The phone barely had time to get through the first ring before it was picked up, L's electronically disguised voice emanating immediately from the other line, "I trust that their's a valid reason you've kidnapped Light's classmate" he spoke, his sarcasm indicative of his worry.

"Of course," Robin said with a smirk at his humor. "We have a… situation. Kenta. He's a psych major. A psych major that just recently finished a book report on yours truly, and apparently his research led him to the Wara Ninyo murders. He and his colleague, A Mrs. Aki, are convinced by their findings that I have ties to a certain detective"

The line was silent, most likely with L's shock at the news. Considering that the Wara Ninyo files had been tied up and sealed tighter than the mask of Light's goody-goody persona, it would take people of massive skill to come across any case information outside of what the news reported. To connect the case with L, or even Robin, was a formidable admission indeed.

"I see" L finally said, "We'll need to bring them in then. Watari can pick up you and the male classmate, and I'll instruct Matsuda to bring the female into custody after today's stake-out ends. I will speak to you again when you arrive at headquarters" without further notice, the line went dead and Robin frowned at the phone before flicking it shut.

Robin turned her attention to Kenta at last, he was having slight trouble breathing with her arm pressed against his windpipe, but nothing so damaging that she was inclined to cease her actions. "You're going to come with me. You and I are going to walk back to the point where we met this morning, and you're going to be absolutely normal doing it. We will not stop for anything, even if you see your classmates or anyone else you know. It's best for you not to find out what could happen should you decline to follow these rules, do you understand?" she asked, relaxing her hold on his windpipe as she did so.

"Y-yes" Kenta croaked out, appearing significantly less frightened about the situation than he should be.

"Good" Robin replied, finally moving out of his bubble of interpersonal space, but taking his hand in hers at the same time.

He looked down, bewildered at the contact, before looking at her with a blush and a grin. "Are you… making a pass at me? Is this sort of thing that gets you goin-"

Robin cut him off with an annoyed scowl, "I'm not flirting, I'm making sure you can't make a break for it. If you try, this way I can break your arm" she stated.

Kenta paled, "So, should we get going then?" he asked, looking both fearful and embarrassed at the same time.

…

To say that L was worried would be an understatement; he was downright panicked at the news, not that his exterior would betray so. From the moment that he and the rest of the task force had witnessed Robin pull the teen into the alley, L had felt a foreboding chill. Somehow this stranger with seemily average intelligence had managed to uncover absurdly encrypted files, as well as draw a connection from Robin to the detective L. It absolutely made no sense, if the man was as smart as a task like that would require, there would be no way he would confront Robin when there was the possibility of her being undercover.

Something else was at work, or someone. An outside force had to have pushed Kenta towards the Wara Ninyo case files, someone that Kenta trusted enough to not question. But for what purpose? Robin was truly an innovative leader in her field, but her involvement in the case was kept out of the public eye. Whomever had led Kenta to the case as a subject for his paper had other motives, but what? And, more importantly, who were they after? L-or Robin?

…

The place Watari took them too was unfinished, caught in the middle of construction, but the first two floors were complete in their entirety; and it was to the first that Robin accompanied Kenta to. The room they entered was a plain paneled white and held only two metal chairs and a table that were both bolted into the ground. Obviously, it was meant for interrogation.

"Robin, please follow me out-" Whammy began, but was cut off quickly.

"I'm staying," she said immediately. "I know he has cameras and mics in here, I'll be watched to satisfaction" Robin finished.

Whammy sighed heavily at her stubbornness, but retrieved a small headset from his pocket. "You may stay, but you'd better take this" the old man said as he handed her the device. "I must maintain the electronics in the other room, but I'll be able to respond to any incident occurring here. I trust you're still equipped with protection?"

She touched her purse absently as she remembered the gun concealed inside, "Yes, of course. I'll be fine" Robin responded, and Whammy left the room.

Robin adjusted the earpiece before nearly jumping at the immediate voice, "Robin? Watari will make the mics of the room operational in a moment, but until then all I have is the camera feed. I cannot hear you, but please nod if you can hear me" L's static electronic voice requested.

She immediately nodded, "Please take a seat, Kenta" Robin said, gesturing to the lone chair, before gazing around the room and counting the cameras. Four on each wall, Four in each corner, and one on the ceiling, She noted.

