* * * December 23 * * *

Bambi had slept through most of the plane ride, her body still exhausted. After the plane landed Watari led Bambi and Mello to another black car. The inventor had been driving the pair of investigators for a little over an hour as they conversed.

Bambi recoiled in disbelief. "What? No way!"

"It's true," Mello bragged.

"Only Watari knows what L looks like."

"No," he corrected with a smirk. "Watari, Roger, and I know what he looks like."

She raised an eyebrow. "Who's Rodger?"

"He runs the Wammy House."

"Oh," she trailed off before turning back to the blond. "Wait, we're getting off topic. No offense, but why would L show his face to you?"

Mello sent a sharp glare in her direction. Bambi raised her hands up defensively as she tried to explain herself. "Look, I'm just surprised that L agreed to show anyone his face before his successor was chosen."

He leaned back in his seat and looked down bitterly. "I was number one before Near came to the Wammy House. The only person who even came close to my level was Matt, and he never wanted to be L."

Bambi's gaze softened. "So, you were going to be his successor until Near came along?"

"Yeah, and that's why L agreed to meet with me to tell me about the detective wars."

She waited for him to continue, but he stopped speaking. Bambi looked down at her casted ankle as a small frown settled on her face. "So, that's why he hates Near. Everything was falling into place for him, but Near going to the Wammy House completely ruined it for him."

The next thirty minutes were silent as Watari drove through a city. He slowed down and parked next to a tall hotel. Bambi got up and onto her crutches as the other two exited the car. Mello grabbed his suitcase with his good arm, and Watari picked up Bambi's suitcase. The younger two followed Watari into the lobby, where they received strange looks from the occupants because of their heavy bandages. The trio then stepped into an empty elevator. Watari pushed a button, and the elevator began rising to the top of the building.

The ride up was silent. As Bambi looked to the side, she saw Mello looking down with a slight scowl visible on his face. She frowned, knowing that their earlier conversation was likely still bothering him. The brunette looked back up and stood there silently in anticipation. She knew that she was mere moments away from meeting L face to face for the first time. Even if she disliked the detective, it would still be like meeting a celebrity. Bambi took a calming breath to ease her nerves.

When the elevator reached one of the highest floors, Watari led the injured investigators down the hall. He stopped and unlocked a door. He let Mello and Bambi in before closing the door behind himself. As Bambi looked around the lavish room, she found no one else there. Frustration began to bubble up inside her as she recalled the week prior when she first met Matt and Mello. She scoffed. This must be another one of his damn tests.

Just as she contemplated calling announcing her thoughts, a man emerged from the kitchen. Bambi's eyes went wide as they landed on his lanky figure. He bore a close resemblance to Beyond with his dark eyes and his messy, black hair. Despite the resemblance, she knew that he wasn't Beyond. This man was several inches taller, his hair was more voluminous, and his eyes wider.

As he spoke, Bambi noticed that his voice was different from Beyond's wild and frenzied voice: it was calm and collected as he looked directly at her and said, "I am L."

She glanced over to Mello to confirm that this person was really L. The blond raised his eyebrows and smirked at her, confirming the truth behind his story and this man's words.

When the pair looked back over to L, he continued. "I'm sure that Watari informed you that you are to call me Ryuzaki." Bambi and Mello nodded. "Additionally, you two are not allowed to leave HQ. Watari and I will accompany you when we switch hotels."

"What?!" Bambi cried out. "Why?"

L looked back at her as he replied, his voice almost condescending. "If you two had acted reasonably when you met and worked together, none of this would have been necessary and you would both be in Los Angeles, uninjured."

As Mello looked down, Bambi narrowed her eyes at the detective and argued, "Well, maybe that wouldn't have happened if you told us all the same thing instead of testing us!"

"If you passed the test, it wouldn't have happened either." L retorted.

Bambi opened her mouth to argue again, but found no valid argument. She closed her mouth and looked to the side with a huff.

"Now, that you're done arguing, allow me to inform you of the progress of the case so far."

Bambi looked up to see the detective walking over to a table with a half-eaten strawberry shortcake in the middle. She followed Mello and L to the table and took a seat.

"I have been working with a Japanese Task Force the past few weeks. I have determined that Kira is in Japan, and can kill with only a face and name. He is also capable of controlling the time of death of his victims. I have also concluded that there is a leak of information coming from the Task Force, and Kira has access to said information. In response to this, eight days ago I sent out twelve FBI agents to investigate the Task Force members and their families. I have compiled files of the rest of the information for you to read up on." L signaled Watari, who brought a large stack of folders to the table. L smiled before adding, "Now go ahead and read. It's not like you have anywhere important to go."

As he stood to leave, Bambi narrowed her eyes at him. Jackass.

* * * December 27 * * *

Four days had passed since Bambi and Mello arrived in Japan, and they had moved hotels in that time. The youngest investigators had gone through all of the files, but L didn't allow them to do anything else because the Task Force had already been assigned all of the work. The two were currently playing poker on the kitchen table. Bambi's poker face was perfect, but so was Mello's. It was almost time to show their cards, and she had a royal straight. When a voice sounded off from L's computer on the other side of the room, the two paused to listen.

"L... I just got word of the deaths of our agents in Japan. I tried contacting all twelve of our agents in Japan, but I couldn't reach any of them."

Bambi looked up to see L's eyes wide in surprise. I guess he didn't monitor them as much as he should have.

The voice continued, "I think Kira killed them all."

L waited a moment before speaking into the microphone. "Chief, calm down and listen to me carefully: Did any of the agents know the others' faces?"

There was a pause before the man replied, "Not until yesterday."

