DEATH NOTE: UNSPOKEN RULES

Part 6: Epilogue

Note: A heartfelt thanks to my more recent reviewers, like Satori-chan. You made my day!

"This is Channel 10 news, reporting live from outside Ozu Hospital, where the survivors from Route 35 are being cared for. There has been no further news as to whether Kira was involved, and the Chief of Police is refusing to give any information on the grounds that it's an ongoing...excuse me, I'm getting a report...is seems the head of the Kira Investigation is entering the hospital! Chief Yagami! Is it true that the driver is suspected of being Kira? Sir, and what's his connection to your son? Wait, Chief – shit, someone get this cameraman out of my way-"

In the safety of the waiting room, Aizawa watched the television in bemusement. The Chief really should have entered the hospital through a back door, instead of slogging through the horde of reporters and civilians outside.

He stood, stretched, and hit the mute button. He cursed when the head nurse spotted him from a distance and once again moved in for the offensive.

"Mr. Aizawa?" He braced himself as the thirty-something woman bustled his direction. She had the tenacity of a bulldog. "Sir, I'm still waiting on those medical records."

"I've told you several times, miss. He doesn't have any."

"I refuse to believe it, sir. I don't care if you're the police, at least give us his real name so we can look in the databases. Twice already we've had to risk administering medications that might cause an allergic reaction-"

"Well he hasn't died yet, so I don't see how he can be allergic- Chief!" Aizawa sagged in relief when Soichiro strode into view.

The Chief looked equally relieved to see him. The strength he'd exuded on television had been replaced with utter exhaustion. "Aizawa, it's good to see your face. How's Ryuzaki?"

The nurse cleared her throat meaningfully, and Soichiro finally seemed to notice her. He clearly didn't appreciate the interruption. "Yes?"

"Are you family, sir?" Aizawa knew the nurse was about to interrogate, and he also knew it could end badly, so he tried to forestall it.

"He's police, ma'am. And he's my superior. Look, we appreciate your concern, but-"

"Ah, so you're the man in charge of this patient! Sir, I demand that you release his name to us. Even if he is a criminal, or under government jurisdiction, it's wrong to not pull out his medical records-"

"Ma'am, if we had information that would help in his care, you would have it. But we don't. And he's not a criminal. How is he?"

The nurse stared at Soichiro as if measuring him up, and to Aizawa's jaw-dropping amazement, yielded to him with a slight bow. "Fine sir. He came out of surgery fine, and he's in a stable condition. We've taken him off sedatives and on a medium dose of morphine, so he'll be slightly out-of-it when he regains consciousness. He's not to be agitated, do you understand? He's showing signs of exhaustion from even before the accident. Do you know how he came to be shot?"

"No."

"Ah."

Soichiro impatiently signed a document on her clipboard. "He should be waking in an hour or two. Because of his wounds, don't do anything to antagonize him, and don't ask him to talk too much. He's recovering from exhaustion."

With one final look, she turned away and left Yagami and Aizawa to enter the L's room. The white daylight was streaming through the window, and L lay unconscious in the bed at the center. Off to one side, Matsuda was propped uncomfortably in one of the two guest chairs, and a slight snore signified that he'd finally succumbed to exhaustion.

Yagami looked down at the young man in a sort of numb horror. Ryuzaki looked better than he had when he'd last seen him, of course, but in a way, to see him like this was worse. L's face was pale as always, but blood loss had turned it ghostly white, and there was a large bandage on his head, and smaller bandages on minor cuts throughout his face. Ugly bruises covered his check, and Yagami swore he could see the bruised shapes of fingerprints on his neck. His eyes were even more heavily shadowed than normal. His uncovered arms were in just as bad shape, his left arm with a large bandage on it.

Aizawa softly closed the door, and slipped around him to poke Matsuda until the young man grunted in his sleep. "Matsuda, wake up, the Chief is here-"

"Have to find the tea…ran out of tea-wha?" Matsuda blinked blearily, and after giving his assailant an unhappy glare, noticed Soichiro standing in the room. "Chief! Oh, uh, here, do you want to sit-"

Soichiro didn't turn away from looking at L, so Matsuda took the initiative and got out of the chair anyways. "Wow, what time is it? Oh, feels good to stretch! Ryuzaki hasn't so much as moved a finger, he's really out of it-"

"How would you know? You were asleep," Aizawa scoffed.

"I just dozed off for a few minutes, I've been awake all the rest." Matsuda looked hurt, and moved back quickly when Soichiro walked by and flumped into the chair by L's bedside. Not looking up from L's face, the haggard man leaned his elbows on his knees and ran his hand through his hair.

Aizawa seated himself in the chair next to him. He'd grown accustomed to L's appearance over the last day by being with him constantly, but he understood what was going through the Chief's mind.

