This is a Light x L FanFiction, meaning Male x Male. If you don't like that sort of thing then DON'T read! If at any time you have suggestions about my work or this plot then please feel free to let me know, I'm always open to such things.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Death Note or the characters! They belong to Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata! ... I think. Besides, if Death Note was mine things would be very, very different. But it's not.

Well, I think that's everything. Enjoy!

Potent Emotions

Prologue

Light Yagami sat silently in his room contemplating what to do next. He was normally seated at the desk writing endlessly in his Death Note or planning on how he could rid himself of suspicion but tonight he was seated on the edge of his bed thinking of other things. The young, brown-haired university student had so many things to worry about. The mountain of stress was never-ending. Sure, he was the most intelligent being at his school, aside from L who was probably his equal, and sure he handled stress well but he had his mental limits too. What would happen if he reached those limits and just snapped?

"No, I can't think like that…"

He slouched forward with his elbows resting on his legs to support himself. The moonlight outside shone in through his window and illuminated his back; he was facing away, concealing his face in shadow. It was a normal position for Light. He often took it when thinking, unlike L who was always in some odd pose no matter what he was doing. L was always going around with that horrible posture and not seeming to care what other people thought of him. He constantly wore that incredibly lose shirt and equally lose pair of jeans. Light had always done his best to look well groomed and wondered how L could stand to look the way he did day in and day out.

He gave his head a small but slow shake to clear it, those few lose strands of hair that hung in his eyes danced with the motion. Enough about L, he had to decide on what he would do next. One of his many problems he had at the moment was keeping Misa quiet and away from him for a while. He had to be absolutely sure she would keep the fact that they knew one another a secret. Not only that but if she was caught she had to deny the police any information on Light. He already told her that if she was taken into custody she had to remain quiet; that she was not to respond to any of their interrogations. However, even though she agreed he had no way of knowing if she would actually follow through with that promise. If she was caught Light had no power to stop her from saying anything stupid.

Another difficulty he was having was finding time to write in the Death Note but also spending sufficient time at headquarters. When he arrived there, usually after classes or in the morning on his days off, he remained there late into the night. He and L would stay up well into sunrise, easily able to remain conscious while the other detectives drifted off into sleep or went home for a break. It appeared easy for L to go for several days without sleep but Light could only go about two at the very most. He wasn't an insomniac.

Light would have to write a number of criminals in the Death Note but set them to die at different times. That way he could properly hide it away and 'investigate' alongside the other detectives while unlawful people continued to die. Yes, that was what he would have to do for the time being. Keeping the Death Note, or rather Death Notes because he now had position of Misa's as well, in his room- no, his house was too dangerous.

Still silently, Light slowly rose to his feet and made his way to the television to press the power button. When it flashed on the station was already set to a twenty-four hour news channel. This particular one often featured many criminals. The young man then moved to his desk and moved the mouse of his computer to clear the screensaver from the monitor. Taking a seat and turning on his small work lamp with a click he prepared to put his complete focus on the task before him. He easily acquired access to countless criminal profiles using the internet and at the same time could glance at the television every once in a while to see what filth showed up there. Once he used the 'key' to his drawer, in actual fact a ballpoint pen, and safely retrieved the black notebook he immediately opened it to begin writing down every unjust man or woman that appeared both on the TV and the many web pages.

Meanwhile Ryuk, the dark blue Shinigami, or Death God, sat on the floor leaning his elbow leisurely against the bed, supporting his head with the palm of his hand. That seemed to be all he did, apart from eating apples and chuckling when he was amused. The Shinigami was not on Light's side. In fact he was on no one's side. Apparently he thought that humans were funny in some way and only liked observing them. However he might sometimes aid Light if bribed with an apple or perhaps for his own amusement.

"Hyuk, hyuk, hyuk. Finally decided on what to do, Light? And after only an hour," he remarked sarcastically.

Light ignored him, of course. Ryuk always made such pointless statements that were hardly ever of any use to him. He simply continued to write with no intension of stopping until he reached his goal of at least twenty full pages. Ryuk grinned and rose from the floor, a pair of large dark wings sprouting out of his back at the same time.

"Well, see you tomorrow," he said with a hint of mocking, knowing Light only thought of him as an add-on for the Death Note.

His easily lifted from the ground and passed through the ceiling with one powerful beat of his wings. He would sleep on the roof tonight or maybe just relax there. Light didn't care, he had much more important matters to deal with.

Once he reached his goal of twenty complete pages, all the names neatly listed out one after another, he took one last glance at the book before closing it and neatly tucking it away in it's hiding place. He was much too tired to hide it that night; Ryuk must have sensed that when he made the decision to go up onto the roof before Light finished his work. He would get up early the next day to temporarily get rid of it.

He reassured himself in his thoughts, "I can overcome whatever is thrown at me."

With droopy eyes he took off the white dress shirt, socks, and brown pants he had been wearing and tossed them aside, letting them land in a messy pile on the floorboards. He didn't care at that moment; he just needed to get some sleep. With nothing but a pair of black boxers on he collapsed face first onto his bed and lazily tried to cover himself with the blankets. Nevertheless he fell into a dreamless sleep before he could complete his task, leaving all but part of his legs exposed.

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Elsewhere at the headquarters L sat in that awkward looking position on the rather comfortable hotel chair. His eyes were also droopy as they stared off at nothing. The others of the taskforce had fallen asleep long ago, leaving L to his thoughts.

He spoke to the darkness surrounding him, "Light-kun, I will prove that you are Kira…" It was said so quietly that it was barely a murmur and did not wake to others who were sleeping soundly.

And then with that said L, too, slipped into a slumber without changing his position. This would be one of the few times he actually slept, though chances were that it would be a short and restless reprieve. The young genius had never slept for more than a few hours ever since he started investigating for the first time. There was just too much to think about. His mind was constantly buzzing with theories and ideas.

