A/N: Hey guys! Here's the fourth chapter of MSP. I hope you enjoy it! Please review! Constructive criticism is very welcome. :)

"L."

"I've lost track. How many years has it been?" the almost familiar voice asked through the darkness.

"Sixteen years," she replied simply, taking another step into the room, trying to follow the glow of the laptop screen.

"That's a rather long time..." he mused to himself. Or rather, the voice mused to itself. "How old are you? Twenty three..?"

"Twenty four."

"Oh, yes. A year younger than me..." There was the sound of silverware clinking against a plate. Through the silence, Jade heard who she thought was L, swallow. And she thought right...

"If you haven't guessed. This is L," the voice came again. "...best friend." She could picture his ten year old self smiling. But he was twenty five, now.

"I'm not that stupid," she said in her defence.

"Never said you were, take note."

She thought she'd be happier than this. Maybe it was the fact that it was pitch black, except for that dim glow. If the lights were turned on, or the windows blinds were up, and she could see L, she would rush over and give him a hug.

"Why did you decide to meet with me? I thought you were supposed to keep your identity secret..." Jade said slowly.

"L is a secret enough," L's voice hit the air. "...For you, at least."

"I suppose."

"It's nice to see you don't struggle to pronounce the word identity, anymore," he said again.

"That was years ago," she said defensively.

"Here. Come to the light," he ordered, as she took a few slow and cautious steps towards it.

She could see the dim outline of a man, crouched in front of a laptop. He looked up, his eyes standing right out to her. He smiled, "It's nice to finally see you again."

"Likewise," she shot right back, a smile of her own appearing on her lips.

L looked back down, and she could hear plastic crinkling. Then L looked back up, and held out a red lollipop, "Here you are."

She extended her hand to take it, "Thank you, L."

"I like you."

It had been a while since she last heard that.

"I like you, too," she replied, seeing him begin to stand up.

"I'm not sure, but according to Always With Me, this is where you hug me..." L said awkwardly. "Well, if I remember correctly.. I have it around here, somewhere... Let me check."

Jade laughed softly, before catching him off guard and giving him a friendly hug, "That's right. No need to check..."

"I thought so," he said, wrapping his own arms around her.

Once they separated L whipped a lollipop of his own out of his pocket, unwrapped it and stuck it in his mouth, "So, how long have you been living here?"

"A few months with my roommate, Kimi."

"Mm, I see..."

"How did you find me?" she asked curiously, as he took a seat on the floor again, in front of the laptop.

"I was taking a look at the records for a case I just solved. I stumbled upon your profile, and decided to have a peek," he said monotone.

"A little nosey, aren't we?" she asked skeptically, taking a seat beside him.

"I suppose."

"So, why are-?"

"Let's go for a walk," L suggested out of the blue.

"A walk!?" Jade seemed shocked. "You're going to go out in public!?"

"With you I will," he replied, followed by a soft chuckle.

"L..."

"Do you remember that puzzle we did when you were six? The one of the detective."

She nodded, "Yes."

"If I dressed like that, people may suspect that I am, in fact, L. But judging from the way I'm dressed, they won't give it a second thought. To be honest, they probably wouldn't even think it, let alone imagine, it. People are so biassed, today," L said, in his naturally calm voice.

"You're right," Jade agreed.

"Then let's go for a walk."

"Are you sure?" she questioned, still not sure of the suggestion.

"It appears," he closed the laptop, and then stood up, Jade following suit. He made his way carefully towards the door, Jade right behind him. Once they were in the hall, Jade noticed that he wasn't wearing socks.

"Still don't wear socks, I see," she mused with a playful smile, as he waited for the elevator to come.

"They still bug me."

"And does walking crouched over like that, still help you think?" she asked, as the elevator doors opened.

"It appears so, doesn't it?"

She nodded, pressing the first floor button.

'My heart's finally got medicine...' they both thought, staying silent as the elevator went through each floor.

"Don't call me by name out here, please," L requested, as he and Jade made their way down the walk.

"I don't even know your name," she retorted.

