Being tethered to the strange young man for the past several weeks had been exhausting. L almost never slept, and when he did, he was always sitting with his shoulders hunched forward and his knees up by his ears. When Light had first met this strange character, he of course judged him immediately on his outward appearance, the poor posture, the plain, lackluster clothing, and those horrible dark circles beneath his eyes. He certainly didn't look like the world's greatest master mind detective, and yet here Light was, chained to this man who was not much older than he, maybe even younger. Light had to admit though, L was certainly no joke, the two of them seemed to be on the same playing field, which in Light's case was rare as he knew he surpassed just about everyone else.
The deductive skills and reasoning skills the two of them possessed far surpassed that of the average being. That being said, Light could not make any objections to still being tied to this man, yet he knew he was not Kira, though the more time he spent with L and being subtly accused every now and then did have him questioning this himself.
Light shook his head as the inkling of the thought crossed his mind again, Impossible. I would remember killing all those people if I were him. These doubts were starting to hang around more often and Light frowned as his mind wrapped around the topic once more.
"Something wrong?" the low monotone voice interrupted, and it came with a set of wide eyes that Light had felt boring into him for quite some time now. Light let out a sigh and closed his own eyes to shut out the light from the computer in front of him.
"Just tired, I guess." He couldn't reveal his actual thoughts seeing as though they would definitely raise more suspicion and most likely some sort of confirmation that he was in fact Kira, though he suspected L already had an idea of them anyways. Working with L was a lot like working with himself Light had noted time and time again. He was sure that if they ever decided to sit down and play a game of chess, or maybe 50 games, the result would almost always be a stalemate.
"Perhaps you'd like to take a break?" even with his eyes closed, Light could feel that unwavering gaze upon him. He imagined that L would have his head cocked a little to the right when he asked the question. L always seemed genuine whether he really was or not, and the intonation in his voice that gave nothing away helped to immensely obscure his sincerity as well.
"Nah, we should just finish up following these leads first, between the two of us it shouldn't take us much longer, another three hours or so, don't you think?" Light opened his eyes as he said this and turned his head to see L exactly as he imagined, head cocked ever so slightly to the right, knees up to his chin, hands placed on knees, and feet rubbing over one another so that one overlapped the other every few seconds.
"Oh, right." L was always so short with his responses sometimes, anyone else may have thought they had offended him in some way, but Light got the huge impression that L was a bit socially awkward, he clearly didn't go out much, and Light was sure L would have a much better relationship with a machine rather than another human being. With that response though, L turned back to his work and started clicking away at the keyboard in front of him, pausing here and there to read something more thoroughly. Light was actually really impressed at L's filter; he really didn't miss a thing.
"Two hours and forty eight minutes, not bad," Light smiled at his bizarre keeper. L simply just stared for a moment.
"Hn, well there's still more to do, but I suppose we can break for now, do you want some cake?" it was faint, but Light could see a small spark in L's eyes whenever he thought about something sweet. It was strange to think, but cake definitely seemed to satisfy L the way a bubble bath would do to someone who had spent a long day doing physical labor. Light wasn't really a fan of too many sweets, but he knew once L wanted cake, he couldn't really object. A small, tender smile met his lips when he thought of how this kind of behavior reminded him of a small child. Here was the world's greatest detective, who had seen the ugliest of the ugly, and maintained this weird kind of innocence. Or at least, that's how Light saw it.
"Sure, let's go get some cake," Light got up from the desk chair and pocketed his hands waiting for L to lead the way. A strange look fell on L's features for just a fraction of a second before he too got up from his desk chair. Light wondered what the strange look was for, L was always so guarded; he never let his mask fall, especially around his number one suspect of Kira. Light wondered if L even knew he had let his poker face slip, and surely L would know that Light caught the expression, because he rarely missed things either. Hm, should I mention it? It's weird, I feel like I always know what the guy's thinking, but at the same point in time, I don't think I ever know. We definitely think in almost perfect unison when it comes to this case, but on a personal level, I don't know him at all.
Light found his curiosity of L's personal thoughts grow each time L did or said something that contradicted what he embodied. It's weird and even a bit unfair to think that L knows much more about me personally than I do him. I understand that this is his way of protecting himself, and rationally speaking he can't really show emotion because he needs to use pure reason and logic to solve cases such as this one, but he's still human. I spend every second of every day with him, and yet I know nothing more about him than I did when I first met him. They walked in silence to the elevator before boarding it. Light had suddenly come up with almost an interrogation for L and his personal life and history in the time they waited for the doors to open and enter the metal box. L's hands were buried deep in his pockets when he stood in front of the floor panel and he hunched over even more before removing one hand and pressing one of the buttons that illuminated floor 6 which of course was where the dining hall and kitchen sat on.
