Disclaimer(again): We still don't own Death Note! You should all know this by now!

:Chapter 2:

A Break Without Coffee

Raito's eyes were locked on the computer screen in front of him, and his fingers moved quickly as he typed, trying to hack some other company that there was a rumor a new Kira had surfaced in.

But no killings.

Raito knew quite well that he and Misa-Misa were the only ones left again. There had been no killings since the man from Yotsuba had been caught and suffered a heart attack inflicted by the real Kira. Raito himself.

He snuck a glance over in Ryuzaki's direction, rolling his eyes as he noted that the Detective had once again started to chew on his finger. As he always did when lost in thought, or intrigued by something. Ryuzaki was obviously very lost in thought, biting mercilessly at one finger while the other hand was idly holding his fork, his expression a little troubled and his posture…hunched over, in his usual, familiar way, his cake sitting nearby.

Raito's lips twitched in a smile that was quickly hidden again.

"I'm in." He looked at the screen for a moment. "No Kira though." He slouched in his chair, head resting on the back as his eyes were now locked on the ceiling as if thinking.

The detective turned in his chair to face the younger male.

"No Kira?" He questioned, a slight frown tugging the corners of his lips down a bit. The detective put his fork down and leaned over, his coal-coloured eyes scanning the teen's computer screen.

The teen suddenly grimaced as his Shinigami, Ryuk, began to bother him once more.

I was thinking of going into stand up comedy…I'd knock them dead!

Misa giggled from where she sat, and Rem merely gave Ryuk an odd look. As for Raito, he muttered only two words.

"No apples."

"…It was a good lead…" L murmured simply, biting at his thumb now as he went back to his own computer, ignoring Raito's odd whisper of 'No apples'.Ryuk looked upset, deprived of what was seemingly a drug to Shinigami, if not only Ryuk, but said nothing more.

Finally some peace and quiet.

Ryuzaki knew that Rem was there, but not Ryuk, but it didn't matter, the detective would figure that he was talking to Rem, he was sure. He then glanced at Misa; the girl was horrible at hiding her identity as the Second Kira. If Rem hadn't threatened to kill him—Many times, he would have already killed her…or got her caught at the very least.

He sighed, sitting up once more resting his elbow on the desk, and his forehead on his hand. He just wanted this over with. They had caught 'Kira', and there had been no killings since. Why didn't Ryuzaki just finally drop it?

"So, let's assume Higuchi was the Kira. What happened to the Second-Kira?" Ryuzaki finally asked, though Raito knew it was more to himself. But something also told him, from his time chained to the detective, that the elder male also wanted an answer.

"And if there was a Second-Kira, there'd be a second Note. Right?" The older male continued to murmur to himself, just staring at his computer screen as he nibbled his thumb and spoke. "What about the power…? And the theory of being able to pass it along? No, if it'd been passed on to someone else the Note would have gone too."Of course, the only show of annoyance from Ryuzaki was the vigorous biting at his thumbnail.

Raito vaguely wondered if he was the only one who could see through the emotionless Façade.

The detective finally picked up his abnormally-sweetened tea and took a sip, soon after making an odd face at the tea, as it had cooled over the time that he'd been thinking. Putting the tea down, the detective picked up his fork, stabbed the strawberry from the top of his cheesecake, and took a bite out of the sweet fruit. He licked the juices from the berry from his lips as he let another frown grace his fine features, now deep in thought.

Riiiinnnng…..Raito's cell phone was suddenly ringing, but he hadn't noticed yet, lost in his own deep thoughts. He was slouched in his chair and staring at the ceiling once more. It had been a good lead….if there was such thing as another Kira.

The Second Kira, Misa Amane, was still sitting nearby.

He was then brought back to Reality as Misa was suddenly standing next to him. "Raito…your phone is ringing." He sat up and moved to grab it, but it wasn't there. He frowned, wondering where he had put it when he realized Ryuzaki had snatched it up and was now talking to someone…and holding the phone in his odd way. Didn't he ever hold a phone correctly?

"Ryuzaki, who is it?" He inquired, a little annoyed at the Detective. He ignored the fact Misa had sat in his lap and was jabbering away about…something or other having to do with them getting married or something of that sort. He had learned to ignore her, and feign interested in anything she said or did.

The elder male glanced to Raito, shrugged and went back to talking to the girl on the other line. Raito's eyes narrowed in more anger than annoyance now.

"Of course, that sounds good!" The detective smiled as he spoke. It was almost as if he had a personality. "Thank you, Natsumi. Yes, we'll see you soon."

