Thank you for the reviews.

...

L watched Light warily.

He'd gotten Watari to summon the boy back into the room they were occupying, and he did so successfully. Only after he bribed him with a new movie to watch did Light agree to come along, saying that he would need more apples for Ryūk - and if he could get a lollipop or two for himself. Watari, ever ready, had walked to the cupboard and pulled out a box of (L's) chocolates that he easily handed to the boy, unaware of the detective staring at them with wide eyes through a monitor. Light, who had lit up like a neon sign, skipped out of the room with the (L's!) box and soon made it to where the Task members were waiting. L had briefly glanced at Watari (disappearing away professionally) and wondered when he'd stopped disliking Light the Kira-suspect and liking Rai-chan the golden-haired angel. He looked away when Light's footsteps approached, L's grey eyes had glanced at the box, before rolling up to the boy holding it. Now we are back at the point where L was watching him warily. Warily because L had a bad feeling about the kid.

One side of him had offered up the idea that the boy had a sort of invisible creature with him - a shinigami to be exact. L gathered, from all his clues, plus that also made more sense than his earlier conclusion that the boy was a shinigami (maybe he'd read one too many thriller fiction). If this "Ryūk" dude was some sort of winged creature with sinister powers or something, it could explain why Light was a child - the thing cursed him (he was feeling a bit too lazy to come up with something better - lack of sugar really was unhealthy to him). The other side insisted that Light, feeling lonely, had made for himself an imaginary friend, one that had to be as real as possible - so the kid used his powers to aide him with that (hence the floating objects). L, not quite ready to believe in such a thing as a shinigami (that decided to suddenly haunt his Kira suspect), decided to go with the other explanation. It would not surprise him if Light Yagami really had powers. Either way, if it were really a shinigami, then Light's probability of being Kira was raised by fifty per cent, because shinigami were all about death. And death was a word easily associated with Kira, nowadays. It would take hours thinking over the matter and in the end L would still come to the same conclusions.

Light was Kira. End of discussion.

'Light-kun,' L called. The boy stopped and walked towards him only two steps, before suddenly remembering something and delicately veering clear of L with a toss of his distracting bright hair. L blinked.

Riiight. Light was still angry that L had ditched him for a case. L tried again, this time thinking before saying. 'You don't want some?' he tempted, his pale hand gesturing at the plateful of waffles that he'd been neglecting. So what if the only thing L was good at when interacting with others was either talking business (him ordering and others obeying) or bribing (because he could afford it easily). Bribing for the sake of a case, that is.

Light hesitated, a tiny breath escaping him, turning around to glance at what the detective was offering. The boy took one look at the pale hand and sniffed,turning the corners of his mouth down, lowering his eyelids and lifting his nose importantly. 'You are offering me the food you did not want to eat?' he demanded. This detective was just something else.

L stared back at him, his expression as flat as always. How did the boy know?! he screeched. L wouldn't have known it, if it were him. What L did know was, that serious expression the boy was trying to create was freaking adorable! Squeee!

Ahem... praise the heavens that L's demeanour was one that took a lot of effort to change.

'Who do you think I am? a cheapskate?' L asked, still quite pleased that the kid was talking to him. Because it wouldn't do if Kira suddenly stopped speaking to him, how else was he going to gather clues?

Light crossed his arms (mindful of the chocolates) and lifted one eyebrow at the man. Did he think that Light was stupid?

L deadpanned at the kid. Why was he lifting his eyebrows and squinting one eye almost shut like that? He couldn't see clearly?

Ryūk chortled. Older Light-o couldn't also lift his right eyebrow successfully, the kid should have tried lifting the left one. No, wait, this was funnier.

'I was gesturing at the pop tarts further away, Light-kun,' L said, not at all that remorseful about the lie.

Light hesitated for a second. 'Bribery does not work on me, Sir Ryū. Hmph!' he sniffed. 'Just say what you wanted to ask of me.'

L wanted to pinch his face into something that resembled a study in constipation. This kid was difficult! Why was he making L feel as though he was trying to win over his attention? (Because that was certainly not what he was trying to do!)

'I was hoping you could tell me about Ryūk,' L said bluntly. He wasn't a fan of beating around the bush, plus the boy had invited.

Light looked at him assessingly, his cheerful eyes glancing at L's bare feet and hunched posture. 'No.'

'Why?'

