Snowflake dancers pirouetted through the air, spinning to and fro against the grey sky. Rows upon rows of twirling white ladies fell delicately, swaying in time with the soft music of the wind. The sky was their studio, the breeze was their instructor. And they were all equally different and beautiful at the same time. Light Yagami had taken to watching them, his keen brown eyes observing the little ladies as they repeated their routine. The young boy had tried to capture them in his hand, to save the snowflake dancer. Only he had found that they melted soon after touching his skin. It was a pity to watch such a small, beautiful thing disappear, disintegrate into nothingness. But it was a beautiful end, Light had decided. In his young, juvenile mind, he had convinced himself that the death of a snowflake dancer on his palm was a much more merciful than the one it would face if it continued its course to the Earth. If the white lady proceeded downward, she would land on the ground. She would lose her beauty, her originality. Inevitably blending with the white substance packed in a thick layer across the ground. Their tediously-carved and specifically-spun appearance would simply meld with the majority. Then finally, pushed aside and matted down by cars and the feet of children. The pure white snow dancers would be tainted brown with salt, muck, and impure things.

Light Yagami had decided that he would be merciful enough to end them before their uniqueness and beauty was stripped away from them, before they were pressed back into unceremonious, dirty piles on the sides of the street. He would save them. He would smile with each snowflake dancer that melted in his palm. Such pure, white beauty did not deserve to be dirtied. It didn't snow often. Most of the time it occurred in the mountains, and snow in the Kanto Region of Japan tended to be sparse. It was a treat when it did happen, Light was fond of the snow. He didn't like snowball fights or sled races, or any of the childish things that his peers took part in. He much rather would spend his time watching the snowflake dancers, his raw red palms facing up and his head titled to the sky. He enjoyed the dull throb of the cold, the pulsating feeling of the winter chill. There was something satisfying about it. "Light, what are you doing out here? Don't you have any gloves, sweetie?"

"I-I'm…fine…" A shiver.

"Come here…you must be freezing," Sachiko chastised as she zipped his coat up several more inches (nearly choking him) and pulled his hat down. "What happened to your gloves?" she asked, bending down and enveloping his raw hands in her larger ones.

Light looked at her hands and then at her face. "No…"

"Light-kun," she scolded lightly. "You can't just run outside without gloves on! You must be freezing…come here."

"N-no."

"No?" Sachiko smiled. "You silly boy, you should know better. Come on inside, you'll catch death out here." She took several steps through the snow, pausing when she realized that Light wasn't following her. She frowned and trekked back over to her obstinate son. His wide brown eyes were watching the thick grey clouds and the small flakes that continued to fleck the sky. "Come here," she said sweetly, leaning down and placing a hand on his shoulder. Light's shoulder twitched slightly with the touch, but he held his position. "Are you listening to me?" she asked. "Wake up, Light-kun." Light stared at Sachiko. "Wake up, sweetie. We need to go inside." A hand jutted out to press against his face. Light groaned slightly, his head lolling back in response. "Wake up…"

Light's eyes slowly opened. His heavy lids reluctantly parted, and he glanced out through his eyelashes. It was bright, and he closed his eyes defiantly and pressed his head back into the crevice it had been situated in before. "Light-kun, my shoulder is getting sore." The brunet was thrown back into reality with a sudden jolt. It hit him hard, causing his eyes to flash open. He had fallen asleep and subsequently his head had slid over to utilize Ryuuzaki's shoulder as a convenient cushion. The pale hands were on his cheek, trying to rouse him from his slumber. Light immediately snatched his face back, shaking off the cool, pallid finger from his face. "You were mumbling something," Ryuuzaki said as if was obvious, cocking his head. "A dream?"

"Yes," Light answered quickly, twisting his neck to try and soothe the soreness of it. "I can't remember it though," he finished up with a lie. His neck cracked with protest as rolled his head around. It's not that he had anything to hide really, it's just that Light wasn't a fan of sharing personal things. He didn't care for letting the world know of particular details like that, tender little memories from his childhood. And he certainly wasn't about to let Ryuuzaki in on his past, his family, or his dreams for that matter.

"You seemed quite comfortable; unfortunately you have a rather thick, heavy head, so I can't say the same for my shoulder." Light frowned at the insult, but continued to rub his neck therapeutically.

