Okay, I'm going to get right into the chapter!

Cristyn lebeau- Thanks! I'll try and keep my pace!

Disclaimer- if you don't know then you didn't read the last chapters.

Chapter 7 A vivid imagination

The tapes had been analyzed throughly, the envelope had been fingerprinted, examined and nearly broken down into atoms. Every word of the voice had been memorized by everyone there. It was done. It took three days, Aisawa was asleep on the couch again, and L frowned.

He didn't realize how nice it was to have someone without the detective's eyes. Without the training to see every detail. He had to run and do his own copying. He sighed, papers in hand and walked down to the scanner, laying the papers on the bed. "Ryuuzaki." He heard from his walkie/phone and held it up, hitting the button. "Yes?"

"Rukia's being released from the hospital. I'll be leaving to get her now. I won't return for a few hours." He sighed. He'd finished the work and was planning to go visit her before he passed out. If she was going to be discharged then he probably wouldn't be able to go see her, unless he went with Watari. He frowned, looking at the monitor with all of the men passed out on the furniture. "Watari, wait for me."

He lifted the microphone and spoke in a louder voice than he was used to. "You may all leave." They didn't stir. "Gentlemen." He called a little louder , but still nothing. He held the phone over the scanner, the magnets producing enough feedback to wake Elvis. The men jumped out of their skin and he sighed. "Go home. We'll meet back up after the weekend unless something happens." They nodded, nearly crawling to the door.

L met Watari at the car. "Decided to come along?" Watari smiled and L looked over. "I may pass out in the car." Watari smiled. "You just have to be there when she gets out, conscious or not?" L grunted, looking near the floor as he sat in the car, frowning and scratching the tops of the shoes against the back of the opposing knees. "I hate wearing shoes." He sighed as the car roared to life. He smacked against the back seat of the car as it started to move forwards and had to fight to keep his eyes open.

The hospital smelled odd, not quite like a hospital. He frowned as he walked down the hall, almost as if headed towards the smell, which as it turned out was the situation. Rangiku sat on the bed, her hands behind her back, swinging her feet too and fro like a child as the doctor tried to explain. "These pills will help with pain. If you feel any pain after three days, please return. If you get another fever over one hundred degrees, please return. And lastly, don't let that man drink anymore coffee." He looked over at Matsuda who was sitting in the chair, staring ahead blankly with circles under his eyes at least as dark as L's.

L just stared for a while, almost afraid before looking over at Rangiku. "Rukia, how are you?" She looked over and jumped up, grinning. "Ryuuzaki!" She nearly ran over before stopping a few feet away from him. She smiled up at him and he looked at the color in her cheeks. She did look a lot better. "I missed you." She beamed and he couldn't help but smile at her. "I missed you too. I had to work the scanner by myself." He looked at his hand incredulously as Rangiku grinned. "You wore shoes for me?" She looked down, surprised by the fact that he was actually, not in her imagination, wearing shoes. He nodded. The doctor sighed at this and looked over. "You all seem a little... odd..." Rangiku grinned and nodded. "We have a psycho serial killer back at the headquarters. You think we're odd now, you should see HIM after three days and gallons of coffee! Oh, and Watari's strawberry shortcake." The doctor sighed and shook his head. "Alright, I'm going to pretend that I have some sort of knowledge as to what's going on. If you don't mind, I'd like to get through the rest of this discharge information so that she can leave and you can sleep. And you can take your shoes off." He looked around the room, freezing momentarily on L, scratching the back of his head, looking over at Matsuda and scratching the top of his foot on the back of his calf.

"Is this alright? Should I be releasing her to you?" Rangiku smiled. "He's great. He'll probably have Watari follow me for the next week to make sure I follow all of the details." She looked over at Watari who was smiling at her, amused by the whole situation and the doctor's sudden setting fears.

"Pain pills for three days, if I feel any pain after that, If my fever comes back or if I have a feeling that something's not right at all, to return." The doctor nodded. "Now, I'll need you to sign here and here." He held out a clipboard and she smiled, taking it in hand. She wrote down the name Rukia Amagai, as it was the first name to come to mind. She handed it back to the doctor who handed the clipboard over. "As she's been delusional, I need one of you to sign for her as well. The care giver." L took the pen and looked at the paper. He looked up at the doctor and sighed. "I can write my alias, but it's just that, an Alias. I can write my name, but you wouldn't believe it's my name. I can't write down my whole name, though, for safety concerns. Which do you want?" The doctor sighed, shaking his head. "The closest to your real name that you can write?"

