Chapter 1

Naomi Misora was annoyed.

She was normally not a person who showed her emotions in every possible way, especially not when she was walking down a street in public, but now she was so annoyed that she couldn't help it. It showed plainly in the expression on her face and in the way she walked.

People were avoiding her, hastily moving out of her way as she neared, possibly intimidated by her angry aura.

It was all she could do to stop herself from swearing under her breath – things were really not going her way at the moment.

She was on her way home from work, after just having had a heated discussion – if not a fight – with her superior, as a result of which she had been suspended from her work as an agent for a month.

She was still fuming about it, because in her opinion it was not she who had been in the wrong.

But it was too late now, there was nothing she could do about it anymore. She had been forced to turn in her FBI-ID for this month, and, of course, her gun as well.

And now she was walking down the road, an angry frown still framing her face – anger at the fact that there was nothing at all she could change about her situation.

She was still annoyed when she arrived at her own doorstep and pulled out her keys – and dropped them.

Cursing, she bent to pick them up – and at the same moment her phone started ringing inside her bag.

She cursed again, straightening up and sticking the key into the lock before beginning to rummage in her bag for the beeping, vibrating phone.

However, this didn't seem to be one of her better days – she couldn't find it fast enough, and by the time she had pulled it out it had stopped ringing.

'One call during absence', it read – 'One call from anonymous'.

"Ah, dammit. I love when people hide their number so I can't call them back. That makes my life so much easier."

Ranting on about how later on they'd hate her for 'not getting back to them about that call from earlier' and throwing in heavy sarcasm she entered the building – not without dropping her keys a second time.

Softly cursing because she couldn't help it anymore, she began mounting the stairs and almost collided with the woman from two flats below her own, who was carrying her two year old child in her arms and looked appalled as she heard the words Naomi was muttering under her breath. She seemed to be seriously considering covering her son's ears to prevent him from hearing.

Naomi, after somehow avoiding collision and nearly dropping her bag in the process, straightened back up and continued her ascent, only to trip and nearly fall as her phone rang again.

She felt like slapping herself for dropping it back into her bag earlier instead of keeping it in her reach in case the anonymous caller from before decided to try her again.

She stopped in the middle of the third flight of stairs, she found her phone just in time, pulling it out, which made the beeping echo loudly through the staircase.

'Incoming call – anonymous', her phone read. 'Accept?'

Sighing exasperatedly she clicked the small green button and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Yes?" she asked, in a tone of voice suggesting: '…and what do you want?'

"Is this Naomi Misora speaking?" a cool voice asked. It sounded strangely mechanic.

Voice modification?, she wondered, frowning.

"Yes, that's me – but who is this?"

Slowly she reassumed her ascent, tucking her bag back under her arm.

"My name is not really of interest – but you may call me L", the modified voice said. "Are you alone at the moment, or is anyone listening to our conversation?"

Instinctively, before even wondering why she was being asked a question like that, she turned to see if she was being followed.

"I… think so. But – who are you, exactly?"

L…, she thought. I've heard that before, somewhere…

"I am L. I am a detective. And I require your assistance, Naomi Misora."

It came back to her at that moment – she had heard some other agents speak of L a while back. He had called him the 'world's greatest detective', if she recalled correctly.

Interested and strangely intrigued at the same time, she reached the door to her own apartment on the fourth floor.

Carefully extracting the keys from her bag she unlocked the door with one hand, while into the receiver she said:

"And what, exactly, would this 'assistance' involve?"

"Ah. So you are willing to cooperate, then? Please enter your apartment and switch on your laptop. We shall continue our conversation online, in case your phone has been bugged."

And before Naomi could protest that she wanted to know what she was to do were she to help him before agreeing to anything, there was a quiet clicking noise as her mysterious caller hung up.

"'Bugged'?" she repeated, slightly incredulously. Although, of course, as an agent she had to consider all possibilities.

Then something odd struck her.

Enter my apartment, he said… almost as if…

She spun around abruptly to face the empty staircase.

Am I being watched? How did he know where I was?

For a second she played with the possibility that he had been watching her the whole time ever since she had left work – or even before that?

Something about that prospect made her feel queasy.

Slowly she pushed open her door and entered her apartment – which, up until that moment, had always felt like home to her, but now suddenly made her uneasy.

Shaking off the feeling she realized that now she didn't really have a choice anymore. He had somehow gotten hold of her phone number, possibly even her address – it might even have been the FBI that revealed this information to him, if he really was what he claimed to be: L, the great detective.

Recalling the stories of L she had heard from her colleagues, she didn't know how much she could expect this guy to be capable of.

So she sighed, leaving her bag on the ground after shutting her door behind her and entering her living room, where she knew she had left her computer the day before.

Briefly she recalled L saying 'laptop' – how did he know? Had he been inside her home?

Even more intrigued, even if she was slightly creeped out at this point, she turned the computer on.

