I'm back! Just want to quickly say thank you to everyone who favourited/followed this story and thanks especially to Hannibaland and LLawliet365 for reviewing this story.

Just as a quick side note- yes the statement of L thinking 'Mr Yagami' in his head is correct. Unlike another character he won't use this out loud but as he grew up in Britain, and as I am English myself, I can imagine that he usually thinks in English a lot. I'm sorry if that offends you, but I have warned you beforehand. There is a reason for it- mainly cultural differences but not through L mostly- but I thought I would put it out there before any of you went crazy.

Also, anything in Italics that is spoken is English.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please leave a review to let me know what you think!

Snow was falling outside of the orphanage as L stood with the strange man who had picked him up off the streets, gripping his hand despite the fact that he didn't know what to think of this man. He had asked again and again to go back to the street corner that they had made their home on to collect Mitsu but the man kept staring at him oddly, as if he thought that she was some kind of imaginary friend. He tugged slightly on the hand and the man smiled down at him softly.

"What is it?" he asked softly.

"We have to go back…" he murmured, staring up at the old red brick building. "Mitsu loves old buildings." She loved playing dress up and knights and castles and pretending to rescue people from dragons. He knew that she wouldn't want to miss growing up in this place that looked as if it had been built some centuries ago. It would be like growing up in one of her storybooks- the same storybooks that he had read through two years ago and gotten him into this issue in the first place. If only I wasn't so smart… he had thought as the man offered him the seat in the back of a limousine. He had introduced himself as Quillish Wammy, although that meant nothing to L at the time.

"Who is this Mitsu?" the man asked, eyebrows drawing together in a frown. Clearly the same question asked more than three times merited at least a query into why that was so important.

"She's my other half." In everything, she was his other half. Artsy, creative, fantastical, everything he wasn't. He couldn't leave her behind, he didn't want to become the living machine his parents had warned his teachers against when they insisted that he be moved up several classes. "He needs a normal childhood," mother had argued in the little office the woman had had. "He needs to stay with Mitsu."

"Other half?" The eyebrows were now buried in the slicked back mess of white hair on the top of the man's head as L nodded sagely.

"Yes. Mother said we shouldn't ever be apart." The man looked troubled by that as he knelt down in the snow that was settling. Mitsu would love that too, she would be able to build snowmen to her hearts content here.

"Where would we find this Mitsu?" he asked gently, sounding concerned for once.

"On the corner of Winnow's Road, round the back of the dustbins of House 59. They didn't mind us sleeping there so long as we weren't there in the morning." They hadn't taken them in though, or offered them food, but L had come to expect that. They had been thrown out of their school after their parents had died, had been ignored by their so-called social worker who had turned up at the house perhaps once a week and no one had cared when the officers had turned up to repossess the house once the bills weren't paid after three months. They had had no money anyway and the pair had become quite adept at shoplifting in order to survive. Nobody thought anything of it when two small children decided to try and take sweets and they handed back only what was in their pockets if they were caught at all. Children were, after all, curious by nature and didn't understand the concept of 'paying' for things.

The man nodded and, standing, gently tugged him through the gates. "Does that mean you're going back for her?" he asked hopefully, staring up at the man.

"We'll talk to Roger. He'll sort it all out." But a week passed as the snow continued to fall, collecting thicker every day, and there was still no sign of Mitsu.

It was so strange not having her around, like he had lost his right arm or his shadow. He kept turning to talk to her, to ask her how she had managed to be this quiet before being reminded every time that she was no longer there and that she was silent because she was likely in the alley still, shivering under inadequate blankets. After waiting for nearly five days he had wandered out into the garden, ignoring the other children who tried to get him to play with them and began packing snow into a ball, with the intent of trying to at least bring Mitsu's spirit back here. The result was a snowman that looked a little sorry for itself, but L had never claimed to be any kind of artist, even at six. He tried to imagine that Mitsu was here with him, praising the effort and then jumping into it to give it a face and hair and insisting that it would need a scarf to stave off the cold. That almost did it for him as he tried to keep the tears at bay. Why did it feel like he would never see his other half again?

The snow had started to fall once again but he didn't want to leave this spot, to leave the shade of Mitsu behind. Night began to fall and the temperature dropped but still he sat there, allowing the cold to soak through his clothes and tug at his hair as he stared at the pitiful snowman, now gathering a fresh coating. Someone was shouting behind him, but he ignored them. He couldn't leave her, not on her own, not again.

"L! L, you need to come in now!" Someone had a hold of his shoulder. "God, you're freezing!" Suddenly he wrapped up in something huge and warm, but he struggled as his saviour- Quillish Wammy who was surprisingly strong for someone his grandparents' age- picked him off the ground.

