Akemi woke up coughing. She sat up in her bed and remembered where she was. Glancing out the window, she could see the sun hadn't come up yet so she realized she had only been sleeping for a few hours. It felt like her time here would never end.

"It appears that Miss Yoru didn't touch her dinner," Watari informed L after looking in on her a few minutes before.

"I expected as much," L admitted. Watari didn't even have to ask why he had requested a meal for her when he knew she wouldn't have eaten it. But he knew it was L's way of telling Akemi that she would be treated well there and that she didn't have to be afraid of them. It may have also been his way of apologizing for putting her through such an intense interrogation after what she had just experienced. Watari just smiled proudly. When he overheard Akemi coughing, Watari quickly stepped over to her door and knocked. "Miss Yoru, are you alright?" She didn't reply and just continued coughing. Watari grew concerned and went inside her room to have a look at her. Once her cough had calmed down enough, Watari gave her some medicine and some water and she laid down again. "Miss Yoru, you've become severely ill," Watari observed. "You have a fever and your pulse is quickening. You may need a pneumonia injection. But unfortunately, I don't have one available. I will have to get one. It shouldn't take long. If you can, please get changed into some warm clothes."

Akemi just nodded weakly. The medicine seemed to help repress her cough a bit but her high fever still remained. It was so high, she was soon beginning to see and feel strange things and wasn't sure what was even real. She couldn't recall ever being this sick before.

She knew she agreed to stay but she just couldn't bear the thought of being trapped in a hotel with a group of strangers, even if they were police. And now that she was sick, she worried they'd bring in a doctor who might have ties to what was going on with her father and then she'd wind up dead. Akemi's fever was making it difficult for her to think rationally and she started to become paranoid. She didn't feel like she could trust anyone and could only trust her father and she wanted to find him as soon as she could. "I have to get out of here…."

Despite feeling dizzy and extremely feverish, Akemi rose out of her bed and quietly stepped to her room's door, then opened it cautiously. She peeked through the door crack and only saw a dark room on the other side. No one else was around, at least no one she could see. She saw this as her only chance. Akemi darted from out of her room and over to the suite's front door without making a sound. Once she was out, she exhaled deeply, nearly in shock of how simple that was. All the other officers had gone home for the night and Watari was preoccupied with retrieving her vaccine so she thought she was in the clear. Akemi sneaked passed the front desk and hurried out of the hotel, not even looking back. She was greeted with more rain and regretted not grabbing an umbrella again. Akemi dashed off into the dark, hoping she'd find her way home without anymore trouble.

The cadence of the rain, the thunder and the roar of the wind in her ears were all she could hear as she ran down the street as fast as she could. Being sick and slowing down to cough every other few moments hindered her greatly but she still persevered. A car whisked by, honking their horn at her and startling her. She stopped running to catch her breath and looked behind her, watching the car disappear into the darkness. Akemi took a closer look in the distance. Out of the shadows, there appeared to be a person following her. The only thing she could see was their silhouette. She froze in fear for a moment then panicked again and continued running.

Thunder crashed and lightning lit up the sky for half a second and Akemi froze in place and screamed as the entire block fell even darker after losing power. Once she realized she wasn't hurt, she tried running again but she was losing steam quickly.

"Miss Yoru!" her pursuer called after her. "Stop!"

Akemi didn't want to listen. Her mind was only set on getting home and hiding away from whoever was chasing her. With each step she took, her legs grew weaker and her breath became more shallow. By this point, she was practically staggering through the rain puddles and mud. But once she reached the end of the street, she lost her strength and collapsed onto the ground.

