I allowed him to enter and closed the door yet again. He entered then turned himself in my direction with a very serious expression. I shivered. And then he finally told me the inconvenient truth.

"Minamoto-chan, I came here to tell you that I'm L!"


XXIX

I felt like a stroke had paralyzed me. At that moment it was like everything had stopped. In that brief moment which seemed like a never-ending moment of agony, I felt that my whole world was about to change from there on. A growing fear that was present the other day overwhelmed me on that moment. Ruyga was L… My instinct kept telling me that he was speaking the truth. My captor was standing there in my own house, yet I wanted to know why he had revealed himself to me just like that. Was he lying? Was he someone sent by the real L to try and frame me?

"You're saying that… You're the world's most famous detective?" I asked still shocked by the surprise.

"Do you doubt my word Minamoto-chan?" he asked with an unaltered facial expression.

I feared my doubt concerning his declaration would be something that might incriminate me. Was I supposed to blindly believe that he was L? No! I couldn't believe him just because he said it. I wanted to believe him, before deciding what to do next in order to escape getting in the slammer.

"If you're L…" I said looking at him straight in the eyes with a determined expression "… give me proof!"


Watari drove the limousine without speaking a word to the two of us. Me and the 'supposed L' were in the backseats without speaking to each other as well. That was until I decided to break the silence, and figure out more about his revelation.

"So… L…" I said, finding it confusing for me to actually call him that "… Why did you choose to reveal yourself to me of all people?"

He looked at me from his right side. "Because you may be a valuable clue to finding out whom Kira really is."

"What do you mean? I don't support anyone in particular, if you don't mind me saying." I asked.

"Everything will be explained as soon as we get to our destination." He replied eating some chocolate chip cookies.

"Out of curiosity… Why do you sit like that?" I decided to ask still bothered by the way he usually sat.

He looked at me this time straight into my face.

"If I sat like normal people, my reasoning capabilities would drop by forty percent. And I will need them in order to figure out this case."

I looked away to the window. We sure were going farther and farther from town. If he saw me as a suspect or as a clue it didn't matter to me at that moment: I just wanted to figure out if he was telling the truth, despite the bad feeling I had concerning what would follow what he had to show me.

The notebook was still safe in my house. If something went wrong I would have to give up the notebook for good. It would be sad that I couldn't avenge my mother's death. I didn't have any clues concerning the guy I wanted to kill. At that time I wondered if that goal was an excuse for me to keep the notebook with me for a little longer. I should have gotten rid of it after L had discovered where Kira was. But stupidly, I kept it. I couldn't help but to wonder why had I made that stupid decision.

Even though in the beginning I had started to feel better with myself thanks to the notebook, the reasons for me to keep it were starting to be less and less. After the two big incidents on which I was involved I should have seen myself free of that notebook.

And as for my dearest mother… I began to wonder… If she would really like to see what I was planning to do, as well as what I had become.

"We're here Ryuzaki!" said Watari smiling at us from the driver's seat.

"Ryuzaki?" I asked confused.

"It's what you must call me from here on forward." He replied opening the car door.

We both left the car. Ahead of us was a huge building that resembled a prison. Its grey stone walls were wasted by time. But when we entered inside, the room in question was clearly new and remodeled. He led me through a short hallway, and stopped near some stairs.

"Minamoto-chan, you go ahead. Watari, go down with her and type in the security code. Also, give her the keys to the cell!"

Cell? What cell? I went down with Watari without speaking a word but looking obviously confused. After a while, Watari passed me a couple of keys, which I had no idea of what they opened at that moment. He headed for the right corner of the huge steel door in front of us, typed in something, and then the door slowly rose up.

"You go ahead Miss… I will join Ryuzaki in the command room." He said walking away to go up the stairs. I stood there watching him go up for a while, and then I slowly entered the next room.

It was pretty dark and stuffy. The lights were very weak, and I made a little effort to look around clearly. I didn't need much to figure out that a cell was what mostly occupied the entire division.

Until something inside caught my attention. Someone was inside! A person with his back turned in my direction, dressed in black and very messy clothing, was lying on the ground without making any type of movement. I walked a little around the cell and found out where the door was. It wasn't very hard to find the key, so I opened the door and made my way in.

I could barely see anything due to the horrible set of lights in the room. It smelled like sweat inside. I walked around the person. His hair was covering the whole face. I knelt down, took the person's head onto my lap, and took the bangs away from the face of the person.

It was then that I knew I was in the Wolf's Lair. Too deep inside to turn back now.

"L- LIGHT!" I screamed shocked to see my own boyfriend in that sort of state.

His eyes remained closed though. His skin was oily, his hair had grown too much, and he looked like he had lost some pounds since we were together.

