AN.: Dr. Temperance Brennan is one of the lead characters in the American T.V. series called Bones.

Taniyama Mai-18

L- 24

Happy Reading! ^^v

Chapter 1:

L was in a bind and he knew it.

He knew— more than he let on— that Yagami Light was Kira. He could bet his entire fortune on it and he knew he'd win it all. The only problem was… how does he prove it? He knew that now his days were numbered and he was about to die any day soon now that it seemed Kira was back. He could practically sense it. Although he was confident his successors would be able to finish the case for him, he still wished there was a way he could stay alive to see justice prevail…

"L."

The English detective glanced over at his intercom unit with a bit of annoyance on his brow as he sat in the dark of his office before reaching over for the button and answering the voice on the other line. "What is it, Watari? I thought I said I was not to be disturbed?"

"There's a young woman here claiming she wants to meet you."

L blinked. Why would anyone want to meet with him? And a young woman no less. And how in the world did she know this was where she could find him? He knew Watari was thinking the exact same thing so he didn't really need to ask the older man why he was bothering him about it. His whereabouts were always kept a secret from the general public so, although the detective L had a lot of fans all across the world, they didn't really bother him.

"Can't you just tell her you're me and get whatever information she has; you know the drill, Watari." He asked with a frown, confused as to why he older man was not being as efficient as he usually was.

"I did. For some reason, the young woman refuses to believe I am you," at this, L's brows rose up into his hairline. "L, she acts as if she knows you and how you look like."

"…What does she want?" he leaned forward from his comfy spot on the swivel chair he was using, a brow arched up as he did so; curious and intrigued despite himself and momentarily forgetting about the Kira case.

"She says that she has a message for you from Miss… Naomi Misora."

At the name, the world famous detective stood up from his chair with his eyes wide with excitement. He had wanted to work with the wonderfully brilliant Miss Misora again after having her on his team for the Los Angeles BB Murder cases a few years ago and she has proved herself to be an able thinker and a brilliant logician. He had wanted to get in contact with her again but people told him that she had been missing since Raye Penber, her fiancé's death in the hands of Kira. Deep inside he had considered her also killed off by Kira but couldn't say it out loud since they couldn't find a connection between her and the mysterious murdering vigilante.

If the girl outside was not Miss Misora then… who was she…?

"Send her in, Watari, and make sure no one from the team sees her, not even the surveillance cameras," He ordered. "Take her to my personal quarters."

"Very well." Was the old man's answer.

L stood up and went out into the room where Matsuda and Aizawa were still in; poring over files for what must have been the thousandth time since the investigation started.

"I'll be in my room," he told them off tersely when they looked up at his entrance. "Tell anyone besides Watari that I am not to be disturbed, you got that?"

"But—" but L ignored whatever Matsuda was about to say and closed the door behind him when he walked out.

All the two policemen could was stare at each other, puzzled by the famous detective's eccentricities as always before shrugging their shoulders. They were beginning to get used to it.

When L got back into the room he was surprised at the scene that met him.

He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting when he got back into his room; perhaps, in his mind he had pictured a woman who would resemble Miss Misora or perhaps a professional trafficking in information and discreet communications delivery. But what he found in his semi dark room was a girl. A young woman to be more accurate. She was wearing a high school uniform he could not identify so he mentally concluded she was not from near the area of their headquarters. Currently she was looking out of his large windows probably admiring the view of the city at night from this high up the building with all it's lights and dark splendor.

Walking quietly he observed the dark fall of her mahogany brown hair that reached a little past her shoulder blades and her light, slender build. He was pretty sure the top of her head reached his chin; if he stood up straight, that is. Without thinking it over he walked closer to her, his bare feet making no sound on the carpeted floor.

Now, logically, if a person looking out of a glass window was being approached from behind no matter how engrossed they were with the view outside, they would notice the other person behind them by their reflection on the glass. But as he stood behind the young woman she didn't even flinch. L took this as an opportunity to observe her.

