As November drew to a close, and the holiday season settled upon its parts of the world, Naomi began to think of her childhood home in Japan.  She had been working for L for almost a year now, and she decided that it was a good time to ask him if she could go home for a visit.

She approached the subject one evening when L seemed to be in a fairly good mood.

"L?  Can I ask you a question?"

L didn't turn around from his perch in the computer chair at the desk.  He was too busy making a sugar cube pyramid.  But he answered with a monotone, "Yes?  What is it?"

Naomi cleared and shifted to sit up straighter on the couch.  "Well, um- I was wondering if... if maybe I could go see my family for a few days... in Japan."

A sugar cube, pinched between a bony thumb and index finger, paused.  It hovered over the pyramid for a moment before it came to rest on the very top.

"...in Japan..." L mumbled.  He picked up another sugar cube.  "Yes, I think that can be arranged."

Naomi's heart leapt.  "Really??  Oh, that would really mean a lot to me!"

His arched back to her, she didn't see the smile the lifted the corners of his mouth.  He liked it when her voice got all high and excited like that.  Despite this, he continued with the plainest inflection, "We've got to be in New York by the middle of next week, but I suppose we could go to Japan first."

Naomi furrowed her brow.  L had said "we."  She had meant to just make the trip herself.

"Oh.  You... you don't have to go all the way to Japan with me.  I just meant... Well, I thought I just could go and then meet you in New York."

L popped a sugar cube in his mouth and spoke around it.  "No, no, I love Japan.  Besides, you know I would rather you not use public air travel."

"Oh, right."  Naomi hadn't thought of that.

"I'll talk to Watari," L went on.  "We'll arrange to go to Japan in two days.   You can have the week off to stay with your family and then we will go on to New York."  He tossed another sugar cube into his mouth.  "How does that sound?"

Naomi's expression brightened into a grin.  "That sounds wonderful!  Thank you so much."  She stood up and moved with quick, excited steps toward her room to call her parents.

The door to the hotel suite opened and Watari stepped inside.  As he removed his hat and coat, he asked L if there was anything he needed him to do.

"Yes," L said without hesitation, holding out his arm.  An empty coffee cup dangled delicately from his fingertips.

Watari hung his coat on the rack.  "I'll make some more right away."

"Oh, and Watari?"

"Yes?"

"We're going to Japan in two days."

To anyone else in the world, such an abrupt statement of plans would have brought on, at the very least, a look of surprise, and perhaps a feeling of overwhelmed unpreparedness.  But the feathers of Quillish Wammy remained unruffled at the announcement. 

He merely nodded and responded calmly and obligingly, "Very well."

---

As promised, L's private jet touched down in Tokyo two days later.  

Naomi took a cab to her parents' home, as she felt that showing up big as life on her luxury motorcycle may raise some questions that she wouldn't be able to answer.

As she stepped out of the cab, a smile spread across her face.  The Japanese home she had grown up in hadn't changed a bit.

She gathered her luggage for the week and was only halfway up the sidewalk when the front door opened and everything was all at once a lively blur of hugs and hellos.  There to greet her, along with her parents, were her two brothers, Takeo and Tatsuya, and their families.  Naomi hadn't seen her three nieces in almost two years and there was a tiny nephew that she was able to hold for the first time. 

Naomi was whisked back to the happy days of her upbringing as she settled in for a week off with her family.

She spent the first few days catching up with her siblings and going with her parents to visit friends and other extended family.

On her fourth day in Tokyo, Naomi took a cab to visit the police station where she had worked as an office assistant during the summers between her high school terms.  The short, elderly lady whom she had worked under still sat at the front desk at the entrance.  She jumped up when Naomi walked in and greeted her with a big hug.

Naomi had loved working here.  She had known since she was just a little girl that she wanted to go into law enforcement and Chief Sato, who was a good friend of her father's, had been kind enough to give the eager, bright-eyed teen a summer position.  Since then, a Chief Yagami, whom Naomi had never met, had taken his place.

"Oh, everyone will want to say hello!" the elderly receptionist said excitedly.  She handed Naomi a lanyard with a visitor's badge and buzzed her in to the office wing of the building.

Naomi spent the afternoon pleasantly, visiting with friendly faces, some familiar and some new.  She stopped to get coffee in the break room and remembered fondly doing her summer reading projects at the little table in the corner on her lunch hour.

As she was pouring her coffee, the door opened and a well-dressed young man stepped into the room.  He was tall with well-groomed, brown hair and attractive features.

"Oh, hello," he greeted.  "I don't believe we have met?"

Naomi smiled.  "No, we haven't.  I'm just visiting today, but I used to work here."  She returned the coffee pot to its base and turned to bow slightly.  "Misora Naomi," she introduced herself.

The young man bowed in return.  "Yagami Light, nice to meet you!  Were you an agent?"

"Oh, no.  I mean, yes.  I mean-"  She laughed and shook her head. 

Light grinned as he poured his own cup of coffee.  He appeared youthful but he presented himself with a great deal of maturity.

"Let me start over," she said, smiling and waving her hand.  "I worked in the office here as a teenager.  Then, I worked as an agent in the States."

"Ah," said Light, placing the carafe back in the coffee maker.  "So what do you do now?"  He stood casually with one hand in his suit pants pocket as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Oh, well, I can't really discuss my job freely," Naomi said apologetically.  "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude-"

Light put a hand up.  "Say no more, I'm used to it," he laughed.

Naomi smiled.  "You said your name is Yagami," she observed.  "Are you related to the chief?"

"Mm," Light nodded, lowering the mug of coffee from his lips.  "He's my father."