"My name's..." he lifted a hand, making an L with his fingers. Jade grinned a little, seeing how he was careful, even without a person in sight.

"That's not your real name," she whispered to him. "It's an 'alias'."

He chuckle a little, "Still remember that, huh?"

"It appears," she smirked.

Jade and L walked through the busy streets now, rather far from the building L was in. Everything was just bustling with activity in this part of town.

They walked past a bakery, L slowing down a little as they did, but Jade thought nothing of it. But when she noticed he wasn't even walking next to her anymore, she turned around to see him gazing through the window at the cakes.

'He still likes sweets.' she thought with a smile, walking back to him, "You hungry?" She had to stop herself from asking "You hungry, L?" Even if it was very loud, and you could hardly hear anyone talk.

"I wasn't until now," he said, his eyes glued to a cheesecake with strawberries decorating the top, as he sucked on a lollipop.

"I'll buy you a piece," she offered, pulling the bakery door open. He was inside in a flash, Jade following after him and letting the door shut.

The rest of the day consisted of Jade and L walking around a little, before returning to the building L was situated in when Jade met up with him again. Once they were there they did some catching up, and talking.

"I'm glad you reached your goal, L," Jade said, after much conversation and catching up.

"What do you mean?" he asked, the two of them seated in front of the laptop again, sucking on red lollipops.

"You're the world's greatest detective," she told him. "That's what you always wanted to be. That was your dream."

"I suppose it was..." he murmured. "But my number one goal after that, was to meet up with a childhood friend. One who wrote stories."

Jade smiled, but then sighed, "At least one of us reached our goal."

"You're almost there," L told her. "Don't give up. Even the thought of giving up can decrease your chances by ten percent."

"Did you just make that up, or is that true?" she asked suspiciously.

"Mm," L closed his eyes, the bags under them fading into the darkness, "Think about giving up, and see what happens."

"I'd rather not risk it."

"I didn't think so," L mused, opening his eyes again and glancing at the clock, slowly ticking on the wall opposite him, "It's getting late. Your roommate probably thinks you got kidnapped."

"Even if I did, I'd have the world's greatest detective to find me," she said, standing up and dusting herself off. She was sore from sitting on the hard, wooden floor for hours. "See you later, L." She began to make her way to the door.

"Tomorrow," L's voice spoke. "Come here again, tomorrow. We still have plenty of catching up to do."

"Alright."

"Where have you been!?" Kimi demanded, her eyes wide with fear and slight anger as Jade came in the door.

"Catching up with an old friend."

"Was this friend so important, that you didn't have time to help me carry the groceries?" Kimi questioned slyly, expecting Jade to laugh and shake her head. But instead she nodded. Kimi almost fell over.

"I haven't seen him for sixteen years," Jade informed, heading to the fridge for a snack.

"Wow, that's a long time!" Kimi exclaimed, her eyes wide with curiosity now.

Jade nodded, "We spent the whole day talking and catching up with each other."

"So, who is this friend?" Kimi asked, sitting at the table and reaching for an apple. She took a big bite into it, then rested her chin in her free palm.

"A person," Jade replied, shutting the fridge and heading off towards her room. Kimi dropped her apple, and shook her head, "Accurate answer, Jade."

The next morning, before Kimi was even up, Jade showered and got dressed. Being careful not to make a noise, she left the apartment and got a taxi back to the building L was currently in.

She couldn't wait to see him again. He was pretty much the same L she knew when she was six, seven, eight and nine. Just older, a little more mature and much smarter. She figured that she was pretty much the same too. She was probably just a little bit more mature, a bit more grounded and perhaps a little smarter, too.

Jade paid the taxi fee, climbed out and headed inside the building. She entered the elevator, went to the top floor, met with L. And like the day before, they sat around the room—talking and doing some catching up.

It was now the third day since Jade had seen L again. She hadn't seen Light in these five days, but she didn't really mind. Didn't really care. She had L again, now.

