Chapter 1

'Really Light, it's nothing to be ashamed of.'
'I'm not ashamed. It's just awkward, that's all.' L sighed. 'Just get in the shower. I don't have all day, Light. There is work to be done.'
Light pouted in such a petulant way that you'd think he was a 2 year old. 'I don't see why you can't just let me off the handcuffs to use the bathroom and shower. What do you think I'm doing, killing people while washing my hair or something?'
'That's exactly what I think, and I refuse to have my investigation jeopardised by your unfounded fear of the human body. Now take your clothes off and get in the god-damn shower or I'll push you in.'

'You don't need to shower do you, you probably haven't washed your hair in your entire life by the state of it!' Light shot back.

'I wasn't aware that the cleanliness of my hair had any effect on my mental abilities, therefore, to put it crudely, I don't care. And I wasn't joking. I will push you.'
L smiled and turned his back on Light. 'I won't look.' he said, putting his hand across his eyes.
Light began to remove his clothes, watching L's back making sure didn't turn around. Maybe it was childish, but he wasn't weird like L. Everyone would have a problem with it, he thought angrily.

Stepping into the shower and switching it on to high heat he shivered as the warm water touched his skin. He thought wryly that L wasn't watching him now, so technically he could be killing people at this very moment. He smirked at this oversight on L's part.

He wasn't about to mention it though, he thought as he worked the shampoo through his light brown strands. Not until he has his clothes back on at least. It was funny, at first he had thought that there was no problem with having L with him 24/7, seeing as he wasn't Kira. But there were several drawbacks, not least the fact that L's sleeping schedule was seriously messed up. Light didn't mind staying up late occasionally, but it seemed that L's general pattern was work till 2, sleep in exactly the same position so that nobody would notice until 4, then work throughout the day sneaking in naps when he thought no one was looking. Occasionally when Light insisted he would actually go to bed,
but he refused to stay there for more than an hour and spent most of that hour turning over and over, resulting in unexpected jolts. He seemed to think that sleeping at any time was sleeping on the job, and unacceptable. Light suspected that the only thing keeping him alive, or at least from being a blubbering sleep deprived idiot, was gallons of caffeine and infinite piles of sugar. His entire system was basically high on both at all times.

'Are you nearly done?' L said in a bored voice. 'You've been there for... 2 minutes and 43 seconds. Surely that's enough.'
'FINE.' said Light irritatedly, turning off the shower. 'Pass me a towel then.
2 seconds later a fluffy white object was pushed through the curtains. 'Urrr... Ryuzaki... that's a hand towel.'
'Oh.' said L, indifferently. Another 2 seconds later a larger towel was pushed through and Light took it, wrapping himself tightly and stepping out of the shower. 'Well come on then!' cried L, clicking his fingers impatiently. 'Turn.' he said, narrowing his eyes. L sighed infuriatingly and turned once again. Light pulled on his clothes as fast as he could. L heard the absence of movement and turned around. 'Good. Come on.' and he began walking purposefully towards the door, dragging Light with him. 'Wait a minute.' Light said, standing his ground. 'What NOW?' said L, turning on the spot. 'You need to have a shower too.' said Light firmly pulling at his end of the chain. 'Unnecessary.' L said, beginning to walk again. 'I want breakfast, coffee and work. And not necessarily in that order.
Showering does not effect any of these, and simply slows me down. It is an optional part of one's daily routine that I have chosen to eliminate because it wastes time.'
'I don't care what you do with your questionable hygiene when I am not forced to be with you 24/7. You do realise I have to sleep a meter away from you? When you actually bother to go to bed, that is.'
L turned around and cocked his head. 'I do shower sometimes.'
'Oh yeah? When was the last time?'
L's eyes rolled back as if searching his brain. It was ironic that normally a figure would take half a second for L to work out, but this seemingly simple question seemed to have stumped him. 'Errr...'
'Exactly. In.' said Light, pointing to the shower. L looked briefly as if he was going to protest, but resigning to his fate he walked back from the door. 'Fine. And you can explain why I'm late.' 'Yes. I'll explain that you were engaging in a perfectly normal human activity. They'll probably faint.'
L began stripping unabashedly, removing all his clothes in record time and stepping into the shower. 'Well, I'm not exactly a normal human, am I?' he said, smiling.

And that's the understatement of the century, thought Light. After exactly 10 seconds L was out again, not bothering with a towel he simply pulled on his clothes once again. Wet patches began to appear at various points but he didn't seem to notice. Sweeping his untidy (now dripping wet) jet black hair out of his eyes, he finally made his way out of the door, followed by Light. Light noticed that rather oddly he was shivering, his skin paler than usual.