'Ryūku will go away,' he said easily. 'I don't want him to.'

Aha! L gloated I knew it! This Ryūk was imaginary! Why else would the boy refuse? L's grey eyes brightened briefly, for the first time in a long time. That means the kid has powers. Powers, guys, Pah-werz. 'What does he look like?' he asked, ignoring the side that shouted "Shinigami" to him.

'Why should I tell a pale greatest detective of all time?' he mused, making L feel like he was unworthy of something. 'If I tell you, you will just feel bad that I am the only one who can see Ryūku.'

He sounded almost considerate, L thought with a flat stare. 'Why would I feel bad?'

Light spread his arms in a "obviously" manner. 'Because only I can see Ryūku.'

It was times like these L thought, without a doubt, that Light was indeed a child - that phrase was just a bit too childish. 'Obviously. He is, after all, your imaginary companion,' he said dismissively.

Light gasped. 'He is not imaginary! How could you say that!' he demanded, glancing up at Ryūk for assurance, who was grinning, as usual.

'Oh. Sorry, I did not realize that was a sensitive topic. ' L said, not sorry at all and feeling like that cold main character from a story.

'He is not imaginary,' Light insisted, fiercely. 'If you dare say that once more, I will cut off your hair.'

'You will,' L repeated, feeling very amused.

Light glared at him and turned around, seeing the laughter in those deep grey eyes, walking off angrily. Feeling like a little kid - something he didn't like feeling like.

L sighed, feeling put-off, sometimes he just didn't know what was really going on. He turned back to his computer screen, time to think about Light Yagami again. L looked to the side, reached for a pop tart, and froze.

The spoon he had left in his cup of tea was quietly turning round and round, whirling the sickly sweet, green tea silently. By itself.

L rolled his eyes to Light, who was eagerly watching Watari set the movie for him, unawares of anything else. The tired grey eyes rolled back to the cup of tea, the spoon was placed neatly beside cup, the beverage whirling slower and slower. L looked at his Task members, none of them seemed to have noticed anything (all of them, except Matsuda [who was watching Light and Watari, working quietly] still working the keyboard). L glanced back at his screen almost uneasily.

He could almost imagine someone laughing at him.

L did not know what to do about the floating objects, disappearing apples, and Light's imaginary friend. L believed the lonely boy probably created a super-imaginary companion. He had discussed it with Watari, and the man had said it was a pity Light couldn't attend Whammy's, completely brushing off L's words. L had then told him to be careful around Light and avoid him a bit more, Watari simply told him to stop feeling jealous. L wanted to snort, like as if he could ever feel jealous about the boy or some lame-ass powers that he had. Because superpowers were something no one could ever get jealous over, you know. He was just curious about how the kid's powers worked... wait, didn't he agree to call them "abilities"? ...so yes, abilities. Who wouldn't be curious about? This was something straight out of a myth, or fantasy story.

The way the apples disappeared in chunks. Was Light vanishing it? did that mean that he could vanish other things? Where did they go after they vanished?

Not to forget that he still had the problem about Light's transformation.

This development also gave L more insight on the extent of Kira's abilities... ok, not really, to be honest. He was just even more perplexed about everything. If Light had gained his powers... abilities at such a young age that meant he had had over a decade to perfect them. Or maybe they naturally grew greater over time? If he hadn't transformed would L have ever found out about the boy's abilities? L wanted to know what caused the victims' heart attacks - did he make the heart malfunction? or something? Light just had to be Kira, if not him, then who else? L doubted there were any other Moon-goddess' Lights with unworldly looks, powers.. abilities, and smarts around Japan Kanto region.

He just came up with that awesome nickname, you know (Moon-goddess' Light) . The boy's name had inspired him, how cool was that. Having such a name made the boy easy to mock. Ok, back to the boy's powers... L was saying that who else could be Kira? He wasn't stubbornly refusing to let the notion go (as Watari said) just because he didn't want to find that his most frustrating opponent had an IQ lower than Light's. Which was increwondibly, ridiculantasticly (I think one could get what he was trying to say) high. Maybe if there really was a Kira with an IQ as high as the boy's he could have accepted that the boy was maybe not Kira - but just think about it, who else could be Kira? Not everyone was bad-ass enough to be counted as L's rival. Now add that to the fact (it was a fact, it just had to be) that Light had abilities. Have you ever heard of a detective that caught a supersmart supervillian in real life?

