"What took so long. I was starting to suspect you were planning something behind my back," L said tonelessly when the pair returned. Hitomi grabbed her purse and waited for the others to walk ahead of her before they left, crossing the street and going down a block to the building her first class was in. When they entered the classroom a few others were already there, and the three took seats in the back. Hitomi sat in between Raito and L, and they began to wait quietly for the professor.
About a half an hour into the lecture on american history, as she doodled in her notebook, a pale, slender hand crept over onto her desk and scribbled something on the corner of the page. She waited for the hand to retreat, then read the little note.
"Looks like I won, Hitomi-chan." followed by a small smiley face. Hitomi's lips curled in a hint of a smirk, and she leaned over, whispering to L,
"You won this round, Ryuzaki-kun, but trust me, next time, I'm taking you down." He tried to hide a faint smile as well, continually surprised by how bold this girl was, how tricky her mind was to figure out.
"Take me... down?" He bit his thumb and paused for a second as if in thought. "Now, is that a refrence to killing me, or something vaguely sadistic of you?"
"Sadistic? I can't beleive you would suggest-"
"I can't either. I mean it's obvious to me you'd have less than a five percent chance of dominating me in anything, Hitomi-chan."
"Only five percent? Well I must say, I think you're underestimating me."
"Or you're overestimating yourself. It happens quite a lot with people, but like I was saying, there's almost no way I'd be taken advantage of by you, Hitomi-chan. It just doesn't make sense."
"Ryuzaki-kun! You pervert!" she said, her voice a little louder than she'd planned it. Half the class turned and looked at the source of the outburst, and the professor called from the front,
"Miss... Ooka, do you have something to add to my last statement?"
"Um... no?"
"Then do try to keep your voice to a dull roar."
"Okay. I'm sorry." The rest of class went on uninterrupted, and once they had left the classroom, Raito asked,
"So what was that about?"
"Hitomi-chan was just-" This tine she didn't let him make a fool of her.
"Ryuzaki-kun made a shameless refrence to S&M between himself and me."
"S&M?" Hitomi sighed.
"Please don't tell me that Japan's number one student Yagami Raito doesn't understand... becasue I'm NOT explaining it to you!" L leaned forward to make eye contact with Raito around the girl and said blandly,
"It stands for sadomasochism." Hitomi fought back a blush, and Raito feigned believeable shock.
"Ryuzaki-kun, you can't talk like that to a girl! Do you have any idea how innapropriate that is?"
"Hitomi-chan alluded to it first. I just told her that there was virtually no chance that she could ever dominate me. Because I'm stronger than her."
"Ryuzaki-kun... that's still a bit perverted of you." Raito smiled at the other male and said, "Should I tell Matsuda-san that he's not the only hentai anymore?"
"Don't associate me with that fool, Raito-kun. There is absolutely nothing wrong with me when it comes to women."
"Raito, Ryuzaki-kun! Could we please change the subject now?" Hitomi squealed, her face redder than a stop light. Raito nodded a little sheepishly, and L only let the corners of his lips come up in the slightest hint of a smile.
Not much work was done during the remainder of the week, in any sense. Raito and L spent most of their time keeping watch over Hitomi's actions, and she had called the week off of her jobs. This lead to a lot of sightseeing and trying New York restaurants (bakeries and the like).
After a fairly one sided shouting match between Hitomi and L, the detective removed the camera from inside of the shower, having to suffice with the other two in the small bathroom. He still had a clear silhouette of anything that happened on the other side of the shower's glass door, but he was sorely disappointed at his loss of 'complete proof' against Hitomi. But eventually the week was over, and Raito agreed to spend the time taking the cameras down while L breifed her on the finer points of their case. When he finished she asked,
"So, what do you suppose the probablity is that I'm Kira?" Raito shook his head. The other two had finally started getting along, and there Hitomi went bringing up such a volatile subject between them.
"A little less than one percent. Hitomi-chan and Raito-kun have the same chance of it now." Surprisingly, she didn't argue it, apparently satisfied that she was at least at the same level as Raito. Hitomi suddenly stood ad strolled to the kitchen.
"Who wants cake?" L left no time for thought.
"That... would be excellent. But shouldn't we all be concentrating on the case?"
"I will. Doing things helps me think. I guarantee I'll have something by the time we're eating." When the cake came out of the oven, Raito had moved to the back of the apartment, and L had migrated to the opposite side of the counter Hitomi was at. He stood with as much of a slouch as he sat, hands shoved in his pockets, but now with an unusual look of interest on his face. She grinned to herself and spread the icing slowly, realizing her chance to finally tease Ryuzaki for once.
"Hmm... it's still missing something. What do you think, Ryuzaki-kun?"
"Strawberries..." he murmured almost as if mezmerized by the confection.
"Oh! Right!" She went to the fridge and got out a container of the fruits and a knife before returning to the counter. When she did, L had the icing container in his hand, the other inside it to clean out the sugary substance.
"Hey! I didn't say you could have that, Ryuzaki-kun!" He licked his index finger, then smiled faintly, challenging her.
"You- didn't say I couldn't."
"But-" She stopped as he did, eyes narrowing as L glanced into the container and then back up at her.
"There's not much left."
"Then give it to me!" He backed away from te counter and she darted around it, chasing him into the living room with a playful smile on her face. He stopped between the coffee table and the couch, her on the other side of the low table.
"Ryuzaki-kun!" she whined, pouting. He stuck his hand into the container again, a shadow of a smile on his lips.
