Disclaimer: Uh, I soooo don't own Death Note. If I did, do you really think I'd kill L? :(

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Chapter Three: Revealing the Truth

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Light Yagami stared at his computer monitor in frustration.

Shoko Maki was nowhere to be found.

There was no one that looked like her in the photo gallery on the FBI's website. There was no female linked to Raye Penber that could be the woman he desperately needed to get rid of. And while there was a considerably large serial killer case that happened 2 years ago in LA, all the information on it was impossible to obtain.

There was no way he was going to find Shoko Maki's real name.

"L," Light muttered darkly, glaring at the screen in front of him.

Ryuk lifted his head from Light's mattress in interest. "Hunh?"

"L did this," Light spat in anger, his voice low. "It's obvious. Normally it wouldn't be so hard to find her. He must have figured out who she was… I'm sure Aizawa called him and told him what was going on..."

Light's fist's clenched, his nails pressing so hard into his palms that he almost drew blood. If L trusted this woman as much as she trusted him, then he was about to hear an earful about Kira and Light Yagami. L would suspect Light now, and he'd be taking the appropriate measures to prove that Light was Kira.

And having L this close to figuring out the truth was too close for comfort.

"They still don't have enough on me. They can't prove anything. I just have to lay low, and keep up my guard…"

A thought came to him then, slamming into his consciousness like a freight train.

Yuri.

Yuri was the girl he'd taken with him to Spaceland, the one who he'd used in his plan to get Raye to reveal his true identity. She had been on the bus with him when it had been hijacked, and she was the only one who had actually seen Raye show his ID to Light.

She was a witness.

Before there had been no reason to kill her, but now…? Was she now a liability? Would the NPA question her now that Shoko Maki was in their custody?

Could he afford to kill her?

Her death, an accident or not, would still draw some unwanted attention to him. Now that the NPA knew Kira could kill other ways than a heart attack (he was sure Shoko would tell them), her death by any means would look suspicious. More so because she knew him, and killing her now could add to the interest he was bound to get in the next few days.

But…

But, he could make her leave a note saying that she was running away, leaving her home and gallivanting off with a boy or a friend. He could have her commit suicide far from where she lived, in a place where it would be hard to find her body… and even if they did find her body, they still couldn't tie him to her death.

Light pulled out his death note, flipping it to a blank page and poising an ink pen over it, thinking about every detail he was about to write down.

Yuri Ohno

Suicide.

Starting January 6th, 2004, wakes up and thinks only of how best to commit suicide in a way that nobody will be inconvenienced, and her body will not be discovered. Leave's a note on her bed telling her parents that she is going out of town, and dies within 24 hours by implementing this plan.

Ryuk stood from Lights bed, looked over the boy's shoulder, and chuckled. "You know, just because you write down, 'and her body will not be discovered,' doesn't mean it will happen. The Death Note can't alter the future by that much."

Light set his jaw. "So she won't kill herself somewhere inconspicuous?" He asked, knowing it was too late to take back what he had already set into motion.

Ryuk hyuked a few times before answering. "Oh, she'll do it somewhere that would be hard to find her body, but in the future if someone happens to stumble on it… well, that can't be helped."

Light shrugged his shoulders in nonchalance, the anger on his face relaxing to an uncaring facade.

"Doesn't matter," he said, twirling in his chair to face Ryuk. "She'll die somewhere that is out of the way, and I can't be blamed. As long as she isn't found right away, I should be ok."

Ryuk smiled, his eyes twinkling jarringly. "I always knew you'd think of a way out of this one, Light," he said, but his tone was full of eerie humor, like he knew something Light didn't.

xxx

"Welcome, Shoko Maki. Aizawa-San, please remove those hand cuffs."

Naomi rubbed at her wrists when Aizawa un-cuffed her, her gaze never breaking from L's.

And there was no doubt in her mind that this was L.