He didn't mind as long as he caught all those who were unjust, like Kira, who was the biggest mystery of them all so far. He may have only been killing criminals but it was still murder.

Yes, he would catch Kira and make him pay for what he had done.

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At the Yagami residence the sunlight shone in through Light's window, making him stir in his sleep. He rolled onto his back and used his hand to shield his face from the assault of morning radiance. He opened his eyes once he was certain he wouldn't go blind in doing so but squinted anyway. After a few minuets of doing nothing but lying in the beams of sun Light finally sat up. He got out of his comfortable bed and followed through with his morning routine.

The straight A student moved into the bathroom to shower and do whatever else he had to do like urinate, brush his teeth, et cetera. When he finished in there he went back to his room wearing nothing but a white towel around his waist. Next he was to put on some clothing. Today he wore another pair of black boxers and a simple black shirt with a brown jacket. On his legs he put on a pair of beige pants. He obviously wore socks. When he finished dressing he combed out the brown and tangled hair, worsened from when he towel dried it. It reminded him a little of L's mass of unkempt, dark tresses. It didn't seem that he ever properly went through it with a comb but somehow… he made it look good.

"What am I thinking?" Light asked himself as he finished up with styling his hair.

When he arrived in the kitchen his mother, Sachiko Yagami, was already up and making him breakfast.

"Good morning, Light," she greeted with a smile as she put a plate of eggs and toast on to the table where Light normally sat, "Going to help your father with that case again today?"

He sat himself down, "Yeah," he ignored Ryuk floating down through the ceiling to settle himself down into a corner of the kitchen, "I hope we can finally catch Kira," he lied.

His mom went to the fridge and poured him a glass of milk, "Me too," she put the glass down next to his plate and smiled, "With you on the team you'll have him in to time."

"Thanks…" and that was the end of their conversation. Sachiko went back to cooking and cleaning, leaving Light to munch wordlessly on his toast.

His sister, Sayu Yagami, wasn't out of bed yet. It was Saturday after all and she chose to sleep in. Light was skipping whatever classes he had that day; even if he missed a month of work he would be fine. Sayu sometimes asked Light why he never slept in when he could and told him that he was crazy to get up no later than eight every single morning. He would reply with something like, 'I have too much work to do,' which she would accept easily. She knew how 'brainy' her older brother was and never hesitated to ask him for help with her homework.

Light finished his toast but only ate a small portion of his sunny side up eggs. He drank his milk, got up from his chair, and bid his mother farewell. He then walked calmly back up to his room to recover the Death Note and tucked it safely into an inside pocket of his jacket. Once back downstairs he put on a pair of white sneakers and left his home. Ryuk was close behind him, hovering a few centimeters above the sidewalk.

The Death God chuckled, "Hiding the Death Note, huh?" His blue hair and the feathers on his shoulders were moving in the gentle breeze.

There was no one around so Light replied, "It's too risky to keep it at home. L could send someone to search my room and it might be found," Light's hair was also moving in the breeze. It felt nice to him, perhaps contributing towards his fight against stress.

"Whatever you say."

After a train ride across town and a taxi Light felt he was far enough from home. He borrowed someone's shovel from the back of his or her house and took it with him. A little more walking and he found himself in the middle of an area completely covered in trees. The man chose a rather large but old tree and began digging a hole at the base of it with the spade. Once the hole was deep enough he managed to slip the notebook in amongst the roots. It would be buried under the tree itself. Light made sure to fill in the hole completely and then spread some twigs and leaves around the area. He made sure to spread it around at a wide radius so people wouldn't see a suspicious pile of leaves by the old, graying tree.

The male began walking back but took one last glance at the area to see how it looked. The sun was shining through the trees and plants, making the leaves and branches he spread around blend in more. Perfect. No one would suspect a thing. Light returned the shovel and then continued back into the middle of the city. He used a payphone to call a different taxi company than the one he already used and did it a good distance away from where he hid the notebook. When it came he instructed the aging man to take him to a store not far from the hotel L and the rest of the team were. The man was silent the whole way, which was fine with Light. Ryuk followed the taxi, flying a bit higher than usual. When they arrived Light paid the man and traveled the rest of the way by foot.

It was nearly nine now so Light would arrive around the time he normally did. The city was already filling with many citizens so he couldn't talk to Ryuk, not that he wanted to. Ryuk generally remained quiet anyway so the young Yagami was able to go through his thoughts.

"I suppose Misa will want to see me again soon. However I did tell her that we could only meet at certain times so hopefully she'll wait. She is so obsessed with me that she willingly lets me control her, therefore everything should be fine," he reached the entrance of the large hotel and checked his clothes for any signs of dirt before he went inside, entering the elevator close by, "She is completely blinded by her love for me-…" Light's brown eyes widened as an idea formed in his mind, making him forget about everything else. It looked like he was just hit in the face because of his shocked expression.

"Maybe… Misa isn't the only one who can be blinded by love. If L loved me he would be just as easily controlled as Misa. He wouldn't want to make everyone believe that I'm Kira either. He would want to protect me instead!"

Light arrived at the floor where the headquarters was located and freely entered the room without knocking. This was where L currently resided, the others sometimes stayed there as well but not always. Light's father, Soishiro Yagami, was part of the team so he stayed there some nights too. L, Light's dad, Matsuda, and Aizawa currently occupied the room, not counting Light, of course. L was crouched on the chair, as usual, but still managed to peer over his shoulder at the approaching male.

"Good morning, Light-kun," he greeted, the two dark orbs he called eyes gazing up at him.

Light looked back at him and smirked to himself, "I'll make you fall in love with me, L. You won't even see it coming."