A/N: Hello people! I'm not so good with opening statements and whatnot, but I do try.

This is my first LxLight fic ever, but not my first fan fiction ever, so I'm not as nervous as I was last time and don't sound like a robot because of it… ANYWAYS! This fic is a collaborative one in which my friend Steve and I roleplayed as the characters.

I don't know what else to say, except: enjoy the first chapter!

P.S. This isn't a songfic, the chapters will just be named after songs, and the entire fic is named after a song.

Death Note and all its characters © Ohba and Obata

Over My Head © The Fray

Watari stopped in front of the freshly painted door, his hand hesitating before the doorknob. His other hand lightly clutched a manila file folder; inside it contained the file to a case his master had requested.

L.

The old man, no longer wanting to keep the genius waiting, gripped and twisted the smooth handle. The door swung open noiselessly, and Watari stepped in, his shoes gliding against the carpet with ease.

"Sir? The case you requested has arrived." He gave the file to the young detective, and stood back, giving the young man a caring smile. He grimaced at the way he could feel his skin fold into its wrinkles. Time certainly wasn't sparing on its victims, and Watari was no exception. But the thoughts were shoved out of his mind hastily. He couldn't afford to be wallowing in self-pity right now. L was now officially on a case, and all attention had to be directed towards him if the case was to be solved quickly.

"Is there anything else you may need…?"

L looked over the folder, scanning it only with his eyes, which had a gleam of anticipation within them. He rarely received any cases as interesting as this, so he gladly accepted the work when it was offered to him. He already had his laptop open, but the screen was currently sitting on the desktop, the background the default one it had come with.

L opened the folder and quickly scanned through it. Then he sent Watari a sidelong glance. "I'll be needing some cake, and possibly some ice cream, as well."

Watari nodded, bowing slightly before he turned to exit the room. "Of course, sir." He replied. Watari assumed that many people his age hardly ever left their homes or got such exercise, and knowing that he was able to live and work for such a man as L was something Watari took great pride in. Smiling softly, Watari left the room.

While Watari was gone, L had read his new case thoroughly. It appeared that there had been a string of robberies connected with a string of murders. The interesting thing about the case was that there hadn't been any evidence left behind by the criminals. The only thing they left was a pocket watch that the police originally thought to be a bomb.

The thefts and the killings followed a pattern. A theft would be committed at what looked like any random business and a pocket watch would be left behind. Exactly a week later, the owner of the business would be murdered, another theft at a different random business would be committed, and another watch would be left at the new site.

L's first job would be to try to profile the killer based on the style of murder, then he would try to find a connection between the victim businesses. He already knew that whoever he was dealing with was extremely skilled to not leave any evidence behind, but he assumed there had to be some sort of clue or flaw in the crimes somewhere.

Watari knocked on the door with his elbow, but it wasn't for any particular reason. L usually didn't need to be left alone. "Your cake and ice cream, as requested," he spoke up, putting the plates on the desk next to L and keeping the platter at his side.

"Thank you, Watari, that will be all for now." L curtly nodded to Watari and resumed his work, inhaling his desserts as he went.

Hours passed and L had discovered that this case would be harder than expected. There seemed to be no connection between the businesses or their owners so far. As for the killings, they differed greatly. In one instance, the killing method looked extremely professional, a small slit to the throat right through an arterial vein. The next killing, however, looked as if it was done by someone who knew nothing about human anatomy; stab wounds all over the body, almost completely missing most of the organs in the torso. While they could have both simply bled to death, the second one's skull had been smashed under a shot put; the killing had been in a sports equipment store specializing in non-mainstream sports goods.

"Watari," L called, not knowing if Watari was still in the room or not, "I would like some cheesecake, please."

At that particular moment, Watari was not in the room. He was, however, in a room full of monitors that were recording all activity in their hotel. Watari looked over the video footage of L's room, seeing that L was speaking. He noted L's request, and quickly prepared a dish. The food was delivered shortly afterwards, and Watari decided to remain in the room with L until his services were needed once more.

L didn't respond verbally as he grabbed for the cake. He ate the sweet treat slowly as he thought over the possibilities. The possibilities were endless, and he decided to look further into the connections between businesses. Hours slowly passed by as he searched and dug deeper into his information and his cake.

Seven thefts and six murders had already happened. The reason L hadn't been called in sooner was because the police thought they could handle it themselves. Once the criminal began hopping from country to country, however, the police realized they were dealing with someone too good for them.

The crimes had started out in China and lead over the ocean to South Korea. L figured that they were heading to Japan, and that he should probably head there, too, but he would tell Watari tomorrow. It was already nighttime, and while L didn't sleep very much, Watari slept like a normal person. For the old man's sake, L would stay in England this one last night.