There was no other explanation. In the subway, two years ago, he'd said; "Watching videos and seeing it for real is quite something different, but now I think I understand."

He'd meant her capoeira, it was as obvious now as it should have been then. But she hadn't wanted to know then, she'd wanted to think that the man named L had only been a voice over a telephone. It had made her life easier, it had simplified things to shove the thoughts of the man in the subway to the back of her consciousness.

It hadn't really been hard two years ago to convince herself that Ryuzaki must have been someone who worked for L, not the detective himself. There was nothing so special about her that L would want to meet her in person anyway. So the surprise and astonishment she was showing at the present was completely authentic.

"Y-you!"

Her mind raced. Should she hit him? A large part of her wanted to hit him for deceiving her. And yet, another part of her was too stunned to do anything but stand there and gape at him. Her feet seemed permanently glued to the floor.

"Why?" Was all that she could finally force out.

Ryuzaki's lips twitched, his large serious eyes never blinking as they watched her.

"I could never come right out and tell you that I was L, Shoko… No, that would have been very reckless of me… although I must say that going to see you that day had been entirely on impulse."

Naomi stared at him, her mouth slightly open. For a week she had spent her time with a serial killed that had been imitating this man, and while they looked very little alike when you got down to it, there were things that they both did that were disconcerting to her. The way he and Beyond Birthday spoke, some of the mannerisms each of them had, it took her to a place that made her slightly uncomfortable.

Taking a deep breath, shaking her head to try and clear the fog that had gathered in her mind, Naomi was able to speak.

"L, I need to speak with you… in private."

L's brows raised a fraction higher than they already were. "You can't tell me in front of the task force? I assure you that they are all trustworthy individuals…"

Naomi shook her head fervently. "No, I've already been lied to by a task force member today… I need to talk to you."

The other men that were seated around L looked surprised by her proclamation of 'being lied to' by a task force member, but if it was news to Ryuzaki then he didn't let it show. Instead he nodded and slid his feet to the floor, standing and walking to a room located behind him, gesturing for her to follow him with a small wave of his arm.

Naomi strode to him, keeping her eyes diverted from the men at the coffee table as she passed them, knowing that one of them was Light Yagami's father.

"Should we be letting her talk to L alone?" She heard one of the men question, and she cringed slightly at the thought of how this might look.

Like maybe she was here to kill L.

L seemed unworried by the situation, however, and closed the door behind him tightly once they were both inside of the room, which turned out to be a small, expensively decorated kitchen.

Naomi turned to look at him, her eyes clearly showing worry and distrust on her face.

"If you really are L," Naomi whispered, taking a step back so that she bumped into the island counter. "You'll know my real name."

L just stared, his eyes boring into her until she was compelled to look away, before he walked around her to the refrigerator. Naomi turned and watched him as he rummaged through its contents, humming in happiness as he found and pulled out a large glass bowl of chocolate pudding.

He sat it on the counter between them and extracted a spoon from a drawer at his waist.

"Would you like some, Naomi Misora?" He asked, offering her a spoon of her own.

"…"

Her breath caught, and Naomi felt tears prick her eyes. He'd said her name, he'd said her real name.

"No thank you." She whispered, shaking her head slightly, clenching her jaw.

'It's a stupid thing to cry over, get a grip!' Naomi thought, taking a deep breath to control her emotions.

L nodded once before focusing his attention on the task at hand, which happened to be pudding. He extracted a large about of the wiggling dessert onto his spoon (which he held with the very tips of his fingers), and shoveled it into his mouth, his body leaning on the counter and hunched over the dish.

Naomi watched in slight disgust, all relief of his knowing her name leaving her entirely. When it came to eating, L had no manners.

"I see that Beyond had some things right about you… you enjoy your sweets…"

L looked up at her from across the table.

"He was very perceptive… although it was more for his own benefit than yours. As much as he didn't want to believe it, he was trying to become me, to become 'L'… but I don't believe he really liked them as much as I do." Ryuzaki said, his mouth full.

