L P.O.V.
The visit to Light's house had gone differently than he had previously expected. Not that he was complaining necessarily, since it was a rather enjoyable occasion, but he hadn't exactly anticipated staying for dinner or getting to know his parents.
He was beginning to become attached to Light... dangerously attached.
L cursed himself inwardly as he bit his thumbnail. He should have known better than to let someone else in... No... that wasn't right... He hadn't just let Light in, he had bloody thrown the gates open!
It's not his fault. L reasoned with himself, pacing holes in the carpet beside his bed, if he knew who you really are... he stopped pacing.
If Light had known who he really was, Light would have tried that much harder to become his friend. Usually it was the opposite. It took many a bribe to even coerce most normal detectives to work with L through a computer; but here was Light Yagami, high school extraordinaire practically worshipping the great "L" as a god.
Light Yagami who willingly became friends with the quirky new student.
He shook his head vigorously to expel unnecessary thoughts.
That's beside the point. His feet found their way to the refrigerator, You are too close to Light Yagami.
His heart sank, even as he reached for his favorite treat; strawberry cake.
"L." Came a stern voice from the darkness somewhere to his left.
Jumping, L dropped the slice of cake and it landed with a sickening 'splat' on the floor by his feet.
Staring down forlornly at the mess before him, L addressed the voice from the void; "I did not hear you there, Wammy-san."
"I can see that." He replied with a sigh, "You are becoming less vigilant as of late."
"I was just hungry for a midnight snack." L stated, ignoring the comment about his vigilance, or lack thereof.
"Are you quite alright?" He seemed worried now.
L sighed; not only was he compromising the case, but now also causing stress for one of the few people who actually cared for him.
"Would you like to talk about it?" He suggested.
Wordlessly, L ambled over to the couch and curled up in his usual position, Watari sitting opposite him across the coffee table. The splatter of cake lay forgotten on the kitchen floor.
They sat in silence for a moment, before L realized that he would have to be the one to initiate the conversation.
"Light and I..." he hesitated, wondering why he had chosen to word it like that, "We are becoming too close to one another."
"I see." He nodded, "And why do you believe that you are 'too close'? Can you not allow yourself to have a friend?"
"No... it's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't. Watari, you should know why." L nibbled on his bottom lip.
"You believe that it will in some way endanger him. No to mention the fact that he cannot know your true identity... Well it seems you have gotten yourself in quite the pickle."
"Yes..."
"Why not just push him away? Make him believe you do not wish to be his friend?" He suggested carefully, as though bracing for L to react adversely.
"You are right, as ever Wammy-san. That is what I should do." Why don't I want to?
"I would not say should."
L glanced over in confusion, "But you just said-"
"I realize what I said, but Ryuzaki, Light is your first friend. I do not wish for you to pass up an opportunity like this."
"Opportunity for what?" L asked, fatigued. He was starting to become uncharacteristically tired.
"Happy." He stated simply, and seeing the dubious look on L's face he corrected, "Truly happy. Not just the happiness you experience when around your successors, but the happiness of having an equal. A Yin to your Yang per say."
L's chest began to ache once again, "So you're saying I shouldn't push Light away? That we should become closer?"
"Whatever you feel is right." He nodded, "But for now you need to get some rest, you look as if you are about to keel over."
He swayed a bit as he stood, nearly falling to the floor with exhaustion.
"When was the last time you slept?"
"Three or four?"
"Three or four what?"
"Days."
He nearly laughed out loud as Watari came very close to face-palming. Instead he settled for pointing towards his room, "Bed. Now. I will clean up the cake, you need to sleep."
L decided to acquiesce without resistance, since he had already been close to collapsing, and plodded down the hall to his room, collapsing into the soft, warm bed and falling asleep almost instantly.
Watari P.O.V.
The old man shook his head as he watched his adoptive son walk unsteadily to his room.
He had been starting to think L would never realize.
Of course he had seen it from the start; L never had anyone his age who could match his genius as perfectly as Light did. And after meeting him Wammy believed he could say the same for Light.
