Light decided he would dress up for this occasion, and spent so much time trying to put together the right outfit that Ryuk started getting bored and therefore decided he would tease Light. "Going on a date," he clapped his hands above his head "a hit with the ladies and the men!"

"S-Shut up, Ryuk." Light said before choosing a dress shirt. "It's important that I look professional."

"Right! Professional!" Ryuk mock agreed. "If you keep this up, you won't get an apple when I come home tonight." Light smiled as Ryuk quieted down, and then asked for some privacy so he could change.

Light's throat was tight, he wasn't used to this, his life was boring before he picked up the Death Note. This would be the most intense public situation he ever placed himself in. Yet, there was something else nagging him, and he knew that that was because he would see L again, who he wanted to avoid completely. But he couldn't, so he would bring him out into the public, and that plan backfired.

But L was too important to let live.

Once he finished changing, Light looked in the mirror, cracked his neck, swallowed his nerves and turned around, leaving his bedroom.


Light blinked, waiting for his eyes to adjust after walking into a normal hotel lobby and ending up facing down a long dark staircase. "It's dark, so watch your step." said the small man in front of him. "So the investigation headquarters was in the basement of a hotel?" Light was thinking, while Watari instructed him to leave his phone and any other communication devices behind. In front of Light was a locked door that resembled one taken from a jail cell. He swallowed a bit too hard and rubbed his throat as he placed his phone down. "Very thorough. Just like L."

Watari now guided Light through the open door, and sprayed him down with sanitizer. Light was shocked for a moment, but then realized that L must have had a germ phobia or maybe a sensitive immune system. Watari opened a heavy black and gold door, which led to the bright, white office. "Here he is." Watari announced happily.

Light looked around, letting his eyes adjust to the sudden brightness, and his eyes landed on his father. "Dad."

"Light, I'm sorry about this."

Light didn't waste a second, "It's okay. I understand about the cameras. I knew that Ryuga suspected me."

Mogi greeted the teenager, and L introduced everyone that Light didn't know.


After an hour or two of discussion about the case, L tilted his head to the side, looked at Light and said "I'd be happy to have any advice you could offer on that."

"So you're saying, you think I'm like the real Kira?" Light scoffed. "No, I appreciate your talent."

"Now I can begin." L thought, and he gave Light a look that made him uncomfortable. "Now, it's possible that talent only blossomed since you met me... Maybe there was nothing to trigger it before, but there's something very passionate sleeping inside you."

There was a strange wave of... Embarrassment? that flowed through Light, and he could feel his ears and face burn. He glanced back towards his father, feeling like this conversation was heading in a direction he'd rather have alone. L was standing in front of him now, hunched over slightly.

"I was thinking I could use that in the service of good. Will you help me?" L asked. Light scratched his face. He was doing so good, but now his nerves were getting the best of him. "No. No," he thought "this is perfect, this lets me get close to him and earn his trust."

"You might be thinking a little too highly of me, but if you'll have me..." Light said smoothly. Yes, modest to the core. L smiled. "I thought you'd say that." L held out his hand, the challenge was on. Light shook his hand lightly, and without meaning to, ran his thumb across L's hand. "Fuck."

L was in Light's thoughts lately. Naturally. He was his sworn enemy. But the thoughts sometimes drifted to their first meeting, in the shower. They often happened late at night, when he was trying to fall asleep, and he would toss and turn, attempting to run from the thoughts he didn't want to have, but then L's mischievous smirk would pop into his mind and he wasn't sure if he wanted to kiss him or punch him.


Nothing went according to plan at first, but he changed his direction, and that is how Light Yagami ended up sitting, restrained, in a jail cell. He was being interrogated, hooked up to a lie detector, and his interrogator was none other than L. Light's blood boiled. L was in front of him, wearing his usual smug look. Forget punches, forget kisses, all Light needed was L's name. Forget everything else, forget forget forget. Light struggled with himself. He knew what was coming. He would give up the Death Note, for now, and become the Light Yagami he had left behind, who couldn't do anything for this rotten, rotten world.

Light was told to answer 'no' to every question, but he fought back, until he could take no more, and said 'no' when L asked if his name was Yagami Light. L's expression turned from smug to hopeful.

"Then I'll come right to the question." L said. Light was hunched over, his skin crawling, anxiety prickling him as thoughts rushed through his head. He didn't want to give up the Death Note, and what if this didn't work? Everything was on the line.

"Are you really..." L started and Light started to crack, laughing, showing his teeth like he wanted to rip apart L's throat. "Hey..." Light said, sobering up. "Do you enjoy pushing me around?" Light truly wanted to know. Wasn't Ryuga supposed to be his friend?

L grinned. "Do you find it humiliating?"

