Death Note does not belong to us!

A/N: This chapter is a little short. I decided to leave one of the scenes for the next chapter since I'm taking so long to get these posted. My RL has been so completly crazy— not in a good way. It doesn't help that I'm also working on another fanfic on my main account right now. I shouldn't have tried starting two projects at once. Anyway, I hope this chapter is enjoyable. Ari and L are about to interact for the first time! Happy reading! ^_^


The only sound in the room was the steady stream of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major. As if time had suddenly decided to stand still, Ariadne Romani stood stiffly in the center of her hotel room, gawking at the alien laptop that had somehow managed to find its way to the desk. Ari had been completely unprepared for what she was seeing. The mysterious detective, known only as 'L' had somehow tracked her down, infiltrated her hotel room, and planted his own communication device.

She shouldn't have been surprised. L was known for this sort of thing. What really sent chill bumps down her spine was the fact that he had caught her in such a candid moment. Her hair was wrapped up in a towel, and she was in her pajamas. She secretly hoped he didn't have any visual devices in the room. There was a 'joke' circulating around the detective community that L had voyeuristic tendencies.

For all she knew he could have installed cameras in the bathroom. Without even realizing it, she suddenly crossed her arms, as if she were topless and exposed. Her cheeks flushed. 'Please, please, please don't let that voyeur joke be true!'

He had asked her in a rather rude way to introduce herself. When there was no answer from her end, the synthetic voice decided to taunt her. "I suppose there's no harm in your silence. Actually, there's really no reason for you to introduce yourself. I already know who you are in terms of codename, and I could find out your real name and history in a matter of minutes—provided I find that you're worthy of such attention."

Ari's open mouth slowly closed and turned into a frown as her eyes narrowed. "So it's true what they say about you then. You really are arrogant and unlikable."

"So it's true. You really can talk." The synthetic voice was mocking her. "Sparrow— that's very typical for a female codename. If you were truly serious about keeping your identity a secret, you would have picked a name that masked your gender at the very least."

"And how do you know I'm Sparrow? Maybe my colleague and I are only working for Sparrow. There were obviously unidentified agents at the mall who were working for you!" Ari couldn't think straight. She couldn't believe she was being intimidated by a letter on a computer screen— an armchair detective who was too much of a coward to show himself in person. 'No! Damn it! I can't call him a coward for that because I basically do the same thing! Damn you, L!'

A brief silence followed before L replied. "I already have in my possession footage from the mall that shows you making your escape before the police arrived. Your boyfriend worked under an alias that placed him as one of Sparrow's investigators; but if my hunch is correct, he is actually your right hand man and key public figure— known only as Ringo. His appearance is strikingly different from what the authorities are used to seeing, but his apparent closeness to you as well as his ability to wrap up the loose ends of criminal processing and paperwork on Sparrow's behalf— a job normally reserved for Ringo alone— it's really all too obvious. You are Sparrow and your boyfriend is Ringo."

Ari's mind was racing several hundred miles an hour. L had figured it out with minimal effort. Had the name of Sparrow never taken the credit for apprehending the killer, perhaps he wouldn't have— no. L would have still figured out that she was Sparrow and Avery was Ringo. She tried very hard to maintain a cool and collected composure. It normally wasn't a difficult task for her, but L was pushing the wrong buttons. "You're lying about the cameras. The only security cameras at that mall were inside of stores."

"You obviously aren't familiar with my voyeuristic reputation. The cameras were my own— installed in less than two hours and removed just as quickly."

Ari balled up her fists and stomped her foot on the floor in frustration. "Okay, fine! You want a name to address me by; then it is indeed 'Sparrow'! You figured it out! Congratulations, your highness! What do you want, L? What gives you the right to intrude on me like this? Are you going to threaten me with those security tapes just because I was the one who cuffed the bad guy?"

"It would appear you're starting to panic. I assure you, there's no need. I have no interest in revealing your identity— provided you accept the fact that you would have never apprehended your suspect had it not been for my own tactics. In fact, you were merely an inconvenience in my way. Because of you, the killer was apprehended before he could lead us to the true crime scene. That's hardly anything to be proud of."

Ari jumped on the defense. "T-there's already plenty of evidence for the prosecution to have that man sentenced to death! You, yourself uncovered most of it! There wasn't any point in uncovering the locations! The disclosure of such scenes would have only made things harder for the families of the victims!" Why would L actually want a sadistic killer to abduct a woman so she could be subjected to God only knows what sorts of abuse— all for the sake of solving a puzzle?

