DISCLAIMER - I do not own Death Note or the characters used in this story other than my OC, Ruby

*~* Why L Loves Sweets *~*

One day at Wammy's House a young L roamed the halls looking for something to do. It seemed to him that nothing interesting was happening at the orphanage that weekend. He tried going to the massive entertainment room to watch some television. But no good programs were playing at the time. He had also went to the debate room to see if any good arguments were going on that he could participant in. But no one seemed to like doing that kind of thing on a Saturday since no one was even in the room. So in the end he gave up on trying to find something to do and decided to just walk around until something found him.

There were many things to occupy a child's time at the orphanage like a gigantic outdoor pool or the stables, which housed many different kinds of horses. But L didn't like any of that stuff. No. He wanted to do something that allowed him to use his brain skills because that was what he found fun to do. Maybe Watari would have something "fun" for him to do like a new crime that needed to be solved or something like that.

As L walked down the lengthy hall thinking about what he could do, he heard a small clinking sound coming from a door not to far from him. Because he was L, he became very curious and walked to the door. It was marked 'KITCHEN' in bid golden letters placed just above the door. When he saw that, L just presumed that it was one of the cooks preparing something to eat for lunch. But then a sweet aroma filled his nose that smelled nothing of lunch and without thinking he pushed open the doors.

Inside a girl with long red hair pinned up in a bun, was holding a bowl full of a brown substance in both of her arms. When she heard the door whoosh open she looked up and yelped in surprise, "L!" Due to the sudden appearance of the boy she dropped the big bowl in her arms and it landed on the floor causing the brown substance to spill onto the floor. "Oh no," the girl cried as she bent down to set the bowl right up.

"I'm sorry. I did not mean to disrupt you," L said bending down next to her so he could help her pick up the mess. "Please let me help you."

"Uh, thank you. Can you get some paper towels from the counter?" she asked politely trying to keep the substance from spreading with her hands. L nodded before standing up and grabbing the paper towels from the counter. Luckily the bowl wasn't glass so some of the substance had stayed in it. He pulled out a few paper towels from the roll and wiped up the thick liquid the best he could as the girl put the bowl on the counter.

They cleaned up the rest of the mess together with some more paper towels and a wet rag the girl had gotten from the kitchen sink. When they were finished they stood a little's way from each other, the air around them stiffening with each passing second. "Um, thank you for your assistance," the girl finally said.

"You are very welcome. I am-" L began before the girl cut him off.

"L. I'm in all of your classes." She looked down at the floor not wanting to make eye contact with the smartest kid at Wammy's House.

L tried his best to recall her name. Surely he must have met her before if she's in all of his classes. But no matter how hard he tried he couldn't think of it. "Forgive me. But I do not know your name."

"Ruby. My name is Ruby," she whispered.

"I am very sorry for not knowing since you are in all of my classes," he apologized actually feeling kind of bad for not knowing.

"That's quite all right. I usually keep to myself anyway," she looked down at the rag in her hands, "Um… Did you need something?"

L then just remembered the whole reason he came into the kitchen in the first place. "Actually, I smelt an absolutely delightful smell and wanted to find out what it was," he explained.

Finally the girl looked up to him with a smile. Her chocolate brown eyes shined with happiness. "Oh! I was just baking some deserts for Watari. He asked me to make some for the professors who were coming today. Do you really think they smell delightful?"

"Oh yes! I have never smelt something so good. Do you think I could try some?" he asked

"Well. The cookies and cake are still baking. But if you stay awhile, yes of course you could," she told him.

"I do not want to be in the way of your work. I could just come back," he suggested.

Instantly Ruby's head and shoulders fell with the disappointment of L not wanting to hang out with her. In actuality she had a really big crush on L but had always kept her distance from him. That's why she had dropped the bowl when he first came. Never had she thought in a million years that she'd finally speak to him when she was baking! "Oh. I guess," she sighed in reply as she turned back to the bowl that she had dropped.

L noticed this change in attitude and decided to stay. "Or do you think I could help you?"

Ruby's head whipped around with a big grin. "Sure! You can help me fix up this." She held up the bowl.

Seeing the girl happy somehow made L feel a sense of happiness. "Okay. But I have to warn you. I've never baked before," he joked in a serious manner.

"That's quite all right. Why don't you get the flour, sugar, and cocoa. I'll get the rest of the ingredients," she instructed him. Once she had gone to work getting everything she needed, L just stood there not sure where anything was. He had never before been in a kitchen before, so he didn't really know where anything was. Ruby saw how he looked around with an unsure look in his eyes and playfully shook her head. "The flour, sugar, and cocoa are in that cabinet over there."

"Oh. Thank you," he said walking over to the cabinet she pointed at. Inside it were dry ingredients like cinnamon, paprika, and flour! It was a big bag labeled 'flour' and so was the sugar except the bag was labeled 'sugar'. The cocoa was in a small clear jar. After he had gathered everything he was told to get he put it on the counter next to the bowl. "What are you making at the moment?"

