***
Their arrival at headquarters wasn't anything special, though it practically took Hitomi undressing to get through the metal detectors at the underground entrance, and once they were inside, they found the task force assembled but not quite ready for a hearty reception. Except, of course, for Yagami-san, who was as serious about work as always. He bowed slightly to the four of them, saying hello politely before giving Hitomi a hug. Matsuda seemed chipper as well, taking Hitomi's hand in an over-enthusiastic handshake.
"How was your flight? I can't wait to start working with you in person, Ooka-san." She smiled and began to reply, but a yawn interrupted her words, causing L to speak up.
"That's an ambitious plan, Matsuda, but it's been approximately seventeen hours we've been on a plane. Not taking into account that Ooka-san had already been up for nineteen hours before that, with only a two and a half hour nap in between. Perhaps you'll allow her to see her rooms and get some rest?" Matsuda backed off, looking like a scolded child, and Hitomi wondered if L himself needed some sleep as well. Besides, had she noticed a hint of jealousy in the detective?
"It's perfectly all right, Ryuzaki-san. I feel rather restless after so long in an enclosed space, I don't think I could sleep anyway. If someone could just show me my room and let me freshen up a bit, I think I'd be ready for the grand tour... and to get to work of course. The case is what we're all here for, after all." Before Raito could offer, and Hitomi knew he would by the look on his face, a high pitched squeal echoed through the room. Most of the task force either winced or simply rolled their eyes, but Hitomi, being unused to the sound, actually jumped and turned in time to see a small figure streak through the room and latch on to Raito.
"Oh, Raito-kun! Misa Misa missed you so much, everything was so boring without you here!" Hitomi whispered to Matsuda, who was still standing next to her,
"So that's Amane-san? Huh.... I expected her to be taller..." Meanwhile, the model had kept blubbering false tears as she wriggled against Raito.
"Misa Misa was starting to think you'd never come back, but-" Suddenly, she caught sight of Hitomi and her hands dropped to her sides. She turned away from her boyfriend, gaze narrowed and apparently trying to look as fierce as she could. "Who's this, Raito-kun?"
"This is Hitomi-chan, Misa. You remember Hitomi." The smaller girl circled Hitomi, looking at her critically, then stopped before her with her hands on her hips.
"So you're Raito-kun's ex-girlfriend, are you? Couldn't quite please him, huh?" Hitomi raised an eyebrow, then said in a calm voice,
"It's nice to meet you too, Amane-san. I do hope that we can become friends." Misa looked skeptical, until Hitomi finished, "I assure you, Amane-san, I'm not going to come in between you and Raito-kun. After all, I was the one who dumped him in high school." She said this, of course, loud enough for everyone to hear, and from the looks of it most of them looked surprised. Hitomi swallowed the laughter that threatened to spill out and continued, "It's like he's my brother, Amane-san, besides, I'm not so low as to make advances on other girl's boyfriends." Misa's skeptical glare only lasted a moment longer, then her face completely changed.
"Well, that's good to hear! Since we're the only two girls stuck here, I'm sure we'll be great friends! I mean, what with all of the spare time I have since Raito-kun is busy with the case, you're bound to have even more than me! We can go shopping, and you can come with me to my shoots, and-"
"I'm sorry, Amane-san, but why exactly would I have more free time than you?" The smaller girl smiled broadly and said in an unnecessarily loud voice,
"Because, silly, Ryuzaki-san is even busier than Raito-kun! He's always working, everyone knows that!" Now everyone in the room was struggling not to laugh. Except L, who'd sat down in front of the bank of computers and TVs and begun to pick trough a bowl of candies, and Hitomi, who'd turned as red as said candy.
"Amane... I'm n-not Ryuzaki's... girlfriend..." She choked out, "I'm helping on the case."
"Ohhhh!" Misa called, letting out a small giggle. "Misa Misa's sorry for embarrassing you, Hitomi-chan. You must be pretty smart if you think you can catch Kira before my Raito-kun does!"
"Well, the point isn't exactly-" L stood abruptly, crossing to the pair of women.
"Ooka-san. I'll show you where you'll be staying now." He began walking away, leaving Misa behind without saying a word to her, and Hitomi grabbed the handles of her suitcases and hurriedly followed. Once they were closed in the elevator, she glanced over at him, still preoccupied with an assortment of candy he'd stowed in his pocket.
"Thanks for that. I uh... she's a... lively, isn't she?" L's response completely ignored her question, instead he pointed at the keypad next to the doors.
