An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Summary:
“And why would I do that?” Ryuzaki questioned, his tongue not laced with as much malice as he thought it would be for the human. This boy was…an enigma to him. Why would someone give the gift of life and mobility to a creature who despises your very existence? The hands pressed against his face loosened ever so slightly as their fingers softly trailed down Ryuzaki’s face. A tingling desire was created as he found himself longing for more contact against his skin. Light’s eyes twinkled mischievously at the reaction, as if he had known exactly what he was doing. “Because we’re friends, Ryuzaki.” ~~~ Aka, Light gets salty about his relationship with L and decides to create an idealized version of him through cursed magic. What could go wrong?
Chapter 1/3. Word count- 2,961. Fic below the cut.
Light was practically out of breath by the time he made it to the oasis. Petals from the surrounding cherry blossoms drifted carelessly to the ground, unbothered by the constant buzzing sounds coming from each and every onibi that frenziedly hovered around. It had taken longer to complete the trials this time, perhaps because the teen’s motive had shifted. He was no longer searching for his own power to keep, but one for…a different goal. Ryuk glided beside Light’s shoulder, the small red orb baring a toothy grin as he did so.
“Heh, never thought I’d be back here again! Not after meeting such an interesting human like yourself, kiddo. Don’t tell me you’re gonna abandon me here for some other loser.” Light rolled his eyes as Ryuk began whipping around, quickly injecting himself into any poor onibi’s personal space before moving on to the next one, always fleeing quickly before getting retaliated at. Both he and Light knew that wasn’t how this worked; while kodamas had obviously learned how to separate from their hosts, the latter group was not so lucky. The very notion of a human wishing to depart from their kodama made the teen scoff. How could anyone ever want to give that power up when most people weren’t even blessed with the opportunity to receive it? It was idiotic, and maybe that’s why Light felt such a kindredness to the onibi, despite the warnings given about the creatures.
Speaking of which…he was a bit surprised to see that, while some attempted to strike back at Ryuk due to his antics, none of them were attacking Light this time. Was it because he was now already attached to Ryuk and they didn’t need to fear accidentally becoming one with the human encroaching on their territory? Ignoring his own onibi, the boy reached out to Ryuk’s closest victim, a glowing orb that was as bright as the blue sky. It simply glided past his reach, unbothered, or rather unthreatened, by the human’s presence. With his resolve only hardening, Light shoved his hands into his tracksuit’s pockets, grasping the glass jar and its lid that he made sure to bring with him for his trip here. He walked around in the presence of the floating orbs for a while, until he got near one that seemed curious enough to approach Light on its own by a foot or two.
It was a deep, cool gray that’s color only darkened closer to its core. It reminded Light of Ryuz-L, L’s eyes. The color that looked so dark and hollow yet held so much weight, so much internal conflict. Yes, this onibi would be perfect for Kira. Light allowed it to hover near to him for a few more seconds to simply lure it in to a false sense of security. Then, as fast as he could, he whipped out the glass container and caught the creature inside of it, quickly and forcefully clasping the lid. Inside, the orb’s outline became more jagged as it bounced angrily against the walls of its prison. Upon its capture, the surrounding onibi zipped away and out of sight, as if they believed Light somehow had enough jars for all of them. He watched the last one dip behind the branches of a tree as he mumbled,
“Not one of them chose to protect their own…then again, I suppose they are selfish by nature.” Ryuk’s laughter rang in Light’s ear as his onibi returned to his place beside his shoulder. It seemed he had gained a new expression, the orb no longer just having teeth, but now triangular eyes to cruelly gleam at his human.
“And where do you think we learned that from?” The boy gave him no reply.
~ ~ ~
“-worked! Soon, we’ll be able to…”
“…he look like Ryuzaki? That’s really…”
“…come on, Misa.”
“-just saying!”
“…alone…he wakes up…”
Voices drifted in and out of the creature’s consciousness. He felt…tired. Yes, that seemed like the right word, even if it wasn’t the normal sensation he associated the word with. Who was speaking to him? No, that wasn’t right. There were two voices. What was happening? Why was it dark? There was a sharp “shirrrk” noise before one of the voices became much clearer. The creature could feel a pressing sensation against his body to accompany it.
“When I’m sure you’re awake, we’ll have a lot to talk about. Take your time, I’m guessing the transition can be quite jarring.” A noise (laughter?) followed this. But the creature was awake! Wasn’t he? He could hear him, why couldn’t he reply back? Before he could spiral further down this distressing train of thought, the voice continued and said one last thing before disappearing.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be there when you’re ready, Ryuzaki.”
Ryuzaki? Ry-u-za-ki. The creature mulled over this piece of information in the void, repeating the name over and over again until it started to feel comforting, making him feel all warm inside by just the pronunciation of the syllables. Ryuzaki. His name was Ryuzaki.
