Author's note: I have just about finished the first arc of this story. I have not received any opinions on whether to publish the arcs separately or within the same story, so I have decided to continue the subsequent arcs within the same story.

December 19th, 2003

Naomi stared at the cell phone as if it were poison. It was Raye's cell phone, and Raye should be the one using it, not her... but Raye couldn't use it. Not anymore.

She shook her head and picked up the phone, scrolling through the limited contacts until she saw a number that was reserved only for absolute emergencies. She pressed the call button.

A man answered on the second ring. "Robert Mueller, Director of the FBI." The man's voice shook a little. "Is this Kira?"

I guess the FBI already knows that all of the agents that were sent to Japan have died. "No, Director Mueller, this is the former Agent Naomi Misora. My fiance, Agent Raye Penber, managed to deliver some vital information to me last night before being murdered by Kira. I need you to put me through to L."

There was a sigh of relief and then a pause on the other side of the line. "...I will need to verify your identity."

Naomi sighed. "I worked indirectly with L during the Los Angeles B.B. Cases, also called the Wara Ningyo murders."

Another pause and the distant sound of typing. "That checks out. What is this information? Are you saying you saw Agent Penber before he died?"

"I'd really prefer to speak directly to L, if you don't mind, Director Mueller," Naomi said firmly. "If there are leaks in the police, I don't want to risk anyone but L getting this information."

"Very well, but it will take some time... Even I can't contact L directly, I'll have to leave a message on an untraceable line for Watari, who will deliver the message to L, and he'll decide what to do. Can I give them the number of this phone?"

"Please do."

"Before you go, Miss Misora," Mueller said, sounding more solemn, "you should know that the United States government is no longer able to publicly support L's investigation after the death of the 12 agents in Japan. It has also been decided that the Japanese police force will be notified about these latest developments. That means that, if you do choose to become involved in all this, you do so at your own risk. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Naomi said, gritting her teeth. Damn it. "Thank you for your help."

"Good luck, Miss Misora."

Naomi glanced at the time after the line went dead. It was only 8:30 in the morning, but there was no way she'd be able to do anything until she got a call from L.

She spent an hour simply staring at her phone, then another half hour pacing. When her phone rang at a little past ten, she dove to answer it in the middle of the first ring.

"Hello?" She barked desperately.

"Naomi?" Shit. Mother. Not now.

"Can't talk now, Mom, I'm waiting for a call."

"But N-" Naomi hung up and continued pacing. When the phone rang again fifteen minutes later, she checked the caller ID first. Unknown caller.

"Hello?" She asked, more calmly this time.

"Naomi Misora," greeted a familiar mechanized voice. "I am sorry to hear about your loss."

Naomi swallowed and pushed her tumultuous feelings to the side. "Never mind that, L. Raye saw Kira."

L froze for a beat. "He saw him? Did he manage to identify him?" There was a distant sound of rapid typing. "He was following Light Yagami at the time, is it safe to assume that he has something to do with this?"

"Yes, he saw him, but he couldn't get a name, and-"

"Wait, Agent Misora," the mechanized voice said, and Naomi stopped trying to explain all at once.

"Former agent, but go ahead."

"I would prefer to discuss this in person, where I am sure that neither of us will be overheard. I am about to hang up, and you will receive a text from an anonymous number with an address. Watari will meet you there and lead you to my current location. Please destroy both of your phones before proceeding to the address."

"Yes," Naomi agreed, and the line went dead.

Twenty minutes later, Naomi stood outside of a small, pleasant looking cafe. The cell phones were nothing more than crushed metal in the road, as Naomi had tossed both of them directly into traffic just outside her hotel. She waited casually outside the cafe, sipping her coffee and blending in seamlessly with the locals while quietly scanning the crowds. She almost spilled it when someone knocked into her, but she managed to grab onto the cup just in time.

The man was old and foreign-looking, and he looked apologetic. "I apologize," he said pleasantly, bowing. From this angle, only she was able to see when he flashed a note that read, I am Watari. Please offer to help me with the bags and follow me.

"That's all right," Naomi smiled, slipping into her role easily. "Do you need some help with those?"

"That would be wonderful," he said gratefully, handing her one of the three bags. Each of them was filled to the brim with cakes and baked goods. She followed Watari through the Tokyo streets for several minutes, finally arriving at a tall, expensive-looking hotel. Despite yesterday's events and the situation that brought her to this point, she couldn't help feeling a little bit excited that she would finally be meeting L in person.

