She gulped the rest of her coffee and stood, gathering her bags and practically hustling Raito and L out of the cafe. A couple of blocks later, Hitomi was helping Raito pick out clothes to try on, and dragging L along with them by a hold on the end of his sleeve. Raito closed himself in a fitting room with his arms piled with clothes soon enough, and Hitomi set to work on the other male.

"Come on, Ryuzaki-kun, just try them on? You don't have to buy anything, I just want to see how you look in different clothes. Onegai?" She whined this last plea in as cute of a voice as she could muster, and he sighed once, his sign of defeat. Soon she was shoving him into a fitting room as well, throwing clothes into his arms and pulling the door shut. He dressed slowly, unsure what items went together and how exactly he should wear all of this, but soon enough he opened the door. Hitomi's eyes widened when she saw him, but the surprise wore off quickly and she let out a little laugh.

"If you're going to mock me," he started, beginning to close the door.

"No! No, It's just that none of it matches. I forgot to tell you what to wear together, huh?"

"I can pick out clothes," he grumbled.

"Of course you can," she pushed him gently back into the room and joined him, pulling a different shirt and a light jacket from their hangers. "Here, put these on with those jeans. It'll look great, I promise." When he reached out t take them, their hands touched, and both L and Hitomi froze. But she snapped out of it and excused herself to go check on Raito, and left him to dress. He pulled on what she'd given him, feeling awkward waiting for her to come back from the next set of dressing rooms. But when she did, she smiled and he found his insecurity fading fast.

"You look really good, Ryuzaki-kun," she said. "I can't believe you don't wear stuff like this all the time."

"It's not comfortable," he replied, making her laugh.

"Well, try on the other t-shirt. that one should be comfortable enough. Then I want you to do me a huge favor and try on this." What she pulled from behind her back he immediately wanted to refuse, but the look on her face was so excited, and so damn.... cute, that he nodded and took it from her.

"Ryuzaki-kun, are you all right in there?" Hitomi asked after a few minutes. "Do you need any help? You've been in there for a while..." His response was to unlock the door and let it swing open a little, still remaining out of sight until she stepped forward and pushed the door all the way open.

"Oh," she gasped when her eyes found him. He stood with his back to the mirror, looking down as he fiddled with the black tie that hung loosely and poorly tied around his neck. Her exclamation caused him to look up, dropping one hand to his side.

"This is absolutely outrageous." She shook her head, letting go of the door and ignoring it as it swung mostly shut behind her.

"You look so handsome. I can't believe it, you're like a different person, L-san."

"A different person?"

"Not that there's anything wrong with what you wear now. But Ryuzaki-kun, I- I'm speechless." She reached out and slowly ran a hand down the front of the crisp black suit she'd conned him into trying on, gazing at him up and down as if she were hypnotized. Just as she was about to take her hand away, he grabbed her wrist.

"Hitomi-chan. I'll tell you now, since we're alone. About last night..."

"Mmm?" she murmured, waiting for him to continue.

"We shouldn't do that again. It will only cause complications in the investigation." Her gaze cleared, her eyes meeting his. L noticed a hint of something akin to distress in them.

"Of course. You're absolutely right, it was a mistake in the first place. We both know how much trouble it could get us in." She blinked slowly and looked away, her gaze trailing back to him when she realized he hadn't let go of her.

"What," she asked softly. "I agreed with you, didn't I? What else do you want me to-" L's kiss cut her off. Hitomi only hesitated for a second, beginning to pull away from him, but he put a hand around the back of her neck, refusing to let her. Giving in to the detective, she responded, bringing her hand up to the nape of his neck. She stood on her toes, but soon stumbled as L pushed her back, the collision of her back hitting the flimsy fitting room wall making a loud thud. He ran a hand down her side and squeezed her thigh, pulling it up onto his hip and pressing her harder against the wall for support, eliciting a muffled moan as he nipped at her neck. Hitomi wrapped her other arm around his neck, holding onto him and squirming a little against his obvious arousal, and his fervor only increased, biting at her collarbone. She gasped and pulled him back up into a passionate kiss, her tongue quickly gaining dominance over his. One hand slid down to his chest and pulled at the tie, further loosening the messy knot until it slipped to the floor, then moved to start deftly unbuttoning the crisp white shirt the detective wore. L's free hand quickly found the hem of Hitomi's shirt and crept underneath it, but they were quickly interrupted, the moment cut short when Raito's voice was heard in the hallway.