L was feeling quite smart himself. L, The Greatest Detective of All Time (don't forget the capital letters) discovers a boy with superpow... super-abilities.

It'd go down in history books before L himself was even history.

It'd inspire chef patissiers to make menus of dessert just for him.

It'd make him a detective in a class of his own. No, wait, he was already a detective on a class of his own.

Ahh, la vie est belle.

'.. a true love's kiss.'

L's insides cringed, his flat stare flattening even further. He could feel the shimmering fluff all the way here, making his teeth were ache at all the sugary sweetness of the narrator's story. L glanced at the sweetened tea he was drinking, reluctant to continue consuming it, it might give him cavities if he drank it whilst listening to that silly voice. All this was the fault of whatever the boy was watching. L counted to ten in his head (the so-called "trick" didn't work) and spun his chair around, to see Light, his mouth gaping with silent horror, watching a lady (Ooh~ Angelina Jolie, he involuntarily thought) crying, looking at her back. What was that? He certainly did not have such a movie in his movie library. He dropped his feet to the ground, planning to walk over.

L, who had originally intended to switch the television off, stopped (just who didn't like watching Angelina Jolie Films?) and gave the movie a chance. He watched for a while, getting more interested when the story took a dark turn - so it was not about faeries and true loves and all that cringy crap? nice. He had expected to turn find something like Beauty and the Beast or that Cinder-something girl playing. Maybe it was going to be about a vengeful Angelina Jolie (what was her name in the movie?), that would be cool.

But it didn't take long for the movie to reveal that it was, in deed, a movie about faeries (ugh) and true love (seriously?). L's interest faded into boredom, Sleeping Beauty? how sappy could one get? L stood up and walked forth, stepping around Light, who looked up at him with wide eyes, halting at the stand and ejecting the disk.

Light who had been gawking up at him whined, 'Aww! Ryū! I was watching!'

L easily ignored him and read the title, what a gothic title for such a sappy children's fairy tale! L looked at Light, who was pouting adorably, his eyebrows scrolling down, L wanted to snort. 'What you were watching was some mind-numbing fairy tale... even Avengers is more interesting,' he said.

'You big head meanie!' Light pointed at him dramatically. L stemmed the chuckle that bubbled up from his throat, surprised with his reaction. Teasing the kid was fun.

L pulled out another CD case and showed the cover to Light for a second before removing the disk and inserting it into the player. 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' he said. 'Now this, is a movie.'

He caught the gleam in Light's eye with satisfaction - all little boys loved pirates didn't they?

'Pirates?' he repeated. Making L briefly doubt his ability to think properly, repeating something someone had just said was plain stupid.

Light looked at Ryūk, who nodded and began explaining with a clumsy voice. 'Sailors, except these go around looking for gold and the elixir of eternal life, something like that.. they were bad guys,' he said, appealingly, knowing just how much Light despised "bad guys". What was the use of not making the most of it and gaining better entertainment? He continued, 'Going around killing villagers, stealing their money, trading people off to be slaves, not taking baths for weeks and months, and all that nasty stuff.'

He watched with amusement as the boy's expression grew darker and darker, his eyes glinting to a fierce orange-red. Light scrambled up to his feet, pointed at L, his jaw gaping, his expression incredulous, he breathed in, preparing to say something. . . and gaped a bit more, not knowing what exactly he had to say.

L turned around when the movie began playing, to see Light's vengeful figure, his mouth wide open, his jaw moving as though he wanted to say something. 'What? Cat got your tongue, Rai-chan?' L asked, a smirk just seconds away.

Light glared at him and crossed his arms.

Ryūk chuckled, this was fun.

'Pirates!' he finally said. L gazed at him quietly and steadily, flattening Light's vengeance slightly.

'Stop repeating the same word over and over, are you ok?' L finally said.

'Pirates are bad guys,' he said concludingly, opening his arms to re-cross them and glaring at L up and down. Up and down.

L wanted to laugh, was he trying to glare or trying to flutter his eyelashes? it was sincerely hard to tell. He mellowed immediately though, 'Sparrow is an extremely likeable character.'

'How can you like a bad guy?' Light demanded. He was still quite sore that his previous movie had been cut short. 'Ryūku told me all about them.'

