AN: I found this chapter so fun to write, and I hope you enjoy it too! :D

Chapter 15: Arrest

May 27, 2004; 10 00

Rui could've just been overthinking this, and she had been trying to avoid looking at Ryuzaki, but it was getting increasingly difficult to adhere to her new resolution. She'd been feeling eyes on her all morning. Every time she looked in the direction in which she'd felt the gaze, Ryuzaki had been there, but he'd not been looking at her at all, leaving her wondering if she was going insane.

The detective in question appeared to be peering at the evidence they had collected from the Second Kira's tape delivery packages, unheeding of the dubious glances he was receiving from the task force members present. "Hair," he declared out loud. There it was again. She peeked at him. He was staring hard at the little Ziplock bag he had been holding gingerly between his thumb and pointer finger. She rolled her eyes and busied herself with the tea. Hadn't he already examined it earlier that morning? Aizawa had brought it to him early.

"Crumbs from cracker snack," Ryuzaki continued. There it was again! She looked up just in time to see a very small upturn at the corner of his mouth before it was quickly wiped away, subsumed into an expression of immense, industrious concentration.

He was screwing with her! Whyyyy? She wanted to whine. First, the weird laundry incident and now this. And for the record, she hadn't been acting weird, even if Ryuzaki had been judging her. She'd just been congratulating herself for a job well done and had savored the clean laundry scent in triumph to make sure she had done her job well. Oh, Lord have mercy.

Why was she so bothered by his provocation? Well, the weight of his gaze really was something tangible. She got a little lightheaded every time she felt it, and she didn't quite understand it. It was probably just nerves from being scrutinized by her employer. Plus, he was just… annoying.

"Yagami-san," Ryuzaki began, peering at another little bag of evidence. "If I die in the coming days, your son must be Kira." There! He'd tried to sneak a look at her again! If he did it one more time, she was going to put salt in his tea.

"More hair." Okay, that was it. Ryuzaki, prepare to have the worst-tasting beverage of your entire existence! Yeah, her judgment probably wasn't at its best right now.

"Why do you say that all of a sudden, Ryuzaki?!" Yagami Sr. exclaimed, agitated. It couldn't be easy hearing that about your son. Plus, Ryuzaki kind of was gaslighting Yagami Sr. too, with how he kept verbally flipflopping on how much he suspected Light. Was the human need for certainty stronger in certain professions, say, detectives?

"If I die, I'm leaving everything to Yagami-san. Watari will work for you, too," Ryuzaki continued, unfazed. Well, he didn't have a son to worry about, she supposed. If he were to die, Rui would gain access to her trust fund immediately, and would not be working with the investigation.

"After I die, the only one who can make Raito-kun admit his true identity is Yagami-san," he soldiered on, picking up the bag and peering at it through the light again. Or at least, appearing to. Why was he still playing that game with her? That was his own death they were discussing, you know?

"I'm not sure what to think. I've never encountered a situation like this before…" Ryuzaki continued, still pretending to peer through the bag. Did he want her to look at him when she was trying to respect his comfort level? He was so childish! She fumed, conveniently forgetting that she was also the one who had decided to enhance Ryuzaki's tea to get back at him.

"If Kira has really made contact with the Second Kira, I may die any day now," Ryuzaki stated, using his free hand to pick up the fresh tea Rui handed him. "Logically speaking, the chance of Raito-kun being Kira is single digit. However, since there is no other suspect, I have stubbornly locked on to him. With that said…"

He took a sip, and she cackled inwardly in unholy delight. She would have to keep an eye out for his retaliation but this was pure gold. To his credit, his face bore barely a flinch and he added calmly, "If I die, please proceed to prosecute Raito-kun as Kira. I've told Watari about this, too."

He set down the cup and never touched it again.

May 28, 2004; 14 00

Rui had insisted very strongly on witnessing this scene. You know, the one where Ryuzaki acted like a pervert to steal Misa's phone and feigned confusion when Light called it. That was one of the most priceless scenes in canon, along with 'I'll take a potato chip… and EAT IT!'. She obviously had come in too late to watch the potato chip one (not that she could have), but she wouldn't miss this one for the world.

