A/N: second chapter! Yay!! I know I update way too long than before but that's because I've got school…you know how much pain in the head that brings? Well don't ask but I do enjoy school now….new environment, new stuff to learn…I'm in love right now with my programming subject so forgive me if I include stuff about IT from now on…ok, the chapter…
--Chapter 2--
--A Visit to Strawberry-san--
Lira walked along the pavement of the dark alleyway of Los Angeles, hugging herself as the cold wind blew. Living with B had been a challenge for her since she had to lie low for a while. After all, he is L's number one suspect and living with the number one suspect of the world's greatest detective who can command the world's entire police force with only one word is no joke. It meant that she had fewer opportunities to do what she wanted for, after all, she's living with a manic killer. She spotted a novelty shop and opened the door. The wind blew inside the shop as she entered, leaving a cold draft of air. It has been her job to buy the weird straw dolls that B leaves at the crime scenes. She made her purchase as quickly as she can so that the shopkeeper would not register her face. She doesn't want any witnesses saying that she bought those horrible-looking straw dolls to begin with. It was so easy to mislead the police these days that she had to go to different novelty shops to buy them.
After she had made her exit from that dingy novelty shop, Lira continued walking until she reached the busiest part of the district. She spotted her destination and entered the tall hotel building. She dared not make any eye contact. It had been part of her instructions as a spy not to make too much eye contact because it means that you trust them. And spies choose not to trust anybody else. She rummaged in her handbag for that piece of paper where she had written down the room number of her "Strawberry-san". She really loved reminiscing those days when they can still see each other any time at The Wammy House. She particularly remembered the day when they left the orphanage for that was the day that they also made that promise.
"Why do you have to push me?" he asked in a sleepy voice.
"Because we are going to be late, strawberry-san," Lira said, standing up and crossing the room towards the mirror.
"I thought we had a deal about that name?" L asked as he scratched his head sleepily and stood up. There was no point in going back to sleep. And he simply couldn't go back anymore because he's not much of a sleeper in the first place.
"Well, I figured out that since we are going to part it'll bring you no harm to call you strawberry-san. And anyway, you live under several hideous pseudonyms that it confuses me sometimes what to call you. Also, L in my opinion is not a very proper name. So, I decided that from now on, I will call you strawberry-san," Lira explained as she pranced in front of the mirror, checking her outfit as much as she could.
"Stop that, will you?" L called from behind and Lira turned to look at him with concern.
"If it bothers you," she said and looked at him.
"What?" she asked.
"You said that from now on you will be calling me strawberry-san, am I right?" L asked.
"Yes, I said that," Lira nodded.
"Then promise me one thing," L raised a finger for emphasis.
"Which is?"
"That you'll be the only one calling me by that name," L said in that monotonous voice of his.
"Sure, nobody knows anything about that name anyway, and you officially don't exist in my world based on material memorabilia," Lira replied turning to face the mirror again. She could be so vain in times like this.
"I said stop that," L repeated.
"Oh, wait! You really are a very unfair person! Until the very last minute you're still making it very unfair in my side!" Lira said pointing a finger accusingly at L who backed a few steps away. He's been too used to Lira's outbursts that he had learned when to back away.
"What did I do now?" L asked as he stared at the finger with caution wondering what horrors it could bring to him if he answered wrongly.
"You have to call me something too!" Lira replied, lowering a finger a bit.
"Huh?" L asked. He could be so ignorant sometimes.
"A pet name! I call you strawberry-san and you call me something too! Not Shadow though. I hate that name. Come on! Think! The world's greatest detective should never run out of ideas!" Lira urged L to think and L, following the command pondered for a moment before he spoke out.
"I got it! I know now what to call you," he stated, approaching Lira, their faces too close to each other.
"And what is that?" Lira asked knowing what would be next to come. The past years with L made his sudden assertiveness clearly readable to her. L leaned in and kissed her lightly in the lips which made Lira blush a little.
"Baby," L said simply and stuck out his tongue. Lira blushed even more after that.