And with that Ryuzaki pressed the 'end call' button and snapped the phone shut, holding it out to the younger male, his 'personality' gone. "We're meeting Natsumi and some others at the mall in an hour." He announced, and Raito knew that this was all to get under his skin. But…perhaps it'd give them a much-needed break.

Raito snatched his phone away and shoved it in a pocket. "Oh? And what about the case?" He asked after a moment of glaring at the elder male. "We can't just up and stop."

Closing the programs on his laptop and snapping the machine shut, Ryuzaki turned back to Raito. "We can have a small break. We have, after all, been working on this without any good leads for the past week or so." He shrugged, "Besides. Your friends miss you."

Had that been a smirk Raito had almost seen? He was goading him! "A few hours won't hurt. And if something does come up Watari will contact me." The detective explained as he stood, still standing hunched over, his hands in his pockets.

Raito shook his head, closing his own programs and snapping the black laptop shut as well. "Fine." He said, standing up as well, Misa having now fallen to the floor.

"Ohh! Do I get to come?" Misa asked excitedly, bouncing around in her ditzy way once she had regained her composure.

Raito merely looked at her and raised a brow, frowning, and she quieted.

For a moment.

"No? But…But Raito!" She began to whine. "What about our date?" They hadn't been on a date in weeks, due to Raito being chained to L. "And you're going to walk around with the chain?" She continued whining, and Raito merely shut her voice out. "Let's go, Ryuzaki." He sighed, wanting to get away from her as soon as possible.

"Of course we're going to walk around with the chain." Ryuzaki stated simply, "I can't let Raito-kun out of my sight. He's…" A pause, "…he's still under suspicion of being Kira." Raito rolled his eyes once more. An excuse if he had ever heard one.

Ignoring Misa-Misa as well, L stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked away, dragging Raito along. "Do you want to walk, or get a ride?" He asked, not turning to see if Misa was following them. "And what exactly do your friends do at the mall, Raito-kun?"

Wincing a little as his end of the handcuffs pressed against his already sore wrist, He shoved his hands into his pants pockets boredly. "And why exactly did you agree to hanging out with my friends?" He asked, irritated at the fact the detective had done so. But there was no use in backing out now. Ryuzaki merely shrugged.

"You seemed bored. You need to get out." Ryuzaki explained, "Staying inside all the time is killing your social life."

"We'll walk." The teen replied quietly after a moment, throwing another glare in Misa's direction, easily hidden by his auburn bangs as he looked at the ground.

The insomniac detective continued to lead the way down the hall and to the elevator, where he stood quietly. "Would Miss Misa like to change first and then meet us at the mall?" He asked, and Misa squealed happily. "Yes! I'll see you there!" She said, turning and bouncing away to do…whatever she was going to do to get ready, it wasn't as if Raito cared.

But…

What would they possibly do at the mall?

…And how long could L possibly go without sweets? A devious plan began to form in the teen's mind, but his face never showed it. Ryuzaki had just condemned himself to a day of torture.

Stepping into the elevator, L turned to look at the teen, "You never answered my question, Yagami-kun." He said softly, pressing the button that'd take them to the first floor.

"And what question was that, Ryuzaki?" He asked, putting extra emphasis on the name out of just a little spite, as he leaned against the wall of the elevator. He folded his arms across his chest, not caring that it tightened the length of chain between them a little.

L stepped a little closer to the teen, the chain going lax again.

"What is it, exactly, that you and your friends to at the mall?" He asked again, grasping the rail as the elevator made a noise and began to move, taking them down to the exit.

Raito gave a short laugh; more a quick exhale. "Wander about," he started. "Usually the girls shop." He shrugged. He, himself, did not quite get the point of the mall now-a-days. "I usually just go to the arcade."

"The arcade?" L questioned. "I didn't know Yagami-kun played video games."

The younger male nodded. "I do, when I feel like it." He said, not thinking much of it. He smiled slightly, or was it a smirk? "I'd love to see you play a shooting game or something."

L's finger was back to his lips, a slight smile brightening his features. "What? Do you think I have no experience in shooting?" He questioned, keeping his dark eyes focused on his suspect. "What other games would they have there?"

"No, I just mean they're nothing like real life." He sighed and thought for a moment. "General arcade-games; Fighting, racing...dancing." He had paused. Pump It Up; He hadn't played that in forever.

L let a small 'hm' noise escape his throat as he looked past Raito, staring at the wall absentmindedly. "Dancing games…" He said out loud. The detective seemed interested, but the younger male said nothing more, looking away from the detective again and to the door. He just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. And with Misa-Misa there, he was sure this was going to be no fun at all.

