Jane Grey

Chapter 11: Getting out of the house

I must've fallen asleep at around 4am and was startled awake at 5am by the creak of the door. I rubbed my eyes and saw that it was Watari that had tried to sneak into the room, presuming me to be asleep. I sat up properly, stretched out, and tightly wrapped the blanket around me again before greeting the two men warmly. I saw the surveillance feed was still running from before and the house was seemingly still quiet. Gratefully, I took the tea cup that was handed to me and slowly began to wake up, it was the most I had slept in a long time without interruption.

Watari sat in front of me, quietly stirring conversation whilst keeping his tone calm (I had just woken up after all - I have no idea where L was at the time) "Would you like to come with me on a shopping trip?" he offered. It was a good choice to uptake it since I refused to leave the hotel after retracting from the fieldwork and I had needed to get out of these two rooms for fresh air. I accepted his offer and went to get dressed in the other room, and when I saw my appearance in the mirror...I won't lie to you, I looked exactly like I had been dragged through the forest. My hair was tangled and knotted, my eyes were almost hidden by dark eyebags and my already pale skin was sickly white; I probably looked so bad due to lack of sunlight and refusing to actually take care of myself. I felt it appropriate to dress nicely to compliment Watari's suit and to not make him seem embarrassed by my appearance. And so, I curled my hair with the flat irons in the bathroom and made an attempt to hide my dishevelled appearance with layers and layers of makeup.

"I'm going out with Watari for a shopping trip, I'll be back soon," I kissed L's cheek (Mind you, in a sibling manner before you get weird) and left to meet him in the car. We were driven to a large convenience store where he handed me a list of things to get.
"You get everything on this list, we'll meet in the produce isle once we're done."

Quite a menial task, but it was the closest thing to normal that I've had in over a year. I wandered up and down the isles, grabbing items and checking them exactly and thus putting them in my cart when suddenly a familiar face appeared at the same shelf as me. My heart initially leapt for joy and then dropped in dread, it was my mother; my mother's name was Izumi Nakamura, her husband (my father) was Takashi Nakamura. Both had realised around twenty years ago that they would never be able to have biological children and therefore turned to an adoption agency. As far as I know, my biological parents were strict in the upbringing of my sister and brother and when they had turned against them decided against raising any more children - the only reason I know this is because my sister's case was in the news and my parents had gone through strenuous research into my biological family's background and history in order to answer any question I had - and then they found me! Like I had previously said, my parents never shied away from telling me where I came from if I had asked, but I always reassured them that they would be my parents because they actually took the time to love and care and raise me.

I'm getting sidetracked... My heart was full of dread because I recalled Watari telling me that there was no way they could know that I was alive so long as I was working on this case and further from that. I should have walked away casually, after all my appearance had changed so it shouldn't be too much of an issue, right? Well, thats where you would be wrong. My mother is an incredibly perceptive person and can see through most lies and disguises - all of this was because she would sit in with me in some state-run classes for criminology. As a result, she picked up on many skills that I also had developed though she was significantly better than I ever could be. I mean, she knew every time when I was lying, I couldn't hide anything from her at all. One time, she had asked me about my relationship with Light and I couldn't even lie to save my life. Needless to say, my mother helped me develop my skills to deceive people.

"Excuse me miss?" I froze, she was calling on me. I slowly turned to her, keeping my eyes down.

"I'm sorry, its just...you look so much like my daughter..." she whispered, lifted my chin up to look at her. If this was anyone else, they would think this was weird to do to a stranger. If it was anyone else, I would've screamed in fear. But it was my mother, the woman who had raised me as if I was her own biological child and comforted me and wiped my tears and celebrated my achievements alongside my father. How could I deny her like that?

She observed my face with scrutiny, and her eyes widened in recognition, "Jane? My Jane?" tears began to pool in her eyes to which I snapped back to reality and adrenaline pumped through my tired muscles,
"Sorry ma'am, my name is Anne," I lied, hoping she wouldn't catch it in her grief. The sudden pump in adrenaline made me tired, but it was another situation in which I had to power through and continue my day. I saw Watari walking down the isle in search of me and noticed the situation at hand, so he came up to me and said:
"Is everything alright?"
"Yes father, everything is fine," I pretended, my mother looked between us and left us be but I could tell in her eyes that she didn't want to leave me.

"Are you alright Jane?" Watari then whispered once we were alone, so I nodded in feigned calmness. He took a handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped the stray tears from my cheeks, not needing to say anything to understand my pain of being so close and yet so far from the ones who loved me most.

"Come on Jane, lets go home."