"No! No, I have to go back! Mitsu!" He was screaming and crying and struggling but nothing he did would get her back, nothing he did would force the man to turn around and leave him to his misery without her.

"What happened?" The second voice sounded alarmed as they crossed the threshold into the house, the other children gathered around beneath him. L didn't want to see their faces, didn't want to see the stares he had been getting ever since coming here and buried his face into Wammy's chest, sobbing for the part of his soul that he had lost.

"Shhh, it's alright L," the man murmured as he walked off towards the sick bay. "There's someone here to see you."

"Lael! Lael what's wrong?" He knew that voice, but he was suddenly tired and cold. He was shivering violently, and for the first time in nearly a week he thought he could see Mitsu's face, the only person to know his real name in this place.

"M-M-Mitsu?"

"Yes, stupid." She grabbed his hand, cold as it was, scrambling onto the bed that Mr Wammy had placed him on.

"You're here…" She snuggled in closer to him, tucking the blankets in place.

"Mr Wammy found me and said that you hadn't left me after all. It's cold outside, dummy." She smiled and he felt at home once more as he always did when she smiled. He smiled back and snuggled down with her.

"I know."

L woke up, confused as to what exactly was happening. He vaguely remembered a man named Soichiro Yagami coming to visit the day before, something about being in a coma for three months, but the most disturbing issue right now was the gaping hole in his memory that took up a whole nine months. Even more frustrating was that even the smallest things had him tired and he felt that he had slept enough already- naturally he preferred as little sleep as possible. It usually reminded him of unpleasant details, such as nearly losing Mitsu all those years ago. And that brought him right back to the issue at hand- he was in a foreign country, no idea what he had been doing in the country, no Watari and no Mitsu, with only the vaguest idea that something had happened to him that he really didn't want to think about.

What is happening to me? He thought, trying to grope at memories that weren't there. The doctor, who had introduced himself as Doctor Yamada, had warned him not to try and force the memories back into life, but he didn't seem to understand how frightening it was to someone with a photographic memory to have lost even the smallest memory, let alone nine months' worth. Even worse than the lost memories was how uncomfortable he truly was, still being fed by the tube attached to his stomach and his breathing controlled by the nubs stuck into his nostrils. It had been mentioned that they would be removed soon, and L hoped that soon meant tomorrow as he couldn't stand them at all, although when he had tried to remove the breathing tubes, his chest had only tightened to the point where he had no choice but to put them back in.

There was a soft knock at the door and it opened to reveal that man from before. He didn't seem too bad, so perhaps he had trusted him so far as to let him see his real face, although since he only ever called him L, not his real name. That didn't matter though, since he had never trusted anyone with his real name.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, concern written into his features. Why does he care so much? L wondered. Most people hate me. He shifted in discomfort on the bed, trying to find anything about this man in his head, but as usual drawing up a blank. Instead of answering he just shrugged, frustrated that he couldn't remember anything about the man other than the name he had mentioned on his previous visit. His gaze flickered towards the roses sitting innocently on the windowsill, vaguely remembering requesting them for Mitsu… Perhaps she might know something about this man? He knew that he would have called her or picked up the phone for her wherever he was, and so logically, she had to know something, even if it wasn't much.

"Can I use the phone?" he asked, gesturing towards the one of the bedside table. Soichiro Yagami looked surprised but nodded.

"Go ahead," he said, settling into the chair next to him.

L didn't like the effort that it took to reach over and grab the receiver. It took even more effort, and a degree of discomfort due to the wires from the machines he was hooked up to, to dial her number, right there in his mind where it should be. Unlike everything else… he thought as the phone rang once, twice… She picked up on third ring, caution evident in her voice.

"Hello?" It was refreshing, not only hearing her voice but also his own native English.

"It's me," he managed and then winced at the definite explosion on the other end of the phone.

"Lael! My God I thought you were…! Jesus, never do that to me again!" He couldn't bring himself to be annoyed that she had used his name when she sounded almost close to tears with relief. "Where the bloody hell have you been?!"

"I don't know." She must have been walking somewhere because he heard her stop, the sound of a car driving past in the background.

"What do you mean, you 'don't know'?" She unnerved as much he did by the statement.

"Exactly like that. I'm still in Japan but… I don't know something happened and I woke in a hospital yesterday and I can't remember anything of the past nine months."

"Nine months? Bloody hell." She must have started walking again, the sound of heels clacking against concrete loud to him. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"Talking to you when we reached Japan for the Kira case."

"Ok," she was still talking, but sounded calmer now, as if thinking it through. "Anyone with you?"

"Someone named Soichiro Yagami?" He wasn't sure why he phrased it like a question but for all he knew, this man was actually a suspect and if anyone would know, it would be Mitsu. He made sure to keep her in the loop so that if anything like this had happened, his successors would be able to pick up right from where they had left off, as a back up to the hard copies and the digital files. If any are left… Watari would have probably deleted everything by now.