The two continued until L came to the realization, "If Kira can manipulate their actions before death, it's possible that he saw one of their copies, made that one send it to the others, and killed them."

L stood there with his hand to his mouth, thinking, when the Chief of the FBI spoke up. "L, I'm sorry, but I'm calling off our Japanese investigation."

He cited his reasons before informing L that he was going to tell the Japanese Task Force that he was working under L's orders. He then ended the call. Bambi and Mello exchanged glances, silently agreeing to wait for their superior to give them orders.

* * * December 31 * * *

Another four days had passed, and another hotel switch occurred. Bambi and Mello were playing another round of poker while they half-listened to L as he spoke through his microphone again, "Earlier I said 'I only trust you people.' Watari."

She rolled her eyes at his statement and mumbled, "Who's he lying to now?"

Mello raised an eyebrow. "What makes you so sure that he's lying?"

She deadpanned. "He's L. He always lies."

After a few moments, L approached the pair. The blond was the first to look up and say, "What's up, Ryuzaki?"

"I am having the members of the Task Force meet me here. However, just in case any of them is Kira, I want the two of you to hide in the bedroom until Watari retrieves you. Until then, I want you to be as silent as possible."

Bambi's eyes widened. "What?! Ryuzaki, if any of them is Kira-"

"Room. Now."

She pouted. "Fine."

The young woman got up onto her crutches, pocketed her cards and chips, and started making her way to the bedroom. Mello followed her shortly after doing the same. The bedroom contained a king-sized bed which the pair claimed as the playing table due to the lack of any actual tables in the room. They continued their poker game for another hour before stopping, bored of the game.

They heard the door to the suite open, followed shortly by L's voice as he spoke to the people who had just entered, "I am L."

Bambi and Mello were both fixated on the door, listening as the group got further away and more muffled. When the new group was out of range, the brunette frowned. She carefully shifted her body, putting a pillow under her broken ankle before leaning back on the bed. Mello followed suit, leaning next to her.

Bambi whispered to Mello, "The other day, Watari said that a SWAT member from your team leaked that Beyond escaped prison. Do you think that Kira will get him before Matt and Near do?"

"Beats me. There are tons of criminals out there, who knows if he's on Kira's hit list or not."

She acknowledged his response and looked up at the ceiling above her. Although she was tired, Bambi desperately fought off the need for sleep, knowing that she would just have another nightmare about her time in her prison. Mello eventually drifted off, and unfortunately for her, Bambi did too.

* * * January 1 * * *

Bambi was woken up from her horrors by Mello roughly shaking her shoulder. She put a hand over her face as she pushed herself into a sitting position next to him.

Neither of them would look at each other as Mello quietly said, "You were starting to make noise."

"Sorry."

After a few minutes of silence, the door opened. The pair looked up to see Watari entering the room as he said, "L has determined that none of the Task Force members are Kira. They all have his trust, and we are going to meet them now, so it's time for you two to get up."

Bambi brushed her bedhead out of her face and got up and onto her crutches. She and Mello followed Watari out to another room in the suite where five men plus L were gathered around a table.

Watari greeted them, "Good work everyone. You must be thinking 'This old geezer is Watari?' Ryuzaki has told you everything, correct? Ryuzaki must really trust you all if he let you see my face."

"Ye..Yes," the youngest-looking officer replied before looking over to Bambi and Mello with his eyebrows raised. "What about them, Ryuzaki? They're just kids, they can't be on the case too."

L looked at him and responded, "These 'kids' are two of the smartest people in the world-besides myself." Bambi was taken aback by L's compliment as he gestured to them individually. "This is Mello, a field specialist, and Bambi, a technology specialist."

The younger man looked at Bambi and Mello, still obviously unsure. The older looking man with glasses said to him, "Matsuda, you know that my son has helped us with many cases, and these young people look just about his age. If Ryuzaki trusts them and says that they are smart, I believe him."

Matsuda looked down sheepishly before saying, "I guess you're right, Chief. Sorry for doubting you."

After each member of the Task Force introduced themselves, L bluntly continued. "They are here under my strict supervision and are not allowed to leave the hotel without my permission. If I do not specifically say to you that they are allowed to leave, they are not allowed to leave. Do not let them convince you otherwise."

Mello vehemently argued against the rule, waving arms and all such theatrics included as the head detective ignored his efforts. Bambi chimed in beside him, but L continued with his business despite their protests. He had Watari hand out badges with fake names to each of the Japanese detectives, instructing the men to use them whenever possible for their own safety. Then the inventor handed out specialized belts to everyone, Bambi and Mello included, as he explained the emergency call function hidden within. Surprisingly, he had taken women's fashion into consideration during the design phase, as the hacker's belt was thinner than the others. Following the handouts, the new team began to discuss the case and evidence thus far. Despite Bambi's new distractions, this didn't change the fact that past threats lingered about.

Beyond was hiding in a dark room, far from what remained of his search party. A single laptop illuminated the place, its screen displaying a blinking dot on a map. Laying opened on the ground in front of the device was a single notebook with several pages filled. The murderer was leaning back on a lawn chair as he held the old skull in his hands.

A grin formed on his lips as he tilted his head. "Everything is going smoothly, Alice – though it took us longer than I expected to get here."

Her soft voice echoed in his mind. "You know where he is now. Why aren't we going?"

"The board has changed," he explained. "We have left a knight and the bishop in the dust, and the queen is now incapacitated."

"Then the king is open," she pointed out.

He chuckled darkly as he turned back to her skull. "Don't you remember what you taught me? Chess is a long game. We must wait and decipher the algorithm by which he moves to plan our perfect attack."

He could hear the pout in her voice. "How long before you replace him?"

Beyond hummed. "All in due time, my dear. You just need to exercise patience.