Another chapter! I've been having a lot of fun writing this fic again, so I'm hopeful that everyone is enjoying it! Also, I just wanted to say, I appreciate every review left on this story very much! They absolutely make my day!

"You're going to die, Lawliet."

There were words on the tip of L's tongue — What a morbid way to begin the day, Wammy — but as soon as he looked up from the pastry he was eating for breakfast and saw the look on Quillsh's face, the words died as quickly as if they'd been killed by Kira.

The only remaining response was, "What?"

"Do you take me for an idiot?" L did not. Quillsh knew that. "Did almost dying not impact you at all?"

Ah, yes. This. L had been wondering when this exact thing was going to happen. While his new and relatively frequent trips to the bathroom may not have caught the attention of the task force (with the exception of Light, of course), L knew that Quillsh would understand. It was one of the few cons of upping the frequency of his habit (obsession, addiction), but nevertheless, it wasn't something he couldn't deal with.

"Of course it impacted me, Quillsh," L said, sitting up a little straighter and setting his fork down on the table. "I'm being more careful. Have you had to save my life again?"

"That isn't the point." This was — different than the average lecture. Quillsh usually wasn't so angry. "Do you think that after this case is over, you'll be able to simply stop? Do you take yourself for an idiot, L?"

"Of course I'll be able to stop." It was definitely not the truth, but it didn't feel exactly like a lie, either. "I have a handle on this, and I know what I'm-"

"You're dependent on it. That is the opposite of handling it."

"I'm not dependent on it." Now that — that one was a lie. "And I will be able to stop. But I need to solve this case, Quillsh, and I can't do that if-"

"Listen to yourself, Lawliet." Quillsh's face was still deadly serious, his gaze unwavering, and L wasn't sure if he'd ever seen such a look directed at him before. "You can't solve the Kira case without it? That's dependency. You know it is."

"Fine." L broke the eye contact between them, looking down at his plate instead, his half eaten pastry looking considerably less delicious than it had just a minute ago. "Fine. I'm dependent on it. But it isn't about wanting to die, and you know that."

"And it wasn't about wanting to die the night that I saved your life." Quillsh sat down across from him, which in turn made L stand up, and he sighed. "I know your intentions, L, but that doesn't mean that accidents won't happen. This case is dangerous enough as it is. There's no reason to jeopardize your life."

"That is not what I'm doing." L picked up his fork and put it on his plate before picking that up as well, just holding it in his hand. "This case is dangerous, yes, and that's exactly why I need this, Quillsh. So many lives depend on me. Your life, my life, the lives of everyone on the task force. The lives of innocent people. If I fail, we all die. They all die. And I won't let that happen."

The look on Quillsh's face changed, from anger, disappointment, to — to pity. Sadness. Concern. But pity? "You don't need to hurt yourself in order to solve this case, L."

"Yes, I do." He couldn't tolerate pity, and Quillsh knew that. He knew that. "Talk to me after I solve this case. I'll do whatever you want. Quitting cold turkey? Fine. Going to rehab? I don't care. But until then, stay out of it." His plate still securely in his hand, L briskly walked out of the room, heading straight for the elevator so he could go to the task force work room. It was too early for anyone else to be there, but that was fine. That was better, probably.

L watched as Quillsh stayed sitting at the table, not moving, not turning around. And then the elevator doors shut.

For some godforsaken reason, Light Yagami was already sitting at his computer, dutifully working away, when the elevator doors opened.

Briefly, L contemplated just letting the doors shut again and going to a different floor. However, Light turned around upon hearing his entrance, and the softest, gentlest smile was on his awful, unbelievably perfect face.

"Good morning, Ryuzaki."

L wanted to scowl, but he didn't. He kept his face as emotionless as normal and made his way over to his chair, setting his plate down on his desk. "Good morning, Light-kun."

"Did you sleep well?"

At that, L did scowl, because he was fairly certain that Light was aware of his mediocre sleeping schedule and knew how inappropriate (or, rather, stupid) of a question that was. But he turned away, towards his computer, so he didn't have to see his reaction.

"Just like a child after a tantrum," was his response, and he didn't wait for Light to comment before he was continuing with, "Did Light-kun sleep well? Or at all? You're here rather early."

"I slept fine." Well, that was a lie, but L wasn't going to push it. "It feels like we're finally zeroing in on Kira, so I wanted to get as much work done as possible."

