Title: Trying

Author: Keitorin (Chou ni Natte)

Character: Light

Rating: PG-13

Summary: As a boy, Light is kidnapped and saved twenty-one days later.

Prompts: sensitive, stress, motion (Keitorin's Generators: tanomono dot net/generators)

Note: AU. Inspired by Tachibana's story in the anime/manga Antique Bakery.

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Death Note and I make no money from writing fanfiction.

Well I haven't drawn it or figured out quite yet
But even if it takes my whole life
To get to where I need to be
And if I should fall to the bottom of the end
I'll be one step back to you
I'm trying to find my way

Lifehouse - Trying

Light's first day home was almost worse than the torture he had endured. His family tried not to hover, but they were very worried about their son and wanted to touch him, see him and reassure themselves and him that they were really there.

His skin was covered in bruises, cuts and welts that were still healing, so any touch was still too painful for his sensitive skin. He'd been in the hospital for a while and his body was still stiff from being in bed all the time, so walking was somewhat awkward.

Light wanted nothing more than to crawl into a dark hole where no one would ever come in and he could stay there forever.

They had kept him in a bare room except for the bed in the middle and a cabinet off to the side. That cabinet and it's contents would haunt Light's dreams forever.

The lights had always been kept on. By the time Light had gotten used to it and tried sleeping, it was already too late. They'd started the torture.

Light let his mother walk him to his room and tuck him in. She sat beside him for a while, but it was late and she'd already stayed with him for several nights in the hospital, holding him when he woke up panicking (thinking he was still there).

Sachiko was almost as torn up as him, but Light didn't blame her. He had been snatched from school before she could pick him up, she couldn't have done anything.

She left around midnight, and when the door closed, Light crawled out of the bed and dragged his cover and pillows with him under the bed.

It was something he had desperately wished to be able to do before, but he'd been kept tied spread eagled the whole time, and in the hospital he'd been in too much shock to try.

The kidnappers had been good at keeping their secrets – they never let slip about who they were or if there were other children there in the place, but others weren't so careful. While Light was at the hospital, he had heard two men talking about his captors.

They were an infamous group known for kidnapping and torturing children. Always children, it didn't matter what age as long as it was under fifteen.

Light was nine. He had been told he'd been gone for three weeks. It had felt like years.

As Light lay curled in a ball under the bed, he wondered about the man who had saved him.

He went only by "L" and was known as the greatest Detective in the world. He had apparently been working on the case for a while, and it was only until Light's kidnapping that L had gotten the break he needed to finally capture them.

All of the groups had been rounded up – Light had been kept safe at the hospital until every last one was securely locked away.

For all his time in the hospital, the only thing that had kept Light focused was the thought of meeting his savior. He'd heard people say no one had ever seen L's face or knew much about him, but Light had been told many times how smart he himself was.

If anyone could do it, Light would be the first to locate and meet the man, and the best way to do that was to be in the same career and get his attention.

Light would start working towards that goal immediately. It would be a welcome distraction.