L stared at him, took a packet of oreos from his pocket, pulled out a cookie, put it in his mouth, chewed, and stared. Not Ryūk again, L was going to start thinking his imaginary friend was something else.

Light faltered. 'They don't take baths, they steal and lie and kill,' he said, trying to stop the man from watching the movie. He also really wanted to continue that film!

L would have rolled his eyes if he could do it comfortably. The boy looked like as if he just wanted to watch that other film, what was he? a princess? As though sensing L's thoughts, Light scowled at him, curling his mouth and narrowing his eyes. L thought that he looked like as if he was squinting at something while trying not to cry.

Light said, 'I want to watch Malefiquecent.'

That wasn't even it, L mocked. You're confusing some French word with the correct title, kid. 'I don't,' he retorted.

Light's chin turned down. 'Please?'

L was feeling smug for a reason he couldn't comprehend. He turned back to the television set. 'No, Light-kun,' he droned.

'Sir Ryū!' he exclaimed, his impatience showing.

If this were his older self, L was sure that the boy would have just pleasantly gone along with whatever it was L wanted to watch, instead of arguing about a Disney film. Not that Light would have been caught watching a fairy tale. L mock sighed, 'Oh, Rai-chan, what is the matter? You can just watch it, it won't harm you.'

'You can just let me watch the other film,' he replied.

'You can just watch this film - it is more educating,' he responded.

'You can go back to your job,' Light huffed, tossing his head to the side.

L didn't want to. This was not the first time it had happened, too. What is going wrong with him? L looked down at Light, not knowing what to say back to that, the kid had a point.. 'If I don't want to?'

'I will tell Uncle Aizawa that you are being mean with me,' he huffed. 'Uncle Aizawa is very strong.'

I doubt he would attack his own boss, L casually glanced at the man, who had an expression that said many things... but if it was for a such a kid, even L himself could do so. 'Why not use Ryūk? that imaginary friend of yours,' L asked, steering the subject away from the wild-haired man, no use bringing others into this.

Light turned to him and frowned angrily, walking over. He growled (or, tried to). 'Ryūku is not imaginary! He is real! You jealous frog!'

With that he closed his fingers into a fist, raised his arm and smacked - not punch because the boy threw his closed fist like a slap (a shame, too, Light Yagami did not know how to throw a proper punch?), his leg. L looked at the boy, who glared in return and said, 'Do not call him imaginary. And, put back the movie Watari-ojisan put for me.'

He smacked again.

Ryūk laughed, this was gold, gold, I tell you.

L deadpanned. 'Ow.'

Light glared at him, face warm with anger. L grinned (inwardly, of course) unrepentantly. Light scowled at him again, making L briefly wish that the boy stayed a kid (because comparing the cute pouts to his older glares and scowls was like comparing a flower with a knife).

'Frog,' Light said, obviously addressing L.

L, who was struggling not to ruffle the naturally neat hair, was effectively brought to a stop at that word. What did he say? L looked down at the angry boy. Did the boy just call him a frog? L wanted to stare him into oblivion. 'Frog?' he asked, softly.

'Call Ryūku imaginary again, I will hate you for the rest of my life! you frog.'

Hah?! He did call him a frog! L thought, bewildered. How in the Lord's good world did the tiny Light come up with that? No one has ever called him a frog - no one. People had always likened him to something cuter, like a teddy bear, or a panda - especially a panda. L looked at the Yagami. Didn't he look like a panda? with his pale, white skin and sleepless eyes? That was what everyone said, and agreed on. How in the world did Light come up with that.

Light, as if sensing his thoughts, looked down a bit shyly. 'You sit almost like one, Sir Ryū,' he mumbled.

L could feel his heart melting warmly. If the kid had called him a drowning toad, L would have taken it all with a benevolence of a Pope. L wanted to smile. Maybe the idea of getting himself a kid was not so bad, children were angels.

Ryūk glanced at L, small pity running through him, Light had them wrapped around his fingers!

'I advise you not to call me that,' L said.

Light stuck out his tongue. 'You can't make me, frog. Frog.'

'I do not think the movie is appropriate for him, he is still three years old, Ryūzaki,' Mogi said calmly, after he noticed L opening his mouth to retort.

L, who had looked up at the man's quiet words, glanced down at Light smugly, predicting that he would react negatively to that. Light, ears colouring embarrassedly, spun around. L wanted to smirk, that is what you get for poking your nose where it is not wanted.