"Light, please wake up!" I said shaking him softly "Please. Look at me!"

I then noticed that he had his wrists chained behind his back. Oh my goodness! What had he done to be in that situation!

"Hmmm…" he grunted weakly trying to open his eyes.

"Light! I'm here! It's alright! I'm here!" I said placing my right hand on his left cheek.

He seemed to make an effort to open his eyes at last. His glance immediately met with mine.

"Seira…" he whispered weakly "Oh Seira…"

My eyes began to feel watery because I had realized the horrible person I was: I had that stupid accident which could have been avoided, while my boyfriend was here suffering without me even dreaming about it. I made him sit down, and hugged him very strongly.

"Light! Oh Light, I kept wondering where you were!" I said with a very emotional tone.

"Curse you!" he said with a bit stronger voice.

I looked at him confused, but then I noticed that he was looking somewhere else. L was at the door cell. I stood up with a furious attitude.

"What is the meaning of this?" I demanded to know very angrily.

"You wanted proof that I was L, and there you have it. Ask Yagami-kun yourself."

I looked at him confused. Light, whose back was against the wall, looked the other way.

"Seira, this is L. L the detective himself, in the flesh!" he said gasping

I looked at L with a confused and a little scared expression. "Why… Why are you revealing yourself to me? Why did you take me here and why are you doing all of this?"

"Because you're the main suspect of being Kira!" replied L very severely.

No… I was the main suspect. Just like I feared all those months ago. It was like my life had crashed upon my feet at that moment. I had promised I wouldn't drag anyone into my doom. Yet there was Light, suffering due to my childish decision of keeping the notebook.

"Why?" I said with a shaking voice "What did I do?"

"I just feel that there are too many coincidences around you. That is why you're the main suspect." Said L without bothering to give me any type of explanation.

"But why did you had to keep Light in here?" I shouted feeling a growing hatred for L.

"Even though you're the main suspect of being Kira at that moment, Yagami Light is also a strong possibility."

"You approached us… Just for that?" I whispered revolted "You foul, manipulative bastard!"

"I only did what I thought was best for the case" replied L with a serious expression.

I walked towards him still unsure of what I was going to do. I hated that bastard. I felt my head boiling with the will to kill him. Yet what I did to him was only a sample of what I really desired to put him through: My right fist landed straight on his cheek, making him fall on his back to the ground.

"Seira!" shouted Light in surprise.

I stood there gasping slowly in frustration.

"If you want to do this the hard way, fine on me…" I whispered "But head this request: release Light, and put me in here instead."

"No!" protested Light with a stronger voice "Seira, you have nothing to proof to him! I know you're not Kira! Please don't subject yourself to this!"

"I have to Light! I'm the main suspect after all!" I whispered not looking at my beloved in the eyes "What say you, L?"

L stood up, massaging his left cheek. That would leave a mark for sure.

"If you desire to submit yourself to that, it's fine on me. However I will not release Light Yagami from confinement just yet. Keeping you two confined may be an interesting experience though." He said looking at me with a locked interest in my person.

"I have one final request before I go to confinement…" I whispered.

"And what is that request about?" asked L curious.

"I want to say goodbye to my father…" I replied with a sad voice.

The room stood silent. Light looked at me touched with my request, yet L still remained glancing at me with a serious expression.

"Please…" I ended up crying "I only ask this. I want to say goodbye, to my beloved father. He won't see me for a while, so I feel I must…"

"You may…" replied L "By tomorrow though we will pick you up. We will take today to prepare a cell to you."

"Thank you…" I whispered with a sobbing voice.

I headed to my boyfriend who was looking at me with a sad glance.

"Why Seira, why?" he asked as I knelt down to him "You have nothing to prove!"

"But I do…" I said holding his face softly with both my hands "If I do this, maybe the two of us will be cleared for good."

"But…" he tried to protest.

"Hey! It will be alright!" I whispered trying to give him confidence.

He decided to stop trying to convince me. I just lowered my face onto his face, and gave him a very deep kiss. I still had my eyes tearing up due to what I was about to do, and also due to my guilt. I wouldn't tell him now, but after it was all over for the two of us, I would have to tell him that inevitable truth.

"Minamoto-chan!" called L from the cell door "Let's go!"

I separated from Light without taking my glance away from his though.

"We'll be together again…" I said pressing my forehead on to his.

He stole another quick smooch from me in response. I stood up, and walked to the cell door, sending him one last sad glance. Who knew how longer it would be until we met again.

Now I had my father to say goodbye to. I prayed that he was home to see me before the confinement. As I went up the long stairway and made my way into L's limousine, I made a decision, which I should have taken a while ago.

"I'm going to get rid of the Death Note! And then… This will all be just a nightmare to forget."