You had spent all of yesterday and all of the morning working on the case, feeling like you were getting nowhere. "L, what happened with those reports on where the victims names and faces were revealed in the media?" you questioned, irritably flipping through a thick report of victim profiles.
"It turned out to be a dead end, each victim has been easily accessible through the Internet. There is no point trying to pursue the Kira's through this avenue," L replied, his voice betraying his own hidden agitation.
"Are you sure there's nothing? Maybe if we look close enough…" you prompted, drawing your eyebrows down into a frown.
L dropped a stack of thick files onto your already overburdened desk and said, "Be my guest."
Your furrowed eyebrows rose at this gesture. It was unlike L to show his annoyance so clearly. "Are you…okay?" you asked, feeling suddenly shy under the gaze of the dark-haired detective.
He released an almost inaudible sigh before answering. "I apologise…but these Kira's are experts at covering their tracks, the only other time a case has given me such trouble is the original Kira…"
"So, what you're saying is that…you're depressed because we're not making any progress?" you summarized, watching him quizzically.
He nodded and you smothered the urge to grin. "You're depressed because we've been here for what, two, three days, and your genius mind hasn't smacked you in the face with an answer?"
L's expressionless face fell into a frown as he considered your point. "When you put it that way…"
"Please take it easy on yourself, you don't have to take on the burden alone, remember? That's why we're here," you smiled, gesturing towards the group busily tapping away at their own computers.
His gaze quickly glanced over the investigative team before returning to you. A fraction of a smile managed to drag itself across his lips and you knew your job was done. "Thank you, Ahiru."
Your smile grew even wider at his words and you exclaimed, "Now, let's have another look at those media reports."
What seemed like minutes, but was actually hours later, your phone began to dance across the tabletop, impatient for your attention. Checking the screen, you were surprised when you saw that Alexandra was the caller. Answering it, you greeted her cheerfully. "Hi Alexandra, what's going on?"
"Hi Aki, I was just wondering when and where you wanted to meet today," she replied, the background noise of a busy city making her words muffled and soft.
"Oh, right! I nearly forgot, sorry!" you quickly said, and you launched into a story about how you had gone sightseeing all day around Hollywood and came back to the hotel exhausted. "Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any famous actors or directors."
Alexandra sympathized with you, "That's too bad, a friend of a friend of mine knows someone who could have introduced you to some celebrities."
You lost your self in a simple conversation and it took close to half an hour before Alexandra reminded you why she had called. You found a time and a place to meet, and reluctantly hung up the phone after you had said your goodbyes.
As you passed him on the way back to your chair, L's eyes met with yours. "A friend I met a few days ago. We're going to sightsee tonight…did you want to come?" you informed him, only asking as a matter of courtesy.
You knew his response before he had even started shaking his head and you bent down and embraced him from behind. "That's alright, you probably wouldn't like spending the evening with Thomas anyway," you smiled, an image of L running after Alexandra's son flashing through your mind.
L's eyebrows rose questioningly at the mention of Thomas but you didn't respond, choosing to grin mischievously instead. "I think I'll have to introduce Alexandra to the beauty that is tracking, see how far he can get then."
Realising that it was more than likely that Thomas was an unruly child, L sighed in exasperation. "Please don't do anything that will compromise your identity," he chastised.
"I'm not some amateur, L. You should be more worried about the other members, they don't have the same level of experience," you reprimanded, trying to look offended but failing as a laugh escaped your lips.
L's quick eyes darted around the room, taking your words too literally. "You know I was joking, L. They aren't stupid, they won't give us or anyone else away."
You looked up and Andre's eyes met with yours. You smiled brightly and he seemed almost surprised before he hastily returned your smile with one of his own. 'Cops,' you thought, grinning to yourself.
"What did you say the name of your friend was?" L queried, dragging your mind back to him.
"Alexan- wait…oh, don't you dare," you threatened, narrowing your eyes as you noticed his carefully innocent expression.
