The first thing she did when she woke up was grope angrily for the alarm clock, knocking it off of the nightstand and into silence. When she finally sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, the night before came back to her, and she was filled with fresh anger. How dare Ryuzaki come into her home and act this way, he hardly knew her! She shuffled into the kitchen to see Ryuzaki and Raito sitting in the same spots they'd been in, talking in low voices over cups of tea. Raito spotted her coming first and stood, greeting her.

"Good morning, Hitomi-chan. Sorry I fell asleep last night, I was exhausted." Still grumpy, she muttered,

"I'm sure putting hidden cameras all over my house can do that to you." Raito was surprised, she could read it on his face though he had no reaction, and he turned back to the table and said,

"Do you want some tea? Ryuzaki-kun made it." She glared at the dark haired man and said stiffly,

"No thanks. I'll get some coffee on the way to school."

"Oh, that's right, we're going to class with you today." Raito pulled a suitcase from the corner and started pulling fresh clothes from it. "I'll get dressed in the other room." Hitomi sat on the couch and avoided L's gaze as the two sat quietly.

"Hitomi-chan. Raito-kun is on the cameras."

"And?" He spun the laptop toward her, revealing a window that displayed four different angles of Raito pulling his shirt up over his head and dropping it to the floor, then moving to his belt buckle and...

Ryuzaki spun the computer back away from her and closed it, keeping his intense gaze on her. This time she was determined not to lose this battle of wills to him, and they stared for a few moments before he shocked her by breaking the silence and speaking.

"Your parents were right when they named you." She blinked at him a couple of times.

"What?"

"Hitomi. It translates roughly to the pupil of the eye, in english. Meaning that your parents thought your eyes were your best feature. They were right." A smile snuck onto her lips.

"Ryuzaki-kun... are you complimenting me?"

"No, I was merely making an observation." She stood and crossed toward kitchen, running her hand along the arms and the back of his chair as she walked past him. His eyes followed her until he would've had to turn to see her, and she stopped behind his chair, leaning close so she could speak quietly in his ear.

"Thank you, Ryuzaki-kun. It was nice of you to say that... But the next time you want to make up for being an ass to a girl, just apologizing works." She was leaning against the chair with one of her hands on each arm to support her, and he suddenly grabbed one of her wrists, pulling her foward enough to make her lose her balance and fall into him. He felt his face flush a tiny bit when her chest smash against his back and she gave a small cry of surprise, and her cheeks reddened a little when she realized she'd taken her bra off before bed the night before, and how she was bent over the back of this chair into Ryuzaki, and he wasn't letting go of her.

"Don't tell me you guys seriously aren't getting along, it's too quiet out there!" Raito's voice called as he came back down the hallway. L instantly let go of Hitomi and she stood, pushing herself up from the back of the chair. He came around the corner and stopped, looking at the pair suspiciously. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Hitomi said a bit too quickly. "Ryuzaki-kun was just-"

"There's no sense in lying, Hitomi-chan," L interrupted. "Hitomi-chan was peeking at Raito-kun changing his clothes." Raito looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and she blushed fursiously turning away.

"I was not!" But her voice was choked with embarasment, and both of the men could hardly hear it. L shot Raito a look as if saying 'told you' and Raito shook his head.

"Anyway, Hitomi-chan, since you have to get dressed, Ryuzaki-kun and I could block the video feed for a minute." She turned back toward them, blushing anew.

"You what?" She pointed at Ryuzaki. "And you! You had me-" She was cut off when L said calmly,

"The feed is interrupted in your room for two minutes. After that it will come back on, so you might want to hurry." Hitomi shut her mouth and practically ran to her room, throwing on clothes as fast as she could. When she came back out Raito looked up from his spot and smiled at her, giving her an appraising look. She felt slghtly uncomfortable under his scrutiny, and turned away, looking at the clock.

"Well, we still have a while until class starts... do you guys want to go for breakfast?"

"You were right about this restaurant, Hitomi-chan," Raito sighed, leaning back against the seat. She smiled briefly and went back to her plate, shoveling in another bite of heavily powdered french toast. The combination of the sugar and syrup almost enough to hide the actual toast itself. But Hitomi and L seemed perfectly in love with the dish, eating as if they'd been starved for years. When she finally finished the waitress came by to take her plate, and asked if there was anything else they needed.

"... A piece of cake," they said almost in unison. "The kind with all the icing, and those strawberries on top," Hitomi finished.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you guys, we only have one piece of that left, our baker hasn't come in for the day yet. You want me to bring two forks and let you share it?" L had gotten a determined look and stared at her, but Hitomi flashed a brilliant smile at he waitress and said,

"Yes, of course. That would be lovely."

"Coming right up." Once the older woman was gone, the younger turned on the detective.

"Listen here you," she said in a low voice that surprised both of the boys. "You may be my guest, and you may be some famous detective investigating me or whatever, but that cake is mine."

"Can I interpret this as some kind of threat, Hitomi-chan?"

