Author's Note: To cwilder, it's a shame that I got your message when I've written the next two chapters down, so some ideas are already well on their way and written. I hope the editing's not much of a problem, since I didn't have enough time to reformat it much as I'm currently out of town on some extended project (on a different note, I realized that I probably needed to edit the first chapter, but maybe nowhere soon). So, onwards with the crazy...

'-

Arrested Development

"I don't understand why Yagami-san's so annoyed at me" L said, building a replica of the Great Wall of China using sugar blocks. The slight furrow of his brows was the only indication that he was deep in thought.

"Really?" Light replied absentmindedly, scanning the third newspaper of the day. Her mind wasn't in the conversation. She was trying to memorize any new criminals surfacing in the news—the reduction in announcement of crime was making accumulating names a hassle nowadays. Currently, Light was trying to collect enough criminals to last through one month of 'divine execution' so she could stop thinking about the Death Note for once and concentrate more on how to free herself from suspicion, once and for all.

And take over the world! Muahahahahahahahaha, her inner Kami said. She glanced at L, mildly surprised that the first spot her eyes went to was his ass instead of his face.

Maybe not right now. Some...experiments aren't even done yet.

There was a scoff somewhere from inside her head. Excuses, excuses...

You don't have any intention of being a celibate God/Godess, do you?

The voice of dissent took its time to appraise the detective next to them and gave a grudging acknowledgement. Not giving up yet, it was trying to bring up the argument of how scruffiness isn't exactly counterbalanced by well-stretched muscles when L's voice snapped Light out of her reverie.

"I never failed to stock your Pills whenever you run out of them" L said.

Matsuda screamed, "I don't need to hear this conversation!"

No one was listening to Matsuda. "Back when we're still using condom, I always manage to stop when we ran out. Always. I thought self-control had to count for something"

Aizawa popped his anxiety medication a little over the recommended dose and placed his hands over his ears.

"You avoiding me like the plague isn't what I'd call a prime example of self-control. That's evasion, Ryuuzaki"

Mogi moved out of the way while Yagami-san tackled L.

"By the way, Ryuuzaki," Light-chan dropped the newspaper and took a new one, ignoring the hubbub happening just beyond her couch. "The first answer to your query is, you could try NOT talking about contraceptive methods when my father's in the room"

'-

"So I can't go to the mall?" Light asked.

Not that she even wanted to go to the mall. It's just that Light had been looking up various candidates for a replacement Kira, one with a reasonably similar sense of justice, and Ryuk mentioned it as one of the places where she could accidentally pass any one of them and observe them directly.

"Why isn't anyone giving me a straight answer?"

Pleading for it was unexpectedly fun too.

Light was having way too much entertainment in looking disappointed and putting forward the impression of a someone trying very hard to hold her composure even when she was in the verge of crying/getting angry and close to walking away. No one had the heart to say 'no' right to her face and as such, everyone was unconsciously moving away from her seat. The team had been cutting her a lot of slack lately, and as an extension of that, most of the people were playing down the hypothesis that Light might be Kira more than necessary. Even when L voiced his disagreement against the majority opinion, he wasn't immune to the damsel-in-distress look Light was pulling, complete with the subtly-quivering lower lip.

"Not when there's no one to watch you" L said this without meeting her eyes. "Matsuda has to follow Misa-chan after this break and Mogi's the one who understood the surveillance system best here to work on it"

He didn't mention Aizawa, who was absent and cited nervous breakdown as the reason, or Yagami-san, whom Light knew L wouldn't trust to watch over his own daughter.

"Why don't you go out with me?" Light asked.

It was slight, but there was an effusion of colour on pale skin that could vaguely be misconstrued as a blush along his cheekbones. Yes, he's weakening. Light kept her urge to smirk in victory in check, and kept the wide-eyed desperate innocence look that could burn any red-blooded man, much less someone who never dated. She folded her arms in front of her chest too, the top two buttons of her shirt open, thereby drawing her breasts together for a super-cleavage effect—she probably owed Sayu a lot for allowing her to borrow all those girl magazines. The silence in the room was deafening as every ear in the vicinity strained back in their direction.

"It's not right" he muttered, hands in his pockets and looking more hunched than usual.

"What?"

"The guy's supposed to be the one asking out for the first date, Light-chan" L said, his tone flat.

"I OBJECT!" Yagami-san yelled and he rushed in before the scene could take a more romantic quality, "I'm not giving you the permission to date my daughter"

Light rubbed her temples in frustration, "Dad..."

"I haven't said anything" L said, somewhere between confused and amused.

"How dare you bypass my permission when you have every intent on dating my daughter?"

"We're already over fourth base, Dad" Light cut in. No one paid her any attention.

"There is always a proper way of doing things no matter what has happened"

"May I go out with Light-chan?" L was politely oblivious. He received a searing glare for his efforts.

"NO"

"DAD!"

Yagami-san turned to Light. "You can go shopping with Misa-chan"

"That's not surveillance at all" L said, "It won't do. Both Light-chan and Misa-chan are suspects and leaving them a chance to conspire together isn't a good idea"

"But she's not going out with you!" Yagami-san insisted.