"I only wish to know their name," L sighed, looking slightly insulted.
You repressed the instinct to roll your eyes, "Yeah, that and their birth date, their occupation, their last 5 places of residence, their school reports, what they had for breakfast…"
L put a finger to your lips and you stared down at him, silently waiting. "You must be more trusting of me, Ahiru," he said.
You detected the laughter in his voice and took his hand in both of yours. Your smile didn't quite reach your eyes as you retorted, "You're one to talk. You're the worst out of all of us."
You knew he knew what you meant, and you knew that he knew that you knew that he knew what you meant. 'Urgh…maybe I should go lie down.'
"Well, I'm meeting her soon so I guess I should go…" you murmured, bringing his hand up to your lips and softly kissing his knuckles.
Both of you stayed unmoving until you heard the loud clunk of a dropped stapler. Opening your eyes, you smiled and moved away. You waved quickly before you exited the headquarters and left him alone to his work.
"Hey Aki, you ready?" asked Alexandra as she reached where you were waiting on the boulevard.
You smiled, "Sure am. Where are we going?"
"I was thinking that we'd actually go on a night tour?" Alexandra suggested, keeping a tight hold on her son, Thomas.
"Yeah, that sounds like fun," you agreed, walking side by side with her as you made your way to the tour pick up point.
You grinned as you realised that you might actually manage to have a normal experience whilst on holidays.
Sitting next to Alexandra on the bus, you hadn't felt so free in a long time. It felt strange to not be subconsciously focusing on the Kira case, and to be fully devoted to enjoying yourself with a friend. You felt almost guilty, but quickly brushed it away as you reached the next destination. Playing the tourist, you obediently snapped picture after picture, thinking about how many piles of photos you were going to end up with after this trip. 'I'll probably end up buying 50 photo albums just to fit in the ones from tonight,' you thought, sweatdropping.
As you moved the camera to take another photo, your lens settled on a couple leaning against one another and smiling, the woman sitting with her head nestled underneath her partner's chin. You lowered the camera, feeling suddenly ill. Your eyes dropped to your shoes and the happy smile that had been plastered across your face had slipped off. 'He's busy…you know that, you knew it when you fell for him, so don't you dare!' you lectured yourself, trying not to feel so desolate.
Suddenly you were nudged in the ribs and you looked over to see Alexandra pointing. "See, that's the Hard Rock Café. You better hurry and take a picture or you'll miss it!"
Jolted back into action, your thoughts fled as you focused on taking a photo of the famous café.
"Thanks Alexandra, I really had a lot of fun tonight," you admitted, stepping off the bus.
Alexandra smiled back, "I'm glad. You looked like you needed a bit of a break. You must have a hard job back in Japan."
You smiled stiffly, her words bringing you back to a reality you wanted to deny for a few more hours. Then a familiar dark-haired head flashed past your eyes and you felt a surge of love flow through you. It was all for him, if he was happy living like this, then you would be too. You both agreed to meet up again soon and you parted, Alexandra chiding Thomas over a rude comment he had made to the tour guide. Turning, you made your way back to the headquarters.
"L?" you whispered, overly aware that there were investigators who had fallen asleep from exhaustion in front of their computer consoles.
He glanced at you over his shoulder, and you moved over to lean against his back. "Did you have fun?" he asked, twirling a lollipop between his fingers.
You hid your surprise that he would bother asking about your night, but grinned and hugged him. "Yeah, we went on a tour and I took around a million photos of everything."
"A million? That might be troublesome…" L mused.
Not knowing if he was joking, you felt content to stay there, standing against L as he tapped on his keyboard. Around half an hour later you began to feel too drowsy to stand and you barely registered as a pair of arms picked you up and carried you over to an armchair. L placed you down and arranged you comfortably before turning back to his computer. Almost as an afterthought, he bent down and pressed his lips softly against your forehead. A trace of a smile ghosted over his face before he pivoted and climbed back onto his chair, preparing to spend the entirety of the night working on the case.