"Ryuzaki? Hitomi? Are you in here?" Hitomi immediately reacted, shoving L away and straightening herself out, smoothing back her hair and opening the fitting room door quickly.

"Raito! Finished already?"

"Yes, I bought a few things, but when I saw that you and Ryuzaki were still in here, I figured I'd check on you to make sure you weren't giving him too much trouble." He laughed, and she returned it half-heartedly, heart still pounding in her chest.

"Not at all," L replied, coming out of the small room with his hands stuffed in the pants pockets of the suit he still had on. "A bit too much fashion advice, perhaps, but nothing I can't handle. Thank you for the concern, Raito-kun." Raito raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Ryuzaki, a suit? What did Hitomi have to do to get you in that?"

"Nothing short of begging. It's uncomfortable." He turned and faced his reflection in the mirror. "But it could prove useful, despite its drawbacks. I think I'll buy it." Both Raito and Hitomi were shocked by this, and could hardly shake the surprise even as he bought it and another T-shirt Hitomi had picked out for him. Outside on the street, Hitomi glanced down at her cell phone .

"Well, it's almost six. Do you think we should head back and make sure we have everything packed, then head out?"

"We'll be early if it's only a three hour drive," Raito responded, hailing a cab.

"Yeah, but we can always get something to eat when we get there. It'll be a long flight, and airplane food isn't the greatest." L agreed with her, and the trio headed back, stuffing their new clothes into their bags, then lugging everything down to the street and then to the long term parking garage where Hitomi kept her car. It was a compact red vehicle, practically too small to put everyone's luggage in the trunk, but perfect in its vaguely cute appearance for Hitomi. After sensing that both of her companions would start some sort of competition for the front seat, she held the keys out to L.

"You're letting him drive?" Raito asked skeptically.

"I hate driving long distances, and I assume that Ryuzaki has a valid international license since he knew he'd be traveling. So it works out perfectly." The detective took the keys and climbed in the front seat, a strange sight to see him sitting so normally. Hitomi gestured toward the car, "Go ahead, Raito, you can have the front if you want. I think I'm going to try and get some sleep in the back." L took the wheel and seemed to get accustomed to the directions the small gps on the dashboard gave him quickly, and in a fairly short amount of time, the trio was leaving the city for the suburbs. Hitomi quickly fell asleep as she had predicted, and Raito turned on the radio, playing a generic soft rock station lowly and speaking in a quiet voice to the detective at his side.

"So, Ryuzaki, what really happened with you and Hitomi-chan last night? She's been acting weird all day and I know for a fact it's not because you lectured her about moral decisions."

"Why would you say that, Raito-kun? If she says that's what happened, have you any reason to doubt her?"

"Well, yes."

"And why's that? Has she something to lie about?"

"It's not like you think, Ryuzaki. She's a woman, and all women lie." L glanced over at the other man, who had a smirk on his face as he watched the detective drive.

"I'm utterly shocked at what Raito-kun is implying. While she's in hearing distance, no less."

"Don't worry, Ryuzaki, I was only kidding. And Hitomi sleeps like the dead, really. A bomb could go off in this car and she wouldn't wake up."

"Regardless, I'm appalled. This is a new side of Raito-kun that I'll have to consider in the investigation." Raito sighed and shook his head, still smiling, and the car fell silent for a few minutes before Hitomi groaned and shifted in the back seat, pulling her feet up and leaning her head against the window. She muttered softly,

"No Matsuyama-chan... we'll get together again...." The rest of her sentence was muffled by sleep and the pair in the front seats glanced back at her, then at each other for a moment before turning the radio up slightly.

"Ryuzaki, if you don't mind, I think I'll get some sleep too. Your 'lesson' to Hitomi-chan last night left me with very unrestful sleep."

"Not at all. I'll wake the two of you when we arrive."

***

"Hitomi-chan, we're here." She cuddled a little further into her seat, grumbling childishly.

"I'm sleeping..."

"If you don't want something to eat, Ryuzaki and I will leave you in the car, but you won't have time to eat until we get to Tokyo..." The girl's eyes snapped open and she sat up.