"Ryuzaki? Ryuzaki, are you waking up?" With an incredible effort, L managed to open his heavy eyelids a crack, just enough to make out the blurry head of Matsuda inches from his face. Matsuda? What's Matsuda doing here? As a huge sloppy smile spread across Matsuda's face, L tried to say something, but the energy was too much, or the drug too strong in his system. Matsuda didn't seem to mind, and just made up for it by babbling himself. "Ryuzaki! You're awake!." Aizawa's grinning visage was suddenly there as well. "We couldn't find your medical records, and I thought you would die from medicine allergies or something like that-"

"Let me call Mogi," Aizawa said, and disappeared from view. L found himself confused. It wasn't a state he was used to being in, and extremely disconcerting. What were they all doing here? Watari was dead, so he was supposed to be alone. Didn't they all have things to be doing?

His eyes were becoming clearer, and he blinked several times. Ah, that was it. They wanted to ask him about Light. A dead weight replaced the confusion.

"Ryuzaki." Chief Yagami's voice entered the room, strong and powerful, and in response to this new discovery, L tried to move his head sideways. Yagami's eyes were shining with the strange delight that had also been in Aizawa's and Matsuda's expressions.

What are they so happy about? Nothing worth smiling over had happened recently, catching Kira or not, and they could hardly be looking forward to anything he could tell them. Yagami had just watched his son die horrifically at his feet...and it had been L's fault.

"Good to see you awake, Ryuzaki. You've been asleep for..." he checked his watch, "31 hours. It's 3:36 pm on Sunday." L just stared, not sure if his body would let him speak. He also didn't have anything to say. "Ryuzaki..." Yagami kept smiling, but also seemed at a loss for words.

Matsuda pulled a chair up to his superior, obviously trying to do it as least presumptuously as possible. "They say you should be able to sit up soon, once you wake up a bit." There was a moment of semi-awkward silence, until Matsuda's mouth formed an O and he began fishing around underneath the chair. "Aizawa bought you something, kept saying you wouldn't like hospital food."

L stared in complete confusion as Matsuda triumphantly held up a plastic convenience store bag. "Marshmallows! At least, I think that's what they are. He got some kind of cracker thing too-"

"Matsuda, don't take them out of the bag!" Aizawa hissed, and they all turned to see him looking into the room and covering the receiver to his cellphone. "If that nurse finds it she might confiscate it, just hide it back under the chair - wait, Mogi, are you still there? Just ask Ide to do it, he's got the manpower anyways-"

Aizawa was about to vacate the room again when the nurse suddenly crowded by him, surveying the room like a hawk and noticing first most that her patient was awake. "How are you feeling?" She walked around to the other side of the bed.

"I gauge my current operating capacity to be 25 percent," L mumbled, somewhat surprised that he could speak. The nurse looked at him in slight confusion, and Matsuda tried to hide a snicker.

The nurse replaced said confusion with a glowing smile. "Well, don't worry! We'll have you up to 100 percent in no time!"

L glared. He didn't like this woman. "The probability of that is less than 1 percent. Unless modern medicine has found a way to correlate irritating cheerfulness with the healing process."

After five more minutes of banter between an overwhelmed and irate L and the cheerful nurse, he was propped upright in a sitting position on the bed.

The nurse eventually figured out that he just wanted her to leave, and when she thankfully did Aizawa took her place. "Mogi should be here soon. He's finished analyzing the Death Notes. It's very helpful in finding victims' bodies; it says their exact behavior before death and everything."

L wondered if Mogi had matched his name to his death yet. If so, he would be the only one who knew.

Matsuda was looking at L with that expression that meant he was on to something. "Hey, Ryuzaki, I've been meaning to ask you. Do you just make those percentages up? Unless you're a computer, and could compute all the different outcomes..."

"I am indeed a computer, Matsuda. Your deductive skills continue to amaze me."

The gamut of expressions that crossed Matsuda's face should have been amusing, but L wasn't happy. He still wasn't sure why they were here trying to banter with him. He really wanted to be alone. The numbness in his body was being replaced with a steady ache, especially in his shoulder and hip, and he felt dead, depressed, and heartsick. Didn't they remember that he was responsible for everything that had just happened?

"Yagami," L spoke, not making eye contact. He realized his voice was soft, but he didn't have the strength to make it louder. "I assume that you're here to get the story on what happened after Kira left headquarters. If you will be patient, I can have a written report for you within 24 hours." He paused, trying to gather the energy to continue. "There's no information I have that is crucially important, and the case is solved, so-"

"Ryuzaki." L stopped at the interruption, and glanced over at Yagami from the corner of his eye. "Ryuzaki, we don't need you to tell us anything. In fact, it's the opposite."

Matsuda spoke up next. "We...well, we know how much you hate not knowing all the facts, so we thought that while you rested, you might have questions, or be curious about our report."

For all his deductive abilities, L hadn't seen that coming. "I...you don't want the report now?"

