Note: I'm sorry for such a devastatingly long wait. I lost my storyboard for the fic, then started reading The Divine Comedy (It's the best!). But you don't want excuses, you want… HOT POCKET[shot

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The room was lit only by the glow from the screens of the computers L and Raito sat at. It was past midnight now, so they were both working in L's room. Misa had left hours ago, at L's insistence. With the new lead, he was eager to search out potential suspects. Raito had stopped typing though. L noticed, but didn't say anything about it. Raito had actually been doing that a lot over the past week. If he had anything he wanted to say, he would.

"L…?" Said detective paused in his reading and looked at Raito.

So he did have something to say. The Shinigami's eyes remained fixated on his own screen, looking deep in thought. It was an odd sight. A Shinigami sitting at a computer, like any other human. L had to forcibly beat off the guilt he felt. He was the reason such an odd scene came to be.

After a few seconds, L became curious. He wondered what his companion was thinking that was so important. If Raito had to put this much thought into it, it must be something.

"Yes, Raito-kun?" Raito seemed almost reluctant to drag himself from his thoughts. Turning his chair so that he faced the Shinigami fully, L listened.

"Well, I was thinking…"

"Yes?" L asked, beginning to gnaw on a thumb. Raito seemed rather reluctant on his part.

"Sitting here at these computers isn't very productive. I know that before doing anything drastic we should gather a little more information and evidence … like a possible suspect. But that could take another week because we have to sift through all of the documents Mogi brought us." L nodded slightly. He had been thinking that only a little while ago. "I think it would be easier in the long run if I just went to the Yotsuba office building and searched for anyone with a Shinigami."

Raito looked at him expectantly. L mulled it over for all of two seconds before replying.

"No."

"Why not?" The surprise on Raito's face was echoed in his voice.

"It would be too dangerous." L could have smacked himself for how flimsy that reasoning was. Raito was a Shinigami. If anything, he should probably be more worried about the humans he might investigate.

"L, you know that doesn't make sense." That had been a rather illogical thought. He wondered why he had even thought that.

"The Shinigami following Kira" -L had no doubt Kira was somewhere in Yotsuba- "could be following his orders. If the Shinigami sees you, he might tell Kira that you were there." Raito didn't even look worried to hear it. He had probably already thought of that, then come up with a solution.

L was proven right when Raito said, "One rule of the Death Note states that a Shinigami can not tell the human they haunt when a Shinigami appears. They also can not tell the human whether another person owns a Death Note or not."

Ah, a flaw.

"But if that's true, how will you tell us who is in possession of a Death Note?"

"I will tear a page from the Death Note in Kira's possession if I have to. Unless I can convince the Shinigami to willingly give up a page. You will be able to see which human the Shinigami follows then."

"But I will be here." An annoyed look came across Raito's face at all of L's objections, making the insomniac feel slightly ashamed. He didn't know what had come over himself. "I'm sorry, Raito-kun." he apologized. "I am merely worried for your safety. What if the Shinigami attacked you?"

Raito seemed amused at his concern, and for a moment, L felt a little annoyed that his worry wasn't being taken seriously.

"I think I can take care of myself." Raito said, seeing his annoyance. "Only you and Misa can see and hear me, and I'm basically bulletproof." The Shinigami snorted at this. "Don't worry. I'll find evidence that Kira is somewhere in Yotsuba, and you keep the investigation team busy."

Despite all of his worries being allayed, L couldn't quell the nervous, anxious feelings bubbling in his stomach like butterflies. There was always a small percentage that something could go wrong. And that was exactly what his mind was pinpointed on.

"When will you leave?" he asked eventually, feeling like a character in one of those old war movies. The girlfriend begs her boyfriend not to go off to war, but the boyfriend is adamant. After all the tears, she asks when he will be leaving, and the boyfriend replies…

"I'll leave a little after six."

Then she cries for her boyfriend and they make sweet love and he goes off to war. Soon after, in a conversation with his teammates about their love life, he says something like, "Yeah, I have a girl back home who I'm planning to marry when I get back." Then he dies in a surprise air raid on their base, leaving his girlfriend with an unborn baby and a broken heart.

L felt a little disgusted and embarrassed with himself after that thought, and resolved to focus back on his computer screen.

It still didn't help the anxious fluttering.

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Feeling the cool breeze whip across the skin of his bare back was nice. He hadn't been out flying since he had entered the mortal realm. It had been all business, trying to find a lead. Not the most pleasant thing in the world. And nightly visits from Misa didn't really help. She hadn't questioned his presence in the mortal realm, seemingly content with the mere fact that she could be with Raito.

And L. That had been so unlike him to protest as he had. Well, it hadn't been outright protesting, however, it was there. He didn't see why the raccoon-detective was so worried. He was a Shinigami. "Bulletproof."

Catching a strong air current, he allowed himself to glide along. The sky was shot with the pinks and yellows of early morning. Being this high up, so close to the heavens, amazed him. Yes, this was definitely nice.

Unbidden, a thought came to him.

"That's too bad. If I could have your wings instead of your eyes…"

But then it disappeared.

Closing his eyes for a few moments, he sucked in a breath of air. He knew he didn't really need to breathe, but doing so made him feel alive. If it was silly, he certainly didn't care. No one had to know about his small indulgences. Like pocky. He definitely needed to wean himself from the stuff. But for now…

Gleefully, he pulled a pocky box from his belt, where the Death Note had previously been held. L kept that in a locked safe in his room. Tearing the packaging open, he began to munch on his treat, not caring at all that if anyone happened to look up, they'd see a pocky box flying through the air.

Super Pocky™. Yeah. He entertained himself with that thought for a few minutes. Flying through the air… Look! A bat, a starfish, no wait, it's…

A jet plane!

Raito was forced to go intangible moments before a jet plane rushed through him. There was a brief moment where the faces of several nameless people passed through his stomach, then they were gone. Sighing with relief, Raito lifted another piece of pocky to his lips. Mmm… air? His pocky was gone!

Looking around, he got a good idea of where it probably was by now. Plastered to the front of that damn plane. What a waste. That had been the last box. Lamenting his loss, he flew on.

Super Pocky™ was no more.

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[hands out t-shirts that say 'I survived the wait until the next chapter and all I got was this lousy filler' I drew Super Pocky™. http//i72 . photobucket . com/albums/i195/FallenPhantem/SuperPocky . jpg Can you tell the source of my inspiration?