Ama: My pen name's Inu Kaiba, but I go by Ama. So my friend Kelpy and I, who absolutely love Death Note, have decided to write a Death Note fiction! With the best triangle ever, LightxLxMisa. Which gets nowhere near enough love of course. Anyways, we've decided to play around with canon slightly, so the details are below! Enjoy the fruits of our labour. x3

Kelpy: I'm not allowed to plot, and yes, we did vaguely screw with the timeline. Old timelime was old.

Ama: Oh and Kelpy's pen name is Angela and MiniMix. If you like Burnt Orange, you should read her other Death Note work, Utter Nonsense. 's a collaboration too. x3 She's also planning to do a sidestory to BO, so stay tuned!

THIS STORY IS SLIGHTLY AU DUE TO THE FACT THAT LIGHT YAGAMI NEVER RELINQUISHED OWNERSHIP OF THE DEATH NOTE. WHEN HIGUCHI GAINED CONTROL OF THE DEATH NOTE, L WAS FORCED TO RELEASE MISA AMANE AND LIGHT YAGAMI. HE OFFERED YAGAMI A SPOT, ALTHOUGH A HEAVILY GUARDD ONE, ALONG SIDE HIM TO UNCOVER THE CURRENT KIRA. YAGAMI AGREED, AND THEY ARE CURRENTLY CHAINED TOGETHER. AMANE IS ALSO UNDER SURVEILLANCE, BUT HAS NO PREVIOUS RECOLLECTION OF KIRA. INVESTIGATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE TOWARDS THE CURRENT KIRA, BUT NO HARDCORE EVIDENCE YET (THANKS TO LIGHT NOT WANTING TO CATCH THE CURRENT KIRA AS MUCH). LIGHT PLANS TO UNCOVER L'S NAME, AND KILL HIM. SO HERE, OUR STORY BEGINS...

Kelpy: Caps lock is cruise control for cool! X3

"Ryuuzaki, what on earth are you doing?" Light whined. He was still trying to find the perfect outfit to wear to the college's dance, a secret he managed to keep from everyone but his best friend on earth. He had to look normal if he didn't want to be suspected as Kira, and even if it was actually quite abnormal for a guy to spend hours looking for the perfect outfit, that was just the way it was. Besides, the ladies loved him, need to dress perfectly and all. It made him feel bad for Ryuuzaki sometimes, but he never said anything. Unlike Ryuuzaki, he didn't want to give away the fact that he actually had emotions for this guy, and well... Better to make him think if there was anyone he liked, it was Misa.

L made a "shush"ing motion at him without looking up. "I'm looking for those sneakers Watari bought me. I can't get into the ice cream parlor without them," he explained dully, getting on his knees to look under the bed they were forced to share, still being chained together. This of course meant that he'd dragged poor Light away from the closet he'd been browsing through.

"Oh, why can't you just be patient!!" Light sulked, on his hands and knees by way of force, since the chain wasn't very long.

"I would've been done in a few minutes... maybe. Okay, maybe not, but if I have to be chained to you /all/ the time, the least you could do is let me pick an outfit in peace without going all attention deficit on me" After the words were out, Light realized that the probability of his being Kira would be raised slightly by at least 1 percent. He cursed the fact that L sometimes made him unable to think straight.

"I did let you pick an outfit. It's not my fault that you were unhappy with the one you chose earlier. Really Light-kun. I need my ice cream and Watari says they have a kind I've never had before. Therefore, I have to try it. Aha." He tugged out a sneaker from under the bed. "And your chances of being Kira have increased by 2 percent."

Light, unable to comprehend the fact that he wasn't going to get his way, sulked like an overgrown child. "Well, you know what, not every action I make raises the chances that I could be Kira. Because I'm not, and I don't understand why you always think that. Why do you always want me to be Kira, it's like this obsession you have, and it's not healthy. Aren't friends supposed to trust each other, and not wish the other person is secretly a mass murdering criminal who kills people with his mind, or something, and..." Light trailed off at the realization that Ryuuzaki was paying no attention to him, utterly absorbed in the activity of finding his shoe, which would lead to some form of sugary goodness, which meant the world to him. It was times like this Light secretly wondered if L himself had ADD or some other form of a disorder which made him really socially inept sometimes. It was kind of dumb, but he got bored of thinking about his perfect criminal utopia of 24/7.

"I think I've been hanging around Misa too much..." Light added, even though he was fully aware that all L could think about at the moment was sugar happy goodness, as he slipped on the other shoe, which he had found hiding behind a box... a box that was placed in a disturbing position on top of another one. Oh god, he was acting really weird today.

L looked up at him, and blinked slowly. "Hm? Were you saying something, Light-kun?"

