Chapter 7: A Meeting With L

"Sometimes you get more questions than answer. That is true, but what is worst is that few people truly trust another. One must prove one's self before trust is truly given."

-Akane Yagami-

Akane had her Shinigami eyes at full power as she observed the situation around her looking for any signs of Kira or someone's time of death suddenly changing. This hotel was extensive even for a normal room. She never been here herself, but she had passed it many times before. They used warm colors on the inside, luxurious furnishings, and uniformed staff with their fake smiles as they greeted the pompous rich guest.

She didn't see anything out of the ordinary even if she felt as if she stood out like a swore thumb as they found the elevator. "Sixteenth floor is where his suite is." Akane told her as her eyes a scan the crowd outside of the elevator and some did stare at the oddly dressed detective.

Naomi gave her a nod as she pushed the button. She was nervous as they made their way up. She had always wondered what L looked like and she wondered if he looked as smart was he actual was. She imagined someone in at least his thirties with slick back hair, glasses, and an intelligent look about him. "Hey why did you keep looking around like that earlier?" She asked Akane after a moment.

"I was making sure where weren't followed." Akane told her. "I've been followed several times before in this getup. I wouldn't be surprised if we were. I think Kira has been using others for his dirty work."

"Could one of them be Kira?" She inquired of her as she shifted her body obviously uncomfortable.

"No, I'm sure he's not here nor have we've been followed." Akane said. "Don't worry Naomi. We'll find Kira and have him executed which is no less than he deserves of course."

Naomi nodded again as the elevator dinged to let them off. In the hallway where several other Detectives who seemed to be waiting for them to arrive, "Evening gentleman. Is everyone here?" Akane asked.

"Yes, Detective Tenshi and who is this?" Detective Kanzo Mogi asked. He was taller than the average man at 6'2" with a more buff frame, and sporty spiked hair. If she remember correctly he was in his early thirties, but she couldn't remember if he was married or not. Akane never really ever seen him speak much, but he was a man who let his actions speak for him.

"A friend of L's. She'll be join us as of today. Now let us go in. I'm eager to get started." Tenshi said.

"I see," Kanzo said.

"Tenshi is right and so am I. Let's go." Chief Souichiro said as he knocked on L's door.

"It's unlocked. Please let yourselves in," Said an unfamiliar voice on the other side of the door.

So that's what L really sounds like. He's voice sounds as if he is pretty young. How very interesting. Akane thought as her father opened the door and everyone entered one by one.

Akane stared, L. Lawliet... you are an intriguing one. I'll give you that much. She thought. His hair was black and a mess like he did brush it that morning. His skin pale almost with a grayish tint from lack of sunlight. His dark silver intelligent eyes had dark circles under them from a deficiency of sleep. His clothes where extremely casual with a plain long sleeve white shirt and a baggie pair of blue jeans. His posture was horrible as he stood in a relaxed manner looking at them all with his hands shoved in his pockets after his scratched the back of his head and with an expression that said boredom or disinterest. Akane noted the oddly cute attractiveness of this quite unusual, thin, and tall person. She knew from the moment she spotted him that this was L. She didn't know why but she was sure this was not another stand in. Maybe it was tone of voice he had or the way his eyes seemed to peer into a person's soul. Why do I smell cake and strawberries? She questioned after a moment.

"I am L," he said his voice rather passive.

"Huh..." Naomi whispered to her, "That's not what I was expected... at all. Is that really him?"

"Nor was I, but that is L I'm absolutely certain that it's him." Akane replied as she eyed him ever carefully.

"He's nothing like I'd thought he's be," Touta voiced.

"Hmm," her father said as he pulled out his badge with it's ID, "I'm Yagami of the NPA (National Police Agency)."

Then Akane and Naomi watched as each revealed their ID's. Naomi was going for her own, but Akane stopped her. "Not just yet. It would be wise to hide your identity for now. If you need to use a name... use an alias as I do," she whispered and watched her friend nod.

"Matsuda," the youngest of the detectives said.

"I'm Aizawa," the next one said.

"Mogi," the tallest and strongest said.