Why am I so interested all of a sudden anyways? It's not like he'll tell me anything. Light concluded with himself a bit childishly, but the questions still burned in the front of his mind. Why not? The worst that could happen is he just won't respond. It's just small talk. He felt weird having this debate with himself, but he could never tell what kind of reaction he'd get now, especially since L's mask had shown the tiniest indication of a crack.
"So…" those wide eyes turned on him, a hint of curiosity glinted in their otherwise black depths, and Light felt himself turn a slight shade of pink. What the hell? Why am I blushing? It's not like I'm going to ask him anything weird or sexual. "What made you become L?" Light expected silence and a blank stare.
"…Hnn, what do you mean? Are you asking why I became L, or did something happen that put me in this position regardless of circumstances?" The brown haired man was certainly surprised to get this kind of response, even if it was delayed.
"Uh, I guess, both? I was just curious as to how you got to where you are today, but you make it sound like you didn't have a choice in the matter, am I right?" was this conversation going to be another battle of wills? L was obviously well aware of the fact that he didn't have to share anything with Light, and why should he? According the L, if Light really was Kira, why would he confide personal information in him if Kira could somehow find a way to use anything against L, but Light could absolutely see the gears turning in L's mind as he pondered the question.
"I guess you could say I was groomed for this job," L stated matter-of-factly as he touched his chin between his thumb and the knuckle of his forefinger and looked to the ceiling. The elevator doors then slid apart revealing the spacious dining hall. L stepped through the doors first leaving a dumbfounded Light behind. Light's jaw had slacked open a little, shocked that he had gotten a straight answer from L, he was sure that this was not a lie, although he knew L could be an undetected liar whenever he felt like it. The doors began to close before Light stepped forward and reached his arm between them to push them back open and followed L into the hall. "What's the matter?" L looked over his shoulder nonchalantly with a somewhat droopy look on his face.
"Uh, nothing, I just didn't think you'd tell me something like that." He couldn't hide his stunned expression as he made his way over to the black haired man. Light watched L shrug and walk over to the massive industrial looking kitchen that was filled with brand new state of the art appliances. Light followed quickly when the chain connecting their wrists became almost taut. It was like a door had been opened, and a flood of new questions came pouring into Light's mind. The most burning one was the one he had to ask first though, "So why tell me this if you still think I'm Kira?" Light's eyes narrowed marginally and he crossed his arms over his chest in a defiant pose. A frown touched his lips as he waited for what he hoped would be a good reason.
"Well, as you know, the chance of you being Kira has significantly dropped to about 1.2%. I was a little concerned at how the likelihood of you being such kept fluctuating, but ever since you were incarcerated, much doubt has been removed." L had his hand on one of the massive stainless steel refrigerator doors in front of him that held his precious cake. The man's gaze remained in front of him, a quality that Light found to be getting on his nerves, because either L looked directly at you as if boring into your soul, or just looked as though he were talking to a wall or himself even.
Light let out a sigh; he knew he would probably never remove all doubt of him being Kira, even if they caught the actual Kira, who seemed to become more difficult to track with every day. Then again…maybe he could. A thought occurred to Light that made his heart skip a beat. That's preposterous, why would I even remotely let a thought like that come into my mind?
It's true that Light had always been a ladies man, what with his good looks and impeccable manners, on top of his genius and great family history. He was the all-around ideal catch. Light had shown interest in women, but only for appearances, in truth, he could care less about them, his focus and drive were meant for greater things. Now here he was developing some sort of strange emotion for a man that he barely even knew, Light shook his head almost violently to stop that train of thought.
"You're never going to believe that I'm not him, are you?" he had to recover knowing that L was always aware of what was going on in his surroundings, and Light couldn't expose these weird thoughts he was having, he just had to mask them with something relevant.
"Perhaps I will believe you…and perhaps I won't. It's difficult to say at the time being. But what are you actually thinking?" L had opened the stainless steel door and appeared to be intent on scanning the interior for the cake that would speak to him, or something, and although he was hunched over in his usual manner and his longer black hair concealed those wide eyes of his, Light could pick up on the elusive tone in L's voice when he asked this, a kind of mockery? And the tiniest of smirks tugged at the young man's mouth. The Yagami son's mind raced with excuses, but remaining cool and calm on the surface was a specialty of his. He was a quick thinker as well, and was sure he could pause to come up with an answer without making it obvious that it was indeed a lie. Or perhaps, he should tell the truth? Maybe L would unchain them if he knew about Light's dirty little secret. Light chuckled out loud at this, and proceeded to tell L the truth about his thoughts.