Naomi's lips twitched at his confidence in the statement. "Oh? Are you 90 percent sure?" She teased, remembering him referring to percents in their phone conversations two years ago.

"100 percent, actually." L responded, nonplused as he continued to take large mouthfuls of the gelatin.

Naomi sighed, knowing that he was waiting for her explanation. It took her a moment, the silence stretching on, before she was finally able to say, "Raye, my fiancé, is dead."

L lifted his head to look at her, licking the spoon clean as he did so.

"Kira killed him." Naomi finished, her eyes focusing on the counter, her mood suddenly shifting as she stated the reason for her fervent intent on speaking with him.

"I know." L said after a moment, dropping the spoon into the now empty bowl (and it had been a rather large one), with a loud clang.

"You know?" Naomi questioned, her head cocking to the side.

"When I realized it was you, I quickly looked for a connection as to why you might need to speak with me. Your attachment to Raye Penber wasn't to hard to find, seeing as you both worked at the FBI for a time, and I immediately knew why you wished to talk to me."

Naomi bit her lip. "That makes sense," she said.

"You were speaking with Light Yagami?" L questioned, bringing a finger to his lips.

Naomi nodded. "He said he was the Superintendents son… I was hoping he could help me."

L's expression didn't change, but Naomi felt that there was somehow a shift in his mood.

"Please tell me everything from the beginning." L said, and Naomi was at last feeling the block that had been weighing her shoulder lifted in glorious relief. She was finally talking to L, and somehow things were going to be made right.

xxx

It was close to an hour later that Naomi had told all that she knew. From Raye's excursion on the hijacked bus, to revealing his ID to a passenger, to the connection she'd made between that incident and his death. She'd gone on to tell him her theories about how Kira killed, and her discussion with Light Yagami just hours ago.

L seemed most interested about Light.

"How many times did he ask for your name?" He repeated for the second time, and Naomi felt her heart quicken.

"He asked once when we met, and then he asked to see my ID later, when he offered me a job on the task force. When I said I didn't have it on me, he was kind of pushy about me going to get it right then… and then he asked my name again…"

L stared past Naomi's shoulder in thought, his index finger moving back and forth over his lips.

Naomi finally couldn't hold it in any longer.

"He's not part of the task force, is he?" she said, making it less of a question and more of a statement.

L shook his head no.

"You suspect he's Kira, don't you." She said, and when L nodded, she wasn't surprised.

"I'm eighty-seven percent sure as of right now… I could be over estimating though… Still, he fits the profile that I have expected Kira will be like. Young, smart, and he has access to the Kira case because of his father…" He said, his eyes serious as he looked up at her from across the kitchen's island counter, where they had not moved from since they'd begun their talk, both standing on opposite sides.

"Will you arrest him?" She asked timidly.

"Hmmm… Well, there's no solid proof that Light Yagami is Kira. I don't have enough evidence to obtain him. I need substantial proof or a confession from him, and I have neither… If I could find someone who had actually witnessed Raye showing Light his federal ID, but even then…"

Naomi sucked in a deep breath, her heart racing faster as she fought down a slight panic.

"He… he needed to know my name… to kill me."

"If Light is indeed Kira, then yes, I believe so," L agreed, straightening from his slouched position over the table, placing his hands deep into his pockets.

"L," Naomi said quickly, her head jerking to look at him. "L, he can find out my identity easily. My pictures still on the FBI's website. Hell, it's in the paper from when we caught B. I've told you everything I know, please, please catch him."

Naomi's heart raced more rapidly then ever, and she wondered if she was about to have a heart attack. Is this how Raye had felt? Had she really told L everything? Was there anything she'd left out? If she died now, without having given him an important clue, it could stop him from being able to catch and prosecute Kira.

L's lips twitched, "You are not going to die, Naomi Misora." He said, full of confidence.