"Ukita,"

"Iwoa," another male detective said looking at L with an odd look that Akane almost didn't catch, but when she did noticed her eyes narrowed on him. There was something behind his eyes she didn't like. Something that made her doubt his true intentions as a member of the Task Force. He was the same age as her father in his late forties, his short hair was graying far more than her own father's salt and pepper hair, he face had many more wrinkles due to stress, and a somewhat permanent scowl on his redden face from high blood pressure. Akane wondered how he had yet to have a heart attack with such highly stressed features and unlike everyone else he was the only one that was heavy set with his gray suit that barely fit him. He was also a sweaty man and wore far to much unflattering colon.

"I'm very sorry we're late," The chief said. "Currently the ones among us..."

L looked up at them his hand shaped like a gun, "Bang!"

"What the hell was that?" Aizawa demanded.

"You all revealed who you were without asking any questions to make sure if it was him first, and I think that was partially an attempt with dry humor as well." Akane informed them and gave a curt laugh.

"Hmm..." he moaned lazily, "Tenshi is right on both accounts. If I where Kira you six would be dead right now, Mr. Souichiro Yagami, Chief of the NPA." he said causing several of them to gasp. "Kira needs a face and a name in order to commit murder, but I'm sure you already figured that much out. Haven't you? Please do not give out your name so carelessly. Instead... let's value our lives."

"Is that really true? Does he need a name and face?" Naomi whispered to Akane.

"It is and for now that's what he needs to kill, but if he take a certain measure all he'll need is a face." She explained while her eyes on Iwoa and no one else. Why does he make me feel on edge? There's an intent in his eyes. One that needs to be watched, She thought, but nothing else in his face suggested that. It was just something he was hiding behind his eyes.

"What do you mean by that? What measure?" Naomi asked.

"I'll tell you more later. Once L, yourself, and I are alone. I'm not sure if I can trust the others yet." She said cautiously. "For all we know one of them could be working for L. Though my gut says otherwise on a few of them like the chief for instance. It's one of the reasons you shouldn't say your name just yet. I have a bad feeling about something. So stay close and let me help protect you and L."

"I understand." Naomi said as she moved slightly closer to Akane.

"That's enough small talk for now. Come this way." L told them.

"Oh um... right," Matsuda said nervously.

"Please turn off all your cell phones, handhelds, and any other communication devices and leave them on the table right there." L instructed as he pointed to a coffee table.

"What you think we're going to be using our cell phones during this meeting to leak information?" Aizawa questioned with a tone that suggested he felt insulted. His brows pulled together as he frowned not liking this situation. He was thirty-five years old, this dark brown Afro like hair, matching brown eyes, and your typical Japanese facial feature.

"It's alright. Just do as he says." Chief Souichiro said.

"I realize he's been cautious, but I still can't tell if he trusts us or not." Matsuda admitted uncomfortable with this.

Akane took out the cell phone L had given her with her leather gloved hands and turned it off before placing it on the table before anyone everyone else did. "It's always wise to be cautious in a situation like this." Akane stated. " Take no offense, but I know I don't trust most of you here. L, the lady, and perhaps the chief are the only ones that maybe an exception to that so far. All the rest of you are suspects to me. Not of being Kira, but releasing information to him. Until I clear through investigating through your friends and family thoroughly. You will remain a suspect. I finished going thought Chief Yagami's family and I'm nearly done with Aizawa's. Next will be... Iwoa."

A drop of sweat went down Iwoa's brow, but he tried his best not to look as if her words unnerved him. In fact his reaction made her even more suspicious of him. A normal person would get angry or at least try to defend himself. She wondered if L noticed that as well.

"I'm a suspect?" Matsuda said surprised as he grabbed Akane's collars. "How can you say something like that?! We played poker together for two years man! You know me and you always beat me at it!"

"You are all clearly not Kira, that much I've already found out. The security on your police files are in a word inadequate. It may not even be intentional that Kira is getting these files, Matsuda. That is all I am saying. Now release me. I didn't mean that I think you are guilty or mean any offense to you. I have a different guilty man in mind as it is." Akane told him calmly as she turned her head the the nervous Iwoa.