"Evidence that holds up in a court of law has never been a concern of mine. I uncover what is needed to finish the puzzle— to answer each and every unanswered question. The stab wounds on one of the victims indicated a map of great significance. The geometric measurements of the wounds on the chest revealed the estimated distance between each point. All I needed to find was one to uncover them all. Do you really think he'll reveal any of those locations now that he's in custody?"

"Who cares? You were willing to take the chance of losing one of your own people just so you could solve the full puzzle, even though it wasn't even necessary! I'm sorry; but after all of this, I think I've lost a great deal of the respect I originally had for you!"

"I can see now that we're not on the same page. I was curious to see if I could consider you a useful tool in the future, but you're obviously nothing but a bother. I'll have to advise you not to get in my way in the future. I shall agree to keep your identity concealed if you can agree to that condition."

"I was in your way? And you don't think you ruined my plans as well?" Ari ran his words through her mind over and over again. 'I could consider you a useful tool in the future… A 'useful tool'… but you're obviously nothing but a bother... 'a bother'... the very nerve!'

L ignored her defensive statement. "I believe it would be in your best interest to stick to afternoon tea parties with your boyfriend. This field of work isn't meant for little girls, such as yourself. It was very nice meeting you and I thank you for your time." Before Ari could say anything, the screen went black.

Ari stood motionless in the middle of the room. Slowly, her eyes closed as she inhaled a deep breath and silently counted to ten. The encounter with L had left her face flushed with anger. She glared at the computer. 'There's no way he's going to just leave this computer here. I'd like to see him try and take it! I could confiscate it and'

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. On full alert, Ari made sure she was armed before she answered. Her eyes widened when she saw the director of the modeling show standing there and smiling— just as casually as if he were visiting his best buddy.

Aiber wasted no time. "Hello there. You know, in all the commotion today, you dropped your gift certificate." He pulled the envelope with the certificate out of his shirt pocket and handed it to her.

Ari jerked it out of his hand and threw it on the floor— to which Aiber replied "Oh come on, I know it's a shit store, but it's still free."

"I know that's not the reason you're here." She glared hard and pointed the gun at him as a warning.

Aiber frowned. "Is this the way you treat all of your visitors? You're actually right. I'm here to reclaim the laptop."

"Oh, is that yours?" Ari snarled in sarcasm. "Well, it just happened to somehow walk into my room while I was in the bath, so I'm going to assume it likes me better. I think I'll keep it."

"I really do need it back."

"Well, you're not getting it."

"You really aren't very nice, are you? Most of the pretty ones aren't. That must make you a rare exception to the rule."

The way Aiber worded it made Ari want to shoot him right there. "You can tell L to go screw himself! He's not going to order me around and you're not getting this computer!"

Aiber tried looking defeated, rolling his eyes up and sighing. "Well… if you're really going to be such a bitch about it, then I guess I stand defeated. I really hope you decide to use that gift certificate. I took a slap to the face for that damn thing."

Remembering the moment at the mall when she had slapped him in the face, she went on the defense—briefly forgetting about the current heat of the moment. "Look, I apologized for that! I don't take kindly to men sneaking up on me and grabbing me from behind!" She lowered her gun.

"All I did was touch your shoulder to get your attention. You make it sound like I groped you." Aiber arched his eyebrow in half astonishment.

"Okay, you know what? This is just ridiculous. I'm about to slam the door in your face."

Aiber cut his eyes to the side and smirked— slightly tilting his head. "Very well then, fearless vixen. I shall gladly make my exit. I'd much rather talk to that other cute little blonde anyway." He winked at her and walked away. Ari closed the door, feeling victorious that she had stood her ground and refused the man her 'new' laptop. 'I've got to go get Avery and tell him what just happened!' She turned around with great haste to get changed— only to find that the laptop had vanished.


From the ninth floor of an upscale hotel, a pair of tired eyes peered out the window. It wasn't clear if he was just enjoying the view of the lights contrasting against the night sky, or if he was simply lost in his own thoughts. L always made sure to ask for hotel rooms that were at least six stories off of the ground. The top floor was always his first choice when requesting a room. He always had to have a window that overlooked the rest of the area. Only L knew the reasoning behind this. Watari had never asked about it; but rather assumed it was really just a matter of personal preference.

