I'm so awesome that I eat Hot Pockets with forks. Which I'm doing right now. So HA!

EEp. Randomness alert.

I just misspelled "alert" as "alter" and had to change it haha. I'm really hyper XD Sorry… Aaaaaanywhozles.

Disclaimer: see previous chapter.

The atmosphere of the investigation was as basically back to normal by the next morning with Katherine back. There was still the difference that she was completely ignoring everything L said to her, but everything else was basically the same. She and Matsuda got into a number of pointless conversations by the middle of the day, resulting in another general scolding from Aizawa, who couldn't stand listening to their constant debating over band names.

"Are you two ever going to shut up?" Aizawa asked, looking through paperwork.

"Well, you know," Katherine said, "we were going to ask you to be our bass guitarist. But now we're not."

"Good."

"Hey!"

"Well –"

"Well nothing! You're a stup– eh?"

They grew silent as they heard Yagami speak – asking L to allow him to be removed from the investigation team. It was a terribly deathly silence. Katherine glanced at L to see his reaction, and immediately grew annoyed. He was absolutely expressionless as he sat in front of the computers he had monitoring Mira and Light, in his usual strange manner, eating a piece of cake. He was completely strange if he wasn't alarmed by the suggestion. She subconsciously rolled her eyes before switching back to the subject that should be focused on.

"Chief!" Aizawa started.

"My son is suspected of being Kira, and is being detained. As his father, I'll naturally be biased against his confinement as a suspect. I even tried to prevent it from happening. Because of my bias, I have no right to be here."

"It is true that biased opinions are no good," L said, the fork in his hand poised near his mouth as he thought. "While I also agree that we shouldn't have you here at the moment. However, no matter what happens now, do not think about resigning."

Oh, I'd like to punch him, Katherine though, glaring at L. Feelingless bastard. I could probably snap him like a twig….

"Ryuzaki," Yagami said after a moment. "If there is this much of a case against my son, that alone should be enough reason for me to resign."

"The only people who know your son is suspected are on this team," L said. "So if you are going to resign, do it only in the event that your son is proven to be Kira."

L's words always seemed to bring about uncomfortable silences. Maybe not always, but it seemed that they did at least ninety-nine percent of the time. That was another thing Katherine could add to her rapidly growing why-I-hate-L list. She rolled her eyes towards the ceiling and sat back against the sofa, waiting for someone to say something. Anything would have been nice.

"Then imprison me as well."

Okay, Katherine thought, looking back at L and Yagami. That was random. Maybe not anything, then.

"I may be calm enough now, but I'm afraid of what trouble I may bring to the investigation as a suspect's father."

"I thought there was a possibility you would ask for this," L said, "so I have had Watari start making preparations already."

Does things without consulting anyone beforehand, Katherine thought to herself. There's something else to add. Granted, I tend to do that too, but… oh, L's an ass, it doesn't matter.

"Even if you are imprisoned, however," L said, "you must keep your cell phone turned on and call your family and the outside world occasionally so they do not suspect anything strange. Light will not be allowed to know about this, and if it happens that he is not Kira, he will also not be told under that situation. We will also still be briefing you on everything regarding the investigation. Is that alright?"

"Yes," Yagami said. "Thank you, Ryuzaki. I owe you."

I think L just likes imprisoning people, Katherine thought to herself.

All of the eye-rolling she was doing at him was starting to make her dizzy. It would probably be a good idea to stop. She was angrier with him now more than ever, and she didn't know why. It had been Yagami's suggestion, but part of her mind was searching for a way to blame it on L. That part of her mind had been rather overactive lately. She was sure that if it tried hard enough, it could probably find a way to blame him for something like the Second World War.

It had been three days since Yagami was imprisoned. Katherine still wasn't talking to L, and this didn't particularly surprise L much, despite the fact he was still attempting to get her to speak. He was almost starting to regret asking her to come back to the team, but getting rid of her was out of the question. Letting her go had caused him to feel guilt. He didn't like guilt one little bit. He was somewhat happy now, as she had said the first word she had said to him in two weeks on that day. Of course, it had been somewhat short and ill-tempered due to the fact that he had to pester her for five minutes before she would even regard the fact that he was attempting to ask her a question about the Kira case. Even so, it was speech. That was something.

He wasn't going to bother her about Light's plan, at least not just yet. His main goal was only to get her to speak to him again, as cooperation was required for the entire investigation team to get along… although, he had to admit it was partially because she was basically the only person on the team he enjoyed talking to. He didn't mind the rest of the team (except maybe Matsuda, who had been getting on his nerves a lot more than usual lately), but he didn't actually consider them friends, not like he considered her. He had been working with them for more than a year longer than he had been with her, but he got along with her twice as well for some reason. It made things a little bit tedious now that she wasn't talking to him.

