Author's note: I will be leaving today for my college orientation, and will not be returning home until the 23rd or 24th of June. I will try my best to get a chapter or two up each day, but I may have limited time, so I hope you will all forgive the less frequent updates. Aside from that, I have attempted to somewhat incorporate L's odd method of addressing Light—sort of third person, but not—but you all must understand that it can be difficult to accomplish in the English language without sounding incredibly awkward. In Japanese, people will often use a person's name when referring to them directly because it is considered rude to use the pronoun 'you'. Thus, sentences like, "Light, I suspect that Light is Kira," are phrased politely in Japanese. (Or as politely as you can accuse someone of being a mass murderer.)

December 20th, 2003

1:23 pm

Light followed the masked L into the sitting room of the hotel suite. After placing the laptop on the coffee table and pecking at a few of the keys to establish the one-way camera connection to the Kira Task Force Headquarters, the detective resumed his odd crouch on one of the armchairs. L made a shushing motion as he switched on the microphone, but did not shoo Light away, so he hovered behind the armchair as his father's face came into view.

Light winced. He knew that face, and he could only remember a few times that he had ever seen it. His father only made use of that expression when he was thoroughly, dangerously pissed.

"L. I just got off the phone with the director of the FBI. According to him, it seems that you arranged for the FBI to come to Japan and investigate everyone here associated with the Task Force." L shifted in the chair, but Light couldn't tell if he had just relaxed in his chair or slumped in defeat. Then again, from everything he had seen of the detective so far, it was equally likely that it was neither.

"Yes... I did." L's muffled voice snapped Light out of his contemplation of the detective's impossibly untidy black hair.

"So how do you explain this?" Ah, there was that dangerous tone—one that Light had never had directed at himself, but one which had always managed to make him uneasy. "Are we now suspects in our own investigation?"

L was unaffected, apparently. "I felt that it was necessary to uncover Kira's identity."

"I cannot accept that! I find it unbelievable that you would spy on us—the very people working with you on this case!"

Before L could retort, there was a brief ruckus in the room as the door opened in the background and Matsuda entered the room yelling, "Chief!"

"Not now, Matsuda, this is important," Light's father said, not even glancing away from the laptop.

"So is this, Chief! It's Light!"

That got Soichiro Yagami's attention. "What? What is it? Is he all right?"

Matsuda looked very nervous to be the bearer of this news, especially when pinned with the Chief's intimidating stare. "Well, that's just it, sir—he's, uh, he's missing."

There was a brief pause in which no one moved, and then Chief Yagami launched out of his chair, bounding for the exit of the room.

"Chief Yagami!" L said quickly into the microphone.

"I'm sorry, L, but right now-"

"Your son is safe!"

Soichiro continued to the door for a few paces before the words caught up to him. He froze, then turned, slowly, to face the laptop. Light, though he knew the gaze was directed at L, and not at him, had the absurd desire to apologize.

"Where is my son, L?" It was a low growl, but it came through the microphone loud and clear.

"...I cannot disclose that information at this time."

Soichiro slammed his fists on his desk. Light winced. "On what evidence have you taken my son? Are you suggesting he killed those FBI agents?"

"I am confident that your son has never murdered anyone," L replied patiently. "He is safe, and will be returned to you quite soon."

Soichiro puffed himself up and Light, sensing danger, tapped L on the shoulder urgently. When the mask turned slightly in his direction, he gestured silently at the microphone. L nodded.

"One moment, Chief Yagami. I will put Light through." L pecked at the keyboard again—his fingers were very long and pale, the nails clean and neatly trimmed, Light noted. Unlike the rest of him.

L waved his hand, and Light took this as his signal that it was okay to speak. "Dad?" It was clear that his voice was not being scrambled, because his father relaxed a little.

"Light? What's going on? Where are you?"

"I'm fine," Light said, ignoring the questions. "I'm not in trouble."

"So this doesn't have anything to do with..." Chief Yagami did not finish his sentence, sure that his son would catch his meaning and knowing that the rest of the Task Force would not.

Light glanced at the mask that hid the world's greatest detective, but the man shook his head curtly. "No, nothing about that."

L waved him out of the way again, and Light stepped back as L pecked at the computer a bit more. "I would like everyone to leave the room now, except for you, Chief Yagami, and you, Matsuda."

There was a pause, then several minutes of confused shuffling as the people in the room filed out. Once the door shut behind the last person, Soichiro asked, "What is it now, L?"

Matsuda looked incredibly confused as to why he had been singled out, and Light had to admit that he was rather curious about that, as well.

"First," L began, "Matsuda. Your theory that Kira was not challenging me, but varied his times of killing out of panic... where did you come up with that? It was a particularly brilliant deduction."

Matsuda shuffled, rubbed the back of his head. "Uhhh..."

Chief Yagami turned to the younger cop suspiciously. "Matsuda?"