Naomi couldn't help the look of terror and alarm that had settled across her features. She'd been stealing herself for death ever since she had heard of Raye's heart attack, ever since she'd been informed of Raye's demise.

"How… How could you know that?" she whispered, her hands slipping into her jacket pockets, trying to hide the fact that her palms were sweaty with nerves.

L smirked. "After your phone call, I made sure to have all information of your true identity repressed. I'm sure that Light Yagami had already figured out that he will not be able to obtain your real name. I'm sure he's also figured out that we do not have enough evidence to arrest him as of yet. …But now we can move in quicker than I had originally planned…"

Naomi stared at L in wide eyed wonder. "You… you suppressed my real name?" she asked in a whisper, her voice in slight disbelief.

"I did. It was the only way to save you, Naomi-San."

Naomi was filled with an image from two years past of L at the subway, trying to fling his arms around her. Trying to hug her. She'd been taken by surprise then, and had immediately kicked him down a flight of stairs.

"I could hug you now," she said, her voice shaky, "but I think you owe me a swift kick down a flight of stairs."

L smiled, and Naomi was struck by the oddness of it. Like smiling was not a common occurrence for him, and that he was so out of practice he'd forgotten how to do it. Like smiling was the most unnatural thing for the famous L to do.

"Light tried to convince the agent who obtained you, Shuichi Aizawa, that you were Kira," he said, his eyes unblinking as he stared at her.

Naomi felt her heart stop. He'd tried to shift the blame on her?

There were a million reasons to do it. It would have taken the heat off him long enough to find out her real name and kill her. She could have been blamed for the murders on Kira's behalf entirely, making him less of a suspect. It would discredit her theories on Kira, and when she'd talked to the task force they would have been less inclined to believe anything she had to say.

The list of reasons was endless.

"I feel like a fool," she said finally, her shoulders slouching. "I knew something was wrong but… but I wanted to believe he could help me."

"There is nothing foolish about seeking help, and Light gave you every reason to trust him… I musk ask though, why didn't you give him your ID when he asked for it? The way your story goes, you seemed to believe him when he said he was a task force agent, working under me."

Naomi sighed harshly. "It's what you said, actually, two years ago. If you are to ever be undercover, do not use your real name under any circumstance. When he asked for an ID, I went immediately for my purse. I almost… I almost did what he asked… but then I remembered Ryuzaki…you, saying that to me. I thought it was such an odd thing to say then, but I realized that this was the kind of situation you meant…"

L seemed almost pleased, and he walked around the counter to stand so they were side by side, facing each other.

"We'll say nothing to Chief Yagami about Light's involvement in this. Only what we have to, anyway. I don't want him accidentally alerting his son to our suspicions of him. Let the boy go on thinking that he is invincible…"

Naomi was quickly trying to keep up with L's change in topic. "You say accidentally, like he wouldn't do it on purpose. He's the boy's father, you don't think that he'd try to help Light if he knew you suspected him?" Naomi pointed out, unable to keep the skepticism and doubt out of her voice.

The tip of L's thumb entered his mouth. "I don't believe so, no. Superintendent Yagami seems to have a strong sense of moral obligation to this case."

He was looking up at the ceiling, and Naomi fought the urge to glance up and see what was so interesting. Instead she watched him, waiting for him to tell her his thoughts.

Finally he said, "We need to be discreet, very discreet, from now on…"

Naomi raised an eyebrow. "We?"

L's eyes diverted from the ceiling to look at her, his thumb exiting his mouth, only to have his lip sucked between his teeth. He was staring at her intensely, his eyes wide as ever.

"Yes, that brings me to my next point. Naomi, I can trust you, and I say so knowing you believe this. I know that Light asked you to join the task force under false pretense, but I hope you accept the offer when it is me asking you."

Naomi faltered. It struck something in her, either her pride or her introversion, to be told by L that he trusted her. To be trusted by L, whether he was lying or not, was an honor.