It was only natural for them to develop feelings for one another; though Wammy could only guess how long that would take.
From watching their interactions in the car the other day, it would seem they already had.
He couldn't fathom how Light was reacting to this, but L was certainly baffled as to what was truly going on. He just hoped that this would end well for L, lord knew he needed it.
Light P.O.V.
It had been a couple weeks since his meeting with Ryuzaki; since then they had spent every weekend tailing their suspects and so far they had nothing.
Ms. Ackerman was nearly OCD in her habits, every Saturday morning it was the same; leave the house at 6:30, drive to Starbucks for coffee, and arrive at the school at 7 to supervise weekend sports training. Around noon she would go to the gym for an hour, then to the bank, and home by 2 in the afternoon to complete paperwork or whatever else a teacher does on their time off.
Every Sunday it was Mr. Ohba... who barely ever left his house.
This stakeout gig was not all it was chalked up to be.
Ryuzaki wasn't having much luck either; Mr. Juuzo's habits were quirky at best, though not incriminating. And Mr. Obata was much like Mr. Ohba, rarely leaving the house and basically keeping to himself.
Unless anything out of the ordinary happened that particular day, they had agreed to meet up again and come up with a better plan of attack; this simply wasn't working.
Luckily though, something did happen.
Bzzzt Light's phone chimed with a text from Ryuzaki;
Mr. Juuzo, off on another adventure. - R
Light smiled and rolled his eyes at the sarcastic tone, detectible even through text.
Oh? Where to now? Ms. Ackerman as rigidly scheduled as ever. - Y
I'm not sure... I'll update you when we get there. - R
Alright. - Y
This was how it had been every weekend, mind numbing boredom with intermittent texts to one another.
Well, there she goes. He thought sarcastically as Ms. Ackerman pulled out of her driveway at precisely 6:30.
He followed her at a safe distance driving his mother's car, which he had borrowed under the pretense of seeing a film with Misa and Ryuzaki.
She turned into the Starbucks drive through - as per usual - though this time, rather than pulling into the line she swerved at the last second, parking in an empty space.
Curious, Light took a risk and parked in a space a couple down from her, carefully watching through the passenger side window.
She had her phone to her ear, and was speaking into the receiver in hushed tones, and anxious expression on her face. A few moments later she hung up and stepped out of her car.
Light quickly ducked his head as she looked around, as though she expected to be followed, and then took off down the side walk, leaving her car in the Starbucks parking lot.
Light jumped out of his vehicle and jogged after her, pulling up his hood for cover and slowing down to match her brisk pace once he was a suitable distance from her.
As walked, he typed out a message for Ryuzaki;
Ms. Ackerman acting suspicious... tailing her on foot. - Y
He placed my phone back in my pocket, not wanting to become distracted.
After tailing her for about two blocks, she suddenly stopped at a seemingly random bus stop and sat on the stone bench next to a little old lady.
Light hid around the corner of a building a couple yards away, stealing himself to get closer.
bzzzt bzzzt bzzzt His phone buzzed in his pocket, nearly causing him a premature heart attack.
"Damnit damnit" Light cursed, fumbling with his phone, trying to set it to silent before Ms Ackerman overheard.
He sighed in relief once it was set to silence and hit 'Accept' to the incoming call.
"Ryuzaki you nearly-"
"Light!" Ryuzaki's angry voice cut his off, "What happened to the plan?!"
"What do you mean? I'm tailing the prime suspect!" Light whispered indignantly, feigning ignorance.
"You know full well what I mean. We agreed that should any of the suspects start acting suspiciously that we would step back and rendezvous before following them! Do you have any idea how much danger you could be in right now?"
"Ryuzaki I'm fine, and just because my suspect is acting a bit strange doesn't mean she's an actual killer. And if you want to know where I am then you could just ask..."
After a loaded pause he sighed deeply, "Do you have everything under control?"
"Yes." Light replied.
"Do you need me to be there?"
"Not really, I think I've got it under control here."
