Sakura02: Yeah :( Poor Raye…

Thanks: Usagi323, Kenta Jun, gaaraofthefunk13, NijiNoNeko, Sabaku no Kaeti, and VampireHuntress72095 for reviewing!


"Hey, Naoko," Hiroko called softly to her twin whom was laying next to her in the backyard. The two were staring up at the slowly darkening sky, waiting for dinner to be ready. "My chest has been hurting lately."

"Mine too." Naoko said. "It's been hurting real bad since yesterday."

"Maybe we're sick." Hiroko said as she finally looked at her sister. "Maybe we should go to the doctor."

Naoko shook her head as she stood up. "Mommy always told us the pain would go away, remember? She said the pain was a warning..."

Hiroko slowly sat up as well. "Oh yeah…I wonder what it's warning us about." Hiroko poked her chest as though the answers would be revealed that way.

The two looked up as Sachiko called them in. Hiroko pouted when they entered and she saw there was no food on the table. "What's wrong?" She asked as she and Naoko sat between Sayu and Light at the table with Sachiko and Soichiro on the other side.

Soichiro stared down at the table for a moment. "There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just come right out with it; I am currently the head of the Kira case."

"Wow!" Sayu and Hiroko exclaimed together. "You're so cool, Soichiro!" Hiroko grinned.

"This is no joking matter, girls." Soichiro said firmly. "Yesterday, twelve FBI agents were killed, most likely by Kira. It seems whoever chases after Kira is at risk of losing their lives."

Naoko pinched Hiroko's hand to stop her twin from exclaiming about Raye. The twins looked at each other, wondering if his death was what had caused the pain in their chest to go from a dull throb to a burning pain. There had been a heaviness in the twins' hearts ever since Kira had appeared. The pain seemed amplified by the death of someone they had actually met.

Soichiro, not noticing the strange looks that past between the twins continued. "One by one, my men are resigning due to the dangers this case entails. Seeing as how dangerous it is, I couldn't find any reason to force them to stay."

"Then you should leave too, Dad!" Sayu shouted, holding her hands out pleadingly to her father.

"Yeah!" Hiroko piped up. "We don't wanna lose you to a bad person too like we lost Mommy and Daddy!"

Naoko nodded her head in agreement.

Soichiro smiled at the worried faces of his wife, his daughter, and the two girls he considered to be his own. "I'm afraid I can't give up. I will not back away from this crime."

Light nodded his head as he stood up from the table. He patted both Naoko and Hiroko on the head. "I support you, Dad. We should all support him." He looked at the twins with a reassuring smile before heading towards the stairs. "If anything happens to you, Dad, I'll avenge you."

Naoko frowned as she swore she saw something shimmering behind Light.


"Girls!" Sachiko called urgently as she bustled around the house doing New Year's cleaning. As soon as the twins had scrambled down the stairs, Sachiko paused in her vacuuming. "Could the two of you run to the store and buy some groceries for dinner? Light's busy studying and Sayu's helping me clean the house. You can each get one candy." She looked pointedly at Hiroko before handing the money and list over to Naoko.

"Naoko, are we there yet?" Hiroko whined as the two girls hopped off the bus and into one of the busier parts of downtown. Hiroko clutched her twin's mitten covered hand tightly in her own so they wouldn't get separated by the bustling crowds.

Naoko frowned as she looked around. "Um, no. I think we got off at the wrong stop…"

"We're lost!" Hiroko wailed as she threw herself onto Naoko. "We're going to die! We'll be eaten alive by cannibals!"

"You've been watching too much television." Naoko muttered. She blinked as she saw a familiar person walking down the street. "Hey, it's Soichiro. Soichiro!" She yelled, hoping to catch the cop's attention. She frowned as Soichiro continued walking with another cop.

"Let's follow him." Hiroko said and before Naoko could protest, began dragging her twin through the bustling crowd. The two tried to catch up with Soichiro and catch his attention but whether it was the noise of the crowd or how far they were from him, he simply kept walking. The twins paused outside a large hotel and watched as Soichiro got into an elevator.

"Maybe we should just go back to the bus stop." Naoko sighed as her twin ignored her and dragged her through the hotel doors. The twins stood in front of the elevator and watched the floor number light up as the elevator stopped. "Hiroko, we shouldn't follow him." Naoko protested as Hiroko pushed the elevator button and another elevator dinged open.

