Disclaimer: The characters within this story all belong to writer Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata.
Warnings: Clean.
Summary: L's been assigned the task of finding the mysterious Kira in order to better preserve the secrets of the government.
Completed: January 19, 2010
To Find a Rebel
by: Kagome-reincarnation
It had been a long night. Not a single one of them had gotten as much as a wink of sleep. All of them were aware that Kira was taunting them – and all of them cursed him for it. As if in opposition to his fellows, though, government official L was all too calm. Instead of crying out in frustration or anger as Matusda was prone to do, L had simply observed the information they'd received, nibbling on a strawberry as he did so.
He knew all too well that there was nothing he could do in the midst of the confusion that would soon be occurring as the media distributed the news. Accusations would be flung even as the many politicians involved moved to cover their rear ends. L smirked, pleased.
This would be interesting to observe. Kira himself wasn't a terrible person, L had discovered. After countless hours of research and analysis of the few cases and records they had of the rebel group's 'assassin', he'd come to learn that Kira wasn't particularly violent. For one thing, it wasn't as though Kira killed off the world's leading figures or political leaders. Rather, Kira seemed to be turning up the corrupt ones by targeting certain politicians and sinking his teeth into them.
Each case that they had that involved Kira was fairly benign. There were no injuries – no violence, really – as opposed to when the lesser members of his little rebellion were involved. Of course, that leaves the question of his title – why was it 'assassin?'
Kira had been nicknamed an assassin by the government forces attempting to find him because of the way in which he brought down the political figures that were doing what the rebel organization seemed to find wrong, immoral, or corrupt.
L, for his part, approved entirely. Someone, after all, had to beat the old farts with their own affairs and games. Truth be told, L had to admit that Kira was, quite essentially, beneficial to the government and the citizens. He was uprooting political figures that not only preyed on only the people or the government, but on both. Such things were difficult for the directly involved groups to fight or prevent because of the lack of proof. Politicians were very careful when they were dealing with other of their kind, and only more so when dealing with the interest groups that tended to attack them so swiftly.
So, quite honestly, Kira was entirely beneficial to them… But the fact that so many government officials were attempting to find and contain Kira wasn't because they wanted to stop his useful acts. Rather, many were fearful that the political assassin would use his influence to start a revolution against them. Seeing as he was a part of a group that would, given the chance, do such a thing, they had decided to err on the side of caution.
The people, however, thought quite differently about Kira and the government and had no intention of allowing them to peacefully capture him. Kira had been called the new 'Robin Hood' of the century. He was returning to the good and the poor and he was quite literally taking down the rich. This meant that the government couldn't actively hunt down Kira – the few officials that had tried had quickly lost the public's trust before being recalled.
As no one had wanted to risk being put away because of the need to find the assassin, they'd called upon L. L, after all, was a highly ranked government official. One whom no one, but those that were cleared to know of his existence, would ever meet in person. Outside of the title, however, no one knew him, meaning that his position was quite safe. His specialties lay in information and analysis – the perfect skills to hunt down Kira and to ascertain the level of threat the assassin held against them.
L thought it was amusing but worked all the same. The danger of Kira being used by his organization, after all, was still very real. The government couldn't afford a civil war so soon after the last one and their wan defenses against other countries couldn't afford to waver because of internal concerns.
"Damn him!" Mikami scowled at the computer as the reports appeared on his screen. L ignored the man's outburst. The man, obsessed with justice, held no qualms about who or what suffered in the process for his justice to occur. It was a trait that everyone he'd come into contact with had either approved of or abhorred upon first learning of it. The young man was, however, quite intelligent. He was impeccably good at what he did and he enjoyed it, making him a prime helper in the case – there was no reason for Kira to shut him down, so Mikami could seek him out at will as long as he remained out of the public eye.
While many politicians may have wanted to seek Kira out on their own, the risks of being caught by the public were too great. Mikami, however had no such qualms, making him highly effective – and useful.
"Calm down, Mikami," another man called. L recognized the voice. It was the police chief of the NPA – Soichiro Yagami, was it? "We'll learn what we can from this venture and use it to further our progress in capturing him." He handed several files to a young man that L recognized as Soichiro's son.
"In the meantime, we may as well look into his comments on Lind L. Taylor," Soichiro suggested.
L nodded thoughtfully. "Yes," he agreed. "That is the most reasonable course of action at this time."
His eyes followed Soichiro's son out the door. He noted, with some surprise, that the boy seemed to be smiling as he left.
The detective couldn't help but wonder what the boy found so funny. He supposed it could have been the fact that he, too, felt that corrupt politicians were to be brought down and exposed, but L didn't get that sort of feeling from him. L narrowed his eyes as he placed the feeling.
The smile that Soichiro's son had worn was one of knowing something that the others didn't.
Although no one else would think that Soichiro's son had anything to do with the case…. L couldn't help but compare the two. Kira, after all was also a follower of strict, but pacifistic justice. Was not the boy for working with them?
L smiled. Game start.