"I'll go so far as to forbid it," Yagami intoned. "You're not fit to be telling stories right now. But you are a part of this investigation, and the head of our team, and we don't want to leave you out of the loop for a moment more than necessary."

As Soichiro talked, L was staring in distraction and slight wonder at the bandage on his left bicep. He wondered if any ink would stay in skin after if healed. It would be a fascinating tattoo of sorts. He remembered he wouldn't be alive long enough to see the scab heal, and gave up the idea in disappointment. One more interesting thing he'd never learn the outcome to. Might as well learn what was available to him.

It was true that he was voraciously curious, and not knowing what had happened would bother him. And he was feeling much more awake, even with dull depression on his mind. "Yes, I'd appreciate that, Yagami."

Yagami nodded, looking pleased, and started the story.

"We had the location where Amane's cellphone had been answered to within five blocks, so while we were driving there, we called all the nearby motels, on the off chance that Light had checked in. A long shot, but it worked, and one of the managers described two customers who fit Light's and Amane's profiles. And more telling, he said one of his staff had reported a disturbance in their room, and had come back acting sort of funny. But we couldn't move in because we were still some distance away, and the local police needed face masks and tinted windows. You know this, I assume."

L nodded. "Somewhat. About the staff member, I did hear someone talking to Kira outside the room."

Yagami took the lead again. "And I fear I made a rash decision. I had the manager patch me through to the room phone, hoping that a bluff would convince him to surrender, and in doing so, save many lives, including ours. I suppose my action was really no different than Matsuda's." Matsuda, who had been studying his shoes, blinked at his superior, and Yagami's grudging acceptance of his disastrous rashness from earlier. "But it obviously didn't work, and I only succeeded in tipping him off. When we stormed the motel, we just found a corpse."

"Don't forget that bizarre pile of sand," Aizawa quipped.

"The sand was the remnant of Rem the Shinigami."

"What?" All of them gaped. Matsuda shook his head in stubborn disbelief. "But Rem was a God of Death."

L prepared himself for another tiring explanation, but Yagami saved him. "Wait for the report, Matsuda."

Matsuda nodded in acquiescence and Yagami continued. "We did a little detective work and figured out which car he'd stolen. The rest you know, Ryuzaki. Probably better than we do." He paused, trying not to show his concern when he noticed that under L's stoic façade, the young man's face was taut with exhaustion and pain. Yagami hoped they weren't wearing him out too much.

There was a knock at the door and the nurse cracked it open to peer inside. "Another visitor. Young man, if you're feeling at all tired, these men will give you a break at any time."

"I'm fine," Ryuzaki informed her. Trying to look more fine than he felt.

She stood aside and let Mogi enter. The big man looked unhappy and was breathing hard, and took in the room quickly. Upon seeing Ryuzaki, his face suddenly roiled with several complex layers of emotion. L felt a jolt of adrenaline in his stomach, as his mind ran through several negative scenarios for the expression. He nodded at the man. "Mogi."

"L." Mogi looked at him for a moment longer, before turning to the other investigators. "What did I miss?"

Aizawa shrugged. "Ryuzaki woke up. He tortured the nurse for bit, and we've been giving him an update on our side of the story. We just finished, actually."

Matsuda peered around Aizawa. "Any new information on the Death Notes?"

Mogi didn't say anything, just continued to breath heavily and stared strangely at Matsuda. Matsuda started to get uncomfortable. "Um, I'm guessing that's a no? Mogi?"

Mogi cast a look at L, who immediately understood. It's the worse case scenario. Mogi found out.

"Mogi..." L shook his head slightly, an action that made him discover a new ache on the back of his head. Was the morphine wearing off? He was suddenly exhausted again, and dreading the potential scene. "Not now…"

Yagami was losing his patience. "Mogi, what is it? Something's clearly wrong, and I'm not going to let you draw it out like this."

"What's wrong?" Matsuda anxiously began looking back and forth between parties. "Did I miss something?"

"Spit it out, Mogi." Aizawa said imperiously, crossing his arms.

Mogi shared one last look with L, before swallowing and averting his eyes to other the wall. Knowing he couldn't stop it, L looked down at his legs and brought his thumbnail to his teeth.

"It...L's name is written in the Death Note."

Complete silence settled on the room. It stretched out for what could have been a minute, or ten minutes. The tiny clack of a thumbnail being bitten broke the silence.

Yagami stood slowly, his eyes not moving an inch from Mogi. "Come again?"

"It's the truth." Mogi clenched his jaw and glanced at L out of the corner of his eye. "Ide went over the names early on to look for the victims, but he didn't recognize the name. He just assumed it was from earlier. And I was going over them this morning, and one matched the time, and it gave 23 days..."

