((I actually surprised myself with how fast this one came out. I suppose I'm more excited about it than I originally thought! Woo. I have no reviews to respond to this time, sad face, so make sure to review lots after this chapter! Both friendly and non friendly criticism is welcome. If you think there's something wrong with my writing, let me know, so I can better it! Especially if you think someone is out of character, considering this is my first ever Death Note fanfiction, and I'd like to know how well I'm doing.

Well, enjoy this chapter!))

It took Naomi a full four minutes to get to the small store from the hotel she had been staying at with L. L had managed to find her the quickest route, with the least amount of traffic to get to her destination. Not to mention she had police sirens on, so it was much quicker than the drive would have been otherwise.

The moment the car had been parked, she jumped out of the passenger's side, not even waiting for the other police officer of whom she didn't recall the name of at the moment, as she raced into the store.

Nothing.

There were a few people scattered about the small store, talking with each other quietly. Some of them paused in their conversations to look at the strange woman out of breath, before continuing with their own business. Naomi raced to the front of the store quickly, noting the man behind the counter seemed shocked, almost surprised to see her there.

"A woman was here-"

"Young, short hair, red eyes?" He asked, interrupting her. His round eyes were still wide with shock. He hadn't believed the woman would really appear. And just as the younger girl had pointed out, the woman before him had long, straight black hair, and wore leather.

And she happened to be looking for the younger woman. "Yes," Naomi responded, slightly taken aback by his description and cutting her off. "How did you know?"

"She-she told me you would be looking for her..."

Naomi cursed under her breath. Ruri had known she would find her, and had left a while ago. Now she didn't know where she was. That was, she didn't, until the man behind the counter spoke up again.

"She, uh- she left this paper for you," he held out a shaking hand. He probably thought none of this was worth talking to a pretty girl for a few seconds.

"Thank you," Naomi breathed quietly as she grabbed the paper, then turned and began walking out the store. She took a quick look around the streets to her left, then right, then got back into the car where her partner waited.

"So?" The man asked.

"She wasn't there, she knew we were coming."

"Damn it."

"She left this note, though," Naomi unfolded the neatly creased paper, her dark eyes scanning over the familiarly neat handwriting quickly. Naomi had been jealous of how beautiful the young girl's handwriting was, but she pushed this thought aside as she read the note. Or, rather, she read the two things written down on the note.

"..What the hell?" Naomi gasped, confused beyond belief.

"What? What does it say?"

Naomi lifted her head, looking at the curious man beside her.

"That's just it, all it says is 'e4'. What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

The man sat back in his seat, puzzled, as Naomi's mind raced to find the meaning behind it. It had to be something familiar to her, wouldn't it? Ruri was a smart girl, Naomi was certain of this, but she was clever enough to make it something simple, something so painfully obvious that Naomi would feel stupid for not getting it sooner. Naomi just had no idea what it was meant to mean.

Unless...

"Mastui, please drive us back to the headquarters," Naomi stated simply, brows furrowing as she thought.

"What? Why?" He asked, but started the car nonetheless. He'd learned to do as he was told, but he was still curious enough to ask.

"I think this puzzle might not be for us." Matsuda glanced at Naomi strangely. "...I think it might be for L."

Ruri glanced at every car that passed by, her paranoia as a young girl, alone and unattended on the streets late at night, coming out in full as she glanced around her cautiously. Having L on her tail was simple enough, she didn't fear that part, but there was always the fact that she hardly knew how to protect herself.

Of course, while training herself to become a better runner a few months ago, she had also begun taking Tae-Kwon-Do, but she doubted a few fancy kicks would scare away any man who tried to force himself on her.

Shuddering at the thought, Ruri quickly made her way into a brightly lit store, hoping the cover from the cold would keep her dark thoughts at bay.

She didn't particularly know how long it would take them to figure out her newest puzzle, but she didn't want to wait around and do nothing as they thought it over. So she began thinking of her next move.

She could go to Light. Surely he wouldn't think of her a criminal, and, either way, he wouldn't kill her. If not for the fact that she was still certain he loved her, then for the fact that she's immune to it.

Or she thought she was. Sure, Ryuk had told her as much, but really, how trustworthy could he be? He didn't even know all the rules to his own notebook. Ruri had to be careful, even if she did believe that she was immune to the Death Note's powers, she had to be cautious.

Ruri weighed out the pros and cons of going to Light for help.

Con- He might see her as a criminal. There was always the small chance that he wouldn't trust her, no matter how unlikely that scenario is to come up.

Pro- he would definitely try to help her, perhaps persuade his father into thinking she's innocent, too.

Con- he might kill her.

Pro- he might not?