Watari glanced out the window and noticed how the once blue sky had gone to pink and was now quickly fading into a dark indigo color.

"If you'll excuse me." He bowed, and exited from the room. His eyelids were heavy, and he was eager to get some sleep.

L didn't respond as Watari left. He didn't said things such as "hello" or "good night" or even "thank you" most of the time. They were things that didn't need to be said, so they were kept quiet. L did more research well past midnight until his eyes closed of their own accord, and he fell into a light sleep.

… Nine in the Afternoon …

Light groaned as he exited the front gates of the high school, sighing softly. The day had proceeded as it normally did; he once again proved to the rest of the world that he was superior to them in every aspect with little trouble through either intellect or physical skills. To be short, Light was better than the average person.

And Light was not completely arrogant to think so.

After all, what else could you think of someone who is brilliant, strong, and good-looking to top it all off? It was almost a natural reaction for people to respect and admire Light; and that's exactly how he'd been living for as long as he could remember. Praised. Adored. Showered with love and affection.

But all those things- the flirting and the complimenting- they had lost their touch to Light Yagami. He cared little for their efforts to know him. In fact, he doubted that they even cared about him one bit. They simply wanted to use him in some way or another; some wanted him for their own attention, others because they wanted to gain some self-esteem by hanging out with someone like Light, and others because they were simply amazed by his superior talent and grace.

So when others are expecting you to carry out the needs of such a person, who was Light to deny them? He was hardly available for dating, considering the fact that he was often seen with girls. However, Light found interest in very few girls. Most of them would talk endlessly about pointless, uninteresting matters, and quite a few were infuriatingly clingy or jealous. Why couldn't they get it into their heads that just because Light was being polite and hanging out with them or going on a date, that they weren't 'destined to be together'?

All Light wanted was to keep his reputation, if not escalate it. He wasn't looking for a deep relationship, and certainly not a lasting one. Girls were merely a way to get what he wanted, and few relationships lasted past a few weeks. Of course, there were always certain females who were able to hold up at least slightly bearable conversations, who didn't want to be attached to him at all times, and who weren't all that bad. But Light was the type of person who grew bored quickly and easily, and all relationships eventually broke off. However, Light never shed tears over break-ups, no matter the cause or the way it occurred. In all honesty, Light was almost always the one who broke off the relationship he'd started.

So, to say the least, Light was bored. He was currently not dating, though there were many girls eyeing him like ravenous vultures; he could practically feel their stares boring into him. He denied himself the pleasure of ignoring them and turned to wave, and felt the urge to puke rise in his stomach as they blushed and swooned and chatted eagerly to him.

When he was out of eye-shot, a scowl set in on his face.

How despicable.

Before Light knew it, he was already walking up to the front door of his home. It wasn't as though he was hurrying; he was really just lost in thought. Time was something that slipped from his grasp quite easily, and Light didn't really mind. But the moment he entered that house, he would become another person. Someone who wasn't him. He would be putting on a mask, one that was hardened and smooth as silk from use. It was perfect. Nobody would be able to see through it. Nobody had, and nobody would. After all; who could possibly contain the intellect necessary to do so? If anyone like that existed, Light certainly hoped he would never meet them. It would create a disturbance in his perfect life; though it would provide him with some entertainment. But eventually, Light knew he would get bored. Eventually, he would beat his opponent. It always happened. And it always would.

Holding back the urge to bite his lip, Light entered the small hallway, a perfectly crafted smile adorning his face as it slid easily into place.

"I'm home!" He called, taking off his shoes and socks and putting them next to a pair considerably smaller than his. Sayu must also be home. He groaned inwardly.

"Hey, Light's home!" Oh, speak of the devil, here she comes. Black hair bobbed up and down rhythmically as the young girl ran towards the pleased-looking teenager at the front door. She stopped in front of him, shifting from side to side nervously before speaking up again.

Light almost sighed. She was going to ask him for help again, wasn't she? "Hey Light, so we were learning this thingy in math today, and I didn't really understand it…" Sayu's words were white noise to Light as he nodded and agreed to help her- again. This had become a rather common routine as of late, and sometimes, Light wondered how she could possibly be his relative. He'd never had any problems with rational equations when he was in junior high. So why did she?

Sometimes, it really sucked to be the smart one.

… Nine in the Afternoon …

L impatiently drummed his fingers on the little pull-out table in his private jet. It was practically filled with empty cake dishes. There were a few pieces of cake still untouched, however, but L was currently too preoccupied with staring out the window and hoping the plane would land soon to be tempted to eat the sweet treats.