'Wait... did you have a cold shower?' he asked incredulously, walking down the stairs.

'Now that you mention it, it was rather cold.' said L.

Once they were downstairs he watched as L sat down in usual chair, pulling his knees up to his chin. Nothing new there, thought Light.

'Good morning.' said L to the room in general, not looking at anyone in particular. There was a general mumble of mornings back, before everyone settled down to work.

'Normally you're hear long before we arrive, Ryuzaki.' mentioned Matsuda. 'What's up with that?'

'One of the drawbacks of being chained to someone like Light is that he seems to have a need for things that I find unnecessary.' replied L.

'Like sleeping, yes.'

'Ah.' said Matsuda, understanding. 'Also... you're dripping water everywhere.'

L looked down to see small droplets of water landing on the chair and his knees.

He reached up and ruffled his still soaking wet hair in an attempt to somewhat dry it.

'Oops. Anyway, where is my... ah!'

At that moment Aizowa walked in pushing a wheelie tray complete with a cup of coffee, a bowl of sugar cubes, and 2 slices of cheesecake.

He placed these beside L and went and sat down himself.

'Thank you.' said L, his mouth already full with cheesecake.

He's really gonna get diabetes one day if he goes on like this, thought Light.

At that moment a message popped up on the computer screen.

'Video call from Wateri - Accept?' it said.

L looked slightly surprised, but then spoke into the microphone.

'Accept.'

Wateri's face appeared on the screen. 'Hello Ryuzaki. Everyone.' he said formally.

'Is there anything wrong?' said L, looking up at the screen.

'No... I just heard about your new investigation technique. You are going to be with Light Yagami 24/7 since he is the prime suspect, right?'

'That is correct.'

'In fact you are going to be handcuffed to him as well?'

'Yes. Is their a problem with that?'

Light and the rest of the task force watched curiously as Watari looked straight at L.

'Are you sure that's wise?'

Light was surprised to see that L looked slightly defensive as he stared back at Watari.

'I think it's necessary, thank you Watari.' he said coldly.

'In that case I would like to speak to Light Yagami. Alone.'

'What?' said L, taken aback. 'But the point is that I have to be with him 24/7. I cannot leave him alone in a room!'

'A few minutes won't hurt, that's all it will take. I will be watching him. He can't do anything.'

'But...'

'Out.'

L tensed his jaw but didn't argue.

'Right, everybody out.'

The task force all traipsed out of the room looking extremely curious, glancing back at Watari on the screen.

'You too, Ryusaki.'

L frowned again. 'Light, turn around and close your eyes.'

Light did as he was told.

L reached into one of his many drawers and pulled out a miniature silver key.

Reaching over to Lights hand he unlocked the handcuffs and slipped them off, placing them on the desk.

He got up and walked across the room backwards, still watching suspiciously.

Finally the sound proof door was shut and Light and Watari were left alone in the room together.

'What is it that you wanted to talk about?' asked Light.

'I don't know if you are Kira. Personally I highly doubt that you are, and that is why I am telling you this.'

'What is it?'

'Well, I lived with Ryusaki for a year at one point. It nearly drove me insane. Being with him 24/7 I can't imagine.'

Light laughed. Was this what Watari had wanted to talk to him about? Well he wasn't wrong.

'You can say that again.'

'You've only been chained together for one day and night, right?'

'Yes. Why?'

'You won't be laughing in a few days. I shouldn't really be telling you this but I feel that it is your right to know, especially since I don't believe that you are

Kira.'

Light stayed silent, watching him with interest.

'As you know, Ryusaki comes across as the perfect mad genius. Little quirks, never sleeps, etc. Perfectly normal misunderstood detective, yes?

That's what he wants you to think. I can't tell you a whole lot, but I'll just say this. His so called 'habits' are not quirks, they are obsessive. You won't be able to change them. I expect he's been holding back for the last 12 hours to attempt to be polite to you, but he won't hold up for long. I know things about Ryusaki that I will never tell anyone, but he has own fair share of mental demons, and more than most. Just give it a few hours and you'll see what I mean. You're not going to like it, and he's really not going to like it.'

'Ok, well, I'll just wait and see. Thank you for telling me.'

'He's a lot more than meets the eye, that's all. Anyway, I hope that it won't last long and you'll be cleared. Good luck.'

'Thank you.'