A/N: Well sorry this chappie took so long, I wasn't entirely satisfied with the last one and I wasn't sure how I was gonna pace it but I think we're sorted for now! Thanks for everyone who reviewed, especially for your suggestions of daemon-types I think I've pretty much decided upon the main one's I requested now, so stay tuned!

Also a few notes for people who aren't aquainted with the His Dark Materials series: Touching another person's daemon is absolutely taboo, it's like molesting their soul! However in the last book Lyra and Will stroke each other's daemons because they is naughty disgusting pervert children in love. Those crazy kids.

Also, relevant to this chapter, when a human dies their daemon turned to smoke and dissapears away. In His Dark Materials people go to the land of the dead but their daemons are gone forever, which is very sad. When Lyra and Will travel to the land of the dead just for their holidays they have to leave their daemon's behind and it is very painful. They have owies in their soulbox.

Without further ado though here is the juicy tennis chapter!

"I'm surprised L," Light said softly, his signature smile playing on his lips as he tossed his head slightly, the bright sunshine catching in the light strands, "I would never have expected you to suggest a game of tennis in order for us to get to know one another better." At his feet, beside the clean, expensive sports trainers and white tennis socks Sayuri stretched, her tail winding as she extended her claws and her yellow eyes sparkled with anticipation.

L smiled, hanging his head forward slightly and his black hair flicking over his eyes,

"I thought a friendly game would be very well suited to us," while he spoke his daemon crawled down slowly from his shoulders and down his back. With a little leap Lustitia came down to rest upon the ground and moved slowly away from her human as the two men made their way across the court.

As the game started up Sayuri seated herself dutifully by the sidelines, to keep her keen eyes upon the ball whilst it was thrown back and forth between Light and the detective. She felt the surprise as the ball first shot across the court at L's serve; her eyes darted to where the shinigami leapt theatrically to one side, dodging the ball as it whipped back to the back of the net.

'It would never pay to underestimate L in any circumstances,' ran the calm reflections, 'he would not have challenged us in any field unless he had a purpose and intention to win.' Light straightened up smoothly and gave L a smile,

"Hey, hey Ryuga, you're getting serious already?" His voice was that of the innocent and playful student, performing to the small issue of spectators who also occupied the court. Sayuri fixed her eyes upon L as he too raised his head gently, tilting it back whilst staring back at Light with his charcoaled black eyes. She quietly ran her unmonitored gaze over his lithe body, appraising the wiry frame that was mostly concealed by the oversized white jumper.

"He who strikes first wins," he drawled softly in pure, low Japanese. Sayuri's ears were pricked up as she watched the game progress, Light moving furiously to return L's hits in an intense rally.

"He's quite a challenge huh, Light, who would've thought a pale skinny guy like him would be the athletic type?" Ryuk's voice behind Sayuri was his usual amused commentary, somewhere between a cackle and a throaty purr. The shinigami never differentiated between Light and his Daemon as separate beings and often crept up to whisper to the later when access to the human was somehow unavailable. This approach was one which somewhat intrigued Light and he had a few theories on how this might relate to the Death Note; where did 'a name and a face' leave the matter of a daemon, after all?

However these speculations were very much untested for, as Light was aware, Sayuri's flesh prickled with more intensity than any human facing their own mortality when the god of death was near. She was ashamed of the fear she felt when the gaunt shinigami sidled close, though she was as calm and stoic as Light; revealing nothing in her actions that could be interpreted by the Lemur beside her, whose yellow eyes were fixed entirely upon her, she knew Light sensed the profound unease when Ryuk approached her.

Sayuri reflected upon the memory of the appearance of the shinigami, how with Light's scream at the monster and the clatter of a chair she had advanced, her fur all on end and her ears like horns to growl and roar at their disturber while terror like electric crackled through her body. She hated the shinigami.

As the ball escaped past L the umpire called out the scores making the shinigami laugh heartily and the Lemur tilt its head and make a thoughtful chirrup. Sayuri narrowed her eyes as she watched Light serve, she knew that this could be no game, 'this is just an elaborate act we're going through so we can say we're close.'

She reached across the ground furling and unfurling her claws while beside her she felt the eyes of the Lemur whose tail curled in the air beside her. Then with a sudden movement she lunged forward intently, her eyes upon the court as Light ran forward to take the game in an attack.

With the game won the audience that had gathered took their leave to clap and Light had the presence of mind to turn and give a charming smile to his admirers. L came forward, his racket hanging in his hand limply and trailing along like a child holds a teddy bear.

"I underestimated you it seems, the game is yours."

"Not at all," Light replied, "it's been a while been a while since I had to play that hard." They shook hands and in-sync with this Light experienced the now familiar sensation of L's daemon playfully winding about his own, chattering, teasing, stroking and biting.

"I'm feeling quite thirsty now," Light said, smiling naturally, "shall we go somewhere for a drink?" L lowered his head softly in a nod.

As they walked off, their steady pace leading them through the path of tall cherry blossom trees, Sayuri darted forward at the daemon that had been circling and chattering at her to catch the furry creature between her teeth and then run forward with it, carrying like a prize while Lustitia squealed in a high piercing cry. Light, once again, felt himself flush slightly at his daemon's behaviour though L only smiled softly, his eyes following his daemon playfully.

A/N: So next chapter I reckon we'll move on to confinement because we don't wanna mess about with anything else boringness now do we?