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All is Forgotten, All is Forgiven	By : cor-te-reducit Category: Death Note > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 1362 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I own no aspect or part of the Death Note community (characters, storylines, etc) I make no money off of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Title: All is Forgotten, All is Forgiven

Author: kathleenrose747

Pairing: L (Lawliet, Ryuzaki, Eraldo Coil, Denueve, Hideki Ryuga)/OC

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I have not, nor will I ever own anything relating to the idea, copyright, persons/characters and creation of Death Note. I also don't own any of the sweets mentioned in here. The only thing I own is Michiko Nakashima, a character of my own creation. I also do not own '

Authors Note: I do use some of L's other aliases in the story. If you get confused, go to the Death Note Wiki or just look up L on Wikipedia to get a background on his aliases. I won't go into too much background with those names and their uses. Also, L is 29 years old in this story. So yes, we can consider it AU. Please review with constructive criticism. I would also like unadulterated praise, if it is available. :)

Another Note (And SPOILERS if you have not finished the series): Mello is very much alive in this. I need his character in order to play off Near, so I'm going with the idea that Mello switched out the Death Note page that Takada tried to use to kill him. Yes, I know that happened a year later than this story takes place in, but I'm pretending the Kira Death Note arc was solved faster than it really was. Onward!

Chapter 8: Beauty or Truth

Michiko walked tentatively through the cemetery. She always felt like the dead were watching her every move whenever she walked in their domain. Hence, why she had never visited her grandparents graves back in America. She felt that replaying the memories they had given her was a better way to honor them than by visiting a gravesite.

The gravestones burned in the orange light of the sunset, giving them a Halloween eeriness that did nothing to alleviate Michi's frazzled nerves. She looked around nervously for the person that could have sent her that note. Various people wandered aimlessly between the gravestones, many of whom looked like they were searching for a reason to be mingling with the dead. 'Only death makes the living feel like they still have some control over their current situation.' Michi smiled as the thought entered her mind. Considering her past, that statement certainly made sense.

She then felt a prickling sensation on her neck. She turned to her left and saw a lone figure standing by a gravestone. There was a tree growing to the left of the grave, which cast its shadowy fingers over the silver cross and its visitor. As Michi walked towards the person, she could not help but feel a knot in her stomach. She only hoped that she didn't throw up the remains of her turkey sandwich over the deceased’s final resting place. Michi stopped next to the person and looked at the unmarked cross in front of her. She wondered why there was no name, or for that matter, why it was a silver cross as opposed to a simple stone cross. Hopefully the mystery person would clear up her apprehension. 'That is, if this is my contact and not some person trying to grieve for their loved one.' Michi's thought was interrupted as the person began to speak.

"What do you know about the man you are working for?" The man turned to face Michi. Behind the man's lack of sleep and obvious worry lines, Michi had to admit that he looked very young.

"There isn't much I can say. I have only been working with him for close to a month. But more importantly, who are you and what information do you have that connects us to this graveyard?" The man chuckled at Michi's deduction and tipped his head towards her in admiration.

"If the man is who I think he is, I am sure he is very proud of your reasoning ability." He then turned and looked back at the grave. "I have a lot of things to tell you. Much of it will be very unbelievable, but I trust you not to interrupt until I am finished with my tale. If you do that, most of the situation will become clear to you." Michi looked at the man out of the corner of her eye. Seeing no visible threat in the man's stance, she shrugged and turned her sight back on the cross. She heard a rustling next to her and felt something tap her right arm. She looked over and saw that the man was handing her two manila folders. She accepted the folders and the man adjusted his jacket around him before continuing.

"My name is Matsui Taro. I worked on the first known Death Note case here in Japan. Which eventually turned into a double Death Note case very quickly. As a result, over ninety percent of the original team either died or disappeared. This gravesite, for example," he motioned towards the cross with his left hand, "contains one of our greatest members. I daresay he was our greatest leader when it came to catching the owner of the Death Note. The owner of that particular Death Note went on a justified killing spree and the public began calling him Kira." Michiko started. She remembered hearing Ana talk about that case when they were in college. It was the very mention of that case that had set Michi on her path of International Law. "As part of that case," Matsui continued, "We lost one of the greatest detectives that the world has ever known. But recent events have surfaced that lead me to believe that he did not die on that day. I saw him die, yes, but whether he is truly dead can be left open for speculation." He then tapped on the envelopes that Michi clutched in her hands. "I will leave it up to you to decide whether or not you trust your boss. Illusions may be beautiful to start with, but the truth can turn ugly once you see beyond illusions pretty mask. You have to decide if you want to live with Truth or Beauty running your house." With that, Matsui turned up the collar of his jacket, saluted the grave, and walked away from Michi.

