Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. (please)

Part 01 – Distraction

Here's the thing. Yagami Soichiro didn't show up for work on Monday.

Ordinarily, L wouldn't actually care whether or not Chief Yagami came. Certainly the man was diligent, capable, and, most of all, obedient, but L didn't usually need him. But it just so happened that this day, this Monday, a case report brimming with photographs, video feeds, and fingerprints was due to be delivered to the case headquarters by a certain Yagami Soichiro. And of course, usually those sorts of things were just emailed to L, but he was currently struggling with a hacker whom he rather suspected was Matt under the direction of Mello. They were likely just trying to see what they could get into and how good Matt had gotten at hacking. And again, usually, L would encourage this sort of devious behavior. It was good practice.

But he needed that information, damn it, and so he either needed Matt to get the hell off his server, or he needed Yagami here. Neither of which was currently happening.

L was rather irritated. Yagami had left the office in a rush last evening, after receiving a phone call from a woman L supposed must have been his wife. Or maybe an illegitimate lover. Whichever. L didn't care.

Except he did, and all the other members of the task force were rushing to find out where he was, because L needed him and, more to the point, that information he was supposed to deliver. Okay, so L just needed the information. But since Yagami had his information . . . and now L was just going in circles and his logic was totally thrown off and he needed some sugar right about now. Where was Watari with some goddamned sugar? L blinked for a moment, thrown off by the vulgarity of his thoughts. He was more pissed off than he'd thought.

Anyway. So he did care where Yagami had gone but he had apparently vanished off the face of the earth, and L needed some clues as to where he was.

Worst case scenario was that Yagami had received the case notes, and had taken off with them and sold them to the highest bidder in the criminal underground. Even Yagami dying in a car accident was a better alternative than that because and at least then if they were destroyed, they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands.

Best case scenario was that . . . well, screw this. L couldn't think of any reason that would be acceptable for Yagami to be four hours late to work. Four hours late with his case notes. With those notes, L could probably be done by now.

L's rather malicious train of thought was derailed when Watari walked into the room with several slices of cake and a mug of tea. L accepted it distractedly, and began to sip the hot tea. He frowned a bit and set it on the desk before him, staring at it with wide eyes, willing it to cool to a temperature suitable for human consumption.

Where on earth was Yagami? Could he be dead? Was a car crash or some other accident plausible? L began to calculate the odds of Yagami getting into a car accident, taking into account the morning traffic, his driving record, personality, etc. before he realized that he actually didn't care. All L cared about was his case notes, and he was beginning to think that Yagami had better be dead, for how long he was making L wait. He hated waiting.

And, since L had nothing better to do right now than speculate, who had called Yagami last night? When he'd received the call, his face had paled and he'd made hurried excuses before rushing out before quitting time. It was quite unlike him. Sometimes he even slept in the office so he wouldn't have to waste any time commuting. And assuming it was his wife who had called him, not some illicit love interest, he had likely gone home due to family troubles.

Well, that was irritating too. Not for the first time, L was appreciative of the fact that he had no family and almost no connections. It made everything so much simpler.

L glanced up at his monitor that connected him to the police station and very nearly choked on his tea. As he watched, Yagami Soichiro rushed into the room, red-faced and flustered. His eyes were bloodshot and tired, and he was wearing the same clothes he had been when he'd left the office last night. L tried to listen to the conversation that was going on, but there were too many people speaking at once, and he was having a difficult time distinguishing individual voices.

Yagami pushed past the officers surrounding him and walked over to L's laptop, where he placed a thick manila folder on the table next to it.

"Everything's in there, L," he said, and L was intrigued by his voice, which was gravelly and hoarse. He wondered what could have Yagami so distraught. For a few seconds, he thought about it—for the past few weeks, he had seemed tired and stressed and generally ill, but L had chalked it up to stress from the case. But now that he thought about it more intently, he realized that Yagami had also been trying to get home more often, and earlier too.

"Thank you, Yagami-san," L said, remembering his manners. Watari would be proud. And perhaps would bring him more cake.

Yagami nodded and turned around, presumably to leave once more. But L had had to wait for four hours—no, make that four hours and twenty-four minutes and thirteen seconds—for the notes, and he would at least have his curiosity sated for his troubles.

"Why was Yagami-san over four hours late?" L asked, the computer program masking his voice making his tone sound even more insensitive than it actually was, which was saying something. Well, no one had ever accused the world's greatest detective of beating around the bush any.

Yagami turned back around, and L could see that he was nearly at his breaking point. His eyes were narrow and focused, and his muscles were so tight he was practically trembling. "Family troubles," he ground out.

"Is everyone all right?" L asked. His voice was so close to being concerned.

