This is a story about the childhood of L in Wammy's House. He spent it with an OC-girl who was his unofficial childhood friend (he never really admitted her as his mate, but they got along pretty well). I don't make her as L's girlfriend (of course, I won't give in L to my own character, 'cause L is mine! XD), she was merely the one who accompanied him in his lonely time. Don't worry about spoiler, since I have just read the first three volumes of manga and watched 21 episodes of the anime, I don't think I'll give you important spoilers.
Disclaimer : Although I've coincidentally exclaimed L as mine, actually L and the entire Death Note series belongs to Tsugumi Ohba-sensei and Takeshi Obata-sensei. I'm just a fangirl who falls in love with their creation, and I made this fanfic for no profit other than the joy of other fans.
So enjoy!
White
Chapter I: Promise
"Mr. Wammy!"
Quilsh Wammy/Watari (A.N : for me, it's more convenient to call him Watari, so I'll use it as well) looked up from his doing on the desk. He stood up, stretched a little and walked to his office door. He opened it and found a 9-years-old girl standing in front of his office in Wammy's House. She was pouting while crossing her arms in front of her quite-tall-for-her-age body.
"What is it, Maria?"
"Mr. Wammy..." The Maria-girl answered in an annoyed tone. "The boy you have just brought here yesterday was pissing me off."
"Really?" Watari raised his right eyebrow. "What did he do?"
"I don't know exactly what he doing is. He just stared at today's morning newspaper, completely ignoring me. I… I was just very happy since I think I get a friend after being lonely for so long but… It's just like having statue as a roommate! It's… I…" Maria burst into tears. Watari sighed and kneeled beside her, stroking her fine brown hair.
"I'll talk to him. But Maria, you have to understand too. Yesterday I saw him standing on his own under the pouring snow. He seems used to be lonely too, just like you. Perhaps he has not been getting used to get along with friends."
Maria looked at Watari's eyes and then wiped her tears. "If things are really like that… he must be very pitiful and cheerless."
"Yes," Watari nodded. "Actually I have not known that boy very well but I can see it in his eyes. You can see it too, can't you? If you try to know him better, I'm sure he is the best person who can be your friend, as well as you are to be his best friend."
Maria widened her big brown eyes and blinked twice as an expression of her curiosity. "Why can you say something like that, Mr. Wammy?"
Watari stood up and took one of Maria's hands, leading her to the room that Maria and the boy shared. He inhaled quite deeply, "Because you two shared similar fates. Before coming here, ever since you two were born, there were almost none of the people who care for you."
Watari was walking down a crossing bridge while keeping his hat from being blown by wind. That was the last day of autumn; the wind was cold and harsh. When he was about to turn left to reach Wammy's House, he saw a little 7-years-old girl sitting in the corner of the street. She was skinny and dusty, her brown hair messed up and her big brown eyes were feeble. Besides, she was shivering in the breeze, since she wore a shirt and shorts only. Watari walked forward to the corner instead of turning left. He kneeled down and tried to talk to the girl.
From her tale, Watari could conclude that the girl was a victim of parents-divorcement and neither of them wanting the kid. Since she was very-very young, her parents never got along well. They always fought and the child, namely Maria, always became the victim of their emotional whims.
Watari then brought the child to Wammy's house and took care of her. But there was a problem. Maria never could get along with other kids. While the others playing around, she just sat in her room and stared at nothing. She could only speak quite normally to Watari. Watari often told her to join other kids playing, but since she had wore an image of being cold and vain, no one wanted to respond her. Not only that, there was also no one wanted to share room with her, so she had been living in her own room for two years, lonely. It made her way more upset.
"Ah, we make it."
Watari and Maria had arrived in front of Maria and the new boy's room. Watari knocked the door twice.