She was a slender little thing. Big brown eyes from what he can see through the glass, small pert nose and small lips tinged with pink. She was plain and ordinary looking; certainly a far cry from Amane Misa; but her eyes glowed with a distinct sadness; a weariness too profound for one so young. L frowned at this. Somehow, this expression on her face was something he instantly hated so he, without thinking, he spoke.

"You said you wanted to see me?"

"EEEP!" she shrieked and jumped before turning to face him with eyes wide with fright and a hand to her chest as though to contain her beating heart.

As soon as she faced him L stared at the girl, speechless for a moment as their eyes met.

Her eyes that he thought were dull looking through the transparent glass were of a glowing cinnamon color under the dim light of his room and her skin seemed to glow despite the paleness on her face and there was a fierce light in her eyes now that had replaced the earlier gloom he had seen in them earlier. And he decided that he liked this expression on her face much, much better.

"What were you thinking?" she shrieked at him allowing him to collect himself. A blush was now rushing into her face fascinating him even further. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

He blinked back at her but did not move a muscle and continued to stare at her so intensely he was unknowingly trapping her between himself and the glass. He wanted to figure out what that something was and explain it to himself. He was just curious that way. As he did so the well known detective caught the scent of dew fresh lavender from her and couldn't help but inhaling.

"You smell… nice." He commented in all honesty before moving closer to her neck, sniffing.

The young woman blinked at him rapidly, confused by his words before his actions caught up to her and anger replaced her confusion. "Do you mind?"

L was surprised when his face was pushed away on the cheek by a small hand and in a few moments, found himself sitting flat down on the floor holding onto said cheek and looking wide eyed up at the girl who was glaring down at him with her hands over her hips.

"That hurt." He commented almost nonchalantly.

Her glare became even more intense. "Serves you right, pervert!"

"I just said you smelled nice."

"You were almost licking my neck!"

"I wanted to know if you tasted nice too." He pouted.

Her face blazed over. "And what part of that did not scream pervert to you?"

L proceeded to move onto his infamous thinking pose and observed the young woman from there. Assessing her current age as she was then before him he would put her between 18 or 17 years of age. "You look much better now."

She stopped and stared at him, bewildered. "I'm sorry?"

"For a minute there, I thought you were going to cry." He replied with his usual childlike candor and it made her gape at him for few moments.

When she came to she surprised him with her response. "Well… thanks… I guess…"

L didn't know why he was so pleased but he was. And though he knew she was probably of Matsuda's intellectual level, he can't find it in himself to disdain her. "That aside, I heard you wanted to speak with L. What is your business with him? If you want, I can let him know."

At that she raised a dark brow at him and blinked before she sighed and, in almost an instant, the confusion in her eyes turned weary. "Yeah, I've got a message for you."

L blinked back at her and allowed a pause to come between them before he spoke again. "I'm sorry?"

She didn't seem to notice and took a piece of paper from her schoolbag before crouching down in front of him modestly and placed it on the floor in front of him, her face now somber. "I'm here to pass on a message from Misora Naomi-san."

L was on pins and needles wanting her to tell him about everything she knew at once and for that he was completely and utterly still. "Where is she? When can L see her?"

"Well…" the girl paused to suck a huge breath in as though praying for strength before continuing."She says that you will be able to find her body in pieces as she allowed herself to be eaten by the compactor and incinerator at the local city garbage dump. Some of her has not been picked off by the birds yet so there should still be enough of her bones to bury."

L's brows shot up his hairline at the words in surprise but she merely continued and all he could do was stare this mere high school girl who had all of a sudden transformed from ordinary… to something else entirely.

"She says that even if you may not be able to get every little piece of her remains, she still wanted at least a piece of her to be found and buried beside a Mr. Raye Penber. She also says she is sorry. She came here from America to help you in your investigation to avenge him but she was discovered by Kira and killed." Here she shivered and it was difficult even for him to determine whether it was because of Kira's name or the death she was describing almost casually but then the dark haired detective distinctly noticed the way her lower lip trembled as she relayed the message and incident noting how disturbed she was about what she was currently relaying despite her somber tone. "If you have contacts that can dig the site for you please do so. This piece of paper here is a map and it will show you where she is if you're not sure where to look."