"It's okay." Hiroko reassured her twin though she wouldn't give her a reason why. She pushed the button to take them to the same floor as Soichiro. The two got off the elevator just in time to see Soichiro and the other cop go into a room a little ways down the hall. "It'll be a surprise for him." Hiroko grinned as the two went to the door.

There were muffled voices coming from the other side of the door. Naoko was about to attempt to pull Hiroko back towards the elevator when Hiroko tugged on the door handle and grinned triumphantly as the door swung open.

"Hi, Soichiro!" Hiroko squealed as she attached herself to the shocked police officer, ignoring the shocked stares of everyone else in the room.

"I'm so sorry!" Naoko bowed low to Soichiro. As she lifted her head up, she looked into the surprised faces of four police officers that she didn't recognize and then…the man standing before the officers. Her eyes widened as she took in the messy black hair, the baggy white shirt and jeans, the black eyes with dark circles underneath them… "It's him!" She screamed and scrambled to the far wall beside the door.

Hiroko looked up from hugging Soichiro and stiffened as well. Unlike Naoko, however, she let out a shout of rage and rushed forward, slamming her tiny fist into the man's stomach repeatedly. "What are you trying to do to Soichiro? Are you gonna kill him like you did our Mommy and Daddy?"

Soichiro looked at both girls whom were sobbing. He went over to Naoko first, prying the little girl from the wall and holding her in one arm before going to Hiroko and holding her in his other arm. He frowned as the two girls clung to him and sobbed. "Girls, what on earth is wrong?"

"It's him!" Hiroko wailed. "It's the bad man! The one that killed Mommy! It's him!"

"I assure you," the man said as he rubbed his tender stomach. "I didn't kill your mother nor your father. You're voice is even more loud in person than over the computer."

Hiroko blinked the tears from her eyes as did Naoko. Hiroko wriggled out of Soichiro's grasp and cautiously approached the strange man. Ignoring the incredulous stares from everyone present, Hiroko reached up and yanked on the man's shirt until he knelt down. She motioned her sister over before holding the man's face between her hands. She glanced at Naoko as her twin came to her side. "What do you think?"

Naoko stared at the man. Now that she had calmed down from the initial shock of his appearance, she took in more of his features. There weren't many differences between the man before her and the man that had killed her mother. "Well, his voice sounds a little different." She said slowly.

The man raised an eyebrow as Hiroko stared intently at his eyes. "Can I assist you with something?"

"His eyes aren't red." Hiroko finally said, seemingly satisfied. "It's not him. Are you the bad man's twin? You said that I sounded more loud in person than on the computer. So that means…" Hiroko's eyes widened in realization. "You're…"

The man pulled himself away from Hiroko's hands and straightened up. "I have no siblings. And yes, Tendou Hiroko, I am L." He winced as the little girl squealed and began dancing around him.

"Oh my gosh, Naoko, it's L!" Hiroko grabbed her sister's hands and spun her around. "We found him!" She blinked as Soichiro grabbed her and Naoko by their collars and dragged them away from the clearly annoyed L.

"I'm so sorry, L. I didn't realize they were following me. Girls, go home now. Don't say anything to Sachiko or anyone else, understand?" Soichiro gave both girls a stern look that promised punishment later.

"No." L said, ignoring the surprised looks on everyone's faces. "I cannot permit these girls to leave now. They've seen my face. I know I can trust the five of you to not say anything. Children are another story entirely. I'm afraid they will have to remain here now."

"You can't do that!" Hiroko stomped her foot impatiently. "We have rights!"

Soichiro was silent for a moment. "They'll be safe here, won't they?" Soichiro saw the shocked and hurt faces on both Naoko and Hiroko's faces. He knelt down to their level. "Listen to me, girls. I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to scare you, but, lately, I've worried that someone is watching the house. It could be the man that killed your mother. Now, all those known to be chasing Kira are in danger. If Kira ever found out I was after him and you two got hurt…you'll be safer here with L."

"What about Sayu and Sachiko and Light?" Hiroko asked.

"They'll be all right." Soichiro said firmly. "Trust me, girls. I just have a feeling the three of them will be all right."

Naoko chewed on her lip thoughtfully for a moment before nodding her head. Hiroko held her twin's hand tightly and nodded as well.

"Now that that's all settled, let's move into here and talk." L motioned to the main room of the hotel. "Please turn off all your cell phones and other electronics and leave them on the table."

The twins stayed close to Soichiro as the other officers grudgingly complied. Hiroko blinked as the youngest looking one knelt down and grinned at them. "Hey, girls, remember me?"

Hiroko grinned at him while Naoko gave him a tentative smile. "Matsuda!"