The muffled sound of his cell phone broke the silence. His face didn't turn away from the window as he fished it out of his pocket and held it up to his ear in the usual delicate manner. "Yes?"

"Aiber and Wedy have returned from their assignment. Do you wish to see them?"

"Yes, Watari. Please, send them up." As L ended the call, he let out a small sigh that was barely audible. It had been a very long day, and the bright lights that lit up the city weren't bringing him the tranquility he was hoping for.

The door to his room opened a little less than five minutes later. Watari escorted the thief and con-artist into the room and cleared his throat slightly to get L's attention— who had not bothered to turn away from the window.

Aiber was the first to speak. "Mission accomplished, boss… sort of."

L spoke in a monotone voice without turning around to face who he was addressing. "You recovered the laptop from the girl's room?"

Wedy answered this time. "It was child's play. Aiber kept her distracted and she never even knew I was there."

"That's wonderful news." There was no trace of enthusiasm in L's reply. "I thank you for your assistance." He still hadn't turned away from the window.

His words were followed by a silent tension that filled the entire room. Aiber opened his mouth to say something, but decided it wouldn't be the best time after glancing at the expression on Wedy's face. Almost a full minute passed before anymore words were spoken. "Not that I'm trying to sound ungrateful for your gratitude, but I think you owe me more of an apology than a pat on the back for a job well done."

Another moment of uncomfortable silence followed before L replied."Watari… Aiber… I would like to have a word with Wedy in private."

Watari simply nodded and headed for the door. Aiber couldn't help but grin slyly. "Is it time for make-up sex?"

Wedy responded by slapping Aiber across the face. "Don't even try and take it there, Aiber! I wouldn't touch that man if he were the only one left in existence!"

Aiber rubbed his cheek and frowned. "Talk about an off day! That's the second time a woman has raised a hand to—" Aiber decided not to finish when he noticed L was slowly turning around—slouching over with his hands tucked away in his pockets. His dark eyes zoned in on Aiber from an angle. "Aiber, please re-enter the room in five minutes. I will need to speak with the two of you as a unit before I dismiss you."

"Right." With that, Aiber made a quick exit.

Once the other two had left, Wedy stood sulking with her arms crossed— watching L study her in silence. "Well… are you going to say whatever it is that you wanted to say? The second hand keeps on moving. It's not going to stop, not even for you."

The gaps of silence were starting to drive Wedy crazy. Just when she thought she would explode and storm out of the room, L decided to speak. "The events of today were unexpected."

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock! But you know what? Even if that couple hadn't had interfered, I would still be in that madman's hands by orders of you! I may be tough and l may walk down a dangerous road more often than not, L— but willingly delivering myself to a sadistic serial killer? You don't give a damn about the safety of me or Aiber! All you care about is getting results, no matter what the cost! If I had any sense, I'd drag your cold hearted ass straight to the FBI and expose the man behind the letter. What would you think of that, monkey boy?"

L appeared indifferent to her rant. "I don't recall forcing you to accept the job." He sluggishly started walking over to her. "It was my original intention for you to leave the premises with the suspect. I would have had you back before he had the chance to cause you serious physical harm. I made sure you had an escape tool in case anything went wrong."

"—which I couldn't get to because he knocked me over the head and held a knife to my throat!" Wedy finished the scenario for him. "You can't tell me you didn't even consider the possibility of something like that happening!"

L was only a foot away from her now. His eyes tore holes thorough her own. "Had I not considered it, then Watari obviously wouldn't have been on the roof." L then did something that completely shocked Wedy. He put his hand on her shoulder. L normally didn't do that sort of thing. Wedy was so stunned; she couldn't find any more words to continue the argument.

He had lowered his head so that he was now staring at the floor. Wedy could no longer see his eyes for all of the messy hair that had fallen over them, but she swore she could hear the faintest of sighs. "I'm sorry." He said the words as if they were a foreign language he had just learned.

Wedy wasn't sure how to reply, but she knew without a doubt that L was truly being sincere. He didn't have to look her in the face to prove it. In fact, it was just the opposite. If anyone was good at looking people straight in the eye and lying, it was L. He did it so he could see reactions. One thing he couldn't seem to do, however; was look people in the face when he wasn't lying— the reason more than likely being because he didn't want to see a reaction.

