A/N: to my past readers: i'm back! hahah! xD

to my general readers: although this is a crossover fic, L's appearances might tend to be selective. due to my strong bias, Seto Kaiba is the main hero of this fic xD but i hope you guys don't mind! [and i smell further appearances of other YGO characters. hehh]

anyway, hope you guys like this one as well!

love, fika1603

The swiveling single letter screensaver suddenly blanked out, and gave way to a live feed. The young man hopped off his chair, pushed it slightly closer to where the screen was, and hopped back on again. He glanced at the clock in the far corner of the screen. Right on time. He waited patiently until the live streaming from his side commenced. If the other party was surprised to see his Noa stage mask, they hid it well.

He spoke into an adjoining microphone fitted out with a synthesizer, "Officer Matsushita. Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon," the senior-looking police officer on the other end greeted back nervously. He hurriedly referred to some notes he had on hand. "L." He swallowed hard. "How may Domino City Police Department help you?"

XO XO XO XO

The sudden burst of lightning and thunder awoke him with a start. The young brunette glanced up hurriedly about him. It was already dark outside. Scowling, he peered at his Armani watch. It was past 2am, no wonder.

Last one in the office again, he sighed, reaching out for his silver briefcase that was lying at the far end of his desk. The CEO rubbed his eyes. I should start heading home early one of these days.

He had just put on his white blazer, and was about to call for his driver to (finally) prepare the car for him, when suddenly his laptop screen came to life. Such strangeness was enough to make a man stop dead in his tracks, and render him immediately awake.

What now… he groused as he returned to his seat. It better be good.

Initially the screen gave way to a white screen, until a huddling masked figure appeared. He stared at the stranger incredulously. How many weirdos did he need to encounter in a lifetime?

"Good evening Mr Seto Kaiba," a soft synthesized voice spoke pleasantly from behind the Noa mask.

The young KaibaCorp CEO was sleepy, he was hungry and worse of all he was tired. Naturally at 2am he was in no mood to entertain prank hackers. "Who are you?" he demanded. "And what do you want? Make it quick."

"Seto… coincidentally it seems to be the namesake for Set, Egyptian god of deserts, storms and chaos," the stranger mused. "Is that the case with you, Mr Kaiba?"

Seto snorted impatiently. "What the hell do I care who I'm named after. I'm asking you for your name and your purpose. I don't have all day."

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry," the Noa-masked person suddenly seemed to recall what he contacted Seto for. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced. You can call me L. I was referred by your city's police department to you."

"For what?" Seto was really getting irritated by now.

The stranger gestured languidly as he made a downward pointing gesture. Seto's eyes followed where he was pointing, and sure enough, a blinking box appeared on his browser toolbar. "Please open it," the stranger ordered politely.

Seto warily opened it. Even if it turned out to be some data-destroying worm, he was prepared. As usual, he had his staff backed up KaibaCorp's datas every few days or so. However, when the bar opened up into a window, it had nothing to do with Trojans or worms or viruses. Rather, it turned out to be… a case file?

He threw a severely annoyed look to the Noa-masked person who called himself L. "What the hell is this?" he asked harshly.

"It is as you see it, a case file," L answered simply. "I understand that you're regarded as one of the brightest people in Domino City. And one of my informants has uncovered your… uncanny ability to read hieroglyphics. Which is why, Seto Kaiba, I'd like you to help solve this case."

"What if I refuse?" Seto challenged.

L appeared to be unfazed. "You will help me with this case," he repeated a bit more firmly. "Seto Kaiba, I advise you to read through the case file quickly. After five minutes, please destroy your laptop."

"What?"

Seto barely had time to object when the live feed was disconnected. Sure enough, a timer appeared where L's masked face was. Seto swore silently. Quickly he punched the print button. The case files, or whatever it was, he can read on his way back. Meanwhile, he reached for his desk phone and dialed a number. "Roland? Prepare my car. And get someone to find out about a certain person called L. I'll brief you in on the details later in the car."

XO XO XO XO

Once he had filled Roland in with as much details as he could about L – which is to say, not much since all they knew was his pseudonym, that L was probably a detective and had contact with the city's police department – Seto retreated to the backseat and balanced his briefcase on his lap. He was tired; he really wanted to sleep. But he was too incensed that his laptop literally died after the five minutes that L warned him about, and equally vexed that he was unwillingly recruited by L, to even grab a nap on the way home.

Sighing, he unlatched his briefcase and took out a thin stack of papers he had fastened with a paperclip. He had ended up printing out the 'case files' that that dubious L character had talked about, and now, since his sleepiness just decided to run away, Seto figured he could spare what five to ten minutes he had perusing the document.

