You had nearly reached the coffee shop that Light had recommended. So far, you had noticed nothing strange about your conversation, but something about him continued to bug you. "Light-kun, you're so smart!" you giggled, clutching onto his arm, "You must nearly be as smart as Ryu-kun!"
His arm tensed just for a second, and you allowed yourself a small hidden smirk. 'So he doesn't like the thought of L being his superior in intelligence? A normal response by any account…but still…'
"Oh no, I don't think I'll ever be as capable as Ryuuzaki," he laughed.
"Capable?" you asked, wondering why he would use such a strange word.
"Un."
You walked in silence the rest of the way to the coffee shop, where you found a booth and sat down on opposite sides of the small, rectangular table. "Why did you ask, Ahiru-chan?" Light suddenly asked, taking you by surprise.
You blinked blankly at him for a second, before putting down the menu and replying. "You seem like a really sweet guy so I wanted to get to know you better. Plus, I think you're cute!" you said, smiling.
'Hmm…that should lessen his suspicions a little. He'll just think I'm another shallow appearance-obsessed fangirl.'
Light laughed a little at your response before picking up and perusing his own menu. A waitress came over and asked for your order. "Green tea," Light said and looked expectantly over at you.
"Oh…uhh…. coffee thanks, black with 2 sugars," you said, smiling up at the waitress and handing her your menu.
You rested you chin on your joined hands and looked over at Light. "So Light-kun, what made you want to join the investigation?" you asked, making it sound as though you were only making small talk whilst your beverages were being prepared.
"Kira needs to be brought to justice. What he's doing is unforgivable…it's murder. He needs to be condemned for his crimes!" Light said, his voice gradually rising in volume.
"Settle down, Light-kun," you said, sweatdropping.
'Is this an act? If it's not, he could have been a professional actor…' you thought.
"Gomennasi, Ahiru-chan," he apologised, "Sometimes I get a little carried away."
"No problem, Light-kun, we all do," you said, giggling.
You grabbed his hand, and you looked him in the eyes. He looked down at his hand in yours and then looked up at you. "What is it?" he asked.
"I can tell, you're not Kira. Ryu-kun is definitely wrong about that!" you said, making sure to maintain your giggling air-headed demeanor.
Your index finger was lightly placed on the inside of his wrist, not an unnatural hold. Through your finger you felt his pulse quicken slightly. 'Heh…surprised that I would be suspicious of you? Just through that, you've increased my suspicions tenfold!'
"Well that's good to hear, Ahiru-chan!" he said, sounding light-hearted.
You could sense that something was amiss by the look in his eyes, and decided from then on to change the topic whenever it came remotely close to Kira and the police investigation. 'If he really is Kira, and if he finds out my real name…I've signed my own death warrant…' you thought, soberly to yourself.
'KUSO! Why did she have to say that of all things! If Light-kun is Kira, he's going to get rid of her as soon as possible! Did I overestimate her? She's talking like an air-head…wait, no…that's definitely an act…but then…what did she gain from putting herself in danger like that?' thought L, biting his thumb, alone in his high-backed leather chair.
"Arigatou for the coffee, Light-kun!" you said, as you parted at the entrance to L's hotel. The sun was beginning to set, making it seem as though the sky was aflame.
"Anytime, Ahiru-chan, let's do this again," he said, before waving at you and heading home.
Smiling at his receding form, you turned around and nearly screamed. L was standing directly behind you, and as you turned, your faces were within inches of each other. You composed yourself at the last second, "What is it, Ryu-kun?"
"You know you've put yourself in a dangerous position, Ahiru-chan," he said, the barest trace of emotion in his voice.
You lowered your eyes and your bangs covered your face. "You bugged my clothes…"
"It was an emergency," he dismissed, "But if Light-kun is Kira, you're in danger."
"You think I don't know that? What do you take me for?" you snapped at him.
He gaped at you in shock, his sleep-deprived eyes wide. "I did it because I want to help the investigation, Kira needs to be caught! If I end up losing my life because of it, I know that it was to save the lives of many others…it's not like anyone will miss me. And besides, Light-kun probably isn't Kira, you said yourself there's only a 7 chance, so stop worrying about me!" you said, trying to convince yourself as well as L.