The silence that enveloped the room was as tangible as a heavy drape surrounding them. L waited to see if she'll elaborate on the information she just gave him as most other people would do but she just sat there with her wide cinnamon colored eyes that held not even a single amount of malice and waited for him to speak and acknowledge what she just said.

Now it was a part of L's innate talent to act like a human lie detector machine. Narrowing his eyes at the girl he saw not one single spec of a lie from her. She was uncomfortable but honest. Anxious but truthful. Determined yet weary. And he wondered why she bothered coming here when it was obvious she didn't want to.

It was a while before he could speak evenly again. "So you are telling me that Naomi Misora is dead, how she dies and where to find her?"

"That's the gist of it." She sighed tiredly.

"And pray tell how did you come by this information?"

"…She told me."

"You just said she was dead."

"I did."

"So how could she possibly tell you about that?"

"Because she's a persistent pest." The girl returned dryly.

"…But she's dead." L couldn't stop the confusion from filtering into his voice.

"Look, it's not something you need to understand," she sighed standing up again and L could clearly see how tired she was at that point. Was she that stressed from school work that she should have such deep hollows under eyes like him? Did she also dabble in sleepless nights. "I've already told you what I need to tell you and it's up to you to make things better now. I'll be going now. It was nice to meet you, L-san., and I am sorry for you loss."

At that L's eyes widened into the size of platters and, as she turned to walk away he found himself holding her back by catching her slender wrist and turning her towards him and again the girl's eyes widened in surprise at his sudden close proximity but L was beyond noticing this. There was one thing he wanted to know.

"What did you call me?"

The girl blinked up at him in confusion before responding quietly. "L…-san…"

"…How are you? What if I was not L?"

Cinnamon brown eyes blinked up at him once more. "I wouldn't have given you this information if I wasn't sure you were L. I wouldn't want to end up like Misora-san, after all."

L froze at that and loosened his grip on her wrist as he continued to stare down at her.

Did this mean that he was right? That Kira took her out? That Misora held the key to the missing link that would allow him to prove his theory?

The girl took this as an opportunity to retrieve her wrist and walk towards the door again.

"Wait." His voice stopped her as she began to turn her doorknob. "What's your name?"

She looked back at him over her shoulder and gave him a small, warm smile that shone through her eyes before replying. "I'm Mai. Taniyama Mai."

And then she left, Watari standing outside the door and bowing politely to her as she passed him by. A nod from L made the old man follow the girl to do background checks on her and verify the information. By the end of the next day he would have all the information he wanted about Tanimaya Mai, of that he had no doubt. And with that he could unravel her mystery.

Such as how she knew who he was.

In the meantime…

L picked up the map she left behind and frowned at it. The location of the body was pretty specific and she even circled off the entire areas where he thought he would find the remains. His brows rose at the wide circle that indicated Naomi Misora's body would have had to be in pieces if it covered that much ground. That or the former FBI agent was stretched out and grew to be as large as a mountain.

Walking over to his celphone he gingerly dialed the number of a friend of his who had nothing to do with the Kira case but would be able to keep this a secret and do him a large favor in return.

The phone rang three times before a brisk, feminine voice picked up. "Brennan here."

L smiled. She would never change. "Hey, Dr. Brennan, this is L."

"L!" she answered him, her voice surprised and pleased. "I haven't heard from you in a while, this is a surprise. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I didn't have any interesting bones for you to study in a while." He said with a shrug.

"And now you do?" she sounded amused.

"As a matter of fact, yes," L smirked a bit. "I need you to find and identify a body for me. Are you busy on a site right now?"

"No, I'm currently working with the FBI identifying murder victims here in Washington, DC, why?"

"So you're fine coming all the way to Japan for a while?"

"L, what's going on?" he had her attention now and L nearly smiled at the thought of how this little mystery would probably drive her crazy until he told her what she wanted to know.

"I've got a favor to ask from the world's leading Forensic Anthropologist." He told her. "I'll send my personal plane to take you here. I would prefer it if this was kept as low profile as possible."