"Mmm." Typical Light Yagami. "Yes, I suppose we are."

After that, the two of them were silent, Light working on research while L worked on finishing his breakfast. He was still hungry, definitely, and would have asked Quillsh for something else by now, but —

But he was stubborn, and childish, and didn't want to be the first one to initiate contact after their argument.

Quillsh could be stubborn, too, so L was unsure of how long the silence between them would last.

As it turned out — the silence was lasting longer than he would have liked.

Which left him bored. He was doing research, of course, but constantly eating and/or preparing his food gave him something to physically do. Some way to occupy his hands, some way to keep that part of his brain engaged. (His appetite was also nearly insatiable, but that was besides the point.)

Even though they hadn't spoken to each other again, L was positive that Light had noticed the distinct lack of Watari. And, additionally, the fact that he was moving between twirling his fork in his hands, tapping it on the plate, fidgeting with the plate itself, etc.

When, two and a half hours after L had said, Yes, I suppose we are, Light began asking him, "I'm going to go get some tea, would you-" L was immediately saying yes and not even letting him finish the inquiry.

And then cursing himself for sounding so desperate (even though he was). He risked a glance over at Light, fully expecting an eye roll, or perhaps a look of annoyance, but instead he was met with —

A smile.

Similar to the one from earlier, when L had entered the work room. Soft, almost shy. (When did Light Yagami ever look shy? And why was such a look being directed at him?)

"Of course, Ryuzaki," he said, and then he was walking away, out of the room.

L watched him go. He hadn't returned the smile, though it didn't seem like Light had expected him to. It made — little to no sense, and that, in and of itself, made no sense, because Light Yagami was nothing if not logical. Sure, this non-Kira version of him was a little more emotional, a little more relaxed, but —

But L was probably reading too much into it.

Briefly, he contemplated sneaking away to the bathroom, but his issue wasn't a lack of focus. If anything, he was focusing too much, and not on the right thing, either.

He just needed to refocus. (Which would be easier if he had something to eat, if he were being honest.)

When Light came back into the room, L had delved back into research, and he murmured a quiet, thank you, Light-kun, when he set the tea down on the desk, and not looking up at him as he did so.

However, when he set something else down on the desk, L had to look, and —

Strawberry shortcake yogurt.

When he made eye contact with Light, the smile was there again. "Thought you might be hungry."

"Yes," L said, because it was painfully obvious, so why deny it? "I am. Thank you, Light-kun."

"Anytime," Light said, sitting back down and returning to work like nothing was unusual about the past ten minutes of their lives.

L, on the other hand, had never really been good at denying himself things, so he continued to look, to stare, because — what?

What, exactly, had just happened?

Friendship? one part of his mind suggested.

Kira? was the input from a different, more paranoid part. But no, it wasn't Kira — even if doing something like that made Light seem significantly less like Kira (because it certainly did, though it just supported his Light-used-to-be-Kira theory), Kira wouldn't have had the patience for such a move. He had been friendly, sure, but never too friendly. And never too cold, either, because Kira was meticulous. Every move was planned, every word thought out, every —

"You're staring, Ryuzaki."

L blinked. Refocused. Light was looking at him, because yes, he was, indeed, staring. Light's eyes were wide. Open. Honest. Their color was nice.

"Ryuzaki?"

"Misa-san was acting strange last night," he said, and, alright, sure, that was fine. That topic had been on his mind since the previous night, and now was an acceptable time to mention it, because it was absolutely better than telling Light Yagami that his eyes were a pretty color.

(Pretty?)

Light looked confused at the seemingly random topic for only a few moments, before he was nodding. "She was," he agreed, leaning one arm on the desk, and still facing L. "I don't know why she backed down so easily."

L hummed, looking down at his tea for the first time, and therefore noticing, for the first time, that Light had brought him around 40 sugar cubes to go with it. He could overthink that action — but he wasn't going to. (Not yet, anyway.) Instead he just dropped a handful (a dozen) of cubes in the drink, grateful that he, once again, had something to keep his hands busy. "I'll have Mogi watch her more carefully today."

"It'll make his job a little more interesting, at least," Light said, and he was smiling again, but it was different. It wasn't the same one as before — no, this one was more polite. Not as… intimate.

