Author's Note: Still haven't gotten back my volumes..

('Raito' or 'Light'?)

Chapter 3: You May Be My Enemy

Although it was only the beginning of the spring and summer seasons, the April day had granted an unusually warm climate. It had inspired many people to venture outside, the masses eager for the more comfortable weather after a particularly drawn out and harsh winter.

Two people on their way to the tennis court wasn't anything abnormal. A normal, everyday occurrence, and no one had taken any notice until someone recognized the distinguished pair engaged in an increasingly fierce match.

The conclusion brought him his first defeat in anything in years, and the panting 'Ryuga' shuffled over to the net, a halfway boundary marker between himself and secretly his suspect. Leaning over only slightly from his already arched back, his long arm extended to grasp the innocent yellow tennis ball between his fingertips.

He became aware Light had already closed the distance between his former position and himself, on the other side of the net.

Glancing up, his eyes unmoving as he rose, he could feel a drop of sweat trickle from his temple down the side of his face. "Impressive game."

A good-natured smile, and Light agreed, "It really was. It's been a long time since I played. You're very good."

Tilting his head only slightly, Ryuga started a walk down the length of the net, and Light followed him on the other side. Only now noticing the fuss outside the fences, L felt himself unnerved and slightly annoyed by the sheer number of bystanders, cheering them on, excited by the game.

"I hadn't realized we'd drawn such a crowd." Not completely sure if he was talking to himself or Light, he stuck his fingers in his front pockets, thumbs sticking out, the left one wrapped securely around the racket, and it hugged against his leg.

"Actually, I hadn't either." Light took a quick look around, striding as properly as one would expect from him.

Gratefully enough, the crowd had enough sense not to follow them into the locker rooms, and L was at the very least, glad to be out from under the stares of the viewers.

While Light opened his assigned locker and arranged his belongings, Ryuga located a paper towel near the sinks and, holding it carefully with his fingertips, began to brush at the misting of sweat on his face. Wordlessly, he dabbed at the droplets on the back of his neck, and was slightly disappointed to find his hair as damp because of it. He'd taken a shower this morning and honestly wasn't looking forward to needing another one.

"Hey, Ryuga?"

Turning around, he found that Light had already changed, and was just putting the racket back into his locker. "Yes?"

His mouth opened to say something, but Light hesitated, and an expression of curiosity came over his features, and instead switched his question to, "Isn't that difficult, to wipe your face using only your fingertips?"

"Somewhat."

Another moment, pondering to himself, and Light let it drop. If Ryuga did things in a particular way, as he proved in many ways, and was already a trademark of his, then that was his business. "Would you be interested in going somewhere for refreshments? Something to drink, coffee maybe?"

L discarded the used paper towel neatly in the garbage. A very polite request, he acknowledged. Light Yagami was his prime suspect, and having come to a university he didn't need to attend simply to make himself an acquaintance of the college freshman, he couldn't refuse such an invitation. No, on the other hand, he was lucky he hardly had to make a move at all. Light was coming to him.

So he nodded softly, offering only the slightest of smiles. It was only a little bit of a false one.

Only 23 minutes later, the two of them stepped from the warm outside to the chilled interior of a well-kept coffee shop. Hazel-colored wood panels graced the floors and part of the way up the walls. The plants between booths and along some of the walls, L noted, were real, and he followed Light to a table near the back of the establishment.

Tiny little clicks that were inaudible outside became apparent inside the coffee shop; L had no appreciation for shoes, such a dislike as to encourage him even further from adventuring outside where he'd have no choice but to wear them, and left his shoelaces untied. The looser the better. Consequently, a rythmic clatter of the plastic ends onto the hard wood floor did already garner some attention from those the pair passed by.

Sliding into the bench across from Light, L's nimble fingertips pulled at the laces even more from the eyelets. He could feel his frustration rising; shoes and socks were avoided for a reason. He pulled the tongue of the sneaker up. Uncomfortable and inconvenient, and for him almost never needed, which is why the white running shoes he wore now looked barely used; simply, they were. Of course, he'd experimented with a number of ways to remedy this. Sandals were inconvenient; the straps could prove to be even more of a nuisance than a sneaker, and flip flops fell off quite easily, even while he was walking. Even having tried shoes that were too large was annoying; they made him clumsy.

Effectively forgetting he was even in the company of another, he stared dismally at his sneakers, close to his face, being that he'd instinctively sat in the position most familiar to his body upon sitting. For several minutes he stayed this way, and on the other side of the table, Light had already told the responsible waitress twice they needed a few more minutes to decide their order.