"Of course, that would be logical since you're currently working on the Kira case right now, am I right?"

"Then I will personally greet you when you arrive. Good night, Temperance."

"See you soon, L."

As soon as they dropped the call L walked over to his window and stared at the beautiful skyline so very different and yet the same as any other skyline he had viewed in his entire life. However his mind was as far from the view as it can possibly be. This girl; this Taniyama Mai… if she was right then he would have to involve her in the Kira case as a vital source of information. No one, no one knew what happened to Misora Naomi. Not even his impressive intelligence network have been able to give him the information he needed when he tried to find her and he had known she had already been killed by Kira deep down. Hell, he didn't even know she left for Japan when she did. How in the world did she come across Kira before he even had a chance to talk to her? So how did that girl, Taniyama Mai know? And how in the world did she recognize his face and know his name?

And what was up with the sadness in her eyes and the trembling of her lip as though she were trying (and failing) not to relive what she knew?

L shook his head at that and scowled.

It didn't matter, he would know in a few hours. Dr. Temperance Brennan was the best in the world of Forensic Anthropology. As soon as they found the body and she confirmed the identity of the remains, he would be sniffing after that girl again. In the meantime; he will wait.

He sat down, his knees below his chin as he bit on the tip of his thumb in front of his window and stayed there until Watari came in to tell him Dr. Brennan had arrived.

/****/

"What more do you want from me? Please let me go."

L stared at the confused and annoyed mahogany haired girl sitting on one of his lushly decorated chairs as she fidgeted under his unblinking stare. He had known a long time ago, and had been told more than once, that it was rude to stare but he couldn't help it. It helped him think.

He had asked Watari to fetch the girl for him as soon as Dr. Brennan sent him all the files he needed in a neat little folder. It still baffled him that he, the greatest detective in the world failed in what this simple, ordinary looking girl accomplished so easily.

He had read her file. Taniyama Mai was an ordinary student and, though smart and hard working enough to get some scholarships to enter a college she was by no means academically exceptional. She was not as beautiful as Amane Misa by any stretch of the imagination and she wasn't even of a good family. In fact, from what he and Watari discovered, she was an orphan, just like him and everyone at Wammy's House. She had a bunch of odd jobs she did to help support herself since she refused adoption since she was orphaned. The only remarkable thing about her was that she once worked part time for a good and old friend of his… He would have to call him later about this girl.

"L-san?" she called his attention again, growing irritated by the fact that he didn't seem to hear her. "I said I want to go home!"

At that L knew he could not afford to alienate her even more if he wanted her help. So he pushed the folder Dr. Brennan left with him before she went back to the United States as quickly as she came, towards the high school girl who stared at the folder then at him in confusion.

"What is this?" she asked, clueless, brows furrowed.

On second thought she wasn't really that plain, L thought privately as he pushed his thumb against his lower lip, never taking his unblinking eyes away from her face. She had a strange glow around her… a warmth that did not exist around other people no matter how beautiful or brilliant like Misa or even Light. "This is the DNA findings we found in the site you gave us. The remains are a perfect match to Naomi Misora."

At this she calmed down and a look of relief rushed through her so strong that she had to close her eyes for a moment. He observed the way she swallowed several times and how she blinked rapidly before speaking again in a hoarse voice. "Thank Kami… Now she can rest in peace. What happened to her… The person who did that to her was not human at all!"

"You speak as though you knew exactly what happened to her, Taniyama-san," L remarked, still observing her every move, fascinated by every emotion that crossed her face. He was usually around people who guarded their expressions and emotions very well so seeing someone so open was very… intriguing to him. Which was strange since he usually found such people a huge bore. "Almost as though you were there the moment she was killed."

"Well…" she fidgeted uncomfortably, lending credence to his theory about her presence in the crime scene.

"Also, the forensics expert I sent from America told me that Miss Misori killed herself. There were no signs of a struggle on her part and she was crushed while she was still alive. She said Miss Misori lay inside that metal crusher willingly, which I find very hard to believe." L watched her blanch and turn as pale as paper. She bit her lower lip hard and he could see her entire frame shaking violently. "The scientists conclude it was suicide. It coincides with the suicide note found in her hotel room when we tried to look for her. And yet you say she was killed. You imply that she was murdered. How can you possibly know that?"