Either way, she would have someone to trust, if she could trust him, and someone who would help her escape the police altogether. He was smart, and he was better with police work than Ruri was. She was hardly familiar with how they worked, especially how they looked for people. She didn't know their patterns, their work ethics- Light did.

She made up her mind then.

"Well?" Matsuda asked suddenly, breaking the silence that had been too uncomfortable for him to do nothing. He couldn't wait for them to think all day, he wanted an answer now. He realized perfectly well how unreasonable and impatient he was being, but he didn't know this young girl, and he was curious on why they were chasing after her.

L hadn't bothered to explain everything to him- in fact, he didn't explain anything to anybody, save for Naomi, but most of the task force members had a feeling she probably knew who the girl was before L brought the topic up.

L said nothing from his perch atop his swivel chair, staring blankly down at the paper in front of him. His thumb nail was pressed against his lower lip so hard it became white. He didn't blink, but everyone in the room could see the calculating mind working behind his blank expression.

"Well," Naomi spoke up from her seat on the chair next to him, getting up and stretching after having been sitting there for almost ten minutes straight. She'd gotten back to the task force with Matsuda a mere 15 minutes ago, and she had looked over the paper herself as she rode up in the elevator in silence. When nothing came to mind- her mind drew a sharp blank that she frowned at- she gave it to L.

She explained to him how she thought the puzzle was meant for him, and he agreed, saying something along the lines of, "she had seemed interested in me over the receiver," which none of them understood. What receiver? Yet he didn't explain anything to them, and they all sat with unasked questions on their mind.

"She knows who I am," L suddenly spoke up from his seat, not even taking his thump from his lip.

"Well, maybe she heard about you from somewhere? I mean, you are the world's best detective, after all," Matsuda offered, giving an awkward chuckle at the end, anything to clear the obvious tension in the air.

"No. She does not know L, the detective," he explained, "She knows me. She knows my past, my history." Naomi could have sworn she saw Watari visibly flinch from his position in the back of the room.

Naomi nodded once, having known a bit of his past from the time she spent with him on the LA BB murder case.

"If she knows that about you, about your past, could she be someone from back then..?" Naomi asked, barely a whisper as she spoke her thoughts. Now Naomi was certain she had seen Watari move in the back, and she could vaguely understand the old man's pain. These people, Watari thought of them all as his own children. If Naomi had seen her children killing each other off, she would have broken down long ago. However, she had no children, and wouldn't have any for a long time to go.

The thought that another person from his home, one of those he considered to be his children, was going around the way she was now- if must have torn him up inside to even consider that option.

"How old is she?" L asked, ignoring her previous statement. Though Naomi couldn't help but notice the subtle iron-like grip of his knee.

"I- I don't know," Naomi stuttered, the question had caught her off guard. "I didn't run a background check. From looks alone, she looks to be around 17, or 18."

"Please conduct a background check for her."

"I'll do it," one of the police officers stated from the back, getting up to conduct his job.

"Thank you, Ukita," L muttered half heartedly as he continued staring at the paper. What could it mean? "e4" Was it a code? Did it mean something in another language? Perhaps roman numerals? No, there was no e4 in roman numerals.

And then..

"Watari," L spoke up, raising his head as he thought.

"Yes, Ryuzaki?" The elder man spoke from the back in a calm voice.

"Please go get me a chess board."

The odd request had undoubtedly confused the older man, but years of experience had taught him not to question L's motives. He had never been wrong before. So, with this in mind, Watari left the room. He returned moments later, placing the board on the coffee table in the center of the room.

L got up, grabbing the paper on his way, and made his way over to the couches. Matsuda stood up for L to sit in his seat, and L sat in his usual odd perch quietly. Then, he began placing the pieces on the board in each of their own respective spots.

"What did you need the chess board for, Ryuzaki?" Soichiro asked from next to the detective, watching his every move carefully.

"Her code, it's algebraic notation. E4 is the start of a chess game," he explained quietly, moving a single piece. "White advances the king's pawn to e4."

After moving the piece to its' new area, he brought his thumb nail to his lower lip once more, thinking hard. He had been doing this much more often after starting the Kira case, but it had doubled immediately the moment he had spotted the young girl on the camera, closing the FBI man's eyes gently, almost as carefully as Naomi would have, had she been there herself, then looked into the cameras.

'I'm coming, L'

Coming for what?

Coming for who? Was she after him? Did she want him dead? Was she truly someone from his past, like Naomi assumed? Or perhaps someone else entirely, someone he had long forgotten? No, L remembered everyone in his life. He was certain he'd never met the young girl before. Where had she come from, then? And why, L looked down at the chess board quietly, was she after him?

She was definitely talented, that much was certain. She had been living right next to a police officer for months, and yet never gave anything away. Then she had escaped from him the night L had sent him to hold here. He really only intended to interrogate her, yet she made it difficult, and with every second she got further away from him, the more difficult it made his job.