Nibbling softly on his fingernail, he continued to stay this way, in his own thoughts. As seconds wore on, he forgot just a little bit more that he was with another person, though ironically his mind was very focused on the Kira case, and how best to go about extracting clues from Light.

For the average person, it would have gotten to be awkward in less than a minute, and eventually, Light spoke up. "Ryuga?"

Refusing to move, his eyes turned upward, and fixed their blank force on the freshman college student. Yet in another two seconds he decided he should begin his probing. "This is a nice place."

"It is," Light's smile was polite, perhaps even a touch friendly. "I like to come here; it's private, and no one will bother you, or stare at you, about the way you sit."

For a split second L considered asking why it was really that abnormal. The bodies of human beings were flexible and versatile. This position in which he sat was not so much an abnormality of a human being as it was a societal irregularity. He brushed it off, and instead desired to stay focused.

The waitress returned, and each ordered coffee. When it arrived, L quickly set to sweetening the beverage to his own taste. Light watched in puzzlement as one sugar packet after another was emptied into the dark liquid. The wrappers piled up to an impressive heap on a spot on the table, and the coffee was less and less becoming so, and somewhere along the way was becoming more sugar.

The cup, Light noted, was actually running out of space, whereupon L's discovery, he sipped a fair amount out, careful to exclude the settled sugar. Yet he wasn't finished, and recommenced pouring more sugar into it once he made some space. Another 4 packets later, and as Light thought he might have been done, he instead picked up the little tin pitcher of cream and poured enough to fill the cup to the brim with what was safely by now composed mainly of melted sugar.

Having watched in confusion and somewhat fascination, Light suddenly decided he'd take his coffee black this time, and abandoned the sugar packet he was holding onto the table. Ceremoniously, L took it up in his fingers and emptied the contents into his cup as well.

One hand stirred the thick concoction with a spoon, almost by its own accord, while L turned to the duffle bag he'd brought with him, and his eyes scanned the wide container for a second before selecting several envelopes.

It was time to begin his investigating on suspect Light Yagami. The same hand slid the envelopes across the table to Light, while his right hand picked up the coffee cup, and slurped quietly. Their waitress walked by, and frowned upon the stack of empty sugar packets, and hesitated to see if their guests had childishly wasted all of them, until she spotted the thick brew of Ryuga's cup, and she quickly stepped away, with a peculiar story to later relay to whomever she talked to later.

L slowly licked his lip from the glaze of sweetness that had settled there from his drink, eyes gazing over the rim as Light scanned the papers. Surely he'd find out what his suspect was made of.

--

Their conversation had been abruptly halted due to an almost simultaneous ringing of their cell phones. Now they were in the hospital, visiting Soichiro Yagami.

The sheets, floors, and ceiling were white, a typical hospital. Even the walls were painted white, however halfway to the ceiling they switched to a pale pattern of leaves and flowers. Every so often a framed picture was placed somewhat clumsily on the wall, soothing images of beaches, palm trees, landscapes. Vaguely L wondered why there were never any pictures of people.

He stared at his wriggling toes, glad to be rid of the shoes for at least a while, then over to the bed where Soichiro Yagami lay exhausted. His faithful wife and his dutiful son were beside him.

This was, L realized, the first time he had ever been in a hospital. He brought his thumb to his lips, and his teeth gnawed softly at his fingertip. As he watched the family, he wondered for only a fleeting moment where Sayu was.

The square white bandages held needles and monitoring wires firmly in place in various spots all over the aging man's body, and his worried family circled around him. The white dressings made Mr. Yagami a part of the hospital; he was claimed by it. Until the white was pulled off him, he belonged to this place.

Although he could see the instinct to worry over a family member, L wondered why his family was indeed so unsettled. Mr. Yagami was exhausted, but far from death. The 'heart attack' had been a false alarm, and moreover, he was in safe hands, being monitored and treated. Why would they be so persistent in remaining fearful? This was something out of a TV drama, which it certainly wasn't. They were being almost a tad foolish.

Yet he waited. He wasn't so sure why he continued to stay here. He wasn't part of Soichiro's family, he was what could be called his boss. True, he felt fortunate he hadn't lost what seemed to be an extremely valuable member of the Task Force, but he was still at a loss for a reason why he'd stay here now that he knew he was alright.

The young detective calmly searched his mind for a substantial reason. Perhaps it was simply sentimentality? It didn't quite fit. Although he did feel the presence of a connection with Mr. Yagami since he had met him before, there was nothing 'sentimental' between himself or any of the task force members.

Regardless. He felt a small pull from somewhere inside him. It was intriguing, and yet unsettling. This would require further thought later.

