Light wasn't shy about openly holding Aoko's hand in front of his family but Aoko was. He didn't really understand why, they were well aware that the two of them were dating and everyone in his family was highly supportive of their relationship. However, even if he didn't understand it he wasn't going to try to make her uncomfortable and waited until they were outside the hospital to take her hand.

"Yagami-kun." L's voice made his skin crawl just slightly before he turned to face him. What did he want now?

"Yes?" He did his best to sound pleasant, holding onto Aoko's hand maybe slightly tighter than he had been moments ago. He let out a sigh, as if just slightly irritated-luckily, he had a reason to be. "Ryuuga, I understand that my dad offered to look after Conan-kun, but he is going to need help considering he's in a hospital bed."

"Yes, however, I wanted to know your answer-will you be joining the investigation team?" L asked. Light knew that he wanted to-it'd give him the opportunity to keep a close eye on the investigation. However, that was exactly what L would expect Kira to want to do, he was sure. What had Conan said? He needed to do things that Kira would and wouldn't do.

"Ryuuga, I told you that I-" He started but L cut him off before he could finish.

"You said you had other people to think about." L's gaze shifted over to Aoko and then back to Light. "However, your father stated that he did not believe that Kira was the cause of his heart attack. Yet, I believe we are both in agreement that Kira was inadvertently the cause. Does that not change your stance at all?" The nerve of him. Was he really going to use his dad heart attack as a way to strong arm him to the investigation? Did he really have no shame?

"Light-kun?" Aoko's soft voice pulled his bubbling temper back down and he looked down at her, knowing before the words were even out of her mouth what she was about say. "If you're concerned about Aoko at all, you know she'll be okay, right? You should help if you can."

Her words might have had more effect if she was smiling in that warm, encouraging way of hers but she wasn't. Add in the fact she'd just referred to herself in the third person like a little girl and Light was just reminded of this annoying depression she was going through. As he had said, he had other people to think about.

"Sorry, Ryuuga. I can't. Not until my father is feeling a little better, anyways." He stated. L looked puzzled and then looked at Aoko again. L didn't know Aoko, so he couldn't possibly know that she wasn't herself at the moment, not to mention the fact that L had about as much emotional awareness as a brick wall. So why was he staring at her?

"I see, I will not deny that I am disappointed." L admitted. "But, I do understand and I will contact you again after your father has recovered." Light would, eventually, join the taskforce but for now he had to make it seem as though he didn't want to and L had to convince him.

"Aa, well goodnight Ryuuga." He offered him a small wave with his free hand before turning back and waking in the direction of Aoko's house. Ryuuk laughing overhead-no, not laughing, fawning.

"Aww, you're worried about her, aren't you? I knew you had a crush." He was saying. L may not have known Aoko very well, however in a way, Ryuuk did and ironically, the shinigami had more emotional awareness than L. Though, Light would hesitate to say that he was worried-annoyed that this depression had gone on for so long-maybe. He needed to get to the bottom of it. He'd even been threatened by that witch because of it.

"Aoko." He finally voiced, keeping her hand in his as they walked. "I can't exactly confirm or deny, but why did you immediately think that was L?" Aoko glanced back towards the hospital as if to make sure that L wasn't nearby still and just offered a small shrug.

"Light-kun's dad is the head of the Kira Task Force, right? He had a heart attack so he might be concerned that it was Kira's doing. Plus, Aoko is in and out of the police station a lot and she's never seen anyone like him there and Hideki Ryuuga can't be his real name-It's too much of a coincidence." She explained as if it wasn't really that difficult of a deduction and Light couldn't help but be impressed.

"I don't think I'll ever get over just how smart you are." He commented, tugging on her hand to pull her just a little closer.

"I-Um, It's not that impressive." She mumbled, a small blush forming on her cheeks as she let him pull her closer.

oooOOOooo

L watched as Yagami Light started off with Nakamori Aoko. There was something about him that L just didn't want to trust. His interactions and reactions that day had been interesting. L had previously thought that Kira wasn't someone that was capable of loving anyone but himself but if his interactions with those around him today were to be believed then that didn't appear to be true. It was that, or Yagami Light really wasn't Kira-which he doubted.

He'd previously seemed too perfect which is what had originally made him stand out but now he couldn't get a good read on him. Was it because Kira had stopped killing? What had been the reason for the sudden change of heart? Kira hadn't killed a single criminal since the beginning of February-something had to have happened.

Then there was Conan to consider-L knew from experience that the disarming cute little kid act was exactly that-an act. He didn't think it was a coincidence that Light and Conan were so well acquainted and he did find it suspicious that Conan interrupted the interrogation on more than one occasion. It would have been easily missed by most people-after all, Conan frequently interrupted if he had something to say and asked a lot of blunt questions-but those questions weren't just the curious musing of a child-they were pointed. They deliberately led things in a specific direction.

Edogawa Conan knew something about the Kira case and had since January at the very least. Did he somehow know that Yagami Light was Kira? And had he found some way of keeping Light from using whatever it was he had been using to kill thousands? L was sure that Kira wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone that tried to control him and Kira only needed a name and a face to kill-Edogawa Conan wasn't the boy's real name.