A voice came from the computer, interrupting his ponderings.

"How's it been so far, Ryuzaki?" Light's voice asked from the computer. L looked at that portion of the screen. "Have any criminals that Kira would have been likely to kill been reported or killed?"

"They have been reported," L said, "but none have died, not since your confinement."

"Stalker-san!" Misa's voice came from another screen, "I need to take a bath! You probably know where I live, so could you bring me a change of clothes?"

"Man, I wanna eat an apple…" L heard an echoic voice say. He glanced at Light's screen to see his Shinigami looking out through the bars.

"The murdering stopped?" Light asked, sounding alarmed. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Then it seems like it won't be long before I can be identified as Kira…"

"It's only been a few days so far," L said. "It could easily be a coincidence."

Coincidence? Katherine sniggered to herself, looking over at the other three from the couch. That doesn't sound like you, L. At least you've figured out he's up to something.

"Ryuzaki, how's Misa doing? Has she given any hints of who Kira could be?"

"Light-kun, the investigation is happening with Amane placed as the second Kira and you as the first. Therefore, I cannot give you any information we have."

"Ah, that's pretty strict," Light said. "I'm also doing this to figure out who the first and second Kiras are."

Well isn't that a load of deep-fried bologna… Katherine thought to herself. Eh? Deep-fried bologna…? Hmm. Appears my mind still hasn't recovered from the blow it took by being alone with its own thoughts for eleven days. Katherine shook herself mentally, trying to refocus. He knows who Kira is. He is still Kira. I can still hear Ryuk complaining about apples… that means Light still hasn't forfeited the Death Note. Ryuk will probably show some sign that Light has gotten rid of it when he does, which will let me know. Good lord, apples must be like drugs to that poor creature, she thought, almost laughing as Ryuk purposely hit his head on the cell's iron bars, then continued on about how he needed an apple.

"Are you on our side?"

Katherine made a frustrated noise and looked over at the computers, where L was still sitting. She glared at him, but he didn't notice, as he wasn't looking. She stood up and walked over to the computers.

"I'm against Kira, if that's what you're asking," she said disdainfully, sitting down in front of the computers as well.

"Then why haven't you given any mention about Kira's plans yet? I figured you would once you came back to the investigation team."

"Because I don't want to talk to you."

"That's a rather childish reason to not give information that could thwart a mass murderer."

"You call everything childish," she said with an exasperated sigh. "Why should I listen when you call me childish? You apparently lie a lot, too, so I'm not too worried about it."

It had been four days since Katherine had returned to the investigation team, and she still hadn't told L of Kira's plans. Katherine had to admit, she was being a little… okay, very childish, but something was clicking in her mind lately every time she heard L speak that made her act in such a way. She wanted to tell him Kira's plans, but that part of her mind that still hated him, and it wasn't going to allow her to say anything unless he apologized or admitted he was wrong for letting her go, which he hadn't actually done yet. As they both had too much pride for their own good, it seemed that it was unlikely anything would ever happen. They were the only two awake at that time, and the other two were lucky they were asleep. They would probably cower in fear if they woke up to such a hostile environment. The air in the room seemed almost murderous.

About thirty minutes past in which neither of them said another word. L was wondering why she wouldn't talk, whether in a disdainful manner or otherwise. Katherine was shooting annoyed looks at him every five minutes. Or seconds. It didn't really matter, she was still annoyed with him. She wasn't sure why, but lately it seemed the fact that he had to exist caused it more than anything else. After about thirty-five minutes, he finally noticed the glares he was constantly receiving.

"What?" he asked, looking over.

"Nothing…" Katherine said in an airy manner, looking back at the computer screen.

The same intimidating silence weighed down upon them for another five minutes, before she shot him another look of pure evil.

"What?" he asked impatiently.

"Nothing," she answered through gritted teeth.

"Then stop glaring."

"I'll glare at whatever I want to glare at." L rolled his eyes, looking back at the computer. "Don't roll your eyes at me," she said warningly.

"I'll roll my eyes at whatever I want to roll them at…" he grumbled in imitation.

"Just don't complain when they get popped out of your head, then," she said in her favorite sarcastically airy tone.

"If you have any kind of problem, then feel free to share it."

"Tell you my problem?" She scoffed. "I don't see the point. I talk to my friends about my problems, and I've come to find out recently that friends are completely overrated."

