There's a little language in this. I mean, it's not too bad, but someone might find it offensive, so.

Chapter thirteen – Cake

"This is difficult," Hikaru moaned from her seat in front of a computer in the headquarters' main room. She laid her head on the keyboard in annoyance, which made the screen start to flash. She then turned her head to look at Light, who was on her left and working just fine on his computer. "Light-kun, why didn't you tell me how hard catching Kira would be?"

Light glanced at Hikaru out of the corner of his eye for a moment, then went back to his research. "I didn't know that Ryuzaki would ask you to be on the task force. He told me that he wanted me to bring you here so he could question you about the case, but I didn't know that he'd want you to help with it." He sighed and leaned his cheek on his palm in slight annoyance. It had only been a week since Hikaru had joined them, but so far, the only thing she had accomplished, that was related to the Kira case, was discovering that Kira was killing more frequently than usual.

"You're no help, Light-kun," Hikaru replied, sticking her tongue out at the boy beside her. She then repositioned her head so that now she was looking at Ryuzaki to her right.

During her first week with the task force, Hikaru had met the other two members, Kanzo Mogi and Shuichi Aizawa, and was now working as diligently as possible on the Kira case. But there was something about Ryuzaki that was irking her, something that made her raise her eyebrow in curiosity every time it happened.

Ryuzaki ate nothing but sweets.

To add to that, he didn't seem to gain any weight.

At the moment, he was devouring a piece of cake as he worked on Kira research.

Hikaru stared at his cake, trying her hardest not to blink, in an imitation of Ryuzaki. How in the world could he eat sweets all day—every day—and not gain any weight? And the fact that she hadn't seen him eat anything that didn't have sugar was making her metabolism feel bad.

At this point, Ryuzaki felt Hikaru's eyes on his face and turned his head to look at her. "Yes, Hikaru-san?" he mumbled, looking at her in curiosity. Was her head on the keyboard because she was bored, or tired? No, she had mentioned that she found the Kira case hard to research, so that must be it. But why was she staring at him like that?

"Cake," she said simply, pointing at the baked good on the plate in front of him. She turned her eyes to be starting at it now, licking her lips in an attempt to make Ryuzaki feel uncomfortable—as if she was going to steal it from him.

Ryuzaki kept his eyes on Hikaru, following her movements as she focused on his cake. What was she trying to do? Maybe she wanted a piece as well. But if that was the case, why didn't she just ask? He studied the look on her face—wide-eyed, intent, something along the lines of…wanting to eat that cake there. But Ryuzaki knew enough about Hikaru in a week to understand that she wouldn't just steal someone's cake; she was too considerate. Sure, she might do it out of spite, but she'd give it back, without eating it. But the look on her face clearly said she wanted the cake. Maybe it was that…she was being annoyed by the fact that Ryuzaki had a sweet tooth, and she was just getting back at him by making him think she was going to take his cake. That seemed more like her than actually stealing it. He turned back to the monitor, a small smile on his lips. "Your plan isn't working, Hikaru-san."

"Huh?" Hikaru blinked, looking back at Ryuzaki in confusion. How had he known what she was doing? Well, the real question was, did he really know? She grumbled and sat back up, glaring at Ryuzaki and pouting. "Who says I was planning anything? No one else but you, Ryuzaki." She looked back at her computer screen to see that it was completely blank. "Ah! What happened to my computer?"

"You weren't using it, so I turned it off," Light spoke up, shrugging as he kept his eyes on his own screen. He was starting to get annoyed by this whole "thing" between the two, so he decided to take it out on Hikaru. He placed his hand against his forehead, leaning against his arm in exhaustion. Hikaru acted a lot like a five-year-old at times, and it seemed that Misa, being the hyperactive blonde she was, was falling in love with her. What was so great about her? She was crazy, and highly annoying, and she whined more than anyone could stand. The rest of the task force seemed to agree, except Ryuzaki and Matsuda: Hikaru had only met Mogi and Aizawa once, and had completely busied herself with playing with Aizawa's afro. Soichiro didn't seem to have an opinion of her, and if he did, he hadn't yet voiced it.

Hikaru glared at Light, re-turning on her computer. "You're a jerk, Light-kun," she muttered, sticking her tongue out at him. She turned back to Ryuzaki, who was taking another bite of his cake. "Since you seem to know everything, Ryuzaki, what was I planning to do?"

He glanced at her, his mouth full of cake bits. "You were staring at my cake to make me assume that you were going to steal it from me," he said simply, not caring to swallow before speaking.