Unfortunately, just knowing that Conan was using a fake name for whatever the reason hardly shed any light on the kid's real identity-in fact it made things that much more difficult. The only thing that L really knew was that the fake name had nothing to do with Kira as Edogawa Conan had appeared in the news as the 'Kid Killer' months before Kira's first murder. No, whatever had caused him to take on a false name very likely had to do with why Conan refused to offer what he knew about Kira-whatever he was afraid of, he must have thought that they'd have an interest in Kira.

He was pulled unceremoniously out of his thoughts as a police detective's car came speeding up, parked at the front entrance of the hospital and then the portly inspector Megure stepped out, followed by a junior detective with tanned skin and slightly unkempt hair.

Deciding it didn't concern him, L headed back into the hospital and back to Yagami Soichiro's room. He looked around it briefly and noticed one flaw.

"…Yagami-san, where is Conan-kun?" He chanced asking. Light had warned him that Conan would probably wander off and he hadn't listened. This was why Light hadn't wanted to leave his dad in charge of Conan.

"We heard a scream and he ran out into the hall before I could catch him. I tried to follow but the nurses insisted I stay put and he slipped out of their sight." Soichiro explained. So, Light's assessment of Edogawa Conan was correct. Now, he had to find the boy.

"I will go and collect him." L stated, moving out of the room and heading down the hall. He noticed an unusual amount of people piled into the hallway outside room 415 and then Megure and the junior detective pushing through the crowd to gain entrance.

"Police! Let us through. Takagi-kun, get everyone back." Megure barked at his junior detective he gave a quick response and turned to corral the onlookers away from the door. Oh, there must have been a murder. He sauntered over to see if Conan was around anywhere.

Conan-or Shinichi was exactly where anyone that knew him would expect for Conan to be-which was to say, he was right at the heart of the incident, looking things over and noting anything odd about the crime scene.

The victim was a young woman in her early twenties, abnormally pale and far too thin-the tips of her fingers indicated that she was bulimic which was likely what led to her hospitalization. The feeding tube that she'd been placed on had been ripped out of her arm but what had killed her was undoubtedly blood loss as someone had been draining the victim of blood. He looked at the bucket the blood was collected in and frowned.

This took medical knowledge-he'd heard of cases were a doctor might get impatient with lack of progress with eating disorders and attack their patients-it didn't happen often but psychological diseases were a lot more difficult to deal with because they ultimately required the will power of the patient to recover. They had to be handled delicately and everyone had their breaking point.

However, that was not the case with this murder-this was calculated, cold and premeditated. Had it been the doctor fed up with lack of progress then it wouldn't be so thought out.

"Conan-kun." Shinichi froze as he registered L's voice and turned to face him.

"What is it?" He asked as innocently as a seven-year-old investigating a murder could. L looked around the room for a moment and then back down at him.

"You were supposed to stay with Yagami-san until Mouri Ran-san came to collect you, were you not?" He asked. Shinichi raised an eyebrow and then looked over at the dead woman, her arm hanging limply over the hospital bed and over the bucket her blood had been transferred to.

"Yes, but then that woman was murdered." He stated simply. L looked him over skeptically.

"Yes, so I see. However, that is a matter for the police to solve." He stated in a flat bored tone, as though the murder hadn't even affected him. It was one thing to desensitize one's self to a murder case and even to remove your emotions in order to think about things logically-it was another altogether to ignore the case.

"What?" All he could do was stare in shock for a moment, mind trying to wrap around the idea that L really did intend to ignore the murder. "Aren't you a detective? You can't just ignore a murder case." Shinichi stated, tone just a little icy.

"I am not ignoring it, I'm simply leaving it to the proper authorities." L stated evenly. Shinichi's eyes narrowed. Unbelievable.

Yagami never hesitated to help investigate a murder if he was around to lend a hand and he was the mass murderer known as Kira. L was a world renown detective known for solving hundreds of unsolvable cases and he here he was about to hand the case over to the police? This spoke volumes about their true nature and reminded him once again that L was only interested in the case-not the lives lost. What self-respecting detective didn't solve a murder that they had every capability of solving? Hell, what type of person did that?

"We are the proper authorities." Shinichi forced out angrily. "As a detective, it's your job to solve any case put to you. Especially murder."

oooOOOooo

Aoko was tangled up in Light's warm embrace as they just laid on her bed. One of his arms was underneath her neck and her fingers intertwined with his. His other arm was draped over her and holding her close against his body. They were both a little exhausted but she could tell by how he was breathing that he wasn't asleep. She wanted to twist to see if he was falling asleep but she didn't want to disturb him. He shifted only slightly and pulled her a little closer. The way he held her-her body tangled up in his made her feel wanted and… safe.

Unfortunately, it couldn't block out her thoughts-the only thing that could was when Light was in the process of over stimulating every part of her so that she couldn't possibly think about anything other than how good his touches could feel.

