Chapter Eight

Flirting Love ;D

Light stayed at Ryuzaki's hotel room for a total of three days. His fever spiked again the second night, so his departure was delayed. Despite sharing the hotel suite, Light and Ryuzaki talked little more, due to Ryuzaki's work and Light's varying condition. On that last day Light insisted he was better and could leave, and Ryuzaki yielded. He may have put up more of a fuss but what ever he was working on commanded his attention.

Wallingford gave Light some pills to take and advised him to take it easy for the next few days and to never do something as stupid as stay uncovered in the rain for hour. Light promised he would listen to Wallingford's advice.

He got his own clothes back, washed and pressed. He was glad to change out of the ill-fitting white long shirt and jeans combo, feeling much more comfortable in a button up shirt and slacks. He had to admit he felt weird wearing the same clothes as Ryuzaki.

He was sad he didn't get to have another good conversation with his, err, host. As he left he wished Ryuzaki goodbye but all he got was a small goodbye and a wave acknowledging his departure. Light felt a little miffed, but he couldn't really ask anything more from the man who saved his life.

More then anything he was glad to get out of there and close the book on this chapter of his life. He didn't want to relive the experience of being an open book to a complete stranger, or anyone, ever again. The anniversary was over and he was free for a year.

It was time to get back to his life. Upon arriving home the first thing he did was call work and apologized for not showing up. He was quickly forgiven by his boss and told to resume his normal work schedule. Light was happy that it worked out so smoothly, but a little frustrated about how easy it was to get away with everything.

The second thing he did was fire up his computers and catch up on local news, from public to police. The level of crime in Tokyo was at the same level as it always had been, but there was a murder that caught Light's interest. He remembered vaguely hearing it on the news while at the hotel. According to the police report the victim had been stabbed with a large knife multiple times until the body was mutilated. The picture provided was very graphic. The appendages and face were without knife wounds, but there was twin bruising on the arms, leading speculation that there was more of a confrontation between the victim and the killer before the knife was pulled. The victim was a foreign teenage boy named Luke Adams, who went to a local high school. His father worked here on business. No suspects currently.

Things like this disgusted Light. How could people like this exist in the world? This is why Light got into this crime solving lifestyle, to bring justice to people who so blatantly disrespect life, rules, and human rights and try to play god with those around them.

This case was going to be very high profile. It would get lots of attention from the press once more information was released. Light felt Kira didn't need to be on the case with all the extra attention the police were sure to give it.

Something that deserved Kira's attention more was suspicions of a smuggling ring at the docks. Light took notes and made plans to check it out. More important cases tempted Light, but he knew while he had many resources, he was limited as a solo operator. Sure he had helped crack some big ones, but he only got involved if he knew something he was sure the police didn't, or if the case was stuck and needed a push. Kira mainly brought justice to cases that were small and didn't receive the attention they deserved, and looked up on tips and clues the police often didn't have time to check.

Kira often didn't receive any credit for solving the smaller cases, but that didn't bother Light. Everyone was entitled to justice. Everyone deserved that peace when justice was wrought on their wrongdoers.

Light did more Kira work and before he knew it he had to get to work at the bookstore. He didn't particularly enjoy the work, but the discount on books was nice. And if he had to do work to pay the bills and keep up appearances, this job was one of the best jobs he could get.

Reluctant to leave his Kira work, Light managed to drag himself away from the computer screen and over to the fridge for a quick bite to eat before leaving. The fridge was bare. A lone carrot sat on the bottom self and a half empty gallon of milk occupied the main self. With a sigh he closed the fridge and grabbed a power bar from the pantry. Deeming it satisfactory Light began eating it and left with his work apron slung over his shoulder.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Several days had gone by since Light's time in the hotel. It was night. Two or three daring stars shone in the clear dark sky above, the rest hidden due to light pollution. Tokyo wasn't asleep, but the docks were silent. There were still a few hours before the first fishermen were expected to arrive.

