Orchestration

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, nor do I own any of the characters used in this story.

Chapter 1: Binding Ties

Orchestrate: (verb) To arrange or direct the elements of (a situation) to produce a desired effect, especially surreptitiously.

If there was one thing Light could be sure about, with this job, it was that the paperwork would never end… No matter how much time he spent on it there was still more stacked ready to take its place before the judgment of his pen. It couldn't be helped, though. For every criminal the extensive police force working beneath him put behind bars, there was always another that got away. There was always one left on the run. It was utterly loathsome, the very thought causing him to force his pen harder into the paper he scratched away at.

There weren't nearly enough hours in the day for one in his position… How could he possibly hope to keep the half of London within his jurisdiction safe when criminals were allowed to escape so easily?

There came a gentle rap against the office door. His eyes lifted momentarily up from the paper that had been bearing the brunt of his frustration as it was pushed open, revealing one of the female servants of the house. She came to stand just inside the doorway, her hands wringing together nervously. "Sir, there's someone here to meet with you."

Light's brow furrowed together, "There's no one on my agenda today." He'd made perfectly certain of that. After all, he needed all the time in the world to get through all of this work. Or in the very least, one extra afternoon.

Still, the woman remained standing in place, mentally sorting over her words before finally saying, "He... said you might say that, sir." He watched the curious way her eyes darted away from him nervously. "He wanted me to say that he insists on meeting."

Light's eyes narrowed, "Who is it?"

"District Director L Lawliet."

The mere mention of that name made Light put his pen down and lean back in his chair, his fingers steeping together against his lips. What could he possibly want? L… The very origin of Light's every frustration and the absolute last person he wanted in his home. "Send him in." Still, it seemed in poor taste to turn him away without first hearing his reason for showing up unannounced.

She nodded and exited the room, the door remaining partially ajar for only a moment before it was pushed further open, revealing the familiar tall, lanky man with the wiry hair as dark as the circles under his eyes; his curved, awkward stance seemed to demonstrate just how out of place he felt in a proper suit and tie.

Coal black eyes found Light's immediately, the momentary spark of electricity between them lit the room with all the animosity otherwise kept dormant by proper social conventions. "L." He greeted politely, offering as warm a smile he could muster as he stood from the desk.

"Light." L greeted, his gaze moving away from the other district director to instead peer around the room to all the books kept neatly on the shelves built into the wall. "I apologize for dropping in so suddenly. I see you're quite busy."

Light would've gnashed his teeth if he wasn't so accustomed to putting up a good front for others, "It's no trouble. I imagine it must be important if you came all the way out here." Though, there was just the slightest harsh edge to his voice that he couldn't quite cover entirely.

"Quite important." L stated, finally crossing the wide expanse of the room to finally come to sit in one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk. His body shifted about uncomfortably, as though no position was sufficient enough.

"Indeed. Considering the recent circumstances, and all." Light said as he sat back down in his own chair, his legs crossing as his eyes locked upon what he could only consider to be his enemy. "I heard about what happened. I'm sorry. If there's-"

"Your sympathy is appreciated, but not what I'm here for."

"Then what are you here for?"

A long paused extended between the two, L taking the interim moment to look from Light down to the papers resting in their neatly organized stacks around the desk, his thumb coming up to his lip, the sure sign of his mind setting to work. "Our work has been… rather difficult to execute. Truthfully, you and I perform quite the same job, and yet so often it is heavily impeded by the trivial boundaries of districts of police authority."

Light paused momentarily, his head shifting just slightly as he pondered his words wondering just where L was going with all of this. There was no denying his words, though. Both of their work was heavily, and far too often, impeded by the very fact that London had long ago been split into numerous districts of authority in an effort to minimize the amount of area necessary to be patrolled. However, the inadvertent effect of such demarcations was the relatively simple task for criminals to escape simply by getting to the safety of another district to allude police pursuits. Once they hit those borders… the chase was over; there was nothing they could do until the criminal returned.

Over the years the districts had dwindled down to just two, but that remaining border still posed enough of a problem for both L and Light. So, then this was a proposition? But surely there had to be more to it than that.

"What are you proposing?" Light finally asked him. L was never one for beating around the bush, and to be frank, he hated to be kept waiting.

"An arrangement for unity. A partnership, if you will. One which would allow us both to retain our districts, and our authority, but allows for a more amicable relationship between the two. In the event of a criminal escaping to my jurisdiction, I shall extradite him to you and assist in any investigations should the need arise, and in exchange you would do the same for me. The way I see it, this is the only sensible option to overcome the senseless animosity held by both divisions." There was a pause, an air of tense hesitation hanging between them. "I'm sure you can understand the need for justice to prevail. No matter what."

Light's eyes narrowed on him. He could just hear the manipulation dripping off his perfectly organized words. "What's the price?"

L held the silence for another moment, "Naturally, the way these things are usually done." A conniving sort of smirk played across his jagged features making Light's stomach churn. But what made it that much worse was that he knew exactly where L was going with this…

"You have a son." L finally said.

"Yes, but I've heard through the grapevine that you'd had one too."

The pad of L's thumb moved between his teeth momentarily. "Well, that's what you get for listening to word passed along the vine of a plant whose fruit is used to produce an intoxicant." He said, "Would I have come here if such a rumor were true?"

The silence settled between the two directors once more, Light's thoughts ruminating over his options. Though, realistically if he had any other option available, they were severely limited. The opportunity to finally get his hands on all the criminals that had evaded him was not one he could so easily turn down. Even if such a gold plated deal was being served by L. Just the idea of what this would mean for him in the future…

"Fine." He agreed. "I'll make the arrangements."

L nodded, standing at once from his seat, "I'm glad to see you indeed possess the sense of justice I imagined. We'll sort out the finer details out at a later time."

Light stood as well, remaining ever vigilant of the other's moves. He couldn't quite place it, but something didn't quite feel right about this deal… but what other grounds did he have to turn him down then a mere gut feeling? "This partnership goes into effect immediately."

L turned to him, "Yes, I suppose that only makes sense. However, if that is your stipulation then allow me to place one of my own. This is quite a dangerous undertaking we're about to form, Light. One which will be made exponentially more dangerous once the underworld learns what's going on. For both of our interests, it would be best for us to remain entirely separate, including our children. Until marriage, of course." Their eyes locked, the unspoken words of what they were both facing on a daily basis traveling between them. "Perhaps it is my own paranoia, but I would find it quite unfortunate for such a deal to be unraveled merely because something came to happen to them."

Light nodded, "I agree."

Offering his own nod of agreement, L headed towards the door. "I'm glad you see things my way, Light. I'd hate to have my new family involved in some senseless crime as a result of the good we're trying to bring to this city."

Light's teeth finally did grind together, his lips setting in a hard line, "We're not family."

L opened the door, leaving the younger director alone with the final words, "No, but we will be. It's been good doing business with you, Light."

A/N: Welcome to my newest story! For those who were not a part of the evolution of this idea on Tumblr, someone happened to ask me what I thought of the idea of an arranged marriage scenario between the successors, and I happened to say that I had thought about it, and… one thing led to another and suddenly Near's in dresses and here we all are. I apologize for what potentially was a slow start with this chapter, but now I find myself at a crossroads that I would appreciate your thoughts on. For the next chapter, this could be continued as I had originally imagined, or I could clean up and add a few scenes to the test chapter that I previous posted, and post it here. As far as I see it there are pros and cons to both, so the choice is now yours. Please let me know your thoughts!

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-Forbiddensoul562