(And it didn't make L feel the same way. Not at all.)

"Light," a voice said, from behind him, and when L turned to look (a little too quickly; not concealing the fact that he'd been genuinely startled), Soichiro Yagami was standing a few feet behind them, his coat still on, briefcase in hand. "What time did you get here? I could have driven the both of us."

"It's okay, dad." Light sat up, straightened himself out. Shoulders set, head held high — professional. Polite. (Was it possible that Light was more comfortable with him than with his own father?) "I wanted to come in early and get as much work done as possible."

That was the same exact thing that he'd said to him, earlier that morning. It was possible that it meant nothing, that it was just a coincidence, or —

Light was lying. And his response was one he'd thought of beforehand, one that he had set aside, ready to use when he needed it.

However, it was always possible that L was just overthinking things again.

Either way, he couldn't question Light about it right then. It wasn't dire, and Soichiro wouldn't appreciate him calling his son a liar (even though he was) — so it would have to wait. Which was fine. Light hadn't asked him why there'd been radio silence from Watari, so L could extend a similar courtesy and not question him about his lies.

"Hey guys!"

L was brought out of his thoughts by Matsuda's entrance, the man stepping out of the elevator and looking as chipper as ever. His coat was hung over his arm, and he was making eye contact with everyone in the room, giving them their own hello.

Briefly, he considered going to the bathroom, but he knew there was no reason. Not yet, anyway. (He also had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to get Quillsh's words out of his head, even though he knew he was overreacting.)

No, what he really needed was some more food. Cutting would do nothing for him if his issue was hunger.

Once everyone was situated, and the room was silent, L opened up the yogurt that Light had retrieved for him, eating it more quickly than he would've liked to, but he couldn't exactly help it.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Light, smiling again, and he could feel his own lips turn up just the slightest bit.

"Ryuzaki."

L let out a long, slow sigh, his head leaning back against the wall, his eyes closed. He hadn't heard from Quillsh the entire day, and this was when he decided to break the silence? Maybe he should have expected it.

"Watari," he responded, and he was hopeful that the use of their faux names meant that everything from that morning wouldn't be brought up now. All that — it was between L and Quillsh. Now they were Ryuzaki and Watari, and they didn't need to talk about the argument.

"The task force is looking for you."

"They know where I am," L said, and his voice was quiet. Tired. He'd cut just a bit more than he intended, which was rendering him more sluggish than he had planned for, but it was fine. It would clear up in a few minutes, and then he'd be at peak performance.

"Matsuda went to the bathroom near the work room, and you were not there. They do not know where you are."

Ah. Well. That was annoying, wasn't it? "Aren't the Japanese supposed to be polite?" he asked, his eyes opening just a little bit so he could look at the camera in the room. "Interrupting people in the bathroom is quite rude."

"Misa Amane is no longer with Mogi. Her whereabouts are unknown."

Now that — that woke L up a little bit more. "What about the tracking on her phone?"

"Her phone is turned off."

Her phone was — the girl never turned her phone off. What was she doing? "Where did Mogi last see her?"

"She requested to use a nearby restroom, in a hospital near her shooting site. During that time, she switched outfits with a fellow model and left. The acquaintance, who Mogi identified as Yui Tanaka, said that Misa was going on a date."

A date. Of course. With one of the men from Yotsuba, he had to assume. A date with Kira.

"Fantastic," L said, standing up, his head swimming, his legs shaky. Both his thighs and arms stung, but instead of adding to his tiredness, the pain was now helping him snap back into it, regain focus. He still had to bandage the cuts, because he couldn't risk any blood getting on his clothes, but he didn't have much time. Even if the task force wasn't looking for him, he'd taken far too long already.

A mistake. It was careless. And it was his fault, obviously, but he also partially blamed the lack of food. (Which was his fault, too, he knew, for being too stubborn to go and get his own dessert.)

"I assume you haven't let anyone know where I actually am?" L asked, and he was wrapping up his thighs first, and then he'd begin working on his arms.

"Of course not," Quillsh responded, like he hadn't even considered it. Maybe he truly hadn't, but L found that a little hard to believe. He knew that Quillsh wanted Light to know — he thought it would make a difference, for some reason.

Even though L was fairly certain that Light would understand his reasoning, if he ever had to explain it.

