Death Note: Dreams, a Reader X L Story

002 - Encounters

As you waited for the meeting to begin in full spring, you went over the details of the Kira case. Victims of Kira had been leaving suicide notes, L decided that Kira was testing his power. L thought Kira was an abomination to this world, and he would stop at nothing to capture him. Ever since the incident with Beyond Birthday, L was very careful about leading you on with information on cases. After your encounter with Beyond, you had suffered mentally. For the longest time, you had refused to learn anything about B, even after he was convicted. Soon after Birthday's conviction, Naomi Misora had taught you and L capoeira. Now, you were more prepared than ever to fight. Once in a while, you and L would practice on each other, a battle of dance.
Sitting in the Imperial Hotel, you twiddled your thumbs. L had been waiting for this moment ever since the first death occurred. Whether or not it would end well, that is another story. When in contact with others, L never showed his emotions. When the young man was alone, he was very expressive, to the point of his blank face appearing as another person. He most certainly wouldn't slip up during this meeting, no, L is too strong for that. A distant anxiety in your brain warned you that this was the last time you would ever see L, fearing that one of the five men happened to be Kira.
You watched L through the cameras, seeing he was in front of a window. Staring out the window, the man showed clear signs of being in deep thought. Hearing a knock on the door, L replied. "Please enter. I've been awaiting you."
Taking a deep breath, you prepared yourself. The first two men, Touta Matsuda and Soichiro Yagami, walked through the door. Kanzo Mogi, Shuichi Aizawa, and Hirokazu Ukita arrived shortly after. 
"I'm L." The Japanese Task Force stared upon the young detective. A collection of gasps were heard throughout the room. The other agents started introducing themselves, beginning with Soichiro. Pointing a finger at the five, L yelled, "BANG!" Acting as though he had shot at the inspectors.
"Huh?!"
"This is your idea of a joke?!"
L informed the investigators as though he were bored, his facial expressions seeming emotionless and lost. A fraction of the world now knows L's face. You thought. He sat down, knees up to his chest. All five investigators soon joined him, sitting regularly. L went on, the meeting seeming as regular as any police meeting would go. "...Two more things. Don't write down anything I say here. Just keep it in your heads. And don't call me "L" anymore. Please always call me "Ryuzaki" from now on. Both for our safety's sake."
Matsuda brought up the possibility of disclosing the names and faces of criminals. L brought up the fact that regular people would be killed. Amazed by his intelligence, the investigators were astounded. They continued asking questions, and L continued giving answers. All was going well, but you wanted to fuss at L for writing on the hotel's table. Then you thought, Easily erasable...He's using a dry-erase marker, one of the easiest things to clean up.
The detective known as L listed the key dates of the beginning of the Kira investigation. Observing the final data, L's face was dark with realization. L showed the data to the investigators, once again reminding them the obvious factor that the data could not leave the room. You watched your husband with worry, observing every thought and glance of the five remaining detectives.
Looking bored, L continued. "...So, any questions?"
Soichiro Yagami looked over. "I have a question for you, Ryuzaki. Earlier you said that you hate losing. By showing us your face, aren't you admitting that Kira defeated you?"
His expression remained the same. "Yes. By showing myself, and losing the precious lives of those twelve FBI agents, I have lost. I'll win in the end. Like yourselves, this is the first time I staked my life on a contest. Let's show him, those of us who are risking our lives..."
"That the good guys always win."
At first, the investigators seemed blown away by his words, his smile, his intelligence. They soon returned a smile to the man, realizing they had the power to stop Kira.
"That's right!"
"The good guys are going to win!"
"Let's show him!"
"Yeah, let's get him, L! Oops, Ryuzaki!!!"
One clue...
Just one clue...
L began interrogating the five.
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"...I'm very sorry for interrogating all of you like that, but I can say that Kira is not among us." L had his index finger up to his mouth.
"What makes you so sure of that, Ryuzaki?"
"To put it simply, I had prepared a little trick test to test whether one of you were Kira. There was no need for that to be used against any of you." L had sugar coated his statement, perhaps. You decided that his true thoughts were that no one was intelligent enough to require that test.
Flipping his flip-phone open, you realized it was time for you and Watari to make your first appearances to the world. "We've just finished. Use your own key to let yourself in." He turned off the phone, his grey eye glancing over a camera. "Watari's here...along with a friend."
"A...friend?" Matsuda twisted his head. "What do you mean, Ryuzaki?"
Ignoring Matsuda, L moved his eyes towards the door. Crap, I haven't cleaned up down here! You scrambled to get your belongings, shuttering through the hotel room. L is going to kill me!
You heard Watari's voice through the computer. "Good evening, gentlemen..." Moving your hands, you turned the computer off, scrambling to walk - or rather, run, four flights of stairs.
___ must have been absorbed in the meeting. L smirked. Guess we'll have to move on without her.
Running as fast as you could, you dropped your Mac on the stairs. Dammit! Hurling under your arm, you raced up the flights.
