Knowing the Truth (Part 1) Meeting L

"Every great detective has an alien. I want one too!" The boy pleaded with his best friend. They stood out in the sandbox, not another child in sight.

"I think you mean, alias, L." The girl giggled at the silly blunder.

"Right. And if I want to be the world's greatest detective, I want a codename too! An alien!" He stood with his hands on his hips, dramatically.

"Alias." The girl corrected once more.

"That's what I said."

"How about... Tiger? That's a cool nickname." The girl offered, a gleam in her eyes.

"No... Something else..."

"Bear?"

"No... That's not sneaky enough."

"Ooh! Fox!"

"No! That's for girls. I want something cool." He puts his thumb to his top lip and seemed to get lost in deep concentration.

"How about, Snake?" The girl hissed, playfully.

"Almost... But not quite." He kicked a handful of sand at the girl. "Maybe... Fang... Or Scale... Or..."

"I know, I know! What about Coil?" The girl practically leaped into the air.

"Coil? Hmm... It's perfect! Thanks, Sabi!" The boy cheered. "I am the great detective, Coil!"

The girl laughed at his enthusiasm and they began another one of their detective games. Coil vs. Sandbox Lady, to prove that she was the one that buried the chocolate bar in the sandbox. After a few minutes of interrogation and creative imagination, Coil had Sandbox Lady in his grasp, and all the proof he needed to put her in the playpin prison for two minutes.

"Yes! Coil wins again!" The boy grinned widely and pulled a jawbreaker from his pocket.

But the girl didn't seem as enthusiastic. She dropped into the sand, dejectedly and folded her arms over her chest.

"What's wrong, Sabi?" The boy asked, genuine concern on his face.

"Nothing." The girl muttered.

"Are you sad?"

"No, I'm not sad!" She snapped, harshly. But the boy seemed unphased.

"Are you mad?"

"No."

"Then, what's wrong?" He crouched next to her in the sand.

"Why should I tell you?" She refused to meet his round gaze.

"Because we're best friends, right? Forever and ever and ever. You can tell me anything, Sabi. That's what best friends do. They try to help eachother... I think. And remember, I'm the best detective ever, so if you don't tell me what's wrong, I'll just figure it out on my own." He laughed, softly.

"Well..." The girl looked at him, sadly. "You always win the detective games... I'm tired of being the bad guy and always losing. I want to be the good guy, too. I want to be on your side, L."

"See, that wasn't hard, was it? Why didn't you just say so? You can be on my side next time, okay?" He grinned his dorky grin.

"Really! Thanks so much, L!" The girl squeed and wrapped her arms around his neck, joyfully.

The boy was taken aback by the action. But, uncertainly, he wrapped his arms around her in return.

"You're welcome..."

(L's POV) Present day

"Watari, what time is it?" I scooped a spoonful of pudding. I was in my hotel room with the japanese task force members. Each one of them was plastered in front of a television screen and I was plastered to my chair.

"10:36, Ryuzaki." Was the ever calm reply.

I sighed. Where was she? Watari met my gaze and shook his head, ever so slightly.

I dipped a graham cracker in my pudding.

This was so unlike her... She'd said that she'd see me today. I checked the calender for the umpteenth time in the past six hours. She did say Saturday, didn't she?

Sure, I wouldn't put it past Sabishi to show up late just to tease me. In fact, on any normal circumstances, I would probably be more passive about this. But the strange occurence, was that she hadn't made any contact with me since she came in with the briefcase of sweets a week ago. Sabishi usually had problems with not hearing my voice for more than two days. So why hadn't she contacted me through Watari or something? Was she in danger?

I bit down savagely on the graham cracker and bit my tongue instead.

"Ouch!" I gasped. Every member of the task force turned to look at me. "Ahem... Back to work, please." I commanded.

When their curious gazes finally flickered away, I decided that graham crackers were too lethal in my hands to have any more tonight. Instead, I settled for gingersnap cookies. They were Sabishi's favorite kind...