"Can I take this off yet?" Light asked, shaking his wrist. "Trying to sleep like that is doing one hell of a job on my neck."

"For my own personal safety issues, I must decline."

"For your own personal safety issues? If I really wanted to kill you, it would be easy, you're right there, and you couldn't escape when you're chained to me."

"Then you'd be dragging my corpse along with you, most inconvenient, don't you think?"

Light frowned. "It can't honestly be that hard to get off the handcuffs," Light countered dully, squinting his eyes and glancing out the window of the hospital room. "What time is it?"

"2:30 A.M.," Ryuuzaki replied most accurately. Light gave him a quizzical stare.

"Your watch," Ryuuzaki replied. "It's a rather nice one." Light had nearly forgotten about the designer silver watch that was fastened around his wrist. The little numbers were hardly visible in the dim light, it was a wonder how Ryuuzaki had been able to accurately pick out the time from his vantage point. Then again, he was L. That epiphany was still hard to fathom for photographer. The Ryuuzaki that consumed obscene amounts of sweets, was known for his underhanded comments, and sat across from him at the Coffee Shop everyday was the L. His respect for the legendary detective was waning at a rather rapid pace.

He seemed like a complete…freak, a misfit. Light had always had images of a well-put-together, astute detective that was known to the world as "L". He had always pictured the man as orderly, meticulous, and intellectually adorned as his reputation preceded him. But he was the complete and total opposite. It was mind-boggling. Never judge a book by its cover, Light thought dimly of the saying. Only by its contents, he added silently to himself, watching as Ryuuzaki nibbled on his thumbnail.

The call came in around 5:30 A.M. that morning. The time wasn't surprising; it was about the hour when everyone dragged themselves from bed in order to get ready for work, irritably awoken by their beeping alarms. The call they had received was frantic. "Help! Oh my God! She's dead! Oh my God!"

"Please calm down, ma'am."

"I need help! Please! Jesus Christ, please send someone! She's dead!"

"Please try and take a breath, ma'am, can you tell me who it is?"

"Takada! My poor Takada!"

"Takada?"

"Yes! Oh my God…there's blood everywhere…" Hysterical sobs.

"It's important you don't touch the body, ma'am. I'm sending help right now."

But she did touch the body. The police and barged in on the woman cradling the limp life form in her arms. Her neat white blouse was soaked with blood as she clung helplessly to the motionless woman sprawled unnaturally on the floor. The uniforms had to pry her away, her blood and tear-stained face contorted with the agony of disbelief and loss. The paramedics had pronounced Kiyomi Takada dead after checking her vital signs. It wasn't even worth the bother of attempting resuscitation, she was clearly gone already. Knife wounds lined her body; she had died from blood loss. And of course, there was the heart carved carefully into the flesh of her neck. It was eerily reminiscent of the all the other murders, there were several deciduous factors that pointed the murder to the same perpetrator. The heart, the lack of footprints, fingerprints, and the meticulous care to make sure the scene was clear and that no one had heard the murder. There was only one difference, however. It pasted on the missing piece that had been absent to the police until then. There was a gun. Yes, a gun. A shiny and malicious-looking monster, sprawled innocently in the corner of the room. It looked like someone had oh-so-nonchalantly left it behind, as if it wasn't an integral part of the evidence pertaining to the crime. It was almost too easy. Almost too obvious as the police sealed it in a sterile plastic bag and led out the hysterical woman. But at that point, no one was about to argue with any evidence at all.

"W-what?" Light said his body recoiling as the detective yanked him along. His confusion was quickly replaced with hungry curiosity. "What's going on?" Ryuuzaki was busy replacing his cell phone into the ample storage-space of his pocket. So he blatantly ignored the peeved brunet's demand. Light frowned at this and began to dig his heels into the ground in an attempt not to be dragged along. "If I'm chained to you, I'm going to find out sooner or later what you're dragging me towards."