Naoko recognized the other officers that were present. She had met Aizawa, Mogi, and Ukita when they're mother had died and they had gone to the headquarters. The twins followed the group into living area where L was already sitting with his knees drawn up to his chest. Naoko blinked as her twin released her hand and went over to L.

L glanced dubiously down at the small child staring up at him before turning his attention back to the now seated officers. "Don't write anything down that we discuss. Keep it in your head. Also, don't call me L anymore. Call me Ryuzaki…can I help you?" He ground out as Hiroko continued to stand by his chair and stare at him.

Soichiro thought he would have a heart attack as Hiroko lightly shoved L to make room for herself on the chair beside the genius detective. He sighed as Hiroko sat in the same position as L.

Matsuda and the others weren't sure whether to laugh or be terrified for the girl's safety as L glared down at the grinning child. "Um, I just had a thought." Matsuda said, hoping to draw L's attention away from the small girl. "Why don't we just tell the media to omit names and faces from crime coverage? That would limit the number of victims."

Before L could say anything, Hiroko piped up. "You guys are going after Kira? That's so cool! How are you gonna beat…" she was cut off as a sugar cube was shoved into her mouth.

"Be silent." L said.

Naoko couldn't help but to giggle as her sister happily sucked on the sugar cube. "Matsuda-san's idea sounds good." She noticed how Matsuda seemed to swell at her compliment.

L sighed as he stirred a cup of tea in front of him. "That would lead to ordinary people dying."

"Y's 'at?" Hiroko asked around her sugar cube.

L rolled his eyes and shoved another sugar cube in Hiroko's mouth. "Kira is childish and hates losing. I know this because I'm childish and hate losing too."

"So, you're like Hiroko?" Naoko scooted closer to Soichiro as L's eyes cut over to her and he held a sugar cube up threateningly.

Soichiro cleared his throat. "Could you please explain that more clearly?"

L launched into an explanation of his thought process starting from when he challenged Kira on the television to deaths of the FBI agents. "Every time you challenge him, he sends out a challenge of his own. He can't stand the thought of losing. If we try and restrict the media to shield criminals, he'll take the whole world hostage and his thought process will be that it's not his fault because those that shield criminals from him are evil themselves. What we really need to hide, instead of criminals, is how few of us there are actually hunting him."

"How?" Naoko asked, daring to peek out from around Soichiro's arm. Luckily, L was deep and thought and didn't seem to here her question.

"Hmm, we could say...that the US is outraged at the death of its 12 FBI agents as is the world so the G8 Nations have agreed to send 1,500 investigators to Japan. Kira will begin to see enemies everywhere." He blinked as he felt eyes on him. He frowned down at Hiroko, prepared to shove another sugar cube in her mouth. "Yes?"

"You're so cool!" Hiroko squealed as she hugged L around his waist. "You're the smartest person ever, L…eh…Ryuzaki!"

Naoko zoned out as L explained his reasoning for believing that Kira was working alone. The dull ache in her chest was starting to hurt again. Something bad was going to happen soon. She could feel it. A flash of a woman with long black hair wearing all black walking through the snow flashed through her mind. The woman looked so familiar to her. She looked at Hiroko and saw her eyes were slightly glazed as though she were seeing something far away. When Hiroko snapped out of her stupor, she looked over at Naoko, clearly worried.

"I will win this contest." L said, snapping the two girls out of their thoughts. "Let's all show Kira that the good guys always win."

"Ryuzaki, you look so cute when you smile." Hiroko resumed snuggling the super detective.

"Not you." Snapped L, trying to pry the child off of him. "You won't be taking any part in this case. You're just stuck here because you're too nosy for your own good." L finally managed to dislodged himself from Hiroko and stand up. "I'll need to speak to each of you individually, including you two." L said pointedly. "Just to ensure that Kira is not among you."

Soichiro slumped in his seat as he looked at the two girls. "I'll have to think of something to tell Sachiko. Light and Sayu will be sad that you two aren't there anymore."

Naoko's heart clenched at the mention of Light's name. She hadn't thought about Light this whole time. She may never see him again; at least, not until the case was over. Her lower lip trembled as she tried to keep her tears at bay.

Hiroko was at her twin's side in an instant. "Don't worry. We'll see Light and the others soon. Besides, we can always sneak out to see them." She yelped as a sugar cube hit her in the head.

"No sneaking out." L said as he motioned for Soichiro to follow him into the other room.

Naoko couldn't help but to laugh as her sister began shouting angrily at L's retreating back.