CHAPTER TWO

Light Yagami

"Well you do clean up well," L commented as his eyes ran down the girl in front of him. The entire task force – especially Matsuda – flushed slightly and cleared their throats. Earlier, they had met her and established that she was, in fact, a part of the Task Force and a partner of L but it was only now that she actually took the initiative of presenting herself properly. They had met her in her comfortable state of t shirt and short ensemble, but now the eighteen-year old girl had brushed through her hair and dressed in more assignment-appropriate clothing: a black bustier underneath a sharp leather jacket, with dark jeans and boots to match. Her dark ensemble only brightened her eyes.

She adjusted the earpiece as L tested it. "Can you hear me?" he asked, looking slightly amused as his fingers played with the speaker at his mouth, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Loud and clear."

And then she was off. She walked through the neighbourhood district as her partner and the suspect's father, Soichiro narrated what was going on.

So young Light Yagami was just another hormonal teenager, she thought amused, but she was fairly sure it was all a cover. After all, she had done her research on this genius of a seventeen year old and everything about it seemed too calculated. The intelligent criminals she met in the past had often fell into certain categories: your narcissistic psychopaths, who were beyond sexually active and viewed their victims or others as little more than things that could bring them pleasure instead of actual human beings; and then there were the sadists who gained that pleasure from pain. There were the sadists, those who inflicted pain for pleasure. And then there were the asexual beings that got their thrill off dominance and control.

She wondered where Light fell, but doubted it was with the first.

"We just sent out the news." Her partner warned. There was a moment of pause. "He's quite clever, Ellie, don't be too obvious."

Elaine smiled at hearing L call her by the nickname and she stopped in front of the door and with a deep breath, she knocked on it. Within seconds, a short brown haired girl opened. Sayu Yagami, a student. Typical teenager. Managed in school, held no job, and spent a lot of times with her friends. She was not a suspect. Elaine smiled at the chief's daughter as she heard someone shuffle up the staircase. She saw a flash of white shirt, and light brown hair.

Speaking in not flawless, but unarguable Japanese, she said, "I'm sorry, I'm not interrupting, am I?"

"Oh, no," she blinked, "of course not. Um, who –"

"My name is Emi." No surname, of course.

"He's in his room, find an excuse and get in there," L said through the earpiece.

"I'm working as an intern for the Police force, Mister Soichiro Yagami needs his laptop and I was told to pick it up here. May I come in?"

They younger girl was flustered and invited her in easily as Soichiro and L watched behind the television. There was something about the way Elaine moved that made her look completely in place and swiftly put the Yagami household at ease, as if it was a relative that had walked in and not a practical stranger. She quickly told the girl that Soichiro would be staying late in office and he needed her to pick up several things. She then insisted to gather them herself, to no complaint by the girl who only looked slightly disappointed at the news of her father.

"The room to your left," L instructed.

She took a deep breath. Let's do this.

xxx-xx-xxx

A knock on the door startled the young man. He automatically shot a look at the death god at his corner and inconspicuously moved his eyes to the door. It wasn't Sayu, and it wasn't his mother…"Hello?"

The door creaked open, and in that brief moment, he imagined it to be the entire police force ready to ambush the Kira suspect - but instead, a girl walked in. The first thing he realized that she was foreign, so she must be a part of an overseas force. But then he realized she was young: her eyes were too wide, too immature, her smile to genuine. Although she obviously was not Japanese, her accent was on point as she apologized. "I'm sorry, I was looking for your dad's room," she said with a shy smile.

Even in the dimly lit room, her eyes seemed incredibly light in contrast to her darker hair and black clothing. Light blinked. Who was she? She just admitted that she was looking for his father's room, which meant she had to be here - in his home - because of the Kira case. But if she was sent here to spy on him...or perhaps to trigger a reaction while they were on camera...then he had to act normally.

"It's right across the hallway," Light said slowly as he got up. He was easily taller than her, but the way she simply moved her eyes instead of taking a step back showed her confidence. "But may I ask who you are?"

She blinked, as if confused. Ryuk chuckled behind him. "Oh! Of course, right." She stammered just slightly, and ran her fingers through her hair nervously. "You can call me Emi, I'm an intern at the station. You're the chief's son, Light, right? Your father asked me to pick up his laptop so…"

"You're an intern? I've never seemed you around," Light stated. His voice wasn't accusing, but it was hesitant. He was still trying to figure out who she was and it frustrated him. He usually easily broke down people in a matter of seconds and yet he still could not quite pinpoint this girl's motive - and surely, she had to have one. "I've worked on several cases before."