Another silence, but not quite as hostile. This one seemed to give off a feeling of apprehension. She looked over at L to see he was chewing his thumbnail nervously now. She smiled to herself. It appeared that thought had managed to get though his thick skull.

That would explain… L thought to himself. She thinks I was using her, I mainly let her go because I was afraid of blurting out anything else about my past…. This whole "friends" thing is horribly puzzling…. She's bound to be hostile if she thinks something such as that… would she believe me if I told her why, even…? She probably wouldn't. Perhaps asking her…

"Why do you believe I let you out of the team?"

"'Let me out of'?" Katherine said. She stared up at the ceiling. "That's a way to put it."

"You know what I mean."

Katherine looked at him. L was still biting his thumbnail, not looking over. She looked back up at the ceiling, afraid she might accidentally say something friendly if she didn't look away. He looked absolutely pitiful in his confusion.

"My usefulness had run out, as far as you could see, so you let me go," she said tonelessly. "I had overstayed my welcome. It didn't appear as though I would be much more of a help. You also don't trust me anymore, which means I have no reason to trust you, either."

"What caused you to think that was the reason?"

"You don't know?"

"I may or I may not, which is why I am asking you."

"You look at everything like an investigation," she said with a sigh. "Fine. It's because you said you would only let me back onto the team if I gave you information about Kira's plan first. That means that you would only let me back on the team if the information I had was useful. You weren't willing to let me back on the team until I gave you the information because you didn't even trust that I was telling the truth." She didn't sound as hostile now. She sounded rather glum, if nothing else. "If I'm not useful and you can't trust me, then there's no point in having me on the team, so I was kicked off of it."

L swallowed. She was right. He hadn't trusted that she wasn't bluffing. When she first said Kira had a plan, he did believe her, though, he just wanted to make sure the plan was important beforehand. He was afraid to keep her on the team mostly for the sake of his own identity. She knew more about him than anyone he had ever worked on a case with did at this point, and if he slipped up any more, then she could find out about all the others. That was the main reason, but she wouldn't have known that. He couldn't have explained it to her at the time, as it the rest of the team had been right there.

He had told himself she was bluffing for quite a while, but that hadn't been because he didn't believe what she said. That had been for the sake of trying to convince himself he wasn't completely stupid for letting her go. That had been the only reason. He still couldn't help but believe that everything she said was true, which wasn't normal for him at all.

"It's true, then, isn't it?" she said. "That you don't trust me?"

He tried to think of something to say that wouldn't make her angry.

"I apologize if my intentions seemed different than they were. It was probably a little misleading…"

"Misleading?" The hostility was back in her voice. "If that's the case, then that couldn't be considered misleading, it's considered to be mean."

"That wasn't the case at all," he said. "I didn't mean for it to…. I needed to let you go because you're… you're too good at finding things out."

"That's kind of required to solve the…" She trailed off, her facial expression changing in remembrance. "Oh. The thing where… right."

"I was going to agree to let you back onto the team depending on how important the information you had regarding Kira was. If it was important enough, you would be let back on, but not because you were 'useless' at the time. I am not permitted to talk freely about my past, so disclosing random pieces of it is completely out of the question, whether by accident or on purpose. I saw no other way to prevent it from happening again."

"So," she said slowly, "the main problem was that you trust me too much?"

That was one way to put it…. Indeed, he had trouble being skeptical about anything she said. He probably would have believed her if she randomly stated that she was actually from the third millennium and had traveled back in time because she learned about Kira in her history class. Farfetched as it sounded in his own mind, her saying it out loud would have made it sound truer, strange as it was.

Seeing the contemplative look on his face, Katherine grinned, realizing she had just confused him again. He had apologized, but not for kicking her out of the investigation. He had apologized for the way something he said had sounded. She was glad that he had apologized about anything, but she was still angry with him. That would probably last for a while longer, though, regardless of whether he apologized or not, or said it was wrong for him to have kicked her off of the team.

"Well," she said, interrupting his musings. He looked over. "Why did you tell me, then?"

"I… wasn't really trying too. I stopped thinking."

"Have you ever had that problem in the past?"

"… No."

"Have you ever trusted anyone in the past?"

"Not really."

"Then that's probably it." She smiled, figuring it was worth a shot to ask. "One other question. Have you ever admitted to being wrong in the past?"

"I'm not saying I was wrong," he said, looking back at the computer.

She laughed. "It was worth a shot."