"Good. When the mics are activated I'll be able to listen in as well as address Kenta, so until then please keep him occupied with other matters. I don't want to miss any pertinent conversation" L stated in her ear.

Robin nodded again, this time directly to one of the cameras, "Kenta, can I get you some water? Or maybe you'd like some tea?" she asked, her voice casual despite her hawk-like eyes glued to the young man.

Kenta was grinning at her. "Is that… him? L? Can I meet him?" he asked eagerly.

Just who the hell does this kid think he is? It's a privilege for even me, who grew up next to him, to be acquainted with L even now. Is he really that stupid, or is his ego just that big? Robin thought, staring at Kenta in a cold silence. "No, the secrecy of L's identity is of the highest importance" she stated.

"But don't you believe me?" he questioned. "I really do know all about the case, and you, and L. If there's anyone you can trust with his identity, it's me!"

"While that may be, fan boys don't get an automatic meet and greet" Robin said. "It seems as if you don't quite grasp the gravity of this entire situation. The LABB case files were encrypted and protected in such a way to assure that they would never see the light of day. Did it ever cross your mind that there would be a good reason for that?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Now, now, there's no reason to get testy" L's electronic voice said suddenly from the speakers embedded in the room, the sudden interruption making Robin jump.

Kenta's eyes lit up immediately. "Is that really you? You have no idea how much I admire your work, sir! I just knew that Robin was working with you, it's a perfect fit with the two of you working together. The Kira case will be solved in no time!" he stated, nearly tripping over his own words in his haste to get them out of his mouth.

L's voice hesitated, perhaps in surprise of the teen's excitement "Yes, thank you, Kenta" he finally said. "Now to cut to the point, if I may, you wouldn't mind answering some questions" L wasn't asking a favor, L was politely ordering. In any other instance, Robin would have snickered at the observation.

"Not at all!" Kenta said cheerfully, "I'll tell you anything you want, sir!"

"What I'm the most curious about, is how you and Aki discovered the Wara Ninyo case" L stated.

Kenta cleared his throat, making a grand display of revealing the fact, "Well, Aki and I were doing research on Mrs. Steele for our class, and we found that there were actually quite few cases she'd worked on that were open to the public. We decided that the more restricted they were, the more valuable they would be in our paper. Aki was the one that really found out about the case… She realized the correlation between the surface information that the media printed on the case and Mrs. Steele's latest secrecy in her work history. We both decided that we needed the case, so we pulled some strings and got the information we needed" he finished.

Something wasn't sitting right with Robin. "Elaborate on 'pulling some strings'" she ordered.

He shrugged, "Well, I don't know the specifics. Aki handled that part" Kenta said.

"Now would be an appropriate time to inform you, R, Aki has just been escorted into the building. She will be joining the two of you in the holding cell momentarily" L's disguised voice cut in.

"Are you saying that Aki was the brains of your entire project?" Robin questioned, choosing not to acknowledge L's words.

Kenta shifted in his seat, his body displaying clear embarrassment. "Uh, well I suppose you could put it that way. It's not as if I wasn't contributing anything. It was her idea to write our paper on you, but still-" he cut himself off as the door opened and both of the two turned to look at the person in question. "Aki" Kenta said warmly with a smile.

"I was really right wasn't I? It is you" Aki said dreamily, staring at Robin as if she didn't hear a word from Kenta.

Whammy guided the girl into the room, the teen continuing to stare at Robin as if in a trance as she stumbled into a seat beside Kenta. "Once again, I will be just down the hall if you require anything" Whammy said, his curious glance at Aki not going unnoticed under Robin's scrutiny.

"Thank you" Robin said to Whammy with a nod, prompting the old man to leave the room.

Robin turned to face the two strange teens in silence, something about Aki's stare making her uneasy and re-enforcing the impression that something was off about the whole situation. "Now, Aki, before you arrived we were discussing the details of the paper that you and Kenta wrote. You remember that project, correct?"

"Yes, yes of course" Aki nodded as she blushed heavily for no foreseeable reason, throwing Robin off by the strange reaction.

"How did you acquire the information on the Wara Ninyo case?" L asked, making Aki jump immediately before looking up at the ceiling in surprise.

