𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬|𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐘𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐢 𝐗 𝐎𝐂|𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐲𝐲_

-10-

The black, bamboo brushed ran through the many knots made from the night before. She once loved her hair, taking complete and utter pride in it. She loved the way bounced, and how her curls were so defined. But when the memories of the unwanted hands of many men flowed throughout her mind, becoming almost unbearable, she wanted nothing more than to cut it all off.

She had noticed the bags under her eyes and how they cast a dark silhouette, and how bruises covered every inch of her. Those were the only explainable aftermaths of her devastating night. But she wouldn't be able to explain her jumpiness or the fact she froze whenever someone came close to her.

That same reaction would happen once more when she heard the door to her room open, seeing a face she wanted nothing more than to forget.

His hands met her shoulders, and she tensed under his touch. When the eyes of his colleague and hers met, she pleaded for him to help her, only for him to inevitably look away. Katsuki wanted help -no, she needed help.

She was so naive to think an ally of Jame's would ever so much as sympathize with her. He was only like the rest of those men: Selfish cowards.

"Remember, Katsuki, not a word of what happened."

༻❁༺

On the inside, she was screaming, but on the outside, she showed no emotion whatsoever. She wanted to help Light, but any remorse would throw off everyone, and she was quite tired of hearing the mouth of Matsuda.

"I think he's had enough, L." The raven-haired boy's ears perked at the use of his name. Her voice wasn't as sweet as usual, her eyes were darker than the Black Sea, and her facial expressions were as stale as rotting bread.

"He only has a few more hours before I release him, until then, he will stay in that cell under surveillance." L undermined me In front of everyone. They already lacked the proper respect for me as bad it was. "Do you remember our deal, L? The one that gives me fifty percent controller this investigation?"

"I'd advise you to not continue, Katsuki-"

"-And I'd advise you to no longer undermine me, L. Gaining my respect is hard, but losing my respect is very easy. It's been almost two months, it's time you finally cross Light off the list of suspects."

L sat for a while with his back turned to me, seemingly thinking about his next response. He turned around the familiar spinning chair before his eyes met mine. "If Light is removed from my suspect list, your job is done, Katsuki. Do you understand that?" I still resented him for the last time he took me off the case, all because of a minor inconvenience in my life.

"Fifty-Fifty, Lawliet."

Lawliet wasn't one to tell me no, he wasn't one to let me down or reject my wishes. I was the weakness of Lawliet.

Things felt restored when Light was ordered to be brought back. The second his eyes landed on my own, his body collapsed into mine. I felt the stares of all the task force members, including Light's father.

I couldn't bring myself to hug him back in front of all these people. Affection in private, not public.

I softly pushed him back, earning the most confused and curious look I've ever seen from him.

༻❁༺

"I'd like you to meet Near and Mello, two of L's successors." They stood there in pure silence, but as did I. I felt no interest in getting to know two younger detectives. "This is Katsuki, our newest trainee."

"She works with the force?" Near asked. His question was directed more towards himself than to James. "I worked as an informant before coming to the states to train, I'll be picking up where I left off as soon as I get back. Next time you have a question about me, ask me directly."

Near did exactly that. He had many questions. He was a lot like L in a way, he even looked a lot like him as well. But Mello... Something about his struck curiosity in me. He was off-putting, and a part of me wanted more of him.

"Mello and I were at the same orphanage as L." Near had opened up to me as if I was someone to trust, but Mello treated me like a stranger. I was surprised though, I had barely known the boys.

There was one night in particular that stayed in my memory for the rest of my training, one that made me appreciate Mello for a lifetime.

I was practicing tricks with my brand new butterfly knife. It was going fantastic until I slipped up, cutting myself in the process. I winced as the pain finally set in, and the shock had washed away. There was blood leaking onto the floor that would soon cause a puddle, and if James saw a sight like this, I'd never see the end of it.

Mello walked into the room, not even acknowledging my presence until the smell of iron burned his nose. His head had whipped around with great speed, landing on my fresh, bleeding wound.

"Are you gonna stand there or are you gonna grab me the first aid kit?" The harshness in my words was unwarranted, I didn't mean for them to come out that way, but he had given me the cold shoulder since we met. It was practically deserved for his bratty behavior.

He hesitated before moving, searching through every cabinet before coming across the white plastic box. He handed it to me, eyes resting only on my wound and not my orbs. I only had one hand for all of this, making it extremely hard to even begin to wrap the other.

He snatched the gauze out of my hand, pulling a chair up in front of me. I watched as he gracefully wrapped my hand, not looking up at me once given his moment of concentration. I stared in awe at how perfect the wrap was. I would've done a shitty job if it wasn't for him, not that I would ever tell him that.

"Don't keep your hand in such reach of the blade next time."

He didn't utter another word after that, and soon, his presence was no longer. I sat in thought, only being able to whisper two words he would never hear, "Thank you..."