Past in Present

Warnings for this chapter: Sexual situations!

Thanks to those of you who read, and double-thanks to those who reviewed! :)

I’m trying not to drag this on too long – but of course because I DIDN’T want to get distracted from Fuseki and Black and Gold, this has spiraled out of control to nearly 30 pages already. Man. I am crazy.

As I’ve mentioned in a few different places, I’m actively seeking RP partners for any of the series that I write for, plus other possibilites. If anyone’s remotely interested, pm me or aim me at katalyst019! 3

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Tenma Kenzou was not, objectively, beautiful. Light circled the doctor, who sat in a chair in the middle of the room, shoulders hunched in a manner not unlike L’s, protectively. He hadn’t shaved in days, his hair was ragged and unwashed, his clothes threadbare. If he hadn’t known who this man was, he might have pegged him for homeless. As it was, he just looked like some sort of tired old soldier, long in the tooth and hardened by war.

He spoke in a low monotone as he recited his experiences. His story started in a hospital, saving the life of a child. A noble act, the right thing to do. It seemed to have brought him nothing but trouble, however. Light turned the situation over in his mind.

So many people had already died. Tenma remembered their names, the ones he had been in contact with. He listed them and the circumstances of their deaths to the best of his knowledge in a flat, tired voice. He had told this story before to the Czech police, of course – and it sounded rehearsed but not disingenuous, as if he’d told it to many others too.

Adolf Junkers. The Fortners. Middle-aged couples making a trail of bodies all over Germany.

And worse. Stories of atrocity, of brainwashing, of torture, of people who were toyed with before they were killed. Kinderheim 511. The Turkish town that was nearly burned. The library that was burned. Prague.

Events twisted around, seemingly unrelated until they converged in points of brilliance. Tenma made the connections as simple as possible.

Neither of them interrupted him. It was an unspoken agreement that they should hear the doctor’s story before they started asking questions. And much of the story, they had known. But Tenma filled in their knowledge, polished it and added a surprisingly complex psychological evaluation of Johan. It looked less and less like a half-mad story, and more like a completely mad – completely terrifying reality.

Finally Tenma finished and fell silent. Light spoke up before L could pepper him with questions, deciding that he deserved a break… well from L at any rate. Light wanted to indulge his own curiosity, first. “L. Reassure the Czech police. Tenma-sensei… you look like you could use a shower and some food.”

L gaped at him – an expression that he took vicious delight in – and Tenma’s eyes held weary surprise as Light half-hauled him out of the chair and steered him into the bedroom, shutting the door behind them and turning him in the direction of the bathroom.

Later, when the doctor was showered and shaved and dressed in a clean pair of Light’s clothes, he ordered room service for them.

Tenma’s table manners were impeccable, even though he was clearly starving, eating everything without hesitation. Light smiled, pouring him a glass of the complimentary bottle of wine that was sent up too.

The doctor was much more attractive after he cleaned himself up some, he was pleased to find. He had been hoping. The shaggy hair just accentuated his eyes, the fine bones of his face, his mouth that was sensuous without being girly.

“What do you think of Kira?” Light asked the doctor casually over the wine that they shared, once they were into the second bottle. It was an experiment – he rarely asked people a question like this. Before it would have cast suspicion on him and now – well no one told him the truth. But Tenma personified his ideas, his world. He had known it from the time he started talking. And… Light felt that he would be honest.

Would he offer him a Note? Light toyed with the idea. Tenma knew Johan’s face, could possibly end this now and keep the deaths at bay. But there was sacrifice involved in using the Note, and only a true devotee would use it. Only a true devotee deserved it.

“I am not sure.” Tenma spoke hesitantly, making Light want to frown just a little. “I have not thought about.. Kira.. much, until lately.”

The stumble on his name – clearly Tenma had trouble separating Kira the idea from Light the person, sitting with him. He wondered if that meant that Tenma disapproved. “Please do not worry that I will take offense.”

The doctor sipped his wine, reflectively. “I… sometimes wonder if Kira’s methods are too harsh, to deal out judgment like that without due process.”

“Aren’t you doing the same?” He struggled to keep any hint of sharpness out of his voice, but wasn’t sure he was entirely successful, judging from the way the doctor tensed a little.

“..Yes.” Tenma took a deep breath, setting his wineglass down. It seemed to surprise him, that Light had read his intentions – but in a way they were obvious. He had trained to kill. A silence played over them, as Tenma was obviously not done speaking yet. Finally he raised his eyes to Light’s, somber. “But I believe I will deserve Kira’s justice once I have succeeded.”

