not tonight. I'll stay in and check up on Mello. Fowler's got his weekly bowling, anyway. I'll catch him Monday or Tuesday."

The big man gave an appreciative chuckle, expecting the details later. After several more minutes of silence, he finally got the point and let himself out.

---

Mello, as it turned out, didn't just have connections to organized crime.

She was raised by it.

Before she became 'Mello', my client had been one Mihael Keehl, adopted at the age of nine by a man named Zakk Irius. Near had been adopted by him the year before. Both Nate and Mello came from an orphanage that apparently catered to unusually intelligent children from around the world.

The fact that a man like Mr. Irius felt the need to adopt two prodigy children made me wonder if he had a few issues with pride and low self-esteem. A little digging in that direction showed that the man really had been a weak link, dissatisfied with his position enough to turn to the side of the police and feed them information.

That was never a smart move. Mr. Irius had been killed by his mafia friends shortly before the police started a raid on one of the syndicate's dens, killing and arresting several crime lords and underlings.

With the justice system what it is, the leaders were generally let free, with only two serving more than three years' time. The underlings, of course, had been put away for life.

Interestingly enough, in spite of all of this Mello's ties to the syndicate had remained strong. After her adopted father's death, she had apparently been taken in by Dwhite Gordon, alias Rod Ross, the then-third in line to lead the syndicate.

Within two years of taking Mello under his wing, Rod had risen to the number one position. The raid had helped to thin the competition, of course, but it appeared that the mafia leader had developed a sudden clever streak and a shrewd sense of vengeance if crossed.

I was willing to bet Rod's "clever streak" had a predilection for fetish wear and an addiction to chocolate.

In the file was a footnote that caught my eye. To put pressure on the syndicate, the police had consulted L, a renowned detective. In fact, the top detective in the world, depending on how you measured those things. A man who never showed his face, and took on only the cases he wanted.

I leaned back in my chair, eyes roving over my modest office. It wasn't a bad idea. Maybe I'd been thinking too small with my life. I had a decent niche in the market, but I knew that if I worked for it I could be the top of my field. The odds against L actually being more intelligent than me were astronomical, so I didn't see the other man as a particular challenge.

Number one detective in the world. A man with the power to influence governments. It was a little like being a god...

My head tipped back, and I felt a smile curve my mouth.

Not a bad idea at all.

-----

Thank you everyone who responded to the first chapter...! It made me really happy. Also to everyone who bothered reading it, another thanks. This one's fun to write, but a bit odd.

The tea scene was inspired by a fanart for Arcadia by the wonderful Gloria B.! Ryuk serving tea was too great to pass up. The picture is here: http://www.alo-draga.com/duomi/Arcadia_Gloria%20B.jpg

Responses:

Lila: I couldn't get the image of Mello as a dom tranny out of my head, so had to start this. *laughs* My chapters in this aren't clear enough for me to know when L will show up, but I've started writing L and Light meeting already and the events around that-- I just need the stupid connecting chapters.

greybird: Thank you very much! Your response amused me.

WM: Yup! The characters are all going to be a smidge OOC, but I'm trying to keep them recognizable and mostly themselves around the differences. Naomi feels mostly like herself so far, I might think of a tweak for her later, but she's a fun char as-is. I'm giving everyone that will actually appear a tweak. Light's tweak, aside from being a detective with no Death Note and a killer, is that he's older now, late twenties most likely, and he's been around. He doesn't have Light's idealism aside from the fact that he wants to make the world better by killing criminals and keeping crime down. So his voice will feel different than how I'd have written him if he were still at a high school age or a shiny new homicidal detective.

Gloria B: Thanks so much! I'm trying for a film noirish feel. Light's amusing to fit into that because even as a 'hardboiled' detective, he still has to be Light, wearing impeccable clothes and sitting with his legs crossed all the time. His ego's fun to mix in too-- I am trying to make him relatable as well. I love the picture you made for this...! It's perfect.

Nusku: It took me a wee bit of time, but the update was accomplished! Thanks for reviewing...! And for following me from GM and TYA.

o_Okimi: There! You're welcome, and thank you for responding! Your username's weirdly adorable.