(He wouldn't. This was something that would stay between L and Quillsh — he was going to make sure of that.)

"Thank you, Watari," L murmured, moving to his arms, quickly — but still carefully — wrapping them as well, before he was tidying up the room, fixing his clothing, and was out the door.

He stopped by the kitchen on his way back to the work room, and debated whether to bring a whole cake with him. Could he eat an entire cake by himself? Well, obviously, but that was a little much, probably. He decided against it, and just brought half of it, instead.

After just one step back into the work room, Matsuda was right next to him, eyes wide and excited, worry written all over his face.

"Ryuzaki!" he exclaimed, and he was just one step behind L as he made his way back to his desk. "It's Misa, she's-"

"I'm aware of the situation," L said, picking up his fork from earlier and immediately digging into the cake (yellow cake, chocolate icing, coconut filling — an excellent choice), and only after a few bites did he make eye contact with Matsuda. "Where is Mogi now?"

"On his way back here." Light's voice sounded more normal than Matsuda's, but L could still tell that he was stressed by the situation. "We have the best chance of tracking and finding Misa from here, so there's no point in him aimlessly wandering the city."

"I agree." After another bite of cake, L pressed a button on his computer keyboard, making the telltale W show up on his screen. "Watari, do we have a location for Misa yet?"

"Not yet," was Quillsh's reply, and if anyone noticed that this was the first time that day, that L and Watari had spoken to each other — well, they weren't saying anything. (It was probably only Light who had noticed, anyway.) "However, three of the members of the Yotsuba group are in their homes, and Misa Amane is not with them."

L was going to have to thank Wedy for the fact that she very quickly bugged their houses. "Which three?"

"Takahashi, Shimura, and Kida."

"So that leaves Namikawa, Mido, Higuchi, and Ooi," Light said, moving to stand a little closer to L's desk, though he wasn't looking at him. "Namikawa wouldn't go on a date with Misa. Not after agreeing to be our mole in the group."

"Don't most of these guys have wives?" Matsuda asked, uselessly. L ignored him.

"So she's either with Mido, Higuchi, or Ooi," he said, absentmindedly taking another bite of cake. "Do we know their whereabouts?"

"Ryuzaki." L blinked a few times, focusing back on his computer screen, because Quillsh's voice sounded just a little different. "Mogi has just gotten a phone call from Misa. Would you like to listen in?"

L could hear the sounds of confusion from the other three men, but he ignored that, too. "Yes."

The screen above them changed, showing the two parties they were listening in on. Mogi, and —

An unknown number. Meaning that Misa was using a new or different phone.

"Who were you with?" Mogi asked, and L had to assume they missed the very beginning of the conversation.

"Higuchi," Misa said, her voice as bubbly and cute as ever. "I sent you a text with my location. Thanks for picking me up, Mochi!"

"Why Higuchi?" There was also a map pulled up on one of the screens, and it was showing Mogi turning around, now heading away from the building. "Are you alright?"

"I'm just fine, don't you worry!" There was a pause, for just a second, and then Misa was continuing with, "And I was with Higuchi because he's Kira."

"How could she know that?" Matsuda asked, and apparently he was the only one not stunned into silence.

Before anyone else could say anything, Misa was speaking again, saying, "Okay, Mochi, I'll see you soon, and I'll explain everything! Bye!"

And then she hung up.

"What the hell just happened? Light asked, after a few moments, and he was looking at L — no one else.

"Mmm." L took a few more bites of cake, though he started speaking again before he had swallowed. "Misa-san might be proving to be very useful, Light-kun."

"If Higuchi is actually Kira…" Light shook his head, moving to cross his arms over his chest. "She could have been in serious danger!"

"Maybe it's about time that you trusted her instincts a bit more." Not that L trusted her, but — if she had actual proof that Higuchi was Kira, then he would be very pleasantly surprised.

And, as it turned out — he was.

"Well, since I'm Kira," the recording on Misa's phone said, and that was, indeed, Higuchi's voice, "it'll be no problem for me to stop killing criminals for a few days. And then, once I've proven to you that I'm telling the truth, we'll get married!"

Everyone was stunned again — even Matsuda, this time — and just staring at Misa.

L glanced over at Light, and yes, he, too, looked surprised. Shocked. His eyes were wide, and their color was a little darker than this morning. Still pleasant, though.