"Oh, him, Mr high and mighty," she said and he could imagine her rolling her eyes. "No, he's good and so are anyone named Matsuda, Aizawa and Mogi. I can't remember their first names though but I do remember you said something about his son. The one with the funny name?" She paused a moment as she thought and another car passed behind her. Soichiro was watching him, looking a little lost, and L wondered how good his English was. Probably not that great but he filed the names away, wondering what his son was called that Mitsu would call it 'funny'. "I think it's Light…? No wait, it just means that. Raito. Raito Yagami. He's the one you need to watch."

"His son's name means moon?" For some reason, L found that slightly ironic. The light in the darkness indeed… Not that I know why that is.

"Don't ask me, I didn't name him. From what I heard he sounds like a real stuck up prick." L resisted the urge to snort at that. Very rarely did Mitsu frame an opinion of his suspects, except perhaps for B but that… well that was understandable. "Hey, I'm going to have to hang up in a minute, but I'll call you later ok?" She still sounded worried, as if she was scared as to what might happen if she hung up right now. He couldn't blame her. If he hadn't called for three months, he could imagine the state that she had gotten herself into. But right now… right now he wanted to see her face more than anything.

"How soon can you come to Japan?" The question was out of his mouth before he realised he was going to ask it. He knew that she had a life of her own outside of his little world and that it probably wasn't fair to ask her to drop everything to come join him, but just then that didn't matter.

"Japan? Probably on the first flight tomorrow. Got to sort things out here first." There was a pause. "You'll survive until then?" He tried to pretend he didn't hear the undercurrent of fear in her voice. He knew that this was odd, him calling and sounding vulnerable but he had just scared. Even if she wouldn't know anything about these people than he did, he just wanted to see a face that was still in his memory that he knew he could trust absolutely.

"Yeah, that's fine," he lied. He wanted her there right now, even though she was on a different continent.

"See you tomorrow afternoon then. Love you."

"Love you too." He was greeted with silence as she ended the call. Fighting the sudden urge to cry, he set the receiver back down and turned to face the one person who was in the room. "Thank you."

"That's alright. I suppose this all very… overwhelming right now." Mr Yagami sounded very uncomfortable, as if he wasn't sure what he should truly be saying to him. As if it was strange for him to want to call people and speak to them in English. Then again, he was used to living with Watari who didn't mind what he did, whether it was call Mitsu or solving cases that were presented to him. Taking a deep breath in to control the urge to run as far away from this stranger as possible, he nodded.

"A little." There was a long silence as they sat trying to work out what the other was thinking.

"Do you…" Mr Yagami looked awkward. "Do you remember anything about the case?"

"No. I thought we established this." He didn't mean to sound harsh, but L hated repeating himself and there was just nothing he could glean about this man other than the fact that Mitsu had perceived him as 'high and mighty', which probably meant that he held a lot of pride in his family and values.

"I'm sorry. It's just… strange, that's all." He paused, taking in a breath of his own. "Would you mind if I brought someone else from the Task Force with me?"

"Who?" Mr Yagami thought for a moment.

"Matsuda. Touta Matsuda. He's young and lets his emotions get the best of him sometimes but… he's a good detective." Someone who probably idolises me L found himself thinking, wondering how he would deal with two people that were strangers to him but not the other way around. Personally, he didn't want anything to do with any of them, but the path to what had happened in the interim nine months that he had lost was not going to be found anywhere else. Besides, he was one of the people that Mitsu had stated was trustworthy and from the tone that Mr Yagami used to describe him, he was more than a little fond of the younger detective.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt…" he mumbled, still unsure about any of this. Mr Yagami merely nodded, then looked at him curiously.

"If I may," he began, "who is Mitsu?" L started at that, looking straight at the man in shock.

"What..? How do you know that name?" he asked worried now that he might have mentioned her to them all. Although, he had asked, so perhaps it was inadvertent and the others weren't so rude.

"You asked for the flowers for her," he stated. "I'm sorry, it's none of my business. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, i-it's fine," he stuttered, unused to being caught off guard. He supposed he ought to get used to that, considering he didn't know how much this task force might know about him personally. "I thought that was a dream." Mr Yagami waited patiently while L wondered whether he should tell him the truth or not. Does it matter? He thought. She's coming to Japan tomorrow anyway. They'll find out eventually. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a moment, bringing forward the last memory he had of her, laughing and waving from the airport check-in, wishing him a nice flight. "She's… she's my sister." He opened his eyes to find Mr Yagami staring at him in shock.