She gasped aloud, "Is that…" Aki said with a gulp "Is that really him?" she asked, resuming her stare at Robin.

She fought the urge to exasperatedly bury her face in her hands, but instead Robin answered, "Yes, L was immediately involved in this the minute Kenta implied I had a connection to the detective"

"So, you're working with L?" Aki asked, wide-eyed.

"Technically speaking, R is working under me" L's voice said over the intercom.

Robin turned towards the nearest camera and narrowed her eyes at the man behind it, about to object before Aki suddenly launched herself at the psychiatrist. "Oh, I'm so proud of you! Working with the L! You've probably even seen him in person!" she exclaimed, hugging Robin tightly.

Reacting purely on instinct and clouded by her bewilderment, Robin shoved the girl away a little harder than she'd meant to, and Aki slammed against the wall. A silence enveloped the room, leaving the two women to stare at each other. "Do I… Know you?" Robin finally asked, hesitant and confused.

Aki's face recovered from the shock of being thrown against the wall and let out a soft smile. "I thought so. I didn't expect you to remember. It was a long time ago, and you were so young" she said quietly.

"What are you talking about?" Kenta asked, breaking the strange staring spell between the two women. "You've met her before? How?"

"I was never in Japan, or America, as a child. Where do you think you've met me before?" Robin asked, her confusion at the situation turning into a strange nagging at the back of her skull.

Aki once again displayed her strange soft smile, "They wouldn't let me go, I had to stay with Nana on the day they took you"

Robin could feel her body stiffening, the nagging in her skull increasing with every word leaving Aki's mouth.

"They said that you were going to live somewhere else; a place that took in children who weren't right, like you" Aki said. "I never thought that. I knew that you were special, but not in the way that they thought you were" she advanced on Robin, her arms outstretched for a hug. "I loved you, and they took you away from me"

A chord broke inside her, and Robin's hands reacted on their own as they slapped Aki's outstretched arms away. "You… Let them take me" Robin said slowly, as something from the deep recesses of her mind came back to her.

…

The taller ones were fighting again. About her? Yes, the way they kept shooting her those looks, they were yelling about her. What did 'retarded' mean? 'freak'? It was loud, too loud. There was crashing, something was breaking, and then unsteady arms were pulling her up.

She'd only just learned to walk, so moving was difficult on her wobbly legs; but the arms helped her. They were somewhere else now, somewhere quieter. A face was smiling. A face still displaying the chubbiness that her own babyish body had. The face smiled again, stuck its tongue out. The face was so funny, it wasn't loud like the tall ones were.

What does 'little sister' mean?

…

The memory was messy and blurred by her young age, but with Aki's words the fragments began to come together. "Why did you…?" Robin questioned, her eyebrows knitting in confusion. With her body slumped in the wake of her small struggle, Aki was able to finally enclose her arms around Robin.

"I had no choice" Aki said softly. "We moved shortly after, to dad's parent's house here. When I got old enough, I went back to St. Mary's, but they told me you'd been transferred a long time ago. Since it was a private organization, they hadn't paid much attention to the paperwork. After all these years of trying to find you, I finally did"

"But how? How did you know who I was?" Robin asked, her arms encircling the back of her sister as if on their own.

Aki pulled back from her and smiled again, "Right, I nearly forgot. After those long years of looking futilely by myself, I finally hired a private detective. It was a coincidence really, he knew you even though you'd never gone by the name we gave you. He said to tell you 'Hi' whenever I found you in Japan, he was the one that found out you'd came here after the Wara Ninyo case-he helped me with research for the paper, too. He's still helping me search Japan for you, but I guess I can stop paying him now that I've found you like this"

The feeling crawled up again, like a parasite worming it's way into her brain again and nervously breeding a gut-wrenching worry. Something isn't right. "What was his name?" Robin asked groggily, her mind dreamy and lost as if an out of body experience was overtaking her.

"Rue Ryuzaki"

Robin jarred backwards, inadvertently slamming herself against the room's solid metal door. One hand flew to her mouth, covering it in horror as she felt a sudden sickness overwhelm her. She gasped for air in her panicked state, her mind hovering over only one memory, a card;

Rue Ryuzaki, Detective