chopsticks

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Light Yagami was in a very bad mood when he arrived home from school that day. Of course, such an ill temper could've been down to the recent bout of bad weather; torrential rain only served to dampen people's spirits, if you would forgive the (bad) pun.

Sachiko, however, knew better. It was mother's instinct.

The way he slouched his shoulders, the way he shook his auburn locks free of rain, the way he threw himself down on the couch so ungracefully, the way his doe-like eyes seemed unusually narrowed…

Sachiko frowned at these warning signs, the peach-skin around her mouth folding into lines of worry and fatigue. Rushed off her feet all day, cleaning the house from top to toe, cooking dinner every night - it was a lot of strain on her body, wasted somewhat after childbirth and marked with old age.

"Light! Dinner's ready!" she called, pottering about the kitchen. It was in a frenzy that she worked; hastily wiping down work surfaces for sticky crumbs and fingerprints, sweeping the floor with a dustpan and brush, plonking plates onto the table so hard they rattled, fussing as Sayu started to absent-mindedly eat a chunk of her hair, calling for Light who had still not graced them with his presence…

After a few seconds he finally slouched his way into the kitchen, throwing himself down beside Sayu with the air one adapts when forced to do something unpleasant. Sachiko frowned at this odd, un-Light-ish behaviour, fingers under her chin as she stared in puzzlement.

"I don't feel very hungry," Light declared after toying around with a few baby-sized portions of food. "I think I'll go up to my room and do homework…"

"Oh no," Sachiko retorted, hand falling to her son's shoulder. Gazing down in concern, she loosened her hold slightly, though didn't remove it completely. Something in her didn't trust Light to stay at the table under the influence of his shoulder-angels. "I slaved in that kitchen all day to make this – you're going nowhere until you clear your plate, mister. Look, your sister's eating all hers."

Light shot a dirty look at Sayu over the table-top, as though her enthusiastic love for rice and sushi was a mere act put on to get him into trouble. Er – on second glance, perhaps her love for rice and sushi was a tad too enthusiastic. Most of it was going on her face, fingers and hair instead of in her mouth.

"I don't think wearing it counts as eating it," Light replied sullenly, arms folded across his chest. It was obvious he would be making no further attempts to pick up his chopsticks that evening. "Stupid Sayu…"

"Now, Light," Sachiko reprimanded, tapping her son atop the head with his own chopsticks. The tips were mostly devoid of leftovers, but even so Light squealed and tried to push her hands away. "Be nice to your sister. You wouldn't like it if somebody twice your size decided to pick on you."

At this comment, Light seemed to freeze – his eyes widened back to their usual bunny-in-headlights proportions, yet this time they were filled with surprise. "I… I mean…"

Sachiko sighed, the root of the problem suddenly becoming so obvious it couldn't have made itself more present if it had painted itself purple, danced on a tabletop and held a flashing neon sign (hot pink, perhaps, or maybe some sort of acid yellow) that read 'LIGHT IS BEING BULLIED AT SCHOOL AGAIN'. All in capital letters, of course.

"Who was it this time, Light?" she asked softly, using the tone of voice she had adopted all those years ago at Light's cradle when she had to sing him to sleep. Rockabye baby…

Light frowned his mother's sudden epiphany, sinking low in his chair so only the top of his auburn head was visible – the rest of him, facial expression and all, was hidden under the table. However, Sachiko could easily gauge from his reaction what his face would look like.

"It was Sudou…" Light murmured after a colossal pause, during which time dragged by so slowly it seemed to be tied to an elephant.

Sachiko nodded and commenced her routine that contained all the normal, motherly things that mothers are meant to say ("I'm sure they're just jealous of you, sweetheart") when they've just realised their children are being bullied. Inwardly, however, she was tearing her hair out. This name (Sudou, was it?) was not one that had been brought up around the dinner table before. It was a new bully. If all his classmates started to turn against him, what would happen next? Did Light really have any friends at all? Saying they were jealous was all well and good, but it wouldn't help Light in the long run – he was the one who had to go to school every day, not her.

"He wasn't makin' fun of me 'cause I'm smart – although I did come first in our English test. Ryo didn't like that," Light confessed.

This news was slightly shocking to Sachiko - the usual story relayed around the dinner table was 'because I'm smart' or 'because they wanted me to do their homework' or 'because I got better marks than them'.

"He was makin' fun of me 'cause… Because…"

"Because of what, dear?" inquired his mother, attempting to wrench a hunk of hair from Sayu's mouth and listen to Light at the same time. It wasn't easy, multitasking like that. It was a good job she'd been a housewife for some time, for otherwise the ordeal might be too much for her, especially when Sayu bit down on her fingers with wicked incisors and Light's voice started to shake mid-way through his story.

"He was makin' fun of because I… I… I asked him to pass me the scissors… And… And he said I couldn't talk properly!" Light frowned at this, as though Sudou were in the room judging his speech once more. "He was makin' fun of me because I can't pronounce my Ss! That's not very nice, is it, mom? Mom? An' he said I had a li.. li… lisp, and kept trying to make me say it! He was like "say that word, Light" and I couldn't, it kept coming out all funny, and then he laughed at me… He was like 'some genius, can't even talk properly' and… And… It was horrible."

"Oh, don't worry too much about him, Light," Sachiko smiled, patting his shoulder. "Lots of people have lisps – usually they go away when you get older."

"It… It is?" Light asked timidly, peeking out over the top of the table. Upon being greeted by his mother's warm smile, Light hesitantly smiled back and sat up in his chair properly. "When Ibecome the ruler of the world I'm going to make the word li… li… I'm going to make that word illegal. It's not fair that it has an's' in it! And scissors – I'll make that word illegal too. And Sudou. And then everybody will worship me!"

"That's nice, dear," Sachiko smiled, ruffling Light's chestnut hair fondly. "Now… How about all that rice?"

Light sighed, picking at his dinner with a look of mild unease on his face. "Yes, mom…"

Hmph.

He supposed even Gods had to listen to their mothers.

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a.n: little!light with a lisp xD how cute. um, this story is sort of pointless, but whatever. i'm being attacked by plot bunnies at the moment. they have very long, pointy teeth. –shudders-