And the funner it got.

L couldn't remember the last time he had had such a good challenge.

The Kira case wasn't solved, and L knew it to be a difficult one for sure, but this, this young woman- she was different. She was unique and intelligent and gifted, and she was challenging him.

And he accepted.

And yet, as he looked down at the small white pawn on the checkered board, he couldn't help but be confused. What could this mean? Was she saying she was simply playing a game with him, and that she meant no harm? Or was she really initiating a game of chess with him? If so, he hadn't the slightest clue of how he was going to respond, or of how he was going to continue getting notes from her.

Then, Naomi suddenly straightened her back, eyes widening slightly. "Wait, what if it's not meant to be for the chess board?"

L looked up at quizzically, half because he was curious and half because he was upset at the chance of him being wrong on this.

"What else would it be, Maki?" He asked, using her alias name. She stood up, jogging out of the room, then returning with something in her hands. She began to unfold the large paper, and L began to notice what it was.

A map.

A map of Tokyo, to be more specific.

"A map?" Matsuda spoke up next to Naomi, having gone over to help her set the large map up onto the wall, where she pinned it there.

And then L noticed what she had meant.

Aizawa, finally speaking up, seemed to have noticed, too, as he got up and spoke, astonished, "It looks just like a chess board!"

Yes, L mused, it did look quite like a chess board. The streets were even and mapped out in a way that made each corner look like a square, making the map as a whole, look entirely like a checkered chess board.

"If this is our board," L stood up, walking over to the pinned map casually, dark eyes wide and roaming the map quickly. "Then e4 would be," his finger raised, he began searching over the map, looking for the correct location.

"Here."

His finger barely hovered over the smooth paper, not even touching the map, as he looked down at the area he pointed to. The others in the room stood behind him, glancing at where he was pointing.

"But I don't get it," someone pointed out. L didn't really care who it was that spoke next. "There's nothing there, right?" He assumed it was Matsuda. Then, L's breath hitched in his throat.

His eyes widened, and everyone stared in slight concern, but mostly curiosity.

Noticing the silence, Watari had walked forward as well, before stopping just short of reaching his charge. He gasped quietly.

"What- what's over there?" Matsuda finally broke the shocked silence, looking back and forth between L's expression of confusion and worry to Watari's expression of fear and concern.

The moment the question was out of Matsuda's mouth, L turned and practically ran to his computer, crouching down in his chair quietly, almost solemnly, as he opened something up on his device.

Watari was the one to explain, as L began typing away furiously at his computer.

"It's a secret location. L had been working on creating a new building there, where the task force could work without interruption... but the location was kept from everybody, it wasn't even written down anywhere in our notes, I don't understand..." his sentence trailed off, he continued staring at the map, before going to L's side. The two began talking at once.

And as everyone in the room busied themselves with something or another, L and Watari at his computer, Naomi looking at the map as she grabbed a marker, the rest of the task force members getting ready to head home, Matsuda simply stared at the single white chess piece on the table, and uttered a single word.

"Wow..."

Ruri held in a snort as she began climbing up the side of the Yagami household, up to Light's room. She could only imagine what his expression would be once he sees her in his window pane, way past midnight.

In fact, she wasn't entirely sure he would still be awake at the moment.

And yet, as she knocked quietly on his window, she couldn't help the sigh of relief when the lights turned on a moment later.

Light opened his window, looking to each side before finally looking down at Ruri, who waved sheepishly.

"Hey, Light."

He stared, shocked, for a full minute. The both of them could hear Ryuk laughing in the background, something about how the whole situation seemed like a comedy to him, but Light didn't know Ruri could hear him, so he simply chose to ignore it.

Then, he grabbed Ruri by the arm and began pulling her up, into his room. Ruri didn't complain as he shut the window behind her, though she couldn't help but look away as he leaned over her to reach the latch of the window.

He locked the window shut.

"Ruri," he breathed, taking only a half step away from the young girl. She held her breath as she waited for him to speak. She had almost forgotten how flustered she could get in his presence alone. "What the hell are you doing here? Do you know you're being hunted down as a criminal? On suspect of being Kira?" He spoke, lecturing her as he gave her a silent, but terrifying-all-the-same glare.

She nearly laughed at how he had spoken the word, Kira, like it was venom. Damn, he really was a good actor. But no, she held her laugh in, and looked down at the floor silently. A moment would go by in utter quiet, before Light sighed, then draped his arms across the young girl's body, hugging her close.

"I'm glad you're all right."

"Light," Ruri spoke up. He simply hummed, not letting go of the smaller girl. She found that she didn't mind this.

"I need your help."

((Make sure to review lots! It helps me write faster!))