Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.

Credit: Original idea by Yami Yugi Alexander the 4th.

Chapter 12

Guess Who

The hotel lobby is much warmer then the front steps so I ended up waiting behind a pillar for the task force members, it's risky but I'd rather get caught by L then freeze out front.

It's ten minutes until midnight and none of the members have shown up yet but the Kira case book says that all five of the task force members come to the hotel by midnight on December 31st.

I'm not sure if L has a flair for the dramatic– new years– or if he's just not one for taking holidays off but this arrangement works just fine for me. The lobby is full of people watching T.V. broadcasts on the new year so it's easy to blend into the crowds and watch the doors.

I took another chocolate out of my pocket and unwrapped it. I'd been living off of the candy from the store yesterday, the store with the man who had such a lucky name.

Because he's not L, he's just lucky.

Of course, his first name isn't the only interesting part, his last name was Lawliet. That's my name.

It's not possible that a guy like that could be L and it's not possible that he could be related to me. It's just chance, he's just lucky.

For all I know, Lawliet could be a very common name... in Japan... maybe not, but he wasn't Japanese.

Anyway, he's not L and he's not related to me. I just have to keep those two facts in mind and watch the door for– there!

Soichiro Yagami and Touta Matsuda, two members of the task force.

They were both dressed in nice clothing, I wasn't planning on fitting in with them anyway but still... I would stand out.

I waited for them to get in the elevator before rushing up the stairs, I stood around the corner from room 504, next to the ice machine and waited for them to walk passed me to the door.

L had gotten a large suite right next to the vending machines so as soon as he opened the door for the task force members I could run and catch it before it closed behind them.

That was my plan at least, what I hadn't counted on was it being unlocked and even though it wasn't a bad thing it sure made me feel stupid.

The task force members walked through the door to the room on the other side, as the door swung closed I sprinted from my hiding place and dove through the door, colliding with what felt like a brick wall on the other side.

"Ouch." I mumbled , rubbing my head as the flow of introductions stopped around me.

I looked up into the stone-ish face of the man-wall. Into the face of Kanzo Mogi.

I resisted the urge to say something like 'Good morning' and brushing off my forced, or at least rushed, entry but L was in this room and that was enough for me to nurture the little pride I had left as I peeked around Mogi-san and through the parted task force to the man standing opposite them.

My pride shattered like glass on tile.

"It is you!" I shouted at the unkept man, pointing a finger accusingly at him.

He didn't seem too affected, instead he place a thumb on his bottom lip like a child and mumbled his reply around it. "I had no idea you were so offended by my actions yesterday, I do apologize." he stated, flatly.

I moved over to him, ignoring the stunned task force members completely, and looked up into his blank expression.

He was taller then me, the jerk.

"You know why I'm here." I growled at him, though there wasn't a very good chance of him actually knowing.

He held out his free hand to me and waited. "If you insist on paying me back you could have left the money with that clerk, I'm sure you could have deduced from any number of things that I would be back."

I slapped his hand down with my own and glared at him. "I'm not here to pay you back, L, I'm here to stay with you until the Kira case is solved." I stated, mostly because I didn't have another response prepared.

"I see. And what makes you think I'll let you stay with me?" he asked, tilting his head to the side like a cartoon character.

"Because I know who you are now, you can't let me leave." blackmail is illegal, but I won't let him kick me out.

"The chances of you actually telling anyone about me are incredibly low, even lower if you consider how few people are actually a danger to me."

I scowled.

"I'm still not leaving." I stated simply, I fought against the urge to sit down on the floor at his feet and pout until he lost interest in my eviction.

"Very well." he agreed.

I blinked and looked around for any kind of trick.

"Why?" I had to ask.

"I don't see why not, you're not a threat and if I kick you out now there's an 84-percent chance that you'll come back later." he stated, not seeming to care at all.

"That's right, I would be back." I agreed.

"Feel free to take a seat in the other room." he instructed, turning his attention back to the confused task force as I started walking towards the next room.

I didn't catch on until I was almost through the door.

"Hey, wait, aren't you coming?" I asked, to anyone in general.

"Why would I do that? We do have work to do." he mumbled.

He's not going to include me in the case!

"I'm helping!" I insisted, rooting myself in the doorway.

"No, there's no reason for me to let you get in the way."

In the way?

I stormed back over to him and wrapped both of my arms around one of his.

"Why let me stay if you won't let me help?"

"You can't help for the same reason that allows you to stay; you're not a threat. So then, it stands to reason that you aren't much of an advantage either." he answered.

"That's stupid, you have no way of knowing that I won't be a huge advantage! Besides more people on your team can't hurt." something was telling me that he didn't really intend to keep me from the case.

"What's your name?" he asked me, looking down at my death grip on his right arm with simple disinterest.

"K– call me Destiny." I answered. That was the most idiotic mistake I had ever almost made, I guess Kira really had grown on me over the years.

"Destiny." he sounded like he was trying the name out.

He reached into his left front pocket and pulled out a red sucker.

"Lollipop?" he offered.

I reached out to take it but he pulled it back.

"Hey!" I sniffed, that was cruel.

"I thought you didn't like free candy." he reminded me.

"Well, we're living together now, so you have to feed me." I insisted.

"I see, I suppose I hadn't thought of that." liar.

"Uhm... L? You wanted to see us and here we are..." One of the task force members spoke up, trying to earn back the great detective's attention.

"Yes, I apologize for the interruption. Let's all move into the other room, now." L answered, handing me the sucker as we walked.

I took the candy as a peace offering and released his arm.

I suppose he wasn't that bad, though the fact that Mello was right really did bother me.

I need to call Mello as soon as I can.

L told the task force members to leave anything electronic on the table in the first room before taking their seats in the lounge area.

I sat on the arm of his chair and watched with unnecessary fervor as he took out a black pen and began to map out his theories right onto the table in front of him.

I payed undo attention to my idol as he worked.

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Author's Note: There, they met up, I hope that wasn't too bad of a chapter but I'm still trying to get the technical stuff done. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!