She didn't remember much of the trip upstairs, but it seemed like magic when she realized Raito was walking with her down the hallway to her bedroom telling her to change into something and L was making tea. She did as she was told, putting a clean white nightgown on and braiding her hair to keep it out of her face. Her knees were scuffed up from her fall outside, and she wiped away a little blood from one with a tissue before getting up and going back out. When she opened her bedroom door she found Raito still waiting for her on the other side.

"You could've gone back-" she didn't get to finish because a furious look came over his face. It seemed he was barely containing himself from jumping at her.

"You little bitch! What do you think you're doing?!" he hissed.

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Getting rid of the girl, taunting me all night... you must think you're pretty smart, don't you?"

"Well," she forced her thoughts to clear and put on a sarcastic tone, "I was only second to you Raito-kun." His left eye twitched again.

"Shut up. You know we both know I could cast suspicion on you beyond doubt in a moment. There's plenty you're hiding that won't necessarily make him suspect me."

"He already suspects you. And do you think that telling him I take my clothes off for a living will make him arrest me? You must be slipping, Raito, he'll just think I'm a whore." He smirked.

"And that wouldn't hurt you as much as if he spat in your face and called you a murderer?" Her cheeks flushed a tiny bit, but she wouldn't break eye contact.

"You listen to me, Raito. You may think you're the smartest one here, but you're sadly mistaken. You're not in Japan anymore, you're in my house. My city. I'm the one in control here, and if you don't wise up to that you'll be the one up shit creek without a paddle." He looked surprised by the expression she'd used, but got the fact that she was insulting him. He shot one hand out toward her throat, meaning to hold her against the wall and intimidate her, but she was quicker than him, lifting her foot and kicking him straight in the chest. He hit the opposite wall with a thud, grimacing at the kick and the impact combined.

"Don't you ever put your hands on me, Raito." She turned her back to walk away, and he moved, wrapping his arms around her neck and chest from behind. She froze in his tight grip and he whispered in her ear,

"But you used to like that so much, Hitomi-chan. When I put my hands on you."

"That was a long time ago. Before I grew up. Before you dumped me for not putting out." She knew he was smirking when he chuckled lowly in her ear.

"I knew you'd have something smart to say. But just remember, you are second to me. I'm watching you Hitomi, and I don't plan on letting you have your way with him."

"What are you talking about?"

"Now you're the one being stupid," he spat, "Don't insult my intelligence, I can see the way you act around L. Either you're playing him so he'll be so in love with you he can't see straight, or you're so into it with him already that you have no idea what you're doing."

"I'm not-" she began, but he shushed her harshly.

"You're seducing him, you-" But L's shuffling footsteps were coming closer over the hardwood floor, and his voice stopped Raito.

"Raito...? Has Hitomi-chan passed out or something..." A moment before he came around the corner, Hitomi elbowed Raito in the stomach so he'd let go of her. In return, he shoved her a little and she tripped over her own feet and fell to all fours. She looked up as L stopped in front of her.

"I fell..." she smiled sheepishly, not able to come up with something else to say. Surprisingly he gave her that almost smile and crouched down, talking to her as if she were a child.

"I see you did. I'll remember not to let you drink so much again, Hitomi-chan." L looked up at Raito. "That's what the noise was?" Raito nodded.

"I picked her up, but she tripped right over her feet and fell again."

"Help her to the couch, and I'll get her a cup of tea." He stood and left them, and Raito hauled her roughly to her feet.

"See what I mean? You behave from here on or you'll be meeting your father sooner than you think." She almost gasped at this. "And another thing," he began walking slowly, smoothing her nightgown out, "I'll want to see your note. And your shinigami." They came around the corner and Hitomi sat down in the chair staring at her lap as he whispered one last thing. "That's a lovely nemaki you have on. It would look much better off you." He pulled away and sat on the far end of the couch from her, waiting silently for L to rejoin them, looking quite pleased with himself.

"Here," L's hand reached over her shoulder holding a cup of tea. He was leaning pretty far, she thought, because she could feel his breath on the nape of her neck. His other hand appeared on her other side, startling her. "Some cake as well?" She took the plate, but before he let her really have it, he asked, "Promise not to vomit?" She smiled and nodded, and he let her have the cake. When he sat on the close end of the couch to her and began to eat his own piece, the room fell silent.