As she stood shivering in the cold twilight, she couldn't help but mull over what Matsui had implied. 'Is Ryuzaki lying to me? Well, of course he is. He's using all of these different aliases. So, of course he wouldn't tell me everything. But how much of that information is he keeping from me to keep me safe?' Michi then tucked the envelopes under her arms and turned towards the grave. 'World's greatest detective, huh? Wish I could have met the person.' She then turned in the opposite direction that Matsui had walked off in and began her long trek back to the train station.

While she sat on the train, she decided that the car was empty enough for her to flip through the contents of the manila folders. The smaller one only held a few pieces of paper. What it contained was a detailed outline of all the main events that had occurred, concerning the Kira case eight years ago. The people involved and their ages had been included as a way of keeping track of events. According to this, the leader of the investigation (only identified by the letter L) was killed in November of 2007. Seeing as it was 2012 now, the man would have been twenty-nine now, had he survived. 'That is about the age I would guess Ryuzaki to be.' But that idea was absurd. There was no way in hell that Ryuzaki would be this L character.

The second envelope was much thicker and contained various pieces of information, which Michi could not see an immediate connection to. 'Wammy's House? N? Investigative reports? What is all of this stuff?' Michi stuffed the papers back in the envelope. She had plenty of time to go over this at a later time. Not that she wanted to go back to Ty and Ana's. She desperately wished that she had a place to call her own. And then it hit her. She did have a place to run to. Not her most ideal place, but it was a place she felt safe. She pulled out her phone and pressed one on the dial pad, waiting for someone to pick up on the other end.

Elsewhere

Once he had hung up the phone, he leaned forward in his chair and stared at the monitor. It wasn't that Lawliet didn't want Michi to come over. It was simply that he always felt cornered when she was in close proximity to him. Even knowing that she slept across the complex from him was enough to keep his frayed nerves awake. He couldn't pinpoint what it was about her, but that dance they had shared had proven to him that he was still very capable of potentially falling in love with his assistant.

'And therein lies the problem.' If Lawliet fell in love with Michi, his reasoning levels would drop at least thirty percent, his sitting position notwithstanding. She would always be on his mind, distracting him from tasks at hand. He squinted at the monitor as he tracked her progress on the train. One corner of the main screen had a picture from the train security camera while his phone tracked her phone's location with a GPS map. 'It isn't like my protective nature has been doing a good job of hiding.' Ever since Watari's death, Lawliet had been very cautious of letting anyone close to him. Watari had been a friend, mentor, and father figure to Lawliet. Granted, much of those roles had been put in place to groom Lawliet for his role as the ever-present L. However, L's people were doing a good job of covering his absence. He smiled at the thought. Poor Near. Lawliet had stayed away from Wammy's House for five years since his 'death' in 2007. Yes, Near knew the truth, but it hurt Lawliet that the boy hadn't had anyone to look up to for the past few years. Not that Mello was much of anyone to look up to. Still, both of the young men were remarkable in their own rights.

Lawliet stretched in his chair and got up. The GPS signal was getting louder, which meant Michi would be here soon. As he rubbed his feet together, he noticed how chilled they were. They were in the middle of September, so the cold snap wasn't too much of a surprise. It only meant the heralding of a potential typhoon. He decided to turn on the heat, only to remember that the landlord had left a message saying that they had to do some repairs on the heating vents in preparation of the coming rains. 'Well that is highly inconvenient.' Lawliet sighed and walked towards the living area. He then pushed his couch aside to reveal a gas fireplace. He had never seen a need for it and it tended to distract him, so he had had it covered with the couch. After shuffling to the kitchen for some matches, he had a decent fire that warmed the room quickly. He then pushed the couch so that it rested against the wall opposite of the fire. This way, if Michi got hungry in the middle of the night, her movements would not distract him from the other room. 'There. That arrangement is at least eighty five percent efficient.

Lawliet then walked to the kitchen and grabbed an instant ramen to heat up. He also brewed up a fresh batch of coffee and checked his sugar cube supply. It was going to be a very long night. And not simply because he still had a lot of work left on the Volya case. Lawliet hung his head as a brief wave of guilt washed over him. 'I could really use your advice right now, Watari. I'm so lost when it comes to the meaning of being human. You always pushed me outside my comfort zone when it came to social human interactions. I could really use that push right now.' He smiled as he briefly remembered how much Watari had to push Lawliet to simply ask a girl within Wammy's house out on a date. Nothing in Lawliet's life had ever terrified him more than dealing with emotions outside of logic and reason. It still terrified him to this day.