She was in the vehicle that Ryuzaki and Watari had prepared to catch Misa, using binoculars to get a piece of the action. After repeated pleading, Ryuzaki had finally indulged her by wearing his long-distance transmitter. Life was good, even if it was a little cramped due to all the police officers poised in wait.

"Ah, Yagami-kun!" Ryuzaki called cheerfully, in a way that was so out of character, Rui just knew he had to be mocking Light's geniality. "Good afternoon," he continued in his usual monotone, looking up at the beautiful couple from where he'd been perched on a bench, pretending to read a book. Rui giggled, drawing a strange look from one of the covered faces.

"Takada-san, I need to talk to him alone about something. Let's meet up again later," Light said to his beau. They had taken a month to start going out ever since Light's confession to her in the booth. What'd they been doing in that one month? Wasn't it awkward?

"Your girlfriend?" Ryuzaki asked, innocently. Why, did he want one too? Rui snickered.

"Never mind that. Didn't you say that it's scary to appear in public? Is this really okay?" Light replied in false concern.

That was when Ryuzaki went in for the kill, and Rui chewed on the tip of her little finger in excitement before extricating it from her mouth in disgust. "I realized that if Yagami-kun isn't Kira, I should be fine… Since only Yagami-kun knows who I am. So if I die in the next few days… Yagami-san will take over the investigation and every L will know that Yagami Raito is Kira."

If gaslighting were an Olympic sport…

"Eh? Didn't I tell you that I'm not the only one calling myself L?" Ryuzaki continued, peering up innocently at Light with his large, widened eyes. "L is a group of people like me." Rui shuddered at the mental image of 56 gangly pale coon-eyed detectives, all talking in unison in his monotone voice. Why 56? She didn't know, but… NOPE.

"Yagami-kun said that it's lonely when I don't come to school, so when I felt like taking a walk, I came to the campus…" Ryuzaki continued, still keeping that innocent tone that was probably annoying Light, "If I don't have to worry about dying, the university is a great place." Rui loved how he'd used Light's own words against him.

"… … Yeah, I can't find anyone good enough to chat with when Ryuuga isn't here," Light finally replied. Ooh, better not let Takada hear that, Rui snorted.

"Not even that girl-genius Takada?" Exactly. Though… Careful there, Ryuzaki, you're sounding like a jealous girlfriend. Come to think of it, the first time he'd gone to meet Ryuzaki, hadn't he told his mother and sister he'd been out with a girlfriend? Let's see, to build a ship, you'd need wood, and nails, and a hammer, and…

"Nope, not even," Light insisted.

Light was probably wrestling internally with his decision to have Rem kill L. "Want to get some cake?" Ryuzaki asked, getting up. Light was about to follow him.

"Raito~ There you are~~" Ah, our pretty female lead arrived. "I came to this area for a photoshoot, so I just dropped by to see you. The thing starts at two, so there's still time… The university is such an open place and easy to get in and out of." Right? Right? Rui'd even been able to sit in on lectures despite not being officially enrolled.

Ryuzaki's head swiveled around so fast, Rui wondered if he'd sprained his neck. He definitely had his eyes on Misa now, and Light knew it. "Are you Raito's friend?" Misa asked. "You look so unique. I'm Raito's girlfriend, Amane Misa." Misa seemed like had more than a few screws loose, but Rui had to admire the way she asserted herself confidently in this new social situation. She was a little worried, though. Misa had definitely seen Ryuzaki's real name, for she looked confused.

"Ryuuga Hideki," Ryuzaki replied, beginning to chew on his index finger as he shuffled towards her.

"Eh? Ryuuga Hideki?" Misa sounded even more confused.

"Yeah, his name is exactly the same as the pop idol's," Light confirmed, holding Misa by the shoulders and turning her around to face him.

Ryuzaki suddenly started chuckling creepily around his index nail, and Light caught it.

"Yagami-kun…" he began, creeping closer to Misa as Light tensed, "I envy you." Ryuk was laughing in the background. Huh, Rem wasn't there. What did Shinigami do when they weren't bothering their humans? "I'm a big fan of Misa's after reading the March issue of '18'!" Wasn't that the first issue in which Misa appeared, or something? In any case, he was really ratcheting up the creep factor.

"Ah, that's great-" Misa started to reply.