Hitomi tried to concentrate on the cake and ignore Raito watching her, to pretend she hadn't heard the last thing he'd said to her, but she couldn't help it. The thoughts it put in her head gave her the urge to curl up like L, but she resisted, forcing her thoughts to working in the morning until L spoke again.

"Hitomi-chan looks upset. Did you hurt yourself?" She looked up.

"I... scratched my knees a little when I fell on the sidewalk. It ruined my tights." Both men glanced down at her legs, which were red and scratched up.

"You should take care of those. Infection can set in quickly," L mumbled past a mouthful of cake. "One of them's bleeding." Hitomi looked down to see her bloodied knee, then went back to her cake.

"I'll take care of it when I'm done. I wouldn't risk you finishing my share of cake while I was in the bathroom, Ryuzaki-kun." They went back to silence, and as L got seconds of cake for himself and Hitomi, Raito excused himself to get some sleep, taking the couch in the spare room and closing the door behind him. The seconds were as good as the first pieces of cake, and L took the plates so Hitomi could take care of her knees.

She grabbed a rag and wet it in the sink, then jumped up to sit on the empty space on the counter. She wiped her right knee clean without much trouble, but the left one was still bleeding a little and much more sensitive. A hiss of breath escaped between her teeth and she yanked the towel away. Hitomi looked at the shredded skin for a few moments, putting off actually touching it again until another presence came into the bathroom and took the cloth from her hand.

"Ryuzaki..." He wordlessly slumped lower to get a closer look at her knee, then put the towel to it. Hitomi jumped and let out a little squeal, biting her lip to silence herself. When L looked up at her face doubtfully, she blushed and looked away. He didn't respond, but moved back to finish cleaning her cut, more gently this time. As soon as he finished, he straightened.

"Band-Aid?" Hitomi nodded and scooted forward to the very edge of the counter, turning and trying to open the medicine cabinet behind her. L leaned past her and grabbed the box, but paused when she turned back and they both realized how close they were.

It wasn't the first time she'd been this close to him, and once again it was his fault, but neither of them moved to change it. Until lifted one hand and barely grazed the side of his face with her fingertips like he would've done, then closed the space left between them and pressed her lips to his. When he didn't react, she pulled away dropping her hand to her lap, and he pulled back as well, Band-Aid in hand. He opened the wrapper and carefully placed it over her scrape, then threw the rest in the small trash bin near the toilet.

She wasn't drunk enough to not realize what she'd done, and embarrassment fueled tears filled her eyes until L's figure shuffling around the bathroom became completely blurred. She stared at her lap, waiting for him to leave so she could cry in privacy, but he stopped in front of her again.

"Hitomi-chan." It wasn't a question to get her attention, or a doubtful pause before saying something else, just a statement. She looked up, rubbing her eyes with the backs of her hands like a child so he wouldn't see the tears.

"Hai?" She blinked a few times until her vision cleared, and lowered her hands. As soon as she did, L surprised her again. He put one hand around the back of her neck right at the base of her skull and pulled her forward with uncharacteristic forcefulness and kissed her. She was too shocked this time to react, but he held the kiss for much longer than she'd had the courage to. L came closer, pressed against the edge of the counter between Hitomi's legs, keeping her from losing her balance and falling. She closed her eyes, and just as she'd noticed the heat radiating off of him between their thin layers of clothes, he ended the kiss, tracing her bottom lip with his tongue just before pulling away. Hitomi stared at him, unable to say anything, but both her embarrassment and her knee completely forgotten.

"Better?" He asked in a mumbling voice. She nodded, and he turned and left. Hitomi sat in her spot for a few minutes before she realized how tired she was and dropped back to the ground. Walking silently, she turned the light off in the bathroom and started down the hall, seeing the faint glow of L's laptop in the living room and hearing his low voice speaking to someone. Probably checking in with the task force, it was almost four thirty in the afternoon over there. Turning the other direction, she went to her bedroom and set her alarm for five, giving herself enough time to get ready for work in the morning, then climbed under the covers and closed her eyes to get her two and a half hours of sleep.