But today, they didn't talk and do as much catching up as Jade would of liked. When she arrived, L was crouched in front of his laptop as usual. But today he was typing, and clicking when she entered the room. She took her usual seat next to him on the hard floor, "Hello, L."

"Hello, Jade," he greeted her back, his thumb placed on his bottom lip. Apparently he still had the same thinking traits, as when he was young.

"Is something wrong?" Jade asked him, concern creeping onto her face. She hadn't seen L look like this in sixteen years. Looking at his eyes, Jade could sense a feeling of mystery (even though that was natural around L), making it impossible to know what he was really thinking.

"Have you watched the news, lately?" L asked slowly, after a few minutes.

"No. Why?" she felt curious now.

"Yesterday Kurou Otoharada, a criminal, killed and wounded six innocent people. While he was barricaded inside a nursery school, with eight hostages, he died of a sudden heart attack with unknown causes," L told her, looking at the laptop screen. Jade glanced at it, a profile of Kurou pulled up.

"Well, anyone could have a heart attack... Is must've of been coincidence. Right?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"Mm," L picked up a plate, a piece of cake on it, and began to eat it. After swallowing he said, "It, in concern with the heart attack, was a rather random case."

"O-okay..."

L continued to eat the cake, before placing it down and wiping his mouth casually, "And that same night, Takou Shibuimaru died in an, also rather random, car accident. What's ironic, is that the persons there to witness, said the roads were dead. There were apparently no cars, until Takou rushed onto the street after a young woman."

Jade's eyes quivered, "What are you trying to say, L? Aren't these just coincidences...?"

L picked up his cake again, and began to eat that was remaining.

It was a few days after L had told Jade about the two deaths, that the International Criminal Police Organization, otherwise known as Interpol, held a meeting.

"Fifty two in the past week, and that's just those we know about," one voice said.

"Every single one from cardiac arrest," another voice pointed out.

"All of the criminals dead were either being pursued by the police, or already behind bars."

"We may assume that more wanted criminals, whose whereabouts are unknown have died as well," a fourth voice said.

L was sitting in front of his laptop, a video of the meeting playing. Jade stood behind him, looking over him at the screen. He must of tapped into the surveillance cameras or something...

"...in which case the death toll will be well over one hundred..." one of the men at the meeting said.

"It appears that Interpol's finally starting to move on this," L said, mostly to himself, almost forgetting that Jade was in the room with him. "Well, this is one case where I'm going to need help from the police..."

Back at the actual meeting, arguments were beginning to take place between the men.

"...But they're all violent criminals who deserve the death penalty several times over. Is it reallt that great of a concern?"

"Who just said that!? That is a totally irresponsible view on the case!"

"That's right," another man spoke up, "Violent criminal or death row inmate, if someone kills them it's still murder!"

Everyone continued to bicker, until another man raised his voice.

"But has it been verified as murder?"

"How could more than a hundred heart attacks be a coincidence? Of course it's murder!"

"Who could possible murder that many people over such a wide area, virtually simultaneously!?"

"We believe that this is a carefully orchestrated mass assassination carried out by a large organization."

"The only large organization capable of pulling off something like that, I believe would be the CIA or FBI!"

"I dare you to say that again!" someone snapped angrily.

"Please refrain from jokes in questionable taste..." someone asked politely.

"With so many criminals dying, are pride as police.." someone started before someone interjected, "It's not a question of pride!"

"I have to say, it is a problem if we have condemned prisoners dying before their sentence is carried out."

"Why don't we ascertain that this is really murder, and not just coincidence!?" someone growled.

"But the coroner's report for every single victim says 'cardiac arrest, cause unknown'!"

"You can't track down a murderer, when the cause of death is a heart attack..."

"It would be one thing if they had a knife sticking out of them..."

"How about putting it to a vote...?"

"I think we have no choice. This is another one for L," the head chief of the Japanese police, Soichiro Yagami said.

"L...? What's that chief?" a young member, named Matsuda asked, as the room became silent, except for quiet whispers.

