Prologue: The Difference of Observation and Caution


The rustling of the leaves was the only thing that could be heard from where the little boy sat. He held a lollipop in his hand as he swung back and forth in that slouched position, that people thought ghastly, of his. It sometimes made Wammy wonder how he managed to keep his balance as he sat that way.

Lick, lick, lick

That was the only sound that could be heard coming from the boy. No friends he would hang-out with, no toys he liked to play with, no noise he liked to listen to. He just preferred to stay alone in his swing and let his thoughts run free as he tried to decipher the most recent puzzle Wammy gave him.

Lick, lick, lick

The lollipop was now only around one inch thick from its original three. People sometimes wondered how he could only survive on sweets and eat nothing but them. 'It was unhealthy' they would tell him, but the boy never payed any attention to it. He liked sweets, didn't see why he needed to give up on them.

Lick, lick, lick

"What are you doing over here?" A high pitched voice called out. The boy didn't need to look up to know it was a girl, any fool could have guessed it. "Wammy says that when it gets this dark, we should all be in the house." The girl continued, her voice was now louder, telling the boy that she now stood near him.

"If you know that rule…" The boy began, irked because he had to stop licking his lollipop to be understood. "Then why are you currently standing in front of me, talking to me, and asking me a question about a rule that you are also currently disobeying?" The girl's jaw dropped. He made a good point. "You are breaking the rule as well, are you not?" He continued, the girl remained in silence.

"Quite a shame that you're at a loss for words." The boy now stood up from the swing, his bare feet making contact with the soft leaves that grew on the ground. "Watari said that you had very high logic in your brain and that if there was in formation you would be the first person to contact, I've never known him to make a mistake, but maybe he finally did." Anger boiled in the pit of the girl's stomach as she clenched her fists and her cheeks boiled red. Is that what she got for trying to be nice?

"Well, since you put it that way, I am just here, disobeying a rule as you put it, because there is currently a frenzy as everyone looks for you." The boy began to walk, the girl trailing slowly behind him. "Sometimes I wonder why everyone avoids you, when I first came here, I thought you were nice, I guess I was wrong, you are the only person I profiled wrong just by mere first meeting." The boy did not really let her words sink in. It merely entered one ear and escaped through the other, the girl knew this of course.

"Well then maybe next time you should not base a profile out of meeting." The girl was getting angered by him once again. Who was he to think he was so much better than she? "You should just find out things about them and base a profile out of that. Basing it out on how a person acts and says things is purely unrealistic. It's quite easy to act."

"Oh I know it's easy to act." The house could now be seen, and both children could see Wammy waiting outside as they approached it. "I learned that from observing you." Those words made L halt. Did he hear this girl correctly? Did she just imply that he was 'acting'. "Of course, then again, maybe it's just my imagination that the L actually just acts coldly and actually has a heart lying around that seemingly empty chest of his." The girl was now beside L, and she waved back at Wammy indicating they were safe.

"Feelings do not come from the heart, they come from the -"

"The pituitary gland, I know, I know," L did not take to kindly to getting cut off. "It's just that sometimes you have to differentiate emotions from thoughts and logic, cause when you logically think about it, they are as different as black and white. Emotions aren't logical, their unexplainable." L wondered why Wammy took this girl in. She was intelligent, yes, unbeatable when it came to debate, but she acted like such a…girl.

"Tell me, why do you take such a keen interest into my comings and goings? Have you not something better to do?" The girl let out a sarcastic chuckle at L's words, but L just decided to finally continue walking. The girl followed his lead and walked towards the house as well.

"Oh it is not that, don't flatter yourself." L was yet to look at the girl's face, though he did know who he was talking to. It was a skill of his, one of many amazing ones of course. "I just find you a puzzle that is unsolvable and illogical; therefore, I must try to find something to help me solve you, so far I have no factors to use"

"I see, well I wish you the best of luck, though I am quite sure you will find nothing on me, unlike I have found out so much about you." This made the girl raise her eyebrow as she looked at L. He still did not face her, but she knew that he knew who she was. How else could he say such a thing?

"Such as…?" The girl asked, urging L to continue.

"Your name is Shay Jain, pronounced like the name Jane, and you were born on the thirtieth of November year 1979. You are currently seven years old, and have the mental age of a twenty-two year old graduate of English literature and linguistics. You speak Japanese, English, Spanish, and Filipino." Shay's jaw dropped and was about to speak, but L did not seem finished.

"You have almond colored eyes and light brown hair. You like spending your time in the library sucked up in the works of Vladimir Nabokov, William Shakespeare, and sometimes, in the rare event, Jane Austen. You have ADHD, and refuse to admit that you have a fetish for chewing ice cubes because Watari hates it."

Shay was speechless. How did he possibly know all of those things? She couldn't have possibly missed these things, could she? How could she not sense him observing her, profiling her, seeing passed her? How was it possible that this boy knew her more than most people did, and she knew him for merely two months!