For something originating from a suspicious character, the case file was as complete and as detailed as possible. For a split second, Seto wondered if this L person hadn't just stolen it from the Domino City Police records. Maybe he had, but that was probably the least of his concern. Until he figured out L's identity, he could afford to treat this case partnership business as a form of not very funny entertainment.

The case file was split into three sections, each hosting a different but clearly related case. Seto picked up the first one and scanned its contents. In the text, it had summarized the possible cause of death as suicide by poison. The victim seemed like a nobody: a certain Tina Tanner who worked at a soapland going by the stage persona of Thrusty Tina. Seto snorted as he tossed the photo of the victim aside without looking at it. So this was what L hacked into his system and forced him to enter some detective wannabe partnership for?

Moving on, he picked up the second case. Easily classified as a fatal accident resulting from a snake bite. The victim was once again insignificant: a seventeen-year-old high school dropout suspected by police to be a drug addict who decided to go on a camping trip and wrongly came face to face with a poisonous snake. Seto tossed this one aside as well, barely bothering to read the specifics of the case.

He was just about to mentally harangue L again when his azure eyes landed on the third case. Seto actually flinched as he took a look at the gruesome photo. The body was rotten by the time the police caught a snapshot of it, teeming with maggots especially on a stump where the right leg should have been. There seemed to be white crystals spilling out from the victim's nose and ears. Seto peered closer to read the description that came along with the photo: Possibly dead for about 14 days. Right leg seemed to have been amputated. Victim's brain removed and replaced with salt.

"What in the world…" Seto murmured, still horrified by what he saw. "What has all these got to do with me…"

Suddenly, he recalled a certain comment that L made which the latter had supplanted as a reason to extend a partnership with him: … your uncanny ability to read hieroglyphics. Seto let out a deep sigh. That was why L had been so eager to secure his reluctant partnership.

"The next thing I know, he'll be expecting me to be able to read Sanskrit," he muttered, gathering the documents to inspect them a bit closer now that he had come to the morose realization.

His cell phone rang, and he answered it blindly. "Seto Kaiba."

"Good morning, Seto Kaiba," a familiar synthesized voice greeted him almost cheerfully from the other end. "Have you inspected the case files?"

Seto scowled. "Yes, I did," he admitted gruffly. "And I don't see how my 'uncanny ability to read hieroglyphics' come into play."

"Well, actually, you can," L objected politely. "Would you mind heading down to the crime scenes later on today?"

"What?" This was getting ridiculous. "Go down to those places yourself. I have a business to run."

"I can't," L replied simply. This only served to infuriate Seto further. "You're already within Domino City itself. It would be much easier and faster for you than it would be for me."

Seto snorted indignantly. "What makes you think I'll listen to a suspicious, hacker creep like you?"

Seto could swear L was probably smiling when he answered, "You've already made one step a progress into the case. I'm sure you'll see it through. Thank you, Seto Kaiba. You can contact me at this number again once you've reached the first site. Please use line five."

Seto gritted his teeth furiously as once again L hung up just as sudden as he had called. Go down to the crime scenes? Seto picked up the first case file and stared at it grudgingly. Soapland. No way in hell was he going to set foot there. Surely even adventures need to have its own limits. The second location was a hill rather far away from either his office or his house. He was being bluntly honest with the now-irritating mysterious caller when he said he was busy; Seto vaguely recalled he had three meetings lined up in a matter of hours.

And I need sleep, he groused further, his annoyance level probably sky-rocketing with every mile covered by his car.

Roland peered over at him from the driver's seat via the rearview mirror. "Any trouble, sir?"

"Yes," Seto answered heatedly. "Yes there is. I'm tired and I'm being harassed by some unknown caller to play Sherlock Holmes, and that moron seem to not take no for an answer."

Roland bit back a smile at his employer's rant. "Maybe I could help, Mr Kaiba. What did he ask you to do?"

Despite his exhaustion, he managed to shoot his right-hand man a warning look. "Don't bother yourself with things like these, Roland. There's enough hassle at the office to occupy both yours and my time." Nevertheless, he grumpily admitted, "He wants me to go down to inspect the crime scenes for myself. I haven't got time, and even if I do, I can't be bothered. I'm a businessman, not Batman."

"Well, with your outfits, I wouldn't be surprised," Roland commented unhelpfully, sotto voce.

"Did you say something, Roland?"

"No, sir," Roland quickly cut in as innocently as possible. "I just said that we've arrived."

"I can see that," Seto muttered, gathering his stuff. Roland made a customary move as if to get out of the car and open the door for his employer, but Seto waved it off. "Don't bother. I'll do it myself. You go get this car parked in the garage."

Seto nearly felt sorry when his butler blearily opened the front door for him and took his briefcase for him. Only the first floor of the mansion was lit. His eyes ticked to a grandfather's clock in the corner. 3am. He would have to be up in a matter of three hours.