"Just come in," They heard a low child's voice from inside. Watari opened the door to meet the boy. As Maria had told him, the boy was examining the newspaper seriously, not even bothered by the arrival of Watari and his roommate. He was sitting with his legs folded up in front of his thin body while his thumb was pressed onto his lower lip. His bagged eyes followed the line he was reading yet his head barely moved. Also, Watari noticed, he held the newspaper very oddly, pinching the top of the sheet with his left thumb and pointer finger. Sometimes when his right thumb was free, he would pinch both of the upper corners of the newspaper with two hands. His curled too-big long-sleeved blue shirt and black trousers 'swallowed' his skinny figure. Maria pouted a little. She just didn't like dark colours like the ones that boy wore.
"Mmm, Lawliet…" Watari began to speak but then being cut off by the boy.
"I've told you yesterday what name I would be glad to be called," the little boy said with a hint of disappoint in his voice, though his face remained expressionless as he continued to examine a black-and-white photo of crime scene below paragraphs of murder case news.
"Oh, I apologize then, L," Watari corrected his word, causing the boy to smile and, for the first time on that day, looked up from his newspaper to see Watari and Maria. For no apparent reason, Maria blushed a little when she saw his pure smile.
"I bet there's something quite important you'd like to tell me, Mr. Wammy," The 8-years-old L said while tilted his head a bit. "About Maria, I guess? Did I trouble you, Maria? Are you alright with me?"
Maria was surprised to hear that. First, she didn't think that L knew her name. Well, Watari had introduced her to him when they got into her room yesterday. She remembered Watari said something like, "Lawliet… I mean L, this is Maria, your roommate" but she didn't expect him to register it, since he responded nothing. And Watari never reiterated her name again to the boy after that. Moreover, she fell asleep just a minute after the boy stepped into the room and they had not exchanged words until now, since L remained silent when Maria tried to communicate with him that morning.
Second, why did he know that Watari come to speak with him about her? She meant… okay, Watari came there with her but that was no evidence enough. Things could be she and Watari came in for own individual reason, right? It was not strange because this was her room too.
Third, this was the simplest but the most stunning of all… did he care for her?
Watari seemed to be brightened by L's smile and caring question for Maria, since he was worried of L being the second antisocial kid in Wammy's house, considering that he had not gone out to meet other children and to play with them. Okay, the old man had to admit that he still worried about L, as he didn't show normal acts of a child. Was there any other of 8-years-old kids in entire England who liked reading news of murder case in purpose to find clues to grab the culprit seriously? He meant… There were many kids who liked to pretend as a detective but never ever as serious as L. It seemed like L had chosen his way to be a real detective. Watari weren't sure why he took the boy's ambition so seriously and not taking it as a child's joke, but every time he saw through L's deep black eyes he knew for sure that this child wasn't only pretending his dreamed career. He was for real and extremely ready facing anything that got in his way. Yeah… Actually it was not that bad if a child has known exactly what he would be in the future, but it made Watari rather afraid as how if the child didn't grow up normally because of his ambition. Children were supposed to enjoy their time as children and not to spend time investigating alone like what L was doing now. Somehow he felt like perhaps L had too great intelligence that troubled him from growing up and interacting with other people normally. He often read about something like that in his reference books. Of course that time was too early to make a conclusion since Watari had just known L for not more than 24 hours, but his paternal drive told him so.
Back to the topic, Watari shoved all ideas about detective for a while. It could wait. Now he should speak to L in order to help Maria. Watari took a seat on L's bed. Maria hesitantly walked over to her own bed and sat down. L frowned back at some random black-and-white photos of four suspects. Suddenly he turned his gaze to three scanned dying messages-now with a significant move of head-as if he realized something very important.
"Okay, kids, now let's have a discussion. L, I know you are reading and do not want to be bothered, but could you please leave it a moment while we're talking?"
L remained silent for a while, then opened his mouth a bit and closed it again as if he doubted whether or not to speak, his eyes still plastered at a certain photo. Watari noticed this.
"Something on your mind, L? You really can't pause it only a short moment, it seems. I see that you're reading about the mysterious murder case that gets all people's attention nowadays because even five professional detectives hired cannot solve the case. And in today newspaper the police force finally has three confidential dying messages and the photos of all suspects included complete report of the progress of investigation attached in order to hear people's opinion about them. It must be very interesting for you."