"Ah, it's Misa!" an unfamiliar voice exclaimed. People were starting to take notice of her, and a crowd was quickly forming.

"Ah! Who touched my butt?!" Misa suddenly exclaimed. Ryuzaki was standing there goofily with his right hand outstretched.

He strode around awkwardly, playing his part. "I won't allow such actions in the school," he declared self-righteously. "I'll take responsibility for catching him!" Ryuzaki didn't usually act this goofy around the task force members as it would've undermined his authority. This was priceless, in Rui's opinion. Plus, in the midst of the background clamor, there was some other guy who said 'I wanna touch too!' How had she missed that bit of canon?

"Hahaha, you're funny," Misa giggled. Rui agreed. Light was just standing there with a stoned look on his face that made Rui laugh even harder. At this point, the rest of the van's occupants were staring at her worriedly. She waved a hand to reassure them she was okay. Thankfully, they didn't press.

Suddenly, Misa was dragged away by a sharply-dressed, dark-haired woman with cats-eye glasses. "Misa, hurry up and go to the studio! You'll be late again!" Misa's manager snapped.

"Oh, well," Ryuzaki said, stepping away. "Maybe I should attend lecture once in a while. We're in the same psychology class next, right?" At the same time, Aizawa, Mogi and Matsuda, whom Rui'd been sharing the vehicle with, had begun to move. Well, that was her cue to vacate the vehicle. She would have to get back to the hotel on her own after running domestic errands; Watari would be too busy setting up Misa's interrogation. She crouched behind a bush, still watching through the binoculars and feeling like a voyeur, though her vicarious glee wasn't any less diminished at the thought. Was this how Ryuk felt following Light around? She could kind of understand why he dropped the Death Note, now.

Light told Ryuzaki he needed the washroom first, and then immediately started to call Misa as Ryuzaki walked on ahead.

Rui clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter as the ringtone sounded from Ryuzaki's jeans. He held out the phone at eye level, watching as the phone continued to ring, probably with a shit-eating grin on his face. He answered it, likely figuring that there was no point in hiding that he had it. The thing had practically been vibrating and ringing from the pocket of his pants.

"Hello?" Ryuzaki said innocently. "Hello? Hellooo?" Everyone, especially himself, knew he didn't have to say it so many times.

The thought of Light's murderous expression, juxtaposed against the fancy way he held his cellphone made Rui cackle again. "I found this cell phone amidst the chaos earlier…" Ryuzaki continued innocently, fooling no one. "Helloooo?"

"Oh, I see." He went back and passed the phone to Light, just as the officers brought Misa back into the vehicle. One of them, probably Aizawa, called Ryuzaki, probably telling him they were done. "It's done? I see," Rui heard him say.

Ryuzaki couldn't resist pressuring Light. "For Yagami-kun, this news may be good or bad," he informed the teen, who was probably sweating buckets already. "Amane Misa has been arrested as the prime suspect for the Second Kira. In Amane's room, we found a lot of evidence. For example, the cat hair found on the tape of the Second Kira's video cassette. There are also make-up powder and clothing fibers." Misa owned a cat? How come we never see it in canon?

"In order to prevent the certain-chaos that would otherwise ensue, we've decided not to publicise our capture. We told her agent that she is under arrest for possession of illegal drugs. That way, it won't create too much public uproar."

Light did not say anything.

"Are you alright, Yagami-kun," Ryuzaki said innocently, peering at him. "Your girlfriend is suspected for being the 2nd Kira… I understand how you must feel…" As if. Rui would bet money that Ryuzaki had never had a girlfriend or boyfriend, nor was he ever likely to. He just had to rub it in, didn't he? But hey, she wasn't complaining.

Ryuzaki must've been wanting to tease Light further, because he walked back to Light, telling him he needed the washroom too and that they might as well go together to class. Light still wasn't saying anything.

They say that when it rains, it pours, and this was especially true for Light that day. "Yagami-kun?" Takada's voice called, causing Light to tense further. How much had she seen and heard? "I would like to speak with you." There was steel in her cultured voice.

"Is she your girlfriend too, Yagami-kun?" Ryuzaki asked, tilting his head again. "Hello, I'm Ryuuga Hideki." He was enjoying this far too much.