"I do not observe you alone." L suddenly began to speak once more, seeming to know the invisible question floating in her head. "I ask around, I ask Watari, sometimes I just need to look at what book was left on the kitchen table or library desk assigned to you." That explained a lot.

"And you call me the one obsessing over observation? What do we call you then if not obsessively observing?" The only thing these two shared aside knowledge is their sharp tongues.

"I call it being cautious. Who am I to just think you're safe? You could burn this entire place down and massacre people in their sleep for all we know." L sounded serious, and Shay knew he was.

"And what have your observations deduced?" They were now just a four feet away from the house. Wammy could now hear them, and he seemed relieved to see the two of them safe and sound even with their prior signals.

"You're not dangerous, not yet anyway." L answered.

"I see, well I don't find you dangerous either." Shay seemed to have another point, L observed. "You just seem afraid and paranoid of everyone around you, and that makes you the genius you are. That makes you L. And to some odd and contorted degree, it's also the thing I like about you."

"Oh thank heavens you two are back!" Wammy suddenly said, ushering the two children into the warm house. There weren't a lot of people inside. "We all didn't want to start dinner without you." L had no reaction on his face as Shay merely shrugged and apologized. She made up an excuse on how L didn't want to leave instead of their long chat home, Wammy did not believe it of course but he let it slide.

Dinner was uneventful as always. L refused to eat anything but dessert, and he was scolded by the cook about his posture on the table once again. Shay got reprimanded for chewing on her ice cubes by Wammy, saying that it would most likely ruin her teeth, making Shay, of course, debate on how it was impossible for her to get any teeth damage from chewing on ice that she practically let's melt in her mouth.

Once dinner ended, dessert was sent out, and L ate his cake and drank his tea like he always did before excusing himself and heading up to his room to do who-knows-what.

L would sometimes tinker around with puzzles, stack up the sugar cubes he had in a jar, maybe even read about recent events sometimes, but it was anyone's guess what was running through his overly complicated mind as he did such things.

As he closed the door of his room, he did something he didn't normally do. He did something that would probably blow Wammy's mind. He layed down on his bed and tossed a ball up and down and concentrated on what Shay had said right before they reached the house.

"You just seem afraid and paranoid of everyone around you, and that makes you the genius you are. That makes you L. And to some odd and contorted degree, it's also the thing I like about you."

It seemed like a stupid thing to say. Was he paranoid for thinking of what could happen? It is the right thing to do, try to put a stop to something before it even happens. Learning from a mistake made no sense when you could actually do something to not even commit it. That was the logical way of things, yet, why was he currently thinking about her words instead of trying to solve the assigned puzzle? Why was he thinking of his so called 'paranoia' instead of thinking of a way to solve Wammy's hard questions? Why?

Knock, knock, knock

The noise echoed through the room as the fist made contact with the wooden door, and L just made a grunt loud enough t be heard to say that he didn't care if they entered. The door slightly creaked open and in popped Shay's head. L wondered what she wanted now, hasn't she bothered him enough today already?

"I just wanted to ask something, I'll be out of here when I'm done." She explained, making L nod as he tossed the ball once again, not paying attention to her. "What's your real name?" The ball stopped bouncing, and the silence turned from comfortable to tense. This was not something L liked discussing.

"Nothing that concerns you." L answered, making the girl sigh. Of course he would answer that. It was as predictable as the sun rising the next morning. "Of course it's not." Shay said, about to close the door. "But just so you know…my name isn't my real name too." The door shut as L looked at where she once stood. Now he was curious…if Shay wasn't her real name, then what was? And what was her reason for not giving it?

Shay walked back to her room with a content smile plastered on her face. Today, she had succeeded in quite a few things. She was able to have a conversation with L, and though she got nothing out of him, she now knew what he knew about her. She did not like the uneven playfield.

As she opened her door and changed into her pyjamas, she wondered if this could be the beginning of a new friendship? Could L and her really be friends? Could they even be counted as comrades right now? It sure didn't feel that way. Shay just wished that he would open or loosen up a little and not act like such an old man.

"You confuse me L." Shay whispered, pulling the covers up to her chin as she snuggled into them. Confusing Shay Jain was not something easy to do, but she was not alone, for she confused L as well.

As she closed her eyes, she thought of the boy a few doors down, thinking if he would sleep tonight. He usually didn't, proven by the dark bags under his eyes, and sometimes she thought that it was all the tea and sugar in his system, keeping him awake due to the side effects of it all.

"Good Night L…" Shay whispered, entering her dream as the boy, L, two doors down actually closed his eyes and fell into a decent sleep for the first time in two months. Both confused they slept, wondering about the other.


My Very First FanFiction here!
*clap! clap! clap!*

Okay! well, since I feel so happy today, I decided to make a finfic and was so happy with this that I decided to post it! I hope you like it too! WOW! I am really happy to succesfully post this and I feel awesome!

Just for some notes! I DON'T OWN THE CHARACTERS (excpet for the OC) and the plot is the only thing I own! EVERYTHING ELSE BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE WHO MADE DEATH NOTE! (Bless them! I love them!)

Read and Review please! Feedback is love!