Chapter 13- "Library"
#13 of Furry Death Note
Light blinked as he watched the road. Half of your remaining lifespan. Such an absurd request for such a power. And yet, Light knew it was also fairly reasonable. All he would need is a good look at the agent's face and he would be rid of him. At the same time, he couldn't. If that agent died, then eyes would surely be on Light and then they would know he was Kira. He couldn't accept that. His mission had only just begun.
"No fucking way," the cheetah finally said. "I've only just gotten started. I'll get this guy's name a different way."
Ryuk shrugged. "Suit yourself."
Light would. He grabbed his phone when he was stopped at another red light and quickly dialed up Nadine's number. When she answered, all he said was, "I need your help. How fast can you get to the library?"
***
Nadine walked around the corner towards the front of the library. The building sat two stories tall, but she knew there was a basement downstairs where the computer labs were set up at. Despite that, Light asked Nadine to bring her own computer with her. She didn't bother asking why. He sounded as if he was in trouble. Which shouldn't surprise her; this L guy was probably on his tail, ready to pounce at the first sight of evidence.
She ran into Light hanging out at the front of the library. Nearby, she saw a white fox wearing all black, smoking a cigarette. "What's up?" she asked she approached. "Why did you need me all of a sudden?"
"Let's talk inside," Light said. He turned around and headed inside the front doors. She followed; her ears flickering as she heard footsteps behind them. She could smell the smoke getting closer. So he is being followed.
The two sat down at a large round table near the back towards the fictional books. Nadine saw the fox agent scroll through some of the books on the shelf. It was practically dead silent inside. Light unzipped his book bag and brought out a few notebooks. She saw within the black bag the leathery cover of the Death Note. Light flipped open one of the regular notebooks, looked twice to make sure the agent had his back turned and scribbled down a few words. Nadine was a little amused with how fast Light could write. "Being followed. Need a new plan."
Nadine grabbed her own pen. "What do you expect me to do?"
"I need you to get the names of all FBI agents in town."
She looked up at the cheetah. Inside his light colored eyes, she saw a darkness swimming behind them. He was obviously planning on killing the entire FBI team. Made sense, considering if he just killed one, all signs would point to him. The vixen readjusted her pen and wrote. "Sounds like a plan."
Nadine opened her laptop case and fired up her computer. Light went on to work on some cultural project for school. Perhaps that was an excuse he made to come here. She didn't really care. She opened a second tab on her browser. Her first tab was mainly for the search for L's true identity. She had to admit, it was a challenge. She started simple, looking around at the places L's name came up and hacking into a few news websites, but came up short with any sort of lead. If only she knew what he sounded like or had some DNA from him. Anything at all would be useful other than just a photo and the letter L.
For this next tab, Nadine pulled up the police department website. It was her go-to for the Kira case. Surely L wouldn't bring in agents without the police having some info on it. But it was no use; after 30 minutes of looking through the code and deeper files, Nadine found nothing on the FBI.
"I can't find anything."
Light looked at her writing and sighed. "Looks like we'll have to go with plan B."
Before Nadine could register with what he wrote, Light grabbed ahold of his chest and started to gag. He collapsed out of his chair. The loud scraping made those nearby look up from their books and witness the dying cheetah. Nadine had no clue where on earth he was going with this until the fox agent got up from his seat quickly and ran over to them.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Light shook his head, heaving a little bit. "No... it feels like... heart's on fire." His voice was strained, his face was turning red, his tail was curling in on itself. Nadine was a little impressed; it looked like he was legit dying. A few people were gathered around, wondering what to do.
"Someone call 911," the agent said. "We need to get him to relax. Here, lie down, kid." The fox stretches Light's body out all the way so he's lying flat on his back. When Light's breathing starts to become shallow, Nadine started to think he was having an actual heart attack. But she saw his eyes flicker momentarily to the agent's pocket. Sticking out just barely was a badge. Sloppy, she thought. Then again, all agents needed to have one on at hand.
Nadine knelt down next to Light and the agent. She brushed by the fox, trying to act like she was helping, when she drew her arm back, she saw the name sticking out of the badge. Jackson. But no first name. Fuck. She looked back at Light, who was panting, forehead covered in a sheet of sweat, and slowly shook her head.
Light closed his eyes and went slack, pretending to go unconscious.
Paramedics arrived ten minutes later, telling everyone to back away so they can help Light. An older cheetah and some puma that smelled like bubblegum and kitchen grease eventually showed up to the scene. Nadine didn't hear the whole conversation, but she heard the older cheetah cry, "What happened?! Is he going to be okay?!"
"He looks to be just fine, ma'am. Must of been the anxiety from schoolwork that got to him."
Two wolves in white nurses outfits helped Light to his feet, the young feline falling right into the arms of the older cheetah. So that's his family, huh? Nadine walked up to them and gently punched Light in the arm. "Never scare me like that again."
Light smiled some. "Nadine, meet my Aunt Natalie and my Aunt Jessie." He nodded to the cheetah and puma respectively. The latter of the two had on some skanky black dress while the former had on khakis and a white blouse. Interesting.
The vixen smiled and shook their paws. "It's nice to meet you two. I didn't know Light was taken in by two women."