He would have been working on his case, but his laptop had to remain off, as the weather was a bit unpredictable today, and the pilots couldn't afford any risk of a jammed communications signal. This was one of the reasons L hated traveling by air. While it was definitely the quickest way to get places, it also often rendered him incapable of doing much of anything. He couldn't really go anywhere, he couldn't work on anything, and he could only take so many sweets on a plane with him. To top it all off, L was a very impatient man. When he couldn't do anything, trips seemed twice as long.

"Watari, more cake please," L mumbled, too busy looking out the small window to be bothered to look at the three cake slices still in front of him.

Watari nodded, smiling as he retrieved the empty plates. His stomach seemed to clench up in pain as he perceived the copious amounts of sweets his master had taken in. L's stomach had to be incredibly tolerable in order to withstand all of that sugar. Watari shook his head slightly as he dumped the dishes in the sink. This was L he was talking about, not him. What went on in L's stomach was no business to him unless L stated otherwise.

By the time Watari returned to L with two more slices of cake, all previous thoughts were vanquished and his mind was back on track.

L ate one of his previously uneaten cakes mindlessly as he tried to keep his mind busy, though it was hard because his thoughts were always drawn back to the case, which made him want to work on it even more. He grew twice as impatient as before and chewed his cake in a irritated way. Though he loathed asking it, he could help it as the question rolled off his tongue, "Watari, how much longer until we arrive?"

Watari sighed mentally. L was always so impatient; he was constantly worrying about bringing justice to the world.

"Actually sir, we have little under a half-hour to go." He informed, smiling slightly. Watari had a strange feeling that for L, thirty minutes would feel like three hours, but there was not much he could do to keep the genius entertained without his laptop.

L held back a displeased groan. Thirty minutes would take absolutely forever. Why did the villain have to be in Japan? Why couldn't he or she be in Norway, or Germany? Anywhere closer would be better .

… Nine in the Afternoon …

A couple weeks had passed after L had reached Japan. The case was progressing slowly, and there was so much he still hadn't figured out. It was a little disheartening because he felt his efforts were in vain, but at the same time, it excited L to keep researching. He hadn't had this much trouble with a case in a long time, so this was very entertaining.

He had actually assembled a task force to help him on the case, not because he couldn't do it himself, as he was highly capable of coping on his own. It was because this criminal needed to be caught quickly, and there was so much information to research and take note of that it would take a while for L to get everything together.

So, without hesitations, L had formed a small task force consisting of five people, excluding Watari and himself. There was Yagami Soichiro, Matsuda Touta, Aizawa Shuichi, Mogi Kanzo, and Ukita Hirokazu. None of which were even close to equaling L's intelligence, but they were useful in gathering and reporting on information, so that was okay.

The newly formed team had accomplished much data gathering. They did background checks on the business owners and their families for the first two days to see if the businesses were being targeted, which L greatly doubted, since the culprits were hopping countries and the victims were as different as the businesses they owned. Usually, if there was personal vendetta involved, a few names, or a single name would keep popping up, but that was not the case.

They also studied the way each victim died. At first, L had pondered over that there might have been a case of bloodlust, because the attacks had been quite brutal and harsh, but this hunch dwindled away once one of the victims died of suffocation by a whole banana, still in its peel, being shoved down their windpipe. Each killing was relatively different, and the most recent was quite odd. The owner of a water supply company had died of thirst, which was quite strange. L decided that they had used some sort of chemical to provoke such a death. Dying of thirst naturally took days, which was not likely for someone constantly surrounded by drinking water. Whoever this criminal was, they needed to be stopped as quickly as possible. Someone who contained such harmful chemicals was extremely dangerous.

L took it upon himself to go over banking records all around the world to find any inconsistencies, like sudden deposits near the amount of money had been stolen, which was well into the million-dollar range by this point. No discrepancies that matched the criteria L was looking for. This made L come to a few conclusions.

Conclusion A: Whoever the thief was had connections with someone inside a bank. This was the least likely conclusion, because it required the thief to have to physically send the money to someone.

Conclusion B: Conclusion A might be correct if the perpetrator knew how to create a credit card in the amount of money needed and sent their cohort the credit cards in disguise of a false advertisement. This was also unlikely, unless the criminal had accomplices in the countries they stole from or converted the money into one currency, which was not an option in some cities the thieves stole from.

Conclusion C: The thief kept the money on-hand. This was the most likely, which led L to believe that the criminal must have a van or some sort of large vehicle capable of carrying all the money. Slightly unlikely unless they converted the money into the same currency, again, not always an option on the path the thieves followed. This gave L something to go on, but it wasn't much, since a lot of people drove vans or semi's.