The alarm startled Hitomi awake, nearly jumping all the way out of bed. Her head thudded dully, and she reminded herself as she trudged to the shower not to drink anymore. She showered and dressed quickly, pulling her hair up into a clip and putting on enough makeup to hide the slight circles under her eyes. When she came into the front of the apartment Raito was nowhere to be seen, still in the extra room asleep, and L was slumped in the chair with the computer's screen saver playing in front of him. She turned the light on in the kitchen and started some water for tea, then decided to wake up the detective.

"L-san... wake up..." He didn't move, so she came around the counter and crouched in between the table and him. "L-saaannn... if you don't wake up... I'll have to take that cake to work. And you'll be left here, with nothing..." His eyes snapped open.

"Don't make cruel jokes." Hitomi smiled fiendishly.

"I don't joke with serious matters like cake." She stood up and went back to the kitchen, picking up the whistling teapot. "Do you want some tea?"

"Yes." She brought the pot and two cups to the table on a small tray, sitting them in the empty spot where his computer had been. As he dumped spoonful after spoonful of sugar into his tea, she asked,

"Bringing your laptop with you today?" He nodded and took a sip, setting the cup down.

"What time do we leave?" Hitomi looked at the clock.

"About ten minutes. We have to take the train, I hope that's okay. I don't have the money for a cab..." There was no response, but L quickly finished his drink and closed himself in the bathroom. Just as Hitomi was putting her hoes on and grabbing her bag, he came out dressed in what she assumed were fresh clothes, his hair still damp from the shower.

"Am I late?" Hitomi shook her head, and the two headed out, walking silently to the subway station a few blocks from her house. Compared to the trains in Tokyo, the pair had plenty of room on the subway, but Hitomi still found it awkward sitting in the last open seat with L almost looming over her holding onto the rail. She didn't remember all the details of the night before, but she did recall enough to be angry at Raito. And to not know exactly what to say when it came to Ryuzaki.

"Come on," she said softly when the train stopped and they had to get off. He must not have heard her, she thought, because even as she stood and joined the flow of people toward the exit, L didn't move "Ryuzaki..." she called a little louder, and grabbed his hand to pull him along. He followed obediently, and once they were back on the street and she stopped, she realized it had been his plan all along.

He must've thought he was pretty smart, standing there with the barest hint of a smirk, playing the fool to get her to hold his hand. Even though it didn't strike her as something he would do... holding hands with someone, that is. She let go, but his hand stayed around hers, refusing to release her.

"Ryuzaki-kun... we'll be late."

"I'm not holding your legs," he replied, sapping her ability to look him in the eye without blushing. But it didn't look like he would let go any time soon, and she vaguely remembered doing the same thing last night, so she wrapped her fingers back around his, and began to lead him down the sidewalk once more. She pointed out the building with her free hand, and when they were almost there, L suddenly let his hand drop from hers. She looked down at first, then up at him, but he wasn't looking at her. Without his intense gaze focused on her, she found the courage to ask the question she'd wanted to all morning.

"Ano, Ryuzaki-kun... did I do something stupid last night?"

"What do you define as stupid?" Hitomi shifted her bag higher onto her shoulder.

"I don't know. Like... kissing you or something." His silence worried her. "I did, didn't I? I'm sorry." He faced her, staring so intensely that she couldn't look away.

"Then I'm sorry as well."

"You- you mean you..."

"Only meant to take Hitomi-chan's mind from her knee. And stop her from crying... apparently. I won't do something foolish like it again, as long as you don't." She'd picked up enough to know that when he called her hitomi-chan instead of speaking normally, something was wrong. But it was almost seven, and she put the previous night aside and walked away, knowing his duty as L would make him follow her. As she opened the plate glass door and felt him take the weight of it from her, she muttered again,

"Gomen nasai, L-san."

A/N: there we go. some things happen. and raito's got a point, really. where in the world could hitomi's shinigami be? realistically, i find it a little strange dear ryuk hasn't popped up somewhere yet. but for now the main focus is on the actual people. who, by the way, don't seem to be getting much investigating done. hmmm... tricky tricky... guess you'll have to see how things turn out!! insert devilish smile