L took the pen and looked down at the paper, beginning to doodle. Watari looked over at Matsuda and sighed. "Will you be able to walk to the car?" He jumped up, nodding. "I haven't slept. I was worried about Ryuuzaki if I fell asleep and anything happened." L frowned. "The new Kira left another message, it sounds like the last." Rangiku jumped up. "What?! Why didn't you come get me?! You just left me here to sleep!?"

"You needed sleep." L looked down at her and she realized he hadn't been to sleep since she got here. "You've been awake this whole time as well, haven't you?" He nodded, wiping at the corner of his eye with the back of his hand. She smiled at him, shaking her head. "As soon as we get to the tower, you need to go to sleep, no matter how much more you were planning on doing."

"I was planning on coming to visit you, then falling asleep." He looked tired and Rangiku took the clipboard from his hand, looking at the large intricate L that displayed across the page.

She handed it over to the doctor who frowned at it for a moment before realizing the implication. "You're him?" L looked up and nodded. "Doctor patient confidentiality." He mumbled. "Is she free to go?"

"She may want to get dressed first, but yes." Watari held out an outfit for her and she smiled before headed into the restroom to change. L jumped into a chair beside Matsuda to wait and the doctor looked over them and frowned. Both had dark circles under their eyes, the hair on both of them looked as if they'd been tearing it out. The doctor was hiding his chuckles at the fact that besides the outfits they looked nearly identical. He turned and walked from the room, looking over at Watari. "Please, take care of her. You look like the only one of them that sleep." Watari nodded. "She'll be well taken care of."

The instant they got into the car both L and Matsuda fell asleep. Rangiku smiled, both of them leaning their heads on her shoulders. When they got back to the house she looked between the two of them and sighed. "Watari, I think I'm in trouble." He turned and smiled. "Go ahead and wake Ryuuzaki, I'll take Matsuda home, alright?" She nodded and turned, shaking his shoulder.

"Ryuuzaki?" She breathed near his ear, trying to be comforting while waking him. He opened his eye a slit and looked up at her before sitting up. "I'm sorry." He mumbled and Rangiku shook her head. "Don't be. Let's go inside." He nodded and nearly crawled from the car. She took his arm over her shoulder and helped him to his room. She walked him up to his room and laid him down on his bed, sighing as she set her resolve. She gently pulled the shoes from him and walked up to his dresser, opening it to find a drawer of boxers and another of his white shirts, and the last two were filled with... stuff. One had a bag of Flower's kiss candy and a bag of coffee candy. She smiled at this, shaking her head before looking at the stack of boxers. Should she?

She looked over at him, knowing he hadn't changed in three days.

On the other hand, maybe that was a bit much... She closed the drawer before walking over and sitting by the head of the bed, slowly pulling his arms out of the sleeves before pulling the shirt over his head. His eyes clenched for a second before he sighed and nuzzled into her hip. She smiled, pulling the shirt free and tossing it into the bin in the corner. She walked over and sat carefully at the side of the bed, looking a little terrified at what she was about to do. She took a deep breath before reaching out to the button on his pants.

The button, as well as the zipper were easy to get undone, but she had to set her resolve and falter about three times before reaching up to his hip and slowly pulling the material down. She was careful, taking her time to try and keep from waking him up. After they were down to around his knees she stood and walked to the foot of the bed, taking the hem from the pants and pulled them down, freeing him from the cloth. She sighed, smiling. She hadn't waken him, and that was the hard part. She looked up at him.

It was odd, how something as trivial as clothing can change the way someone looks so drastically. He usually held this appearance of a younger man, older teen, tiny. Like he was deprived of food or something. She was actually really surprised to see that he was fairly well built, the muscles of his chest and abdomen hidden by the clinging white shirts he wore, the definitive muscles of his legs hidden by the thicker material in the jeans. She looked up at his face and was surprised to see him staring at her. She smiled and reached down, taking the blanket that she'd pulled down earlier and covered him, watching his face as he watched her every move. "Do you need anything?" She spoke so softly that she wasn't sure he'd heard her. "Say it again." She looked at him, unsure of what he was asking. "What?"