Light grimaced. "L," he whispered, quiet enough that he wouldn't be picked up by the microphone. "I asked him to..."

"I am aware of that, Light Yagami," L said lightly, and just as quietly. "I'm just making a point."

"Well, you see, I was taking Light home from the station one day because the Kira murders had just become random and the Chief was needed here. Light was curious about what was keeping his father—and I tried to tell him that I couldn't tell him, I did!" Matsuda said insistently, blushing. "But he said that he already had a pretty good idea that his father was working on the Kira case, and that if I didn't tell him, he would find out what was going on some other way."

"And so you told him about the variation in Kira's killing times."

Matsuda looked ashamed. "Yeah, I did. I told him that we had thought that Kira might be a student, but that that theory seemed really weak now, but then Light said that, if the murders were random, it seemed to point more to panic. He said if the timing was more deliberate, it might seem like a challenge, but that the random killings were—I think he said desperately random. And then he made me promise that if no one else figured that out at the Task Force, I would have to suggest it."

Yagami senior heaved an exhausted sigh. "Matsuda..."

"I had guessed something like that had happened," L said, businesslike. "I only point this out, Matsuda, because if you knew that Kira had access to police information, Light could very well have turned out to be Kira. He is a student, and as the son of the police chief, has some access to police information. You should display more caution in the future."

"Ah," Matsuda bowed apologetically. "Yes, L, sir. I apologize."

L switched off the microphone then and began typing. Light presumed that the same words would be coming up on the screen of the laptop at Task Force Headquarters.

Light is currently with me. Watari will bring you both to meet with us. Say nothing about this. If anyone in the Task Force asks, you have all been dismissed for the day while I analyze some new evidence.

The two police officers nodded, and L disconnected the laptop, then shut it.

"Would Light like some cake? I would offer him tea, but I'm afraid I've never made any before."

Light raised an eyebrow. With the mask, it was impossible to tell exactly how old L was, but it was clear by his physique that he was a grown man. He had never prepared tea? "I can make some for us," Light offered. It wasn't until L agreed and began to serve himself cake that Light realized that he had just been manipulated into preparing tea for L, and that he had played right into the man's hands. He laughed under his breath. It was a little shocking to interact with someone who could match his intellect, and it would certainly take some getting used to.

L, who had been watching Light carefully to make sure that he didn't slip poison into his tea, frowned beneath his mask. "Should I be worried that Light Yagami is laughing while preparing something that I am about to consume? Perhaps I shall have him taste-test it before I drink any."

Light smiled, shaking his head. "If you like, L." It was fairly easy to forget that the detective was there, as he didn't make any unnecessary noise. Light focused on the ritual of making tea, the mindless motions relaxing him.

"Do you have any suspects for who might be stalking him? Past girlfriends or boyfriends, perhaps?"

Light frowned down at the steeping tea and ignored the comment about boyfriends, knowing that L had not meant it as a jab. "If I did, I would have recorded it in my journal by now, but no, I don't suspect anyone."

"You seem like a popular young man. It would not be surprising if one of your school mates was a little overzealous in his or her desire to win your affections."

Light shook his head. "I'm willing to bet money on the fact that it's not one of my school mates. A group of them confronted me about the fact that I no longer go out with them anymore, since the beginning of all of this." He slid the tea to L, who promptly began dumping sugar cubes into it. "If Kira was among them, he would likely have been less willing to abandon me, or would have punished the rest for daring to reject the God of the new world." Light grimaced. "Or something."

"Mmm. Light may have a point... The timing of the killings—originally, that is—was more flexible, suggesting perhaps a student at university. This would still explain the naïve, idealistic form of justice that he perpetrates, and would give him or her a sufficient connection to Light Yagami..."

There was a long silence in which both geniuses sipped their tea. After a while, Light said, "There is something that's been bothering me."

"I imagine that quite a few things have been bothering you lately."

"You said earlier that it was unclear how Raye Penber's name was exposed to Kira. I find it unlikely that Penber would reveal his name, and there wouldn't have been anyone around to give it away, either. If Kira can't kill him without his name, then he shouldn't have had a way to get any information out of Penber."

L slurped his tea. "What are you suggesting?"

Light drummed his fingers lightly against his teacup. "In the situation you've described, Kira could effectively kill with just the face of the person... I'd like to see the most recent murders and see if the names of each criminal were released to the public, or if some of them only had their faces revealed. If there aren't any others who were killed without a name, then there must have been some sort of major leak to Kira from the FBI. If there are others, then Kira has become much more dangerous—able to kill with just a glance."

L swallowed loudly and smacked his lips. "You should not worry quite so much. Even if Kira has become more powerful, it hardly matters to you." Light shot L a puzzled look, and the detective elaborated. "It is abundantly clear that your stalker is already intimately familiar with both your name and face. Your danger of being killed by Kira remains the same."

Somehow, Light wasn't comforted by this fact.