"It seems we're at somewhat of a stalemate." She shook her head and in an instant went for him, half climbing, half leaping over the table. Surprisingly he let go of the icing when she grabbed the container, slipping away from her. She looked up and saw that he'd taken the icing anyway, leaving her the empty container, and scowled at him. Hitomi launched herself at him and tackled him to the ground, and a voice in the back of L's head protested that he hadn't even put up a fight, but he ignored it, trying to kep the icing on his finger away from her.
To his surprise this time, she grabbed his hand and forced it to her, then stuck his finger in her mouth. At firt she seemed uterly blissful at the victory, and L could do no more than simply stare. When Hitomi noticed this, it seemed the whole situation dawned upon her, and that ever- distracting blush painted her cheeks, sending an increasingly familiar thrill through him. And then the voice came back, suggesting things that almost made him blush.
'Come on,' he told himself, 'you're a genius, a highly respected detective! Control yourself!' A moment passed. 'That's right. Complete self contro- wha...' She was no longer looking at him, but her eyes had not been what caught his attention this time. It had been her determination to get all of the icing, running her tongue along the length of his finger, then circling around it.
'C- control...' he reminded himself.
'But look at her... there's a more than fifty percent probability that she wants you...'
'And there's about a twenty five percent chance she's got no clue how undoubtedly sexual this is. And a twenty three percent chance she's simply being a tease like that Misa Misa.'
'... and the last two percent?'
'Never mind those... control... c-complete control...' He tried again to block out the other voice as she slowly pulled his finger from her mouth, her tongue still trailing along it as it went. But as she pushed herself off of him and sat back on her knees, letting him get up as well, it asked a final, somewhat sobering question.
'I wonder if Hitomi-chan and Raito-kun did anything like that...'
"What are you two doing on the floor?" Raito asked, reentering the room as if on cue. For once Hitomi was completely speechless in the face of the questioning.
"Hitomi-chan was helping me look for the television remote. I wanted to check the news again for updates on Kira." Raito dumped his load of cameras and cables into their bag, then pointed at the couch.
"It's right there." Hitomi flew to her feet and said,
"You're right! How stupid of us not to notice. Thanks, Raito-kun." He sighed.
"Look, both of you. I know something is going on here. And I can't help but feel a little protective of you Hitomi-chan. We've been friends for a long time. I'd like to have a serious talk with you about this."
"Well, I uh... have to go back to work tonight. If you want to come meet me afterward, we can talk on the way back here." She glanced over at the detective. "If that's okay with Ryuzaki-kun for us to be alone together without raising suspicion."
"I'd much rather Raito-kun escort you back home than have you walk alone anyway. But perhaps we can get something to eat after?" She smiled.
"I've got a better idea. I'm going to take you guys out, okay? you're going to love it!" The two men looked at each other skeptically for a moment, then L changed the subject.
"How about a piece of that cake?"
"You're right, I almost forgot! I'll finish it up... if Ryuzaki-kun will make some of his delicious tea to go with it." Determined to have cake, L wordlessly headed to the kitchen and got to work. After she finished the cake, Hitomi looked at the clock and jumped up.
"Kuso! I didn't realize it was already so late! I really have to go! Can I trust you guys to clean up... and leave some cake for me?" She looked at L with her last remark, and he stared back, the corners of his mouth twitching in his normal almost smile. As she ran to her room shoved a few things in her big bag, she caught herself thinking about that almost smile, and how almost cute it was.
'Oh, who am I kidding, it was amazing!' she thought, then froze, shaking her head in disbeleif of her own mind. Hitomi grabbed the first cab she could get and told the driver her destination, arriveing a bit later than usual, and hurrying inside.
"Hitomi, you're so late tonight! We were starting to think you werent going to make it!" She dropped her bag and started pulling off her normal clothes, joking as she did.
"And miss a night of good money? Never!" She paused and looked over at the few outfits she had kept at the bar. "So, what is it tonight?"
"Amy's already gone out as a nurse, so we've got..." she looked over her outfits hanging up nearby, "Maids?" Hitomi nodded and the two girls changed, waiting for the stage to clear before heading out for their own dance. As usual, a few hours passed, and Hitomi was just coming back into the dressing room when she saw the clock.
"Kuso! Beth, I have to go, I'm meeting someone, and he's probably wating for me already!" The other girl smiled mischeviously.
"Ooh, another boyfriend, Hitomi? I swear, I'll never know how a girl who's as busy as you are finds the time to date all the best looking guys in the city!" Hitomi laughed and replied,
"I'm not dating this one, Beth. He's an old friend of mine from Japan who's visiting with one of his friends. The three of us are going out tonight, and he wanted to pick me up from work. That's all."
"But you used to date, right? Is this the ever-mysterious Lighto that you're always talking about?"
"Well, yes, and we did for a while back in high school, but it was nothing serious. And we're just friends now."
"Does he know you work here?" Hitomi pulled her shirt back over her head and checked herself over in the mirror, smoothing down her hair. She grabbed her bag and slug it over her shoulder, heading for the door.
"Of course not. I really have to go, see you later, Beth."
"Later, Hitomi."
A/N: so here it is! chapter 3, as quickly as I could! schools almost over for the year, so soon i'll be writing and updating more... L: hooray. -- see how happy L is? anyway, i wanted to mention that kuso is roughly translated to shit, like when you screw up and swear to yourself 'oh, shit'. COMING UP: Raito and Hitomi's friendly little talk about deathnotes and such, some flirting possibly, and maybe even a hint as to what poor Misa Misa's up to without her Raito-kun! review!