A/N: Woo, I actually managed to finish three whole chapters of a multichapter story! Go me. (Considering that Rivals and Sailor Sue both died painfully, this actually is an achievement. I'm pathetic.)

Thank you to my reviewer for Chapter Two. I honestly have no idea why there wasn't a story like this written before, considering the amount of crossover art on the Internet. And I'm glad you like the title – originally, it was going to be Turnabout Note, but I decided on Phoenix Raito at the last minute.

Also, I'm sure I got the status of the various task force members wrong in this chapter. I can't keep them all straight, to tell you the truth. I'm sorry...

Anyways, on with the actual chapter!

Chapter 3: Everyone Loves Strip Searches

The main investigation headquarters was rather empty today. Aizawa had gone off to work on some lead or another, and Mogi was still with Near, leaving the office to Ide and himself. Both were searching through various computer files on the Kira case, although only one of them was actually hoping to find anything.

Raito rather enjoyed his 'work'. It was almost fun, pretending to hunt himself down – searching through reports that he knew would yield no information, and constantly being reminded of just how brilliantly he had hidden his tracks for so long.

And now, with Mikami's assistance, he didn't even need to worry about the physical aspects of writing in the note. The man had been a good choice – perfectly loyal and devoted, and intelligent enough to follow chains of logic that almost matched Raito's own.

He allowed himself a moment of relaxation and self-congratulation. He was good at this, and he was certain that not even Near could deny that much. All in all, he was a good choice for a new God.

His (slightly narcissistic) train of thought was interrupted by the entrance of Matsuda and Gumshoe, who were looking decidedly agitated. Probably found a gum wrapper that they figure might be a clue, he thought to himself, grinning very slightly. "Ah, you're back. How did the clue search go?"

"We found something," Matsuda replied in a rather grim voice – and then Gumshoe advanced on Raito and grabbed him from behind, pulling him out of his chair before he had a chance to react.

"What are you doing?!" he protested, struggling against the grip of the rather large detective. Shit! What could they have found? Think, Raito, think!

Matsuda was walking towards him now, still with that determined expression. "Like we said, we found something."

And then he began to unbutton Raito's jacket.

Raito's shock, for obvious reasons, intensified considerably. "L-listen, Matsuda, even if I liked men, this is a bit aggressive... and Ide's here too..." Ide, for his part, was still staring in his shock.

Matsuda looked up at him, nearly as shocked as Raito was. "Y-you think I'm... No, that's not the reason! You know what the reason is!"

Raito thought about this for a long moment. What clues could they find by stripping him down... What had he left as a clue? He didn't have 'KIRA' tattooed on his chest or anything strange like that, so...

And then he remembered the corset.

He cursed mentally. He had been wearing the damned thing for so long, just as a precaution in case someone acquired the shinigami eyes, that he had entirely forgotten about it.

He quickly worked out how they had found out about it. Most likely, Matsuda had told Gumshoe about Near's suspicion of Raito, since Matsuda assumed it was a dead-end lead and so it didn't matter if he talked about it. Gumshoe, however, didn't trust Raito as blindly as Matsuda did, and had probably decided to search Raito's apartment. Without her memories (and given her low intelligence, probably even with them), Misa wouldn't know to not let them in. They could've fed her any story they wanted and gotten in with ease.

And then they had found the other corset.

Why did I have to have a spare? Couldn't I just hold the Note while I was doing laundry? Dammit!

By the time he was done reasoning, Matsuda had moved onto his shirt, and was dangerously close to seeing the corset. Raito had to act fast. "This is illegal! I'll have you both court-marshaled for illegal searching!" he yelled. "Imagine how that will reflect on the LAPD, Gumshoe!"

Matsuda hesitated for a moment, but Gumshoe spoke, and Raito could feel him shrug (since Gumshoe was behind Raito, Raito couldn't see anything). "I'm already a disgrace to the force, pal. Keep going, Machoda."

"Matsuda," Matsuda corrected absently as he resumed unbuttoning Raito's shirt.

Raito struggled one more time, but it was too late. The shirt was fully open, revealing the simple black corset he was wearing. Ide's eyes widened considerably, but Raito took little notice of him.

"I doubt this is to slim down, pal," came Gumshoe's voice. "Care to explain?"

I have to think fast... Raito thought for a moment, then schooled his face into a mixture of embarrassment and anger. The latter came with ease. "So I... like to feel pretty!" he yelled at Matsuda. "All of us have our strange habits, alright? This happens to be mine! It doesn't mean I'm Kira!"

Matsuda looked decidedly shocked and a little hurt. "Misa-Misa will be sad when she hears this..."

Gumshoe's voice made it clear that he was suspicious of the idea. "I'm still not sure, pal. I could be wrong – I mean, I don't know you well – but you don't seem like that sort of man. Once you start wearing a cravat and purple suit, we'll talk." He paused to think. "Not that there's anything wrong with wearing a cravat and a purple suit, of course. Mister Edgeworth pulls the look off well."

"Should I take the corset off?" Matsuda asked.

No! Raito began to panic. If the corset was removed, the Death Note would fall away from him, and his memories would fade. He couldn't let that happen again, not without a plan in place. This was decidedly not as planned!

But before he could think of a way to get out of this, Gumshoe had spoken. "Go ahead, pal." Matsuda nodded and began to unlace the garment.

Raito's mind raced desperately. What could he do to get out of this? "Y-you're both perverts!" he managed.