"I didn't know you had a sister." He sounded surprised, like he hadn't thought that he had any family at all. L just shrugged and looked away.

"I don't like putting her in danger. She has nothing to do with my… my being L." She just knew, and that put her all the more in danger, especially as the pair had once had a penchant towards swapping identities when they were younger. And Watari had hated them dong that since he had preferred to keep his prodigy where he could see him, not so much because he kept tabs on him to prevent him from doing anything he considered wrong, but rather to make sure that he wasn't currently in danger of being attacked by anyone he had made an enemy of as L. And there had been quite a few. "She'll be here tomorrow evening at the latest." Mr Yagami nodded at that, seeming to be used to information being sprung on him last minute by now.

"Where will she be staying?" he asked. L paused, thinking about that. Usually, he and Watari spent their time in various hotels, moving buildings every week, until they had exceeded all the hotels in a region and then moving into a rented house for a month or so if the case dragged out that long. Somehow, he didn't think that that had happened with this case, especially if it had gone on for six months even before his 'accident' that had led to the hospital. It was longest he had ever spent on a case, and something like that would mean that he would have set up permanent headquarters somewhere, especially if he had suspects and personal help from the NPA. I think…

"Did we have a permanent base somewhere?" he asked. It would have to be large enough for their equipment and security, have enough space for the Task Force and himself to live, along with holding cells for the suspects or spare rooms for any guests or extra help he might have called in. Probably a large building of some kind, most likely another skyscraper built with the combined funds from Wammy's House and part of the savings he had from previous investigative fees of past cases. Strangely though, Mr Yagami looked slightly uncomfortable.

"We did… But we moved out three months ago. The building was too big for us to maintain, and we didn't know who had access to it overall." There was a pause. "You weren't very clear on who the building belonged to." He means he didn't know whether it belonged to me or Mr Wammy, so he didn't know if they had the right to remain in the building, he thought sadly, wondering how soon they had moved out of the building after the incident. But that's useful because everything was signed in my name and that means that we can keep both myself and Mitsu a secret from anyone who we don't trust and just pretend that it's been turned into an expensive apartment block. Any case files the Task Force might have left behind will be there, and if they didn't know about the hard copies they'll be there too. Finally, something that would help him piece together the past nine months that didn't involve interrogating possible enemies.

"Most likely it would have been signed in my name due to the expenses coming partially from my bank accounts." One of them anyway… "If you give Mitsu the address tomorrow, she'll sort out what needs to be done to maintain it." Mr Yagami looked slightly surprised.

"So we can move back in?"

"No!" L didn't know why that had come out so urgent, but he knew it was imperative that only Mr Yagami, Mitsu and this Touta Matsuda knew that he was alive. There was just something off about this whole situation that he couldn't put his finger on. Mr Yagami looked taken aback by his tone, and L bowed his head, hiding behind the black locks (they really need cutting, I must look like Mitsu). "Yagami-san, who is currently running the case right now?"

"My son, Raito." It was said with pride but there was an undercurrent that L couldn't quite put his finger on. Whatever it meant, Mr Yagami, consciously or not, knew that there was something off about this too. Odd, that they had chosen someone who was young and inexperienced over the older detectives to lead the case. That rang alarm bells in L's head, and he wondered if any of the other Task Force members had reservations about that too.

"How old is he?"

"Eighteen. Nineteen this August." Do I really need to know what his birthday is? L wondered, but supposed that Mr Yagami was merely making polite conversation and that this was something that everyone did when they met someone for the first time. He wondered what had been so off about the boy that Mitsu warned him against him- other than being a 'stuck up prick'.

"Why is someone so young leading the head of the Kira case?" he asked, suspicious already about this.

"He's… well, you said something just before you were hospitalised about how he would be able to succeed you if you died. It seemed like the right choice at the time. Besides," Mr Yagami now sounded defensive, "Raito's helped the NPA on a number of occasions to help solve cases. He's doing fine." Why on earth would I recommend someone outside of Wammy's House as my successor? We already have issues with Mello and Near, I don't need another contender to add to the mix. And if he has taken over the role of L, what have they done about Eraldo Coil and Deneuve? He didn't ask that though, merely narrowed his eyes and shrugged, leaning back into the pillows. He was still tired, exhausted from this conversation and, honestly, he wanted nothing more than for it to be the next day so he could speak to Mitsu once again.

"May we continue this tomorrow Yagami-san?" he asked. "I'm tired."

"Of course," Mr Yagami nodded and L heard him stand to leave. "I'll be back tomorrow with Matsuda."

I don't know when Light's actual birthday is, so I just made it up, before anybody gets nitpicky. As to what will happen between Light and L as I was asked... that you'll have to wait for.

Hopefully you have enjoyed this chapter and I will be back next week with an update. Please tell me what you think!