Conclusion D: The criminal spent the money in various places little by little and/or used the money to buy new equipment. This was just about as likely as Conclusion C, except most thieves decided to keep the money and spend it later in one place on things to make them feel wealthy, powerful and successful. However, after L considered how smart the criminal was, he decided that it was probably a mix between Conclusions C and D. This criminal had upgraded their arsenal, as no one could simple pull a chemical to make someone die of thirst in less than a few hours from out of nowhere.

The criminal was probably buying from some underground organization, which made things a bit more complicated because no legitimate gang would simply show the police their transaction records.

However, that made L believe that the criminal was actually criminals. There was a good chance that there was more than one thief and murderer. The percentage wasn't more than 50%, though, because more people on an operation meant more things could go wrong, and so far, the crimes had been consistently perfect.

L licked at his ice cream and pouted at the lack of leads.

… Nine in the Afternoon …

"… And, just on time, the owner of the water company has been 'Clock'd'…" Light sighed as he stood up, grunting softly as his muscles began to work again.

"Light, aren't you going to keep watching?" Sayu called over to him, broken from the trance-like state the television show had created.

Smiling softly, Light shook his head. She wasn't annoying now that Light had had some time to relax. "No… I need to go study."

"You mean you're going to check it out on the internet?" Sayu teased, grinning. Light laughed. His sister probably knew him more than a lot of other people.

"Of course, Sayu." He rolled his eyes. He was going to use the computer to find out more about the case, but not exactly in the same way.

Light sighed as he shut off his computer, standing up and exiting the room. Turns out his hunch was right; his father was indeed working on the case the paparazzi had been raving about for the past month. The 'Clockers', as they were referred to as of late, was a person, though more likely a group, of thieves who killed as a past-time. They would hop from country to country in a seemingly random order, robbing different stores and then killing them a week later; the media referred to their death as being Clock'd. They were rather silly names, but they were actually very accurate. There was no evidence at any of the crime scenes- save a pocket watch left behind. According to his father's files, which he had successfully hacked into shortly before, the time on the stopwatch was the exact time when the killers would strike.

It was all so… perfect; yet it made no sense at the same time. How on earth could the police know all of this and take no action? Wouldn't they take the owners of the store, or wait for the killers to arrive? Was there something prohibiting them from doing so? It didn't seem very likely for the law to be standing in the way… so why did it seem as though the police were taking no action? Light's eyes narrowed; his father was on a task force dedicated solely to the job of catching the killer, and they still hadn't caught the killer yet- or was it killers? If Light were part of the investigation team, things would definitely be solved faster.

… Nine in the Afternoon …

"Ryuuzaki-san, I don't understand this!" Matsuda cried, handing a few pictures and profiles to the detective.

"What exactly is it that you don't understand? The information on the deceased?" L took the documents and eyed them quickly.

"This guy was under police protection at the time of death, and he still died! How is it possible?! And why didn't the police even bother protecting the guy before that?!" The flustered officer pointed to the pictures in turn as he mentioned them.

"The reasons are purely elementary, or did you not read the information provided?" Not waiting for a response, L continued, "This man died of a prolonged death. There was an explosive embedded in his skin that was unnoticeable until he spontaneously combusted. The autopsy revealed the residue of the explosives. And this man wasn't under police protection because the robbery that took place at his store didn't perfectly match the profile for the "Clocker's" victim. The pocket watch was a different style, and it took place at a gas station's Stop-and-Shop.

"As you know there has been an increase in thefts since this criminal emerged, and most of the new thieves have caught onto the pattern of the smarter ones, and have started stealing on the proper days and leaving pocket watches along with their crime. The police wrote it off as a false alarm, and flagged someone else instead. However, that victim was able to point out his burglar in a line up of suspects. Do you still not understand?" L mumbled, not wanting to answer anymore of Matsuda's questions. The young officer had a mind, so he should be able to use it and figure the rest out himself.

"I guess… I'm sorry Ryuuzaki-san, I'm just feeling a little upset over the fact that we haven't found a solid piece of evidence." Matsuda bowed politely to the detective.

"Yes, well, I'm sure Yagami-san could surely ease your troubled mind. I have work to do and cannot afford to dabble in such trifling affairs." L bluntly shooed Matsuda away with his words and the annoyed look in his eyes.

"Yes, of course!" Matsuda bowed again, apologetically, and went about his own business.

L sighed and demanded more ice cream. There was nothing like a painful brain freeze to keep the troubling thoughts at bay.

A/N: Well, that was the first chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sorry if it was a little boring or OOC or whatever, but it'll get more exciting and suspenseful and all that good stuff as the story progresses.

Please review, fave, and alert!