"I only recently started," she admitted and looked away uncomfortably. His eyes narrowed, wondering if he caught her in a lie. He decided to push her, stress out L who was surely watching them from the cameras.

"I don't suppose it's because of the Kira case?"

She stopped.

And then the nervousness disappeared as a smile spread across her mouth. "So you know about it."

She was working for the Task force after all. But what were they doing – sending something so obvious? Was this a test? Either way, he had to act normal, as if he wasn't the culprit. "Well, my father is the chief. But why would a young lady like you want to get mixed up with the whole Kira business?"

Elaine wanted to roll her eyes at the way Light had said 'young lady' as if it was a full blown compliment that usually made little girls giggle. And by his looks, she suspected it usually did. She had seen him on file - pictures of him since grade school up until now, and he sure was photogenic. He was handsome by all standards - whether it be by his native Japanese ones, or by Western's: angular face, defined jawline, but softer bone features reasonable of his heritage and intelligent eyes and boyishly tousled brown hair all tied together perfectly. "I'm not, actually," she lied easily, "to be completely honest…there's only one reason why I decided to do the internship now."

"For Kira?" he guessed. Curiosity was normal; it couldn't be used against him.

She grinned at him, and for a moment – the death note, L, Kira, the entire business was forgotten. That was, until she spoke again. "No," she said and he blinked, "I'm actually tracking down L."

xxx-xx-xxx

"Ah," her partner's voice filled her ears, "good lie."

"You want to meet L?" Light repeated, confused. This was one thing he had not expected her to say - it was the one thing he did not anticipate ever hearing in his life. Tracking down L? It sounded like a ridiculous endeavour. He himself wasn't preoccupied with finding the detective as much as he wanted to kill him. With this statement, he was only more confused about her character.

"You have no idea how much." She sighed and leaned back against the door. Something about it looked too theatrical, too rehearsed and yet he thought it was a placid front, one to project a certain character as opposed to hide a true one. There was a slim difference, but a difference nonetheless. "Ever since I was young I've been building up all the skills to be good enough to work with him, and the closest thing I get is this – as a part time intern." She seemed genuinely deflated. And for whatever reason, Light believed her.

"So you're doing all of this just to work with some detective?"

"Uh – no," she said emphatically, "not just some but the greatest," she corrected. A smile pulled up on the corners of her lips, and L had a feeling it was directed towards him. Like an inside joke they shared. "Not everyone is lucky enough to have a chief as their father," she simply added and then moved towards him. "Well, I'm famished. Do you mind if I have some?" she asked but was already moving towards the bag of potato chips. Light's eyes sharpened and immediately, he snatched the bag and crumpled it, throwing it into the trash. She stared at him with wide, amused eyes. Hm.

"Sorry about that, I meant to throw it out."

She stared.

"I think that's enough for now, you should leave before it's too obvious," L advised quietly.

"It's fine!" she said, perkier than necessary. But she had to make him think that his slip up - if it was one - went by unnoticed by her. "But I'm still pretty hungry, so I'll just pick up the laptop and get out of your way. It was nice meeting you, Light."

"You too," he said slowly, "maybe we should grab lunch another time." He had to look more carefully into this girl.

"I'll hold you to that." She began to turn around, facing the door, but before her pale eyes moved up towards the camera and for that instant, it was as if she was looking right at L. And he just sat – a lose concept – behind the screen, staring after the girl that yet again, impressed him.

Somehow, she had baited out Light Yagami.

xxx-xx-xxx

"Well done," L complimented. He felt like she was smiling through the earpiece. He turned around and saw Soichiro looked at the young detective oddly. "Yes, Mister Yagami?"

"I don't see why this is good news," he said, "It's not as if she lured out Kira – she just agreed to go out with my son."

"Well your son may be Kira," L stated, looking at the donuts he was picking at. He could hear the father gasp and clench his fist, looking away. "Or he may just be any other boy," he said, more for the sake of Soichiro than his honest belief. He threw a piece of the glaze bakery sweet into his mouth before shrugging. "Either way, we should find out soon enough."

I haven't updated this a lot, but I figured since it was New Years, why not?

Things are finally starting up between Light and Elaine, hopefully I got his character right! If not, please tell me how to keep him more OC. As any other authors here, reviews are greatly appreciated!