"Interpret it as whatever you like, Ryuzaki-kun, but I will have my cake." As if on cue, the woman came back and set down the plate and two forks next to it. L was much faster than she'd expected, but Hitomi was no sucker. They both seized the plate at once, glaring at each other as it sat between them. Raito sighed heavily and grabbed the plate, pulling it in front of himself. The others' mouths fell open in shock, and Raito took one of the forks, cutting the cake in half then setting it back.

"There, now you both have half. Okay?" They nodded like scolded children, and Raito muttered under his breath, "Maybe they're too alike..." The problem seemed solved, but when the cake was gone, the issue of who would get the strawberry arose.

"Well it was on my half, so logic goes to say that it's mine."

"Logic would say that we at least have to split it, like the cake."

"Well, Hitomi-chan, that's a good theory, but Raito split the cake, and so he obviously decided to give it to me."

"Don't play that game, Ryuzaki-kun! Because I could always play one of my own..."

"And what would that be?"

"...Be nice to me because I'm a girl..." At this, Raito almost burst into laughter, muffling the sound with a hand. This was enough to make L look over at him for a seond, and Hitomi tok her chance and forked the strawberry.

"Why, thank you Raito-kun, for that excellent distraction!" she said gleefully, holding the fork up in front of her.

"Don't even think about it..." L warned her.

"Think about what, Ryuzaki-kun?" The fork inched nearer her open mouth.

"I'm warning you, Hitomi-chan..." She smiled impishly.

"I'm so scared..." In the blink of an eye, L lunged over the table in an attempt to grav the fork from her, but she jerked back, pulling it out of his reach just in time. He did get a grasp on her wrist, and as he slowly pulled her arm back toward him, she was surprised by his strength. His eyes didn't leave hers for a second as the battle of wills progressed, and Raito watched in mixed awe and dismay at the tension and hint of chemistry between the two. L won out in the end, forcing her hand to guide the fork into his waiting mouth and taking the strawberry. Once it was done, he let go of her and sat back, looking rather pleased with himself. Hitomi, on the other hand, stared in almost disbelief at him, filled with mixed emotions about what had just occured. Suddenly one of these voices in her head said,

"... Can't believe he grabbed us like that... so forceful...that was the hottest thing we've seen in a long time..." and all of the other, more reasonable parts of Hitomi shouted back, "Shut up! It was not!"

"Hitomi-chan, what are you talking about? No one said anything..." Raito said, looking at her.

"I- said that... out loud?" L and Raito nodded, and Hitomi's face went red once again. "Heh... I'm just gonna go to the bathroom for a minute." She got up and sped to the little hallway that held the bathrooms and a few pay phones, leaning against the wall with a heavy sigh. Her embarasment was just starting to fade when Raito came around the corner and asked gently,

"Hitomi-chan... daijoubu?"

"Daijoubu dayo..." Raito switched to english, figuring it would be easier for her.

"Are you sure? You and Ryuzaki-kun have been acting weird."

"It's nothing, Raito-kun. He just... he's so stubborn! How do you put up with him?"

"So you noticed." He laughed. "Look, Ryuzaki-kun is kind of strange, but he's a good person. And he's dedicated to catching Kira and stopping his crimes. You two are just a lot alike, Hitomi-chan..."

"What are you saying, Raito-kun?"

"Don't think I've forgotten how stubborn you were when we were going out." She looked up and saw that he was smiling, and smiled back. But her smile faltered suddenly and her gaze hardened, confusing him. Then she swiftly jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck in hugging him. At first he didn't know what to do, but after a few seconds, she spoke softly in his ear.

"Good. He doesn't have a mic on you."

"Hitomi-chan?" She let go and stepped back, looking at him seriously.

"Raito-kun, I know who you are."

"... Of course you do."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it. I can tell by the look on your face, Kira." Raito was a good actor, that was sure when he smiled and said,

"Did Ryuzaki-kun talk you into this? Trying to get me to admit I'm Kira or something? Because I told him a million times, I'm not-"

"I can't see your lifespan, Raito." This simple sentence stopped him cold, but after a few seconds a vaguely sinister grin came over him.

"What are the chances that it'd be you, Hitomi-chan? Of all the people in New York."

"One in a few million."

"And you have the eyes?"

"I'm assuming you don't, then?"

"No."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"What's your game in this, Raito-kun? All the criminals?"

"I'm making the world a better-"

"- place, I know. But Raito-kun, that's not it. I know you, there's something else behind it, something in it for you. Right?" He grinned again.

"You were always a little too smart, Hitomi-chan."

"So what is it then? A God complex? You plan on ruling a new world order if no one stops you?"

"When- no one stops me."

"Of course. And you're hanging around with him because..."

"He's closest to finding out who I am, and I will kill him before he does."

"I see." She stopped and looked past him. "We'd better get back, or he might get suspicious of us."

"Right." She brushed past him and started back, but he grabbed her arm, a bit more forcefully than he needed to. "We'll talk more about this later."

A/N: sorry this one's shorter than the first chap. but i'm failing half of my classes, and i'm behind in the others, so updates may be spread out, or shorter for a while. gomen nasai... TT anyway, please be kind and review? and of course, i hope you enjoyed it