"We're policeman!" Matsuda protested, stopping the unlacing for a moment.

Gumshoe's grip loosened a little as well as he struggled to reassert his manliness. "Yeah, pal! We're not doing this for fun!"

Raito grinned mentally. They had reacted as he thought they would. He wrenched out of Gumshoe's grip (leaving his shirt behind) before the man could regain his composure and dashed for the door.

And Ide blocked the way.

"Ide, get out of the way!" Raito commanded, trying to amplify his fear and anger. "These men are prosecuting me just because I happen to like... mildly odd things! Do you think that's right?"

"If you're just wearing that corset because you like it, you should have nothing to fear from the search, right?" Ide countered.

"I don't like being held back and forcibly stripped!" Raito protested, for once without having to lie.

"Sorry, pal." Gumshoe had grabbed him again, more tightly this time. "If we're wrong, you can fire us both."

Matsuda resumed the work of unlacing the corset, and before Raito could think of another way out of the situation, the garment and the thin black notebook were both falling away from his chest -

And then he couldn't remember what, exactly, was going on. He remembered the search, and his anger, but he couldn't remember why he had been wearing a corset, or what the notebook Matsuda was picking up and flipping through was.

"W-what's going on?" he managed to ask. "What is that, Matsuda?"

"You tell us," Matsuda replied in a slightly angry tone. "You were the one hiding it."

"I was?" He thought back, but his memories seemed slightly hazy and strange. "...Why?"

"I don't know why you were wearing a Death Note!" Matsuda's anger seemed to be building, for no reason Raito could deduce. "Why don't you tell us?"

"A Death Note?" The name rang a bell, but Raito couldn't place the name. "What's that?"

Some of Matsuda's anger was apparently replaced with confusion. "...You know what a Death Note is. Higuchi told us about it, before he died, remember?"

Raito thought back, trying to fight through the strange haze around his memories. He remembered the man mentioning something like that... and how somehow that had cleared him of suspicion for some time... and something frightening everyone except himself, although he did remember screaming... but his memory was filled with holes. "I don't remember that."

Matsuda looked past Raito, still apparently confused. "Have you ever heard of removing someone's clothes giving them amnesia?"

Gumshoe's reply contained a note of similar confusion. "Not really, pal. Maybe it's because he's getting more oxygen than before?"

"Uh, it's probably the notebook, guys," Ide suggested, raising an eyebrow. "Considering that I've never heard of corsets causing memory loss."

"Right, right, logic, whatever." Gumshoe began to drag Raito along the ground. "We should just get this guy somewhere secure, amnesia or no."

What? "Wait! Why are you arresting me?" Raito began to struggle against the man's grip.

"Because you were carrying Kira's murder weapon on you," Matsuda replied in a hurt voice. "And until we figure out why, you're being arrested as a probable Kira suspect."

"But I don't remember any of this!" Raito yelled. "Please, let me go! I'm innocent!"

"We'll find that out in court, pal." Gumshoe stopped in front of a door. "Is this place secure, Machoda?"

"Matsuda, and it should be," Matsuda replied. "It only unlocks from the outside, so unless he has lock picks on him..."

"Alright, then." Gumshoe unceremoniously dragged Raito into the room (he dimly recognized it as a storage room) and released him.

Raito instantly made a break for the door, trying for freedom, but Gumshoe blocked the way. "Now, now, pal. Don't make me get angry."

Raito backed down a little, but then a thought occurred to him. They had framed him! He hadn't been wearing a corset to begin with, but they had knocked him out and planted the evidence. That explained the haziness of his memories – they had probably caused him actual brain damage. And if that was true, there was only one reason why they would do something like that.

"Kira!" he screamed at Matsuda, and watched the man flinch. "You've been playing dumb to gain our trust, haven't you, Matsuda?! This is all part of your plan!"

Gumshoe raised an eyebrow. "Listen, pal, I've been hanging out with Machoda for a while, and he's not pretending to be dumb. He's a few donuts short of a dozen, if you catch my drift."

Matsuda looked up at Gumshoe, confused. "...But I don't like donuts that much."

"Don't worry about it, Machoda," Gumshoe reassured him, then turned to look at Raito again. "See what I mean?"

"...I don't understand." Raito sat down on the cold floor, holding his head in his hands. "This doesn't make any sense."

"I'm sorry, Raito..." Matsuda said quietly as Gumshoe walked out of the room. "I wish things weren't going this way." He closed the door, leaving Raito in darkness.

"Could I at least have my shirt back?" Raito asked, but he was a moment too late.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this, fangirls. (Including me, although my main joy will come in the next chapter.) Shirtless, restrained Raito. Who doesn't love it? (I think Matsuda probably likes it more than he says...)

But beyond the sexy shirtless men... This chapter didn't turn out quite as funny as the others, in my opinion. Raito's POV is just too serious. Lighten up, Raito. (Raitoen up?) It's actually fairly hard to write in anything even approaching Raito's POV, because he's just so smart... Much smarter than the author. Eru, why aren't you writing this? It was you who inspired me!

Anyways, beside my whining, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Chapter Four, Unwilling Prosecution, will come soon. (I promise that after that Phoenix comes into it, really!) For a slight hint, the POV character was introduced in Volume 10 of Death Note, and he's the only one who connects to prosecution in the slightest. (Matt's love for Phoenix Wright does not count.)