Light appeared as if he was laughing, before gasping out "Do what you want. At this point, if you won't believe me... Then all of my foolish pride... I throw it away."

Ryuk was in the corner. "Th-Throw it away?" He remembered his conversation with Light, not long ago.

"You're abandoning possession of the Death Note?" the Shinigami asked.

Light looked up at L, to cover the fact that he was talking to Ryuk. "Just do it already."

Ryuk waved, "Bye-bye-bee!" he said cheerfully. "Take care of yourselves! Now I can go eat some apples!"

Light wanted to yell at him, but continued looking up, staring at L, but never meeting his eyes.

Ryuk disappeared through the wall, and instantly Light Yagami became the person he was before he became Kira. Light's head slowly fell down, until he was staring at the floor, his mind and body worn. "Then I'll ask once again." L said.

"Yagami Light, are you..." he smiled "Kira?"

Light's eyes widened, why was Ryuga doing this?! He lifted his head slowly. Hadn't he already told him?! How many more times did Light have to tell L that he wasn't Kira, before L would believe him?!

Light shook his head furiously. "No..."

L wondered why Light would so willingly lie, and he turned his attention to the screen in front of him. Light was telling the truth. "You are Kira, aren't you?" L's anxiety began rising. He wasn't wrong!

Light stared ahead. "N-N-No, I told you. No!"

Then Light's eyes met L's dark ones, for the first time since his imprisonment.

"R-Ryuga... Please believe me!" he pleaded. Light wasn't acting anything like Kira. Kira wouldn't beg. "Okay?" Light asked. L didn't know what to do, and he hated that. "Damn."

"We're friends, aren't we?" Light asked, looking like he was about to break down.


L didn't understand. Something changed. Something changed, and the Light Yagami in front of him was a different person than the one he met in the showers not that long ago, and now he didn't know quite what to think. What happened to Kira? L knew Kira. L understood Kira. L wanted to get under Kira's skin, and slowly drive him crazy in more ways than one. "I can't understand what's going on at all." he thought.

After an interruption from Aizawa, L sent him home, and called for Watari. "Set up a camera here."

"Yes, sir." Watari replied, and that was that. L would confirm that Light was Kira. But, what would happen after that?


Light was in front of his father, free from the jail cell. "I'M NOT KIRA! I'M NOT KIRA!" Light's mind screamed as he panicked, until everything in him turned to ice as his father pulled a gun on him. "Tell me plainly, Light."

Light couldn't breath. "If I were Kira, I'd know your name and face... Right, Dad?" he tried to reason. "I wouldn't just stand here and let you kill me!" Light screamed, he was frightened, and angry. This was his own father! "Why?" he screamed again. The Chief stepped forward. "As a police officer..." he started. Light fell down, grasping the dirt with his hands, he was spiraling down into a place he couldn't pull himself out from. He was going to die! He was going to die!

"And as your father... I'm finishing this." Soichiro said, his face showing the pain he was feeling. Light pleaded with him. "Shut up!" Soichiro yelled. "Dad!"

"As fellow murderers, let's meet again in Hell." Soichiro pulled the trigger. Light gasped, and started checking his chest. Nothing. He looked up, and his father was staring at something in the distance. "Did you see that, L? I'm still alive!"


Everything was a test. Light could breath. He was back in the Kira Countermeasures Office. L stood before him, and quickly slammed a handcuff around Light's wrist. "What are you doing?" Light asked, confused. Everything... Everything was over, wasn't it? He wasn't Kira. Didn't L believe him? "It's a shame, isn't it? I'm still lacking a bit of definitive evidence to prove that you are not Kira." L said.

"Yagami Light, let's play this game."

The Chief spoke up. "L, if my son were Kira, I would already be dead."

"Well, that was, in its own way, a touching display of father-son love. But," L turned his gaze to Light's lazily, "I want you to stay where I can watch you 24 hours a day from now on."

"Give me a break." Light said. "You want to prove your innocence, don't you?" L asked.

"This will be fun, Light-kun."

"What kind of game is he playing?"

L was holding up the other handcuff. Light reached forward and grabbed L, before being restrained. "Do you enjoy toying with people's feelings that much?!"

"Yes." L thought and smiled. Light spoke up again, "No matter what we do, he'll suspect me no matter what!"

L attached the other handcuff to his own wrist, surprisingly Light. Light thought he was being completely restrained again, and he wasn't sure if this was better or worse. "You know that while we're here doing this, Kira is killing people!" Light yelled. "Then if we catch Kira, I'll believe you 100%" L replied, before turning and sitting down in his chair, tugging a very aggravated Light along, making the teen stumble and almost fall, embarrassing him.

Before a fight could break out, everyone began bringing Light up to date on what was happening.