While it was booting she quickly got herself a glass of water, then settled down in front of the screen and waited for the question for her password to pop up.

She quickly typed it in using all ten fingers, and when the screen blinked into life she looked around unsure what to do next. L had not specified what to do when she had turned it on.

She did not have to wait long, however. Only a few seconds passed before a window opened itself, covering the entire screen. It was completely blank except for the large black letter L written across the center.

"Hello, Naomi Misora", said the same mechanical voice from before. "This is L."

She stared for a second, then asked incredulously: "How?"

"That does not matter at the moment. What does matter are the details of the case I am working on, and the assistance I require from you. You see, I am not able to move around freely out in the open, because I run the risk of revealing my identity. That's why for some cases I require help that does not come from my current employers or the police – an independent agent of my own, who can walk around and be my eyes and ears. For the case I am working on now, I require an agent that is currently unemployed."

At this, Naomi's expression changed from surprised and bewildered to outraged. How the hell could he know about this, when it had only happened today? How could he possibly know that she had been suspended for a month a mere one and a half hours ago?

"Due to certain circumstances, I believe you are the only one currently available to me. If you wish, I can discuss this with your superior –"

"No!" she injected indignantly.

The voice fell silent, waiting calmly for her to explain her outburst.

"I mean… wait. How do you know all this, if you haven't talked to my superiors yet?"

"Do you want me to go and verify it with them? If that would make you feel better about it – "

"No! That's not the problem. I want you to explain first how you know so much about me, before I agree to work with you."

It sounded as though the mechanic voice was smirking, or at least grinning.

"I am a detective, Ms. Misora. That's all there is to it. Maybe this has proved my skill to you, and will help convince you to work with me on this case. You see, I really do need your assistance."

I can see that. Why else would anyone go to all this trouble…?

She let her thoughts trail off.

"So… I would be… going where, exactly?"

"To Tokyo, Japan. To the Ikebukuro district, to be exact. I can arrange for your flight, and you needn't worry about payment. I gather your parents live in Japan? You could use this as an opportunity to visit them."

She let this one slide, deciding not to ask how he knew she was actually Japanese and her parents lived in Japan. Furthermore, he had said her flight would be paid for.

"And what would I be investigating?"

"Ah, yes. That would be – I don't know whether you've heard – the incidents regarding the so-called 'slasher'. Are you familiar with them?"

Naomi shook her head, then realized he couldn't see her. Or could he?

"No, I haven't heard. But I've been pretty busy lately, so it's no wonder. After all, this is an incident in Tokyo, and I am in L.A."

"Of course I will give you a detailed briefing on what I have learned so far regarding this case, so that we are on the same informational ground once you enter the city. After that, I will rely on you to observe primarily, and only to act when necessary. So far we do know of the slasher's previous targets, but there doesn't seem to be a pattern – and we don't know a motive, or the slasher's identity. All this I will find out – with your help, that is."

Naomi stopped to consider the matter.

It wasn't like she had anything better to do at the moment. And L, even though she didn't like to admit it, seemed to know what he was talking about, whoever he was. She decided to look into him more thoroughly later. For now, she concluded, there was nothing wrong with just going there and observing. Besides, it had been a while since she had last seen her parents.

"Well, then… alright. I'll do what I can to assist you", she agreed.

"Good. I look forward to working with you. Now, if you were to look into your mailbox – you will find I have left a cell phone there for you, with a number stored inside it. If you dial it, you will be able to reach me. Only use this for emergencies or very important discoveries. Otherwise, I will call you at regular intervals to check on your progress. Please be available at all times."

"I understand", she said, thinking this was it – but apparently, there was still more to come.

"Your ticket and flight dates along with the address of the hotel you will be staying at will be sent to you shortly. Everything should be clear."

Naomi remembered something she wanted to ask at that moment.

"Ah – I have a question, though, L. Will you be going to Tokyo as well?"

Again it sounded like the man behind the mechanic voice was smiling.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that as of yet. You might figure it out for yourself."

After finishing his conversation with the agent, L got to his feet from where he had been sitting on the floor, in the same position as usual. He walked over to the wide window framing the suite of the hotel he was staying in. Soft rain had begun to hit the glass lightly, leaving behind small streaks of water that made it increasingly harder to make out anything of the city below.

"Watari", L said, loudly enough for his agent to hear him in the next room.

"Yes?"

"You can arrange for her to join us here in Tokyo in two days' time. Please book the flight for her and then send the ticket to the same address the phone was sent to."

"I will", came the answer.

L turned his attention back down to the lights that were starting to glow down in the streets, far below his suite, blurred by the drizzling rain.

"I wonder", he muttered to himself. "Is he really here?"

Hey there, everyone :D

*w00t* so this is the first chapter ^^ I hope you like it! xD

Please review and tell me your opinion! Is Naomi OOC? And L? Is this realistic...? Don't hesitate to be blunt, it's those sorts of reviews that help me improve!