Another deep sigh, "Alright, I'm going to hang up, but just promise me you won't do anything too reckless?"
"I promise. And I'll even keep up with you through text the whole time so you know I'm okay."
"Thank you." He hung up.
Light took the phone away from his ear, staring at the screen for a second.
He wondered why Ryuzaki had gotten so irritated by his decision, but he supposed anyone would be worried if their friend went chasing after criminals without them.
Peeking around the corner he was relieved to see that the bus had not come yet, and Ms. Ackerman was still within sight.
Slipping from his position behind the corner of the building, Light pulled his hood up further, moving to position himself casually behind where Ms. Ackerman was seated on the bench.
Leaning in closer he noticed her mouth moving as though she was carrying out a conversation.
Confused, he glanced at the old woman sitting next to her on the bench, who seemed to be reading a knitting magazine.
Ms. Ackerman must have been using some sort of Bluetooth, but Light couldn't seem to catch sight of one.
After a few minutes of waiting, the bus finally rumbled to a stop before the three of them, it's doors opening with a slight hiss.
Light waited until both Ms. Ackerman and the old woman had ascended the steps to board the bus. Handing his change to the driver, he took a seat directly behind the suspect, careful to not let her see his face.
Once the bus started to move, Light reached for his phone and sent a quick text to Ryuzaki before he felt the need to call again.
On the bus with the suspect. Heading downtown. - Y
Barely thirty seconds later his phone displayed his response;
That's where Juuzo and I are right now... perhaps we will run into one another. - R
'Hopefully' Light thought, watching Ms. Ackerman out of the corner of his eye.
They rode the bus for a good twenty minutes, stopping once in a while to let off various passengers, one of which was the old woman who had gotten on with them.
Just as they were going on twenty five minutes aboard the bus, she reached up, hit the stop button, and maneuvered her way to the front of the bus, Light close behind her.
When they got off the bus Light feigned the opposite way from her, just to throw her off should she suspect him of following, but as soon as she rounded the corner he rushed to keep up, turning the bend and running smack dab into her. She evidently had been waiting for him.
"Why are you following me?!" She hissed, then pulled his hood down and froze; an astonished look spreading across her features.
"Light? Light Yagami?"
"Oh, hello Ms. Ackerman." He turned on his best Star Pupil smile, and feigned innocent surprise, "I didn't even notice that was you on the bus."
"Mr. Yagami, care to explain why you have been tailing me all morning?" She glared at him, and he knew there was no getting out of this one.
"I-"
She cut him off with a hand to his mouth as the other went to her ear.
"Suspect incoming." She muttered, and pulled Light around the corner of the building, craning her neck at something he couldn't see.
Thoroughly confused, he edged around her to see none other than Mr. Juuzo pacing on the other side of the street.
Peering into the distance behind him Light could just make out Ryuzaki watching him from around a corner.
What the hell was going on?
Light quickly pulled out his phone to update him, but Ms. Ackerman grabbed his hand, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Calling my dad to tell him that I'm going to be late." he quickly lied.
"You didn't answer my question from before. Why are you following me?"
"I wasn't, I'm supposed to be heading to my cousin's house. He lives right down this street." He mentally crossed his fingers that she bought that, because he had not been remotely prepared for something like this.
"Fine. Go." She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration "But no one hears of this, do you understand? No one."
"Yes, okay, I understand." He said quickly, edging around her and hurrying down the sidewalk, praying that Juuzo would not catch sight of him.
Ryuzaki clearly did, as Light's phone began to vibrate against his leg with an incoming call.
Not daring to answer it out in the open, he ducked into a doorway once he was certain Ms. Ackerman was out of sight.
"Ryuzaki." He answered the ringing phone.
"Light? Where is Ms. Ackerman?"
"Trailing Mr. Juuzo."
"What?"
"I'll explain later, just meet me at the closest bus stop."
L P.O.V.
An FBI agent. How could he have missed this? How could Aiber have missed this?
How could Watari have missed this.