"Quite right," Ryuuzaki replied. "I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise." Light's placid frown cemented onto his features, finally allowing himself to be tugged on a path to God-knows-where. Actually, they were only traveling a couple doors down the hall to the elevator. Ryuuzaki paused at the buttons outside the doors, his pointer finger jabbing out awkwardly to spear the down arrow. It illuminated as the idle elevator hurried to accommodate the waiting pair. Light tapped his foot and Ryuuzaki continued to stand in hunched silence. Ding. The elevator doors slid open. Ryuuzaki stalked inside with Light following tentatively behind him. The pale detective then shuffled through his pockets, finally drawing out a small key. What the hell else was in his pockets? Light was eager to know, but at the same time didn't really want to know. After inserting the key into its designated hole and pressing the button marked "BASEMENT", it began to descend

The silence of the elevator was filled with the soft hum of classical music. "Debussy?"

Light's head flicked towards Ryuuzaki, who stood slouched with his hands tucked loosely in his pockets. The brunet was taken aback for a moment, as he had been thinking the precise thing just then. That uncanny knack for apparent mind-reading was once more making Light duly uncomfortable. "I was just thinking that," Light replied with a flourish of his hand. He then stuck it into his pocket, mimicking the detective. So he was cultured in something other than desserts?

"Yes, I do listen to classical," Ryuuzaki said with a small smile, as if he could sense the small amount of disbelief in Light's tone. Light gave him a stiff stare.

"I can see that."

Silence.

Ding.

"Here we are," Ryuuzaki said, the doors sliding open. Light Yagami's disbelief at what the doors opened to distracted him from L's cryptic smile. About ten heads turned all at once to stare at the elevator. They were all Police, all men that Light knew. Ide, Mogi, Aizawa, Matsuda, and his own father among others.

"Good morning," Ryuuzaki replied, stalking forward and tugging the stationary Light along with him. It was about 2:45 A.M., so "good morning" was cruelly accurate. The young man noticed the dark circles under all of their eyes after glancing at his watch, all of them mirroring Ryuuzaki's. Even his father's weathered face was engraved with large dark rings.

"Do you have her?" L asked, finding a free chair and jumping to his perch. He left Light standing, and didn't bother to offer him a chair.

"Yes sir," Matsuda replied, his tone fatigued but triumphant.

"And have you managed to get anything out of her?"

At this inquiry, Matusda's face fell. "Uh…no, sir."

"Well, I suppose I was right then." He went to spin in his chair, but was stopped by the yank of the chain. He frowned deeply at Light, then his attention shifted rapidly back to the case at hand.

Most of what Ryuuzaki was saying flew over Light's head, since he had had no past involvement in the case. He was haphazardly drawn into it. At the moment, Light was still trying to absorb his environment. The walls were covered with monitors and numerous tables were strewn with excessive amounts of files and paperwork. All of the men (and one woman) were tapping away at computers, their bloodshot eyes transfixed on the illuminated screens. In the corner of the basement, he saw a large, quarantined area with thick steel walls. He could only assume that it was a shelter from natural disasters. Earthquakes, tsunamis, and the like. The only break in the cool grey steel was a small window that had been cut out. Odd…

Light peered closer at the window. Inside he saw a table. He squinted harder and saw the motionless shape of a person…his quiet investigation was cut off by the sound of his own name, resonating from the lips of Ryuuzaki.

"And Light Yagami will be the one to extract any and all information."

"I'll be doing what?" Light asked, with the tone of someone who had been selected for something he hadn't applied for.

"You'll be our interrogator for the day."

"Interrogator?" Light asked, his peripherals locking on to grey cubicle with a window. So it was a person inside…

"Yes, since none of us have been able to make any headway," Ryuuzaki gave him a knowing stare. "And you're quite gifted with…persuasion." Light flinched under that stare, remembering the guard he had convinced to let him into the hospital.

"I'm not part of your case," Light said. "You've just dragged me along for the ride."

Ryuuzaki jangled the handcuffs loudly. "I see."

Wait…was he..? The bastard was blackmailing him! He would release him from the handcuffs if Light interrogated this person for him…it made no sense at all. This was L, the greatest detective of all time. Would he really be as petty? Light weighed the thought for a moment, glancing down at the handcuff and then up at Ryuuzaki, who retained a perfectly innocent face.

"I can supply you with a earpiece so I can relay to you what I need you to say, you can just dress it up a bit." Jangle, jangle, jangle. Ryuuzaki let the chain clink noisily once more. The two stared unblinkingly at the other, Ryuuzaki trying to get what he wanted and Light trying to find some loophole he could squirm through.