Yagami turned to stare at L, and L suddenly felt nervous. He glanced at Yagami before averting his eyes again, and knew Soichiro's strobe-light gaze was taking in his bruises, his bandages, and whatever bad state his body was in. The tension increased until he was about to say something, when Yagami lurched forward and practically shoved Mogi to one side, slamming the door behind him with such raw force that it bounced open again. L jerked at the boom, and blinked back at the others. Matsuda was sitting down looking wobbly and in shock, while Aizawa continued staring into the middle distance. "I can't believe it..."

None of them looked at L as the new information continued to sink in.

Matsuda suddenly stood again, his hands clenched into fists, finally looking at the bed. "It's not fair! You got out! You don't deserve it, it's not supposed to-"

"I don't deserve it?" L couldn't take it anymore, and he sat up straighter and glared. "I deserve it as much as anyone deserves to die, Matsuda. You're all over-reacting. Probably a dozen people died in the last few days, and worse yet, civilians. What makes my life any better than theirs?" They were all looking at him now. "And I'm lucky compared to them. 23 days is a long time. That's a gift, not a curse."

No-one knew how to respond. Mogi still stood in silence, eyes darting between the other two and Ryuzaki, and Aizawa was now looking at L from the side. His body was so rigid it was shaking slightly. "Ryuzaki..."

"I'm not scared to die, Aizawa." L was angry that they were caring. "And frankly, if you weren't all over-reacting, my death wouldn't be a problem. I've tried to leave no-one behind to mourn for me, very much on purpose."

Aizawa continued to stare. "I'll admit this now, because the Chief isn't here, and I'm too much a coward to say it to his face. I hate Light completely. I hate him with every part of my being. He should burn in Hell."

"Aizawa!" Matsuda sounded pained.

"What, Matsuda?" Aizawa turned on him. "Do you have such a big heart, you can't even see right from wrong anymore? He's killed Ryuzaki!" He was pointing at L with one hand, while crowding in on Matsuda. "He betrayed us, you idiot, he played us, he murdered hundreds, he betrayed the CHIEF, and then, in the end, when we thought he'd finally finished, he has to come back and kill the one person we were lucky enough to get back. How can you NOT hate him? You idiot-"

Matsuda sat down in the chair as his legs bumped into it, looking on the verge of sobs. "They were different people! L said Light lost his memory, that he didn't remember being Kira for a long time, it-"

"How can you SAY that? Memory loss or not, he knew what he was doing! I'll bet you'll even take pity on Misa Amane, once she conveniently loses her memory again, and you'll just forget that she killed our Ukita. You'll forget everything she did just because you can't stand feeling bad for people. When did you ever feel bad for Ryuzaki, huh? It was always, Ryuzaki is being so mean to poor Light and Misa, Ryuzaki is being so mean to the Chief, and now Ryuzaki is dying and you still feel bad for the murderer-"

"Aizawa, stop." The room froze into a stillness, as they all noticed that Chief Soichiro Yagami was once again in the room with them. The Chief looked sternly at Aizawa. "Leave him alone. Matsuda has a stupidly large heart, yes, but I have to believe some part of my son was worth loving."

Aizawa straightened slowly, and then biting his lip and blinking quickly, wordlessly bowed to the Chief.

Yagami seemed to accept the apology, and let them move out of his way as he came to stand by L's bed. L had been avoiding looking at any of them.

"L."

"I don't need more sympathy, Yagami. If you insist on giving it to me, I'd much rather just be left alone."

"I know that." L blinked up, clearly surprised by the answer. The Chief was looking at him calmly. "If you can approach the end with this bravery, it's not our place to act out about it. I know you know how we feel. You know we're unhappy about it. All I can say is, anything you need, anything at all, we're here for you. You can depend on us as friends until the end, Ryuzaki. Will you accept this? And take us up on it?"

Slowly a delighted smile spread across L's face. Soichiro understood. He truly was a great man. "Yagami...I would be honored to call you all friends until the end. If I can ask for anything...that would be a great honor. Thank you, Yagami-san."

Yagami nodded, and then pragmatically replaced the chair from where it had been knocked aside, and settled into it. "Now that we know your secret, Ryuzaki, there's no point hiding the rest of the story. Do you have the strength to tell us what happened at headquarters? And why your name was written?"

L nodded, every part of him relieved and thankful for this outcome. "Gladly. Though first, I couldn't help noticing that the bag of Aka-chan Sugar Puffs is still under the chair…" Aizawa swallowed and abruptly looked away, but Matsuda bent down to fish for the sweets.

Ryuzaki nodded seriously. "That is one advantage: I can have all the sweets and morphine I want, and not fear long-term addiction or obesity." Matsuda didn't look sure if he wanted to cry or laugh at the statement, so his face settled for an absurd middle ground. He opened the bag and placed it beside L, who promptly picked one up pincer-like in his fingers and popped it in his mouth.

"Ryuzaki, you have a strange sense of humor."