As the doors opened, the man stepped out, pulling on the chain and not seeming to care. Raito following, though a little reluctantly. "How long do you normally stay at the mall?" He questioned, pulling a pair of beat up shoes from a closet and quickly slipping his feet into them, wiggling his toes as he did.

"Until we get bored, or have somewhere else to go." Raito replied, "Or get hungry and don't want to eat the food from the food court." He shrugged and shook his head. "Don't you know what a mall is?"

"I wouldn't want to eat the food from the food court either…" Ryuzaki mumbled softly beginning to lead the way outside. "Of course I know what a mall is, Yagami-kun. I'm not that much of a recluse, am I?"

It was a pretty sunny day, slightly chilly, but they could deal with that. The detective had turned to Raito, raising a brow as if asked one of the stupidest questions in existence. L sighed softly and tilted his head ever so slightly.

"The only time I've seen you outside of this building, was school, catching Higuchi, and..." He paused, thinking for a moment. "That's about it. You expect me not to think you're a recluse?" He shook his head, moving to walk out the door, not caring that he'd be dragging Ryuzaki along, and that his bruises were hurting. He merely grabbed the chain so the cuffs didn't press against his bruises any longer.

Ryuzaki rolled his eyes as he followed the teen. "The café and the hospital. You forgot those." He stated simply, almost as if he were smugly correcting the boy at the other end of the chain. "I just choose to stay indoors." He blinked a bit as they stepped out into the sun.

The teen rolled his eyes, but chose not to answer. The elder male was so infuriating sometimes. No, strike that. He was infuriating all the time. He continued walking. It was about a mile or so to the mall, and he wanted to get there quickly.

L was silent a moment, and after a moment or two spoke up. "Where do you normally meet?"

"The food court, usually." He replied after a moment of thinking. It had been a while. Soon they were in view of the mall. He mentally took a steadying breath, getting ready for the inevitable attack from his fan-girlish friends. The chain clinked a bit as he opened the door. Immediately there were loud squeals.

"RAITO!"

He winced as four girls immediately attached themselves to him. He gave a well-faked smile. "Long time no see." He said as the two guys approached. One of the girls spotted Ryuzaki.

"Hey, who's your friend?"

"Yeah, he's kinda cute."

And there started the giggling and whispers amongst the girls.

Ryuzaki had hidden the grin that had dared to try to come to his emotionless pretense. Of course, Raito had noticed.

Ryuzaki looked up as the girls started to talk about him, "Hmm?" He raised a brow looking a bit confused. He raised his hand, yet again, to nibble on a finger, studying Raito's friends intently.Another one of them squealed. "Ah! How cute, he's nibbling on his finger." She turned to Raito. "Is he shy or something?" They were as bad as Misa-Misa.

Every single one of them.

One ventured over. "What's your name?" She asked, giving him a cute smile. Raito placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ryuzaki, this is Ami. Ami, meet Ryuzaki." The girl giggled, making it fairly obvious she found the detective to be attractive. Just like Misa, she was very bad at hiding this fact. Another one, Natsumi, gasped and moved to stand beside Ami, folding her arms across her chest.

"You'd be so much cuter if you didn't have those bags under your eyes…Hey! Let's take you shopping! We can find you some better clothes!"

Raito tried oh so very hard to hide the smirk that had found his way to his face. In a way, he was starting to feel bad for the detective, having four girls now completely fan-girling over him. "And we can fix your hair!" The smallest girl, obviously the youngest squealed. This wouldn't go over well…

L was suddenly surrounded by girls. He quickly pulled his hand away from his mouth and stuffed it in his pocket, taking a small step back from the invading girls. "Hello, Miss Ami." He said politely, a small smile coming to his thin features. L looked to Natsumi. "And you must be Natsumi." And, yet again, it was odd how he suddenly seemed to have a personality of some sort.

…And suddenly the Insomniac looked unsure of what to do.

--

Another annoying note: Here's chapter two! Yeah, lots of fun. Don't ask us why we decided for them to go to the mall. You'll just get a bunch of jibberish and long words like "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia". Yes, that's really a word. Unfortunately.
The "point of view" changes each chapter, just so you can see in their heads. Happy-fun-time, huh? :D Khrys edits and writes up Raito's bit, and I edit and write up L's bit. So this chapter's credit all goes to Khrys-love

And we'll leave you with these words: Hah, we made you waste another two minutes reading this annoying note! (Not really, don't beat us!)
Review and all that jazz and we'll be back with Chapter 3 soon!