Where is Ryuzaki's "friend"? The detectives thought in different variations.
When you approached L's floor, you ran faster to the door. Crap, crap, crap! Shoving the key in the door, you turned it in the wrong direction, breaking the key. You were shocked, how would you get in now?! M-Maybe they heard me break the key. Pressing your ear against the door, you weren't surprised to hear absolutely nothing.
...Should I knock? L wouldn't get mad about that, would he? As that thought crossed your mind, you lost your balance. The door swung open, pale, white feet greeting your presence.
"It appears we have an intruder. Tell me, woman, what is your meaning by being here?" L's smirk was growing, along with your panic.
"Uh...Room service?" L would never let this down.
He grabbed your arms, swinging you up. As he closed the door, L continued. "This is the "friend" that was supposed to arrive with Watari. Apparently, she didn't get the memo."
"I'm-" You didn't know your alias. Would L allow you to use "Ryuzaki"?
"This is Haruhi. Back to what I was saying..." He moved away from you, directing his attention back to the other investigators. "As I said, considering you now see the faces of Watari and my friend, I trust the five of you."
"Remember, don't show the IDs to other investigators, as that might cause trouble." L finished.
The investigators nodded.
Watari spoke. "Oh, and please wear these belts." Your fatherly figure even handed one to you. Noticing L's annoyance, you faced the investigators.
"I'll explain how these work. Press the middle twice, and a call will be sent to Watari. He'll call you back right away." You explained, standing up taller.
Watari explained the rest, the tone of the investigation room somewhat positive. Then, Aizawa was put on duty for intercepting Kira calls from the public.
The day remained a normal day for you, but to someone else, their life had just been unwillingly taken away from them.
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The Japanese Task Force began monitoring the footage from all of the deaths of the FBI agents. L requested to see Raye Penber's train footage again. You realized who this was, and gasped. I didn't know that Raye died. L must have kept this information away from me... I'll look on my own from now on. As L continued talking, you knew that he suspected one of the families that Raye had investigated. Poor Naomi. I know she loved the man.
Ryuzaki mentioned Raye sat on the train for an hour and a half with the information, confirming your suspicions of L's train of thought. "Kira can control people's actions before they die..." Spurring out information, the young man jumped. "What happened to the envelope?!"
Aizawa was confused, until he looked at the screen again. "Hey! You're right. He's definitely holding an envelope."
Soichiro informed the force that no such envelope was found on Penber's body. Suspecting the families he traced more, you opened your laptop. Deputy Director Kitamura...And Superintendent Soichiro Yagami! Deciding to keep the information to yourself, you scrunched in your chair.
"It would be interesting if Kira was the one that Penber was staring at..." Ryuzaki requested all footage from that day to be sent to him. Again, the Task Force was shocked by his speculations.
"Ryuzaki, Ukita says that a caller has some very interesting information to the Kira case." Watari appeared.
Being nosy, you slipped your earbuds into your computer to listen to the call. Watari gave the person the number for line four, and Matsuda was instructed to turn on his cell phone. You went to Matsuda's phone connection, eagerly listening to the call. "Yes, this is Suzuki, head of the..." L paused, facing the other direction. His back arched upwards, more than usual. "Raye Penber's fiance?!"
The elderly woman on the other line informed L about the disappearance of their daughter, Naomi Misora. Naomi Misora is...Missing?! Beyond never seemed to have a personal grudge against the woman. Frankly, all he did was creep her out.
Whether or not L noticed your concern, he continued talking to the woman. You wanted to attribute something to the Kira case, be you were unsure what that would be. You could do the Task Force's work with a program you made, but that would spite the investigators...You decided to work on finding out how Misora disappeared. If she knew something about the Kira case, this could help everyone sleep at night. L had obviously had a brain fart, forgetting who Misora was for a split second. He asked Watari to research the woman, you rolled your eyes. How could he forget the woman who saved my life?! Then again, you knew the man had trillions of things going on inside his head, and decided to forget his neglect on remembering the woman.
Once L was done with the call, the other investigators were brought to converse about the situation. Aizawa suggested that the young woman killed herself. No, Naomi would never do such a thing. You thought. L seemed to be thinking the same thing, locking eyes with you for a second. L mentioned that Naomi would most likely go after Kira.
Ryuzaki continued making connections between Naomi's disappearance and Raye's death. He informed all of you about placing cameras and wiretaps inside the homes of the two families Penber investigated before his death. Knowing one of the people investigated was in this very room, you braced yourself for an outburst from the man. Soichiro Yagami would not take this easily, as you could tell he built his life around honour. There was an outburst about how illegal this was, and how they could lose their jobs, and L mentioned the fact of risking your job happens to be significantly less of a risk than risking your life.
As Matsuda searched for whom Penber had been tailing, you were the first to see his reaction.
"Deputy Director Kitamura, and Superintendent Soichiro Yagami's family..." L looked directly into the gasping man's eyes.
"I'd like to place hidden cameras and bugs in those two homes."