Chapter 5: Identity Of
L looked up briefly as Light set a cup of coffee before him. He slumped over it, although he did not feel as drained as usual; on the contrary he was positively humming with excitement, his brain calculating several things at once, something it had not had the luxury of attempting thus far in his career. He found it was an activity which he could perform with remarkable ease. Whilst reflecting on his own day, and the groundwork he had laid down in accessing highly confidential police files from directly under the noses of his co-workers, he was also reviewing the actions he anticipated Light would have taken that day with the house to himself, as well as gauging Light's reaction to his words, and his own reactions to Light's own words.
Although he and Light had come to an agreement on what their objective would be, L had also warned him the night before that Light himself was a criminal and, as such, was being given a second chance. If Light ever betrayed him, or was less than completely honest with him, he had resolved to act accordingly. Light had smiled and promised his perfect behaviour. However, L knew that whatever else Light was, he was as slippery as an eel, something which had already been proven at least once today.
"What did you do with your day, Light-kun?" he asked mildly as he slurped his sugared coffee.
"I mostly spent my day tidying up this hellhole," Light said archly, pointedly snatching L's briefcase from its floor-spot and tucking it neatly onto a newly polished shelf. Who knew wood could shine? L certainly didn't. "I cannot fathom how you have lived in this place for eight years and you still do not own bleach."
"So Light-kun went through the building records?" L stated, brushing off Light's barb for the more important piece of information Light had betrayed. L had never told him how long he had lived in the apartment for. "He should know better than to believe I would leave my identity lying around so carelessly."
This, of course, did not count as subversive behaviour; if Light had not attempted to dig a little into L's past, he would have been faintly disappointed. After all, hadn't L spent half the morning doing exactly the same thing?
"I was merely confirming my suspicions," Light defended, looking only slightly outraged with himself for letting slip this information. "I highly doubted you would bother to conceal your name unless you were untraceable. Ryuuga Hideki, indeed. Amusing, Ryuuzaki."
"It has caused a few misconceptions," L deadpanned. Again only Light could have picked up the wry humour in the words. "If it sates your curiosity, Light-kun, you will find my records equally absent from the registry office, and I also work under a false name for protection reasons, since I am a detective on some fairly dangerous crimes." Dangerous if you don't have an IQ of above 170, anyway, he added silently. Still, the false identity appealed to him. He didn't really know who L Lawliet was anyway, and certainly nobody else did.
"But it would not be difficult for me to find the name you work under," Light smiled slightly, abandoning any pretence. "And therefore all the records which go with it."
"Ah, Light-kun," sighed L, allowing a slight note of mockery to slip into his voice. "You underestimate me. Surely you cannot think that I would not pre-empt any attempt on your part to hack into my police records? As the man who managed to break you out of a top security prison, surely you must expect that I am perfectly able to conceal my records from you?"
"I get the feeling, Ryuuzaki, that you are not a very sociable person," Light mused.
"Your point?" L enquired, getting up to search the fridge for some cake, sniffing disdainfully at the fresh vegetables which had somehow manifested themselves. How did a wanted criminal shop for groceries?
"I am not entirely convinced that you will have factored the questioning of your colleagues into your equation."
Shit, thought L. He's absolutely right. If he talked to Aizawa or Mogi, Light would be able to extract a good deal of information about his work history, if not himself.
"A wanted criminal questioning the police?" he replied, not allowing his miscalculation to show in his face. "It is inadvisable, Light-kun. Besides, if we are a partnership, arousing suspicions about me between my co-workers would be foolish."
"Believe me when I say nobody would ever suspect me," Light smiled. "But don't worry, even I have some qualms about walking into a station who were on red alert for me not twenty four hours ago."
"I am glad to hear it," L decided, sinking back into his chair with a piece of angel cake. "However, Light-kun, it occurs to me that in all your snooping, did it never occur to you merely to ask me, if there was something you wished to know about my current status or my past?"
"I never for a moment considered that you would tell me," Light rejoined, looking highly diverted at this new twist.
"Well why don't you try?" L offered. Controlling the amount Light knew would ironically give him more power. If he was able to satisfy the boy enough to stop him prying without revealing anything he wished to keep private, it would put him in a stronger position. "I am not at all averse to honesty."
"Well when you put it that way," Light grinned ruefully, "it makes me really wish I hadn't gone through the horror of searching your underwear drawer."
L found it very difficult to suppress his laughter, but years of practice at holding a poker-face allowed him to do so. Amusement was a foreign word to him, but Light was... something else. Despite himself, he knew that he was beginning to like the young man.
"Did you really think you would find anything?" L asked once he felt confident that his vocal chords would not betray him.
"No," Light admitted. "But the absence of anything to see merely confirmed many of the suspicions I had already engendered about you."
"Absence of evidence equals evidence of absence," L murmured. "Very good, Light-kun. You have discovered that I am a social recluse."
