(Chapter three: Chess and a Conversation)
A week passed by in a flash. Near and Hanayuki spent most of their time together, playing games or building things with Legos. The other SPK members watched them with fascination, finding the two childlike prodigies rather strange but even more so when they had their usual intellectual conversations while playing with toys. The only time they were separated was the strangely timed naps Hanayuki had, which always happened when it was time for Near and L to talk.

That day the two had decided to play a game of chess, a very normal thing for smart people to play. But this wasn't with chess pieces. Oh no, this was played with stuffed animals (Hanayuki's pieces) and action figures (Near's pieces). It was Near's turn.
He stared at his situation; Yuki had two of his pieces, a red robot and a blue, plus was only a few turns away from taking his king, a green Mighty Morphing Power Ranger of all things, with her queen, being of course her prized black bunny Damarecius. His blue Power Ranger, a knight, was too close for an attack and all his other pieces were in bad positions except.......his Kira Lego man, also known as his queen (me: yes Light is a girl), was only a single move from taking her queen. He’d only have to move a little bit but..
He looked up at the girl in question, who was hugging her king, a large panda bear that she had more than once had fallen asleep with. He didn't want nor intend to lose this game, but he knew how much she loved Damarecius.

After she had finished building the model of the building, she grabbed her bag as if suddenly remembering something. She reached inside, saying once, "I'm sorry, Damarecius, I almost forgot you!”
He stared at her, confused, `What are you doing?”
Hanayuki seemed to ignore him until she pulled a rather strange homemade black rabbit (Me: I have a real Damarecius; this is what he looks like seriously). It had two mismatched buttons for eyes and a stitched cross for a mouth. It looked half voodoo doll really. Its head fell back and Near could feel it staring at him. She smiled and hugged it, “Dama-chan.”

“Dama....chan?” Near was frankly afraid of Damarecius, which considering it was a toy and he was the king of toys was really weird.
“Damarecius,” Hanayuki said looking at Near with the rabbits head right below hers, "An old friend made him for me a long time ago.”
“Really? Who?”
She looked saddened by it and hugged the bunny even tighter before muttered a name; "Kuroyuki.”

Kuroyuki, he thought before looking from Yuki to the bunny; Black Snow, like her name, Flower Snow.
“Hey, Near-kun?” Her voice brought him out of his thoughts so he looked up at her as she went on, “It's your turn. Ryuu-chan,” meaning the panda in her arms, “and the rest of us are waiting.”
“Yes, of course,” he said blinking at her before looking back at the “board”.
Now or never, he thought as he grabbed Kira and was about to attack and take Damarecius when.....
The monitors turned on and buzzed. The two turned immediately to look as the all-too familiar insignia of L appeared on them.
“Hello L,” near said, looking at the screens but not letting the Lego go, surprised though by the detectives sudden call.
“Hello N,” L answered.
Hanayuki looked at her bunny then spoke up, "Good morning, you must be the world-famous detective L.”
Near was even more surprised that the normally shy, she didn't even like talking to other the SPK members that much, girl spoke to L so easily. L seemed fine though, "A new friend?” The tinge of interest in the voice made Near annoyed for some reason.
“My name is Hanayuki,” Yuki said.
“As in the hacker elite and genius of IQ 213?”
The fact that L knew of Hanayuki made Near uneasy so he intercepted the conversation between the two before it could get too far; he didn't like the idea of L knowing anymore about her, not if he really was connected to Kira, "do you have business with me, L, or do you only wish to chat because i am busy."
"I wanted to know if you have collected any more information about Kira."
Near sighed, "if I did have more information, you know very well I would not tell you."
Hanayuki drew Ryuu-chan's head over her face to hide her smile as she silently laughed. L seemed a bit annoyed, "you and I see on the same side, we should work together."
"Yes, but trust is key in teamwork," Hanayuki said, looking up from over the panda's head, her silver-blue eyes glowing so slightly, "And N doesn't trust L, that's why M stands between them."
Near couldn't help but chuckle at her alphabet reference and L sounded taken back, "What a childish thing to say."
"yes, but you must agree we have no real evidence supporting a reason to trust you," she said, a bit more serious now.
"Agreed, now tell me, is that all?" Near said, staring at the L on the screens.
There was silence then a begrudging "no" before L logged out. The two stayed as they were for a moment before she spoke, again looking at him from over the panda's head, "it's still your turn, Near."
He looked at her and nodded, his face feeling a bit hot (me: aw, Near-chan blushed! He's soooo cute!) as he then stared down at Damarecius, ready to attack. He was silent and did not move until..... He took her cat knight instead. Never, I guess, he thought as he pulled then to let her move. He spoke, "so what are your thoughts on L?"
"He's very narcissistic," she said, moving Damarecius to take his pink robot rook.
"How so?" a pawn, one of the many little baby chicks of Yuki's, was taken.
"He spoke in a very self-important manner and made it seem as if we are wrong not to trust him even though he is likely either Kira or connected to him. He's not very intelligent, not like the original L, he seems to be relying much too much on others to get information he himself should be able to easily acquire." The attacker of the pawns, Superman of all things, was taken next.
Near thought on that, twirling a strand of his curly hair between his fingers, a bit stick on her reference to there being an original L, "How did you know he's not the original?" he took another pawn.
"Obvious if you take into consideration his ways. He doesn't act like the first, plus the speech patterns are different," Yuki commented, closing her eyes as she accessed her vast knowledge, "not the words so much garbled, though they are different too. Subtle differences, I can pick those up quite easily. After all technology can only go so far and I've not only had contact with the original," she took his last rook, a giant monster duck made of Legos, "I also have perfect pitch."
He stared at her, amazed that she had yet another talent, then noticed; one move and she'd have checkmate on him. He blinked then smiled, "You have another move for checkmate."
"I know but you still have another turn left," she replied, returning the smile, "Maybe you can think up a way to stop me."
Near looked over the "board", analyzing the whole thing. There was no escape, she had all the pieces that could have saved him and his queen was left in a knight position to hers, making it virtually useless. Hanayuki was good, very good; she'd outplayed a boy who loved games and toys more than human contact, she had to be good.
Instead of moving he toppled his green Mighty Morpher, picked up Damarecius and handed him to Yuki, "i lost five moves ago, the moment I spared your Damarecius."
She put Ryuu-chan onto the floor then took the rabbit, the two's hands brushing each other in the exchange. He felt his heart skip a best and she went a bit red before hugging Damarecius to her, mumbling, "thank you."
The two albinos quickly moved to pick up their toys then, neither aware of the others confusion over their own reactions to that momentary touch. They didn't yet know their own feelings.
~~~~~