AN: Sorry to keep you waiting! I love you all! Please keep the great reviews coming and enjoy this chapter! Thanks!

Sweets

kagomes-wanna-be

Chapter Five:
Terrible Liars

"What is it you think you're doing in my room?"

"What the hell is this?" Elizabeth persisted through clenched teeth, thrusting the crumpled papers towards L.

"'This,'" L started venomously, closing the door and stepping further into the room. "Happens to be my personal room, which you are currently trespassing in."

"That isn't what I'm speaking of and you know it!" she shrieked, reaching down and grabbing at the stacks, lifting them up and throwing them on his bed as she spoke. "This! This is what I'm talking about! Why the hell do you have so much information on me!?"

"I don't believe that I have any obligation to explain myself to you," L ground out, his hands fisting at his sides as wrinkles formed around his nose.

Elizabeth just stared at him with wide, infuriated eyes before she snapped. She screamed and began lifting up stacks and folders, throwing them across the room. "How dare you! How dare you think you have the right to know all of this about me! A-About me and my parents! My DEAD fucking parents!"

L could see the tears begin to run down her cheeks as her head thrashed wildly, throwing papers everyway, nearly destroying every article of his research and findings. His expression changed from anger to shock quickly. It never occurred to him that Elizabeth knew such words let alone knew how to use them so forcefully. Tears were something that he had never imagined seeing on her face - her bright, smiling, warm face…

Swallowing down the lump in his throat, he stepped forward and tried to keep his voice as monotonous as possible. "I was merely trying to learn more about you, Elizabeth," he lied.

Her eyes raised from the spot they had locked themselves onto on his mattress. She stared at him, leaning on her hands on his bed with square shoulders. "You're a terrible liar, Anderson," she seethed, pushing herself upwards to stand straight and moving across the floor past him.

The irony of it was just to much for L. He found himself unable to respond. He, L, Lawliet - the THREE greatest detectives in the world - was being accused of being a 'terrible liar.'

And she was absolutely right.

The lie had been weak and greatly transparent. He just couldn't lie to this girl, even after she had lied to him about her name, after she had entered his room without his permission and gone through things that obviously were not hers. Or were they? They were her. Everything in those files was about her, pertained to her, and he had gone through it without reason beyond being angry. Emotions had gotten the best of him.

Her arm brushed his as she moved to open his door, and he spun on his heel. "Elizabeth-"

"Fuck you," she muttered, wiping her face and stepping down the hall.

L sneered and stepped out after her, but managed to control himself while she opened the door to her own bedroom. "Elizabeth, I am honest in wanting to know you better. I merely wanted to learn more about you."

"But that isn't me!" she cried, spinning to face him once again. "You can't find me in some article or document! I'm not a folder full of facts, Anderson. Don't you understand?"

A slight frown marred his features. "No, I do not understand."

"UGH!" she let out in frustration, practically pulling at her hair as she walked back into her room. "All you know is my history, my past, the same amount of information that you can find out about anyone on Earth, but you will never know ME!"

L took a step towards her door, only for it to be slammed in his face. His black eyes were wider than normal, staring at the spot where she had been a moment ago. For the first time he could remember, his mind had stopped working.

A clearing of a throat caught his attention and his head turned to look in the direction it had come from. The elderly house-lady, who was in charge of watching over all the children, was standing at the top of the stairs with a frown on her face. "Please forgive all the yelling, Ms. Wellington." L turned to walk back to his room, but the woman's voice caused him to pause for a moment.

"You know, flowers are a great way to apologize to a lady."

The statement flitted through his mind for a moment before he disregarded it and entered his room. He closed the door behind him and stared drowsily at the mess that Elizabeth had created. Slowly he began to clean up ripped and crumpled papers, tucking them under his arm before dropping them on his bed unceremoniously.

The mug on his bedside table drew his attention, and he picked it up feebly, holding it with the thumb and index finger of both hands. Taking a deep breath he smelt the rich aroma of chocolate and vanilla coming from the deep brown liquid, and a faint smile touched the edges of his lips. Lifting the cup to his lips, he took a long drink of it.

With a sigh he set it back down and licked his lips. 'She makes everything so sweet...'

--

L fidgeted anxiously as he sat perched on top of his desk, staring out of the window it was placed in front of. He looked at his alarm clock once again and nearly growled, jumping off of his desk and pacing along the floor. His heart thumped hard against his chest in rhythm with the soft padding of his feet on the hardwood floor.

On an average day, Elizabeth would return from the sweets shop around 8:30. It was already 9:15. 'Something is wrong,' his mind told him. 'I know it. She would never be this late, even while angered. That wouldn't stop her from coming home, would it? No, it wouldn't. Where could she be? What if something's happened to her?'

He looked back out the window one more time, having a clear view of the front yard of the orphanage and a ways down the street in each direction. He had been sitting on that desk since 8:17. There was no way he had missed her.

His breath hitched as he saw a lone figure walking up the pathway of the orphanage, letting out a breath that he felt he had been holding since she had slammed her door on him earlier that day. But then he noticed the limp in her walk, and his chest constricted again.

'No...'

"No," he stated firmly, jumping off of the desk again and rushing downstairs to the front door.

The door opened just as he reached it, revealing a tightly wrapped and pale looking Elizabeth. She said nothing as she moved past him sluggishly. Her hands reached up to pull down the hood of her large jacket and L instantly saw the trembling in her fingers.

"Why is it you're late Elizabeth?" he asked, stepping next to her.

"I had to help lock up, Anderson. I didn't mean to make you worry." Her voice was so void that he knew something was wrong. Everything about her seemed... empty. Almost dead.

"You're lying," he told her flatly, his lips pressed thinly together.

"No I'm not."

For the first time in his life L wanted to slap a woman. He wanted to slap her until she had some sense, until she told him what was wrong. He just knew that something had to be wrong.

Elizabeth pulled her scarf from around her neck and unzipped her jacket, hanging it up on one of the hooks by the door. She turned back and that was when L saw it. The button on her jeans was ripped off, the skin underneath the fabric was badly scratched, and her cheek was already turning a dark blue.

"Elizabeth..." L whispered, reaching out towards her with a tentative hand.

"Don't touch me!" she hissed out, cowering away from his hand and staring into the distance wide-eyed, refusing to miss his gaze.

He instantly pulled his hand back, dropping it to his side. Her eyes closed for a moment and she swallowed, turning back to the stairs. "I'm going to bed," she said, her voice forced as she began to trudge upstairs.

L felt his breaths coming harder and shallower as the feeling of his chest collapsing in shook his entire body. He heard the door to her room close finally and nearly collapsed against the wall. 'No... no it can't be possible... It didn't happen...'

He finally caught his breath and sprinted upstairs, throwing his door closed behind him. He collapsed onto the ground and pulled at his long hair, letting out a despairing groan. 'Whoever it was... whatever happened... I will find them.'

Weakly he stood up and walked over to his desk. His hands rested on the cold surface, right next to the bouquet of forgotten wild flowers tied together by a string, and stared out the window into the streets of London.

"I will bring them to justice."

AN: It's started to get a little dark, I know. I'm sorry for that, but I had to. I will tell you that it's not as bad as it seems, so please don't get offended or turned off from this story because of the contents of this chapter. Anyway, I hope that you liked it and that you keep coming back for more. Go, review, and be merry.

kagomes-wanna-be

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