He let go and followed her gaze. "Iwoa?" he whispered so no one but she would hear him.

"He seems a bit to nervous doesn't he, Matsuda? Why didn't he react like you did? Keep an eye on him for me. He's giving me a bad feeling," Akane whispered back.

"You can take whatever beef you two are whispering about outside," L said.

"We're fine now, L. Apparently, I have horrible way of explaining things. Let use carry now. As I told the others I am eager to begin. The sooner we start the faster we can catch Kira," Akane said amusement in her digitized voice.

"Hmm... if you say so," L said as he sat on down in an odd curled up fashion that again Akane found kind of cute like a perched bird, "It not that I don't trust you. I just find them distracting. I can't stand when people's cell phones are ring while I'm trying to talk."

Akane and Naomi followed her father and his men into the room that L had taken a seat in. Akane made sure her special eyes stayed on Iwoa. There was something that was wrong with him, but nothing odd was happening to the date of his death as of yet.

"Let me start by saying... nobody takes notes on anything that's said in these meetings." He said eyeing them all. Then noticing Tenshi was keeping an eye on Iwoa something about the tension in the mysterious detective's shoulders caught his attention. He was still curious as to the identity of this Tenshi who's name meant 'Angel' in Japanese. He did spot Tenshi stopping Naomi for sharing her identity with the others which suggested that Tenshi cared for this woman's safety before the others in this room. "That means when we leave any information we need is committed to memory. Please make yourselves comfortable."

That's so information will have to be given intentionally, by these men. Smart, Akane thought as she and Naomi sat on a love seat together. "When we are able to have a moment alone with him. You can explain everything then," Akane whispered in Naomi's ear.

"I know and I'll follow your lead." Naomi told her as L poor himself some tea as Akane nodded in agreement.

Akane turned her gaze to L. His passive expression didn't give much away. To her you had look into those large dark calculating eyes of his. He seemed to look everywhere at once. Absorbing it to memory and combing through it in his thoughts that where going at speeds even faster than her own mind ever could. Reading every movement everyone made and every expression waiting for someone to give something away. Then she realized there was no way he had yet to notice Iwoa's suspicious behavior. He likely caught on to it before even she could. He was just waiting for Iwoa to slip up in any way. It was fascinating just to see how fast his mind worked through problems and it was almost terrifying if she didn't admire this trait of his so much.

She thought he was unusual, but she could tell he would be a great ally in the coming mouths if not the... years ahead. Akane couldn't help the feeling that she wanted to watch him and see more of how his mind worked. There was no way he wasn't much older than herself and yet he was the world best investigator. L had accomplish much at such a young age. He really was a genius almost breathtakingly so.

Only seconds had passed when she discover all of this. L was simply taking a sip of his tea and he didn't seem pleased by the taste as he placed it back down to drop far to many sugar cubes in the tea. Akane nearly laughed it was a cute sort of childishness like when a kid tries coffee for the first time and the way a child would add far to much sugar trying to balance out the bitterness. It put a smile on her face... one that wasn't full of malice or forced, but a genuine smile... her first since Satoru's death.

"Um... excuse me L?" Matsuda inquired awkwardly.

"For now on I'll have to ask you to stop calling me L. It's Ryuzaki now just to be safe." L told him looking at him only for a moment then turning back to his tea.

"Oh okay then, Ryuzaki. If we know he needs a name and a face to kill couldn't we cut down on the number victims by keeping criminals names from the news?" He asked.

"If we do that we will only be putting the general public at risk." L told them.

"The general public?" Ukita repeated with confusion on his round face. His small dark eyes looked up at L with questions clearly in them. He usual wore a light brown suit and tie. He was the shortest person in the room as well. His intelligence was of the average person, but he was on of the bravest and most daring detectives on the task force. Ukita would give his life to save everyone else and he would do so with his head held high.

"Why?" Aizawa asked.

"Because Kira is childish. He proved that the day of L... Ryuzaki's broadcast." Akane voiced and corrected herself.

"Correct," L said looking up from stirring his tea mostly to look at Tenshi and Iwoa. "Kira is childish and he hates to losing."

