L had kept Sachi up most of the night talking. When she begged him to allow her to get some sleep, he left the room for her to do so. Her wakeup call was a nerve wracking experience that set her on edge first thing and got her day off to a great start. After a somewhat refreshing four hour nap, she roused from her sleep. While in that wonderful, surreal chasm between sleep and wakefulness, her skin began to crawl with that unmistakable sensation of being watched. Opening her eyes, she was faced with two dark hollows on a background of pasty white. A scream escaped her before she realized it was only L sitting beside the bed staring at her nearly eye to eye.
"Dammit, L," she growled, hitting him with a pillow. She felt it being snatched out of her hand then received a smack with it herself. "It's too early for this crap. Can you go be weird somewhere else?"
"But I like being weird with you," he responded sincerely.
"Awww," she cooed, rolling over and pulling the covers over her head. "Now get out."
"Don't you have to be at work at six? It's five thirty," he informed her, moving back when she threw off the covers and sprang out of the bed.
"God! I have to get home and get a shower!" she exclaimed with huge eyes full of panic. She kissed him on the cheek and ran for the door. "See ya later, boyfriend!"
~\..'../~
"Hey! What's wrong with you today?" Ai, the beanpole with eyes and teeth, inquired in her irritating high pitched voice.
They had just completed the lunch rush and Sachi was cleaning up the table in back. She was putting away all of the remaining ingredients for preparing salads and sandwiches while attempting to ignore Ai. She thought she had succeeded until she closed the refrigerator door and the wraith was standing there with a fierce look on her face.
"Oh, god, you scared me!" Sachi exclaimed, pressing her hand over her heart. Her mind had been elsewhere thinking about an unusual man she had left in a hotel room. "I'm just tired. That's all."
"Oh? Did you stay out late with that freak? I know you were going to see him. You wouldn't buy that whole cake otherwise," she snapped pointedly.
Sachi hated being the underling of someone younger than her. Nosey brat. Since when did Ai check the receipts that carefully when she was going over the day's register reconciliation.
"Why do you care Ai? You're my manager. Not my mom," she retorted, going to the sink to retrieve a soapy washcloth to wipe the prep table.
"I don't. Trust me. I just think it's funny," she stated derisively, releasing a nasally, insincere laugh. "I guess the old saying is true. Birds of a feather really do flock together. Or in your case, one freak flocks to another freak."
Sachi stopped wiping the counter, emitting a noisy sigh that almost sounded like a low rumbling growl. She prayed for the ability to keep her mouth shut but unfortunately some miracles do not happen.
"Well, if that's true, Ai, you must have a really bitchy boyfriend," she retorted, pushing past the speechless girl. She made sure to give her a hard shoulder bump on the way out. "It's two. My shift is over. I'm getting the flock out of here."
~\..'../~
"Are you serious?" Sachi asked too tired to even add an indignant tone. She looked at the young officer with the goofy grin on his face holding the video camera.
"Yes. I'll stay here and Matsuda will have the camera on you. The video will be streaming straight to my computer. Keep in mind that there's a fifty percent lag time due to it being a wireless feed," L explained, watching her cautiously as she stared at the nervous Matsuda.
"I don't do percentages. Give me seconds or minutes," she insisted, moving her eyes from the blushing man who refused to make eye contact. Whatever he was thinking happened in that room last night did not happen.
"Thirty seconds," L replied quickly.
"Thank you. Well, I guess I'm ready. What's your name again?" she asked the cute blushing cop.
"Touta Matsuda," he answered, finally making eye contact with her which made his blush darken.
"Here," L said, holding out a credit card to her with the very tips of his fingers. "You'll need this."
"Thanks, dear," she returned, kissing him on the cheek. This show of affection to the detective who preferred not to be touched elicited a collective gasp from everyone in the room. "All right. Well, let's go, Touta," she said gamely, putting her arm through his.
"Be careful. And don't spend too much. There's a twenty thousand dollar limit on that card," he notified her casually as if he had just said two thousand dollars.
Sachi winced and froze in her tracks. Slowly turning to look at L with a stunned expression on her face she repeated the amount to clarify it. "Twenty thousand dollars?"
"Yes. Do you need more? I've got another – " He opened his wallet that was laying on the desk.
"Oh, no, this will be fine," she assured him. Suddenly she could not get out of the door fast enough.
...
Sachi stared at the pile of outfits that was nearly as tall as her. She dropped down to sit on the shelf that served as a seat in the changing room. So far he had refused everything that she had tried on. The clothing styles ranged from street walker to granny yet nothing had suited his tastes so far.
"Hey! He's wondering when you're coming out with the next outfit on," Touta told her from the small waiting area outside of the dressing rooms.
"This is ridiculous," she muttered, opening the door and rushing into the waiting area in nothing but her bra and panties.
"Whoa!" Touta exclaimed nearly fainting but not so out of touch with his senses that he forgot to turn the camera on.
"Dammit, Hideki!" she griped, making sure to use L's fake name. It was also the same name on the credit card. "I'm tired. I wanted to get a nap before tonight."
Sachi counted down for the time lapse waiting on his retort.
"That's nice but it definitely won't do," L's voice came over speaker on the phone sitting on the table. "Shouldn't your bra and panties match?"
"That's not funny," she snapped. "The next thing I try on is what I'm buying whether you like it or not."
Sachi returned to the dressing room, sliding into the red silk dress that comfortably hugged her curves without being too tight. Her breasts were 'displayed nicely' as L had described it in their discussion from last night. She rechecked her reflection and walked out of the room.
"How's this?" she asked, turning around slowly.