L put another one in his cheek. "Humor? That was just a logical fact." After getting the desired sigh of exasperation from Yagami, L set about telling them his side of the story. It was tiring and even painful at times, but these were his friends, and they deserved a little effort to know the whole truth.

When he had finished and sagged back in utter exhaustion, the nurse knocked and came in to check on him. She noticed the opened bag of sweets, and though she scolded the investigators with a vengeance, she gave not a bad word to L, and eventually brought in a proper hospital meal. She hovered over Ryuzaki to make sure he was going to eat, and it was only after he made a show of eating jello that they persuaded her to leave. L promptly gave the meal to Matsuda, who accepted it gleefully.

Yagami stood. "Now, men, I'd like to have some time alone with Ryuzaki, if you don't mind." It wasn't a request, but it was more politely worded that way.

"Uh, sure Chief-" "No problem," "We'll be in the waiting room-" they flooded out, Matsuda sneaking behind Mogi's broad back so the nurses wouldn't see him holding Ryuzaki's tray. The door closed, and left the old man and the young man alone.

Yagami sat down again. "Now we know the whole story, but we still haven't gone over what happens next."

He could tell Ryuzaki was about to try and speak, and he raised his hand to stop him. "Please just listen. I know you're tired, and your thoughts can wait until you've rested more."

L accepted with a slight nod, and Soichiro noticed he was too tired to even lift his finger to his mouth anymore.

There was silence for some time as Yagami simply sat there, and L couldn't help looking at him curiously.

"Ryuzaki. This is difficult to say…I actually don't know how to say it." The older man ran his hand through his hair, looking suddenly tired and frazzled. Unsure of himself, even. "The media, as you know, is…the truth, Ryuzaki, about Kira's identity..."

"It's alright. I see no need for us to release Kira's identity to the public."

"Wha-what?" Soichiro stood up in surprise. "How did you know what-"

"You have a family, Chief Yagami. I know. I watched them closely for a long time." Ryuzaki's voice was quiet in exhaustion. "And Sayu seemed very close to her brother."

"I - It's true..." Yagami lowered his head, tormented. "My Sayu, she loves Light more than anyone alive. His being gone-" His voice cracked, but he plowed on. "His just being gone is already too much, much less knowing that."

"She never needs to know. She also doesn't need the media attention."

"Ryuzaki. You would allow this? To not reveal the truth? Why don't you just assume that I'm asking to hide my own shame? I'm being selfish, Ryuzaki."

L shrugged, and pushed a marshmallow into his cheek so it bulged outwards, exaggerating the bruise. "I know you better than that," he spoke around the food. "Right now you're torn between your need to protect your family and your ideals of just punishment. It has nothing to do with yourself."

"I'm relieved." Yagami sat down again, his shoulders sagging. "I was worried you would refuse. It would be proper for you to do so, because Light has wronged you more than anyone. It's selfish of me to want to protect one girl over the larger picture, and I believe Light should be properly punished, in death, but, I…."

"Kira has already been punished more thoroughly than human justice could ever accomplish. Now, our job is to avoid creating any more victims. To the world Light will not be Kira."

Yagami stared, and in his sitting position he bowed quickly. "Thank you."

L was embarrassed and looked down at the sheets again. "It is nothing, Yagami-san. Sayu is very lucky to have such a father."

Yagami shook his head. "No. I have been a poor father." He stared down into a moment of silence, and as L was about to open his mouth, continued talking. "I never understood. Work, and justice, and saving lives, that always took priority. But family…that always came second, in my mind. I was never home." He ran a finger over his palm. "Now, I finally think I understand what family means. It's selfishness. To hide Kira's identity just for a little girl; that's not justice. But suddenly I feel like I would sacrifice everything for her. Even my ideals, Ryuzaki."

"Yagami-san...in the car…" L looked away and said it in a rush, his voice suspiciously choked. "Thank you for saving me." Thank you for saving me, even when it meant you had to leave your son.

"Of course."

"Though out of curiosity...did you do that because it was the right thing to do?" L continued to look out the window, where white linen cloth obscured the sun. "Because it was just?"

There was a long silence, and L started to wonder if he'd pushed it, and if Yagami was going to answer. His stomach roiled, realizing Yagami was probably going to say yes. He'd saved L just because L was on the right side of the law.

Finally, "No. At that time, I had no thought for Justice."

L's eyes widened slightly and he saw Yagami looking troubled, and thoughtful. "I saved you instead of my son, because at that time…I think it was the same thing as with Sayu. I should have saved my son, yes, but his face was evil. And Ryuzaki…I have not known you as long as others, but at that moment, keeping you safe was more important than justice." And fulfilling a promise to an old warrior.

There was another long silence, Yagami deep in thought. "Yes. I have learned what family is. And strange as it is, I suppose you are a part of it."

