Thus, it continues..So it goes. I can't wait to get into the gritty stuff. WINK. YOUKNOWWHATIMEANEYYYYOULETMEKNOWIFI'MRAMBLING-

L focused on the sugary desert in front of him, attempting to savour the taste for as long as possible in his mouth and saliva before swallowing. He focused particularly hard on the texture of each strawberry as it went down. He focused on how when his teeth sunk into the ripe seeded-skin, bursts of sweet juice ran in rivulets over his tongue. Anything to keep the sensation of Light-kun - no, Yagami-kun's skin from returning to him. L could still feel Yagami-kun's fingers curled in his hair, his hard and furious mouth set firmly against his. It was so strange. To L the experience of a kiss with Light-kun should have been no more different than the experience of kicking Light-kun in the face. After all, kissing, much like fighting was another aspect of social behaviour that often occurred to humans. To people. Not normally did they occur to L, not together at least and definitely not sequentially. However, it was curious. He had felt a surge of physical connection that he had never felt before. Light-kun had taken L entirely by surprise, uncomfortably so, but once his actions had caught up with him Light had pulled back. Clearly Light-kun's actions had not been very well thought-out, if thought-out at all. L chewed thoughtfully on a forkful of cake. Heat had blossomed under his skin, being that close to Light-kun. It was strange.

However, it may have not been a spontaneous design of Light Yagami's, mused L. The act or desire of kissing him may have been a ploy of Kira. Yagami-kun was too close statistically and personality-wise to Kira for L not to doubt the sincerity of his actions. L knew that a lot of Kira's actions were similar, if not identical to the thoughts and opinions of Light's. The only difference being exactly that, thoughts and actions. Plus the ability to carry out the action, to physically conduct Kira's death sentence...Kira's method of killing...How?

L dismissed the thought for now. If Light-kun was Kira, then an attempt to increase physical intimacy between them would be in his best interests. So long as he played the game carefully. It would create an opportunity to exploit theoretical weakness, to discover a vulnerability, and therefore an attempt to manipulate L or to snatch his name from him in a moment of passion. L supposed it could be possible..Hmm..49% probability. Perhaps this was merely another game, an attempt to dominate L and so an attempt to beat him in some way. To win. Hmm...That was more likely. However, if Light-kun was still aware of his connection to Kira, he hid it well. It was like his entire personality had somehow altered from before his time in confinement, and from when he was released. L knew something had changed. But what?

L sucked on the cream-smeared fork, suspended in thought. He looked at Light-kun, one hand tapping away at his keyboard whilst he spoke to Aizawa-san, half-turned in his chair. Yagami-san should return soon he thought, poking his tongue through the prongs of the fork, eradicating any evidence of cream and cake. He supposed he'd let things play out for now, there was little else he could do. He'd compose a few situations to trip Yagami-kun up, although they usually did very little as the boy tended to see through them with enough thought. Exasperation with these occasions was what led to their brawl earlier. L smacked his lips. He needed food for thought. Literally.

"Tea," he announced, scrambling out of his seat and shoving his hands in the deep front-pockets of his jeans, "Light-kun," he added to further convey his intentions. L's movements tugged the chain between them and forced Light's chair to swivel around. Light considered stubbornly digging his feet in to intervene with Ryuzaki's journey to the food cart but L merely continued to walk, rolling Light's chair forward across the tiles, so Light gave up and moved with him. Pointedly keeping as much distance between them as possible.

Interesting, L observed.