"I... I was just saying how much I was looking forward to a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Something plain and bland, a sharp contrast to my daily life where I'm always trying to locate the identity of Kira, with a boy who looks like he never sleeps thanks to the dark bags under his eyes, AND WHO NEVER LISTENS TO A WORD I SAY!" Yep, Light knew he had definitely gone off the deep end.

Another blink. "Are you implying something?"

"Y'know, your failure to miss the point astounds me sometimes Ryuuzaki, considering that even a blind AND deaf man would understand that I was implying something there. So, yes, I am. Try reading a book once; maybe it might help you to take some social cues. ARGH, why am I even bothering?!" Light attempted to storm off. Yeah, that's right, attempted. The chain wasn't very forgiving and as he stormed off, it snapped backwards like a piece of stretchy string, and he was flung on top of L, on his butt, in a rather awkward position. He definitely didn't feel like himself today, especially since he had no desire to kill anyone but Ryuuzaki, who at the moment was being an extremely annoying thorn in his side. Nope, the criminals could wait. Ryuuzaki would be his one and only victim of the day. So, once again, Light was trapped with the mystery of how to kill L, and perhaps, with his own words, he was onto something...

L blinked a third time. "...You're quite heavy, Light-kun. Please move," he said, attempting to push him off. "And if you're ready, I'd like my ice cream. Also, you're making an already uncomfortable situation worse."

"Making an uncomfortable situation worse? What situation? I mean, I'm sitting on top of you... in this, er, position, but, is that what you meant? Because otherwise I'm really confused here, and..." Light trailed off as he felt something strange digging into his bottom. With a startling realization, it came to him what exactly Ryuuzaki was talking about, and he sprung off, only to have the incredibly short chain yank him back down again. Fortunately, this time he landed on Ryuuzaki's arm, and was spared the pain of having to look at him and see the incriminating evidence L had just admitted to.

L shoved him off his arm and stood, straightening his clothes. "Now then. My ice cream. You can find those clothes later." Without another word, he tugged him along, pausing long enough for Light to put on shoes before going again. He really didn't want to explain that.

Light, for once in his life, was quiet. Unsure if he should say something, because he appeared to have absolutely no control over his emotions today (when did he ever?), he decided to wait and see if L would say anything. Besides, at the rate he was going, he could up his possibilities of being Kira to a massive 80 percent before 5 PM. But unable to take the silence, he blurted out "So, where is this place?"

He wanted to kick himself immediately afterward, because he'd been testing to see how long it would take L to recognize the silence, feel pressured, and respond accordingly. But of course, he was an evil genius who loved long speeches. Not talking for him was like not breathing, practically impossible.

"Oh. Right." He dug a slip of paper out of his pocket and held it up in front of his face. "Watari wrote down directions. Here. Do you know where this place is? I've never gone before."

He dangled the paper in front of Light, just close enough for him to see it without letting him take it away, watching him intently.

"Is this written in English? 'Cause I'm kind of bad at reading English handwriting. You said you were from England, right? What was it like there?" Light wondered where all his inquisition was coming from, why the sudden desire to talk to Ryuuzaki about something other than the Kira case. It was something they'd never even done before, everything they did was focuses on exposing the other person. For him, L's real name. For L, that Light was really Kira. It was as if he'd woke up on the side of the bed this morning where everything about L made him feel all weird and uncomfortable. He wondered if maybe he was female and having his period, and had the sudden urge to look down his pants. Unfortunately, this would be hard to do, what with him wearing a belt and all. He resolved to check when they got to the parlor, in a washroom, JUST to be sure.

"Oh, yes, of course. I forgot. Yes, it is English." He nodded thoughtfully to himself. "And yes. I'm part English. Why do you ask?" The paper disappeared into his pocket again, and he waited for Light to start walking.

"Is there something you want to know about me in particular, Light-kun?" he asked. If Light asked for his name... He sort of hoped he wouldn't. He'd rather Light /lowered/ the percentage, really.

"Well, it just seems we're always talking about Kira this, and Kira that. And I thought talking about something different would be a refreshing change of pace. Hahaha. Oh man, doesn't this sound weird? But really, tell me about England. I've never been outside Japan..." Light trailed off, knowing that his inquisitiveness and willingness of parting with information made it seem even more obvious that he was Kira. Still, Kira wasn't totally emotionless. If he was, then why would he kill off just criminals, rather than everyone he hated. After all, he hated the whole world sometimes. He was a bubbling pot of emotions, much like Mello, if he knew who Mello was. But he wouldn't, not for years, because they were still trying to catch the Kira of Yotsuba Corp.

L was quiet for a moment, before nodding. "Yes, that makes sense. Talking about Kira does get tiring. Circles and all." Mentally, the percentage rose. Granted, asking for his name first would have raised the percentage, but so would not asking for it. "Well, you want to know about England then?" He began to walk again. "Very well. It's wet."

