Hitomi awoke the next morning to the sound of her alarm clock playing a japanese ballad, and the low sound of a conversation from the living room. She rolled over with a groan and turned off the alarm, climbing to her feet and pulling on her knee length robe and tying it shut before shuffling out of her room.

Raito and L were already awake, hooking up a jumble of electronics between their three laptops and her TV. Raito knelt before the latter, adjusting cables and repeatedly asking L if the connection was right. She ignored them for the moment, moving into the kitchen for coffee and something to eat. Lifting the cover of the cake plate, she found one piece left and quickly laid claim to it. Once she had her breakfast, she found a spot on the couch in front of her laptop and sat down.

"So what's going on?"

"It'll be easier to contact the task force this way and speak as a team. This way we won't have to do constant updates one on one, we'll be connected constantly." Hitomi nodded, picking the strawberry off her cake and popping it into her mouth.

"You guys been at it long?" Raito looked up, shaking his head.

"This american TV is confusing. Nothing hooks up right." She looked at the system they had for a few seconds, then said,

"Switch those two hooked to the camera, and plug the yellow cord from the laptop to the one marked audio in." In a few seconds, the image of the task force headquarters came in on the screen, and a familiar face came into view, speaking in japanese when he noticed the screen lit up.

"Ah, Raito, I see you've got the connection set up over there." The older man glanced behind his son, a smile lighting up his face, "Hitomi, it's a pleasure to see you again. You look well, you've grown up quite a bit."

"Thank you. You look good too, Yagami-san."

"Not as good as I used to be," Soichiro chuckled. He was interrupted when a younger man joined him, looking rather excited.

"Ryuzaki-san! Raito-kun! How are you? Is New York nice?" Soichiro sighed.

"Matsuda, they're not on vacation. This is the Kira investigation, please act like it." Matsuda nodded, seeming a little like a scolded child.

"Actually, Matsuda-san, I wanted to ask you something," Raito spoke up, taking his seat on Hitomi's other side. "How is Misa doing? I know she was upset she couldn't come with me on this trip." The man perked up again.

"Misa Misa is doing fine! She really misses you, Raito-kun, she talks about you all the time, asking when you'll come back or when she'll be able to join you... you're really lucky to have such a dedicated girlfriend, Raito-kun." Now another voice entered.

"Matsuda.... shut up about Amane-san, will you? We have to get to work!"

"S-sorry Mogi-san." L interrupted the conversation, speaking calmly as if no one had been talking the entire time.

"Ooka Hitomi, this is the japanese task force. You already know Yagami-san. That's Matsuda, Mogi, and Ide." The youngest one leaned forward to the mic on their end, smiling widely and speaking in clumsy english.

"Hello, Ooka-san. It is nice to meet you. Boku- My name is Touta Matsuda. I am... looking forward- to working with you... to catch Kira." Hitomi smiled and replied smoothly in japanese.

"It's very nice to meet you too, Matsuda-san. I look forward to working with you as well. And while I appreciate you making the effort to greet me in english, please feel free to use japanese with me if you are more comfortable. I was raised there, you know." Matsuda blushed pulled away from the mic, quickly getting jostled to the back by the other task force members. Mogi and Ide said quick greeting, then Soichiro took over.

"I think it's time we get started." L nodded.

"Yes. Are there any updates on your end?"

"Ten more criminals have died since yesterday's update that fit into the first two Kiras' profiles. Plus four more in U.S. specifically fitting the third's. The file is on the way right now, you should receive it-"

"Got it," L interrupted. He opened the file and sent it to Raito and Hitomi, and the three looked over the data on the criminals. Hitomi instantly recognized the four attributed to her, though she'd arranged their deaths before her guests had arrived as a precaution. The task force waited quietly for one of the three to come up with some conclusion based on this, and L was the first to speak up.

"The third Kira only kills American criminals... mostly recent crimes, but all televised or accessible by anyone on the internet."

"There's no police connection then?" Matsuda piped up.

"Right. And the deaths aren't as planned out as the first two. They seem to go sporadically, a few at a time, then no one for a while. As if.... the person was extremely busy." Hitomi noticed him glance at her when he said this, and scrolled through the list again.

"You're right, Ryuzaki-san. This third person could be a student, like you suspect the first of being. Or someone with a time consuming job?"

"Or someone with multiple jobs," Raito added. "Quite a few people have more than one part time, or even full time job."

"This line of thinking isn't leading us anywhere..." L sighed impatiently. "What else is there... the criminals have all been men... Kira's a woman-"

"Or someone who has a reason to kill only men. Like someone who was abused by a man as a child? That could make it a male or a female."

"Yes, but the probability that a woman would select men only as a target is much more likely, especially if she was abused or wronged by men in her eyes. She would see it as revenge."

"If a woman was out for revenge against men who wronged her, it would make sense for her to kill her ex boyfriends, her male relatives, teachers, even co workers. But just male criminals is a stretch."

"Even if a male criminal destroyed her family?" Hitomi shot to her feet.

"Are you saying it's me?" L didn't look at her.

"Are you confessing?"

"This is ridiculous! I thought we were going to have a serious investigation here, not sit around interpreting things just so that it paints me as a killer!"

"There are other women out there who have two jobs, live in America, and had their lives ruined by criminals. Interpreting it as you is just a guilt ridden reaction that caused an emotional outburst." Hitomi began to storm away, pausing next to L's chair.