Over the course of the next day, L watched Light carefully. Light could tell Ryuzaki was acting warily, normal enough, but still enough for Light to notice. So he responded accordingly; he didn't bring up what occurred between them, he kept his distance and he spoke only of the Kira case. Surprisingly (to Light) nothing abnormal happened until the two of them sat at the table together; Light pouring through paperwork (again regarding this week's course of Kira-criminal victims) and Ryuzaki sat in his usual perch, his back hunched over, bent low over a fat slice of cake splattered with fruit. Light was scanning through the extensive list of victims, Kira sure had been busy this week - it was only Wednesday and yet the list spanned twelve pages. Light's stomach growled, he rubbed his tummy absentmindedly. For some reason he'd been craving sweets all day. He tracked his progress with a finger;

Shinji Hirako, 28
Two prior convictions for assault/
breaking and entering/
sexual harassment
Heart-attack

Takamasa Ishihara, 42
Arrested for drug trafficking
Heart-attack

Tetsuya Yamamoto, 64
Convicted rapist/
Serving 12 years
Heart-atta -

"-Light-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Light-kun, your stomach is growling."

"I know. I'll get something in a minute." Light traced his palm down the page, his tongue between his teeth. He flipped the page over. There had to be some-

"-Light-kun, would you like a strawberry?"

"What?" Light looked up at Ryuzaki. He was swiveled in his chair to face Light with his arm outstretched.

"A strawberry," Ryuzaki said simply, offering his arm again: his forefinger and thumb held a fork supporting a glazed strawberry. Ryuzaki raised it to Light's face, a few inches from his lips. Light looked at Ryuzaki. He blinked owlishly at him, his face an innocent mask. Light looked at the strawberry. Then back to Ryuzaki. He raised an eyebrow. He moved his head slightly to the side: the strawberry followed. Ryuzaki wanted him to eat off his fork? He wanted to hand feed him?

Light deadpanned.

Ryuzaki raised his other, free thumb to his lower lip and pressed against it. Light's eyes narrowed. Ah.

So that's what this is. L wanted to test Light. To see if he was willing to extend to certain levels of intimacy - if he were Kira, getting physically closer to L would be in his best interests. Light had thought of this earlier, how his foolish actions towards Ryuzaki may have landed him in further trouble with the detective. The likelihood of Light being Kira had probably increased since yesterday, he knew it. Light gritted his teeth as he shot daggers at the peevish Ryuzaki who was smiling slightly as he still held the strawberry aloft. So what, if he took the strawberry he was more likely to be Kira? That's ridiculous. Yet somehow Light's ego felt that if he turned away coldly, as he wished to, Ryuzaki would somehow win. Maybe that's what this was, a battle of wills. Ryuzaki knew Light would worry over this. Damn him - him and that smug panda face. Light's eyes glinted dangerously but he bent forward all the same, unaware that the few lonely members of the task force (one of whom being Light's open-mouthed father) had all ceased their previous activities to watch the world's most renowned detective hand feed a seventeen year old boy.

Ryuzaki watched owlishly, his mouth slightly open as Light's mouth enclosed over the sugary fruit, biting down hard on the fork-prongs with evident defiance. Light's blazing eyes never broke contact with Ryuzaki's as he snatched the strawberry off of its stainless steel holding cell and chewed slowly. He'd never admit that it tasted damn fine or that it satiated his panging cravings wonderfully... or that it reminded him of the tender skin of L's lips. He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. Light tried searching Ryuzaki's face for some kind of answer. Failing that, he returned to the papers in front of him. A blur of movement made him look up again: Ryuzaki held out another stabbed fruit, this time a cherry. Light stared at him for a bit, fuming inside but then surrendered.

He shook his head, "No thanks, one is good."

"Okay, Light-kun." Ryuzaki shrugged and instead popped the cherry into his mouth and chewed slowly, nay thoughtfully. Light watched him chew, his eyes flickering unbidden to L's mouth. Heat pooled in Light's stomach, hot tendrils flicking up into his chest. He felt the fire as though it were constricting his lungs. What was this? Ryuzaki met his gaze suddenly and Light knew they were both thinking back to yesterday. Light's fingers whitened as he gripped his seat and he turned back to the desk. Dammit. He knew he'd blushed. Light stared at the papers until he felt certain that L had turned his attention back to his cake.

There was a sudden rustle of movement and clearing of throats over at the monitors.

yaaaaay. More fluffy smut coming but don't worry...I have a master pwan...this chapter was fun to write. Please review if you read, it gets so lonely...
ahem.

Thaaaank you!