Chapter-4

Shopping and Coffee

If Light was a lesser man, instead of residing in his mental-self, he would have been pulling his hair out in frustration already and by now his scalp would have been robbed of all his brown strands of perfectly conditioned hair. But no, he was Light Yagami, a genius, a mastermind, soon to be the god of the new world that he would create with his own two hands, he had a reputation to maintain which would no doubt be sullied if he were to perform such a insensible unreasonable mode of action (that and he rather liked his hair).

But despite his noteworthy and impressive self restraint and analytical abilities, he was now forced to doubt his sanity: for what man in their right mind would agree to the inhumane sadistic torture which was known as shopping in Misa's vocabulary?

He took a quick glance at his watch and inwardly let out a string of curses which would cause a sailor to blush like a little girl viewing her crush and perhaps even L. it has been a long time since Light felt like it losing it, forgo his calm demeanor, with his hands crossed across his chest, brows furrowed and letting out occasional grumble under his breath.

He had spent the first few hours of his time analyzing and assessing his past, present and future, the possibilities that came with the new case that L had taken, scheming what advantage he could take with the challenge between L and the Phantomhives, soul searching about the deep hidden meaning behind the existence of man and the ways of the world. The next few hours he had spent in carefully his smooth, silky brown hair with keen precision for any unwanted and relatively non-existent split-ends.

But after a while that had lost its charm and failed to keep his sanity intact. He'd then reprimanded himself to cool down and take deep breaths, to increase the oxygen supply in his blood, to rid his perfect body of any imperfections such as early wrinkling due to stress he was now experiencing. Over-exertion and losing temper could easily result in him gaining dark-circles as deep as L's or bald patches as evident as Soichirou and Watari's, those thoughts almost makes him shudder.

But now, as he felt his patience slip for the infinite time that day, he was finding it highly tempting to slip the tiny piece of death note from his watch and write two small words which would lift the Herculean burdens off his shoulders and arms and in a mere 40 seconds would free him from this unbearable torture at hand: Misa Amane.

But the only thing that stopped him from carrying out the heavenly act and killing of the teen idol because his rational side kicked in, and just in time too because Light had managed to grasp the dial of his prized watch (after about 15 or so minutes of struggling…because of the insanely large amount of shopping bags that he had to carry, all around is arms, weighing him down and not to mention the fact that he was being swatted around the pavements of the shopping districts like a ping-pong ball by the rushing mass passerby's played a very important factor in his slow approach), and he was reminded the fact that if he killed Misa then it would put him in a spot of bother with L, that is if Rem didn't finish him off first. And also he'd lose Misa's eyes which Light treasured.

Light heaved a deep sigh and then suddenly a very bubbly, very excited Misa bounded out of the shop which she had previously been hogging for god-knows-how-many-hours, and before he knew it grabbed Light's not-so-free hand and without sparing a second's breath, wrestled him into the heavily packed shop.

5 painfully sufferable minutes later…

He was Kira, damn it! The one man whom the entire world knew of and feared as well as respected, the man whose very name could cause a criminal to piss his pants and make him go cowering to his mommy, the one man with enough power and intellect to fool the best of detectives, the one man who would very soon rid the world of all crimes and create a utopia…not some lovesick puppy of a boyfriend!

And yet here he was standing, struggling to keep the growing heat in his already crimson cheeks under control while simultaneously wishing to hide in a little hole so that he could hide his shame…for how could he, Light Yagami, top student, top 'Most Desirable Man' of his school and university, bear the shame of being spotted in a shady women-only undergarment outfitters?

Light couldn't find a single man other than himself in the shop. The only consolation Light had was the fact that he was far away from home and in a less risk to be seen by anyone familiar otherwise his spotless reputation would be in tatters.

"Light-honey!" a shrill voice that no doubt belonged to Misa shrieked out from an overgrown pile of unmentionables, "Don't you think this suits me a lot better than that ugly bitch?"

Cringing a little, Light followed the source of the voice to the dimly lit corner of the shop only to find himself gaping at the scene. Misa and another busty blond were tugging at a piece of scant undergarment with ferocity that rivaled a saber toothed tiger, causing Light to blush embarrassedly and mutter a hasty, "Eh? Yeah, anything."

XxXxX

There was a kind of an awkward atmosphere in the booth of a corner café which was lost to Misa as kept on her incensed chattering.

Light sighed, Misa's high-pitched voice going on and on about irrelevant matters were grating on his nerves, before observing Misa's new friend who introduced herself as Hiromi. Hiromi was around their age, she was dressed in a chequered purple unisex shirt and fitting black jeans, her shoulder-length midnight-black hair cascaded over her back and she held herself with elegant grace though with an aura of tom-boyishness. Her cheeks had by now regained their original slight sun-kissed Asian hue.

Light was internally grateful to her because earlier on when Hiromi (sporting a blush a deeper shade of crimson than Light's) had staggered up to the counter of the aforementioned lingerie store to return a piece of undergarment which had accidentally been added to her purchase, and, coincidentally, it was the exact replica of the piece Misa and the other blond had been brawling over.

Misa had therefore wanted to thank her new friend, Hiromi, for solving her shopping problem and thus, surprise of all surprises, bringing an end to Misa's shopping expedition, and invited her out to coffee. The poor girl didn't even get the chance to answer properly before being promptly dragged by Misa.

Light took a generous sip of the foamy crimson liquid and closed his eyes; relishing the bitter-sweet taste of mocha-coffee. It had been a rough day for him and he attempted to relax and let the slow jazz music drifting in the air of the café his frayed genius nerve-ends a bit…if only Misa would shut up!