Almost as soon as he had said it, his hand pulled away from her shoulder and returned to the pocket in his jeans. L strolled over to a sofa and perched himself on it. "Though the likelihood of me sending you on more dangerous assignments is definite, you will never again be asked to put yourself in a situation similar to the events that perspired today."

The conversation ended right there, because their five minutes were up. There was a knock on the door. It was time for Aiber and Watari to re-enter the room. L remained perched on the sofa as the others gathered around him. Aiber had entered with the intentions of making another reference to sex, but Wedy's death glare quickly made him change his mind.

"As the three of you are aware, our plans to apprehend the Model Mangler and uncover his bolt holes were foiled today by another detective, known as Sparrow." L narrowed his eyes in annoyance as he said the name. "Though she's a far cry from surpassing the world's top three detectives, her ability to stay ahead of the FBI in this case is very impressive."

"You say that as if it irks the hell out of you. You shouldn't have let her take the credit for the catch." Aiber took a seat in one of the lounge chairs and rested his feet on the coffee table.

"She interfered with my operation, which resulted in the failure to locate the killer's houses of torture. I had no other choice but to let her take the credit. My main concern was making sure the three of you could leave without being noticed."

'If that's the reason, then maybe I was wrong about L not caring. Maybe he really does give a damn about the safety of his employees.' Wedy looked down slightly. "Didn't I hear her say the courts already had enough evidence for a conviction?" Wedy had hidden within the hotel room during L's conversation with Ari.

L looked up at the ceiling briefly, though his expression didn't change. "You mean the evidence that won't get thrown out of court? The only solid evidence that connects that man to the killings right now are the solutions to the puzzles that he left on the bodies of the victims. In order to make sense of it and come to the conclusion that a guilty verdict is the right verdict, the jury will have to decipher the clues that the FBI could not. Do you really think that sounds realistic?"

Watari tried to offer a solution. "Couldn't you give a written statement explaining what the messages found on the corpses mean?"

"I'm afraid that would be the equivalent of a professor trying to explain an advanced calculus equation to a student who has yet to even study basic algebra."

"You're assuming the jury will be compiled of morons." Wedy rolled her eyes.

"I'd say the chances are 98%."

"I also heard you tell that woman that you weren't concerned about evidence for the court. You just wanted to finish the puzzle for your own personal amusement."

"My statement was only half true. There's no point in me wasting my time solving cases if I can't produce the proper evidence required for a conviction. Having enough evidence isn't practical if you consider the little tricks defense attorney's use to get certain items thrown out. An overwhelming amount is always the key. If we could have found one torture shack, we would have had the coordinates for the other ones as well. The evidence found in those locations would have painted a clearer picture to the jury of what this man was doing. I'm also certain that a surplus of physical evidence would have been discovered to seal a conviction."

Aiber ran his hand through his hair. "And because of that couple, all the court has are pictures of grotesque corpses to study. No murder weapon or DNA evidence… what the hell were they thinking?"

"They were more concerned about getting him off of the streets— the sooner he's arrested, the sooner the killings stop."

"Humanitarian detectives?"

"It certainly appears that way. In future operations, we'll need to keep a close eye out for other investigators. We don't need a repeat of what happened today. In the meantime, I have the headache of retrieving our killer long enough to interrogate him. There's still a very small chance he may give away a clue that leads us to what we're looking for."

"On a lighter note, Sparrow is definitely a cutie. She reminds me of Wedy." Aiber looked over at Wedy and winked.

"You want me to slap you again, don't you?"

"I could go for getting slapped around for awhile, if you're interested in that sort of thing."

"Maybe next time, you'll get a fist instead of a palm."

L interrupted Aiber and Wedy's bickering. "If we're finished here, you two may be excused from my room. I'm craving shortcake right now, and the coffee has yet to be brewed. I fear things could soon get very ugly."

Watari took the hint that it was time to start the coffee, and Wedy and Aiber took the hint that the meeting was over. After the two were gone, Watari made sure that L was fully stocked with cake and coffee. As the city around him gradually slowed down to rest for the evening, the world's greatest detective prepared himself for another all-nighter.


I wanted to thank you guys for the reviews. They really mean a lot! I also wanted to thank you for your patience! I'm hoping to pick up the pace with my updates soon, provided things calm down a little here at home. See you next chapter! ^_^