A/N: Hello readers! Remember (in the anime series) when Light told Rem to give the notebook to another human? Well, that person's in the mansion. That's why Rem is there. But who among the three main suspects currently owns the notebook? Who's the main pair? Well, to be honest, I don't know yet! I'll just go wherever the wave takes me.

CHAPTER 10

Ismene noticed L's silence. He was sitting across from her in a crouched position. He barely touched his sweets.

"You don't believe me." She hung her head in disappointment.

"Is she here right now?" L's eyes traveled to the dark corners of the cottage.

"Don't mock me, Elias," she stood up and turned her back on him. "Please leave."

"When did you start to see her?" L's heart raced as he scurried around the room. "I'm not mocking you—"

"Just go," the girl said.

L hesitated for a moment, but he complied and walked away. Perhaps Rem is a shinigami. The detective stopped in his tracks. Misa! What if she comes in contact with the shinigami? And Light...

He raced up back to the mansion, fearing the worst. "Misa!"

"Mmm?" she was chewing a piece of cake. Upon seeing L, she panicked and chucked it out the window. "It's not what it looks like!"

"You have cream on your lip," L said. "You, the weight-conscious model, were eating cake. My cake for that matter."

"Misa's sorry! Misa promises it won't happen again!" she was about to sob again, when L patted her head (as a father would to a child) and sat down next to her.

"Are the cameras and bugs installed?" he asked. She shook her head. "Good. Misa, there's something you should know. I think it's better that I tell you in advance," his tone was grave and somewhat sad. "The shinigami may be inside the manor."

"What?!" Misa screamed. L quickly covered her mouth and leaned closer.

"Please do not be frantic. There is no reason for the creature to harm you," he said.

"Mmm," she removed the detective's pale hand from her mouth and said "But why not? We're no match against the supernatural!"

"Listen, please," he was almost pleading. "There's a chance that the shinigami might...force you to remember what you did when you were the second Kira (assuming you really were the second Kira)."

Misa was very quiet as she processed the information. She hugged her knees close to her chest.

"When that happens...I may be as good as dead. If not, Light will be the one to kill me," L looked deep into her eyes. "When you return to being Kira, your feelings for me will mean nothing anymore."

"B-but," she stuttered. L placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Misa, if I mean anything to you now...if Light's innocence means anything to you right now...would you please be careful inside this place? Avoid, if you possibly can, this shinigami."

"But I can't see him," she said. L was relieved for a moment. Rem was a she. Since Misa referred to it as a he, that meant the girl didn't remember anything yet.

"The mind is very powerful, Misa," L said. "I know you're smarter than you let on. Condition yourself that you are on the side of the law...the side of true justice. If ever you become Kira again, keep these words in mind."

Misa's eyes filled with tears, and she quickly pulled L into a warm hug. "I'd never betray Light's innocence. I love Light so much. And something inside me tells me that I love you too."

"Misa..." L's voice trailed off. He did not know how to handle such a confession.

"The situation confuses me. Plus that shinigami thing. I don't want any of you guys to get hurt..."

Rem was observing from the corner of the room. As long as this man does not harm you, Misa, I will not touch him. However, if Light Yagami abandons you when he becomes Kira, I will kill him.

"Elias..." Misa whispered. "Ryuzaki...whatever your name is...I promise, I won't allow you to die."

L held her closer. "Keep that promise. I...need more time to save somebody."

"Who?" she looked up at his face and saw his eyes full of worry.

"Ismene. There's a five percent chance that she may be Kira," he said gravely. "And when I say five percent...that's not a good thing."

Misa let go. "You like her, don't you?"

L did not answer as he got up and left.

...

"How does he mean by 'observe'?" Mello asked Near. The two boys were in a special study room in Wammy's House. "Should we take the train to London and spy on the suspects?"

"No. That would be tactless. Not to mention, a problem for L," Near answered. "I suggest we set up hidden cameras in the Griffith household."

"L's done that already," Mello grumbled as he flipped through the documents. Suddenly, his eyes brightened. "Matty, come here for a second!"

"I told you I'm not interested," his best friend's voice said from behind a fortress of books and video games. "Lemme do my own thing."

"Come on, you lazy bugger. We need someone to do techy stuff." Mello leaned on Matt's fortress and winked at his buddy.

"Techy stuff, eh?" Matt smirked. "Looks like I'm your man."

After a few minutes of wiring and hacking, Matt successfully tapped into the cameras and bugs of the task force. Whatever Chief Yagami and the others saw, the Wammy boys saw as well.

"Good job, Matty. Now get back to whatever it was that you were doing," Mello patted the boy on the back and pushed him playfully. "I can handle it from here."

"By I you meant we right?" Near stacked dice one on top of the other while he watched the manor.

"Oh yeah, I nearly forgot you existed," Mello stuck out his tongue and accompanied the white-haired boy in observing. "The cameras in one room aren't working. Maybe L sleeps there. I can't wait to see what he looks like!"

"Probably like me. I've heard we have the same mannerisms." Near twirled a hair strand in his fingers as he said this.

"That's just because you're a copy cat, you Neard. Get it, Matty? NerdNeard!" Mello laughed as his own joke.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Matt did not look up as he played his PSP. "And for the last time, It's not Matty. Just Matt."

...

After Light confirmed to L via phone that everyone was asleep, L snuck out of the manor quietly. The air was a chilly outside, and the hedges and plants in the garden cast eerie shadows on the lawn. The detective spotted the quaint cottage and headed there, silent as a mouse.

His eyes travelled along the shadows, expecting the shinigami to pounce, but there was nothing there. He edged towards the cottage door and picked the lock.

Click.

L entered Ismene's room and flipped through the drafts of paper on her desk. He dreaded finding the 'cursed paper' with numerous names written down on it, especially since Ismene admitted that she used real people's names on her first draft. Hopefully, the names aren't on the 'cursed paper'.

Behind the stacks of loose recycled paper was a thinner and smoother kind. L lifted it up and examined it closely. A few pieces of notebook leaflets. He recalled that Light Yagami wrote on notebook leaflets during his surveillance days. Could it be...

A piercing yell. L's instincts took over him. He threw open the windows and leapt out before Sheadon arrived with a shotgun. He prayed that nobody saw his face.

He sped back to the manor and climbed the vines that led into his bedroom window. The commotion would soon awaken the manor.

It wasn't until later that he realized that the notebook leaflets were still in his grasp. And it wasn't till later that he noticed a shadow with glowing red eyes in the corner of his room.