"Do you honestly think that if you were surrounded by all three Kiras, you'd really still be alive right now? You think Amane-san can just look at you and find out enough to kill you, but how many times has she seen you? And me, how long have we been spending the entire day together, L? How many chances do you think a cold-blooded killer would waste if they were so desperate to kill you?!"

"Hitomi-chan," Raito started, standing and putting a hand out as if he would lead her away by the arm. "You know how Ryuzaki is, he just wants to prove that you're not is all. I thought you got over that... you two were getting along so well-" She rounded on him.

"Oh, shove it, Raito. I've been putting up with this shit for weeks, and I could blame it all on you. If you hadn't called me for a place to stay, I would never have been in this position in the first place!" She slammed the door to her room, flopping face down on her bed. After a few seconds she rolled over onto her back, a wide smile on her face.

"Outrageous. Just fucking outrageous."

"What's that, oneechan?" The voice made her jump.

"Oh, it's you. I was just thinking it's outrageous how offended I get by him. But he's right, he's already got the criminal he's looking for, and I know he's right. And I know I deserve whatever punishment they'll give me if they catch me, and I'm still acting like an emotional schoolgirl when he so much as implies that I'm a bad person." She laughed lowly. "I can't believe this."

"Well, why'd you even start if you're having such an issue with killing other humans? I told you it was your choice to give me the note back, and you could've continued your life like normal." Hitomi sat up, taking a deep breath with her hands over her face, then running them back through her hair.

"I already told you my reasons, I don't want to talk about it. Go bother your brother for a while, I have to go back out there and face all those people until it's time to go to work." The shinigami had barely disappeared when there was a soft knock on the door.

"Hitomi-chan? I told everyone I'd come back here and talk to you, since Ryuzaki-kun's done the same thing to me. Don't be mad at him, okay? It's just his nature to be suspicious." She opened the door to find a wicked grin on his lips. "That was a priceless performance, Hitomi-chan, you deserve an award for that one."

"What do you want? I'm not in the mood for your games right now, Raito."

"I want you."

"What?" He forced his way into the room, closing the door quietly and blocking it.

"I told them it would take a while to persuade you to calm down. 'Hitomi-chan can be very stubborn when she's whis upset.' I even scolded L for being so harsh with you. Everyone except my father aggreed with me."

"So?"

"So no one will be back to check on us. Now come on, Hitomi, you can't be queen of the new world if you don't solidify our bond." He grabbed her arms and pulled her into a rough kiss, one that felt all to familiar to Hitomi. She wrenched free from him, backing away a few steps.

"Raito, what the hell do you think you're doing? Who said I wanted to be your queen, you know I don't-"

"What you think you want doesn't matter. You'll learn what's good for you soon."

"Raito!" He cornered her, pressing a hand over her mouth.

"Keep your voice down." He moved his hand so he could kiss her again, driving her back against the edge of her dresser. The impact stung on her back and she let out a little squeal into his mouth, making him smirk. Finally her shock wore off and she grabbed both of his shoulders, ramming her knee into his crotch as hard as she could. Raito collapsed to his knees, shooting Hitomi a look that almost could've killed her on its own.

"You stay away from me," she spat. "I didn't want to sleep with you three and a half years ago, and I don't want to now. Misa is your girlfriend, you keep that straight, you bastard." She crossed to the door, straightening herself out, but stopped before opening when Raito began to laugh.

"I get it, Hitomi. You're not playing him. You're not even doing a good job of playing me." She looked back at him over one shoulder as he climbed slowly to his feet, one hand still cupping himself. "I know you too well, I know everything about you. You aren't leading him on as part of a plan to help me. You're just as deep in it as he is, and you can't even fucking tell."

"I- I don't know what you're talking about," she lied, looking away.

"Of course you don't," Raito's voice dripped with sarcasm. "At least wait a minute before you go out. I did tell them you were upset with L, not me. You don't want to look like a liar in front of him, do you?" Hitomi sighed and let her hand drop from the doorknob, waiting for Raito to fully recover before they left her room together. In the hallway, his voice dropped, and he whispered to her,

"I'll have you know, I don't intend to let you do whatever it is you think you're doing. If you're really on his side, I'll turn him against you, no matter what it takes." When they rounded the corner he put his arm around her shoulders and smiled reassuringly. All conversation between L and the task force stopped when they saw the pair, everyone looking at them except for the detective himself.

"Hitomi-san, you can't take Ryuzaki-san so seriously when he acts that way," Matsuda said sympathetically. "He suspects everyone, really... you should have seen him and Raito-kun the first few weeks they worked together, I swear we thought they would-" L cut him off with an emotionless comment.

"I hope Hitomi-chan has gotten past her rather childish fit of anger so we can get some real work done," he said flatly. Hitomi worked not to let her eye twitch in annoyance at his comment, and when Raito walked past her to sit down with a smug glint in his eye that only she could read, she put on a calm face as well.

"Yes, I apologize for my outburst. I'm very embarassed by the fact that I let my irrational emotions get in the way of the investigation. From now on, I'll put my own feelings aside and work with you all to catch Kira." She retook her seat and bowed her head to go with the apology. "I hope you can forgive me and we can become a productive team." Before anyone on the other end could reply, L cleared his throat.

"Well, then, let's stop wasting time and get started."

A/N: well! happy new year and whatnot! uh, i'm working very hard.... even if it doesnt seem like it! i just want to keep it up to standard, so i keep thinking and rethinking things.... anyway, chapter 13 is in progress! please be understanding!