For now the docks were basically deserted, or at least it was supposed to be. If everything was the way it was supposed to be Light would be out of a job. He was wearing all dark colors, including a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up, hiding his brown hair and casting a shadow on his face.

He was silently stalking a lone figure that walked with a purpose. Light's target was a middle aged fisherman that walked wearily, as if he was a good child that knew he was doing something wrong.

Light suspected this man would lead him to the warehouse in which the smuggling took place, and often his suspicions turned out to be true. This time they did not fail him. The man, after looking around to see if he was being followed, entered a small side door of a pier.

According to the map Light memorized before coming here, it was Pier 54.

It was now time to see what was going on inside. Light approach the building, a ways down from the little door the man had gone through. Here a few shipping crates sat around, resting up against the pier. Light jumped with a running start and managed to grab the top edge of one of them. He pulled himself up and stood up on top of it. A quick survey of the building told him how to get in. Light leaped to a small ledge that ran below the line of second story windows and grabbed onto piping that ran vertically down the building. He steadied himself and then began slowly scooting his way towards a fire escape. Once close enough Light worked his way onto the fire escape and climbed it until he got to a broken window. The glass had a hole big enough in it that Light could reach in and unlatch it and get through.

He found himself on a small catwalk that circled the main room. A office was accessible by the catwalk and probably belonged to the foreman. Everything was dark but one corner of the warehouse that was lit up and teeming with activity. Light stayed low and pressed up against the wall and, as quietly as possible, made his way to that corner.

From his perch above he saw six men standing in a circle around several small wooden crates. One man was bent over one of the crates. He had a crow bar and wrenched off the top, revealing a pile of fire arms. The men spoke in low voices and Light couldn't discern what they were saying. He pulled out his camera from his sweatshirt pocket and tried to see if he could get any good pictures.

He zoomed in first on the contents of the crate, and then tried to get a close up of every man's face. It was hard since most were at a bad angle with shadows obscuring their faces, but at least two faces were clear. Light snapped a few more photos before the men started to move around. One man seemed to be directing them all. He directed the other men to move the crates full of guns to a certain part of the warehouse and then took off. The other men staggered their departure times until only one man was left.

The last man, who was the one Light had originally followed to the pier, started to climb that stairs to the level Light was on. Light moved as silently as possible back to the window he came through. Before he could get there the man had already made it to the top of the stairs.

Light froze, hoping the shadow would conceal him. He was in luck for the man, instead of walking towards Light, turned the other way and headed to the small office. Light waited until he got far enough away before slipping back through the window and stealing into the night.

Light went straight back to his apartment. He sorted through and printed the picture evidence he had, and then wrote a letter explaining what he saw and who he suspected to be involved, and all the other details and theories he had amounted these past few days of research. It took the whole night, and as he worked, he thought of nothing else.

Carefully he placed all the parts into a large envelope and sealed it tightly. As always he was careful not to get any traces of his DNA or fingerprints on the envelope.

The next day on his way to work Light went out of his way to a random mailbox and slipped the envelope in. Satisfied with his work he prepared for another tedious shift.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The whole ordeal with Light Akino was an exciting change of pace for L. He rarely interacted directly with people outside of Watari and his successors. And to this day he had never met someone who could carry out such a captivating clever conversation with him. Light had even managed to keep a secret what he wanted to keep a secret, despite L's curiosity and attempts to make him trip up.

If he had it his way he would have his new toy stay up all night so he could play with it to his desire, like his sugar cube tower. Sadly Light's body functioned like most human's bodies, and he had to get a certain amount of sleep on a regular daily cycle. Even worse he was ill, so he had to get even more sleep, and when he was awake he wasn't always in playing condition.

L sometimes felt things never went his way.

Luckily other parts of L's world went into motion and L jumped into action. An officer he had surveying the suspected famous art thief made a false step, reviving the case from the boring stalemate it had been in for the past few days.

The case got very exciting, so L invested himself completely into solving it, following his suspect's every move and devouring every clue that was sent his way. Before long he had enough evidence to convict his thief, but he kept the game in play to recover stolen and forged art pieces and to catch any of the other major players that kept this illegal fake art ring going.