"Well, in one oven are five dozen chocolate-chip cookies and in another are two velvet cakes. But they're really going to be one cake because I'm going to layer them," she walked over next to L and put some things on the counter. "This is going to be a triple chocolate devil's cake."

"Mmm. Sounds yummy." He licked the top of his lip with his tongue making Ruby giggle. "So what first?"

It took them about an hour to finally finish concocting the batter for the triple chocolate triple devil's cake. Ruby had gone step by step to teach L how to make it so one day he could make it himself. Halfway through making it, when Ruby brought out the hand blender, things got a little dirty. Let's just say that L got a little carried off with mixing the eggs, cocoa, and butter.

"Heh! You're funny L," Ruby giggled as she and L washed their faces at the kitchen sink. Both of them were covered in cake batter from head to toe. "You have a little on your nose."

"Oh do I?" With his eyes L desperately tried to get a view of the chocolate on his nose. "I cant' see it."

Ruby smiled at his silliness. "Here." With the rag she was washing herself with she washed away the cake residue from his nose.

"Thank you, Ruby." He looked deep into her green eyes. During the small time it took them to create the cake mix, L felt funny feelings arousing in the pit of his stomach. He didn't know what they were but they felt nice and warm.

At first Ruby stared back into L's perfect eyes, not a trace of bags under them. But then she realized what she was doing and quickly looked away, blushing. Ding! "Oh! The cookies are done," she announced, putting down the rag in her hands. Before opening the oven door, Ruby grabbed some oven mitts that were hanging over the oven. Careful as to not burn herself she opened it up and took the cookies out, placing them on the counter to cool.

L went over to the silver platters of golden cookies and took in a big whiff of the sweet smelling aroma. He so desperately wanted to bite a big bite out of one of them. "Here," he heard Ruby say. She handed him a plate with one cookie on it and a glass halfway full of milk. Eagerly he took it from her hands, devoured the cookie, and gulped down the milk in an instance.

"Yum…" He sighed contently. "That was the most tastiest thing I have ever eaten. I don't think I will ever eat food again! Where did you learn to bake like that?" He looked up from the plate he was licking and saw that Ruby had a sad look on her face.

"My parents used to own a bakery. They taught me all about baking. They died in a fire I had started at the bakery. I had taken six lives with that fire, not including my parents," she whispered. A silent tear fell from her eye. She wiped it away quickly with the back of her hand. "Heh. Forgive me."

L only observed her quietly as she expressed feelings he had never seen before. The only thing he knew to do was give her a plate with a cookie as she had done for him. It surely made him happy. "Here," he said, handing back the plate with a fresh cookie.

She smiled through her tears. "Thank you."

"You are welcome, Ruby."

Ruby ate the cookie slowly and halfway done with it she looked up at L. "Thank you, L. I never knew you were this nice."

"What do you mean by that?" L looked at her puzzled.

She looked away, a small tint of pink painting her cheeks. "Well. You're always the top of the class and I just thought that you'd be a bit snotty like the other really smart kids. But that never stopped me from liking you." She only realized what she had said when it was too late to take it back.

"You like me?" Again L looked at her with a puzzled expression.

And again Ruby looked away. But this time a deeper shade of red tinted her cheeks. "Uh. Well… you see.. I didn't mean," she stuttered her cheeks turning redder by the minute.

But then L did the very first thing that came to his mind. He leaned forward, connected his lips with hers, and closed his eyes. Never had he imagined that a kiss would feel so good. It felt as though butterflies were fluttering around in his stomach but in a good way. Even her lips tasted very sweet, almost like the cookie he had just ate but even better.

The kiss had taken Ruby by surprise and at first her eyes went wide. But as she looked back at L's closed ones her eyelids soon fell close too. It felt really nice. His lips were so warm and soft. She had always imagined what it would be like to kiss L but the actual kiss was much better than all of her fantasies put together.

When they parted, both of their eyelids fluttered open at the same time. "That was nice," L hummed quietly.

Before saying anything, Ruby bit her lip, "L. I like you."

He smiled back at her. "Ruby. I believe I like you too."

After that the two of them made and ate lots more deserts. They had even shared more about themselves. By the end of the day they knew more about each other then they had ever imagined.

All in all, L was very happy that nothing was on TV and that no one was in the debate room. Because then he might have never met Ruby nor would he have learned about the miracle of sweets. The only two questions he wondered about as he sat on a chair in his room in the middle of the night was why Watari had never given him any sweets before and why he couldn't go to sleep.

AN- And that is the secret behind L's love for sweets and his black-rimmed eyes due to his serious case of insomnia. Hope you liked it and please review or cute little Itachi will get you! ^/w\^ Grr! JK! Sayonara!