Meanwhile

Michiko stumbled from the train and walked the five blocks towards her friend's apartment complex. She briefly wondered if her idea to stay at Ryuzaki's was really a good idea. But she reminded herself of the real reason why she was going there. To get answers. Michi had learned at a very young age that deception was the name of the game when it came to law and espionage. However, this was a man whom she was trusting with her very life. If she could not fully trust him, then how realistic would their charade be to those around them? Besides, she was supposed to be a simpering prostitute that had fallen head over heels in love with her client. She couldn't fake those feeling if she tried. Hence, she wanted to get to know the real man behind the mask and find some little tidbit of information that she could build her infatuation upon. 'Infatuation? I don't see anything the least bit appealing in this man at all. Why am I so worried about what feelings that I will never have?' Michi shook her head clear as she reached the door. 'Business as usual, Michi. Nothing more.' She rapped lightly on the door, trying to calm her racing heart.

Ryuzaki opened the door and motioned for Michi to come inside. She quickly noticed that the room was comfortably warm and that there was a fire roaring on the far side of the living area to her right side. All of the lights were off, except for the glow of the fireplace and the synthetic lights of the computer and television monitors behind the room divider.

"I don't remember there being a fireplace in your apartment." Michi placed the folders on a side table and shrugged off her coat to hang it on a peg next to the door. Ryuzaki paused on his way to the kitchen and spoke over his shoulder.

"You wouldn't have noticed it. I never have a use for it, so I just hid it behind the couch. But seeing as the central heat is being repaired for a potential typhoon, I felt the fireplace would be necessary." Ryuzaki continued his walk towards the kitchen and stood by the stove. "I know you tend to prefer tea over coffee. All I have are green tea and peach tea, in case any visitors prefer something sweeter."

"The peach tea sounds great." Ryuzaki nodded and poured hot water into a black and white checkered mug. He then grabbed a tea canister off of the top of the refrigerator and shook in some loose tea. He then shuffled back towards Michi and handed her the cup. She took it and sniffed the tea. It had a very rich scent. Certainly, there was peach in there. But it seemed to be masking another flavor behind it. She blew on the contents and took a small sip. Her eyes widened in surprise as the flavors erupted in her mouth. She tilted her head and looked at Ryuzaki inquisitively. "Is that rose I taste in the background?"

Ryuzaki smiled. "Yes, as a matter of fact. The tea was a gift from the Prime Minister of Turkey for solving a particularly difficult case. Mass murder type of thing." Michi returned the forced smile and walked towards the living area. Ryuzaki looked over at the folders that Michi had brought in. 'I didn't see her with any folders when she left. Then again, she had turned off her phone when she got off the train in Koganei. Who was she meeting there?' Ryuzaki picked up the folders and followed Michi into the other room. As he turned the corner, he took a moment to memorize the scene before him (solely for investigative purposes, he kept telling himself). Michi sat curled up at the far left end of the dark green leather couch. The firelight bounced off of the natural red highlights in her hair, turning her hair into the color of variegated redwood. She turned and looked at him as she raised the mug of tea to her lips. The firelight pushed the green in her hazel eyes back, only to emphasize the gold flecks around her irises. The firelight, coupled with her reddish hair and golden eyes had changed her appearance into that of a mythical tigress. However, it was the fact that she was all woman that made Ryuzaki forcibly swallow his nervousness. He then walked over and held out the folders towards Michi.

"Oh, thank you. I forgot about those." Michi accepted the folders and placed them on the armrest. Ryuzaki then walked to the other end of the couch and sat in a crouched position, staring into the fire. After a few moments of silence, Michi spoke. "If I ask you a question that could potentially get me killed, what is the probability of that occurring?" Ryuzaki tilted his head and stuck the end of his thumb in his mouth, seriously considering the ramifications of Michi's question.

"Well, if we factor in your usefulness which extend to your translation skills, your social graces, and similar mental capacity to my own, I would say, depending on the severity of your question, you could look at a thirty-five to one hundred percent chance of death." Ryuzaki shrugged and looked Michi in the eye. "But that has to take the seriousness and national security portion of your question into account, if so needed."

Michi nodded and became intently fascinated with the inside of the mug she was holding. 'Well, now is as good a time as any.' She took in a deep breath and blurted out what she had been holding in since she had walked into his apartment. "Do you know anything about someone called L?"

Ryuzaki froze. He had not heard that name in a long time. Yes, he was still associated with that title, but most if not all of his former contacts assumed he had died in the original Kira case. It would be risky as all hell to open up that can of worms again. 'However, there could be some uses in bringing L back to life.' Ryuzaki closed his eyes. Now he knew why Michi had brought up the life or death question. Knowing who he really was would throw her into a maelstrom of trust issues. Not to mention, she would never be able to go back to the life she was so used to ever again. 'In the end, it will be her choice. If she wants to know the information, she should be willing to accept the consequences.' Ryuzaki turned his body and looked straight at Michi. "What I am about to tell you will come with serious repercussions. This information is beyond your level of security clearance and if you insist on opening that door, you are then saying that you are willing to walk away from the life you know. I am going to give you a chance to back out."