"My name. Say it again?" This time it was more of a plead than a question and she smiled. She reached down, running her hand through his insane hair. "Goodnight, Lawliet." He smiled, his eyes closing against his will. She just sat there for a moment watching as he slept. She sighed before headed back to her own room.

"Well, aparently the infection itself is gone, but they're worried about it coming back easily. I should be safe for coffee." She nearly growled at L as she wrapped her hands defensively around the mug. He nodded and sighed. "It takes more than three days to get rid of an infection."

"I need my coffee!" She whimpered and L frowned, trying to figure out how to extradite the caffeine from her. "I'll make you a deal." She looked at him, her eyes pleading as if this was the farthest stretch for her. "You can take my caffeine if you'll go without sweets." L stared at her, mouth forming a little o as he tried to think this through. Now his sugar was at question. It gave him his energy.

Than again, the caffeine could be explained off in the same way for her. He sighed. "I signed the paper, I promised I'd take care of you. I guess I have no choice." He frowned, looking over at the random things he'd miss for the next few days.

She stared at him, her look dissolving to horror. "What? You were supposed to call me crazy or something..." She looked down at her mug and stretched all of her willpower out, laying it on the counter. L shook his head. "This is going to be really sad. Maybe I should have Watari turn off the cameras." She looked up, confused. "Why's that?"

"We're probably not going to be very 'pretty' for the next few days." He frowned, turning to the fridge. Rangiku smiled. "L, I'll cook, alright?"

She was surprised to see how much he'd actually enjoyed breakfast. She'd made ham and cheese omelets. She watched as he devoured the plate, sitting back and watching the tapes again, just to see if anything were different now that he'd gotten some sleep.

She giggled a little as she was placing the fork in her mouth again and he turned to look at her, confused over her response. The look in his eyes reminded her of the look on his face, laying there as she pulled the blanket up over him, the body that was hidden beneath those cloths...

She caught herself staring and looked forwards to see him watching her, eyes narrowed. "Are you alright?" She nodded almost hyperactively, forcing a giggle as she did so. "I'm fine! Fine!" She stuffed a huge fork full of the food in her mouth as he turned away. "You look flushed." She frowned, looking down at her food. This was why she didn't really want to undress him the previous day. She knew this would happen. She couldn't get the image out of her head. Him lying there, only one item of clothing remaining, watching her...

She jumped up and shoveled the rest of her food into her mouth. "I'm going to go get a shower." She nearly whimpered only to find him standing next to her in an instant, his hand against her head. "You don't feel warm." She looked at him, eyes wide. "I told you I'm better. Why?"

"You got out of the bath an hour ago." She looked down at herself. He was right. She sat back down, keeping her eyes averted. "Rangiku, what's wrong?"

She looked up at him, frowning. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just... a little fried." He frowned. "Maybe you should go back to bed..."

"No!" She shook her head. "I just spent the better part of the last week in bed. I need exercise."

She nodded, thinking. That would help her get out some of the... tension she was feeling. She looked down at her outfit. "I'm going to go change, then I'm headed down to the second floor." She'd forgotten that he'd actually had a fitness room down there. He nodded as she jumped up and ran.

It was an hour later that she was starting to relax. She'd forgotten how great it felt to work up a good sweat. She leaned forwards on the bowing machine, punching her fists forwards, the weights pulling them back.

It was an hour after that when she realized she was getting lonely down there. She looked up at the camera, wondering if L had turned them off or not. She sighed before getting back to work, listening to the poppy song that had just come on the radio.

L sat at the chair, watching her movements. He was sure that he'd seen it wrong when the weights she'd lifted said three hundred pounds. She seemed sad. He watched as she moved from machine to machine. She got over to the bench and he watched as she laid more and more weight on the bar.

When it got to four hundred he tore off down the hall, cell in hand, ready to call for an ambulance.

He slid across the intersection, nearly breaking through the door. Rangiku sat up, looking at him, obviously surprised. "Is everything alright?"

He looked at her, the weights hovering in her hands and he walked over, eyes wide. "How much... weight is that?" She looked up at the weight. Oh, crap, she forgot that humans can't hold up this much...

"It's only about two hundred." He walked over and looked at the numbers. "Rangiku, this is over five hundred pounds." She laughed as she placed the weights on the safety and sat up.

"Remember a while ago, when I told you I was a shinigami? My body can handle a little more weight than you'd expect..." She watched for a response and was surprised to see him turn and walk over to the wall. He knelt down in his usual fashion, his knees pulled up to his chest, his right hand on his knee, the left hand up to his mouth, thumb at his lip. His eyes were still wide, focused on her and she stared. "Is everything alright?"