"I hope so," Yagami said, his voice tired and defeated sounding. He glanced around, and when he saw that he had everyone's attention, he sighed and turned to address them. "I apologize for my tardiness, and especially apologize for not calling in earlier. My wife called last night and told me that my son hadn't made it home from school." Yagami paused and swallowed, and he took a deep breath. "We haven't heard anything from him yet."

There were general murmurings of condolences and offers for aid from the officers and Aizawa, one of the hardier officers, stepped forward and placed a hand on Yagami's shoulder. "Do you have any idea what might have happened?"

Wearily, Yagami shook his head. "We know he was in classes all day, but after school, we can't seem to find a soul that saw him. He didn't leave a note, so at first we thought . . . we thought kidnapping, or something unfortunate. But there's been no news, no one's called us . . ." He trailed off tiredly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be burdening you with this."

Finally, L cut through this nonsense cleanly with, "I assume, then, that your attention will be with your family for the remainder of the case, Yagami-san?"

Yagami turned again to face L's screen. "Yes, if you'll excuse me," he said, in a voice that sounded very much like he didn't give a damn whether or not L excused him.

"Certainly," L said lightly. "It is only fitting that you should attempt to recover your disappeared son."

Yagami nodded coldly and bowed slightly before turning and hurrying out of the room. L sighed, not loud enough for the microphones to pick up, and sipped the tea in front of him. So Yagami was gone. How frustrating.

L didn't need him, like he'd said. But the men on the task force were Yagami's men, not L's, and without Yagami there to tie down their loyalties, they were going to be much more difficult to manage. Not impossible, but . . . not pleasant, and certainly not something that was in L's job description.

And how galling to be eclipsed by a high school student. L remembered very little about he'd overheard Yagami telling his co-workers about his son. He'd sounded proud—apparently, his son . . . L forgot his name . . . but apparently his son had done very well on the national placement tests.

Good for him, L thought bad-naturedly. Still sulking, and not really in the mood to look at the files which the other officers were now gingerly sorting through, L ran a search for Yagami in his extensive database, and when the man's name came up, he selected the document about his family.

Wife: Yagami Sachiko

Children: 2

Son: Yagami Raito

Daughter: Yagami Sayu

There he was, the little brat. L stared intently at the tiny photograph. How galling that this high school student managed to set his case back and steal L's most dedicated officer. The degenerate had probably just forgotten to call home last night when he'd decided to stay over at a friend's or stay out all night.

L supposed that he oughtn't jump to conclusions. This Raito could have easily been kidnapped or just mugged. He could be passed out on the streets right now, a victim of a robbery, rape, or even murder.

Or, he could be passed out on the streets right now, drunk off his ass or high. Or he could have slept at his girlfriend's house, or he could have just jumped on a train to get away from the city for a bit. Or anything else that was stereotypically irresponsible and flighty.

He was only seventeen, for God's sake. What had he behaved like, to give his parents such a rigid ideal? They obviously thought he behaved according to a certain expectation and schedule. He was gone for—here, L glanced at the clock—twenty-two hours, and his parents were behaving as though the goddamned apocalypse was upon them. Honestly—staying up all night, searching for him, calling around for him.

Did they have no faith in him whatsoever? Or was he just so dull and static that any venturing outside the norm was cause for alarm? You couldn't even file a missing person's report until they were gone for a full 24 hours. Why on earth would they react this way?

Unless—and here L frowned—unless Yagami-san knew more about his son's disappearance than he was letting on.

L stopped himself and forced himself to look back at the screen. He knew that he should be working on the case; he knew that's what they paid him to do.

But . . . he was bored, the case was at a standstill, the officers had his evidence, and this would be a fun, easy little distraction from the more serious rape/murder/arson case L was currently absorbed in. Besides, once L's mind decided that it was going to take a track, it was awfully difficult to derail.

So with that in mind, L allowed his thoughts to jump back to Yagami-san's son. Did Yagami know something more about his son's disappearance? He had seemed stressed and worried for the past few weeks. L had chalked it up to sleep deprivation and the case and whatnot, but it could have easily have been family troubles.

If that were the case, and they had been having trouble or arguments with their son, then this sudden disappearance could be cause for alarm. With a father who was the chief of the Japanese police, it would be difficult for a seventeen-year-old to stay hidden, even in a city like Tokyo. Yagami-san doubtless had connections and contacts all over the city and he would doubtless have been using them to their fullest extent.

So for Yagami-kun to stay hidden . . . that was quite a feat. Especially if it were under his own prerogative. But even if it were a kidnapping, they would have to be very intelligent criminals. Either way, someone smart was behind this; they would have to be to avoid being seen by traffic cameras, contacts, officers, and various other personnel that could give him away.