"Oh!  So you work with your father, then?  That's nice."

"Yeah, I like it!" Light said, nodding.  "I'm just doing intern stuff between classes for now, but someday I hope to be on one of his task forces.  I'm in my second year at Toho University."

Despite his boyish features, Naomi was surprised to hear that he was, in fact, so young.  He certainly carried himself with a sophistication beyond his years.

The door to the break room opened and another young man, appearing a little older than Light, poked his head in.

"What is it, Matsuda?" Light asked.

"Oh, sorry, Light.  I don't mean to interrupt, but your father needs those copies made right away!" 

The dark-haired young man called Matsuda had such a nervous disposition, but he smiled and bowed to Naomi.  "I'm so sorry to be rude!"

Naomi waved her hand.  "No, no, it's fine!"  She extended her hand to Light.  "It was really nice to meet you!  Good luck at college and best of luck with getting on that task force someday!"

Light accepted her handshake and smiled warmly.  "You too!  Good luck with... Well, whatever it is you do!"  He laughed pleasantly and they bowed to each other.  

He turned to leave, shutting the door behind him.  Naomi heard Matsuda's voice saying something to Light about how he always knew how to talk to pretty girls.

She grinned and returned to her coffee.

---

The week passed all too quickly and the sun came up on Naomi's last day in Tokyo.  She sat at the breakfast table with her mother and father, enjoying their last few moments together.  Her luggage was all packed and sitting by the door, ready to go whenever Watari arrived.

"It was so wonderful to see you," Naomi's mother said, taking her daughter's hand.

Naomi gave her mother a meaningful look.  "I had such a great time."

Her mother glanced over at Naomi's father.  She continued slowly.  "Dear, we can't let you go without asking... Your father and I just want to know... Are you planning to settle down soon?"

Naomi looked down into her cup of green tea.  She had made it almost a whole week without this question coming up.  She lifted her gaze to meet her mother's.  "Mom, I'm happy.  My job is my life and I'm okay with that.  I really love it."

Her parents exchanged glances again.

Her father leaned forward onto the table.  "Sweetheart, you know we love you.  And we love hearing that you are happy.  But... don't you think you'll regret this decision down the road?"

Naomi shook her head.  "I don't," she said evenly.

"But, your brothers-"

"Dad, Takeo and Tatsuya are happy where they are... and I... Well, I'm happy where I am."  She smiled. 

And for some strange reason, L came to mind when she said that.

Her mother spoke again.  "We just want to make sure you're happy in the life you've chosen."  She had a concerned look in her eyes.

"Mom, I'm fine."  Naomi smiled reassuringly.  "But..."  She reached out and took both her parents' hands.  "I'm going to miss you both so much."

As she spoke the words, the sound of a car pulling up came from outside.  Naomi stood and hugged her parents closely.  The three of them made their way over to the front door and her father picked up her suitcase to carry it outside.

They stepped onto the front stoop and Naomi looked up to see L standing by the car.  An all-too-familiar sensation instantly fluttered inside her.  He looked the same as he always did: floppy hair hanging in his sleep-deprived eyes, white t-shirt, loose-fitting blue jeans, beaten sneakers.

His mouth rounded into a small smile when he saw her.

She smiled back.

Her parents, on the other hand, didn't quite know what to make of him.

"Who is that, dear?" Naomi's mother asked, her voice low.

Naomi opened to answer, but L stepped forward as Watari collected the bags and began loading them into the trunk.

"You must be Misora Naomi's family," he said in a friendly tone.  He bowed respectfully.  "Rue Ryuzaki."

The Misoras bowed in return.

Naomi's father spoke.  "And, ah- how do you know our Naomi?"

"We work together," L said simply.  "And, I assure you, she is a valuable agent.  She does excellent work, Sir."

Naomi felt her cheeks grow warm.  Stupid butterflies.

The Misoras seemed pleased to hear the commendation, though their expressions remained a bit perplexed.

L said nothing more.  He just stood with his hands awkwardly at his sides, no doubt refraining from pocketing them in respect for her parents.  He looked at Naomi with a look that asked if they could leave now.

Naomi understood and turned to hug her father and mother one more time.  They said their final goodbyes and she and L climbed into the back of the car as Watari shut the trunk.

"Well, that was unexpected," Naomi commented.

"What was?"  L was already opening a tin of Japanese butter cookies.

"You!  Meeting my parents!" Naomi laughed a little.

"Oh.  I just wanted to see what they were like," L glanced at her innocently as he bit into a cookie.

Naomi smiled at him.  Leaving her childhood home behind was never easy.  But she realized, as she looked at L with all of his familiar quirks, that home wasn't necessarily a place.

He looked up again and noticed her watching him.

"What?"  Naturally, his mouth was full.

Naomi just smiled.  She wanted to say, "I missed you," but she didn't.  It didn't quite feel right.  Not yet.  Instead, she just shrugged playfully, and then turned to wave goodbye one more time.

They drove away and the Misoras stood watching and waving until the car was out of sight.

Naomi's father lowered his arm and sighed. "You know," he remarked, "a few years ago, when Naomi told us that she had worked under the great detective, L, I really thought she would be going places and doing big things. And now... Well, now, she's gone and left the FBI and it seems like she's working with some very strange people." He shook his head .

Naomi's mother nodded. "Yes..."  She was quiet for a moment, then added with a hint of optimism, "But as long as she's happy, I suppose." 

She smiled hopefully up at her husband, who, in turn, tightened his arm affectionately around her.

Then, they turned and went inside, shutting the door behind them.