Light sucked in a breath. Tenma expected to die, it was stunningly clear. And he was beautiful with it – full of conviction and morality and he couldn’t help leaning over and pressing his mouth to the doctor’s, ignoring the startled murmur of protest. Pulling him in inexorably.

Tenma slowly melted into his arms – perhaps he was lonely, or perhaps he just realized that refusal was unthinkable. Light was the god of the new world after all, and Tenma lived on his sufferance.

----

L stood in the doorway of Kira’s room, naturally-wide eyes wider at the sight of Kenzou Tenma naked and completely asleep in Kira’s bed, and Kira sitting up next to him, one hand in the doctor’s overlong, messy hair, the other hand holding a book.

Kira heard him come in of course, but ignored him for several moments, letting him soak in the scene before him. Finally he lifted his eyes to L’s and held. L sucked in a breath, visibly.

“Yes?”

L’s eyebrows had taken permanent residence in his hairline. “Is it quite wise to sleep with a suspect?”

“He isn’t a suspect.”

“He is until we have evidence of Johan’s involvement.” L continued stubbornly.

Light gave him a look, and L looked just a bit stricken. How he forgot that Kira needed no such thing was always a mystery. The detective took a breath before shoving his hands into his pockets.

“It makes you uncomfortable, doesn’t it?”

“Shouldn’t it?”

Light laughed very quietly, a thought occurring to him. He didn’t know what made L more uncomfortable – the fact that Light only wanted a name and a face to enact his justice, or that he had clearly just had sex. “L, how long has it been since you’ve gotten laid?”

Black eyes sharpened, narrowed. This was a game they hadn’t played yet, excepting a few barbs that never went anywhere, and it was a sweet rush that came from not having won yet. L didn’t answer

“Clearly at least five years.” Light pressed with a small smirk, setting the book aside and shifting in the bed, laying a possessive hand on Tenma’s hip. Pressing the advantage. L’s eyes were opaque and he couldn’t tell what he read there – disgust or desire.

“Longer than that, I’d wager. Before the Kira case?”

“The details of my personal life are not relevant to the case.”

“You could join us, you know.” He kept the offer light, on the razor edge between genuine and mocking, interested in how he would interpret it. It made the detective’s spine straighten in that way he only did when he was feeling intimidated and angry. Light smothered a smile in Tenma’s hair, inhaling the scent of his own shampoo.

“I have work to do.” L turned his back on him sharply and left the room, shutting the door quietly but firmly.

Light laughed softly and Tenma stirred under him, prompting Light to forget torturing the detective and draw the other man into a lazy kiss. Light had found him to be a very good lover – too bad L didn’t have his surveillance cameras anymore. He might have had some voyeuristic pleasure, if nothing else.

----

Tenma had been there for a week. It was a week that was becoming increasingly frustrating for him. L could see it in the way that he paced.

Kira had taken an interest in him that wasn’t healthy. He’d ordered him to stay with them, had gotten him new clothes that L judged to be expensive. It was quite disgusting. He was treating the doctor like a pet and not seeing how miserable it made him.

Tenma was not suited to be on a leash like this. He was too intelligent and he had a purpose, a mission. L understood that keenly, and more. Kira was, subtly, trying to groom him as another Kira.

L regarded him over the screen of the laptop for several minutes. Kira was out, a sign that he had started to feel a modicum of trust for the detective – or that he simply counted on the tracker around his ankle to keep him tethered.

“Dr. Tenma.” The doctor stopped in his pacing, looking up, startled. They hadn’t exchanged more than five sentences or so, other than the questions that had asked that directly pertained to the case. “Do you want to be here?”

The doctor’s eyes narrowed just a touch, suspiciously. He wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t caught on to the intricacies of L and Kira’s relationship – Kira had introduced him as Ryuzaki again, and although the doctor was highly intelligent, he would have no reason to suspect L as being anything other than an assistant.

“Please do not think that I intend to rat you out to Light.” He drummed his fingers, then reached to shut the laptop, fixing him with a stare.

“What is your intention, then?” The doctor sounded suspicious, but interested, facing him directly.

“To let you go, if that’s what you want.”

Tenma’s eyes widened a little. “Why?”

“I have little loyalty to Kira. I care about the case, and this case will not be solved if we just sit here.” He didn’t mention his other suspicions – perhaps he should have, but he trusted Tenma to stay gone until his mission was fulfilled.

Tenma nodded slowly. It was the only story he would be able to trust, after all. “How? There’s surveillance and guards.”