The person following her was finally able to catch up to her. She couldn't see him very clearly because of the darkness and her blurred vision but for some reason, she didn't feel quite as scared when he knelt beside her and he lifted her up into his arms so he could look at her. Akemi grasped onto the sleeves of his white shirt, hoping she could raise herself up off the ground completely and keep running, but she was too weak. She felt herself losing consciousness while this man checked her pulse and her fever. "You're going to be alright, Miss Yoru," a soft voice spoke to her. Akemi ran out of strength and just gave up fighting and trusted him. Her body shivered in his arms and he noticed she was gasping for air. "Miss Yoru, can you breathe? Can you speak to me?" All Akemi could do was gasp and cough as she continued to slip off into sleep. Everything she could see was blurred and was turning darker. "Watari, I need assistance, bring the car…" were the last words she heard before she fell unconscious.

Akemi's eyes slowly opened. The room she was in was warm and dark. She could feel that she was lying in a bed and she realized it was her hotel room. She also felt IV needles in her arm and she was being given oxygen through a nasal tube. It was uncomfortable but she didn't mess with any of it. Her cough seemed suppressed for the time being and she didn't feel as feverish as she did the last time she recalled being awake. Akemi was about to try to sit up when she heard someone say, "You shouldn't get up yet, you might strain yourself. Good to see you're awake, Miss Yoru." Akemi had no idea someone else was in the room with her. She could barely see anything in the dark room but managed to spot a person with what looked like a white shirt sitting on a chair near the foot of her bed. "W-Who are you?" she asked, her voice soft and raspy. She took a harder look at him and remembered the shirt she had grasped onto of the person who had followed and helped her. Akemi knew this man was most likely him.

"You can call me Ryuzaki," he replied.

Akemi remembered hearing that name while she was being questioned. "Wait…You're Ryuzaki? The one who interrogated me through that creepy voice?"

"Well, I don't think I would call it that but…yes. That was me."

"How come I wasn't able to talk to you face to face?" Akemi wondered. "Or hear your real voice?" She still couldn't see what he looked like since he was mostly in the shadows.

"It was just a precaution," he assured her. "It's how I interrogate everyone." He, of course, left out the part where he wanted to meet with her normally at first but the rest of the task force advised him to do otherwise. He also wasn't going to tell her that he was L.

"How long have I been asleep?" she asked.

"Nearly twenty four hours."

Hearing that surprised her. She hadn't expected to have been out for that long. Maybe half a day at most. "You're the one who helped me, weren't you?" Akemi knew it had to be him. He had the same voice too.

"Yes."

Akemi smiled faintly. "I thought so."

"Miss Yoru, why did you leave your room?" L asked her. "Do you recall the agreement we had? You promised you wouldn't leave the building without an officer present. You broke that promise only hours after it was made. Why?"

Akemi's small smile was quickly replaced with an expression of regret and worry. "Honestly…I don't know. I can't remember much…All I recall is feeling really sick and scared and then the next thing I knew, I was outside on the ground and you were there…" She worried he was angry with her even though she didn't hear it in the tone of his voice. She heard little emotion behind his words. Honestly, she wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

"So, you're saying your illness caused you to hallucinate and therefore was the factor in your departing by yourself in the middle of a storm?"

That sounded about right to Akemi. "Yeah. So…is our deal off then? Do you want me to leave?" She dreaded the answer, hoping with everything she had that he didn't want her to. She knew she couldn't go home and face all of this alone. At least not yet.

"If that were the case, you wouldn't be here right now," L replied. "We would've sent you to a hospital and then you would've been free to return home."

'He could have just said no….' Akemi thought to herself. She realized he must not always be as straight forward and blunt as he sometimes seemed. It didn't bother her much. She was simply just trying to figure him out. "Well, anyway…" she nearly whispered through her cracking voice as she tried to guess where his eyes were in the dark so she could at least try to make eye contact with him and show him she was sincere. "Thank you. For going after me. And helping me."

For as long as he had been L, he had never helped anyone by his own hand. He'd only do research, evaluate evidence, give orders and have other people do the rest for him while he sat in safety behind his computer screen. This was the very first time in his life where he had actually followed someone on foot and physically helped them. Yet, he didn't really see it as something to be regarded as extraordinary. He simply followed her because he had no other choice at the time and he wasn't going to pretend otherwise. Maybe he wouldn't admit it but it was hearing someone personally thanking him face to face for his help that stopped him. That was another first for him. He took a long moment to think of what to say. "I promised we'd protect you and that's what I did."