When the time came to arrest the thief, the man put up an impressive chase. Years of sneaking into and out of private residences and museums aided his flight, but he worked mainly at night and preyed on the unsuspecting. It was a little disappointing to L how easily the man was caught and how easily L could watch his escape attempt from his hotel base, but L was used to seeing people like him make such mistakes.

After the case was closed and the paperwork filed (both the public, Japanese police, and L's own personal records) L realized he was all alone in the hotel room.

Light had left two days ago. L had forgotten about him in the puzzle-solving fun of his current case. He remembered Light leaving, but he had dismissed it at the time to focus on the case.

L was greatly disappointed. Sure the case had stolen his attention, but Light interested L in a way he had never really be interested in before. With a frown L got a few sugary snacks and ate as he decided what to do with himself.

He spent some time looking through cases but nothing seemed too interesting. The only case that did seem a bit interesting was under tight control of the Japanese police, and he didn't feel in the mood to be diplomatically intrusive. He sorted the cases into 'no' and 'maybe' piles lazily. As he did so he strummed his fingers on the table and constantly shifted position.

L soon tired of that and began playing with sugar cubes. He managed to construct a rather expansive pyramid before that also began to bore him. Whatever L tried to do to entertain him self, nothing kept his attention. He found his mind constantly thinking about that brunette.

This was going to be a problem. How should the three greatest detectives in the world go about fixing this problem of a distraction blocking his ability to work?

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Light was in the back sorting boxes of books. He had to deal with the new arrivals. The new books needed to be integrated on to the shelves, and the extras needed to be organized with the rest of the extra copies in the back alphabetically, which would require some heavy lifting. Light always ended up with this job, being one of the few males on staff and that it didn't involve teamwork or customer interactions.

The good part about this is he always knew what they had in stock. He made a mental list of what he planned to read later.

Reading was the only thing he had left of his life before. He had always loved to read and he always would. When he got really into a book he could almost forget who he was. Almost.

Later Light was behind the check out desk. It was a slow day, only a few customers were browsing the shelves and digging through the clearance bin. Two of them were some of his fan girls, high school aged girls who admired him. He caught them steeling glances at him and giggling behind book shelves. It was all really annoying, but if it got those girls into a book store and to read, he'd bare with it.

Today the two seemed to be debating something quietly to themselves. One of them, the shorter of the two, stepped away from the other, took a deep breath, and then turned towards Light and began marching confidently towards him.

Oh joy. Another confession to sidestep. Light tried to ignore her as she approached by pretending to sort a stack of papers he had already sorted.

Before the girl could make it all the way to the register the bell for the door jingled. The girl froze and Light watched as her face turned red as a cherry and she turned around quickly and scrambled back to her friend. Sighing, Light turned to the door to welcome the newest customer, as was policy.

"Welcome!" Light called out in his polite, cheery voice, but he froze instantly when he saw who it was.

Ryuzaki stood in the doorway with a smirk on his face. He stood with a slight slouch and his hands in his back pockets. He was wearing the same clothes he had worn the entire time Light was in his hotel room. Baggy blue jeans and a loose long-sleeve white shirt. Maybe they weren't the exact same pair, since Light had also sported those clothes while his own clothes were cleaned, but it still put Light off that someone wore the same outfit day after day.

This man had seen him at his weakest, a fact Light was not too fond of. He had already made peace with this matter and hoped he would never face it again, but fate was not smiling fondly on him today. Not that he believed in fate. Despite himself, part of Light had wanted to see Ryuzaki again for an unknown reason. Light wiped away all traces of surprise on his face and put on a calm, collected face.

Ryuzaki waltzed up to Light and stopped on the other side of the desk.

"What are you doing here?" Light asked.

Ryuzaki stared at him with those disconcerting black eyes and replied, "No reason in particular. Just wanted to buy this." He picked up a teddy bear pen from a box full of animal pens and placed it on the counter in between them.