Michi took a deep breath. "I was thinking about that while I was on the train. My family knows that they will not be able to contact me, for their own protection. I have made sure that there will be plenty of money to take care of them should anything happen. I have never planned on having kids or being in a long-term relationship. My life is dedicated to the law." Here, she looked Ryuzaki in the eye. "I also vowed to be honest in my work with law enforcement. I will lie to find the truth. But, in the end, Truth runs my house. So, yes, I fully accept the consequences." Ryuzaki nodded. He then stood up and walked into the computer room. He came back with a nondescript black laptop. He set it down between himself and Michi and took up his original sitting position. He then flipped open the laptop and fired it up, pulling up a protected video chat service in the process. He looked over at Michi, giving her one final chance to change her mind. But the stubborn woman just quietly stared at him, almost daring him to go back on his end of the promise.

He quietly typed a series of codes into the chat system and then pressed ENTER. A computerized ringing noise rang through the apartment and he placed the computer between them again. Michi wondered if he was placing a video call to the very man she was asking about. 'Then again, why wouldn't he just tell me that he knows this person?' All of a sudden, the ringing stopped and an elaborate looking letter N appeared on the screen.

"Well, hello, L. It's been a long time."

'What the hell?!' Michi's mind froze. 'Please tell me this is another elaborate double cross. Or a bad dream. Or a very bad fall down the rabbit hole.' She turned and looked at Ryuzaki.

No. She was now looking at L. His name had been whispered throughout the Chicago police department, but she had brushed it off as an Interpol agent with an inflated ego.

But this man was beyond Interpol. He was beyond the common mans law.

"Hello Near. Long time." L stuck the end of his thumb in his mouth as he spoke.

"It has been a long time. I must admit, I did buy into your death when Roger told Mello and I. But after Light Yagami's death, I was contacted a few months afterward by another L. I knew there were no other known successors beyond A and B, so I gave it a thirty percent chance that that was you calling me." L nodded at the deduction. "Nevertheless, forgive me if I ask you something that only the real L would have known."

"Proceed."

"What is your full name? Mind you, I only have access to it because I work in the records office now." L looked over at Michi, her wide eyes telling him that she was unwilling to believe what she was hearing.

"It's L Lawliet."

"Indeed. That just raised the probability to seventy-three percent. There are possible methods by which you could have accessed that name, so I will have to ask you to come to the safe house and meet with me so I can identify you visually. Forgive me if I do not trust technology to do it properly."

"It's understandable to be paranoid. It's been, what, five years since our last talk?"

"Approximately, yes. If you can get to this location by nine tomorrow, that will raise the probability to ninety percent. It isn't until I see you in person that I will fully believe you are who you claim to be. I have almost been tricked before."

"Of course. And forgive me if I bring my assistant along."

"Assistant? Are they listening in on this?"

"Yes, she is." L looked at Michi with a small smile.

"She, eh? I'll make sure Mello gets a dose of sedatives before he meets her. I know he can be... intimidating at times."

"Thank you, Near. I look forward to seeing you again."

"And I, you. Until we meet tomorrow." Near then closed out the connection and L closed the laptop. He stood up, hunched over, and shuffled to the fireplace. He turned down the fire and then walked into the computer room. After entering the room, he turned left and opened a small closet door and pulled out a blanket and pillow before shutting the door. He walked back into the living space and placed the blanket and pillow on the floor at Michi's feet. He remained crouched as he looked up at her.

Michi was stunned. Her boss. Her freaking BOSS, was the top detective in the world. When the whispers of L's death had come to Chicago, everyone shrugged it off as an internet hoax. Michi had never had time to wonder about this elusive man. And now she was working with him. As she watched him stand up and walk to the kitchen, she briefly contemplated running out of the apartment. 'No. I have to stay around. I have to see this through.' She blinked and took a shuddering breath. Suddenly, her black and white cup was lowered into her line of vision. She looked up at L and accepted the cup, not breaking eye contact. He scratched the back of his head and nodded towards the cup of tea.

"I did put a mild sedative in there. I know this whole day has been pretty heavy and I want you to be alert for tomorrow's meeting with Near. Everything will be explained then." Michi nodded and downed the tea in two gulps. She placed the cup on the ground and picked up the blanket and pillow. She settled in as L stood over her, making sure she was comfortable and that the sedatives would run their course. As Michi looked up at him with sleepy eyes, he felt his heart skip a beat. 'Probably all that sugar.' L then walked towards the computer room. He opened the curtain so that he could keep an eye on Michi through the reflective glass.

As his gaze flicked from the computer screen to the glass door, L briefly wondered if he could be falling for his assistant.

'No. That isn't possible. I'm not capable of those kinds of feelings.' L closed his eyes. 'I can't get attached. Not again.'
- 7
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All is Forgotten, All is Forgiven