"Still…" Akemi smiled, thinking he was being humble about how he'd helped her. "I owe you. So, you're not mad at me?"

"I have no reason to be angry with you, Miss Yoru. Don't concern yourself with that."

"Did anyone else get mad though?" she wondered. Aizawa immediately popped into her mind. "I mean, that one guy seems kinda on edge all the time so I wouldn't be surprised-"

"Only Watari and I know you left the building," L assured her.

"You didn't tell the rest of them?"

"I saw no reason. We got you back here safely and you're very sick but you should recover swiftly with continued treatment. We'll just keep the rest between us."

Akemi felt relieved hearing that. The last thing she wanted to do was be the cause of anymore drama around this place. Most of these people looked like they were under enough stress already. "Okay. Thanks."

"I'll leave you to rest then," L said and was about to get up to leave when he heard Akemi say, "W-wait…"

"Yes, Miss Yoru?"

"Is it alright if I can see what you look like?" she asked. She hoped her question didn't seem inappropriate and it didn't really matter to her what he looked like but she still hadn't seen him clearly and it only seemed right to her that she'd be able to recognize him should he need her help in return one day. If he only remained in shadows, that wouldn't be possible. And given how secretive he seemed, Akemi wasn't sure if they'd ever even be in the same room again.

L didn't understand why this was important to her but he saw no problem with it despite the fact he knew some of the other task force members more than likely would. "That would be alright, yes."

Akemi slowly sat up a little so she could reach for the lamp that was on the bedside table. But before she could switch it on, L had hopped off of his chair and stepped over to the table to turn the lamp on so she wouldn't have to struggle with it. With a click, a warm light enveloped the room. Akemi relaxed and saw him literally hop back onto his chair. Her vision was still a little blurred but she could tell now that he was sitting crouched on the chair with his legs up against his chest as he held onto his knees. She also noticed he had what appeared to be a lollipop stick in his mouth, faded blue jeans on his legs and no shoes or socks on his feet. This was not what she had expected to see at all. "You look…different than the others…I can't really see your face, could you come a little closer-"

Akemi blinked and then the next thing she knew, there was a face right in front of hers. Her natural reaction was to gasp in surprise and tense up by the sudden invasion of her personal space. He hovered above her motionlessly, letting her get a good look at him. She realized he wasn't going to do anything else so she just softly laughed at how odd this situation felt. Akemi could see now that he had dark, tired eyes partially hiding behind a mop of messy black hair. It looked like this guy hadn't slept in weeks.

L just stared at her as his thumb and index finger fidgeted with the lollipop stick that was still in his mouth. His large dark eyes peered right into hers. Akemi felt like he was analyzing her and trying to read her every thought and expression. It didn't make her uncomfortable but it did leave her a little curious. She couldn't tell what he could be thinking. All she could do was smile.

"No one ever smiles at me whenever they first see me," L muttered through the piece of candy he still hadn't taken out of his mouth. That just made Akemi smile even wider. "I must have amused you."

"Maybe a little," Akemi chuckled. She realized he must have meant that most people found him strange so they didn't know what to make of him. But Akemi didn't want to judge him by his appearance. If anything, she found him kind of interesting.

"Well, take care, Miss Yoru," L said and then started to leave. "I have a lot of work to do. I'll inform Watari that you're awake."

"It was nice meeting you, Ryuzaki," Akemi told him as he stepped to the door, his back slouched and his hands in his pockets. "I mean, for real this time." L stopped walking and then turned back to look at her once more, then finally took the lollipop out of his mouth to say, "Thank you, Miss Yoru. It was nice meeting you too." There was a soft sincerity in his voice which Akemi found endearing. She wasn't sure but she thought she saw a very small smile form at the corner of his mouth just before he turned to walk out of the room. After he left, Akemi smiled to herself as her mind kept thinking about everything that had just happened.