"You want… you want me?" She asked.

L's look was steadfast. "I assume you want to bring the man who killed your fiancé to justice. Your help would be beneficial to me, as it was two years ago…"

Naomi flinched at the mention of her murdered fiancé. It was true though, and going back to America without seeing this through was not an option at this point.

"I… I accept your offer, L," she said eventually, holding her hand out to the wild haired man in front of her.

L accepted her hand shake firmly. "And I'd appreciate if you'd call me Ryuzaki, not L," he added.

"…"

At this Naomi's determination wavered, and her hand slipped away from L's.

"I don't know if I can do that," she said after a moments pause. "When Beyond Birthday was impersonating you… he told me to call him Ryuzaki. I know you know this, but… calling you that name… I don't think I can."

A chill went up Naomi's spine at the remembrance of the deranged serial killer. Calling L by that name was too eerie, too strange. Like it might somehow bring back the psychopathic murderer.

There was a pause, as though L was thinking over what she had just said.

"I didn't think of it like that, but it makes sense. Calling me L would be fine when you're here. But in public, if you are on the phone or in other circumstances where you must speak with me, you should call me something else."

"What?"

"Anything will do, just not L. And we will tell everyone from here on out that your name is Shoko Maki." He said, before drawing in a breath.

"Also," he continued, "I don't know where you are staying now, but a room in the hotel I stay in would be essential. The accommodations would be included in your salary. This way, Kira will not be able to track you down, and I'm not far away in case of trouble."

Naomi agreed without question, glad at this suggestion. Being near enough to L that he may only be a floor or even a room away was somehow comforting.

"One last thing," L said, his tone deadly serious. "I trust all of the task force agents outside of this door, but you do not work for them. You are working independently under me, and only me. Not the NPA. Any information we discuss without their knowledge should be kept only between the two of us and Watari."

"Who is Watari?" Naomi asked, unable to hold back the question.

"He is the older gentleman you saw coming in. Anything you say to him can be expected to be kept a secret." L answered, still awaiting her response to his conditions.

Naomi met his gaze, looking into his eyes with conviction. "I will never reveal any of our private conversations to anyone. You can trust my secrecy and silence, L."

L nodded and looked at the door that would lead them into the living room, where the task force agents were still waiting.

"Aizawa-San will have told them about the possibility of you being Kira. They will not suspect Light Yagami because he is the Superintendents son, and because they know him… You will more than likely be under suspicion from them at this point on… Will you be able to sustain this, Naomi Misora?"

Naomi nodded, "I will. I know why they would suspect me, but I am here to help solve this case… there is nothing that could distract me from that, not even the knowledge that others think I'm Kira."

"They will also know that your name is an alias, and they may try to get you to reveal your true identity. Under no circumstances are you to tell your true name to anyone. Do you understand?"

Naomi nodded again, her eyes full of resolve and determination.

This seemed to appease L, and he stepped to the door, placing his hand on it.

"Then come, Shoko Maki…"

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Authors Note:

Isn't L smart? How clever was it of him to hide her real name?

Yuri didn't ever die in the manga or anime, but it fits my purpose now. That's right; I'm molding this fiction to suit my own purposes, how shocking! :)

Large thanks goes to everyone who has reviewed. Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I will warn all of you now that L's real name is eventually revealed, and that it may get a bit smutty… not yet though! How bad would that be, if she was off doing it with L when her fiancé just died. :P

And by the way, I don't know how you all felt about Raye, but he always bothered me. Telling her to mind her business and quit her job… he was a bit chauvinistic. In the book Another Note, Naomi isn't really sure if she wants to marry Raye, and she's also unsure about going back to the FBI. L makes her realize that it's something she really wants to do, while Raye was telling her not to return. He annoyed me with his whole, "stay home and take care of our kids, be the good house wife" thing… Ugh.

Okay, enough from me! Please review, constructive criticism is always welcomed, but no flames! :)

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