L opened the laptop again, bringing up the surveillance feeds. “I can shut them off. You’ll have five minutes to get out of the building. If you go to the roof, there’s a route.” He waved him over and Tenma came, watching as L detailed it, expertly switching through security feeds.

“I can do that.”

“Then go.”

Tenma placed one hand on L’s shoulder in what felt like thanks. L ignored it, executing the commands that would shut down the surveillance.

The door closed quietly a moment later and L sighed, rubbing the back of his own neck. Suddenly exhausted.

Kira would not like this one bit. L stood and went to lie down on the couch heavily. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was sent back for this. Kira would perceive it as a betrayal, there was no way he would not. It felt good though, an act of defiance that was significant instead of small. A reminder that no matter what kind of impossible situation he was in, he could still fight.

He closed his eyes, thinking it would be impossible to sleep, until he was roughly awakened by Kira’s hand on his arm, shaking him hard enough that his teeth rattled a bit.

“Where is he?”

L pushed himself up, pushed Kira’s hand off of him. “I let him go.”

“Why the fuck did you do that?” Kira was kneeling on the couch, leaning into him a little, menacingly. Anger issues.

He had never been particularly good at calming Kira’s anger – the fact that L existed irritated him, after all. Still he tried to counter it with calm logic. “Keeping him here would ensure that we do not solve this case.”

Kira’s hand shot out, catching L’s chin in a grip that was just shy of painful. “Are you sure you’re not just jealous?” Halfway between mocking and anger, it threatened to break L’s formidable control. He wasn’t jealous.

L snorted a little, forcing a slightly contemptuous look onto his face. “Jealous of being Kira’s plaything?”

“True.” A haughty smile, Light’s hand softening on his face in a way that turned L’s stomach. “You’ve been that for years now.”

L looked at him flatly. “Do these games help anything?”

Kira dipped his head in more, until inches separated them. “Why are you in such a hurry to get back to your little cell?”

“I’m in a hurry to keep more people from dying.”

“As well you should be.” Kira withdrew, seemingly placated. “Go take a shower, L.”

As good as the defiance felt, he didn’t want to press his luck too far. So he got up wordlessly, going to take a quick shower. Thankfully Kira didn’t seem to feel the need to follow him in anymore, and he finished and pulled his clothes on over his damp skin, towel-dried his damp hair, and shuffled back out in less than ten minutes.

He slipped into his normal chair, drawing his knees to his chest and reading through his notes from Tenma once more. Letting himself slip into hyperfocus again, idly munching on sugar candy, until he felt something rip through his hair, stinging and pulling his head up.

He growled and looked up at Kira behind him, smothering a curse in English. “What are you doing?”

“Brushing your hair.” Kira’s eyes were mocking. “If it gets much more tangled, I’ll have to shave it off.”

L made a face, pulling away, only to be hauled back in the chair by his shoulder. “I’m working.”

“You would still be sleeping if I hadn’t come home. Sit still.”

L suppressed a string of curses and tried to squirm away as Kira dragged the brush through his hair, working out all the knots. That hurt damnit, and was completely unnecessary. Kira was getting revenge on him – in a way that was almost comically childish.

L grimaced, swatting at Kira’s hands once the other had finished working out most of them, his whole head hurting. “Done yet?”

Kira tossed the brush down next to the laptop and slid his hands into L’s hair, dragging his fingers through it, making L frown more. It felt good though, easing the stinging of his scalp.

“Since you’ve scared Kenzou away, perhaps you’ll have to take his place.” His fingers tightened, tugging his head back again to look into his eyes. “Though I don’t intend to be as pleasant to you.”

“Another game, Light?” He tried to strike the right mix of boredom and disinterest, but based on Kira’s smile, it didn’t seem that it worked.

“Of course.”

“Five years have completely debauched you, I see.” He allowed the disgust he felt into his voice.

“Quite.” The infuriating amusement still didn’t slip.

“Are you ordering me into your bed?” Flatly. The game they had been playing had L obeying Kira’s orders, but outside of that, Kira had allowed him volition.

“I still have the handcuffs.”

“And control issues.” L disentangled himself. “Are you ordering me?”

There was silence for a long moment and L could practically hear Kira’s brain working, trying to figure out which was to the best advantage. He was banking on Kira wanting to continue to play this game.

“Yes.” It was like a bucket of icewater over his head, L inhaling sharply, involuntarily betraying his surprise and making Kira smirk slowly. “So now what will you do, L?”