It never lasted though, and she always ended up right back where she started-thinking about the ugly truth and her so called friendship with her so called best friend. She squeezed Light's hand a little more and he squeezed back.

"N-ne… Light-kun?" She chanced voicing. She felt, more then heard a small grunt of acknowledgment. She swallowed and focused on her fingers, tangled in his and clasping gently at his hand. "A-Aoko's thought about it and… she doesn't think that she wants to join the police after all."

She felt him moving, his fingers pulled away from hers and he propped himself up on his elbow, she could feel him looking down at her.

"Why not?" He asked, something suspicious about his tone. She couldn't bring herself to look at him and just curled tighter into a ball.

"It's just… Aoko doesn't think she'd be very good at it." It took everything in her not to choke the words out. She felt his free hand gently grab her shoulder to get her to turn over.

"Aoko, we both know that's not true. You've wanted nothing more since you were little. What changed?" He asked her. She looked up at him, she could just barely make out his face in the dark of the room and swallowed, trying to think of something to say. She couldn't really tell him that Kaito was Kid-he might turn Kaito in and she still considered him her best friend-she could never betray him like that, even if he'd betrayed her.

"Aoko's been thinking and-"

"No." He cut her off. "Aoko's been depressed. You've been worried and stressed out about something and it's been slowly eating at you since the beginning of March-it's why you went back to referring to yourself like a little girl, isn't it?" He pressed. Aoko just turned away.

"It wouldn't be right." She stated. "Aoko can't do it." Light left his hand on her shoulder but didn't force her to face him again as he let out a sigh. She wondered what he was thinking-would he figure out that it had to do with Kaito? Why was she trying to desperately to protect the magician when at the moment it felt like he didn't care about her at all? Things had been awkward and weird for her since that night in the trap room and Kaito acted like nothing had even happened. Did he really think she was that dumb? That he could just go back to lying?

"Aoko…." Light started, gently rubbing her shoulder. "I don't know what has you so upset but I do know that you want to join the police force and I think you should-regardless of whatever is getting you down."

She clamped her teeth down to keep from saying anything-afraid that he might admit that she didn't think she could ever be a police officer if she was letting something like this slide-that she'd have an obligation to the law to tell the truth. She'd be obligated to turn Kaito in. How would she live with herself?

Luckily, their conversation was interrupted by Light's phone going off from where it was sitting on the night stand. He reached over her to grab it, hovering over her as he answered.

"This is Light." He told whoever had called him. "What? Murder? Is my dad-" She felt him relax a little and assumed that his dad was fine. He glanced down at her shortly after, as if trying to make a decision.

"Go." Aoko told him. "That's Conan-kun, right? He wants you to help solve the case?" He pulled the phone away from his ear and pressed a kiss to the side of her face.

"I'll be back later, okay?" He promised, pulling away from her. She pulled her legs up a little more and he got off her bed before turning back to the person on the phone. "Aa, I'll be there in a few minutes."

oooOOOooo

Once he was fully dressed again Light was headed out the door, Ryuuk following after him. He'd ended his call with Conan so that he wouldn't know what Light had been doing up until his phone call-not that the brat wouldn't immediately read it on him the moment he got to the hospital but hopefully he wouldn't comment on it.

The hospital wasn't far from Aoko's house but he still intended on taking a cab once he reached the main road just to get there quickly. The moment the front door of the Nakamori household closed behind him he let his irritation take over.

"What's got you in a bad mood?" Ryuuk chanced asking. "Don't want to leave your girlfriend?"

"Kuroba…" Light growled. Aoko might not have said it aloud but Conan had been teaching him how to make observations and draw conclusions and he knew that the only thing that could shake her like that was that idiot magician.

"What has he done now?" Ryuuk questioned, glancing over at the magician's house. Light took in a breath and tried to calm down enough that he didn't just make a quick detour to punch Kuroba.

"He's Kaitou Kid." Light stated. Ryuuk chuckled and Light was forced to wonder if Ryuuk had known about this. He seemed to like Aoko though, and telling him who Kaitou Kid really was wasn't really choosing a side.

"How do you know?"

"Aoko doesn't want to turn him in. She was trapped in a room with Kaitou Kid last month and she's been depressed ever since-she realized that Kid was her so called best friend." He seethed.

"So, are you going to kill him?" Ryuuk baited. Light's fists clenched tightly and he considered it-not even as Kira killing Kaitou Kid but because Kuroba had to pay-first the skirt flipping and blatant sexual harassment, calling her names and now this.

Not only had he lied and betrayed her trust but now he'd robbed her of her future-Aoko wanted to be a police officer and now she didn't think she could because was lying to protect the magician. She was lying to her dad-who had devoted his life to catching Kid. Kuroba deserved to die for what he'd done-what he was doing.

However…

"No." It wouldn't solve anything and only throw more suspicion his way. Besides, she'd be even more depressed and he didn't want that wedge between them. "If I did that, then it might make me seem even more suspicious. I'll let him live." He finally decided.

…

"For now."