"Did you stay cooped up indoors, like you do here? Because if you did, that's not the way to live. I wouldn't believe you even if you said that's what you did, because if I remember right, you said you were there for awhile. There must be more to England then it being wet." Even without the verbal reminder, Light could tell he'd definitely crossed some barriers, and he was now under even more scrutiny by L to be considered Kira. Still, what was so wrong with talking about where L had grown up? Sure, it might give him a better idea of how to Google his identity, but you couldn't Google OR Yahoo or even Ask Jeeves for the identity of someone like L. The only way to find his name would be the Shinigami Eye Trade... or making L fall in love with him, or Misa. But that would be a difficult predicament, since L was quite probably straight. Especially after the comments he'd made to Misa. Was it possible to be both? Light had never heard of such a thing, but then again, he didn't spend a lot of time online, where he suspected all sorts of whacky stuff like this was possible. He lived in every day modern Japan, where the only thing out of the ordinary was that there was an anonymous murderer killing criminals of all shapes and sizes, and that the power was transferable. Of course L didn't know that, but L didn't need to know anything. Especially after earlier... maybe L was gay, and it was possible to get him to fall in love with him. After all, he was Kira, and Kira could do anything. But even Kira couldn't fake being gay, he was pretty damn straight he was sure, even though he was never alone with Misa long enough to do anything, he knew he was certainly attracted to her at least a little in that way. God, he was running in circles in his mind, again.

"I didn't stay indoors /all/ the time. Just most of it." Aware that he was probably giving away too much personal information to the one he was sure was Kira, he continued on. "There is more, yes. I just didn't see very much of it. I preferred to stay inside and read." He nodded vaguely, and shrugged. "And you, Light-kun? What did /you/ do as a child? Or do you only want information on L, so that you can discover what my real name is? Perhaps Light-kun is only pretending not to be Kira?" He glanced over at him warily. "If that's the case...?"

"I hate how I'm always Kira, every which way you look at it. I've told you, again and again and again, I'm NOT Kira. I know sometimes I try to put myself in his shoes in order to help you with the case, but he and I are not one in the same. I can't magically kill people, and I'm telling you that all I've been trying to do since I figured out someone was killing off all these criminals is to help my Dad stop him. Oh, and pass University. But that's beside the point." Light paused to take a breath, wondering if they were getting any closer by now. He was going to give himself away soon, all because he just wanted to have a simple conversation. "Anyways, why not take advantage of such a beautiful place? I'll bet you lived in the countryside, where the air was clean and nice, and when it rained, you could smell the plants... sounds much better than living in the city. Better than reading all day, I'd say."

"But me? As a kid? I think I just did normal kid stuff, although my parents forced me to study a lot, so I didn't get a lot of time to be a kid. But in some way, I kind of enjoyed it. I just prefer being alone." Light shrugged, wondering if he was giving too much away. "I've been expected to take over for my dad my whole life, so I've never really bothered to think of what I'd want to be as a career if I have a choice. It's weird; I just couldn't imagine what I'd do with that freedom." Light wondered if he sounded really fake and ridiculous, but he knew the words were actually honestly how he felt. He hoped it would throw L for a loop, as that would be nice, but it was pretty hard to pull the wool over Ryuuzaki's eyes.

"Perhaps you're not Kira. Perhaps you are. Either way, the percent is not 0." He shrugged again. "I lived with Watari. There were plenty of children around; I just had no reason to join them." When Light began to talk about himself, he fell quiet and listened carefully.

A smile crept across his face. "You preferred to be alone? Then you shouldn't disbelieve me when I say I preferred it, Light-kun. That's a contradiction. Or are you just saying things to hide something else entirely?"

"Children? I thought you were an only child. You're sure an odd one Ryuuzaki... but I think you got me wrong. I said I preferred being alone sometimes, but that wasn't the way I always liked it. I mean, isn't it odd? You said I was your very first friend, but I've had many friends before you. It almost seems as if you went out of your way to avoid everyone else, but it doesn't seem like you would do that on purpose, and be so happy to have your first friend. What's up with that?" Light, tired of denying L's accusations, decided to turn the tables and attack him for being such a recluse.

"I was an only child. And there were many children with Watari. One of them was I." He nodded firmly. "Do you think it's odd, Light-kun, that I liked to be alone? Watari calls me a genius, you know. And all those little quirks you find so annoying help me think better. You are my very first friend, that much is true. Except we're not really friends of course. for all my genius, I can honestly admit that I am not sure I understand what a friend is exactly." He frowned mildly. This was getting into unsafe territory.

A little further and he might accidentally give himself away. But oh, Light sorely tempted him sometimes…

Stay tuned for Chapter 2!!