"That's right, this is your first Interpol meeting..." Soichiro reminded himself, before replying, "Nobody knows... L's real name, or whereabouts, or even what he looks like. But he can solve any case no matter what it is. I suppose you could call him a sleuth...No-well, anyway, nobody knows who he is. But he has solved countless unsolved cases so far. You might say that he's our trump card...or something like that."

Someone spoke up, "But they say L only gets involved with cases he's interested in. If not, forget it."

"That's right. And besides, we have no way of contacting him," another man added.

"L is already involved," an unfamiliar voice said, silencing everyone. "L has been investigating this case for some days, now."

"Watari...!" someone exclaimed.

"Huh? Watari?" Matsuda looked at Soichiro, "There's another Japanese here?"

"He isn't with us," Soichiro replied, "But he's the only one who can contact L. No one really knows who he is, either."

"Silence, please," Watari requested. "You will now hear L speak."

He placed a laptop on the small desk on the stage, at the front of the room and opened it. He pressed a single button.

"Good afternoon, this is L," the same edited voice Jade had heard on the phone, said. "The case before us is unprecedented in scope and difficulty..." he paused, "...as is a monstrous crime of mass murder, that must be stopped at all costs!" Another brief pause, "In order to solve it, I request the full cooperation...of police worldwide, with a resolution to that effect passed at the Interpol meeting, today."

There were whispers throughout the room.

The next day, Jade walked down the streets, hearing whispers about what she had heard the previous day. On the huge, flat screen TV a news reporter was talking about another heart attack, "Kurotsuka Naoki, a thirty two year old man sentenced for atrocious murders, has suddenly died of a heart attack."

'Maybe it isn't coincidence, after all...' Jade thought, stopping to watch.

The report continued, "We are now facing a situation without precedent where criminals are dying one after another of heart attack."

As she continued on her way, she couldn't help but overhear what some people were talking about.

"Isn't it amazing? Criminals are dropping like flies!" a teenage boy said to his friend.

"It's kinda scary, but pretty cool, too," his friend replied, nodding.

"But now we can't do anything bad, anymore," a third friend informed.

"It's got to be the cops right?" a young man asked another.

"The cops couldn't pull of f something like this. Don't you know?

"Know what?"

"About Kira. Kira!"

'Kira... That's the Japanese word for Killer...' Jade's stomach turned. 'Is someone really...trying to clean this world up?'

"I was thinking..." "...if someone started to clean this mess, that we call our world, up...Wouldn't it be a better place?"

"I said this before..." "It'd still be wrong. Our world's not perfect. And we can't make it perfect."

Later that day, Jade met with L again. As usual, he was busy sitting in front of his laptop. She sat beside him, watching him work.

The laptop screen was divided into two halves. One was showing a television broadcast, and the other the program that allowed L to edit his voice.

"I am Lind. L Taylor, more commonly known as 'L'—the sole person able to mobilise police in every country worldwide," the man on the TV broadcast said.

Jade glanced at L, "What're you planning, L?"

"Wait and see..." he told her in a hushed voice, his thumb resting on his bottom lip.

In a special investigation head-quarters for the Criminal Victim Mass Murder Case, the Japanese police were also watching the broadcast.

"Huh, so this is L..." someone mused.

"He's never shown his face before, right?" Matsuda asked, "Why, now?"

"I guess that's how serious he is about this case," Soichiro responded, watching the broadcast intently.

At the front of the room, Watari spoke to L through the computer, "L...Interpol has passed a resolution promising you their full cooperation."

"Good," L's edited voice spoke, "I strongly request the cooperation of the Japanese police in particular."

"What!?" a shocked voice.

"But why Japan!?"

"Whether this is being carried out by a group or an individual, it's highly probable that they're Japanese," L said, "And if not Japanese, then they are in Japan."

"But how..."

"How can... On what evidence...?"

"Why Japan...?" L questioned in repetition, "I think...I'll be able to show you very soon. In a direct confrontation with the killer. I therefore request that the investigation be headquartered in Japan."

Everyone began to settle down, and directed their attention back to the TV broadcast.