I hated this feeling of helplessness. As a detective, I couldn't help but let all of the possibilities filter through the expanse of my mind. Anything could have happened. Then again... Nothing could have happened. I tried to calculate percentages, but none of the numbers made sense. Sabishi was harder to figure out than just a few numbers next to percentage signs. But, I was sure that there was more than half a chance that something was wrong...

Knock... Knock...

I looked up at the door as Watari checked through the peephole. Finally! It had to be her. It had to be...

The pizza man?

"Who ordered pizza?" Yagami asked, surprised.

"Oh um... Sorry chief... Watching Ryuzaki eat made me kind of hungry..." Matsuda apologized.

"Well, as long as you're paying for it..."

"About that..."

"Matsuda!" Came the angry sighs of everyone on the task force.

In the end, Aizawa paid for the pizza. And I watched the delivery boy leave, all the while imagining Sabishi suddenly stepping through the door.

I bit another ginger snap.

"Ryuzaki."

I looked up. Watari was standing beside me. How did he move so fast? What a sneaky old man...

"You know Sabishi. She probably got distracted by the parade today. You can't blame her." His voice was low, but reassuring.

That made sense. But still...

"Ryuzaki..."

I turned my attention to my laptop. A big 'S' had appeared on the screen. She was trying to contact me. I avoided the stares of the japanese police and pulled my laptop away from everyone so that I could speak to her in private.

"Sabishi. What is it?" I asked over the little speaker, just quiet enough that snoopy Matsuda wouldn't be able to hear me.

"I'm sorry..."

Her voice was quiet... Unusually quiet for Sabishi's voice. Something was wrong.

"Sabishi, what happened?" I asked, sternly.

"Nothing. It's just... My life has had... Complications..." The screen flickered.

Complications? The percentage of something being fatally wrong rose exponentially high with that word.

"Sabi, tell me what happened." I ordered, as softly as I could, even through the frustration.

"I can't... I can't tell you right now, Ryuzaki. And I can't visit you as long as the task force members are with you. I'm not ready for them to see my identity. Forgive me... But I can't let you know what's going on at the moment."

"Are you in danger?" I asked. Matsuda turned to look at me, curiosity aroused by my raised voice.

There was a very long pause.

"No."

For some reason, I didn't believe that. Nevertheless, Sabishi was stubborn. If she had chosen to keep something from me, it would be nearly impossible to pry it out of her.

"Ryuzaki, what's happening in the Kira case?" At least this was a question that seemed more normal.

"I've decided to place cameras in three of the task force member's homes, including Chief Yagami." I relayed.

"Yagami?" She asked.

"Yes."

"I see. Is there anything I can do to help?" A much more characterized question.

"Not at the moment. Watari and Wedy have everything under control."

"I understand. Then I won't keep you from your business any longer..."

"Wait, Sabishi." I stopped her before she could terminate the connection. Matsuda was eavesdropping fully, now, and even Mogi had his ears pointed this way. I couldn't openly say what I wanted as long as they were listening.

"What is it, L?" She forgot to use my codename.

"Remember Coil, Sabishi. Remember Coil."

There was an even longer silence than before, and finally, she spoke again.

"Thank you, L. I will... I promise."

And the connection was terminated.

I took my gingersnaps and sat down on the couch. My eyelids were heavy from days without sleep, so I decided to give them some time to rest. I fell into a half dozing slumber, all the while focused on the facts I'd learned from the Kira case, and the suspicions I had about Sabishi. She knew, of course, that if she didn't tell me what was wrong, I would figure it out on my own.

Remember Coil.

I'd told her to remember that we were best friends. To remember that she could tell me anything that was troubling her, and that together we could resolve it. I told her to remember that I would discover what was wrong, despite whether she told me or not. I told her to remember the incident when we were children. One of the scenes that stuck out in both of our minds. I told her to Remember Coil...

"Hey, Aizawa..." I could barely hear Matsuda's voice above my pounding thoughts. "Do you think Sabishi looks like L? I mean with the bags under the eyes and the slumped shoulders? Or do you think he's old like Watari?"

"Shut up, Matsuda."

"He blew me a kiss. Maybe he's gay."

"Or maybe he's a woman." I could imagine him rolling his eyes. "Don't say stupid things, Matsuda." There was sarcasm in his voice.

They had no idea...