BAST

The Cats That Like to Cuddle

...L...

I was unsure if Bast had any skill in the game, but there was only one way to find out for sure.

"Have you played before?" I inquired as we set the board.

"Yes, I have. With my uncle and, on the rare occasion, teahouse customers. He was the only one who really approved of me gaining a proper education and setting goals that didn't involve gaining ownership of the place."

"That reminds me, how did your parents react to you moving away and not taking over?"

"Oh, they disowned me." She casually revealed as she watched me move my white pawn to E4. After all this time her fascination with my hands never seemed to let up. This could end up as either an advantage or a disadvantage for me.

At the same time, she had removed her contacts in the dimmer lighting and I saw her heterochromia so rarely up until recently, I had to keep my eyes on the board. We had become closer during the Kira case and I knew she was trying to make me more comfortable by approaching me as a friend would. There were, however, moments when she threw me off.

"So, L, when did you learn capoeira?" Kind of like that. I hadn't really thought she'd be interested in my life when she had hacked into it. Maybe this wasn't a part of my file.

She moved her pawn to E5.

"Naomi Misora recommended I take up some form of self-defense after the LA BB murder case," I informed, moving a pawn to F4.

"I see. It was a good choice. I usually only see moves like that in my fighting games so it was pretty cool to see them up close." She took my pawn and neatly set it down on the side of the board. Examining her hands for once, large enough to be noticeably disproportionate by those who looked, I recalled when she had gently touched my cheek the night we captured Light and another occasion, where she had touched my back while no one was looking. I shifted a little, still feeling her fingers ghost down my spine in an oddly intimate gesture.

I hadn't brought it up, but it had felt almost lonesome, as though she were saying 'I'm here, you know. Pay just a little more attention to me.' We had met eyes that time and she'd smiled, glancing away first.

I moved my bishop to C4 and she moved her queen to H4, putting me in check.

"I thought so too and it made fighting around a chain easy to adjust to." I took a bite of the piece I had brought with me and set my king to A5.

"Have you ever fought anyone before Light?" She asked, setting a pawn to B5, which I took with my bishop.

"Aside from trainers, no."

"Have you ever seen me naked, L?" Thankfully, I had a bite of cake in my mouth which I prematurely swallowed as vivid flashes of her naked at various times popped into my head.

Was she trying to distract me?

"Yes and no. I tend to give you your privacy once I see you in any state of undress." She nodded and moved her knight to F6 and I followed up by moving my own to F3.

"You mean, aside from the time you trapped me in my own bathtub?"

"Yes, aside from that."

There was a silence as she contemplated her next move.

"L, are you a gambling sort?"

With what I was planning and considering how I had staked more than I realized on Bast telling the truth about her abilities (or just lying about them really well) during the Kira case...