Yagami could tell by the strange play of emotions on Ryuzaki's face that he was touched. "I have never had a family. Yagami-san, thank you." He turned and gave Yagami a smile, the most open and communicative that Yagami had ever seen on his face. He couldn't help smiling back.

Ryuzaki broke their connection, and fished for another marshmallow. "And while I can't judge from personal experience, I know you are not a failure as a father. How Light went wrong was really beyond your power; he could have been a great man."

"If I had guided him better, or been there for him…" Yagami hit a wall as he tried to explain to himself the extreme polarization of Light's two identities. "Something went wrong."

"I already told you, the Death Note went wrong. And Yagami-san, I'd like to explain how. I think I owe this to you, and to Light. I had the opportunity to analyze his personality very thoroughly, and it does you great credit as a father."

"He was a murdering psychopath, L, don't mock me-"

"No, listen!" L looked at him with wide, intense eyes, trying to suck in shallow breaths. He was obviously in pain, and Yagami, realizing he was only upsetting L, did as told and settled down to listen to the younger man.

"If my analysis is correct, Light was a clinical sociopath from birth."

"That's impossible, he acted like a normal child…" Yagami realized he had interrupted, and snapped his mouth shut again.

"Light fits all the criteria for the clinical diagnosis, Yagami. The psychopaths you're used to dealing with are the murdering madmen, but you forget that many brilliant psychopaths fill up the CEO positions of the world. They show a cold, analytical brilliance, and an inability to make emotional connections. However, the more intelligent psychopaths, and especially one as brilliant as your son, can perfectly manipulate and recognize social cues, blend in to normal society, and be quite charismatic when they want to be. I've met quite a few of them, myself, worked with them on cases. But none quite as amazing as Light. I doubt that left to his own devices, Light would ever have become a killer, or even pushed moral boundaries. His firm upbringing, Yagami-san, was too rigid to allow that. It was his saving grace."

Yagami listened intently. "But the Death Note? The Death Note pushed him over?"

L nodded, looking down at his legs. "I don't believe it would necessarily take a psychopath to be a killer with the Death Note. Misa Amane killed almost more cruelly than Light, and she's just immature and selfish. It's because the Death Note allows you to kill from a distance. It's like sniping, or playing a video game."

"But what was his motivation? It can't really…"

"His training in Justice guided him, of course, but unfortunately Light was a narcissist. The power to kill triggered megalomania." He looked to Yagami. "Do you understand?"

"Yes. I want to. Though I'll always doubt it, but it would make it easier to believe he was born with it."

L poked at a marshmallow, until the action made his arm tweak in pain. "Not that I'm excusing him. Just analyzing him."

Yagami stayed quiet for some time, and they both drifted off into their own thoughts. Soichiro tried to make sense of it. Had his son been acting the entire time? It had all been a sham? No…but he had seen some strange behaviors. How Light had trouble interacting with other children in primary school. How angry he would get when something didn't go his way. The time they'd watched an injured dog dying in the street. Sayu had sobbed, but Light had just watched the animal writhe in fascination. But had he-

"I'm not saying he was faking his life." Ryuzaki had been reading his mind. "I have no doubt he did his best to fit in, and to show the proper emotions. He wasn't faking maliciously."

Yagami nodded, and a thought came to him. "Ryuzaki. Are you a psychopath?"

He watched closely as a smile ghosted across L's face, and he picked at a small bandage on his arm. "No."

Yagami waited for L to say something more, and after some time, L did. "Though at times I wish I was." He turned to Yagami with his eyes softened in what could have been amusement. "I, Yagami, am a particular mix of Asperger's syndrome, childhood trauma, and social phobia."

"Ah. Mild autism. That explains why you don't wear shoes."

"Does it? Ah, yes, I suppose I have rather particular sensibilities."

"And so what am I?"

"You, Yagami-san? There is nothing wrong with you."

There was a knock on the door, and Yagami stopped his next comment to look that way. "Come."

Matsuda's head popped in, looking earnest about something. "You aren't going to believe what's on the television right now." He tumbled into the room, Aizawa and Mogi crowding in after him.

Matsuda turned on the TV, and changed from a cooking show to a channel replaying the footage of Soichiro wading through a crowd of reporters outside the hospital. An onsite reporter appeared on the screen. "We're still looking into clues on why Soichiro Yagami, the revealed leader of the Kira investigation, is currently in Ozu hospital. How is his dead son connected to the Kira investigation? Has Kira been caught? The world is desperate for news. With Kira's approval rate at over 70 percent in Japan, and with members of Congress in both America and Japan supporting his vigilante justice, the backlash against the investigation team could be considerable."

The screen cut to an interview with a punk youth on the streets. "I hope they didn't catch Kira, I think he's cool. I mean, it's not cool that the son is dead and stuff, but they shouldn't have messed with Kira like that. They should just-"

Mogi reached up and hit the mute button, before frowning grimly at L and Yagami. "Ide asked if we should perpetuate the myth that Kira is alive, in order to keep criminal activity down. I disagree with this, but I want to know what you think."