As he made his way up, one of his servants approached him to tell him that they've prepared the bath, which Seto nodded in acknowledgement of but in his mind had already rejected the idea in favour of his bed. But first, there was something he needed to do. He stopped by one of the rooms in the east wing and pushed open the door gently. The sight that greeted him wasn't very pretty.

"Mokuba, what are you still doing up?" he tried to sound stern, but on the back of sleep deprivation, such efforts barely gave its intended effect.

His younger brother seemed startled by his sudden appearance, and hurriedly closed the lid of his laptop. "Seto!" he greeted. "You're back!"

"I should be," his brother muttered in reply. "It's three in the morning." He glanced at his brother's laptop quizzically. "Watch what you're surfing. Anyway, get to bed. Don't you have school in the morning?"

Mokuba grinned sheepishly and scrambled back into bed, pulling up the covers to his neck. "Good night, Seto!"

"Good morning, Mokuba," Seto responded blearily.

Just a few steps away, he told himself as he dragged himself towards his bedroom and pushed open the door. He had never reveled at the sight of his four-poster bed more than now. Without bothering to remove his purple trenchcoat or his shoes, Seto crashed onto the bed. A new day would start in less than three hours. Maybe when he wakes up, all of this L business would prove to be a nightmare, and Seto Kaiba can lead the normal life that he always led.

XO XO XO XO

Naturally, wishes just remained wishes. Seto's relief at waking up in the morning, getting ready with a renewed confidence and heading down to enjoy breakfast with Mokuba was immediately stained when he saw the case files neatly arranged on his briefcase placed at the far end of the dining table. Before L and his stupid case files could destroy what was left of his appetite, Seto made up his mind to dispose of those papers and never see them again in his life. Unfortunately, Mokuba and his inquisitiveness was faster; by the time Seto reached out for those papers, Mokuba had already grabbed them and started reading them. Seto watched sullenly as excitement started to light his brother's face.

"Seto, how did you get this?" clearly his brother was in awe of his brother's supposed data-compilation skills, from the Domino City Police records, nevertheless.

"Someone gave it to me," Seto replied as uninterestedly as possible. "And anyway, it's nothing important."

"But it's compiled with such care, it's almost like you're a detective investigating these deaths," Mokuba continued. Seto groaned. That was enough to trigger the speculative senses in his brother. Mokuba eyed his brother carefully and asked, "Don't tell me you really are investigating these."

"I was invited to, but I refuse," Seto rolled his eyes at the prospect. He held out a hand. "Now give those papers back to me; I'm destroying them."

"But why? Seto, if the Domino City police personally invited you to help them solve this –"

"It wasn't them," Seto amended rather hastily, and immediately regretted it.

"Eh? Then who?"

Seto groaned louder. How in the world did he accidentally set off his brother's curious tendency? He sat down gruffly and buttered a toast for his brother, hoping for a chance to change the subject, "Hurry up and eat your breakfast. I don't want you to be late for school again."

His distraction barely worked. Mokuba was still as insistent as ever, and in the end, Seto gave up. Reluctantly – and rather warningly – he filled his brother in on all the incident that happened a few hours ago, right from the time his laptop was hacked into by some stranger named L who hid his face behind a Noa mask, up till the contents of the case files.

"But like I told Roland, I'm a businessman, not Batman," Seto insisted stubbornly.

"Then be Batman!" Mokuba suggested excitedly.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Mokuba, I have KaibaCorp to handle," Seto tried to reason.

"But Bruce Wayne has Wayne Enterprises too," Mokuba argued. "Maybe you can moonlight as a detective instead of a superhero."

"Don't put it that way," Seto muttered. "Moonlighting as a detective sounds wrong."

Mokuba snickered. "Well, your first crime scene is soapland."

"I'm not stepping my foot in there!" Seto protested. Then he threw a look at his brother. "And how do you know what's soapland, anyway?"

"Kids at school," Mokuba shrugged. "Anyway, you don't have to go there. Maybe you can get someone else who's more comfortable with the place and more free?"

"Like who, Wheeler?" Seto remarked sarcastically.

"Actually, that might work," Mokuba remarked cheerfully.

"Then go tell him."

"Huh?"

"Go tell him about this," Seto repeated, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"You mean, you're hiring him?" Mokuba asked in disbelief.

"I'm not paying him. I'm just saying he can go do the dirty jobs for me," Seto corrected. "And when I mean let him go, I don't mean that you can follow him. He can keep all his bad influences to himself." He glanced at his watch. "Do you want to hitch a ride or not?"

for those who are wondering what soapland is, err... please look it up on wikipedia. [laugh]

it's a term i came across while watching a documentary, and well... i thought it'll be an interesting crime scene.

and then you'll understand Seto's reaction to visiting such a place .

see you all for the next chapter!