~ ~ ~
The next time Ryuzaki felt awake, he was actually able to see. And what a confusing sight it was. From the way he was sitting, he was able to look down and stare at his spiny hands. They were a very pale complexion, followed by a light gray long sleeve shirt. The perplexing part was…Ryuzaki didn’t have hands before. Or any limbs for that matter. Yet here he was, testing his newly acquired legs out by barely swinging them back and forth at a snail’s pace. As he did, he found his hands trailing up to brush against his sleeves, rubbing them back and forth to feel the texture. When was the last time he was able to physically feelanything? After a brief moment of this, something trickled in the back of his mind telling him to look up for some reason. Was he being watched?
Craning his neck up slowly, feeling it pop a number of times in the process of doing so, his eyes rolled upward and saw that he indeed was not alone. A caramel haired boy expectantly stood about four feet in front of him, in a bit more flashy clothes than the garb Ryuzaki had found himself in. He didn’t mind it though, because he had a good feeling that…
“You’re the one who talked to me.” His voice felt hoarse from disuse. How long had it been since he spoke to a human? Said human’s nervous smile began to grow wider and more confident. Or at least, bore the mask of confidence.
“I am,” he confirmed in a steady voice. The teen approached the creature and held out a hand. “My name is Light. But you can call me Kira. I am your creator.”
Inexplicably, the memory of Light trapping him resurfaced. He clicked his tongue. Captured…for what? To become attached to a human? No, he had been attached to one in the past and it was nothing like this (why can’t he remember the details of what it was like?). Ryuzaki drifted his legs upwards in order to plant his feet on the seat as his arms wrapped themselves around them. Light looked oddly pleased by that.
“I am not human,” he guessed aloud to see if he would spare him any hints. “And I…do not have a human. This body…is mine.” It took some effort to prevent himself from phrasing the last statement as a question. His voice was starting to rise up and away from the monotone drawl it started out as, instead filling itself with life the more entranced in himself Ryuzaki became.
His wide smile softening while abandoning the attempt of a handshake, Light knelt down on the ground so that Ryuzaki would have to look down to meet his gaze. A gesture of kindness? Humility? The teen reached up and cupped his face with both of his hands, causing the creature to marginally widen his eyes.
“Oh, you are beyond human, my friend. Beyond what science believes possible and beyond any fool’s comprehension.” The compliments distracted Ryuzaki from wondering if he was a fool since he didn’t really understand what was going on either. How could an onibi have an empty host to control without the restrictions of a different soul inside demanding your most tiresome compliance? One of the hands’ thumbs gently stroked underneath his heavy eyelid. Light’s voice, still dripping with thick honey mumbled, “You’re wonderful and…I need you to do a few favors for me.”
“And why would I do that?” Ryuzaki questioned, his tongue not laced with as much malice as he thought it would be for the human. This boy was…an enigma to him. Why would someone give the gift of life and mobility to a creature who despises your very existence?
The hands pressed against his face loosened ever so slightly as their fingers softly trailed down Ryuzaki’s face. A tingling desire was created as he found himself longing for more contact against his skin. Light’s eyes twinkled mischievously at the reaction, as if he had known exactly what he was doing. “Because we’re friends, Ryuzaki. You’re lonely, and you crave friendship with others, but you shove all of those feelings down inside of you, don’t you?” Abruptly, his hands pulled away, and Ryuzaki found himself leaning forward slightly as if to follow them before he forced himself back into his own space. He reached his own hand up and bit his fist as hard as he could. His flesh rippled around his teeth, trying to decide if it should encase his incisors or leave well enough alone.
The teen stood up and extended his hand out for Ryuzaki to grab, as the light on the ceiling framed his hair like a halo. With a smile to accompany such an irresistible request, Light pleaded, “So will you let me? I can help you, and in return…you’ll help me. Alright?” Ryuzaki raked his gaze up and down the teen once more before his mouth formed a smile around his fist. With his free hand, he slowly enclosed his palm into Light’s.
“Alright.”
~ ~ ~
Light had been working on his new little “experiment” for the last eight hours, and it was really starting to worry Misa. Not that she didn’t trust his plans! Well, okay…thisone did seem pretty outlandish. Why would he want to create a clone of L? Sure, maybe the clone could spill some of the beans on L’s greatest fears that he kept hidden deep down under lock and key. Orrrr, it could keep L’s belief system in “justice” and turn against them, making their team of two struggle with even more enemies! Whatever, Misa had already accepted in her mind that she would follow Light to the ends of the earth. If he wanted to play with a little science kit along the way, who was she to stop him? If it looked like things were going haywire, she’d step in and be the knight in shining armor for her hero. Wouldn’t that be such a romantic role reversal?