"I just know, okay?" she muttered as she clenched and unclenched her fists on her lap, a gesture he did not miss. "Can't you just let it go? Or, better yet, let me go? I've got a job waiting for me!"

"I can't," he told her tersely. "You may now be a part of a most crucial investigation—"

"I don't want to get involved in it!" she burst out, staring him straight in the eye, her cinnamon eyes turning a shade lighter in their fierceness. "You can catch Kira yourself! You're L, for the love of Kami!"

"Ah, so you do know about the investigation."

"Everyone in Japan knows about it," she replied almost bitterly. "Anyone who doesn't must have been living under a rock."

"And yet you know the details of a murder everyone thinks was a suicide. Do you not find that strange? Because I do."

"Naomi-san merely told me that Kira killed her; the investigation, as you know, has been made public," she told him in helpless exasperation. "For crap's sake it's all over the internet! They have an online game, for crying out loud!"

"And yet no one knew who I was or what I looked like. My identity is exclusive only within the team I work with and them alone. They are under obligation to keep my identity a secret for the sake of the investigation and having any sort of information leaked out is a major threat that we would have no problem disposing of. The fact that you have seen my face alone makes you a threat to this investigation, Taniyama-san; and the fact that you knew Watari was not L came with a shock," he loomed over her as he saw her face get even more helplessly exasperated. "So why don't you tell me what I want to know before I charge you with obstruction of justice and an accessory to murder? Believe me, Taniyama-san, I can make your life easier, or make you live through a living hell."

"You wouldn't—"

"Watch me."

"You have no right—"

"I beg to differ."

"How dare you—"

"One thing you should know about me, Taniyama-san," he looked down at her mercilessly. "I would do anything for a case. Anything."

She glared at him and L stared right back at her calmly for several minutes in a veritable war of wills that amused L no end. Did she think she could win against him? Not even Near could win against him in a staring contest. Mello even had to cheat.

She caved and looked away after several minutes, her arms coming to cover her chest defensively, a rebellious pout on her tulip pink lips. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

L smirked in triumph, oddly feeling like he had just won the Olympics. It was odd and he would explore that later but for now, he pursued with his interrogation of her. "First of all, how do you know Naomi Misora?"

"I didn't."

L blinked slowly, unconvinced. This girl truly was a mystery all and of itself and it was beginning to fascinate him as much as the Kira case. "Then how do you know all the vital information about her?"

"She told me about them. I told you that already."

"How?"

She hesitated for a moment, fidgeted and he warned her with a glance that had her sighing wearily. "In a dream."

L frowned. "You dreamed about her?"

She sighed again at that and leaned back into her chair. "You would never believe me if I told you everything."

"Try me."

Mai scowled at him and started. "Fine, you want the truth? I'll give you the truth." She leaned forward and looked him directly in the eye. "I'm psychic."

Again L stared at her intensely. And again he blinked slowly. His voice was tirn between humor and disbelief. "Pardon me?"

She scowled at him. Clearly she didn't miss his tone. "That's right, I'm psychic. As in woohoo, I-See-Dead-People-In-My-Sleep-Psychic. To put it all in fancy little words, I have ESP. I can see the past and the future in my dreams. I astral project, I talk to dead spirits while I'm asleep even though I wish I couldn't; and yeah, recently I learned how to control my own shikigami and exorcise spirits! And of course, sure, you can take a picture!"

L frowned, considering this. He computed the possibility of her lying to be a mere 0.000001% since he calculated in the instances of schizophrenia and mental disability likely but then… records of medication would have been on file, right? But Watari basically found her to be a cheerful and sociable young woman with various circle of friends. Her academic achievements were nothing special and she did no display any sort of arrogance nor need to overachieve in anyway. In short, her profile was the direct opposite of Light's.

"Tell me more…" he told her again a few moments of tense silence. "About the dreams you had of Miss Misora that led you into finding her body."