Curious now, L told the officers that he had a task to complete, and not to bother him. He brought up the slim file he had on Yagami Raito and skimmed through his stats. 17, 5'11", athletic but not built. Unusual coloring, which would make it doubly difficult for him to hide himself effectively. The profile picture was from last year, but he had a warm, inviting smile, and L felt the corners of his lips quirking in response.

L scrolled through the document, pausing when he reached academia information. Grades—outstanding. Perfect, even. It looked as though he'd never received a final mark under 100. There were some deviations on tests, of course. A point missed here or there. But never more than one or two, and very rarely. National standing—first.

First. That was very good. First ranked in all of Japan was incredible. More curious than ever, L scrolled again until he saw the two little letters: IQ.

And he stopped. And blinked a few times. It was ridiculously high—so much so that it almost looked fake, or as though someone had typed it in wrong. It was only a very few points below L's own, closer than any other human being, and that included those little darlings who were currently trying to hack his system. Even Near wasn't that close. Speaking of the little reprobates, L really ought to get them out of his system.

"Watari," he said, barely raising his voice. He knew the elder man would be within hearing distance.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, he heard Watari's gentle step. "Yes?" he asked.

"My system is having a difficult time warding off the constant barrage of hacks and viruses Matt has been sending me all morning," L said tolerantly. "And while I am appreciative of his considerable skill with computers, I would very much like it if you could call Roger and tell him that some repercussion is in order. If only for the sake of my productivity."

Watari's lips quirked at the corners. "And how do you know it is Matt?" he asked. "Mello and Near are also reasonably skilled at hacking. Not to mention the fact that any number of persons could want to hack your system."

"Mello is not good enough, simply because he is not patient enough to keep trying to find gaps in my security. He would have given up hours ago. Near has the patience, but neither the skill nor the inclination to attempt something so frivolous. And as for all those others who may want to gain entrance into my system . . . I doubt they have an ISP address originating in west Great Britain."

"I did not know the goings-on of your heirs interested you so greatly," Watari teased. L blinked at being treated so flippantly, and then smiled very slightly in response.

"They do not," he said. "I am only interested because it is my computer they are bothering. If Matt had decided to hack someone else, like the CIA for example, then I would not only have no objections, I likely would pay it no mind whatsoever."

"Very good," Watari said, nodding. "I will make the call."

"Thank you," L said, returning to his puzzle.

So, Yagami Raito. Raito, who was as smart as L, even at only seventeen years of age. Who had perfect grades, perfect looks . . . L skimmed down to extracurricular activities. Middle school tennis champion. No surprise there. And apparently he was skilled with the violin as well.

Athletic, fiercely intelligent, musical, attractive. Was there anything this Yagami Raito didn't have?

Well, apparently there was, else he wouldn't have run away.

Or perhaps it was a kidnapping or a rape, or a murder, or any of the other horrid things that happened all too often these days? The fact that he was the police chief's son made him a prime target. But the fact that Yagami-san had been behaving differently in the past several weeks suggested that there could be family trouble affecting him and, consequently, his son.

Perhaps the trouble had been Raito himself? He could have been behaving strangely as well. Or had an argument with his parents, or in trouble at school. Someone that perfect had to have enemies, didn't he?

L thought about that, and thought back to his perfectly charming smile. Maybe not. L imagined that with those angelic features, Yagami-kun likely was able to get people to see things his way. (As opposed to L, who didn't bother getting people to see his way; he just told them what to do and then got new help if they proved to be unreliable.)

L skimmed through the rest of the profile, but found nothing useful. Raito had never had any trouble with the law, and he seemed to be perfectly normal in all aspects, save his unnerving perfection.

How very . . . intriguing. And L couldn't lie to himself and say that Raito's intelligence was the only thing that interested him. That was mostly it, but even that wouldn't be enough to truly startle L. But this boy seemed to have everything—not just good looks, athletic ability, and intelligence, but a good stable family, a reasonably high income, and a healthy social life as well—and yet here he was, disappeared.

The more L thought about it, the more he thought that it was a runaway case. If it were murder, unless his body had been surreptitiously disposed of, they would have found it by now. And L seriously doubted that it was murder, because he would have had to be killed on his way home from school, in broad daylight and while walking with friends. More than unlikely—it was next to impossible.

If it were another crime that temporarily disabled him, such as rape or mugging or something similar, one of Yagami-san's contacts would have been able to find him, or he would have called upon waking up. Kidnapping was the least likely of all, since Yagami-san would have received a ransom note by now, and besides, the students he typically walked home with would have noticed.

As L scanned his file again, he noticed a caveat at the bottom that hadn't been there before. Ah, apparently, Yagami-san was beginning to file the missing person's report. L glanced at the clock. He was an hour shy of the 24 that were typical but L supposed that as chief, he could bend a few rules.