"With no outstanding emotional attachments to any particular object or person, apart from a proclivity for confectionary," Light finished. "Not to mention incredibly secretive, bordering on paranoid."
"Then is there anything else you really need to know?" L enquired, not at all bothered by Light's accurate but harmless conclusions.
"Just one thing; how good are you, Ryuuzaki?" Light questioned, fixing the detective with a speculative gaze. L met his eyes full on.
"Very," he answered truthfully. In a few short hours, he had surprised even himself as to how much information he had assembled.
"I thought so," Light nodded, looking very slightly pleased.
"In return may I ask Light-kun a question?" ventured L, his thumb gravitating to his lip as he contemplated what he could ask which Light might answer truthfully. Nothing too obvious, of course, but enough so that he could see his reaction...
"Of course," Light invited carelessly. "Although I may choose not to answer."
"Who does Light-kun care about?" L wondered, watching him closely out of the corner of his eye.
Light blinked, eyes wide with surprise for a second. L watched, fascinated, as a brief, almost invisible emotion skittered across his face, before the mask was back up.
"Caring is a weakness," he replied casually. "I care about the innocent, but caring for an individual creates vulnerability. It would be a foolish thing for one such as me to indulge in."
"I see," L returned, and let the conversation drop for a few moments as he forked a few mouthfuls of cake into his mouth.
He did see. Far more than Light could have expected someone so socially inept to see. He saw that everything Light said to him was the truth; Light would never tell a direct lie, merely express himself misleadingly or manipulate information. Thus, when Light had told him that caring caused vulnerability, it merely implied that Light did not care. But L knew better. There was somebody, he was certain, whom Light cared, or had cared, very deeply for. And he was already at least 40% sure, after that morning, that he knew, or could soon find out, who this person was. Strange, too, that a convicted murderer should hold such qualms about falsehoods. Curiouser and curiouser.
But however much he did not trust Light, he could not stop himself from admiring the elegant misdirection. Something about the way Light's brain worked pulled him in. He just loved to watch it work.
"By the way, whilst you were attempting to hack my life and disinfect my apartment, Light-kun, I took the liberty of downloading some police files you might find interesting," L said once he had swallowed his cake.
"I hope you aren't insinuating that I am not pulling my weight," Light said, sounding faintly disapproving.
"On the contrary," L replied. "I daresay the apartment did need cleaning. I tend not to notice such things myself. Nevertheless, our various levels of usefulness notwithstanding, it would be helpful if you took a look through the files and see if you come to the same conclusions as I did."
"My pleasure," Light replied archly. "May I?" he gestured at L's neatly tucked away briefcase.
"Go right ahead," L invited. He watched as Light pulled out the laptop and inserted a small disc, the twin of one nestling within L's jeans pocket. The younger man hesitated for a moment, and looked up at L, who blinked slowly.
"These are encrypted," he said flatly.
"Yes, they are," L intoned. The two men stared at each other for a few moments before Light let out a small breath and looked back down at the screen. Moments later, his fingers were at work on the keyboard. L closed his eyes for a few moments to enjoy the sound of the young criminal muttering to himself as he fought furiously against the complex firewalls of the top-secret files. It had taken Lawliet four minutes and thirty one seconds to bypass them. He began to count evenly in his head.
"Do you give up yet, Light-kun?" he asked thirteen minutes and nine seconds later.
"No," Light snarled. His perfect hair was a little tumbled from being swept out of his eyes so many times, and there was a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead. L meandered into the next room to water a pot plant he remembered owning. It was gone, which probably meant that it was dead and Light had thrown it out. He began to do the Sudoku in the open newspaper on the coffee table instead, also courtesy of Light. He was crouching in the darkening room, chewing on his thumbnail, head cocked on one side, when he finally heard the triumphant crowing from the next room.
"Finished?" he asked innocently, noting the time on the clock before him; three hours, thirty-eight minutes and eleven seconds.
"Yes," Light said smugly. "I do have my uses after all, Ryuuzaki."
"Whatever does Light-kun mean?" L asked in false confusion. "I have already read the contents of the files, therefore I was also able to get past the encryptions, surely you should have recognised this? I also managed to get past undetected, which I am sure is more than can be said of you, although in your case it is insignificant since I destroyed the link to the general police database after downloading them. I merely re-established the firewalls as a test."
"If I had not bothered to remain undetected," Light said, looking very sour, "it would have taken me half the time."
"Then I commend you, Light-kun," replied L, who had expected nothing less.
"How long did it take you?" Light demanded after a few moments of exquisite sulking.
"That is not necessary for Light-kun to know," L demurred, denying the smirk which threatened his habitually emotionless face. Light made a sulky sound that came out something like 'Hhnufh'.
"I will allow Light-kun to examine the files now," L said disinterestedly. Light gave another soft snort of irritation in response, and L drifted off into the other room again.