"But we love him all the same," Natalie said. Nadine liked her, she sounded sweet. "Are you two just friends?" Both of them quickly said yes at the same time. She turned to her nephew, whose eyes were in dark circles. "Well, you're going home and taking tomorrow off school. No ifs ands or buts."
Light sighed in defeat, then looked back up at Nadine. "Text me tonight?"
"Sure. I'll grab your stuff." Nadine gathered up her computer and Light's notebooks, burying the Death Note under their belongings.
As they exited the library, they wove around two large ambulances parked out front. Behind them, near Natalie's car, was a black wolf wearing a goofy phedora, and another white fox. But Nadine recognized this one instantly. It was L, she was sure of that. When Light walked by him, Nadine could feel the tight tension between the two; so tight that if she would attempt to cut the tension with a knife, the knife would break.
Nadine gave Light back his belongings and wished him a goodnight, trying to not sound rushed. If L was here in person, she could talk to him and maybe get a better idea of where he was from. But when she went back over to where he was standing, he was gone as well as his friend and had no idea where he went.
Damn it.
She shouldn't be too upset, she got a name from the agent. Jackson. Even if that wasn't a full name, it was a name nevertheless. All she would need to do now was figure out where this guy was staying at and The Underground could take care of the rest.
***
"Relax, the paramedics said I would be fine," Light said. "They think it was just from the stress of school and losing my dad and all this Kira nonsense."
"First of all," Natalie scolded, "none of this is nonsense. I was scared to death for you; I thought Kira was targeting me by getting rid of my nephew! And if school really was one of the reasons for your episode today, then you're taking the next few days off school. No excuses." Light had never heard Natalie sound so furious. But it was worth it, as soon as he could escape to his room, he would contact Nadine right away and try to see if she got anything. It was only a miracle that nobody searched his backpack for the Note. Way too close of a call.
Light got up from his seat at the dining room table and hugged his Aunt. "I'm sorry. I feel fine, really. But if leaving me home for the next couple days will make you feel better, I'll stay home."
Despite the horror witnessed just hours ago, Natalie purred and hugged Light back. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. I care very much about you." She held him at arm's length. "You realize that if you continue investigating with us, you might not survive another heart attack."
With care, the young cheetah grabbed her paws and gently rested them at her sides. "I promise you that will not happen. We'll catch Kira before he or she can hurt my family." As far as they knew. Light had no intention whatsoever to put any of his new family in harm's way. After today, he couldn't say the same thing. Natalie was a very big wild card, Light knew that.
He shook his head. No. He swore it would never come down to that.
Light ate dinner with Natalie and Jessie-Belle then headed upstairs for the night. He carefully set his bag in the corner and lied down in bed, turned on his phone and dimmed the screen, still sure that the security cameras were in place. He pulled up Nadine's phone number and plugged in his earbuds, turning on Skype.
Nadine answered on the first ring. She appeared to be busy, her fur barely matted down and she was wearing a messy white shirt. Light could only assume that she was in her room and was free to talk. "Light," she said after the call connected. "I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that I couldn't get that agent's full name." Damn it. The good news better be much better. "The good news is that I got the agent's fake name. He's going by the pseudonym Jackson."
A fake name? Of course. L wouldn't want any of the FBI to give out their real names in case they need to show their badge. He should've seen that from the start. Typing carefully, Light asks how a fake name is relevant to anything. Nadine typed away on her computer, heaving a heavy sigh. "There's a room in a nearby motel booked to Jackson. I took a look at some of the other names registered there. It seems like there are only four other FBI agents in town; all registered with only one name and all using pseudonyms. Plus, it seems that they were rented all at once as well."
Light typed out: L must have brought them here to help with the case. But how does a bunch of fake names help us with finding their real names?
"Simple. All of their computer files are somewhere inside that motel. If I can get inside, me and the boys can hack into their system and at the very least, we can obtain their true identities." Light knew this was all very complicated and all he could really do was obtain the Shinigami Eyes and get this whole thing over with. But at the cost of half his life? He wouldn't. Not if there was another way. No matter how extreme it may be.
Alright, Light typed, We can figure this out tomorrow. Natalie's not letting me go to school, though.
"Can you blame her? A near heart attack can make any mother figure concerned. By the way, while I have you on the line, I need to ask you something." Light's eyebrow raised. What else could this woman want? "On the way out of the library, I saw a white fox standing with some black wolf. Was that fox L?"
Light had no idea why she would ever want to know this. Her mission was to find his real name, not meet him in person. If that happened, he might be able to see right through her and expose them both. But, seeing as she already knew even if he denied it, the cheetah nodded his head.
"I figured. Who was the guy standing next to him? Do you know him too?"
Sadly, Light thought. He typed, Yes, that's Watari; L's associate. Why?
"Watari, huh?" It sounded odd out loud; especially out of Nadine's muzzle. She took a sip of water then typed frantically on her computer. Light would've killed at that moment to see what she was doing. Then the small blinking red light from the air vent reminded him why he couldn't. Not yet anyways. "Light, Watari is a Japanese surname."
What?
"It means he's from Japan."