"But how do you..." Matsuda began to ask and trailed off.

That was when Akane's father spoke up, "Just what do you mean?" It was a tone he used when he wanted someone to get to the point but it was still respectful. Akane's father always conducted himself with honor, respect, a strong since of duty and justice, and caring deeply for both his family, his job, and the task force. Akane may feel trapped at times, but she would always be proud of her father.

"Well," he said looking back down and picked up his drink, "I'm also childish and I hate to lose. That's how I know." L took a sip of his tea again it seemed more like he was testing the flavor before anything else.

He acts as if he has no worries and he is childish, but I guess I am too at times and the no worries bit could be a facade, Akane thought to herself. In fact I'm certain it is. His eyes turn slightly to myself and Iwoa every once in a while. He is exception one or both of us to make a move. He seems... to act normal, but the look in those eyes say otherwise. She gave an internal sigh, L you really are something else. It's taking everything I have to just get a real reading off of you. It's a first for me.

"Ryuzaki... would you mind being a little more specific for us." Souichiro requested.

"Early on in the investigation I tried to provoke Kira with that little broad-cast that Tenshi mentioned." L began, but Akane need to add something into this conversation.

"You painted a huge target on you back at the same time too, but you did cut down on suspects by the millions to a few thousand... so perhaps it was a smart move after all. However he is over confident in this situation as well and he is quick with his plans which suggest he sees this like a chest board game. As a matter of fact that is exactly how it is." Akane said cutting in.

"Perhaps so," L said lazily. "Up until then we thought that Kira would only go after criminals, but as we all witnessed he didn't hesitate to kill my stand in. Also as I said we knew he was in the Kanto region in defiance he made sure his next victims came with in Japan as if to say, 'So what what are you going to do about it?'" L took another sip of he's heavily sweetened tea before continuing. "He's met each of my challenges head on and he's never missed an opportunity to return the favor. Now what do you think would happen if we tried to use media restrictions to hide criminals from someone like that?"

"Obviously he'd hold the world hostage until we stopped hiding them." Naomi said.

"Monsters always do," Akane agreed and gave a curt nod of her head while Donovan stood just behind the couch he was sitting on and like her he was keeping an eye on Iwoa.

"Right," L replied. "'If you choose to withhold names of your world's worst criminals I'll kill petty criminals or the innocent. I'm holding the whole world hostage. So who's it going to be? I'm not the evil one here, but all those who appose me by are hiding criminals you are truly evil.'" L sighed as he rubbed his feet together to likely relieve an itch or maybe it helped him think, "That is exactly how Kira thinks. In any case let's look at another way we can use the media to draw him out."

"But how?" Aizawa asked.

"How about something like this... 'Death of FBI agents infuriates the U.S. Latest killings anger the international policing community. Leading nations agree to sent fifteen hundred investigators to Japan." L suggested.

"Hmm... that might work if word of our meetings don't get leaked again," Akane said baitingly as she turned an accusing red glare on Iwoa. "Right Iwoa?"

"Y... yeah... that's right." he said nervously feeling Akane's red eyed glare on him.

L seemed to have ignored that comment as he continued, but Akane knew better, He wouldn't be the genius she knew he was if he could not see there was something wrong with this little sweaty man. "For Kira this would be way beyond what he faced with the FBI. He would see everyone as a potential threat. Psychologically, he'll start to feel cornered and that would cause him to take some drastic action."

"That's interesting," Ukita said with a smirk.

"So he'll think there are fifteen hundrend when there really only ten of use." Aizawa said throwing into the mix impressed by the idea. "And since none of these investigators exist Kira won't be able to kill them."

"It just might work," Ukita said.

"It will work. If the right methods are put in place," Akane informed them patiently even if she didn't like being so. It was a bit to early for celebrating in her opinion. Sometime boys can be such children, She thought to herself.

"Well before we celebrate. I'll tell you the rest of my thoughts of the Kira case. Kira works alone..." L told them.