"Why not? Light-chan, do you mind going out this afternoon with me?" L asked, turning to her.

"No, I don't mind—"

"Because I say you can't" Yagami-san said, before deciding to add, "And if you do go despite of it, you're grounded, Light-chan"

"Dad, I'm not a teenager anymore, you can't ground me" She said, trying her best to make her voice the perfect avatar of reasonability. Besides, does grounding even make sense now that they're all stuck there anyway?

"You're still my daughter" The senior, and the remaining male Yagami seems to have only noticed their current condition. "I know I can still restrict your computer access here"

Light rolled her eyes, trying not to betray the tension in her gritted teeth. First L was in the way and now her own father? Who's next, mother? Sayu? She consoled herself with the thoughts that the path to Godhood was never easy, picked the cordless phone in the room and started walking out.

"I'm calling mother on this. You can settle it with her"

"Yagami Light, you get back here right now!"

'-

A little farther from the commotion, Matsuda was offering popcorn to Mogi. "You know, I've seen some of the TV drama scripts Misa-chan gets offered with, and I can say that this is still better than the majority of it. I think we should turn it into a drama and get Misa-misa to star in it"

He couldn't help thinking about it. He was Misa-misa's manager after all, regardless of whether it's just a second job for him or not.

"There are surveillance records of this room, you know" Mogi said.

"Really? Do you think L would mind if I make copies of it?"

"This room has a high ceiling, so the cameras are far enough that the faces are sort of indistinct. Besides I doubt last hour's records has anything top secret in it, so as long as you check for those things, it wouldn't be a problem"

"Great!"

"But they don't have sound"

Matsuda whined. There goes his chance. Mogi continued unabated. "You should take the sound recording from the microphone we placed under the table"

Just before he let the feeling of a good contract settled wash over him, Matsuda turned to Mogi. "Thank you, Mogi-san. It's not that I'm ungrateful, but I can't help wondering why you're helping me so far"

He shrugged and started locating where the records were. "It's not a problem, I'm not busy. No one's been giving me anything to work on in the last three days"

"I can't thank you enough..."

"Just keep me informed on how it goes" Mogi said, to which Matsuda turned a flabbergasted look at, "What? I get bored too"

'-

L watched Light-chan walk out of the room with phone in hand—it was hard not to do so because she moved with the grace of a model on the catwalk, only without the skanky overtones, and when she walked it was like legs all the way up. When Light was out, he moved his attention back at Yagami-san. He didn't quite believe what he had just heard. Did the man just agreed to restrict his daughter's freedom of movement? Without L even having to ask or construct an elaborate argument for it? It was unbelievable. He almost couldn't believe his luck. Maybe there are still some good to come out of Light-chan's sudden sex change.

"Yagami-san, thank you"

"I didn't say yes to you, yet, Young Man"

"Of course" he said, ignoring that tiny fragment of his head that was actually disappointed. One step backwards for him and one giant leap for mankind. It was worth it. He was about to walk away, and maybe order some cakes to celebrate the progress when his mouth ran away from him and asked a question he wasn't even aware he had been thinking about.

"What does it take for you to say yes?"

Yagami-san chuckled. It sounded ominous, and L was beginning to understand where Light's penchant for secretly cackling when she thought no one was watching came from.

"You have no idea"

'-

Light was stalking the corridors with her arms crossed, her brain working faster fuelled by indignation. She held the phone to one ear, waiting for it to be picked up on the other side.

"Mom, this is Light"

She tipped her head to one side.

"Yes, yes, everything's going alright—no, Dad's alright. What? No, I don't think I know why he's losing sleep. Why?"

"Have I been dating? What does that have to do—"

She sighed. "Yes, alright, the answer is yes. Actually I was calling you because of that. Dad's overreacting again"

"No, it's not reasonable, and no, I'm much older than Sayu, I know what I'm doing" Light took a deep breath and counted to ten and concentrating on not-listening to her mother's fretting. It would pass. She's experienced at this. "Can you please talk to him? Please? Look, it's not as if Ryuuzaki's secretly a serial killer or something, he's a detective, he's leading the team trying to catch Kira. Just how safer does Dad need the person I'm dating to be? Does he want me to date Kira instead, then?"

Light paused, the voice coming from the other end was calmer now.

"You would? Thanks! Yes we're eating well—come on, Mom, you're the one who still sends food here from time to time, of course we ate well. No, it's alright, you don't have to do it everyday; we could order from any restaurant downtown, anyway"

"What does he like? Anything sweet, I guess like cakes or sweets. No, I've never seen him eat rice, I don't know how he manages. Yes, he is strange"

Her mother replied with one sentence.

"No, I don't think anyone's busy tonight..." Light said without thinking, before comprehension of what her mother just said hit.

"DINNER? Wait, what for? No, why tonight?"

"Because that way, I can meet your boyfriend and persuade your father at the same time"

"He's not my boyfriend"

Her mother only laughed and started a monologue on differing menus, various recipes and what ingredients are best in this season, as unstoppable as a speeding bus.

"You're lucky I don't expect you to come home and help me cook, you know"

Light sighed and conceded defeat. Chose your battles to win the war...

"As long as I don't have to break the news to Dad, I don't mind"