"Like I said-" Misa broke the silence, and L refocused on her. "Higuchi is Kira!"

"That's incredible, Misa!" Now it was Matsuda. He walked closer to her, almost looking as if he was going to hug her, but he (wisely) stopped a few feet away from her. "Now we know who Kira is, and less people are dying! It's a win win situation!"

Misa smiled — no, grinned — and walked over to Light, attaching herself to his side, resting her head against his chest. He looked uncomfortable, as always, but he was still looking at Matsuda.

"We don't know that Higuchi is Kira," he said. "We know that he said he was. We'll only know once criminals stop dying."

"And that means that we'll be missing out on a fundamental aspect of this case," L said, taking one last look at Light before he was turning back around, facing his computer. "If criminals do, indeed, stop dying, we'll know who Kira is, but not how he kills."

"Exactly." Light took a couple steps towards L, and he could hear the accompanying footsteps of Misa, as well. "We'll have to come up with a plan on how to witness him kill."

"Yes, we will." L would have to contact Wedy, ask her to focus surveillance on just Higuchi. But if he truly was Kira — that might prove difficult. No doubt Kira would invest in a little extra security. They'd make it work, though; Wedy was good at her job. L wouldn't have hired her if she wasn't one of the best.

Beyond just surveilling him, though — they did need a plan. They would have to corner Higuchi somehow — make him kill. But not actually, he supposed, because he had a feeling that the task force would be opposed to letting someone die.

If they cornered him, though — what if he could just transfer Kira's power to someone else? Doing that would, seemingly, remove his memories of actually being Kira (like it had with Light and Misa), making him annoyingly "innocent." Beyond that, they'd still be in the dark about how the power actually worked. And that information was vital — they couldn't sacrifice it.

"What are you thinking, Ryuzaki?"

L glanced up at Light, who was looking straight at him, their eyes immediately locking. It was a little annoying, that Light seemed to be able to pick up on his different expressions and understand their meaning — and it was also something besides annoying, but he wasn't going to think too hard about it.

"I'm thinking about the possibility of Kira's powers transferring to someone else," he murmured, telling the truth, because maybe Light could help him figure something out. "Say, can you do me a favor?"

"Well… Yeah, what is it?"

"I have a theory. Talk it out with me."

Light looked confused, definitely, but he nodded. "Yeah, sure."

"You used to be Kira." It was less of a theory in L's mind and more of a fact, but if he posed it like that, he'd get some backlash from the task force. "But you don't remember killing anyone, do you?"

"No, I don't, but that's because I wasn't Kira, Ryuzaki."

"Relax, Light-kun. Just a theory." Light still looked annoyed, but at least he wasn't protesting. "So, let's say, you and Misa-san were the first and second Kira, but no longer remember it, because the power was transferred elsewhere. Are you following?"

"You know I am."

L did know that. "Did the power transfer because you wanted it to, or was there some third party, someone controlling you, and they're the one who passed it on?"

Light stared at him for a long moment, his face stern, serious, and the soft, puzzling smiles he gave L earlier that morning seemed a thousand miles away. Eventually, he sighed, breaking eye contact, and said, "Following your theory, with those details… It would have been my will."

Just what L had suspected. But, still, it was nice to get confirmation.

(If it had been his will, that meant it was part of a plan. And that plan almost certainly involved Kira's power returning to Light. It was just a matter of when, L supposed.)

"Thank you, Light-kun," he said, looking back towards his desk, where he still had some cake left. "I believe it's safe to say that Higuchi could transfer Kira's powers away, if he wanted to. And that it is not the work of some other, eternal being. So we just have to create a situation in which Higuchi cannot give away the power, and one where he shows us how he kills."

"That sounds like a lot," Matsuda said, from behind him, and somehow — L had forgotten that he and Light were not the only ones in the room. Even with Misa still hanging off of his side.

"Yes," L agreed, eating another bite of cake, though he was craving something crunchy now. (He was, also, very glad that he'd managed to sneak off to the bathroom before all this. This needed to work — and he needed complete and total cooperation from his brain.)

"Any ideas, Ryuzaki?" Light asked, still sounding a little sour from L's theory. He was lucky that he hadn't presented it as fact.

"Just one," L said, turning to face the task force as a whole. "But I think it'll work. We need Sakura TV."