Burial (A Death Note FanFic)

Cupcakes and Pecans

This entire chapter is in L's POV, so hopefully I did Okay considering I am imagining him as a boy right now. Let me know how I did in your comments!

Disclaimer: I only own any OC's and original plot points, the rest is from greater minds.

L had heard the doorbell from upstairs in the attic. It wasn't a familiar sound because of how sparse the list of guests was for Wammy's House, but he recognized it all the same. The girl had come back after only letting a few days pass by. She had chosen the Sunday, the day that would provide her with the most time to be absent from her own home. There was no denying her curiosity about the house, or the orphans.

Despite all the commotion he had heard coming from inside the study, L never left his spot where he was stooped on the floor. There was a bowl of jellybeans before him (which he had absentmindedly grouped into clumps according to color) and a ring of scattered papers all around him. They were case files, both cold cases and ongoing investigations alike, which Watari had retrieved for him from Scotland Yard. He was still too young to break out into the international scene of crime investigation, but already in England he had made quite a name for himself. Or rather, a letter.

The slamming of the front door reverberated through the orphanage, and he knew the other children were finally free of the inside only stipulation. All thanks to him of course. L did not envy them though. He didn't need to leave the small attic to have his fun, not when he was outwitting criminals and the departments attempting to catch said lawbreakers.

None of the files were grabbing his attention today however. There was no one particular case that reeked with challenge, nothing that could provide him with that feeling of satisfaction from a difficult win. His focus left the folders, just as they had been discarded on the floor, and he tottered over to the tiny window at the back of the attic. He pressed his face up against the glass, wanting to know about the cupcake girl's progress with the other children.

It only took L a moments glance to pick her out amongst the others. That ridiculous red bow was in her hair again. She was with Linda. There were few girls in the home around her age, so the two of them gravitating towards each other was an appropriate reaction. Linda was showing the girl her sketchbook, while the rest of the children continued to circle around the two in an attempt to impress by showcasing their own talents. The only other child not outside was BB, who had recently adopted the tiresome habit of imitating everything 'L' did.

A knock at his own door drew him back into the darkness of the attic, and L shifted around in time to see Watari stepping into the room. It only took one sweep of his guardian's eyes across the room for L to know that the scattered papers was something he would want to rectify.

"Anything of interest in this lot?" Watari inquired as he began to round up the papers into a pile.

L sighed, and retrieved his bowl of jellybeans. "Dismal, they're all rotten."

"Hmm." Watari made a sound in his throat. He stopped at the window. "I see you've noticed our guest."

Having pressed his face so close to the glass, L's nose had left behind a smudge. He turned his eyes up to the ceiling for a moment in thought before replying. "She's an only child, and friendless."

"Something she said to you before?"

"No, but I am also without siblings or friends," L said as he plopped a red jellybean into his mouth. "It's an easy mark to distinguish."

Watari gave him an admonishing look. "L, are the others not your family?"

"No. They were unfortunate in losing their parents, but brought here because of their higher intellect," L said, unblinking. "They are my successors."