AN: ...Don't get me wrong guys: I love L, but this chapter was really fun to write. (You'll see what I mean... :-P)

Keep R-and-R-ing!! My overall mood depends on your reviews!! (Okay, maybe that doesn't always apply, but please humor me and review anyway. Who knows, maybe I'll update faster...? *Hint*Hint*)

February 6, 2011
12:26 PM

L softly chewed on the edge of his thumb. "So that was how you got my body..." he murmured in thought.

The doctor beside him nodded. "It wasn't until a short time afterwards that I decided to try and 'revive' you. Once I did, I let go of all the part-time doctors involved. My secretary of sorts refused to leave, but other than her... And I talked it over with the one full-time man and even offered him a partnership, but--"

"But he decided to become your assistant instead," L finished.

Mido didn't ask how L had figured that out; he just raised an eyebrow in amusement. "...I must admit, Ryuzaki, never before have I met a mind quite as sharp as yours."

"Perhaps Mido-san doesn't give himself enough credit. I think you are probably twice as sharp as I am, doctor."

"Liar. You could've finished that Sudoku book in an hour--no, wait, you could probably tell me exactly how long it would have taken you if you hadn't been trying to dupe me into thinking you were slow."

"Fifty-six minutes and two seconds."

The answer was instantaneous, and Mido began to laugh.

L didn't admit it or let it show on his face, but this annoyed him quite a bit. So he asked another question. "What happened to Yagami?"

Mido sobered up quickly at the mention of his name. "...I never saw him again," he said, "but I did talk to him over the phone once."

Over the phone...? "About what...?"

"He had a building for me to work in."

"Ah. The one we are in now, I presume?"

"Yes. I didn't question where he'd gotten it from, but the facilities are entirely underground and at his request we use only the bare minimum of electronic equipment. I don't even have my laptop anymore."

L frowned. "Why would something like that make a difference?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did he tell you to get rid of all your electronics? Has technology changed all that much...?"

Mido also began frowning. "In some ways, yes, but I never really thought that was very relevant. To me, it always seemed like a rather bizarre request as well... I assumed it probably had something to do with keeping my operations secret, but I never really got a chance to ask."

Slowly L nodded. "Perhaps I will think about it later. But now I would like to rest."

"Well... Yes, you're right." The doctor looked like he was about to argue with L, but he must have dropped the idea and instead stood up to leave. "You need your rest." Without another word he left the room.

Immediately after he left Ryuzaki, Mido went into another room down the hallway.

What on earth is he up to...?

The doctor didn't believe for an instant that Ryuzaki was intent on resting. He didn't know what he was planning to do, but Mido would have bet that it sure as hell didn't involve sleeping.

Luckily, he had prepared for this. Before he had ever gotten close to bringing Ryuzaki back, Mido had installed tiny cameras in the room that were practically invisible to the eye. It had been an extra precaution, in case his personality had been threatening. Now, Ryuzaki didn't seem to be dangerous, by any means, but Mido's caution was about to pay off.

As Mido looked at the monitors, he saw Ryuzaki sitting in his bed, glancing around his room.

What are you planning to do...?

L had had suspicions, but what Mido had said practically clinched it for him. Now he just had to find some proof...

He was 89% sure that Mido had installed cameras in the room, but it was of no matter. He didn't care if he was seen. He needed to prove that they were, indeed, where he thought they were. But to do that, he needed to get out of the room.

Which meant he was going to attempt to walk.

Before his death, he had often sat down for hours at a time, and it had made very little difference to him. But lying down in a hospital bed for an entire week was just plain annoying. There wasn't much he could do lying in a bed, and he certainly couldn't prove his theory if all he did was stay there.

So. He had to at least try walking.

He knew by now that he could move his legs, so that wasn't really the problem. He was more worried about being able to support himself after not standing up for six years. He expected that he would tip over several times, and that his balance would be terrible at first, but he was still going to try. He grabbed onto the bed's railing and held on tightly as he shifted his body. Very slowly, he moved to put his right leg on the ground, and--also very slowly--he moved most of his weight onto his right foot. And...

