A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Chapter three is up at the archive.
Seventh Murder/Mutilation! Worried Japan Asks Who Could This Man Be?!, L had read the sensationalistic headline staring out at him hours ago.
"On the average, the small intestine is seven meters long. Seven meters times seven people...doesn't mean anything other than that police are incompetent," irritated she rumpled the newspaper.
"You don't seem surprised to find me here," L said sounding pleased as he perched next to her on the bench.
"Stalkers aren't hard to predict," she said eyeing him from behind the comics page.
"Light is mean," he pouted. "I'm not a stalker."
"We'll put aside that you just called me by a name you shouldn't know then, shall we?" Light's voice had a dangerous edge to it under the sarcasm.
"Don't get angry. After I researched you last night I decided I had nothing to lose by telling you who I am," L proclaimed with a solemnity that would have better suited the discovery of a long lost royal heir inside a fantasy novel.
Light folded the paper and lay it in her lap, "This better be good." She crossed her arms and glared sceptically at him for good measure.
It was difficult for him to look her in the eyes but he forced himself to do so. "I'm L. If you don't believe me I can prove it to you easily enough," L pointed a long finger to the paper's headline. "For example 'Man' is a bit presumptuous isn't it?"
"Aileen Wuornos and Sara Aldrete are the closest in profile I think. But the papers are unreliable, and my father..." Light swallowed hard, and looked away. She'd been trying to convince her father since the case started that the killer was a woman. It would have been easier talking to a brick wall, and with every argument he was less and less willing to share case details with her.
"I think so too--Wuornos and Aldrete I mean. An immigrant prostitute striking out in ritualized killings against past clients," he paused to chew on his thumb. "You'd think eventually she would run out of ways to artfully arrange entrails."
Light smiled, "You really are L then." It was hard to think of the spidery man wearing clothes identical to the day previous as someone as famous as L, but Light was just as sure that he was telling the truth as she was that the serial killer the country was so up in arms about was a woman.
He smiled back at Light, just a little unsure. L had been though her life in detail--school records, play reviews, I.Q. tests, medical records, and even special commendations from the police. He hadn't expected to ever be so interested in a person, and was even a little afraid.
Whammy's House had been an amazing place to grow up. L would have squandered his genius if he'd been brought up anywhere else--he just wasn't like other people. L had been the oldest there and hadn't had anyone to rely on past the most superficial of ways. It was nice to have someone understand the way you think about things, and share the same interests.
L hadn't ever had a friend, and even now was unsure of what to make of his own intentions. Light was very attractive, if a little boyish and something more than friendship was a definite possibility. Not that he'd know what to do with a lover when he wasn't sure how to handle a friend.
It was presumptuous he supposed, that he should assume either possibility on just their second meeting. L had thought for a moment when he'd called Light by her name she might hit him.
"In my research I found a website with a poor quality bootleg of you and Misa Amane preforming in Chicago. I was unaware the script called for so many close-ups of Miss Amane's breasts."
Light made a startled sound somewhere between a laugh and a cough, "Well, that's one reason why this year is Misa's last performance with our theater group."
"She needs one of those reduction surgeries?" L said with perfect seriousness.
Light narrowed her eyes at him, "No. The attention."
"My theater Blue Ocean is an all-girl troupe, and girls get mean when they think their places are threatened. Misa wasn't an idol when she moved here from Kyoto, but she might as well have been. She's just one of those people that has the look you know will make it. Misa might as well have painted a bulls-eye on her back. They tried to bully her, and it was pretty easy at first. Her parents were murdered not so long ago, and she was too depressed to stand up for herself.
I didn't like that at all. I hated to get involved but she wasn't in any condition to do anything else. I didn't do anything big, we practiced together and I made sure she wasn't alone with anyone that would cause her trouble," Light shook her head ruefully. "Now I can't seem to get rid of her, she has some kind of weird reverence for me. It hasn't been as awkward since she's been modeling and acting on TV, but she's definitely out grown our little theater."
"You said this year is the last?" L rubbed his ankle with the toes of one foot.
"For Misa and for me. It's another musical too--Little Shop of Horrors. I suppose everyone should act with a foam rubber plant at least once in their lives," Light was pleased to see him smile at that.
"Alas I'm afraid I'll have to forgo that particular experience. Who are you going to play?"
"Seymour Krelborn--I'm back to playing male roles. I was supposed to be Billy Flynn last year but our Velma broke her leg and there I was. It was too bad too--me and Misa had We Both Reached for the Gun down perfectly."
"I'm sure you--" L was interrupted by the alarm on Light's watch.
"Sorry!" Light quickly switched it off and retrieved her camera. Just as the day before the man and his mistress emerged. Light snapped her photos as the woman locked up and they disappeared together.
L sighed as she put the camera away. "Will you have to go home soon?"
"I'm afraid so. Dad's working late as usual, and this is the week my mother plays Mahjong with the rest of neighborhood housewives. I have to make dinner and make sure Sayu doesn't destroy the place while they're out," she sounded a bit apologetic.
"You'll be here again tomorrow?" L almost winced at the hope in his voice.
"Tomorrow, the day after, and then I'll be done here," Light tried to keep her voice steady. There was no doubt L was a bit strange, but it was so pleasant to have someone understand and agree with the things she was thinking. She'd never met anyone close to her level before, it was a warm feeling and she resented having to leave to tend to a perfectly capable person.
L was staring resolutely at his feet, "Would you like to have dinner tomorrow? There's an Italian place not too far from here that makes excellent tiramisu, though I suppose you could eat something else..." he trailed off to a mumble.
"I think I'd like that."
L's head whipped up and his wide eyes blinked in rapid disbelief.
"Why did you ask me if you thought I'd say no?" Light asked through a laugh.
"It was only about a 6 percent chance, but I'm glad I was wrong," L smiled and stood up. "I've never been happy I wasn't right before."
"More than zero is always a good number," Light stood as well and picked up her bag. "See you tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow," L knew he was grinning foolishly as she walked away, but couldn't find it in himself to care.
A/N: Sara Aldrete and Aileen Wuornos can be found on Wikipedia under female serial killers.
For anyone wondering why Light's a girl in this, it's mainly because I've been reading lots of genderswap fic and wanted to write my own. I think male Light would find a way out of those acting lessons, and without a Death Note that really leaves him with no reason to know Misa at all. There's a particular Girl!Light story I'd like to write where there is a Death Note. It's a storyline I'm amazed no one else has tried yet, but as of the moment I don't have the confidence I'd get though it. If I can finish this fic, then maybe I'll give it a try.