Takada's expression looked even more constipated at the word 'too', but one could never accuse Seiso Takada of gracelessness. "Takada Kiyomi," she responded gently, inclining her head. "Pleasure."

Before Ryuzaki could invite himself along, Light cut in tersely, "Ryuuga, Takada-san and I would like to speak in private. I'll see you later?" Wow, he wasn't even trying to be polite.

May 28, 2004; 15 03

What, did that little interaction convince Ryuzaki of Takada's lack of culpability, somehow? Takada wasn't Kira, so Rui supposed it should be fine that she saw Ryuzaki's face. Probably. Still, she was pretty sure that hadn't happened in canon. Should they be worried? Ryuzaki was probably doing something about Takada, right? Dude was too cagey to share his plans with her.

After his little performance, Ryuzaki had called Rui up on her phone, telling her to meet him at the same coffee shop where she'd first spied on Ryuk. He'd been serious about the offer for cake, he had said, and now she had to take Light's place. She wasn't going to question his invitation, of course, but she felt a little uncomfortable as she wasn't in her disguise. He was one of the top students at Todai; surely some student would recognize him in passing with his 'unique' appearance, as Misa had put it.

"That was awesome!" she congratulated Ryuzaki, nudging at his arm in a friendly manner and trying not to react to the way he flinched a little. Was he so unused to touch? "He didn't suspect anything at all until you answered the phone!"

Ryuzaki didn't react at all. He was too busy chowing down on his cake. He'd insisted on paying, and had personally fetched all the cakes he bought from the counter while she kept their seats. "Hello? Hellooo?" Rui called, playfully imitating the way he had answered Misa's phone. She was being childish, she knew, but she couldn't help the excitement. Plus, wasn't imitation the best form of flattery? She'd known what would happen in canon, but she had still been a little worried about Ryuzaki.

"Are you alright, Ryuuga-kun," Rui continued, imitating the way he had spoken and peered at Light. "I understand how you must feel…"

He still didn't respond, though she thought she saw the corner of his mouth turn up by one millimeter before he hid again behind his food. Ryuzaki sometimes had this particular smile Rui had dubbed the 'Mona Lisa'. You know, because the onlooker felt like he should be smiling, but when they looked at his mouth, it didn't seem so but that was because of the minuscule upward turn of the smile?

"Is that a cute smile I spy from our favorite detective, hmm?" Rui cooed, patting the back of his chair and taking the chance to tease him a little. He was in a good mood from having outmaneuvered Light. She took a bite of her cake-

And spat it out, causing some drool to leak from the corner of her mouth. How undignified. Damn Ryuzaki! She tentatively tasted what she thought were dustings of sugar on her mille crepe cake, before spitting out the contaminated saliva. It was salt! She should've known.

He looked on, wide-eyed, as she glared at him. Sighing, she elected not to say anything. It wasn't worth an argument, she surmised, scraping the top layer of salt-covered icing off her cake with a pout. Ryuzaki then took the chance to steal its chocolate rose garnish which she'd put aside on her plate for later. Saving the best for the last and all that.

"I thought Rui didn't want that anymore," he mumbled innocently around the fork he still had in his mouth, in response to her renewed glare. Who was he fooling? She stole his strawberry and cream in retaliation, sticking her tongue out. Yes, Ryuzaki had the special ability to bring out the childish in her. Though, she supposed that there had to be some childishness there in the first place, which was all on her.

He then stole approximately one inch of her entire cake slice, making a mess and displacing all the cream-filled layers in the endeavour. This would never end if she continued to retaliate, so she sighed and rubbed her head but reluctantly settled down instead. They lapsed back into a pleasant silence as she gobbled up her cake before Ryuzaki could ruin it further.

Ryuzaki must've exaggerated his social hermit-ness. Nobody who was that adroit at pickpocketing and acting could've stayed in all the time. What rating would the DN creators have given for Ryuzaki's acting skills? He must've done field investigations in person. Which reminded her-

"How did you take her phone?" Rui asked Ryuzaki curiously. "Could you teach me?"

Not surprisingly, he blinked at her. Surprisingly, he actually acquiesced.

"There is always a significant chance that the victim feels their belonging being removed. One way to get around this issue is to mask it with another sensation, long enough for the objective to be completed successfully," Ryuzaki candidly explained. "Her phone was hooked on her belt behind her, so it was easy to remove. But she would've noticed the weight of her phone disappear."