"Is this the direct confrontation, he was talking about?" someone asked.

"Let's watch and find out," Soichiro told them.

"Criminals have been the target of a killing spree..." Lind began, "...which has turned into the biggest mass murder case in history. This monstrous crime must be stopped at all costs. 'Kira', as the perpetrator is commonly known, will be caught. I guarantee it.

Kira. I think I've got a pretty good idea of why you're doing this. But what you are doing...is evil!

Police worldwide have launched a coordinated investigation."

All of a sudden, Lind grasped his chest, and then fell on his desk lifeless.

Back in the building L and Jade were in, Jade looked to L for reassurance, but didn't gain any. He kept his eyes on the laptop screen, watching as bodyguards came out and carried Lind's body away. Then, he clicked something on his voice editor program, and adjusted the microphone by the laptop. Jade was sure to keep quiet.

Back on the broadcast, L's edited voice spoke, "I...do not believe this. This was an experiment to test a hunch I had, but I never really thought...Kira... you can actually kill people without direct contact... So...my hunch was right...I couldn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes, but you can... You'd have to, of course. It didn't make any sense, otherwise." There was a pause. "Listen to me, Kira. If you just killed Lind. L Taylor, the man you saw on your TV, he was a condemned criminal scheduled to die today at this hour. That wasn't me. His arrest and conviction were kept secret from the media, and were kept unreported even on the Internet. Even you had no way of knowing about him, it seems... But I, L, do in fact exist." He paused for a few seconds. "So, come on! Kill me if you can!"

Jade's eyes quivered with fear. She wanted to push the microphone away from L, but she couldn't disrupt him like that.

"L!" she cried silently, but he ignored her, continuing the broadcast.

"What are you waiting for!?" he demanded.

The police were all as equally shocked as Jade was, when they heard.

"He's really...upping the stakes here," one officer said in disbelief.

"Is he crazy? He's going to die!"

Outside on the big, flat screen, a large crowd had gathered to watch the broadcast.

"Come on! Go ahead and kill me!" L's edited voice almost yelled.

"What is this?" someone asked no one in particular.

"It's Kira vs L."

"You mean, Kira really exists?"

"Who's L? I've heard of Kira, but..."

"It's murder, live on TV!"

"Creepy..."

L's edited voice came again, "I'm still here. Can't do it, Kira?" Jade watched the grin creep onto L's lips, as he began to speak again, "Evidently, you aren't able to kill me." He lowered the microphone, and looked over his shoulder at Jade, "There are some people that he cna't kill. That's a valuable clue." She nodded slowly, her eyes still wide in fear at L's previous actions.

L spoke into the microphone again, "Now, I'll give you some information in return. Although it was announced that this was being televised globally... Actually, it was broadcast only in the Kanto region of Japan. The plan was to broadcast live to other areas in turn, but that's no longer necessary. You are in the Kanto region of Japan, Kira." Another pause. "And, although the police have missed this, your first victim was the Shinjuku killer who took eight hostage in a nursery school. His crime, when compared to those of the notorious murderers who've died of heart attacks, was not very serious. Moreover, this case was reported only in Japan. Nowhere else... That was all the information I needed. I knew, Kira, that you were in Japan!

And your first victim was nothing more than a guinea pig for testing your powers! We broadcast first to Kanto, because it has the largest regional population in the country. That you happened to be there, was luck. I didn't expect this to work so perfectly according to plan, but... Now, I dare say, that it may not be that long before I send you to die."

"Wow, this L is pretty amazing!" Matsuda exclaimed, back at headquarters.

"Indeed. He's proved that Kira exists. That he can kill from afar, and that he's in Japan," Soichiro said.

L continued to speak, "Kira, it would interest me greatly to know how you carry out your murders... But that's something I can find out after I catch you! Kira...

I'm going to find and dispose of you if it's the last thing I do! I'm righteous!"

L's shoulders heaved, as he lowered the microphone only slightly. Jade took a seat next him, rubbing his back gently, "L..."

He raised the microphone again, "'Til we meet again, Kira."