Hikaru's face flushed with red as she narrowed her eyes at him. "You cheater. You totally read my mind!" She crossed her arms in a kind of defeat. But she wasn't about to lose this. "You know that because you're addicted to sugar, and you're just paranoid that everyone around you'll just steal it from you. Isn't that right, Light-kun?" she added, turning to face the brunette beside her.

Light glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He didn't have to think long before deciding that this argument was stupid. So therefore, he'd do his best to ignore it, and them.

Seeing that she was being ignored, Hikaru scrunched up her face, now making a kind of "mad at Light" look. "Fine, be mean," she said. "I don't need your testimony to know that Ryuzaki is a sugar fiend." She sat back in her seat, taking in a deep sigh. "You're both jerks, you know," she added, putting a hand over her eyes in exasperation. "Light-kun, I don't see how Misa loves you, and Ryuzaki, I finally understand why you don't have a woman by your side. YOU. ARE. WEIRD."

Ryuzaki kept his eyes on Hikaru as she spoke. A woman by his side? Because he was weird? That obviously wasn't the reason; maybe Hikaru was forgetting what Light had told her. In any case, Ryuzaki took another bite of cake, chewing slowly. "I don't need a woman by my side, Hikaru-san," he mumbled, lowering his eyes and looking at his cake.

"You don't need a woman?" Hikaru responded, sitting up and removing her hand from her eyes. "Good! Because no one would want to fuck you anyway!"

Both Ryuzaki and Light looked at her with wide eyes, surprised at her choice in words. Hikaru had sworn quite frequently within the past week, but she hadn't gone so far as to say the "f-word" before then. And the context she had used it in? Vulgar.

Light sighed and pushed her chair so that she was now facing him. "Hikaru, using those kinds of words make you sound stupid, and present the kind of American that the Japanese are expecting," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders and staring into her eyes as he spoke calmly.

Hikaru narrowed her eyes and pushed her lips out so she was pouting. He liked touching her shoulders, didn't he? She stuck her tongue out at him, giving him a small smile. "Okay, Light-kun. I won't say 'fuck' anymore." She then wriggled her way out of his grasp and turned herself to now be facing Ryuzaki. "So…do you eat anything but sugar then?"

His eyes, after wandering back to his computer screen momentarily, focused back on Hikaru. "No. Sugar is incredible fuel to get the brain working, and thankfully, thinking burns calories better than exercise does." He took another bite as he was talking, and kept the fork in his mouth, as if he was trying to suck all of the frosting from the prongs.

"So," Hikaru murmured slowly, "you eat nothing but sweets and you never exercise." She pondered this thought before asking another question. "Do you wear anything but that outfit? Or can you just think your way into new clothes that look exactly like those?" she asked mockingly. "And! You don't wear socks! What in the world is wrong with you?"

Ryuzaki stared at her, his eyes now fixated on her face. She was asking what was wrong with him. Was there really such a simple answer? He happened to be the greatest detective of the century, and he possessed the trait that most people would call "mad genius." Of course he'd be different. But couldn't she just accept it? "What is wrong with me is none of your concern, Hikaru-san," he mumbled, placing the last bit of cake in his mouth and staring at his plate in slight sadness.

"What?" Hikaru yelled, standing up in fury. "You say it's none of my concern? Gah, you're so full of yourself, Ryuzaki! Why can't it be my concern, huh? Why does everything have to be such a goddamn secret with you? Why can't someone just get to know you?" She turned on her hell and made her way to the stairs, shielding her eyes and face from Light and Ryuzaki; she didn't want them to see the fact that she had started to cry.

Once Hikaru had gone, slamming the door on her way out, Light turned to Ryuzaki. "Wow. Who could've known she would've freaked out that much?"

Ignoring his words, Ryuzaki placed his thumb against his lips in thought. Were those tears he had seen before she left? What did she have to cry about? Was she really that upset about him keeping secrets? It was necessary, to save his life. But the thing was, Ryuzaki hadn't meant to make her feel that way. It just sort of…happened. Ryuzaki wasn't good with people, and by now, Hikaru should've understood that. "Should I go apologise to her, Light-kun?" he asked softly, his thumb now hanging from his lips.

"Don't both, Ryuzaki," Light replied with a laugh, leaning back in his chair. "A girl like Hikaru'll get frustrated over something unimportant, and will want to sulk for awhile." He waved his hand, appearing as if he understood the fairer sex more than anyone else. "You can apologise, if you want, when she's not mad at you."

"Hn. I'll do that," Ryuzaki replied, staring up at the ceiling. He liked Hikaru—he really did—and he couldn't understand what he was saying wrong to her. Whatever it was, he hoped he could fix it.