Before she knew it, she found herself in front of room 214 of a popular hotel chain in the country and stretched out her hand and knocked softly at the door. She was greeted by the wrinkled yet ever so cheerful face of Mr. Wammy more popularly known to the police force as Watari, the only connection to the world's greatest detective, L.
"Come in, Shadow," the old man said as he held the door open for Lira. Lira scowled as she entered the door which was promptly closed by Watari.
"Old habits die hard, huh? How many times do I have to tell you that I feel like a billiard player when you call me that name? Where is Strawberry-san?" Lira asked as she took off her coat and hung it at the coat hanger. The old man chuckled as he pointed the direction of where the famed detective was. She walked in tiptoe to where L was and when she was closed enough, she covered his eyes with her hands. L reached up and felt her hand and mumbled quietly through his giant lollipop.
"It's my baby," L replied and Lira removed her hands from his eyes in defeat.
"It's unfair that I am the one visiting you," Lira pouted as she sat down the couch next to L in front of the computer.
"And what will await me if ever I visit you? B might just get overly excited and kill me right away. That will just remove all of the fun from our little game," L said as he offered a bowl of chocolate-coated marshmallows to Lira which she gladly took and settled on her lap as she watched L compose an e-mail to Misora Naomi.
"So you're still controlling that Naomi girl huh?" Lira remarked as she read what L was typing on the screen.
"You make it sad like it's a bad thing," L replied, never averting his gaze from the monitor.
"Well, I get jealous you know," Lira said, chewing on a marshmallow as she did so.
"Don't. Remember that you are the only girl I will like," L said, staring straight into Lira's eyes with a slight smile on his face. Lira returned the smile, blushing.
"So how's it been living with B?" L asked averting his gaze back into the monitor and continued to type the e-mail.
"We've been very low profile because of you. B's your number one suspect so he tends to hide in the dark. And I just felt that I should be there for him."
"You really are ready to be a mother. However I am not sure who will father your children," L said in a somehow thoughtful voice.
"If it's not you I'd rather not have any children," Lira said, holding L's arm. The detective turned to look at her and for the first time in years, he smiled.
"Will you supply me with information once again?" L asked as he continued to look into those beautiful yes of the girl before him.
"As much as I can, of course I'll help. It has been natural to me now to act as the bridge between you and B," Lira replied.
"Then for tonight, I have only one question for you. What is B's favorite manga?" L asked in a very, very serious tone. Lira was taken aback by the question but answered it anyway.
"Akazukin Cha-cha. Why?" She replied with a puzzled look on her face.
"Thank you. That will greatly help on our investigation. Incidentally, does he have the final volume of the manga?" L asked still in that serious tone.
"Yes, he's got the whole series completed, why?"
"Do you mind bringing it here? I kinda missed the final volume and I really wanted to finish the series," L asked and lighted up his face a bit, something that only told Lira that he is pleading with her with those cute actions that only childish people would do to get what they want.
It was a bit past midnight when Lira left the hotel and walked down the empty streets leading to the place where she and B live. She was quite puzzled with the question L asked her but then she never bothered to ask L because for one thing, she knew she would never get a decent answer from him. L still liked to keep investigation matters as confidential as possible from other people including her.
"Akazukin Cha-cha, eh? You guys are still a lot similar than what you might think. You are both insane," Lira chuckled to herself as she turned a corner to take one of her usual shortcuts on the way home.
A/N: Woohoo! Chapter 2 is finally finished after another two weeks! Yay! I'm currently running out of ideas because whenever an idea stuck me for this story, I never bothered to write them down. I really need to bring my notebook with me at school so that I can write during free time…lolz.. again, I wanted to apologize for the delay. We just finished our preliminaries this week and I've been studying hard for that…I really hope I pass coz I hate making up for failed grades. Anyway, I wanna ask you guys (specially information technology or computer science students) do you have a Turbo C on your PC? If so, can it be sent through the net, perhaps? I really need that language for practice, you see….PM me if it can be shared. Thanks in advance…