L shook his head. "Never. Even the idea of Kira must die. Yes, it would keep crime down, but at the cost of human freedom."

"Kira may gather even greater cult status in death," Aizawa pessimistically reminded them.

Yagami rubbed his temple and sighed. "The world is silly, and simple at times. All we can do is try and deflate it as much as possible." He glanced at L. He noticed that compared to just a few minutes ago, he looked more awake, and some pale color had returned to his cheeks. Being back on the case must have helped.

L's thumb was also back in his mouth. "That was actually Kira's greatest oversight. He could have appealed to the public, which would have been a force we'd be hard-pressed to deal with. But he never tapped into his followers. He was too used to working alone. He was too obsessed with the game he was playing, trying to trick us."

Matsuda blinked, his eyes as expressive as L's were blank. "He tapped into one of his followers, he allowed Misa to worship him." They were back to talking about Kira the myth. In their minds, Light had little to do with the Kira on the television.

L's gaze unfocused. "Misa Amane, one of the most interesting things to happen. Where is she now?"

Aizawa answered. "She's in this same hospital, handcuffed and under constant police surveillance. She wouldn't calm down, so she's been put under sedation.

L's eyes stayed unfocused. "Misa is an anomaly. You realize she was much more powerful than Kira ever was. She was willing to buy the eyes."

Matsuda blinked in confusion. "Buy the eyes?"

"She could have killed him, she could have done absolutely anything." L didn't seem to hear Matsuda. "And she was decently smart, and ruthless."

Matsuda knitted his brow. "I still don't understand her motivation...I get her parents being avenged by Kira, but..."

"Who knows. I don't think it was actually love...it was more of a worship, but in a very self-centered, self-serving way. It was a very conscious choice.

Aizawa leaned against the wall. "What will happen to her? Do we reveal she was the second Kira?

L shook his head, and all the investigators made little noises of surprise. Before they could interrupt, L explained himself. "We aren't revealing Kira's identity either."

"We're not?" Aizawa gaped, before straightening, looking at all the others. "We don't have to? I mean, I thought we had to because it's justice and all…"

"All that matters now is keeping the public safe," Ryuzaki responded, sharing a quick, meaningful glance with Yagami, who gave him a small nod of thanks. "We have to be aware of how our actions affect the current worship movements. Misa Amane is a beautiful pop star with a good reputation. If Kira's followers found she was the second Kira, she could easily rise to cult status."

Matsuda nodded, understanding. "And if they found out about Light, and saw how handsome he was, and smart, and studied law…" he trailed off, not liking where the thread was taking him.

L saved him from continuing. "Correct. Ideally, we would scapegoat Kira as somebody no one could like...say, a middle-aged, ugly, self-centered pervert. It would destroy Kira's image."

Mogi smiled. "Let's use the Chief Counselor."

Yagami glared and Mogi withered. "Sorry."

Matsuda thought about the idea. "Would we actually put him on trial? I mean, the pervert, or whatever?"

Aizawa rolled his eyes at Matsuda. "No, we wouldn't need to put the pervert on trial. We could just tell the public Kira's dead, and give them a mug shot. That way there wouldn't be a big ruckus about a trial, anyway."

Matsuda's shoulders slumped, and he looked over at Ryuzaki with unhappy eyes. "I don't know if I could handle that, making up all that stuff. What if the media found out it was fake? Couldn't we just keep it simple and say Kira was killed?"

L shrugged, and tried to keep from wincing. He kept forgetting about his bicep, which seemed injured enough that the morphine wasn't completely effective. "It's your choice. I won't be around to see how everything shapes up, so I trust that you'll be able to respond to what happens and act accordingly."

Aizawa smiled. "You really trust us?"

L smiled back. "How could I not? After how you handled the last affair, let me just say I'm glad I put my trust in all of you from the beginning. I've never been more pleased with any single decision I've made in my life."

Aizawa darkened. "We didn't stop you from getting your name written."

"That was my own oversight. I was too cocky. I knowingly left Kira and the Death Note together, unprotected. I assumed I understood his character better than I did. I regret, then, that you had put your trust in me. By doing so, I endangered all your lives. And resulted in the deaths of many others." Innocents. And Watari.

"Well, we're all alive, aren't we, Ryuzaki?" Matsuda smiled and motioned to his fellows.

"This is true. It's a great relief."

There was a knock at the door, and the nurse entered. "Hello. Sirs, if you don't mind, I think it's time you let the patient rest. We also have to do some tests and make sure there isn't any more internal bleeding going on."

Yagami nodded, and climbed to his feet, stretching. "Our interrogation is done for now. Ryuzaki, you should rest."

"And you as well, Yagami-san. Though I fear that may not be possible with everything occurring right now." Ryuzaki nodded firmly. "I will have the report to you by tomorrow evening, and will be there to help you deal with the media, if necessary."