"B is the basement entrance. One is the ground floor entrance, but don't use that unless I specify it. Two and three are empty, four is the main floor for the investigation, where you just were. Five is rooms for the task members when they stay here instead of home, six is kitchen and supplies, seven is Watari's apartments. Eight is Raito and Misa's apartment, Nine is mine, and ten would be yours."
"You mean I get a whole floor? To myself?" He said nothing, but at that moment the doors slid open smoothly and he stepped out. Hitomi followed and he stopped just in front of the elevator doors.
"There are cameras in the elevator and the stairwell," he paused and pointed to a door next to the elevator, "As well as in all of the rooms of all of the other task members' apartments. Of course, you'll have the same privacy you were awarded in New York, as there will not be a camera inside the shower or with a direct view of the toilet." Hitomi nodded and L stepped into the elevator. "After you put your things away and bathe, take the elevator back to my floor. I want to discuss the case in private, then I'll escort you back down to begin work." Without waiting for a response from her, he reached out and pressed the door close button, disappearing from sight.
She took her suitcase and other small bags into the bedroom and quickly organized everything, taking a minute to sit on the bed. She was pleasantly surprised at how soft the mattress was, apparently whoever was paying for this place was no tightwad. Then she walked the whole apartment, memorizing the layout and mumbling to herself.
"Two spare bedrooms, what am I supposed to do with those... Wow, they already put food in the fridge... how'd they know I liked that?" But finally deciding to take that shower she felt she badly needed. Only this time when she got out a fresh outfit, she hung them over the towel rack nearest the shower door and got dressed inside the shower.
It had been almost an hour since he'd left her when the elevator doors opened to L's floor. The main room of his apartment was dimly lit and entirely empty, except for a computer that sat in the middle of the floor. The detective was nowhere in sight, and the strangeness of the scene suddenly made her indecisive about going in.
"Ryuzaki-san?" Her voice echoed in the largeness of the empty room, and she apprehensively stepped out of the elevator and let the doors slide shut behind her. "Ryuzaki-san, are you here?" It was then she noticed the far walls were lined with doors, the apartment set up radiating out from the room she was in. She almost jumped when his voice suddenly responded.
"Hitomi-chan. In here." She had already assumed he was behind the one door with a light on behind it, and she found him in his own little kitchen. He was crouched atop a stool at the counter, currently entertained by a piece of chocolate cake. He didn't look up as she entered, carefully closing the door behind her. As she crossed behind the counter and assumed a spot opposite the detective, she asked in a low voice,
"Ryuzaki-san, was there a reason you wanted to speak to me alone... in your apartment? I'm sure anything regarding we say will be heard by the rest of the task force..." L set down his fork and stood, still not meeting her gaze.
"There are no cameras in my apartment." He came around the counter toward her, dropping his dishes in the sink. "It's the only place where one's actions can go truly unseen."
"But-" She was cut off as he turned quickly and cornered her against the counter, one hand on each side of her. When their eyes finally met, Hitomi's protests were immediately forgotten. The intensity of his gaze was shocking, and all she could manage was to mumble, "Ryuzaki, what are you doing?" His voice was low as well, and she immediately recognized the lust behind it.
"Happy Birthday." Her eyebrows raised in surprise, and replied in a whisper.
"Thank y-" But stopped short when L's brought his lips down to hers. He hovered there for a moment, not quite kissing her, as if relishing the tense expectation he could sense in Hitomi, then closed the gap, pressing his mouth gently to hers.
It didn't take long for her to react, bringing one hand up and resting it on his chest, and parting her lips in expectation, but just then L dropped his hands and began to pull away. Hitomi nearly let out a groan of disappointment, her hand clenching and gathering a handful of of L's shirt. The detective looked down at her reaction, his barely there smile sending an excited shiver through her. Hitomi smiled back softly, and began to pull him back toward her, but stopped when she saw that his eyes had gone back to their normal appearance, bored and glazed over. He turned and was back at the sink in the blink of an eye, rinsing the plate and drying his hands on his jeans, and she followed him silently until they had joined the rest of the task force in the main room.
L sat down in the middle of the wall of computers and turned his back on everyone, and Hitomi, still in shock after his action in his apartment was left standing speechless as the rest of the task force began to introduce themselves. It almost took physical effort to snap herself out of her dazed state and tear her eyes from the detective across the room to talk normally with Matsuda and Raito, the only two who seemed interested in conversation.