"I seriously doubt that. Why are you here?"

"So rude to your customers? I am appalled. How you keep this job astounds me." Ryuzaki mocked Light.

"Cut the crap. I'm working right now. Why are you here?" Light asked.

"I honestly want this pen. Look how cute the bear is." Ryuzaki replied, holding it up for Light to see.

"We both know you didn't come for that pen. It can be bought in any store from here to Nagasaki."

"Fine, I didn't. But now I am genuinely interested in it." Ryuzaki insisted.

"Okay then. May I please see it?" Light asked politely. He took it and scanned it. "One dollar and forty-five cents, please."

Ryuzaki flashed him a smile before digging a bill from his jean pocket. It was a crumpled fifty. He dropped it into Light's outstretched hand, oblivious to Light's annoyance at him paying for something so cheap with such a large bill.

"You handed me a fifty. Your change is forty-eight dollars and fifty-five cents." Light put away the fifty in the cash box and was counting out Ryuzaki's change.

"I see you made a full recovery," Ryuzaki said. "I'm glad to know that. I was worried about your well being. After all, you did try to kill yourself."

Light paused and looked up at the raven-haired man, narrowing his eyes.

"I did not try to kill myself."

"That is what you said before, and I see you are sticking with it. Tell me, what exactly were you doing on that bridge?"

"I will not discuss this matter with you at my place of work." Light said flatly, handing the change to Ryuzaki. When he put it in his hands their hands brushed together briefly. Ryuzaki's hand was warm and it sent sparks up Light's arm. He quickly withdrew his hand and frowned, not liking the unexpected.

"How about we discuss it over dinner?" The raven-haired man suggested.

"Dinner?" Light repeated, surprised.

"You owe me for taking care of you while you were sick. I would ask for financial compensation, but I don't need the money and you probably can't afford it and I did find conversing with you to be rather interesting."

Light thought about it. He did enjoy the older man's company, but at the same time he hated it. Light didn't think about repaying for his stay with Ryuzaki in his hotel room and all the care he received from Wallington. No one had mentioned it while he was there. He knew that it was costly, since he received medical care and technically shared the room with the raven-haired man (and it was a pricey hotel). Light was not poor, but he didn't really have the money to pay. Ryuzaki seemed to be the unpredictable type, so if Light refused he may call up his debt.

All that, and the man was not that bad on the eyes.

"Dinner it is." Light confirmed. Ryuzaki flashed him a smile once more and turned and began walking out.

He reached the door and turned back and glanced lazily at the two high school girls who had been watching the whole exchange. He gave them a smile as well and then called out to Light across the store.

"Le Sorelle. Seven. Tonight. Wear something pretty." Light raised an eyebrow as the ravenette waved and went out the door as a squeal rose from the fan girls.

And that's it for this chapter.

I apologize if this chapter is weird. I have trouble writing happier things and dialogue. And I apologize for the gaps I have in writing. Life is chaotic since I just graduated high school and am leaving for college already in less then a month. That and writers block since I have trouble getting out exactly what I want.

That and ideas for other stories, original and fanfictions also keep popping into my head and they trap me in their worlds. I will promise you this, I will finish this story. I swear on the life of my elder kitty. Extreme, I know, but I am a person who always finishes things eventually.

MONEY! I am using American dollars as the currency because I don't have the intelligence or the will to look up and translate everything into yen. I don't think actual amounts will come up often, if ever again.

Oh! And my computer got fixed. Not that it was broken but my right and left click were stuck and it took forever to get an air canister to blow the air away because I have been busy and my dad, my IT guy, was on a three week business trip when this all happened.

I thank you all for the reviews! They mean so much to me! You guys are probably the inspiration for today's future writers. Writing fanfictions is so freeing. I can escape into a world not my own and play with characters, story lines already in existence with a fan base willing to read what I write.

And once again I apologize for chapter names and the title it's self.

What did the green grape say to the purple grape?

Breathe, idiot! BREATHE!