"Fine, but they'd better have cake. And ice cream." Raito smiled at her quick mood change and the three climbed from the car and sat in the small diner on the side of the rural road. Hitomi ordered exactly what she'd promised, and after Raito ordered simply a cup of coffee and some toast, L ordered much the same thing as her. The cake was chocolate with vanilla icing and the ice cream was strawberry, and after two helpings of each, the petite girl slouched back in her seat and sighed.

"Now I'm ready for a thirteen hour flight." L nodded.

"I agree. Shall we proceed to the airport?" Raito and Hitomi stood first, the girl seeming somewhat hesitant as she climbed back into the car. Her strangely silent mood continued throughout the airport, and as the plane took off L finally spoke up.

"Hitomi-chan, I believe there is something bothering you." She began to shake her head in denial, but Raito interrupted, nudging her in the side.

"Does it have anything to do with your birthday tomorrow?" She glanced up at him.

"Your birthday..." L mumbled, thumb coming up to his lips as he thought. "It upsets you to travel so close to your birthday?"

"Well, no, it's not that," Hitomi stumbled over her words, feeling childish. "Since mother was put in the hospital, I've always spent the day on my birthday with her. I know the investigation is more important, it's just weird, you know? It'll be the first year I can't visit her." Her cheeks were barely flushed and she shook her head again. "It's no big deal, I'll just call her and talk to her when we get to Tokyo." Raito wrapped his arm around Hitomi and squeezed gently.

"Oh, Hitomi-chan, that's terrible. You know what? We are going to take you out tomorrow."

"I'm afraid that'll be quite impossible, Raito-kun. I've made it clear already that I cannot be seen in public once we arrive, and I'd much prefer not to let the three suspects closest to me out without supervision. Because Amane-san will insist on accompanying her boyfriend. The only viable solution is to bring one of the task force with you... but I can already hear Amane's complaints on that topic." The frustration on Raito's face almost made Hitomi laugh, and she shook her head.

"It's okay, you guys don't have to do anything, you know? Right now, this investigation is what's most important. When everything's solved and Kira's caught, then we'll have all the time in the world to celebrate." Raito smiled.

"That's our Hitomi, selfless to the core. Well, I insist on you celebrating your birthday, even if Ryuzaki and I can't take you out. Just you wait, you'll have fun." She raised an eyebrow to being referred to as 'ours', but this time made no response to Raito's offer. Her descent into silence became the theme for the entire flight. Until the trio reached a ticket counter and L decided to start keeping his identity, and voice, a secret. Raito looked between the woman at the counter and L in shock for a moment, and Hitomi finally stepped forward.

"Yes, I believe there should be three tickets to the Tokyo- Narita airport reserved for us here. They'll be for Hitomi Ooka, that's o-o-k-a, Light Yagami, y-a-g-a-m-i, and um," She glanced back at L, but didn't have a chance to finish as an older man approached them, holding a fedora in one hand and four tickets in the other.

"You won't have to bother looking them up, miss," he said to the woman. "I've already picked up the tickets." Raito bowed his head slightly and smiled.

"Watari-san, I didn't expect you to come all the way out here to escort us back." He smiled faintly and murmured a greeting to Raito, then bowing silently as a greeting to L. He then moved past them and bent in a gentle bow to Hitomi herself, rising with a small smile.

"Hitomi-san, I presume. You appear even more beautiful in person than over the web cameras." Raito snickered softly and Hitomi blushed, hardly able to return the bow. "I'm sure I speak for the whole task force when I say it is an honor to finally meet you in person, and I greatly look forward to working with you."

"Thank you, Watari-san, but I'm sure you're exaggerating. I'm not-" Raito interrupted here, a wide smile on his face.

"Watari-san, I don't think you've said that much to me the whole time we've been on this case. I hate to interrupt your conversation, but if my watch is correct, we're bound to miss our plane if we don't get moving."

A/N: so sorry for the absence. to sum up the horrid events, shitty Internet, then no Internet, then shitty Internet, then my hard drive failed. but I'm back, and a thousand times sorry for the delay! let's see, onegai=please, and yes, i used the surname matsuyama (as in the actor who played L in the live action films) for a character from Hitomi's past. saved me some time thinking of a new name, and slight homage to the actual professional death note people. more on its way!