I leave it to you, Mello, Near. Please continue my work, and chase after Kira with all of your might. I congratulate you, Yagami Raito. It seems that you've won this battle.
This was it. Kira had succeeded in putting him, L, to death. No, at second thought: he didn't. It was that Death God.. but why? L opened his eyes, a lively place with lots of cheery, but poor people surrounded him. With eyes filled with disbelief he stood up, and took a good look around. "What is this place.." he mumbled. A man with long, snow white hair approached him. "This is Rukongai" he kindly said. He wore a black kimono with a white coat over it. L didn't know what to say, it didn't have any meaning to him, Rukongai. "But.. I.. I died, didn't I?" as L said it, the man's eyes opened wide. How in the world, could this man have remembered his past life? There was no way. "Mister.. I'd like you to come with me" L looked at him with a confused impression. "To where?" he wanted to know everything about this place, was this heaven? No, absolutely not. The people lived in poverty and.. he had never really believed in heaven, nor hell. "Seireitei. It's a much better place than this." Suddenly a small boy approached L and the man. A rock was thrown at him which he dodged, but in L's eyes he didn't even move. "Filthy Shinigami!" the boy yelled. "Sh-shinigami?!" it almost looked as if L was pushed away by someone. Why.. why doesn't he look like the ones I saw? Why.. why am I here? L thought. The Shinigami he knew were totally different, and most of all, they looked horrifying. But not this one, it had the appearance of a young man, and didn't even resemble a monster.
He saw the old man he had known for years and years walk by, not even saying a word to him. "Watari.. Watari!" he wanted to run towards him but the man stopped him. "Was he one of your friends? He doesn't remember anymore.. I'm sorry." He put his hand on L's shoulder and looked at him with a kind smile. "Let's go, eh, what would your name be?" the man asked. "R-Ryuuzaki. You can call me Ryuuzaki for the time being. And your name?" He didn't want to tell him his true name, he would never. "Ah, how rude of me, Ukitake Jyuushiro, captain of the 13th division, although that will probably say nothing to you. You'll find out eventually. Well, let's go then, Ryuuzaki-san" L was talking to a captain, but what meaning did it have?
Together they walked at a huge gate, with a just as huge man, also wearing a black kimono, but without the white coat, who was opening it with his bare hands. L looked at it with his eyes bigger than ever. He didn't understand one bit about this world, but he knew he would, very soon. Whatever it would take. Now they were at a much more beautiful place, it was maybe thousands of times more inviting and rich than the so-called Rukongai. "This is Seireitei, I hope you'll like it here."
L saw several men and women dressed in black kimono's and this was the time to ask. "Are you people Shinigami? What meaning does that title have? I've known Shinigami, and they.. they're monsters." He didn't really want to blurt it out like that, it just happened. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so rude." He said, while looking down. "Oh it's not a problem, it's only natural for you to have questions, Ryuuzaki-san. Why don't you follow me and we'll have a little talk."
They sat on the futons on the floor, L in his own peculiar way, and the man started explaining. "Shinigami are people that make sure souls go to soul society, where we are now. I myself am a captain, there are 13 protection squads, that pretty much covers it.." L put his thumb on his mouth and listened well to every word the man had to say. "So technically you should be considered as mortals would say, angels. So why did you bring me here?"
Ukitake chuckled. "You could put it that way, no, for inhabitants of the human world, that would be perfect. I brought you here, because you've remembered everything of your past life." Ukitake looked at him, studied him. He found it strange that he sat that way, but didn't mind. Someone put some cake on the table and L picked it up as if it were something disgusting and then carefully put it in his mouth. What a strange boy.. Ukitake thought.
Now a week had passed and L had learned a lot about the Shinigami world and Rukongai. He was also told that he had an extremely high potential of becoming a Shinigami himself. Ukitake had just sent a letter to the Shinigami academy a few days ago, it all felt really strange. Him, L, maybe becoming a Shinigami? Who would've thought. He still had the feeling he didn't know everything about the place called Seireitei, like they kept something from him. But what could it be? Suddenly a gate opened just a few meters before him. A boy with orange hair and a girl with black hair walked through it. They both wore black a kimono, like all of them did. He didn't though, not yet. He hoped that he could become a Shingami, now he just wanted to think about this life, not the previous one, although he wanted to know if Yagami Raito was caught yet. He hoped he was, but maybe, deep in his heart, he didn't. He looked at the boy and girl who were walking towards a building when he felt a warm hand on his right shoulder and when he turned around, he saw Ukitake. "They are Kuchiki Rukia and Kurosaki Ichigo." Ukitake said. "Ukitake-taichou, what are you doing here? I though that you had paperwork to do." Ukitake laid his finger on his mouth. "Ssht" he chuckled. "I've told you about those two, didn't I? Oh, and I have some good news for you. You were accepted." L's eyes grew even bigger than they were before. "I was.. accepted?" his reiatsu always was calm and around the same level, never rising because of his temper, but now it did. He was happy, really happy.
Now he had been going to the academy for a few weeks already and he would visit Ukitake today again, to tell him how things went. Ukitake was very caring, as if L was his own son. Slowly the memories of L's past life began to fade. He didn't even remember that he once was a detective who was solving all the unsolvable crimes. Maybe it was because he liked it here, or maybe it just was the way it goes. He didn't really like to wear the academy kimono so when he left the academy, he always wore his normal clothing. He arrived at the 13th division and Ukitake greeted him kindly.
"So, how are things going?" Ukitake asked while L was stacking up sugar cubes, one of the habits he couldn't lose. "very well, I really enjoy it at the academy." He answered without directly looking at Ukitake. "Good. It won't be long until you get your zanpakutou now." Ukitake took a sip of his coffe and noticed there was no sugar in it. Ryuuzaki gave him some sugar and put more than ten sugar cubes in his own cup of coffee.