L rememered exactly where he was the day he read about Beyond Birthday's death in the newspaper.

With Light Yagami and Misa Amane just now being placed into the confinement they had set up, one would assume L had more important things to think about and matters to attend to rather than obsessing over one criminal's death. But no.

His dark, seemingly lifeless most of the time, eyes widened once he read down the list of criminals who had just been killed by Kira. In that list, he saw the name.

Beyond Birthday.

His voice noticeably cracked when talking to Light over the intercom. In fact, he almost spit out his coffee with surprise.

"Ryuzaki… Are you alright?" Light obviously noticed.

"Yes, Light, I'm fine."

L ended the conversation.

At first, he was at a loss. Why would Beyond Birthday's death be so significant to him? It wasn't like the two ever knew each other on a personal level… In fact, he only met him once before. It was when they were young, and he went to meet Roger at Wammy's House. B, having noticed that the great L was in the office of the orphanage, slowly crept over to watch by the door, and hoped his presence would not be seen. And, although L spotted him watching through a crack in the door out of the corner of his eye, he said nothing. He allowed him to stay there. To this day, Beyond never knew he had been caught.

But Beyond Birthday was an intelligent criminal – smarter than most. So the fact that he would be caught by Naomi Misora years ago was surprising, and the fact that Kira killed him even more so. It was such disappointment because, if anything, L always enjoyed those who put up a challenge…

But he mustn't dwell on this any longer.

For the remainder of the day, he tried to occupy himself and his thoughts with anything else. He watched over Light and Misa, continuing this activity for days after. And although he managed to get a decent amount of sleep before to keep properly functioning, that was quickly dwindling. He wasn't sure if the others noticed, but his amount of sleep was reducing – as well as his concentration. It was slowly, but surely.

This was not to say that he couldn't work well on the Kira case. He was the one to come up with a plan, the plan that would either prove or disprove Light Yagami's innocence once and for all. Soichiro Yagami put his life on the line for that plan, but neither him nor his son died. As a result of such a brilliantly executed plan thought out by his slightly sleep-deprived mind, Light was allowed to join the Kira investigation team – so long as he was handcuffed to L's wrist.

But since his sleeping schedule was so off, he would often find myself awake while Light insisted on resting. He would sit in his normal position on the bed, sometimes watching Light as he slept, but also sometimes working on his computer. It was often related to Kira research of course, but…

He couldn't resist.

Because there was something – or more precisely, someone – else captivating his interests as well. Occupying his thoughts. For now he couldn't go a day without the younger man's name popping up in his mind.

Beyond Birthday.

He wanted to find out everything he could about the criminal who supposedly died by Kira's doing. Being the person he was, he didn't even need to hack into the Wammy's system. Although Roger and Watari were slightly surprised by the unusual interest in Wammy's Institution and its students, they allowed him access to any child's files he wanted. But he only wanted one.

The file consisted of more than he could've hoped for. It showed his date of birth, physical characteristics, relationships with other Wammy's House members, school grades, family arrangement prior to being taken in… And, of course, what caused him to run away.

Initially, Beyond had lived with only his Mother. No records of his Father were ever found, at least not in this system. After his Mother died when he was six, he was taken in to live at the orphanage. It was there that he made his first friend: A. Him and the first successor grew to be abnormally close, the file described. If L didn't know any better, this would strongly hint more than just a close friendship.

But then…

A died.

And that set B off. His hatred for L began right then and there. He became a wreck, emotionally unstable and out of control. Only a day later he'd escaped during the middle of the night, running off with what little belongings he had to start a whole new life. One, L wondered if he was aware of, would lead to crime. Now that he thought about it, the detective really did wonder if this had been Beyond's plan since the moment he stepped foot out of the institution that night. Or if it had been something he came up with a short while later.

Such passion for someone's death, A must have meant the world to him. Maybe more. Even if someone as important as Watari died, L could never imagine himself going on a killing rampage to prove something to someone who barely even knew him. Though he supposed there were two types of people in this world.

Finding records of his arrest was easy – since he had approved those to be filed himself. His mugshot was very different than the student pictures taken in Wammy's, being that, not only was he older, but the scars from the fire forced his look to change completely. Sure, they weren't as bad as one would imagine them to look, but it was clearly a change.

Before L knew it, he was being shook back into reality by Light. He had been reading all night at the computer, and hadn't got a wink of sleep in two days. Usually Watari would make him take a nap during this time, so his mind could be focused on the case… But he couldn't sleep without someone keeping an eye on Light, meaning he would have to wait until tonight.

"What were you up to all night…?" Light questioned.

L shook his head with a sigh, "Nothing of importance. Just a little research I needed to attend to."

"On Kira?"

"No."

With that, L stood from the bed.

They went about their business that day as if Beyond Birthday didn't even exist. L convinced himself this was just a temporary pique of interest – and would not hold his attention for much longer. But, as he would soon learn, L Lawliet was not always right.