Once she was out on the street, Hitomi hurried down a block and a half to the corner where she'd told Raito to meet her. He was waiting there already, watching the traffic calmly until she let out a shout to get his attention.
"Raito-kun! I'm so sorry I made you wait!" She joined him at the corner and they waited for the walk signal to change.
"Not at all, Hitomi-chan. I just got here a few minutes ago." The light changed and they started to walk, and as quickly as that, Raito's demeanor had changed again.
"I saw where you worked tonight, Hitomi-chan. Aren't your parents ashamed to have a stripper for a daughter? Or do they even know?" She didn't look at him, but kept her eyes trained ahead of them as they walked at a leisurely pace.
"I'm surprised you didn't find this one out, Raito-kun, but my parents aren't really in any position to be looking out for me any more. Right after I graduated from high school, someone broke into our house, and my father ended up shooting him him. It was self defense, but the court didn't see it that way and he was put in jail. Being the fanatic that mother was, she was so ashamed of the dishonor that a week after father was taken away she tried to commit suicide. They put her in an institution... for however long it takes her to recover. And about three months ago, father died in prison. Kira killed him. I was sure you and Ryuzaki-kun would've found that out. But maybe he withheld this from you since he suspects you?"
"I didn't even think about that, connect the names. We hadn't talked in so long..."
"Don't apologize, Raito. The criminal in it did die after all, right?" Raito was surprised by Hitomi's indifference to the whole thing, but he kept his mind focused on why he'd wanted to talk to her.
"How long have you had the notebook?"
"Almost a year. I probably got it before you got yours, didn't I? Only I just started using it recently, you'll know about when based on the data the Japanese police and the FBI supplied."
"Why'd you wait so long to use it?"
"I didn't really believe it for a while, thought maybe it was some crap a kid dropped. One of those little memorabilia things from some morbid anime or something. But when Kira and the second Kira started getting rid of criminals, I knew that the death note was the only reasonable method. And then I had to try it."
"So then you agree with me?"
"No. I agree with the thought that people who have killed others or caused death like that burglar did to my family should pay with their lives. But I don't even nearly think of myself or you to be a God. And in the end, you did kill my father, Raito." Now she did stop, and looked up into his eyes, the evening lights of the city casting patterns of light and shadow across her face. "But it's eye for an eye out there, right?"
At that moment, Raito was virtually awestruck. Misa may have had her cute and even scarily vicious moments, but Hitomi was a thousand times more clever, and never had he seen someone so terrifyingly beautiful. He decided then that he would have to do one of two things: either make her as committed to him as Misa, or get rid of her in the same stroke as he planned on killing L. But before that, or even before they went back to Japan to rejoin the main task force, as L had planned, Raito would have her.
Hitomi turned away from him and started walking, resuming the pace they'd had before, and she was a few steps ahead before Raito moved to catch up with her. She shifted her bag higher up on her shoulder, then as they stopped to wait for another crossing signal, asked him,
"So when did you plan on asking me for his name?" He waited until they were moving agains, then murmured,
"What's his name?" He almost jumped, startled when she laughed aloud.
"For heaven's sakes, Raito-kun, I'm not going to tell you!"
"What?!" He could barely see it from the small bit of her eye he could see from the side, but there was a look of amusement present in her determined stare. The girl had a whole different side from the girl he'd known in school, she had a cunning side Raito dare say rivaled his own.
"Now Raito, you can't keep playing the innocent young man card if you can't hide your more devious emotions well enough. I said I wasn't telling you L's real name, and you'd have to do a lot of convincing to get me to. Convincing I don't think you're capable of." A few people passed them on the street, eyeing the couple strangley for walking in such a deserted neighborhood away from the area where all the clubs were. Hitomi entwined her fingers with Raito's and rested her head against his shoulder as they walked, looking absolutely blissful to the passersby while continuing to talk to Raito in a rather sinister voice.
"You don't think I saw that look on your face? The moment I said I wasn't on your side in this, you decided that you'd have to get rid of me some way or another, didn't you? His name is all you need, and once I give it to you, I can't expect to live much longer than him, can I?" Now Raito laughed, a chuckle that threatened to spill a cold shiver down Hitomi's spine.
"Hitomi-chan, you're absolutely Machiavellian! I can't believe you!"
"Machia..." she started, then shook her head. "Raito-kun... no one talks like that." Now she spoke in a mock- cute voice, "And I don't really have to be that clever. I've known you for so long I can read you like a book." Her comment restored some of Raito's dislike for this side of her, but he didn't have time to say anything else. As they finally neared Hitomi's apartment building, they could already see a slouched figure standing on the sidewalk, shuffling his feet uncomfortably in his shoes.
"Did the two of you have a pleasant talk?" L looked more somber than normal, and after a second she realized she was still holding on to Raito. Quickly letting go, she nodded.
"Why're you waiting out here? We would've come up to get you."
"I can be a very impatient man." Hitomi was a little unnerved by the tone of his voice and the look he gave her when he said this, but she moved on.
"Let me just drop my bag off upstairs and change real quick, then we can go, okay?" Neither man said anything, so she ran up the six fights of stairs and into her room, throwing off her clothes and grabbing a new outfit and rushing back down once she'd changed.
He could see her once she was about halfway down the last set of stairs, a pair of metallic mary janes with orange tights coming out of them. When she finally fully appeared, L realized there was a whole different realm of cute beyond the borderline gothic lolita Misa-chan played at. She had on what looked like three different layers of clothes, a gray skirt that stopped just above the knee with a shorter white dress over top. This dress had short sleeves that showed through the top layer, a black and white striped sleeveless dress with little ruffles along the bottom and the design of an orange and yellow mushrrom slightly off center. Her hair was let down from its usual ponytail, falling even with her...ahem... chest, and a black ribbon was tied in it like a headband.
She stepped back out into the cooled night air and noticed immediately that both of them were staring. Looking down and trying not to feel self-conscious under the scrutinizing gazes of Raito and L, Hitomi spoke in a voice that was far smaller than she'd meant to use.
"So.. let's go, ne?" She mentally smacked herself for letting herself slip into japanese so easily.
"Lead the way, Hitomi-chan," Raito replied, a barely visible smirk on his face. Still uncomfortable with the atmosphere between the trio, Hitomi stepped off the curb and hailed the first cab she could get, sliding in and giving the driver their destination and waiting for the other two to join her. L and Raito seemed to be fairly uncomfortable sitting next toeach other, but L quickly ignored him and spoke to Hitomi instead.
"How was work, Hitomi-chan?"
"It was uh, you know, boring... same old song and dance..."
"You were dancing?" Her heart skipped a beat and she nearly lost her composure, but realized that he'd obviously misunderstood her.
"Sou nee, it's an expression. It means the same thing all the time. Nothing new or anything."
"Oh." He seemed on the verge of asking another question, and both Hitomi and Raito knew what it would be. Raito could hardly keep himself from smiling and Hitomi could hardly keep herself from opening the cab door and bailing into the street. But L seemed distracted for a moment, simply looking over at the girl as if he'd completely lost his train of thought.
"So, where are we going?" He finally asked. Hitomi looked up at him and smiled, completely relieved.
"This little club that Karen showed me last semester. We can eat and hang out there for a while, and then there's this great little karaoke place a block down that's run by this adorable couple from back home." If it was possible, L's face went even paler than normal.
"Dancing... and singing? In public?"
A/N: sorry for the extended absence. Some serious issues going down, and I haven't had time to write much at all. But here we go. ANd more is on the way after some editing. review, even if you're going to yell at me for taking so long