This is my first DN fanfic. Kinda something that just came to me.
Disclaimer: Death Note and its characters are not mine...but oh how I wish they were.


L always had secrets. His name was the most well kept secret that he had, but there were many others that he had. For instance, Mayu-san was a confectioner, and rather well known for her sweets. She was a secret that many people knew, but no one knew that he knew her once upon a time back when she was also a candidate for the elusive position of "L".

Whammy House was an orphanage where children were raised to potentially become next in line to become the greatest detective that graced this earth; L. When the current L had lost his life, or wished to retire, the next most capable student would assume the position, and L would live on.

Ryuuzaki had always had an unquenchable craving for sweet foods, and at the orphanage he was well satisfied with what he was provided, and didn't question the sweets as he continued with his studies with a surprising ease. This is how he met Mayu-san-or Mayu-chan as she was called at the time.

He saw her once or twice around the orphanage, pleats of dark, shining hair hanging around her like a veil as she whipped around the corner and hurried out of sight. Further research had told him that she had a high IQ, great sense of reason, and was marked down as a possible mute. She had come from a Japanese family, and was nearly killed in a tsunami that destroyed her home, and her parents. She had been raised in a Japan orphanage until she was about seven, and that is where she finally showed signs of higher intellect. Halfway in between the age of seven and eight she was transferred to Whammy House, where she became one of the few girls to be considered for the honored position. The main problem with this was that she wouldn't, and possibly couldn't speak.

He met Mayu in the kitchen, leaning over a bowl of batter that smelled strongly of strawberries, his favorite. She looked startled as she watched him enter, flour streaked across her pale face, he long black hair pulled into a large bun on he back of her head. The frilly apron she wore had stains of oil, egg, flour, and other ingredients that had spilled over onto her.

"You are Mayu-chan, correct?" he asked.

She looked up from the bowl once again, looked at Ryuuzaki, and nodded.

"Are you the one who bakes all these sweets?"

Another nod was his answer.

"Can you talk?"

Again, another nod came in response.

"Will you speak to me?"

This time she shook her head. She pulled a round cake pan from off of the side counter, and began pouring the bright pink batter into the pre-greased pan, and the placing the pan in the heated oven. Quickly, and quietly she washed off her hands, dried them and took a seat next him at the breakfast bar, pulling a pen and pad of paper toward her she began to write.

When she was finished she pushed the pad toward hi, and in very neat penmanship she wrote:

No. I don't speak to anyone. I never have, and I don't find it necessary to do so .I know what they think, and I don't mind that they think this I'm not a mute, and I could speak, if I wanted to. If you want me to speak to you, then give me a reason to.

He looked back up at her as she pulled her hair loose and it fell over her back like a waterfall, the ends nearly reaching halfway down to the floor.

"Ok, Mayu-chan," he replied to the note. "I will have to try to do so. I am Ryuuzaki, by the way."

Over the next several weeks Ryuuzaki and Mayu conversed in their own ways, Ryuuzaki speaking aloud, and Mayu writing on her pad of paper. They would always meet in the kitchen where Mayu was always cooking something, usually something sweet to suit Ryuuzaki's sweet tooth. She wouldn't ever talk, though she filled up enough paper to almost write a book.

One day, after Mayu had produced a lovely strawberry tart, Ryuuzaki sat nibbling on the sweet confection.

"Mayu-chan, what would you do if you became the next L?" he asked, absently, twirling the fork between his thumb and fore finger.

Her response was:

I have no desire to become L. I am only here because Rodger thinks I'm something special, like the rest of you.

"Yes, that may be true, but it would be interesting, wouldn't it?"

Maybe so, but I'd rather cook. I do not wish to spend the rest of my life chasing down the scum of the world.

"What of your parents though? They would have been proud of you if you became L." he stated.

"No."

Ryuuzaki stopped for a second, the fork that had been perched between his fingers clattered to the plate, and he looked around the kitchen before he turned to Mayu.

"No?" he repeated her.

"No. My parents were criminals-I've read the files- and they would have hated me if I had become the next L," she spoke. Her voice was quite and soft, and slightly rough, exactly what it should be after not using it in such a long time and it held the faintest Japanese accent.

That was the first time she spoke, but it wasn't the last time though, and it was only Ryuuzaki she would speak to. If someone else were to enter the kitchen during one of their discussions she would silence herself immediately. It wasn't surprising though, she was reluctant to talk to Ryuuzaki sometimes.

Their talks taught them about each other, or as much about each other as they wanted the other to know. Ryuuzaki never confirmed his real name, any details relating to his parents, or where he originated from. Mayu never said anything of her past, about her life at the Japanese orphanage, and she would completely clam up if her parents were mentioned. Ryuuzaki learned that she was three years younger then he was, and she wished to become a confectioner rather then the elusive detective. Ryuuzaki in turn told her that he greatly desired to have the position of L, and had been told by Rodger that he was at the front of the list should anything happen to the current L.

Over several months Ryuuzaki and Mayu became close, talking amongst them selves in the kitchen, Mayu cooking some sweet food or another, and Ryuuzaki the first to try the sugary confection. Time would have it though, and they eventually had to go their separate ways, Ryuuzaki off to become L, and Mayu went back to becoming the silent girl always cooking something in the kitchen.

The day L left Whammy House he was greeted by Mayu in the hall, on the other side of the house from the kitchen. She held out a bright pink box that emitted a strong scent of strawberries, and a folded white note.

"What's this for?" he asked, knowing very well it was a farewell gift.

"It's for you L-sama," she replied. Her voice had matured so much, and it was an airy, mature soprano, where it had once been rough and quite.

"Apparently so, Mayu-chan. You may still call me Ryuuzaki. You don't need to be so formal with me."

She didn't reply, and it became obvious as to why. Rodger had just exited a room behind me.

"We have to leave soon," he said before turning off down the hall toward the front hall.

"Yes. I know I can still call you that, but I choose not to," she paused for a few moments, her gray eyes darting around, and her bottom lip caught between her teeth. "Well you better be going."

"Yes. I suppose so."

Just before he turned to leave she had reached out, placed a soft hand on my cheek, stood on the tips of her toes, and placed a soft kiss to his lips. She was gone before he opened his eyes; the last sight was of her long hair whipping around the corner, and that was the last he saw of her.