She looked like he had just struck her with the way her skin turned all ashen and her eyes went all haunted. "Please don't make me…!"

L hardened his stare at her, willing her to obey him. "I want to hear it."

She scowled angrily at him before snapping. "Fine! The reason I found out about Naomi-san was—you guessed it— in a dream. Because, at that time, I was assigned by my boss to do a delivery in that particular part of town and since then her spirit attached to me and put me in a position where I had to be her for several nights until I got a damned clue.

"I was in her body the whole time it happened; I was the one who wrote the damned suicide note; I was the one who walked into the garbage disposal unit; I was the one who lay there helplessly as the walls of that crusher closed in around me and I felt it when the system put her through the incinerator and burned every last piece of me!" Mai was breathing hard now and tears came pouring out of her as though a dam had been broken inside her as she relived the story for him.

L watched her closely and wondered if she knew that she was already out of her seat and standing right in front of him looking directly in his eye so closely he could feel her breath on his chin. She was shaking; every part of her was trembling in an intense fashion and as her words sank in, a slight furrow formed on his brow. The look on her face made him feel a twinge deep inside that felt spectacularly close to guilt but brushed it aside and allowed his mind to go back to the case.

If what she said was true then… she had relieved the way Naomi Misori died. He wondered how long she had kept this story bottled up inside her. She took several more deep breaths, sobbing out at each one until she managed to calm herself enough to be able to sit down because her knees were almost about to give up on her and she had to depend on some sort of support. She buried her face in her hands, seemingly ashamed that she had managed to cry in front of a complete stranger, confirming to L that she was an orphan; for this reflexive, psychological mannerism and the need to be strong as a self preservation mechanism was common amongst youngsters who felt alone and could trust no one. He understood it quite well.

When she spoke again, she was calmer and sniffled a little less and he had to admire her for the way she was attempting to pull herself together for his benefit. "A month after I had the nightmares I stayed at a shrine to meditate and finally… I was able to make contact with her on the astral plane. I managed to use astral projection in my sleep with her acting as my spirit guide and she showed me where her corpse lay. That was when she told me that she wanted to be buried beside her dead fiancé and be with him in the afterlife. She sent me to inform you personally because she doesn't want the information to be handed over to Kira on a silver platter. She was the one who led me to this building and before we even physically met, I already knew what you looked like because I was here the night you guys were monitoring Amane Misa's infiltration of the Yotsuba Group so I already knew if someone was lying to me or not about anyone being L. She made me see your face. I also know about the shinigami; I saw it standing beside that guy you were calling Yagami-kun. Aside from what happened—"

"You saw the shinigami?" L knelt before her on one knee and thrust his face close to hers in a way that had her leaning away from him.

His dark eyes were wide and so full of almost manic urgency that Mai couldn't deny him what he wanted to know. "Y-yeah… It scowled a lot and was entirely white. Pretty scary. Looked like a demon, really."

"So they can be seen by a person who hasn't been able to touch the notebook at all!" L jumped to his feet, excitedly pacing. He was so pumped up he was practically shaking.

"Anno… L-san…?" Mai began a bit uncertainly, wondering if the weird young man had finally lost it.

L turned back to her then, that flame still ignited in his charcoal black eyes. This was it. The break he was looking for! She was the key! "And does it know about you?"

Mai shook her head. "I don't think so, they probably just took me for another stray spirit floating around. They are supernatural, after all."

"Will you be able to astral project again?"

"W-what?" Mai stared at the detective with wide eyes.

L slipped on his knee back down in front of her one more time and this time held her arms so tightly that she almost winced at the pain. "Tell me!"

"Uh… yeah, I've been taking lessons from a friend's shrine up in Mt. Kouya…"

"Perfect!" L grinned, eyes still trained on her. "Then you are just what I need to give me more time."

"Eh?" Mai did not like where this was all starting to lead.

At all.

"Taniyama Mai," L stood up and looked down at her in excitement. "Welcome to the Kira investigation."

She gaped at him like he was crazy. "N-NANI?"

/***********/