"I'm compelled about the urgency of the case, I'll do it for you," Light said, his brown eyes flashing between the chains and the grey cube with the window. Ryuuzaki blinked twice as if to say: 'Good choice.'

"Very well then," Ryuuzaki said, holding up a hand and beckoning. "I'm glad to see that we're on the same page." In response to the hand gesture, an old man walked briskly over to accommodate the detective. "Watari, the key please." Those haunting dark eyes trained on Light without reprieve. The old man reached with arthritic fingers into his pocket, drawing out the key and moving to unlock the handcuffs.

Light rubbed his wrist as Ryuuzaki jumped to his feet. Watari then handed Light a compact earpiece. The brunet hesitated for a moment before inserting it into his ear. He covered the device with chunks of his hair, which was growing somewhat greasy from lack of showering. Without a chain to yank Light along, Ryuuzaki could only shuffle forward toward the window, trusting that Light would be intelligent enough to follow him.

Behind the glass was a young woman, probably about late-twenties to early thirties. She was dressed in hospital scrubs and she sat with her hands folded on the table. Her eyes were wide and piercingly emotionless. "Hitomi Nakura," Ryuuzaki said softly. "And don't worry; she can't see us through the glass, we can only see her. She stumbled upon the body of Kiyomi Takada…"

The name struck a familiar chord in Light, but he felt little sadness for her passing. She was just a girlfriend, one of the many that had insisted themselves upon him during college.

"Are you listening?"

"Yes," Light said without smiling. "It's just that I was familiar with Miss Takada."

"Yes, I knew. That's why I thought you might have…a little more luck."

Silence.

"I will feed you instructions through the earpiece, just make sure that you ask the vital information, you don't need to repeat it word for word," Ryuuzaki continued, offering up a noncommittal shrug. "You should be fine."

After the brief exchange of dialogue ended, Watari led Light to a steel door, sticking a key in the lock and opening it just wide enough for Light to slip through without revealing anything on the outside to the woman sitting inside. Surprisingly enough, she stayed statue still. Her lips were drawn tightly; as if she was fighting tears, but her eyes were dry as desert.

"Hello, I'm Light Yagami," Light said graciously, glancing at the window. He couldn't see Ryuuzaki from inside, but he was fully aware that the detective was watching intently. Like this was some sort of television show to him. Her head flicked up slightly at the name.

"Yagami?"

"Yes," came the tentative reply from Light.

Ask her how she's related to Takada. The earpiece buzzed and the voice blared. Light put a hand over his ear to signal it was too loud. "How do you know Takada? I used to date her in college."

"Yes, I was aware," she snapped in a small voice. "No wonder she dated you, you're androgynous as anything." He was taken aback by that comment, not really aware of what spurred it. Androgynous? Buzzed the earpiece once more. Light frowned at the blow to his masculinity, but took it in stride.

"And how do you know her?" Light asked.

Hitomi Nakura gave him a hard stare. "I'm her girlfriend."

Light made a point of ignoring what the earpiece buzzed with next.

"A woman immune to Light Yagami's charms," Ryuuzaki said, as if he was admiring Miss Nakura. "And all because she has no desire for his genitals." Light threw the earpiece on the table, sulkily taking a seat next to Ryuuzaki. Soichiro, who was seated a couple feet away, was pointedly ignoring the conversation pertaining to Light and his genitals.

"Would you leave it alone?" Light asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well, at least you compiled a bit more helpful information than the rest of us," Matsuda added helpfully. He nudged Ide, who concurred with a small grunt.

"True," Ryuuzaki said, now able to spin in his chair with the lack of handcuffs. "But that makes me more suspicious."

"Suspicious?" Light leaned back in his own chair.

"Yes…If I were you, I'd be quite angry to find that I'd been dumped for the opposite sex." What Light didn't know was that Ryuuzaki was going by what he'd read, and not by actual personal experience. The man had never been on a date or a social outing with a stranger in his life. Minus their Coffee Shop escapades. "What's to stop you from murdering her out of anger, out of disgust?" Ryuuzaki tipped his head to ceiling in thought. "Someone had painted 'lesbian whore' in blood."

"You're kidding me," Light retorted. Maybe it was his imagination, but Light swore he could hear the jangle of handcuffs.

Sorry this took me so long. My computer fried. There won't be another chapter until I get a new one.

I'm sorry.