Watari guided her into the elevator and punched the number for the top floor. The ride was silent but for the quiet music in the background. Naomi counted 27 seconds to reach the top floor. Watari guided her to a door a little ways down the hallway and knocked once, twice, paused, three times, four times. Naomi noted, with amusement, that this was the Morse code for the letter 'L'.

The door swung inwards a moment later, and she and Watari shuffled inside quickly. The door shut quickly and the latch slid home as Naomi turned around.

A chill went down her spine, and only her FBI training kept her from losing grip on the bag of sweets. "Beyond Birthday?"

The clothing and physique was almost identical, with loose jeans and a white shirt and pale, bare feet. His face was hidden by a rather hideous-looking mask with bulging eyes, but it seemed to be a sick parody of the face of the killer from the L.A. Murder cases. Was this some kind of sick joke? The man tilted his masked head, tapping his mask thoughtfully. "I suppose I should have foreseen that, but no, Beyond Birthday is still in prison. I am L." It was clear that Naomi did not quite believe this, and so he said, "Beyond Birthday had a psychotic desire to become me. This mask is a parody of my own face, not his. You might also notice that I am slightly shorter."

Naomi frowned, but nodded. It was true that he was shorter, but she wished she could have seen his face, to be sure. "Are you two related?"

"No," L said, response mildly muffled by the mask. "Though we did grow up together, sort of. I'm afraid I will have to decline answering further personal questions. You did say that you had some rather urgent information regarding the Kira investigation?"

"Yes, I do," Naomi said quietly.

"Watari, could you make us some tea, please? Miss Misora, if you would follow me, I would like to record your testimony."

"Yes, L."

"Of course." Naomi felt oddly out of place as she followed the shuffling super detective through the suite to a sitting area. L perched on an armchair in an odd sort of crouch and pecked at a laptop briefly.

"Okay, please begin."

Naomi took a deep breath and focused her gaze on the city view outside the window on the opposite side of the room. "Raye came home early yesterday—12 minutes past six. He didn't talk, at first, just looked at me desperately and gesturing with his arms. He didn't speak until I shouted at him to talk to me. He told me first that his superior and the other FBI agents were dead, murdered by Kira." She could hear his strained voice in her mind, see the desperation in his eyes as her own fluttered closed briefly. "I tried to stop him from revealing information to me, then, but he told me that he would die at 6:30, and that it would be up to me to get this information to you. He had been following Light Yagami at the time... this is his case notebook." Naomi slowly and purposefully withdrew the notebook from her pocket, making sure not to look as if she was drawing a weapon. She tossed it lightly to L, who caught it and scanned it for a few seconds before tossing it lightly back. She didn't doubt that he already had it memorized. "He noticed someone following Light Yagami earlier in the day—that must have been Kira, because he noticed Raye and followed him, then confronted him. Raye said he was surprised to find out that the police suspected Light Yagami and looked incredibly upset to discover that the police knew that Kira had access to police information."

"You say Kira was shocked to discover these things... I don't like to think that Agent Raye Penber would reveal these things willingly, but if he did not... then that would suggest that Kira can control his victims before they die."

"He can. Raye said that he wrote his name in a notebook- Raye Penber dies of a heart attack on December 18th at 6:30 pm. He tells the truth unconditionally until he dies. He is nonviolent and docile prior to his death. He follows orders unconditionally prior to his death. He said that Kira used him to kill his superior and the other FBI agents. He needed their names and faces in order to kill them..." She trailed off. "That's it, I think."

L chewed on his thumb lightly. Watari handed a cup of tea to each of them, and Naomi sipped hers as L added sugar cubes to his tea, still digesting the new information. "Thank you for bringing me this information," L said finally, looking up. "It is fortunate for us that Kira seems prone to leaving these loose ends and acting without thinking. He must have set aside the extra time for questioning Agent Penber... and then, when he had extracted all useful information, simply set him loose with an order not to speak to anyone..."

Naomi gulped her tea and blinked back tears, unsure whether they came from emotion or from the hot liquid.

"Still, there is the question of what Light Yagami has to do with this... it sounds like he's involved, somehow. The notes mention that he seems withdrawn, and Kira was following him..." L tapped one long finger against the lips of his mask. "Could he be working with Kira?"