"We may need some help, that would be appreciated."

"If you could simply bring me a new cellphone, you'll be able to reach me," L added.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, and all the investigators looked slightly confused. "But you can just ask the nurse to come get one of us," Matsuda responded. L still looked confused, to the point that Yagami couldn't help a grin. It was an extremely funny expression on L.

"Ryuzaki, did you really think we were going to leave you here? One of us will be here at all times."

"Ah. Thank you, but sitting in a hospital is hardly a good use of your time-"

Yagami shrugged. "I can't think of a better use for it. And besides, I can't think of any of the nurses supporting your dietary habits without some interference."

Aizawa grinned. "They wouldn't put up with you."

Ryuzaki didn't really know what to say. Something clever? Something intelligent? He just nodded.

The nurse, who had been listening to them patiently, took that moment to start shooing them out. Straight-faced Mogi was first out the door, Matsuda second, and managed to get one last look and beam meaningfully at L, and awkwardly express something with a sloppy salute, and then Aizawa, who mouthed "I'll be outside" to L and then managed to glare at the nurse as she literally pushed him out the door. Aizawa asked her a question, and after closing it halfway, she disappeared into the hall for a moment as well.

Yagami was left, and he could see how L looked truly exhausted again. "Ryuzaki. Call me immediately if you need anything, I can come anytime. I'll be playing some interference with the media, and then I'm going home to see Sayu and my wife. I'll be back tomorrow morning."

L frowned. "You really don't need to come in. I'm a very independent person, Yagami-san."

"I know. But one of the let-downs of friends and family is you often can't get rid of them, Ryuzaki."

Yagami walked partially towards the door, and paused to think for a second, before turning back thoughtfully. "You know, Ryuzaki. My son…if nothing had happened, I would have been very proud if he had turned out anything like you."

There was a silence for some time, a slightly awkward one. "Even the sweet-eating, Yagami-san?"

"Well, no, if I'd had the privilige of raising you, I would never have allowed your horrible eating habits. Or your posture."

"The truth comes out, Yagami! I knew the sucrose bothered you."

Yagami sniffed. "Nevertheless, the rest of the team is so used to spoiling you, I'm sure you'll have no dearth of sugar in here."

"Well then, if I'm stuck with you, remind them I only like Earl Gray tea with sugarcubes, no lemon. And if anyone gets the chance, there's a large amount of lemon meringue in the fridge at headquarters, and I fear it may be going bad soon-"

"I get it, I get it." Yagami rolled his eyes. "You can be assured, Ryuzaki, that while Aizawa may gladly drive to Okinawa to get you candy, I am a professional, and will be doing no such thing. It's ridiculous."

Ryuzaki graced him with a sly smile, made all the more ridiculous by the large bandage on his forehead and the associated disaster that was his hair. Yagami shook his head. "And try not to confuse the nurses."

"I'll behave, Yagami-san."

The nurse-reentered, and with a final nod, Yagami left the room. As the nurse in and closed the door, she came to his side and began taking off bandages. Ryuzaki almost immediately felt his tiredness taking over. He brought his thumb to his lip as she adjusted something or other to one side.

"I'll admit, young man, that was one of the strangest police interrogations I've seen. Not that it's my business, but they seemed quite protective of you." L watched as she flicked the tip of a syringe. She applied it to his arm, and L felt nothing as she pushed the needle in. "I see that a lot when a policeman gets injured, their comrades always worry so much. It's hard on the nurses, you can never get them to leave. Were these your friends?"

L was silent for awhile, just watching the liquid in the syringe go into his bloodstream. "Yes."

"You're a lucky young man. The worst is when we get a patient who's completely alone. That's difficult." She pulled out the syringe and began busily doing something else, and L felt the drug taking effect, and sleep coming to him.

And finally he realized that he'd defeated Kira in another way. In the end, Light had died alone, even though he'd spent his entire life surrounded by the closest of family and friends, with more support than perhaps any one person deserved. L, with his life of extreme solitude, was not dying alone. L had mastered his fear of death a long time ago, but he had not mastered his fear of others dying, or the grief surrounding death. That was why he had tried to distance himself from even Watari, with only partial success. But in the end, he hadn't been able to escape it. Now the bravest people he knew were willing to become his friends, even though that meant they would have to feel pain when he died. For them to do that, they validated that there was a part of him worth caring about, a part that wasn't the detective.

He felt a calm happiness knowing he'd come to feel the same for them. He realized he even felt the same for Light Yagami. In the end Justice had prevailed, and it had proved to be something out of either L's or Light's hands. But that didn't mean he couldn't mourn Light. The tragedy was that the boy had died thinking he was alone. He'd been wrong. Maybe for every person, no matter how evil or misguided, there was always a little sister who cried. It was the only proof you had been alive.