L was pacing - for what seemed like the hundredth time that week- in front of the computer in his room.
"When I came to you a month ago and informed you that I would be placing a high level detective among your students, did you not think to inform us of your FBI status?" Watari was asking, L could hear him through the audio device hidden in his jacket pocket.
"Yes it did occur to me. However I am here undercover, I am sure that your 'high level detective' can understand the concept of secrecy." She quipped back at him.
Picking up the microphone L requested that Watari ask about her incident in college.
"...Oh that." She sounded suddenly apprehensive, "I was caught hacking into the FBI database, and was told that I could either join the feds or be expelled. I'm sure you can surmise which option I chose."
Hacking into confidential FBI files at college age? L made a mental note to remember her for assistance in a future case... Not the point at hand.
Watari cleared his throat, "An impressive feat at such a young age."
She gave a short chuckle.
"May I ask for what purpose you are undercover?"
"As long as it is kept between us and your "high level detective," because I do believe we may be able to help each other out."
"Yes. I believe so as well."
"My purpose for being here is to tail Mr. Suzuya Juuzo, an ex FBI agent who went rogue a few years back. When he was fired from the agency he accepted a teaching job at this school, since he had had some connections from a past case; I was assigned to make sure he didn't harm any of the students, since he and I had worked in separate departments and had never met before the time of his leave." she sighed "And then the killings began and, naturally, he was my first suspect."
"He was the first suspect of myself and Ryuzaki as well." Watari replied.
"And I am to assume that was why Light Yagami was tailing me earlier." Her tone conveyed anger, "You hired the son of a head detective to do your work for you?"
L fumbled for the microphone then: "Watari, don't -"
"Yes."
Damn it. What is he thinking? If Light's father ever found out he was working on the investigation...
"We asked Mr. Yagami if he would want to assist us on the case, and he accepted the offer."
"Do you have any idea what a danger that could be to a civilian? Tailing a murderer?" Ackerman asked incredulously.
"Yes. And I take full responsibility for this mistake."
Another deep sigh, "It doesn't matter anymore, HQ is calling me back to America now that I've been found out. I suppose that it's up to your detective to solve the case now."
"I am sure the school is sorry to see you go." Watari offered his condolences.
"It's quite alright, it was getting a bit boring around here anyway. There are a few things you should know though before I leave; firstly, they are not sending a replacement, because despite my protests on the matter there are simply not enough agents to spare at the moment, not to mention the fact that Juuzo has been inactive for several years now."
"That is-"
"Secondly," She cut him off sternly, "I have reason to believe that Mr. Juuzo is not the killer."
"How do you suppose this?"
"Oh I believe your detective will find out in time," She said flippantly, "I'm not allowed to disclose any more information regarding the matter. You should probably go now, I have things to pack."
L could hear the two of them stand up and exchange goodbyes to one another.
"Oh and Mr. Watashi," as was Watari's current alias, "Be sure to send Ryuzaki my regards."
And with that the door shut.
"Watari..." L muttered.
"My apologies Ryuzaki, I should have known her file was fake, and Mr. Juuzo's as well." He spoke into the microphone as he headed back out of the building.
"No no, it's not your fault, I was not expecting something like this on such a low level case..."
"I will commence a second, this time more thorough, background check on everyone in the district immediately." Good, they had made enough mistakes on this case already, it was time to truly get down to business.
"Thank you." L mumbled.
"Of course. You may want to call Light, I'm sure he's worried about you."
"What for? After we got back we both headed straight home. He said he needed to think about what had happened."
"Are you implying he hasn't been texting you for the past hour?"
"How did you-"
"Trust me."
And with that his microphone clicked off and L was left to his own deductions, wondering for the umpteenth time what it was that Watari knew that he did not.
What did he know that L did not? No, what would he be able to detect that L could not?
Deductions were his specialty, but this was different. What was the one field that L had almost no experience in...
Oh.
A/N
Let the inner turmoil commence...
As always I love to hear your feedback so please favorite/follow/review!
Good Memories and Nightmares
- MDL