They sat in another silence for the next few minutes, watching the motionless Light, Misa, and Yagami in their cells. Ryuk was pacing around and mumbling about apples under his breath. The silence, while it didn't give off a feeling that someone in the room was about to commit murder, was still intimidating. After a few moments, she heard L speak.

"I will apologize."

"I know," she said dismissively. "The way you said it came out wrong and all that."

"No," he said. She looked over, but he was still looking at the computer screen. "For dismissing you from the investigation."

L glanced over, only to see a look on her face indicating triumph. He sighed inwardly, expecting to hear a fair amount of gloating in a moment's time, and looked back at the computer.

"Matsuda did say over the phone that it seemed like you missed me."

"I… did," he admitted quietly.

She smiled. "I'm sure that if I hadn't spent the past two weeks thinking of you as an ass, I would've missed you too."

Well… he was nice enough to apologize…

"And I'm sorry for acting like a bratty child."

He looked over. "Then are you going to say anything about Kira's plans?"

She looked at him. "You don't think about anything else ever, do you?"

His eyes moved around for a moment as he thought. "… It's an important case…" he said slowly. "I probably shouldn't think about anything else, it could distract me."

She grinned. "You mean like you were distracted for the past week and a half?"

He looked at her blankly for a moment, and then looked back at the computer screen without saying anything else. She laughed.

"I'm only kidding," she said.

He mumbled something, sounding slightly irritated. She noticed him glare in the direction of the couch Matsuda was asleep on.

L heard her laugh a little as he glared at the computer screen, chewing on his thumbnail. How much had that idiot told Katherine on the phone on his caffeine high? Definitely enough things that she didn't need to know, for the reason that she could easily use them against him for her own amusement. She seemed to enjoy doing that….

"I'm sorry," she said, still laughing under her breath. "Unlike some people, I actually need to make up for sleep when I'm lacking it. I'll have to tell you Kira's plan tomorrow."

There was silence for a moment, and then he felt her arms loop around his neck, causing him to inadvertently jump. He was sure he heard her laugh for a moment, or giggle. He couldn't really tell the difference.

"You're too paranoid all the time," she said quietly.

She laid her head on his shoulder for a moment before pulling her arms away. Before standing, she kissed him on the cheek. All at once, he stopped chewing on his thumbnail, his eyes became fixated unblinkingly on the computer screen with a look of confusion in them, and his cheeks became slightly flushed.

"Good night."

She stood up and looked down at him. He looked something like a statue in this state. He definitely didn't seem like he was about to reply to her good night.

Well, she thought in amusement as she walked back to her chair, I'm probably the first person to ever put him in a statuesque state of confusion and make him blush, especially at the same time.

L glanced over as she sat down in the chair sideways with her back to most of the room. He looked back at the computer.

Dammit… he thought. Confusing me again…. She must really think this is funny…

Yes, she probably did think it was hilarious. She probably knew that thousands of thoughts were still racing through his mind about how to react or what in the world she could have meant by it or how long it would take her to mention it to see if she could confuse him again. She definitely knew it. There was no way that she couldn't have known it. They were only friends, though. They had already decided that. They were only friends, so there was no way it could have meant anything… right? Right. It couldn't have meant anything… could it…?

In this frustrated state of confusion, he somehow had managed to chew off his thumbnail without noticing. He switched to his index finger, still wondering if she had only done it to confuse him. Once again, her impulsive nature had rendered the world's "greatest" detective absolutely baffled. If he was named such a genius by the general public, then why was it so hard to figure out what in the world game she was trying to play? It didn't seem to make any sense. He had a feeling that finding out who Kira was going to have been easier than trying to figure her out, and that she would probably drive him the rest of the way to insanity before the case was entirely over.

As an end note:

I got nine reviews on my last chapter so yay! This story also now has over 6,000 views.

So -hugs- thank you AGAIN!!

A thanks to everyone who's been reviewing and the 33/37 people who have added this to their favorites/alerts list.

A thanks in particular to Volital, Miorochi, White Alchemist Taya, Princesa de la Luna, fowlgirl19, MoonCrisis, Happycookbook, and Twitch-Lawliet for reviewing the past umpteen chapters of this story and a few of my other stories :)

Also, to clear up the lock misunderstanding in the last chapter's reviews: the hotel was just awesome enough to not have keycard locks and still have oldschool locks. Because it's… uh… awesome and stuff.
But in all seriousness, I just wasn't thinkin about it, haha.
Srry aboot that. I can't exactly change it now, though, it wouldn't make much sense if I did.
So we're just going to go with the oldschool lock theory.

On another note entirely, the random word of the day is "Anywhozles."
Just thought I should let everyone know.