***
At first, reuniting the task force seemed to have been a good idea, but after more than a week of vigilance it was starting to look as if the investigation was at a standstill.
"I don't understand," Hitomi sighed, "we're not making any progress at all! We're just watching Kira, no better than the public!" When she looked up, Raito was giving her a look as if he'd like to laugh at her. She ignored him and stood, pacing the length of the computer bank she, Raito and L had been seated at. ""I feel like I'm useless,cooped up in here and not doing any good." Most of the task force paid no attention to her pacing, staying focused on L as he stared at the screen closest to him. That all changed when his concentration broke and the detective spun in his chair to face Hitomi. When he spoke, his voice betrayed more than a little irritation at her statements of the obvious.
"You want to get out there and help? Go with Matsuda and help him keep an eye on Misa." Matsuda's gaze leapt over to Hitomi at this, and the girl froze in her spot.
"Matsuda-san and Amane-san...?"
"Yes. In fact, you can pose as a fellow model, or Matsuda's assistant... whatever works for you." He didn't get to finish his thought as Misa herself made her morning appearance and cut into the conversation in her normal boisterous tone.
"Hitomi-chan gets to come with Matsu and Misa Misa? I'm so excited! Oh, Hitomi-chan, you can pose as my best friend from before I moved to Tokyo, and we'll get you some really cute clothes, and-"
"Amane-san," Hitomi interrupted, "I am not posing as your no-talent friend from the country, and I certainly am not dressing up. There's nothing wrong with the clothes I'm wearing."
"Actually, the ruse Misa suggested would be the most believable cover," L remarked.
"And dressing like her would make it look more plausible," Raito added, gaining a dirty look. But after both of their approval, Hitomi could no longer put up a fight, and sat quietly as she was hooked up with a radio and earpiece to hear any directions she might be given and Matsuda was fitted with a fake pair of glasses that contained a camera. Something she assumed L would consider an extra precaution, what with poor Matsuda being stuck with two suspects in his case. As the trio set off in the car they normally used for Misa and set out for a shop Misa promised would be perfect for Hitomi, the dark haired girl leaned over from the passenger seat and spoke reassuringly to her male companion.
"Don't worry, Matsu," she joked, resigned to her fate and slipping into her role as a girl like Misa, "the glasses look good. They make you look like a teacher or something. The only thing is, if you keep looking so uncomfortable in them you'll give it away that they're fake." His eyes flicked to her for a minute and he smiled faintly before pulling out into the street.
"Thank you, Hitomi-chan." But the car ride would not prove to be as relaxing as Hitomi had hoped, Misa almost immediately leaning forward to turn the radio on.
'At least her taste in music is fairly decent,' she thought as a guitar riff announced the start of an angst filled band she'd heard of a few times before moving to the states. Within ten minutes, Hitomi was humming along with the music, and Misa was full out singing in the back seat, in her own little world.
"You have a nice voice, Hitomi-chan," Matsuda commented a bit sheepishly.
"Thank you, but you can't really tell from someone's humming." When L's and Raito's voice sounded in her ear she jumped, having forgotten the earpiece she'd quickly grown accustomed to.
"Don't listen to her, Matsuda, she's being too modest," Raito spoke up first. "You're right about her voice." Hitomi felt herself begin to blush.
"She is right about humming, Raito-kun," L added. "It's no indication of the true talent of the singer's voice." Hitomi worried for a moment they would ask her to sing something, but luck seemed to be on her side.
"Matsuuu, stop here and let Hitomi and me out! You can meet us after you've found someplace to park!" The two girls climbed from the car, and by the time Matsuda rejoined them, Hitomi was looking over a new outfit in the confines of a small fitting room.
"Hitomi-chaaaan, come out and show us!" Misa cried. Putting her insecurity behind her, she pulled the curtain back and emerged from the fitting room. The other girl's immediate reaction was to giggle with delight, and Matsuda's slightly gape-mouthed stare threatened to make her blush again. Looking at her feet and feeling ashamed at how foolish she must look, she muttered,
"Close your mouth, Matsu, you're embarrassing me." He snapped out of it, and smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry, Hitomi-chan. You look really cute, you know. You don't have to be so shy about it, the outfit really suits you." Raito's voice agreed in her ear, and she turned to look in the mirror again. She was wearing a black and red kimono style top that had butterflies on the sleeves, paired with a fluffy skirt in the same colors and lacy black thigh high socks.
"It's no big deal, I used to dress like this all the time outside of school. It's just the last few years since I moved I haven't worn much like this. Not many girls dress like this in America, I'm not used to it anymore."
