Death Note : Subaru's tale

Chapter 9: You think I wouldn't notice?

January 10, 2004

Sighing, Subaru rode the elevator up to the top floor and stepped out into the hall where she spotted her only neighbours leaving their apartment at the far end of the hall. As they passed, she bowed her head and mumbled her hellos then continued on to her own apartment.

“Where’s… Oh there it is.” She murmured pulling out her keys and adjusting her bag before unlocking the door. “Arashi I’m home!” A ball of grey fur looked up from the back of the couch and large green eyes watched as Subaru shrugged off her coat and hung it on the back of a chair.

“There you are.” She cooed scratching the cat’s chin. She pulled off her bag and placed it on the coffee table before curling up on the moon chair in the corner. She opened her bag and pulled out the mail she had retrieved from her box earlier.

“Hmm… junk, junk, bill, ooh coupon, junk…” She mumbled flicking through the envelopes. Arashi walked along the back of the couch and leapt into her lap making her smile. “Junk, bill… I seem to be getting a lot of junk mail lately, huh Arashi?” She tossed the pile of letters on the table and leaned back on the chair, arm over her eyes.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the lack of snow here.” She sighed closing her eyes. “I mean, Christmas passed and so did new years… both without even half a foot of snow. That’s just wrong, don’t you think so?” She looked at her cat that was batting a pale brown envelope on the table. She cocked her head and pulled it out of the pile.

“I must have missed this one.” She murmured turning it over. “Hey! Would you look at that? I got a letter from the boys!” She tore it open and read it with a smile, laughing in parts as Mello described how Near kept getting first in testing, and himself being stuck in second. Matt told her about all the new games he’d gotten and suggested she check her computer when she got the chance. Near simply wanted to know how her classes were going and when she would be coming home. Subaru smiled and refolded the letter before pulling her laptop out of her bag and turning it on.

“Looks like they’ve forgiven me. Well at least enough to send another letter and hack my laptop again.” She laughed as Arashi purred. She watched in fascination as a barn owl swooped down on her desktop with a scroll in its beak. She clicked on the scroll and jumped slightly when the owl flew away to perch in a tree that was covering half her desktop.

“Well that was odd.” She mumbled opening the file. She nibbled on her lip as she read, smiling wryly.

Hi sis, how do you like your new messenger? I figured instead of that snail mail you insist on using, you

could use this. I decided on a barn owl for two reasons actually; one – it’s your favourite animal, and

two – the feathers in your hair. They’re from a barn owl right? Anyways, the owl will stay in that tree

unless it has an e-mail to deliver. Don’t be worried if it disappears for a while though. It’ll do that when

you send one in return. Enjoy and say ‘hi’ to L for us, seeing as he’s working on the ‘Kira’ case in

Japan right now. Love; Matt, Mello and Near.

She closed the file and clicked over to the Internet to see the latest update on the ‘Kira vs. L’ debate raging all over the web. Frowning at how many supporters ‘Kira’ had managed to obtain, she closed the laptop with a soft snap and walked into the kitchen to get a drink.

“Come on L, don’t let this brat get the upper hand. You’re better then he is, hands down.” She grumbled.

The detective in question felt a smirk tug at his pale lips as he stared at the screens, watching as Subaru wandered into her office to look for something.