"…Light is such a darling!" Misa giggled over her cup of diet black coffee, "Light and Misa Misa's relationship is very unique, almost like the ones in the movies! It was love at first sight- Misa Misa knew that Light was Misa Misa's prince charming the moment Misa Misa laid her eyes on Light! Since then Light has been Misa Misa's all ! Misa Misa will do anything for Light!" she said dreamily, clinging onto his arm even more possessively.

Hiromi watched the scene and sweat-dropped anime-style.

"What does Yagami-kun has to say?" Hiromi smiled hesitantly as both she and Misa looked at Light, awaiting his answer.

"Yes, Misa is a prized treasure of mine," Light said smoothly in a composed emotionless voice, which unsettled Hiromi; however the rare compliment seemed to content Misa enough to shut up into a dazed state. Finally!

Light, being the extremely polite gentleman he was, (no, he wouldn't ever admit that he wanted to leave a good impression of himself on the girl who had seen him previously in a dire and embarrassing situation) and decided to make small talk:

"So, Hiromi-san…if I may call you that?"- To which he received an affirmative nod, and continued- "You are a pharmacist, I assume?" and raised a brow inquiringly.

Hiromi almost choked on her coffee, being startled by Light's remark on her yet to be revealed occupation. However, she quickly regained her composure and spoke out in a shy yet confident voice, "You're right, Yagami-kun. Nonetheless I wonder what made you jump to that conclusion…?"

"Please call me Light. Well, I noticed the apron in your bag, also the blotch on your leather boot, which signify chemical burns, highly possible in only facilitated laboratories and not to mention that it's rather hard to miss the ID around your neck," Light said smiling gracefully at the blinking raven-head before both of them broke into a fit of chuckles, not noticing the now- fuming possessive blonde girlfriend.

Their little coffee out had progressed pretty comfortably after that; Hiromi, who had been too shy to talk before because of the aforementioned lingerie incident, had opened up a little more, and they, Light and Hiromi, had a witty chit-chat for an hour more, during which Hiromi had received a call from someone and declared that she had to leave.

They were now waiting outside the coffee shop for Hiromi's car and idly talking, Misa pouting rudely for reasons unknown both Light and Hiromi, when Hiromi suddenly halted in her speech to bring Light's attention to a covert bespectacled man in a professional navy-blue suit, in his mid 30s, and asked whether he Light's acquaintance, for she had noticed him trailing them for a while now.

Light frowned internally at the implications, although he dismissed her suspicions outside, L had again sent another FBI dog on his tail.

Just then a rather eye-catching Boulgatti arrived and skidded to a halt just behind them. Its tinted windows lowered to reveal a spiky red-haired man, no older than in his mid-twenties, with tattoos and piercing, who merely jerked his head in a "Get in" motion.

It was her call, and Hiromi turned around to say good bye; hugging Misa before going to shake hands with Light. However, at first contact of skin, Hiromi froze; her form stiff, her eyes glazed over as she started at Light, who was not faring any better.

Both of them stood like that as if in a trance, Hiromi gripping Light's hand which earned her heated glare from Misa, until two heads- one with a mass of fiery red hair and the other shrouded in shades of black and matching red- bobbed up from the passengers seat, beside the person occupying the drivers seat, and simultaneously cat-called "Oh Hiromi's got a boyfriend!" before breaking into high fives, causing Hiromi to snap out her trance and quickly let go of Light's hand and Misa to glare even more at Hiromi.

The tattooed guy merely raised an eyebrow, no doubt curious about the boyfriend comment, at Hiromi, who quite red in the face, gave the two boys an evil look that promised excruciating pain and hissed, "Dante, Grimjoe if you two value your genitals and don't want to stagger back to the mansion in crutches, then shut up!" causing both males to let out a squeal (which, according to them, was a manly squeak, thank you very much) and fall silent.

Hiromi awkwardly muttered a hurried goodbye to Light and Misa before slipping into the seat beside the driver. The car sped off and was out of their sight when Light realized that they didn't get Hiromi's contact info to which, much to Light's bewilderment, Misa replied with a venomous "Good!"

XxXxx

Hiromi sat in the car, her face set in a frown. From beside her, the red-haired driver glanced at her before asking, "What's on your mind, Hiromi?"

Hiromi let out a frustrated sigh before replying, "It's just that, there's this something about Light…"

"Light?" Dante piped in, "You mean that guy by the café? Your boyfriend?" and both he and his red-haired partner in crime broke out in a fit of snickers which were promptly silenced when met with Hiromi's glare of doom.

"It's just that you know," Hiromi said hesitantly looking at the man beside her, "He feels like one of us, Griffin. But it's just not that, I feel like there's something more."

Griffin's eyes widened while the two in the backseat went exceptionally serious.

"Are you sure, Hiromi?" Grimjoe asked.

"Yeah, I'm but I don't know what it is," Hiromi replied before looking Griffin in the eye, "Take me to Him."


Teaser for next chapter

L's eyes widened as he looked at the object in Watari's hand. An envelope which no doubt contained a letter but it was marked with the royal seal, which no doubt spelled out his doom.

"Sir, you have been invited by the Queen to attend the coming of age ceremony of Lord Elijah Draconian," Watari said with a big smile on his face as he handed the letter over to L. L's groan of annoyance could be heard all through out the building.

"Moreover," Watari continued, "Her highness suggested that you wear a suit."

L screamed.

Elliot: Review and we'll make L actually blush for you! X3

Robin and Elliot: Happy Friendship Day everyone!