"I don't agree there at least not completely." She replied catching L's attention. "There is at least a fifty percent chance he's working with some other person or is using someone to get the information from the police. I've been though at least a thousand cops with my contact and turned up nothing yet. He's using someone to get access into police files and knowledge about the FBI agents he murdered. Kira is a coward who's using others to do his dirty work for him." Akane said.

"Then who is he using?" Naomi asked.

"I was suspecting someone on the task force or one of the task force's family members or friends. However the reason he's doing this is that he wants you to expect him so he could prove his innocence and now that I put more thought into it... he might try to frame someone at the same time. He wanted chaos between the police and L. In doing so he got a step closer to you, Ryuzaki. From now on he'll just get closer and closer to winning this game if you don't have a back up plan or know how he kills." Akane said.

"And how did you come up with this theory and I did not?" L asked curiously.

"Because I'm an outside party." Akane said as she leaned back with an at ease posture, but she was anything, but at ease as she confused Iwoa, who looked at her with an anxious expression he likely didn't realize he was making. "I have an insight that you couldn't have. I was able to see the pattern of you and Kira. Kira doesn't know I'm after him. At least not yet otherwise he would be looking for who I am as well. I've seen no signs of that thus far. Ryuzaki you should be watching your back a bit better every step you've taken is bring yourself to him on a silver plate. Not even you get it, do you? Kira planned all of this out to the smallest detail. You have him figured out, but you have yet to see he has you figured out as well. You can't see that because you are not on the outside looking in that is how I came up with it and it's more than some theory by now it's a fact. I'm convinced of that."

"I can't help, but to say I agree with you. You said you had information for me if I remember right Tenshi. Is this the information you we're planning to share?" L asked her.

"Not at all actually. What I know is quite a bit more than that. As I did say once before this is a supernatural occurrence. I would know this isn't my first time seeing something like this." Tenshi said as Iwoa's eyes wide as he stood as quickly as he could.

"Yeah, but how can you possibly know something like that?! You're Kira aren't you?!" The man yelled almost in a panic as he tried shift more light onto her.

She did seem surprised by his sudden accusation and she just sat there eyes glaring daggers at him, "No, I am not and if I was everyone in this room would be dead even Ryuzaki and Detective Iwoa nor are you Kira." Akane said a smirk on her face while she spoke both confidently and calmly. About time, he cracked! It was later than I expected. I almost had to share more that I wanted to.

"How could we even know that?! How can we trust you when none of us has ever seen your face?!" He yelled at her.

Akane chuckled under her mask, "Are you implying my four years of hard investigating work was all preparation for one day when I would betray my friends and everything I stand for? No Mister Iwoa. I wouldn't of wasted so much time if that were the case. Do I look worried to you?" She smiled under her mask. Her red eyes gleaming under her sun glasses. "It is not my secrets that we should be worring about it's yours I image. Tell me who pulls your strings, puppet?"

"I... damn you, Tenshi!" he yelled as he went for his gun and pointed dead at L's head. Kira ordered him to kill L if he was discovered and then he fired off a round. Akane had thrown herself in the way of his gun just as he fired off his round and it hit her square in the chest and that was when Matsuda jumped him and subdued him. Then slammed his face onto the coffee table and clammed hand cuffs on his wrist.

"...Now that hurt..." Akane groaned after she was able to take a breath again as she fell back into her seat and groaned at the pain

"Are you okay?" Naomi asked worried.

"I am fine, Kevlar, remember? Ugh, It just knocked the breath out of me. I was expecting something like this. It's better that is was me over anyone else." Akane said as she slowly turned her attention back on Iwoa. "You see Iwoa. I planned ahead and Matsuda you should check him for bugs. I would image Kira would want ears in this room and it seems I was right that he was using someone. Who is Kira, Iwoa? Tell me." She ordered.

"I've should of known." Iwoa smiled smugly. "That's so like you putting yourself in harms way, Tenshi, but you're to late to find out anything from me," he said as he spit blood. "I'm a dead man anyway. He told me to deliver a message. He's coming for all of you and there is nothing none of you can do about it."

"Shit," Akane groaned holding a hand against her chest as Iwoa mouth foamed up and he died laughing right there in front of them.

EDITED!