'I am not three!' he protested. Ryūk laughed even harder, making Light's eyebrows twitch.

L hooted inwardly, his expression not even twitching, he said, 'Sure look like it.'

Light spun to face him for a moment before putting a hand on his hip and glaring at him. 'You look too stupid to even know if I am three or not,' he said, cocking his head and hips. He lifted a hand a waved it with every of his next words. 'So do not speak.'

L's mind blanked out for a second, not knowing whether to laugh or frown. He decided to go with the latter. Now lookee 'ere, lass, L retorted in his thoughts. Ye've been spoilt too much. Outwardly though, his expression didn't change, L opened his mouth to say something that was probably going to sound lame or childish, or both.

'Light,' the chief said, quietly.

As though possessing a sixth sense (which L suspected he had), Light drooped at the scolding before turning around and scrambling away from L and to his father's side. 'Sorry, Father,' he said, leaning his elbows onto his lap. 'Will you tell me a story?'

The Chief smiled. 'A story?'

'Ask him about his abilities in exchange,' L said, suddenly losing interest with the movie. He has already seen them, watching it seemed a bit lame, after all.

Light glared at him all too eagerly. His eyes plainly saying get lost, L basked in the attention for a full second. Light turned back to his dad. 'Yes, a story, about all the villains you have caught.'

L, feeling left out, turned around and switched off the telly, slinking back to his table top of unhealthy snacks. He was tempted to announce that he had more interesting stories about villains than the NPA Chief. But the other side of him scolded him and told him to go back to doing his work. L turned to his screen, sitting (like a frog, according to Rai-chan) and not straining his ears to hear what the Yagami were going to talk about.

'How about I tell you about the time I chased a criminal all the way to Hokkaido?'

'You did?' Light's eyes gleamed.

Aizawa grunted. 'We sure did, boy,' he said. 'Nearly lost track of him four times.'

'But the Chief persistently pulled through and we always caught his trail once more,' Mogi added.

'The little ringleader had diversions piled up one after the other!' Matsuda added. 'That year I was twenty-one, the youngest officer to be working directly with the Chief!'

Light was puzzled, didn't he just join the academy? Light could clearly remember his father proudly mentioning that a sixteen-year-old had somehow made it into the Academy... He brushed it off casually - who cared? The story was more interesting.

'He even pulled out a double at a point,' the Yagami said. 'They looked alike, but the height was off by an inch - something they tried to fix with the higher-soled shoes.'

'I still do not understand how the Chief noticed it,' Aizawa said.

'That was when he turned around and tracked down a long-haired, bearded man driving a run-down Toyota car,' Mogi continued.

'I didn't understand it at that time,' Matsuda said. 'But now I understand that he remembered the car driving past us, going out of the parking-lot building.'

'It was suspicious,' the Chief admitted. 'We caught the fake ringleader struggling to open a car door. He couldn't be caught that easily.'

L watched, sullen, as Light listened with wide eyes, his head moving from one man to the other. He was feeling like a piece of the background.

'When we found him again,' Aizawa said. 'The little.. the ringleader was heading for the ocean.'

'Chief only set a few of us in pursuit, saying it did not make sense,' Mogi interjected.

'And he was right!' Matsuda said. 'That was another decoy! A false bearded man boarded the boat, while the Chief suddenly began tailing a girl.'

'We pursued like madmen all the way to Hokkaido,' the Chief finished. 'We finally caught him and his organization fell to pieces a few weeks later.'

'Woah,' Light murmured proudly, a smile cutting across his face. 'Amazing.'

This time L really rolled his eyes, his sore eyes stinging at the action. That wasn't really impressive - L has chased criminals all the way under the sea, across the globe and up in the air.

That was when Watari walked in with a bowl of fresh apples.

Light's face lit up comically. 'Apples for Ryūku!'

Ryūk chuckled darkly, his bulging eyes mischievously landing on L, he looked at Light. 'Say, Light-o,' he said. 'That guy called me imaginary just a few moments ago.'

Light glanced at L (who didn't look at him because he was still feeling left out), his eyes lightening, a malicious glint flashing across them. 'You are right, Ryūku.'

Ryūk giggled. Ohh, this was going to be good.

...

It's not Wednesday, as I had promised - but it's still the wee hours in the morning, the sun isn't up yet. I'm sure that still counts as Wednesday night.