Leaving him to stare off in the distance, lost in thought, you walked past him, and entered the building to continue your work. No matter how much you tried to shake off a foreboding feeling, it stayed with you like a storm cloud hovering overhead. 'But if Light-kun is Kira…I'll be his next target…'
"Ahiru-chan, I apologise for earlier. I thought that you weren't understanding the situation, when you are obviously well aware of the consequences of your words if Light-kun is Kira," L said, leaning over your shoulder as you continued to construct your computer program.
"It's all right, L, I know you were just worried about me!" you said, grinning.
Acting spontaneously, you raised your arms over your head and pulled L closer to you so that his cheek was touching yours, in a clumsy hug. You felt his cheekbones raise, and you realised that he was smiling. 'YATTA! I MADE HIM SMILE!' you thought, grinning widely. Completely taking you by surprise, L's thin arms wrapped around your neck and he returned the hug. A sugary sweet smell reached your nose and you realised that you liked his smell. He pulled you tighter before letting go and moving back to his regular position in front of his computer. You looked around in surprise, suddenly feeling lonely without his embrace. You shook your head to clear such thoughts. 'Stop acting like an idiot! Get a hold of yourself! He's your boss, for God's sake!' you thought, and then punched at your head in an effort to stop unwanted thoughts.
You stopped when you realised that he was staring strangely at you. "Is there something wrong?" he asked, his hands placed on top of his knees.
"Uh…" you stalled, your brain racing to find an excuse, "Just feeling a little cooped up."
"You don't have to stay here all the time. You're not a prisoner," he said, staring at you with his opaque orbs.
"I know, but…" you said, looking at him apologetically, "It's no fun going out by yourself."
He looked down at his knees and bit his thumb. "Well then…would you like me to accompany you?"
"Would you?" you asked, looking at him with puppy dog eyes.
He nodded, slowly. 'Am I going to regret this later?' L thought, watching as you jumped up and down, cheering.
You were walking down a deserted urban street, the only light shining from the streetlights set at regular intervals. The silence hung between you, however it was a companionable silence. You were wearing a tight black tank top, an open white button-up shirt, short gray shorts, and long black socks, which continued down into black sneakers. L was wearing his usual garb, his messy hair sticking up as though he'd just gotten out of bed, which was completely illogical because you didn't think L even had a bed. "Arigatou, Ryu-kun. But you didn't have to come with me if you didn't want to," you said, a hidden meaning in your words.
L's eyes slid over to you, as he thought about your words. "Wouldn't be safe walking by yourself."
'Nice answer, Ryu-kun…didn't give away anything at all…' you thought, wondering what other tricks you could use.
"Do you want to know where I'm taking you?" you asked.
"Let it be a surprise," he replied, casually.
"Oh…" you said, foiled again.
'Curse him and his superior intelligence! He's not letting anything slip!' you thought, frustrated.
"Something the matter?" L asked.
"Iie (No)…betsuni (nothing)…" you replied, trying to act natural.
You emitted a high-pitched laugh, trying to mask your nervousness. L looked over to you and raised an eyebrow. Embarrassed, you looked away and remained silent for the rest of the walk.
"We're here!" you said, waiting for L's reaction.
Like you anticipated, he was surprised but quickly masked it. "A 24 hour arcade?" he asked. 'Is this a joke? Why has she brought me here?' he thought.
You nodded, vigorously, a wide grin spreading across your face. 'Heh, that sure took him by surprise!'
You grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him inside into the brightly lit arcade. "What do you want to play?" you asked him, your grip still on his wrist in case he tried to escape.
"Uh-"
"Let's play this shooting one!" you said, and dragged him over to the blinking screen.
You shoved a plastic gun in a bewildered L's hand and selected the expert mode. 'Expert mode? But I don't even know how to play,' L thought to himself, feeling a small amount of anxiety.
"Get ready…GO!" you shouted, and began expertly shooting the targets showing on the screen.
Wondering when the instructions on how to play would come onto the screen, L was taken by surprise and didn't even manage to hit one target in the 20 seconds. When the level finished, you looked and saw L's result and laughed out loud. L glared at you, obviously annoyed. You smiled back, reveling in the fact that you were finally better at something than him. "What's wrong? Never played before?" you asked innocently, knowing full well that he hadn't.
He shook his head, grumpily. "Oh…Gomen…would you like to play something a little easier?" you asked, laughing in your head at your cunning.