"Well, Matsu is right, you look pretty good. Stay right there and I'll get you some shoes to match. And Matsu, let the clerk know Hitomi-chan is wearing her new clothes out and have them wrap up her boring old outfit." As she bounced away happily to the shoe display she called back, "And don't forget to pay for everything!" Hitomi and Matsuda exchanged a brief look, then Hitomi started laughing.
"Don't worry about it, Matsuda-san, I can take care of it. You're not my manager." She grabbed her clothes and led the way to the counter. As she waited for the clerk to ring up the bill and Misa to finish trying shoes on her feet Cinderella style, Matsuda mumbled quietly to her,
"Hitomi-chan, it's Matsui or Matsu, remember?"
"Oh, right. Sorry, Matsu." She chuckled again at the nickname, then shooed Misa away to put on the 'perfect' pair of knee high, lace up boots on herself.
A few minutes later they were back in the car, Misa this time in her own world as she listened to an mp3 player in the back seat. They were stuck in traffic on the way to a photo shoot, and Hitomi kept shifting in her seat, trying to pull her skirt down to cover as much thigh as possible. Matsuda was preoccupied with the logjam of cars all around them and the idle talk of old case info from the earpiece, and Hitomi was somewhere in between hearing that and the softly playing radio, unconsciously singing to herself. When the song changed, Mastuda suddenly perked up, looking over at her.
"That's it!" He said loudly, making her jump and Misa look up for a second before delving back into her music.
"What's it?" Hitomi asked. "Something about the case?"
"Yes, Matsuda, what have you realized so suddenly?" L drawled over the speaker.
"I knew you looked like someone I knew Hitomi-chan, especially when you changed into that outfit. But I couldn't quite place it until just now!" Hitomi tensed up almost unnoticeably when she recognized the song on the radio. "Hitomi-chan, you could be Usagi-chan's twin!"
"Usagi-chan?" Mogi's voice broke in. "What nonsense are you talking about now, Matsuda? Animals?"
"No, not an animal, Usagi-chan! She is, well was, the lead singer of my favorite band when I was in college! It didn't click until she started singing that song, but you even sound kind of like her. Wow, Hitomi-chan, that's so cool." Matsuda beamed at a blushing Hitomi as the song continued in the background, long enough for Mogi to comment again.
"That doesn't sound much like a young girl singing. Besides, Matsuda, when you were in college, Ooka-san was what, fifteen at the most?" Hitomi forced back a comment about her voice, barely managing to keep it to herself, but Matsuda wouldn't let it go.
"Trust me, Mogi-san, Usagi-chan is definitely a girl, and she was only sixteen when the band broke up. And her voice is unique, that's why I like it so much!" He turned to Hitomi again. "Your voice is so cool, just like Usagi-chan's."
"M-Matsu..." she faltered, blushing. "You're embarrassing me again." He apologized, blushing himself, and shoved the glasses up his nose before pulling off down a side street and into an underground parking garage. Seeing that they'd arrived, Misa put her headphones away and resumed her cheery rant of what she and Hitomi would enjoy as best friends. As they climbed from the car, and started toward the tall building across the street where Misa's appointment would be.
"You know, with all of that talk about your singing Matsu was doing on the way here, maybe you should ask for an audition and become a pop star too, Hitomi-chan!" the blond cooed, linking her arm with the other girl's.
"Ah, I don't think so, Misa. I'm going to stick with Matsu, and let you get your work done."
"Ohh, that's no fun!" But Misa was quickly over her disappointment when they entered the spacious lobby of a building and the smaller girl caught sight of a group of people standing around, seemingly waiting. She squealed and ran over to them, crying out to the group as she dragged Hitomi across the space.
"Matsuyama-kun! Endo-kun! Yanagimoto-kuuuuunn!" Three of the group turned, giving the girl weary smiles as she reached them. "Misa Misa's excited to start working again today! But first, I want to introduce you to my best friend in the whole world, Hitomi-chan! She's visiting from Nikko and I wanted to show her what it's like being famous!" She turned to look at Hitomi, who'd frozen with her jaw slightly dropped.
"Matsuyama-kun?"
A/N: so no excuses this time, you're probably tired of them anyway. and i know i have at least one of you wanting some Hitomi/L birthday goodness, but i'm working it into one of the upcoming chaters. So enjoy this little cliffhanger and bite your nails until the next time! ...and as always, i love a review, even if you want to tell me how boring the chapter was or something....