L clicked on the report, and read what Yagami-san had already recorded. Apparently, the last people to see him were the two boys that lived in the same neighborhood, and they'd watched him walk up his front steps at around 3:30. After that, no one had reported seeing him, not even his mother, who'd been inside the house, waiting for him to arrive.

That made murder, kidnapping, or assault even more unlikely, since it would have had to happen as he was standing on his front steps, fiddling with a house key—again, in broad daylight. And his mother almost assuredly would have heard something.

It was a runaway case then. He must have gone up the steps very slowly, waited for his friends to disappear, and then taken off.

Strange. He would have had to have planned it all out, since he obviously hadn't gone inside to gather his things. That meant that at least since that morning, he had planned to runaway and had packed accordingly.

L glanced at the file—yes, his two friends had mentioned that he had been carrying one more bag than usual, and that they had assumed it was a tennis bag or for some other sort of exercise, as it had been a large duffel bag.

So probably before that morning. At least the night before, if not sooner. Obviously, he was very sure about his decision, since he'd likely been thinking about it for a full 24 hours, and probably more. Raito didn't seem like the sort of creature who was spontaneous with his decisions.

And it seemed as though he parents knew something about it, since they had immediately assumed the worst as soon as he hadn't come home. What could that mean? Did they know he was struggling with something? Was he under a great deal of stress?

The answer to that question was obvious, since Raito was in the last year of high school, preparing for the college entrance exams.

So yes, there was stress. But with a child like Raito—a brilliant, determined, driven child—there would have always been stress. At this point, stress was probably normal, even comforting to him.

L's eyes wandered up to examine his picture once again. He focused on it, hard, gnawing gently on his thumb as he thought. Raito's smile was gentle, warm . . . and it looked perfectly manufactured, too, now that L knew what to look for. His lips curved up exactly right, he showed enough teeth to be friendly, but not to frighten, his eyes crinkled slightly at the corners. He looked like an advertisement.

And perhaps that was what he was, L thought. Because when he looked very carefully, knowing what he did about Raito's intelligence and what he'd inferred about his personality, L could see that Raito's eyes, though they were shaped like they were smiling, were perfectly blank. Fascinating—when most people had to take pictures, they would actually conjure up the emotion of happiness or joy or even just contentment. They did it automatically, so smiling didn't feel strange on their lips. But Raito . . .

There was nothing. His eyes showed absolutely nothing. Not happiness, nor anger, nor irritation, nor anything else that L could call an emotion.

What if . . . what if Raito's parents thought he'd run away because they knew of a conflict because the conflict had been between themselves and Raito? He didn't seem like the sort of child to challenge his parents' authority. At least, not to their faces. So if that were true, whatever they'd been arguing about would have to be incredibly important for Raito to compromise his image.

This just kept getting more and more interesting. Unfortunately, the door to his room swung open and Watari entered again. "The task force is calling for you," he said. "They think they've found a lead and they want your opinion."

Slowly, L drew his eyes away from the picture in front of him. "Very well," he said, "I will return to my computer, then."

Watari nodded. "Are you working on the case?" he asked. "Is that a suspect?"

"No," L said. "That is Yagami Raito, Chief Yagami's son. I believe he ran away yesterday."

"Oh, yes," Watari said. "I remember some drama about that this morning." He paused, waiting to L to explain his sudden interest in Yagami's personal life. The explanation was not forthcoming, however, so he asked, bluntly, "Why does it interest you?"

L stared at him for a moment, teeth digging into his thumb as he considered. He finally moved his gaze down to the floor beneath him, but not before Watari saw the intense, focused expression he wore. L likely had no intention of answering his question, and he didn't really need to anyway. L had always done what he'd wanted, regardless of what was necessarily right. So if he decided that he was interested in his runaway/kidnapping case, Watari had no room to object.

L listened as Watari's footsteps faded away, and then the door to his room clicked softly as Watari shut it behind himself.

Only then did he raise his eyes to stare at the photo that was still smiling perfectly blankly at him. "It is because he makes me curious," L said to the empty room, before shrugging and closing down the profile and turning back to the laptop that connected him to the task force.

A/N: Hey, guys, 'sup? I decided that since finals are coming up soon and my life is utterly devoid of humor (and since both humor and fanfic reviews make me happy!), I would start uploading this story! This is one from before the stories in my account were erased, so some of you will remember this story, but DON'T RUIN IT OKAY. OKAY, GUYS? That would be awesome. Anywho, this is a major departure from Silence, but it's what I've been writing lately, so this time, hopefully I'll actually get to finish! Yay! Reviews are greatly appreciated :D