Part VI

Always

"I believe they may have gone to the rec. room. They finished classes just before you arrived."

"Thank you for your trouble, Roger, I will go and find them in a moment." Roger left the room. "But first," Watari continued as he turned to the desk with his eyes upon the chair behind it that faced the window, "Ryuzaki, this is Kita Matsuyama."

I jumped when the chair spun around. In it sat a tall, black-haired man not much older than myself at the time. Ryuzaki's hair was shaggy and unkempt, and he wore a white long-sleeved shirt and baggy blue jeans. Clearly he was someone who had no concern with his appearance.

"Pleased to meet you at last, Kita. Welcome," he said warmly, but without a smile. That was when I noticed his black eyes as they stared at me coldly.

"I shall leave you two to converse while I go and find those boys." Watari saw Ryuzaki's expression and frowned. Realization sparkled in his eyes. "L, please be kind to her. She has just lost her parents." That said, Watari exited through the door leading into the hallway.

Wait, I thought, this guy is L? But he's so… different…

"What is wrong, Kita?" L gave me a look of mocking concern.

"Nothing," I replied, trying to smile. "I'm just glad to have finally met you, L."

L's angry façade faded and he was taken aback. "Likewise, Kita," he stammered. L then stood up and walked reluctantly over to me. He grudgingly grabbed my right hand and kissed the back of it. His lips were cool upon my skin. "Could you do me a favor, Kita?" He then turned away which upset me slightly. I nodded as he continued. "Please, call me Ryuzaki, not L. Not everyone needs to know who I am."

"A-all right then. Ryuzaki it is!"

He turned to face me again, a distressed look in his eyes. "So, you lost your parents in the Towers?" This question was random and threw me off guard.

"Y-yes," I mumbled as I tried to keep from crying again.

"Watari and all of us will help you recover… and don't be afraid to cry. I will understand, for I lost my own parents at the age of eight."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Ryuzaki," was all I could think of to say to him.

"It was more than sixteen years ago. The pain has gone numb within me now, for I do not even remember them."

"I see," I choked out as I tried not to think of my own parents so recently lost. "So, uh, do you live here all the time? I mean, surely you have a fiancé or something?" I blurted out the last question without thinking.

Ryuzaki gave me an angry stare in reply. "No, I do not live here all the time, Kita-chan. I travel to wherever it is I must go to solve a case."

He's addressing me as a child, I seethed in my mind with a frown.

Suddenly, his gaze fell from mine. "A fiancé, however," he continued almost sadly, "I do not have. As L, I have never had time to meet or even think about women. Besides… I will probably not live a full life as most would expect me to so," he paused. "What's the point?" This last line was an outburst sigh, and it surprised me. Ryuzaki ignored my petrified expression and sipped coffee from a cup on the desk. It looked to be so full of sugar it was paste and I grimaced. "I suppose you're engaged?" He looked amused now, over the rim of his white glass coffee cup. Then, he quickly but gracefully sat it down.

I must have looked at him as if he'd slapped me in the face. His voice turned menacing as he spoke. "That is why you asked me, correct? To rub it in that you have a fiance and I, in fact, do not?"

"No, I was just curious…" Please, Watari, hurry up and get in here, I thought. This conversation is too awkward for a first meeting.

Much to my relief, Watari entered the room followed by three boys: one had hair the color of snow, another was blonde, and the third was a ginger. They stared at me with curiosity, and turned to speak with each other in hushed voices.

"Boys," Watari said, "I would like you to meet Kita. She is going to be staying with us for awhile. Please be kind to her, for she has just lost her parents."

They all mumbled their greetings shyly. The ginger-haired one stepped forward. "My real name is Mail, but you can just call me Matt," he said cheekily. "This," Matt continued by indicating the blonde child, "is Mihael, but he prefers to be called Mello. He's the oldest, and Near, is the youngest."

The white-haired one called Near nodded and spoke. "My real name is Nate." His voice was soft and feminine, but rang with an air of superiority.

"These are L's successors," Watari told me. "They only wish to be called by their aliases of course. You will need one as well, Kita, once you travel abroad."

"My alias can be Crymson Rose," I told Watari.

"Of course," Watari replied warmly. "For now we need to put you in a room…" he stopped speaking and thought for a few moments. Ryuzaki's eyes flickered to Watari and then to me. I returned his gaze with a glare, which he returned. Then, seeming unperturbed, the detective raised his dark-rimmed eyes to the ceiling and childishly bit his thumb. I continued to glare at him until Watari began to speak. "Since Ryuzaki has an empty futon in his room, and he will probably be leaving on another case soon, you can share his room," he said triumphantly.

Both of us shouted protests at poor Watari, who said: "I'm afraid there is no other option. It is too expensive to build on just one room. The two of you will just have to learn to get along."

Just as I left the room in a huff, I heard Ryuzaki's comment: "Then I will pay for it," he hissed venomously.

End Part VI