I hummed a little tune while hanging up clothes, enjoying the time by myself. The move from the old hotel to the new went without a hitch, and after getting a call from Matsuda that their Chief had woken up and was seeing his family a weight was lifted off my mind.

Finishing up with the closet, I checked the clock on the bedside table satisfied that enough time had passed for me to go check on things in the sitting room.

Fortunately, it seemed like Watari and L had a type when it came to hotel rooms as the layouts were usually similar in size and style. So it wasn't hard to navigate around and figure out where to place things. Picking up the torn open chocolate bar I'd been nursing to crack off another piece to enjoy while working. I had already set up the multitude of televisions and their responding controllers, the setup Watari uses, and now the bedroom we were going to have to share again.

There wasn't anything else to do until L came back, where I'd have to start getting ready for my all-nighter, so I decided to flip on one of the TVs, finding a channel interesting enough to stare at.

The itch of movement ran across the back of my neck, convincing myself it was all in my head. Nonetheless, the faint wave of bothered air and a soft tug on my locks turned my head to the side, getting an eye full of close-up L. I escaped the dirty word caught in my throat, but it cost me the sharp pain of panicking and pulling away before my hair was let completely go.

That man had no clue how close my fist connecting to his cheek he was.

Though, it didn't seem like he might care as L closed the distance I had gone through the trouble to make, grabbing the same piece of maroon-dyed hair. I only watched for a split second of him studying it like the final clue to solving Kira.

"Hmm, I still prefer your natural color."

I watched him roll the strand between his finger and thumb, separating the colored from the real.

"I planned on dyeing it soon." The box was sitting on the bathroom sink.

Like he was showing his disapproval, L dropped the sliver, falling back to place. I wasted the breath explaining it's the easiest way to hide my rememberable feature, knowing he already knew this as I've done it for years. I heard my words trail off as I noticed L just standing behind his chair, thumb to the lip.

"I would like to hear your account about what happened today,"

He made it sound like he was missing something important and only I had the answer.

Playing along, even though L had just come back from the hospital, I told him everything but the whole To-Oh watching, camera hacking business from earlier.

"One thing, why were you going through the To-Oh campus this afternoon?"

I felt my skin begin to heat up with a mixture of emotions.

"I-I didn't…"

"I never asked you to do such a thing."

"Are you wanting an apology?" I snapped, faulting back to my defenses.

"I knew you wanted in there from before, I was only trying to keep an eye on you. I mean, you went out and showed your face to some college kid. I-Is that not why I'm on this team, Ryuzaki?"

In my fluttering frustration, I had moved in closer cutting off a good part of the distance between. The thoughts clouded my senses, unsure of what would be the smartest, safest thing to dig myself out of this hole. The warmth of something held in place on my left cheek, made me focus back on the man in front of me. L was looking down, those black eyes unreadable at this moment.

My command sense disappeared once I caught a whiff of the sweet scent of his skin, his wrist so close to my nose and mouth.

The thought of leaning in and doing something I hadn't done in almost 12 years enticed me to no end, but if I gave in now I'd only be admitting what I never wanted to do again. I swear the man must be a mind reader or my facial expressions was giving my heart away because as soon as I thought it, L softly tilted his head getting just close enough to force me to decide if I'll meet him halfway.

God, I could hear the blood pumping in my ears, relying only on my romantic instincts. I shut my eyes and made a choice.

My lips crashed onto something causing me to stare down a smiling L with his damn thumb on his mouth.

"I see,"

The rush of embarrassment made me lightheaded, backing up and putting a hand down on the first solid thing it touched as he went ahead and sat down. Normally, I'd just sit down somewhere alone to mull it over and come up with a plan B of some sort. It's just this time I couldn't let it go.

I rushed up to him, using his chair arms to enclose him while holding me still.

"I'm tired of your games."

"I wasn't just testing you."

"Still, you hold all the answers. One's you'll never tell me, How's that just, L?"

I slipped my hand through his hair, burying my fingers deep within its softness. Although I might have only been intertwined with the world's greatest detective once a long time ago, I could still read his biological tell-tale signs.

L forced me to play my hand, now I'd do the same to him.

"We've played this before, and I won in the end." I edged closer so that even my whispers were loud enough.

"I could break you again tonight."

"You play a much dirtier game than I, Miss. Petrillo."

The threat of a smirk painted my lips, knowing I needed to go harder.

Roughly, pulled his head to the side to watch all the precious veins bulge against his colorless skin. An intimate act that I knew would send his system into arrest, and like the hungry little vampire I was becoming, I leaned in to satisfy both of our thirsts.

I had to stop when I heard the clinking of teacups drawing near, as we had an unwanted visitor.

"Tell watari to go back into the kitchen," I ordered gently.

L looked into my eyes, taking the hot liquid to drown a handful of sugar cubes in. I straightened up my back, taking my own before finding a spot on the hotel couch to start another night of work.