The woods behind the orphanage [L x Reader] • Death Note [Discontinued]

Chapter 19 | collections

Entering the cottage was like stepping into yet another world. A world inside a treasure chest.

The main room had a hammock hanging from the rafters, a coffee table similar to a kotatsu, shelves lined with all kind of shiny treasures and a kitchenette off to the side. Fishing net hung from the roof with various wind chimes, jewellery and sun catchers hanging off it. The walls had maps of the area pinned up, as well as various flyers for events in the nearby towns.

There were two other rooms, a small bathroom with a bath that looked like a rock pool big enough to fit a tailed person. A vanity with a sink and cabinet. The walls were decorated with shells tied to rope in chains and various dried corals.

The final room was a small bedroom, you spent most of your time in the water so your house was more of a place to store your treasures than anything. But in the particularly colder months or when it was stormy and unsafe to swim, you'd spend your nights inside.

Your bed was pushed into the corner by the window, a few hand-made quilts and pillows tossed on it. Some shelves for more treasures and a basket of clothes. Again, you didn't need clothes that often since you were in the water as a siren most of the time. But the few times you did called for you having at least a few outfits. Some heavier ones for colder weather when you were land locked, and some lighter ones for when you'd cross through towns in the summer.

Everything looked straight out of a fairytale, and some of these things L didn't even know what they were.

Items he'd never seen before and definitely didn't exist to humans littered the shelves and windowsills, peaking his interest.

"What on earth is this thing?" He asked, picking up a metal objet with coloured rocks in it from the window sill.

"A sun ray charger. You can use it in sun magic, it catches the rays in the gems, and then you can use the gems charged by the sun in magic" you explained.

He had no idea what any of that meant, but it sounded pretty cool. He figured he better not touch too much stuff in case it was magically delicate so he put it back in its spot. When he turned he almost ran into something hanging from the roof, and this too was something he'd never seen before.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Sea glass chain, if you look through it you can see the ocean. That's how I know if it's too rough to go out or not" you replied.

He HAD to see this. Grabbing it eagerly, he bought the sea glass up to his vision and sure enough, on the other side was the ocean. It was like looking through a window into another location. He had no idea how it worked, but he was impressed.

"Woah... for once I have no idea how anything worlds..." he said.

"For once mr know it all doesn't know shit" you teased.

Usually L would be very frustrated with himself for not knowing things. Any time he came to a dead end in a case he'd beat himself up over it for days or until he found the answer. But this time not knowing things was fun, it was a breath of fresh air. He liked the childish wonder of seeing all these new items and learning what they were and how they worked. It reminded him of when he was a kid learning to be a detective.

"Now where is she? She's usually in here..." you mumbled.

"She?" L asked.

"My little visitor. She comes and goes but usually she's around the area- oh there you are!"

He followed your gaze up in the rafters where he was met with a cat, a black one with a little white spot on the nose.

"Oh, a cat" he commented.

"Not just a cat, human" you teased.

Holding out your arms for it, the cat leaned forward and instead of jumping down... it flew down.

"The cat has wings-" L stated, caught way off guard by what he just saw.

"Yep, our animals evolved very differently from yours. Some cats have them, some don't. These hybrid animals aren't super rare but they're not common. No one really knows how they evolved, but when magic is involved I'd take a guess and say a spell went wrong hundreds of years ago" you explained.

The cat looked just like any old cat, expect for the two almost angel like wings sprouting from her shoulders. The body to wing ratio meant it couldn't fly for very long, but it did made landing big jumps much softer for them.

"She wanders around the area, comes and goes. When it's cold she hides under the bed" you added.

The cat looked at L, almost like she knew he wasn't magic. It gave him a skeptical look, but reached out to sniff him anyway. L held out a hand, letting her sniff it. He'd seen so much wild stuff down in this world, but still sometimes he'd find something so beyond his imagination that it leaves him in shock.

You found that rather cute. You'd always heard of humans being inquisitive and easily surprised, and L definitely proved that story true. He starred at the winged cat like he'd just found the fabled pot of gold under the rainbow, all doe eyed and awe struck.

Fuck, he really was adorable. You couldn't help but giggle at his cuteness. The classic siren echoey giggle of yours snapped him from his daze.

"Huh?" He mumbled.

"Look at you all star struck. So cute" you complicated.

He could feel his heart skip a beat, and brain short circuit at the compliment. He still wasn't used to them.

"I'll give you a copy of a map of the area so you can boat down here whenever. And compare it to your map and see which parts you got right" you said, heading into the main room to go get one.

It took a second for him to snap out of the lovestruck shock, but when he did he quickly followed you out. Placing the cat down on the hammock for her to curl up and take a nap, you pulled a map from the wall and handed it to L.

"You'll know from the swim the river gets a bit narrow the closer you get so you'll have to anchor the boat and either walk along the bank or swim the rest of the way. But it's only a few minutes walk" you explained.

Just from looking at the map, he could see that he'd gotten a decent amount right on his attempt, but a few locations needed tweaking. It labeled the river and all the towns nearby. So far he'd only been to two of them and they were vastly different, he couldn't wait to explore the rest of the ones on the map and see what they looked like.

"Hmm... if we keep going into towns I'll definitely need some kind of disguise so I'm not spotted as a human and turned into a celebrity" he mentioned.

"Yeah I'm still not sure what to do there. Although animal ears, if you can find some realistic enough might make you look more like a yokai than a human" you suggested.

Hmm... humans had things like Halloween costumes of cat ears and such. Maybe he could find a pair that would work up in the human realm? Maybe that was something he could talk to Miss applebee about.

"Animal ears, interesting..." he mumbled.

"I bet you'd make a cute fox boy"

"I-I would?"

"Yeah, pointy fluffy ears that match your hair and a bushy little tail. You'd make a super cute fox boy" you teased.

Well if you thought it'd be cute... maybe he'd have the keep that in mind while looking for disguises.