He didn't fall.

Yes!!

In his excitement, he let go of the death grip he had been keeping on the bed's railing.

And lost his balance.

OOF!!

He landed flat on his face.

Admittedly, it wasn't as painful or humiliating as the time Naomi Misora had kicked him down a set of subway stairs. But still, it hurt quite a bit.

That didn't mean he was giving up just yet.

Maybe it would be better if I started with the knees...

He managed to position himself so that he was straight from the knees up and holding onto the railing again. Very slowly, he loosened his grip. After several seconds, he let go.

Surprisingly, he stayed upright. It was quite a strange feeling, thinking that he was going to tip over at any second and never quite doing so. But after a few minutes, he was almost 100% certain that he wasn't going to fall.

And now to try standing...

He pulled himself on his feet, and it looked rather like the crouching position he normally sat in. Carefully, he straightened his legs; when he was finally in a rigidly straight position, he tried letting go of the rail.

Again, he didn't fall.

"Success!!" he said excitedly to himself.

He spoke too soon. A moment later, he lost his balance again and went tumbling to the ground. This time, however, he landed on his back and wasn't so quick to get up again.

L sat there rather dejectedly. After one minute and thirty-seven seconds of thought, he sighed.

"I think this might take a while..."

Mido's assistant happened to be walking down the hallway when a chuckle caught his attention. He paused for a moment, then stuck his head in to see what his boss was laughing at. He saw immediately that Mido was looking at a television that showed camera footage from Ryuzaki's room. "Sir...? What's so funny?"

Mido chuckled again. "Ryuzaki. He's attempting to walk."

The assistant's eyes grew wide. "What?! After only a week?!"

Mido grinned. "I certainly don't blame him. He was getting awfully bored as it was. And I must admit, he is doing better than most would be at this point..."

The assistant raised an eyebrow. "Really? How many steps has he taken?"

"None." At that moment Ryuzaki fell over on the monitor again, and Mido had to stifle another laugh.

"Sir! He could hurt himself!"

"Oh, calm down. The worst he can do is get a couple bruises. It's all in good fun. Besides, I have this odd feeling that be already knows I'm watching him."

The doctor's answer seemed rather out of character: normally, Mido would have gone running to assist someone. His response puzzled his assistant quite a bit. "Erm... Well then... Shouldn't you be helping him walk again instead of just watching?"

With a completely serious expression on his face, the doctor turned to him and said, "If he had wanted help, he wouldn't have told me he was planning on resting, now would he?" Mido went back to watching the screen.

His assistant sighed and walked out of the room.

Almost an hour later, L succeeded.

Patiently, after falling over at least a dozen more times, he had walked back and forth across the room--five times--without having to hold onto anything. He had even assumed his old bad posture in the process.

So, he could finally move on.

To see if he was right.

Quickly, for only a third of a second, he poked his head into the hallway for the first time. Yes, so far so good: the hallways seemed to be in a "T" shape, with his room somewhere on the "vertical" hall, so to speak. If he was correct in his calculations, he needed to go to the left end of the "horizontal" hall... He knew Mido's secretary was busy, and neither Mido nor his assistant was anywhere to be seen. He calculated about a 42% chance of being seen... low enough for him to try and go snooping for what he was looking for. Stealthily and swiftly, L stepped out and travelled the length of the hall. He rounded the left corner without being noticed, and saw he was at...

A dead end.

Well, technically it only looked like a dead end. But L, being as smart as he was, knew that wasn't true. There was indeed a door there. It just wasn't an orthodox one.

After thinking the possibilities and probabilities over for a good 5.77 seconds, he decided that he could get through it at about a 68% chance. Cautiously, he pressed a section of the wall's tile, and a small virtual keypad appeared. With surprising ease, he typed in a few numbers, causing the keypad to disappear.

And after a few anxious seconds, the door slid open.

L stepped inside the newly discovered room, and he realized immediately that he had been correct.

AN: So, does anyone want to take a stab at where he is? :-D The responses should be interesting...