He got Rui to stand up and turn her back to him, placing her phone in her back pocket. He first demonstrated how her phone was removed, without any distracting touch. She barely felt it, a brush of fingers inside her pocket. She shivered involuntarily.

"Now, with distraction," Ryuzaki informed her, having replaced her phone again. She startled a little as his other hand pinched her bottom, tamping down the nervous tension that suddenly threatened to overwhelm her. If she'd not been feeling for it, she would never have noticed her phone being lifted out of her pocket at the same time.

She turned around, seeing Ryuzaki twirling her phone on its strap, chewing on his index finger. "Now, you try it," he offered, presenting his back to her. "First, without the distraction."

Gamely, she tried to slip her fingers into his back pocket. He caught her wrist almost immediately. "You're being too obvious," he told her. "Try again, more gently this time."

She tried to apply less pressure, but her grip was so weak that the phone slipped back into his pocket before she could take it out. She growled. He had turned to watch her over his shoulder, eyes glinting merrily. "Try again."

The third time she tried, he tried to stop her from taking it out again, saying that she wasn't stealthy enough. She pouted. Didn't he say that the victim would feel it anyway? Wouldn't it be fairer to include the distraction? But eh. She wasn't about to try feeling up the detective.

Interacting with him like this was so fun that she almost forgot to be wary of him, and honestly? That was the most like herself she'd felt in a long time. The sight of a particular petite girl with a black bowl-cut and thick goggle-like glasses walking past made her forget her train of thought.

"Yo Ryuuga!" Rui exclaimed. "Isn't that the girl who's crushing on you? Kyoko-chan or something?"

He didn't seem that keen, but he did look. Typical guy.

"What drew you to that conclusion?" he asked, rather disinterestedly. Wouldn't most guys be flattered? Maybe Kyoko wasn't his type? Or, it was more likely that he just wasn't interested in that sort of thing.

"From what I remember, you caught her eye during your entrance speech," Rui forged on. "And she loudly advocated for your impressive athletic performance during your tennis match with Light. Well, I wasn't there in person to witness all that, obviously…"

She sidled closer to Ryuzaki. "So," her voice took on a conspiratorial tone, "you wanna go talk to her? I daresay I'm a pretty good wingwoman!"

He turned around, utterly unamused. "No, due to the nature of my work, your good intentions are highly unnecessary, and I'll not thank you for them."

Ouch. DAMN, son!

"C'mere you rascal!" she snapped, locking his head against her sternum as she ground her knuckles as strongly as she could against his scalp, also in revenge for messing up her cake. Giggling a little, she made sure to put in extra strength to account for any cushioning effect his hair might provide, and his arms kind of flopped around futilely. The rest of him remained pretty listless, even though they both knew he could easily break out of this if he had so wanted.

She let him go only when her knuckles started to hurt. As he pulled back, his head was still bowed and his hand covered the spot on his scalp that had been subject to her tender care. Was he sulking (as much as he could with a blank face)? Heh. Served him right. He'd probably used the pickpocketing excuse to cop a feel of Misa. Not that she was judging him or anything. Misa was conventionally attractive to many men, she supposed.

"Is this what they call a… nooooogie?" he wondered, chewing on his index nail. He dragged out the 'noo' in 'noogie', probably because he knew how annoying it was. She barely bit back the exasperated chuckle that threatened to break out.

"This is what they call getting your just desserts, since you like it so much," she retorted tartly, rolling her eyes. "Hurry up and finish the rest of your dessert so that we can get out of here. Unless you want a second helping of the nooooogie of justice. I invented it especially for you and you alone."

She eyed his slice of cake. On second thought…

"MUSH!" She messed up his cake. She wasn't afraid of no endless revenge loop.

AN: I can't believe I never noticed just how sarcastic Ryuzaki was in this scene. He was totally flushed with victory up until he got confused by the Kiras' losing their memories. He's actually pretty expressive in his own way. I was listening to 'Piano Man' by Mamamoo and somehow I thought of L, with his black and white coloring and his piano theme songs. I once watched an analysis on Youtube discussing Light's and L's themes and how they completed each other. Pretty cool. Near's theme is still my favorite, though.