A/N: Brief little 1000 wordficlet I wrote for Tsuki Mizuno's challenge on the forums. This is how I think a Sayu/L pairing could come about (sort of).
Set during the first arc, the day before L goes and meets Misa and Raito at the college.
"Oh, hello!"
L blinked, startled as a rather large, slightly-overbearing woman greeted him at the door.
"Yagami-san?" he asked slowly. "Is Raito-kun here? I'm Hideki Ryuuga, from his psychology class."
The woman beamed.
"Oh, I knew you'd be polite!" she said happily. "Come on in! I'm afraid Ratio's not home from class yet, but you're welcome to come in and wait."
L went in to wait in the living room, examining his surroundings. The room seemed much larger than it had been on camera. A lot brighter, too. He walked over to the far wall, decorated with variuos pictures, examining them.
"Hello?"
L turned froma recent-looking family portrait to see a girl looking at him curiously.
"Who're you?" she demanded.
"I'm Ryuuzaki," L said,bowing shortly at the waist. "I'm a friend of Raito-kun's from school. You must be Sayu-chan. Raito-kun's told me all about you."
Surprisingly, the girl made a face.
"Raito tells lies," she told him, scowling. "I'm not as bad with the quadratic formula as he says I am, and I'm doing better in English now."
L smiled, amused.
"Ratio-kun never mentioned it," he said generously, sitting down. "But tell me, Sayu-chan, why do you say Raito lies?"
The mother came back into the room, carrying a large tray of tea and cookies.
"What did you say your name again was?" she asked, smiling down at him.
"Hideki," he told her. "Ryuuga Hideki."
"Oh, that's right." She smiled, setting down the tray. "Oh, look, Sayu, he has the same name as your idol! Isn't that neat?" She returned to the kitchen, idly humming to herself.
Sayu sat down on the opposite end of the couch, raising an eyebrow skeptically.
"Hideki Ryuuga?" she said sarcastically. "What happened to Ryuuzaki?"
"I have many names," L informed her, takingseveralcookies and biting into one. "Hideki when I'm at the college. Ryuuzaki when I'm among the Kira investigators. And L to the rest of the world, though that's not really a name."
"Oh, you're L?" Sayu said, relaxing. "That makes a lot more sense, now."
L raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Well, Raito doesn't have many real friends," Sayu said, reaching for a cookie, "so I was surprised when you introduced yourself like that."
"Oh?" L said politely, masking his intrigue. "Why is that?"
"Raito has a habit of thinking he's better than everyone else," Sayu told him. She bit into her cookie thoughtfully, pausing. "That's probably why he doesn't have a real girlfriend, either."
"What do you mean?" L asked, stirring sugar liberally into his tea.
"Well, all Raito does when he's at home is stay locked up in his room, studying or going over his stupid notebook and talking to himself," Sayu said, rolling her eyes. "And when Misa-chan comes over, they just talk and stuff. She even has a notebook like he does too."
L tried not to look like he cared. "A notebook?"
"Yeah. Notebooks, of all things. I spied on them once, but all they did was go over the stupid notebooks and watch the news and write people's names into them and talk to the air and stuff. It was really lame." Sayu took another cookie. "To tell you the truth, I think Raito needs a life. He doesn't really make friends unless he needs them or can use them, but he really needs to get out more."
L bit back a smirk, before leaning forward to her.
"You want to hear a secret, Sayu?" he said in a stage-whisper.
Sayu leaned in. "Sure."
"I think Raito-kun might be Kira," he told her quietly, his eyes glittering with amusement.
Sayu gasped, but leaned back in quickly.
"You know, I think you might be right," she whispered. "A lot of what Raito and Misa talk about has to do with criminals and 'judging', and before Raito was always saying that the world needed to be cleaned up a lot."
L stood up, a rare smile gracing his face.
"Sayu," he said. "I think I might love you. You just completely made my day."
"Eww!" Sayu made a face. "You're kind of cute, Ryuuzaki, but boys are icky. Maybe when I'm older."
"I'll keep that in mind," he told her, smiling. "I'll see you around."
"Oh, are you leaving, Hideki-kun?" Yagami-san said from the kitchen.
"Yeah," L said, moving to the door. "I'll see Raito-kun in school tomorrow. It wasn't that important, anyway."
"Shall I tell Raito that you called?" she asked.
"Nah," L said, pausing in the doorway and looking back. He winked at Sayu. "Sayu-chan can just mention that her new boyfriend dropped by if Ratio asks about anything."
"Eww!" Sayu gagged, and her mother laughed.
"Sayonara, Yagami-san. Ja ne, Sayu." L shut the door behind him.
"Well, he was nice." Sayu watched as her mother came in to remove the tray.
"He was weird," Sayu informed her mother. "And he smelled kinda funny."
Her mother laughed as she returned to the kitchen.
"He certainly ate a lot of cookies, though..."
"Hi, Raito!"
"Hi, Sayu," Raito said distractedly, toeing off his shoes, before leading Misa up the stairs to his room. Sayu quickly ran to the bottom of the staircase, grinning up after him.
"Guess who came by to see you today?" she called. "My boyfriend!"
"Oh?" Raito said, not really caring. "And who might that be?"
"L!"
Raito snorted. "Yeah right."
"It's true!" Sayu yelled. "He said he'll drop by and see you at school tomorrow, too!"
"That's ridiculous," Raito said, dismissive. "He never shows up at class anymore. Come, Misa. We have work to do..." He shut the door behind them.
Sayu shrugged to herself and fell back against the sofa, flicking on the TV. Raito always underestimated her, like he did everyone else, but he would see that she was right soon enough. He would see.
He would see.