Chapter One - First Meeting.

It started as a typical morning for L. He awakened from his usual period of disturbed sleep and was ready to start his day. He got up out of the old, red chair he usually slept in, rubbed the back of his neck as it felt like he had slept on it funny once again, and let out a tired yawn as he rubbed the bags under his tired eyes. He walked over to his bedroom window and opened the floor-length, black curtains, letting the summer sunlight fill the room. The only sound he could hear was the sweet sound of sparrows and blackbirds chirping and the chatter and laughter of the other orphans below his bedroom window in the backyard.

Suddenly, the peace and tranquillity was shattered by the sound of crashing and shouting out in the hallway. Feeling curious, he casually walked over to his already-locked bedroom door and pressed his ear against it. There certainly was a lot of commotion out there.

"What the hell are you doing?!" squeaked one little voice

"You're gonna get us all into trouble!" said another

L's curiosity intensified, still, being the quiet individual that he was he felt it best not to get involved. That is, until he heard a familiar voice calling out.

"Ouch! That hurt!"

Without thinking, he began to unlock his door. Once he'd fiddled with the key and managed to open the door, he ran into the hallway.

"Near?" he said as he knelt down next to a small, 5-year-old boy who was stood, leaned against the wall. "What's wrong?"

"My head..." said the boy who was rubbing the right side of his head.

L could tell that Near had been struck on the side of his head as his ear was bright red. L had always thought of Near as a little brother, so hearing him call out in pain made him feel really protective.

"What happened here?" L asked the other orphans, he knew Near wouldn't say anything. He never did when the other kids picked on him.

"She hit him!" squeaked one of the little girls as she pointed to a young girl who was leaned up against the opposite wall, staring out of the big stained-glass window.

L had never seen her before. The girl appeared to be 8 or 9-years-old, with long, dark blonde hair which almost reached down to her bottom and deep green eyes which seemed to be staring into space. She was wearing pale purple pyjamas and white bunny slippers, but not nice ones. More like the kind of PJ's a kid would wear in the hospital. He could tell there was something about her that wasn't like the other kids. Being the kind of guy who liked to resolve any conflict, he decided to talk to her. As he got closer he could hear her humming the tune of "Row Row Row Your Boat" under her breath, all whilst chewing a piece of her hair. L crouched down next to her and flashed her a friendly smile.

"Hello." he smiled.

The girl didn't respond.

"You know...around here we don't hit each other okay?" L continued "So why not go over there and apologise to Near?"

The girl didn't reply. She simply made a loud, irritated whining noise and dropped onto her knees, still chewing her hair. L placed his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her.

"Come on, I'll come with you"

"STOP!" snapped the girl as she swung her arm and hit L straight on his nose, causing pain to shoot through his face and small trickles of blood to fall out his nostrils.

All of the other children watched in shock.

"They said you want to hurt me..." grumbled the girl...

Well here we are again ANOTHER new fanfic :P

I hope I don't offend anyone with this story :/ I have a cousin who's Schizophrenic so I'm only basing Phoenix's behaviour on what i've seen in him.

Hopefully you guys will like it :)

Oh FYI. L is aged 16 here :)