"No…" he replied, and turned back to the game.
'Ku-ku-ku I knew that he would refuse! It's exactly as I thought! He's so childish that he doesn't want to lose!' (Your mental expression was somewhat like this :3 lol).
You quickly went over the basic rules for the game, and pressed the start button. You saw L's eyes narrow in concentration, and saw that he'd unconsciously poked his tongue out of the corner of his mouth. 'Kawaii!' you thought, accidentally giving L a head start as the game started.
"63 targets to 17…that's not bad for a beginner!" you said, trying to cheer up a sulking L.
"I guess…" he said, not looking convinced.
"That's the spirit," you said, clapping him on the back, which made him stumble forward a few steps.
'Is he that weak?' you thought to yourself, disbelieving.
"Well, how about we try something else? Get you warmed up. We can always come back to this one later," you said, already dragging him to another machine.
L could only try and keep up as you aced all the games at the arcade. He watched bleakly as you bested all the high scores on each game you tried. "Take that! And that!" you shouted, furiously pushing buttons on a fighting game.
'Is she really the one who bested my third detective persona? Well I guess…actions aren't something to judge someone by…' L thought, his mouth twisting up at the irony, 'I should introduce her to Matt, they'd get along great.'
"Aren't you-" you began, before hearing music playing near the center of the massive arcade.
'What is that? It sounds like….'
"DANCE STAGE!" you shouted, happily, towing L along like he weighed nothing.
(Hehe, I can just imagine that XDD).
"Player One wins!" came the chirpy voice of the dance stage machine narrator.
A tall, brunette woman wearing a skintight black tracksuit turned to the crowd that had gathered around the game. "Is there anyone else who has the guts to try and beat me?" she asked, smugly.
"Ohhh…that sounds like fun!" you whispered to L.
He raised an eyebrow half-heartedly at you, and shrugged. "I'll challenge you!" you shouted, over the mutterings of the crowd.
The crowd parted to let you through, you could hear them murmuring about you as you passed. As you reached the stage, the brunette woman looked you up and down, and smirked as if to say "You think you can beat me? You must be joking!"
You smiled sweetly up at her and stood resolute on the platform. "Ok, if you insist," the woman said, and selected the hardest expert track.
However, the woman was unaware that ever since you were 11, you had been sneaking out to arcades and dance stage was your undisputed favourite. You grinned to yourself, 'I wonder how she'll react when I start to beat her?'
The music started, and without missing a beat, you began to dance.
Near the end of the song, the brunette woman realised that she was losing and decided to do whatever necessary to save face and win. When she kicked her leg back in the air, it hit you across the face. Blood cascaded down your face from where her foot had connected with your nose. 'That should stop her! She'll just go home and cry to her Mummy now,' thought the brunette.
You gritted your teeth and kept on dancing, now even more determined to keep your cool and beat that smirking cheater into the ground. You finally finished the song and waited for the results to appear on the screen. "Player Two wins!" came the chirpy machine voice again, and a loud cheer erupted from the massive crowd that had gathered around to watch your dance-off. The brunette woman scowled and swore at you before leaving the stage. Smiling, despite the pain it caused in your injured nose, you pulled L onto the stage. He shook his head at you, aware of what you were trying to do. "C'mon! Who wants to see him dance?" you called out to the eager crowd.
Screams rent the air as the crowd urged L to dance. Sighing, L shrugged and stood in the center of the platform. You grinned at him, and asked if he needed to know how to play. He shook his head and proceeded to choose a song. The music started and L began to dance. Your mouth dropped open at how good he was. 'No way! He must be at least as good as me!' you thought, mouth still agape.
L finished his track and turned to look at you, a smug look in his eyes. He walked off the platform and waited until you followed. "That was so awesome! How did you do that?" you asked, your eyes alight.
"Don't think you're the only one who practiced a lot when they were younger…" he said, allowing you a small smile, "Here, allow me."
He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and gently wiped the blood from your face. You blinked in surprise at his soft touch. He quickly replaced his handkerchief and his previously happy mood was quickly replaced with his usual sullen disposition. "Are you tired?" he asked, hinting at you that he wanted to leave.
You nodded your head, thinking about all the work you had to cram into a few months and the both of you left the arcade.