+-+

"You already know I suspect you of being Kira."

Anyone would know that it was an entirely inappropriate thing to say when walking out of a hospital with a boy whose father was in one of the rooms. But L didn't care. Or he did, but only enough to keep his voice down so no one would hear.

Clearly it had irked Light, and he promptly sent Ryuga an unpleasant look. "My father is in the hospital because of Kira. Why would I drive my own father to this?"

"Accidents happen." L answered, "No one could have foreseen this, although they could predict it, based on how much effort and time your father has put into this case. Even if you are Kira, you couldn't prevent his becoming ill."

"Drop this! I'm not Kira." Light demanded, his voice stronger. "If anything, I want to catch Kira more because of this. For driving my father to this point."

"I see." Was a simple response, but L had looked away in the middle of Light's sentence. In truth, he had ceased listening so carefully, and wasn't completely sure of what he'd responded to. It didn't matter; surely all Light-kun was doing was denying his being Kira.

Clearly Light had noticed L wasn't listening and he felt some frustration rise.

Grabbing the collar of the other's shirt, Light carefully yanked him over, in a much more forceful way than an onlooker would have suspected, to a quiet corner of the hallway.

"Listen to me," He hissed under his breath. "Your suspicion of me has my father even more upset. Why say such a thing?! You'll only discourage his health like that."

Light and L were within an inch of the same height, and so as Light tried to convince him, Ryuga stared with vacant eyes; they were masked, but not unseeing. He searched Light's face, for any trace of lies, deceit. Any trace at all...

--

As they stepped outside, he spotted the car Ryuga had left the entrance ceremony in days earlier. The driver, an older gentleman, opened the door for L as he prepared to step inside.

"Ryuga," Light's tone had become sharp, and the crouched young man turned to look at him. "Do you really think I'm Kira?"

"Who knows," L teased his bottom lip with his thumb a moment before he dropped his hand and slipped it into his pocket. "You could be. At present, you are the prime suspect."

"Ryuga," Trying again, Light replied even more harshly, "I'll do anything to prove I'm not Kira. I will. I'll show you I'm not Kira!"

Light Yagami was becoming impatient, L noticed. So even the exceptional prodigy had a temper. "It will prove itself as time goes on."

"But there has to be something I can do," Light continued to press, "Think about it. Imagine for a moment, what it would be like to be suspected of being Kira."

For a moment, L heeded Light's request, glancing away to focus, and his active imagination worked on the scenario. Several seconds passed before he did feel an impact upon him, and he responded, eyes turning back to the young student. "That feels terrible."

As he heard the car door shut beside him under Watari's hand, and felt the slight wind it produced tickle his hair, he rolled down the window to gaze outside at Light, still waiting.

"Light," He repeated calmly, "If you are indeed not Kira, I will sooner or later make certain of it."

Obviously such an answer did not satisfy his companion from that afternoon, and he didn't fully care. But almost on impulse, he spoke softly, "Light-kun. Let's play tennis again soon. Perhaps next Wednesday?"

Maybe it had startled Light somewhat, and he blinked a few times as apparently any frustration the boy had somewhat melted. "S...sure. Sometime soon."

A soft smile from L, and his finger reached for the control button for the window. "I look forward to that."

With that, he closed the window, and the car took off from the curb.

So it had been an impulse of his. It mattered very little. An action that had indeed somewhat confused him, and he again was forced to wonder why he would do such a thing. Instinctively, he again chewed his finger, this time the middle knuckle of his index finger the victim. He supposed, at the very least, it might have relieved some ill feelings directed towards him from Light. And it was another chance to get closer to Light, find out more.

Staring out the window, the shoes long discarded on the floor of the car, L found himself looking forward to next Wednesday. Why so, he failed to clarify.

(You May Be My Enemy) End

Ending Notes: L is actually very rude, isn't he? He'll learn...

By the way L. It's called compassion. That's why you cared. You like some people.

Light's crazy. We know. But he's important, to the story and to L, in a sense, being his "first ever friend". This isn't going to turn into a LxLight yaoi fanfiction. Not because I have anything against it, but I want to keep the story palatable to all readers. Here, their relationship is strictly friendship. Just because this is an L centric story doesn't mean he's the only important person..

Some may have noticed; I'm using the "Volume 13: How to Read" for guidance. It's actually very useful, from knowing they had their tennis match in April to Matsuda being a year older than L, whose now 24 at this point in the story. :

In the end, I decided on "Light" or "Light-kun" instead of "Raito". I already started with the Westernization of names, like "Mr. Yagami", so I might as well stay consistant.