"I thought you'd been joking with me. The sword makes a little more sense now..." He just watched. She stood and walked over to him and sat on the ground beside him. He looked over at her and quickly diverted his eyes to the door. "L, does this change the way you think about me?" He looked over at her, surprised at his own thoughts on this. "It does. I'd better go." He stood and walked out, stopping at the window to turn and look at her again.

Rangiku watched, feeling a bit devastated as he left the room. He turned at the window and looked at her, his eyes wide, before he walked away. She stopped, staring with her jaw dropped. That wasn't a fearful look, nor one of anger. It was... lust?!

She stared at the window for a while after he'd left and after a minute broke down in laughter. That's why he'd left! She'd been working out, was glistening with sweat and breathing heavily.

He was just a man, and she knew she was gorgeous. She couldn't blame him.

She could blame herself though. She burst out in laughter at the thought that she'd gotten so narcissistic. She always used to be like this to some degree, but she knew that with the people she hung out with the physical appearance wasn't very important. She smiled, knowing that part was still true.

But, no matter who they are, if they're working off hormones, glistening with sweat, giving you those eyes, it would be hard to do anything about.

She got back to the equipment. She wondered how he'd work off any stress that he'd gotten...

The imagery was against her will. The broad chest muscles, his head back against the pillow, lightly nibbling at his bottom lip, hitched breathing, his fingers pulling at the sheets-

"Oh, hell." She frowned. She'd come down here to work this off, and now she was on again. She sighed and looked over. Maybe she should throw more weight on this...

It was four days later. Four long, nearly to the point where Rangiku could have sworn that they were going in slow motion days. Every time she passed him she could have sworn that his eyes shone. They always seemed to be on her, and she could always feel the burning in her cheeks. It was that one image...

She shuddered a breath as she stood from the back of the room, shaking her head. "Are you alright?" He asked, looking back at her, eyes wide, set on her. "I'm fine." She smiled weakly, keeping her eyes closed. It was easier than to look at him...

"Rangiku, please, let me explain." He put his hand on her shoulder and she looked down. Anything to avoid that gaze...

"I didn't mean that I thought less of you. It was just, I was surprised and you were..." He sighed. "Please, start talking to me again." She looked up, suddenly worried. "L, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you think..." She jumped up, grabbing his hand and holding it in hers. "I didn't mean to make you think I was angry with you! I'm so sorry!" She looked up into his eyes. He looked down, away from her, suddenly playing with the back of his knee with his toes again. "Then why haven't you spoken to me in almost four days?"

She froze. How would she do this?! 'I imagined you masturbating and it really turned me on' seemed like the wrong thing to say. "Personal issues?" She looked down, feeling a blush cross her cheeks. He nodded, looking depressed as he turned. "I don't want this. I want you to be close to me again."

Rangiku walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his chest, catching him off guard. She laid her chin on his shoulder and just stood there for a bit, pressed to his back in the center of the room. "You misunderstand me as well, L. I wasn't avoiding you because I was mad or upset." He turned his head slightly and Rangiku clutched him tighter. "Please, don't turn. It'll make this harder for me." She set her resolve. "The night I came back from the hospital, do you remember anything after that?" He nodded. "I remember everything."

"You remember me removing your clothing?" He froze and she could feel the warmth in him suddenly. "You haven't really been around me long enough to really know, but I have a very vivid imagination. The scene, you looking up at me with only your boxers on was a little more than I had expected that day. I haven't been able to get it out of my head." She shifted so that her forehead was on his shoulder, feeling so terribly embarrassed that she couldn't look up just in case he looked over. "You already knew that I was having problems keeping my hands away from you, but now I can barely pass you in the hall without blushing. I don't know what to do..."

He turned to her and stared, her face downcast, her eyes clenched, trying to hide her embarrassment. "Rangiku, why didn't you tell me?"

"What was I supposed to say?" She whispered and he wrapped his arms around her. "You could have told me anything." She just stood there for a moment, caught off guard at the contact. She'd forgotten how sweet he smelled...

She leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his waist, cherishing every second of him.

Yay! I tried to get them back into character, but this is going a little slower than I'd thought. Let's see how much tension I can build up before they crack!

Muahahaha!

Ja-ne!

jasminflower69