"No, it's not that," L replied while placing his right thumb between his lips. Suddenly he let go the newspaper from his left hand, causing it to fall down to his bed in a messed up condition. "I've done reading this. I'm thinking… If I stop reading and listen to this discussion, could I ask you a favor, Mr. Wammy?"
Watari was quite surprised, but then he smiled. "I shall know first what your favor is."
"Do you know how to contact English police force?"
"Huh?" It was not Watari who sounded, but Maria. She didn't voice very loudly, but since she spoke to the silence, the echo of her voice quite grabbed attention. L gave her a glance but then ignored it.
"Actually I know, but… What do you want from it, L?" Watari answered while studying L's reaction. The little black-haired boy glanced at Maria for half a second and threw his attention back to Watari.
"I only tell you, Mr. Wammy."
Hearing this, Maria caught in rage. She stood up angrily as she pointed right to L's nose. "I know you have some business with that idiot murder case and I know you are not going to tell Mr. Wammy while I am around because you hate me! I never have friend in my life and I bet you too consider me as a foe! I know everyone do! I will always be an outsider and a disturbance for everyone! I will not be accepted wherever I am! How stupid I am to think that perhaps you can be my friend, oh, idiot me! Now I'm going to leave as what you want me to do, you're happy, right?! I…" Maria yelled indignantly at confused-as-hell L. Watari tried to calm her down. He knew exactly that the girl had problem with herself. She was kind of underestimating her own ability to interact with other people, which is by herself proved to be true.
"Wait… this…" L frowned slightly. "What were you talking about? How can you say I hate you?"
"Because… everyone do! And your action told me so!" Maria replied while cursing the tears that fell from her eyes.
L looked down for a moment. Somehow his expression stopped Maria from yelling more.
"If I tell you, you will say that I'm crazy, just like they did…"
"C-crazy? Who're they?"
Watari chose not to interrupt the conversation that streamed between the two kids he mostly worried about. That was the chance to know about L's past, what had happened to him that made him hard to socially interact.
"When I had something in my mind, they would ask about what it was. When I refused to tell them, they would force me. When I told them, they laughed at me and said that I'm crazy…" L hugged his legs closer to him. "I just told them the truth, but they didn't want to believe. I don't care whether or not they believe it, but… Just don't ask me in the first place if they won't be pleased by my answer! And why should they laugh at my opinion after they asked me? It's just… nonsense, and a kind of humiliation…"
So… that was it. It seemed like Watari had the last piece of puzzle settled. It was really because of his abnormal intelligence. Well, every kid in Wammy's House had outstanding cleverness, but L seemed to far surpass them.
"That's…" Maria looked very uneasy with present atmosphere. Basically she was a melancholic girl and never to intend to hurt other's heart. But she herself sometimes felt being evicted from surroundings, since she never knew just what thing she had done that made people ignored her. She was never aware of that cold and irrespective expression she always wore. Besides, the trauma of her being unwanted by her own parents made her more 'problematic'.
"Well, Maria, you've already known that L never intentionally disrespected you. Now you two can exchange tales or experiences, make yourself as siblings," Watari was about to leave the room when L demanded,
"Mr. Wammy, how about the police force?"
"Ah," Watari remembered. "Must it be now?"
L nodded. "Before someone else gives them false solving."
"Okay then. Follow me."
Maria just stared at Watari and L sadly. Whenever someone was about to leave her alone, regardless the circumstance, she would be upset. She was upset, until she heard a boy's low voice said,
"I'll be back soon, Maria."
Maria looked up at L, who was walking away without eyeing her. After the door silently shut, Maria smiled simply to his fading figure,
"I'll be waiting, L."
A.N: I'm sorry it's very long and rather boring (I hope it isn't that bad). I always got critics for my grammars and a lack of vocabs so I want to apologize first, I'm not a native or such. Else, please tell me if L is OOC or the storyline is not good enough. Please encourage me to continue this (only if you want me to, though)! Thank you for your attention!