With a tray in hand containing udon and miso soup, she unlatched the door and entered into stuffy room Light had barricaded himself into all day. “Liiiight? I brought you some dinner!” Misa called out sing-songily. Her shoes squeaked to a stop when she some him kneeling on the ground, hovering over his onibi creation. Two vibrant ruby eyes stared back at her from the ground where the creature sat rocking back and forth, curled up in a ball. Her boyfriend had him clasped in a hug, which didn’t seem to be doing much to ease the fear and tears in the onibi’s eyes. Those eyes…they were very disconcerting, enough so to make Misa take an unconscious step back. They looked like the same color of Light’s when he used his powers. The color Light insisted he saw in Misa’s eyes when she did the same. It was…because of the corruption of the kodama, wasn’t it? And since the onibi was its own being with no host, she supposed he would always have those eyes. A tragedy really. Misa never told Light this, not wanting to hurt his feelings, but she had always felt a deep seated root of fear whenever she saw that in him. She avoided his gaze in those moments. This poor creature…
Light whipped his head back to face her, his glare sharp and piercing. “Misa, what did I say about disrupting me and my progress with Ryuzaki?!” The girl’s mouth hung open, her tongue tied as she fought within herself whether she should apologize for the disruption or argue that he wasn’t taking care of himself. L’s voice came out of the creature’s mouth in an uncanny, livelier tone, “Who is she?” Light looked nervously between the two of them before gritting his teeth, getting up and stomping over to Misa, forcing the two of them out of the room and protectively guarding his hand on the doorknob.
“We’re talking about his childhood, Misa. I need him to recognize his trauma and actually become reactive to it since L wasn’t. You being there is a distraction,” the teen hissed, pointing his finger at her chest. She frowned, her resolve tightening as she barked back, “Well, you haven’t eaten anything today, and how am I supposed to know if that freak killed you or not if you don’t talk to me!” Light looked slightly taken aback by the response. So far in their relationship, it had been him telling Misa off and her agreeing silently. He was unsure what to do with this new development. Good. It was good for Misa to cut him off here and not let this grow into anything deeper before it became a real problem in the future. He began to sputter an apology in order to appease her, but she cut him off, “If we’re supposed to be a team, then you have to let me in on what you’re doing. I’ve never hid anything from you, have I?” Misa kept her gaze cold as she stared at him, the latter’s eyes danced across her face searching for a response before she saw his resolve leave him as he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing it slightly.
“No, no you haven’t…” his voice became soft. It didn’t happen often, so Misa made sure to drink it in every time she heard it. She slowly set the tray down on the floor beside them before rising again, leaning up into Light’s arms and attempting to get the boy’s eyes locked on her once more. “Sorry, I’m just…stressed is all,” Light rambled as Misa slinked her arms around his waist and drew the two of them even closer to each other. His eyes finally met her, “I’m worried this won’t work if he doesn’t latch onto a single entity for support rather than a whole group. You understand, right?” No, no she didn’t, but all Misa could think about right now was how much she loved her boyfriend when he treated her gently, treated her like a glass vase rather than a decorative statue of gold that so many others did. She wasn’t that strong, no she just wasn’t.
“You’ll just let me know in the future, okay Light?” Misa watched his mouth curl minisculely before returning to its natural placement.
“Your eyes are red,” his whisper informed her. She pulled back slightly, but not too much because despite her shame, she was still selfish. An excuse hastily left her lips, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to control y-“
“I know, I know,” the boy hushed her before planting a delicate kiss on her forehead. The moment her brain processed what had happened, Light’s lips had trailed down and done the same to hers. Those cinnamon, kind, round eyes looked down at her as his perfect lips perked up into a playful smile. “I love you.”
Misa let out a happy puff of air that sounded like the mix between a sigh of relief and a small laugh. “I love you, too,” she claimed as she attempted to swipe his bangs away from his eyes more. But, as always, they immediately returned to their original positioning, as if pulled back down by some magnetic force. Light grabbed her forearm and gently led both of them to sit on the ground, grabbing the tray and pulling the bowl closer to him. After eating about half of it (interspersed with offerings to Misa every once in a while for a bite), Light decided to bring up, “Once I’m done, you’ll be able to see him. I promise. But you have to promise me not to touch him.” Misa, still in the process of finishing chewing, gave him a look of perplexment as she nodded. Light knew she was loyal to him, why would he even ask that?
Once finished eating, Misa watched Light regrettably as he slinked back into the room, no doubt going to be there for the rest of the night. With a sigh, she gathered the dishes and made her way to the kitchen to clean them. The feeling of claws digging into her shoulders made the girl harshly inhale before keeping her eyes on the ladle she was washing. Rem had decided to reappear, curling around her as always. The onibi repeated her famous phrase.
“Everyone loves you, Misa. Light loves you.” Tears burned at the corners of Misa’s eyes as she scrubbed harder and harder. Because the more and more you’re flippantly told you’re loved, the more it loses its meaning.