"I like it," Matsuda piped up with an approving smile but no blush for once.
"That's a good one. Find about five more garments something like that one. No pants. I want you feminine and pretty. You're already one of those," he stated with thinly veiled sarcasm in his voice.
Sachi dared not ask which one. Her self-esteem and her small sense of pride was already wounded. After changing into her clothes, she walked around with Matsuda in tow while she picked out the rest of her wardrobe like she had been instructed.
"You might want to stay here," she advised him once she had tried on everything and made her final selections.
"But I'm supposed to stay right with you. It's L's orders," he protested, gathering up everything she planned to purchase.
"Okay," she sighed in resignation. "But you're gonna look like a pervert strolling through the women's lingerie section."
"You're right," he admitted, setting everything back down. "I should stay here."
"Give me twenty minutes and we will be headed back to the hotel."
...
Sachi was able to fit in a quick catnap between the shopping trip and having to get ready for dinner with Light and Misa Misa. She had just wiggled into the dress when L entered the room. They silently stared at each other for a long moment before L spoke.
"I just wanted to see if you needed help with anything," he said, turning to leave. He was a bit suprised he had not received a scathing admonition or physical violence for forgetting to knock.
"Actually…" she stated hurriedly to stop his departure. She turned her back to him asking, "Could you zip this? It would be easier than me practicing my contortionist skills."
"Sure," he rejoined quietly, walking to her soundlessly over the carpet with his bare feet.
Sachi bit her lower lip as she felt his soft cool fingers graze her lower back when he reached to grasp the zipper. She hoped he could not feel her trembling as he slowly pulled up the zipper. Her breath would catch each time his fingertips 'accidently' brushed across her back. She gasped when she felt him lean forward, pressing his body to her back with his lips beside her ear. Her eyes moved to the mirror in front of them to gaze at him in their reflection.
"See. I told you that you could be beautiful," he murmured, his breath flowing across her neck and raising goose bumps.
Sachi's eyes did not move from him. She believed him and did not need to look at herself. Her hair and makeup had been done by a professional stylist in the salon of the hotel. She had the gorgeous new dress and red high heels to match. She felt beautiful - especially because of the way he was looking at her. It was not a pervie or lascivious gaze. It was one of sincere rapt attention; like that of a man who is genuinely in love with a woman. Clearing her throat to break the spell of intimacy, she tried to turn to walk away but he held her still with his arms around her in a bear hug. Her eyes met his in the mirror and she forced herself not to chew on her perfectly painted lips that were exact same shade of red as her dress. For the first time, she noticed the purple rings that outlined the black ones under his eyes. The purple marks grew increasingly darker as they spread toward his nose.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, after seeing the bruises she had caused by elbowing him in the nose. "I didn't mean to – "
"It's all right. I deserved it. I can be quite socially inept sometimes. I need someone like you to teach me," he murmured, his lips grazing her cheek as he spoke.
Sachi gasped from his lips contacting her skin when he purposely puckered and kissed her cheek.
"Was that acceptable?" he inquired, doing it again.
"Y-yes," she stammered. "L, shouldn't we – "
"Ryuuzaki! Have you already ordered – " Light stopped speaking immediately when he saw the couple locked in the passionate embrace. He gaped momentarily before quickly recovering and returning to his stoic expression of indifference. "I apologize. I did not know you had a girl in here. Have you ordered room service yet or were you waiting for us?"
As if on cue, a squeaky, blond, and cute girl bounced into the room wearing a huge grin and a getup reminiscent of a Gothic rag doll. With her signature ponytails tied in big black lace bows with skulls in the middle, she was a living parody of a child's toy. "Hiiiii! Oooooh! Ryuuzaki, what have you got there? A girl? OMIGOSH!"
Sachi wanted to plug her ears from the fangirl squeal released by Misa Misa. Wasn't the dimwitted blonde the star here? She was immediately ripped from L/Hideki/ Ryuuzaki's arms and pulled into the ample chest of the disgustingly perky Misa Misa for a hug. Sachi decided to stick to nondescript nicknames when referring to L such as honey, darling, or dear. Being his girlfriend after all, it was perfectly suitable and almost necessary to call him one of those terms of endearment.
"What's her name?" Misa Misa asked as if Sachi were deaf and mute.
"Her name is Rose," L lied like the professional he was. "She is beautiful and smells sweet but she can be very thorny at times."
The creepy smirk of a true pervert tilted L's lips and Sachi kicked him in the shin with a high heel clad foot.
"Ow!" he exclaimed, hopping around on one leg while rubbing his sore shin. "See what I mean."
'I hate you right now,' she mouthed to him silently before turning to Light to shake his hand after the introduction. She seriously doubted he would recognize her because like every other girl at the school she had been invisible and nonexistent in his world. He existed among the people but was not one of them. He had always made that quite apparent from how he dressed to his aloof, cold facial expressions. Nothing had changed apparently as far as his style of dress. Khaki slacks, a white button down shirt with a red tie, and a navy blue jacket were his idea of casual dress apparently. He had never looked at anyone, just straight through them. Until now.
Sachi found herself gazing directly into his deep brown eyes feeling as if she had somehow warranted the attention of a god. She felt the heat of a blush flow across her cheeks and it angered her. Why was she reacting like a lovesick teenager who had been acknowledged by her favorite pop idol? If she could have slapped herself out of it, she would have. Mentally shaking herself to get a grip on her girlish crush reaction, she smiled winningly which shockingly enough he returned.
"Nice to meet you, Rose," he said politely and formally, squeezing her hand slightly. "You seem familiar for some reason."