Having Light in the apartment was an uncomfortable experience for Lawliet, who valued his privacy if for no more reason than he detested the constant presence of other human beings. With Light's presence in his meagre rooms, he felt as awkward and out of place as a strawberry in a bowl of miso soup. It brought home to him the fact that he had very little idea how he ever passed the time between working and sleeping. Did he really just sit and wait for darkness to fall and exhaustion to overwhelm him night after night? With Light tapping away at the keys of his laptop, L felt at a loose end. It struck him how little he really did, how ignorant he was of the pursuits which normal people engaged in to pass the time away. Lawliet's hobbies consisted of compulsive eating and insomnia. Then again, he was sure Light already knew this much about him simply from watching him for a few short hours. He didn't care what the boy thought. It was merely uncomfortable doing nothing with somebody else in the house.
Just when Lawliet was wondering whether he should abandon any pretence at having hobbies or a normal attitude to free time and just give in to his usual listlessness, Light called to him from the other room, somehow managing to make the summons polite and civilised, not raising his voice above what was acceptable.
"Ryuuzaki, come and take a look at this with me," he invited. Lawliet slouched into the other room and peered over Light's shoulder at the gently glowing screen. "Right here," Light pointed, indicating a name and mug shot with one inexplicably manicured finger.
"Madarame Kamawa," L read in a monotone. "Convicted of seven murders over a span of four years, allowed out on bail, disappeared and has since evaded capture."
"He's a well known name," Light pointed out, "and his sphere of influence is greater Tokyo, so chances are he's still living in the area."
"You are correct," Lawliet acknowledged. "He also has an accord with the higher-ups in the NPA, which I take to mean he is bribing them with a great deal of money not to bring him in again. He has been connected to a vast drug network in and around Tokyo, but has managed to avoid a conviction for the last three years. Since he has changed his name, the previous charges of first degree murder have been dropped."
"So I'm right?" L asked smugly. "He is the one you selected for our first strike, too."
"Of course I did a profile on each of the names on the list," Lawliet replied coolly. "His was one of the ones I considered most suitable, though, yes."
"Great minds," murmured Light. "I take it the idea of showcasing our first act of Seigi is one which you find palatable?"
"It would be well to establish our MO with a flourish, yes," L agreed emotionlessly. "However, as I anticipate it will take us at least a week or two to trace Madarame, I think it would be wise to compile a list of other high-profile murderers and criminals in the meantime, since it will be more straightforward to locate them and find out their routines in order to easily follow them if, after our charade, they chose to go further underground. In this way, we will be prepared to follow up our first strike with a simultaneous multiple strike, thus tipping the police and the criminal world from concern into panic. After this, I believe the proportion of criminals taking our choice seriously will increase exponentially."
Light was looking at Lawliet rather as if he wanted to take him then and there on the tabletop. Or perhaps it was merely the twisted and ruthlessly ingenious plan which left his eyes shining, cheeks flushed and breathing shallow. It was really highly unpleasant, L thought, that he should rejoice in such a blatant manner in the prospective murders of multiple fellow human beings, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to mind. He was still uncertain about his profile of Yagami. Despite the earlier hint that there was something underneath his flawless exterior which cared for fellow humans, L was positive that the heady power in Light's hands made him just as eager as did the prospect of improving the world and making it a safer place. In turn this led him to question his own motives. He knew he was foremost merely attracted to the idea of devoting his considerable intellect to an interesting problem. He was willing to cause death to save himself from boredom. So really, who was the monster here? Really, he had no right to judge Light. He wasn't even sure if he did; in truth, Light's own mind exhilarated him just as much as his clearly did Light. It was a faintly disturbing thought. All he could console himself with was that their plan would be ridding the world of many people it would be better off without no matter what else may be at work. If the experiment got out of hand, L was sure he still held enough conscience to put a stop to it. And he was sure that he was not yet so attached to Light that he could not betray him, if it came to that.
"It's beautiful," Light breathed as L finished speaking; it had taken him just a split second to complete his faintly unsettling thought process. "You're absolutely right, we need to plan at least a few steps ahead of our actions. I hadn't fully considered the implications of a public strike on other prospective targets. I do, of course, have connections with the type of people who might be contacted by criminals desperate to hide, but it might be better if we saved their help for later. After all, foremost we must protect our own identities or it will be over before it has begun."
"Since Light-kun is dead and I do not exist, we should not have too many problems concealing our identities," L replied wryly. "Nevertheless you are quite correct. We should keep everything between the two of us until we are more certain of our positions. Which leaves the question of-"
"How to arrange a public stage for our judgement of Madarame," finished Light. "If you do not object, Ryuuzaki, I have already devised a plan for this. Tell me if you think it will work."
It was almost frightening, Lawliet mused, how well the two of them worked together. Unconsciously, the tip of his tongue darted out to lick his lower lip.