And without further ado, I present chapter three! I hope you like it, you guys have certainly waited long enough:)

When Eri awoke the next morning, she realized she hadn't dreamed. Not once, the entire night, something that hadn't happened since she was a kid. Watery sunlight was filtering in through the window and casting a dim glow about the room, just bright enough so she was unlikely to crack her shin on anything on the way to the dresser. Realizing this, she groaned and extracted herself from the warm cocoon of blankets to stumble across the room and begin putting on her uniform. As she looped her hair into its customary style she glanced back at the clock on her bedside table, the blinking letters read 6:15.

'I've GOT to start getting more sleep, school's bad enough without falling asleep on your desk because you wouldn't shut off the computer when it went past midnight… Speaking of..." She turned and walked to her desk, turning on her computer and settling down. 'Lets see what's new...'

Much to her annoyance, the answer seemed to be a resounding "nothing". Eri felt a twinge of disappointment, after the Lind L. Tailor broadcast last night, she was sure they'd have seen some form of reaction or retaliation from Kira, but he was either biding his time or the media wasn't covering it. Sure, there were lots of opinions on the Kira-related blogs and forums, but the value of the opinions of anonymous people glorifying a serial killer was less than zero from an investigative standpoint.

She groaned and leaned forward to rest her chin against her hand, her eyes flickering over the words on the screen without really reading them. 'I should ask Light if he could access his dads files on the case, he's done it before.' She brushed her fingers through her bangs, 'Or I could just ask Mr. Yagami, he did let Light and I help out on that insurance fraud murder case… though this MIGHT be considered a little different."

Eri really couldn't help herself. Despite the obvious danger and seriousness of the situation, this 'Kira Case' was the biggest case to happen in years, and she had to admit, it made her a little excited, and a lot intrigued. The fact that the world's greatest detective was now officially on the case might have also contributed to her interest… just a little.

More out of boredom then any expectations for results, she opened a new tab and typed in "L". The initial results were mainly useless, so she adjusted the search to "L detective".

There were a lot of results talking about last night's broadcast, as well as a few articles from older cases, Eraldo Coil, the Los Angeles murders, and the like, but little to no information on the detective himself. And not a single photo besides the gothic black L. The guy was obviously a recluse, but considering how many people probably wanted him dead, Eri figured he could be forgiven for keeping out of the public eye.

As she scrolled down one of the Coil articles, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Taking it out revealed a txt from momoka, and caused her to realize she had seven other txts and four missed calls, all from her hyperactive friend.

"Eri! Flippin' answer your phone! I've been calling u since last night! Why aren't u answering me?!"

"Sorry Momo, guess I went to bed early. What's up?"

"That'd better be a joke, didn't you see that crazy broadcast?"

"Ya but since I'm not Kira, I didn't feel the need to stress over it."

"I can't freak out at you properly like this! R u walking to school yet?

"Not yet, Y?"

"I'll come over so we can walk together, be there in 10."

Eri was about to argue but stopped, it was no use arguing with Momoka on stuff like this, and she did want to she her friend.

"K, see you in 10."

Eri smiled and switched off her computer, leaving her bedroom and entering to find her aunt was not in her usual place at the kitchen table. Instead, there was a note, written in her customary shaky handwriting

Out of breakfast cereal and peaches, went to the market to pick up some more. Please call if you'll be in late tonight.

-Isuzu

Eri was puzzled, usually, she did all the shopping and her aunt hardly noticed they ran out of anything. But she supposed there was a first time for everything… She just hoped Isuzu would be able to find her way back safely, her aunt could be so absent minded.

Somehow, despite the strange start to the day and the presence of a mass serial killer in Kanto, she felt… good. Excited, almost. If a bit confused by the cereal thing, since as far as she knew, neither she nor her aunt ever ate any of it. But this Kira thing, now THAT was interesting. She'd helped Light solve a few cases for the NPA before, but something like this… It was definitely worth looking into, even if she could only observe.

A sharp knock at the door jolted her out of her daydreaming. She crossed to the door and had almost reached the knob before it sprung open with a bang, revealing a broadly-grinning momoka, who promptly grabbed her and began dragging her down the front walk.

"Oh good, you're ready to go! I figured you might have gone back to bed, you really need more sleep like, really bad. But that's not important! Did you see that broadcast last night?! How insane was that! I thought for sure that L guy was dead but then- wow. Just, wow. I cant imagine the balls it takes to do something like that. Just- wow." Momoka paused for breath and stopped abruptly, causing Eri to nearly crash into her back as she did.

"So," she began, eye's gleaming as she leaned in conspiratorially, "Tell me everything you know so far! I'm dying to hear what you've got."

Eri felt utterly lost for several moments, unbalanced by her friend's sudden expectation that she participate in the conversation. Finally, she decided on the answer she deemed least-likely to make her look stupid.

"Momo, that broadcast happened literally hours ago. What exactly do you think I could have figured out in that time?"

Momoka's smile was quickly replaced by her usual pout, " C'mon Eri! I know you. I'm willing to bet you jumped online the minute that broadcast cut out; are you telling me you couldn't find anything?"

For a split second, Eri wasn't sure WHAT she'd done after the broadcast. She had the impression she'd gone to bed early but it all seemed very… vague, somehow. She realized Momoka was staring at her with a look some where between concern and confusion and tugged distractedly at her bangs, shaking off the strange feeling.

"No, I went to bed early last night. Too much to process all at once, you know?"

"I guess," Momoka replied slowly, "But you're still interested right? I mean, this isn't the kind of opportunity someone who wants to be a detective or whatever passes up. You should at least ask Light's dad for any info he has on the case, that is, if you haven't already been using those passwords Light gave you to get into the police files."

Eri had to stop herself from looking guilty at that; she really did tell her friend far too much.

Momoka was partially right though, this wasn't an opportunity she wanted to pass up. And while Mr. Yagami would probably tell her to stay out of it, Light might be a different story… It couldn't hurt to try.

"I'll tell you what Momo," she began, feeling a mischievous smile creep on to her face, "I'm not planning to get too involved in this, thats not my style. But I do want to help if I can, so if I find out anything you'll be one of the first to know, ok?"

Momoka seemed surprised at the teasing edge to Eri's voice. Not surprising in and of itself, seeing as she hadn't exactly been a barrel of laughs since her parents deaths. But Eri couldn't help but feel something was different about today. New. It felt a good a time as any to cheer up a bit, if only to get Momoka to stop badgering her.

The change in her attitude seemed to through her friend off, but being who she was, she quickly recovered a let out a short laugh, hooking her arm with Eri's. "Ok, deal. But what's with the upbeat attitude? There's a serial killer loose you know."

"I don't know… guess I just feel good today."

To her surprise, Eri found Light fairly quickly as the day went on. Which as it turned out was lucky, considering that while everyone was eager to talk about Kira, very few of them had anything useful to say. After scouring the halls and classrooms, she finally found him during lunch break.

Light was having lunch in one of the empty classrooms when Eri caught up with him, eating with one hand and writing with the other. He didn't notice as she entered the room, his brown eyes fixed on the paper and narrowed in concentration. She crept up behind him and placed her hands over his eyes.

"Guess who!"

Light frowned, "Eri, I really don't have time for this today, I've got studying to do." He batted her hands away, refusing to look up from his work as he did.

Eri frowned at the forced politeness of her friend's tone, but refused to be put off, sitting down in an empty desk beside him and staring resolutely until he seemed to realize she wasn't going to leave and glanced up with poorly concealed irritation.

"Eri, I'm being serious, this if for the To-oh entrance exam which we should both really be studying for. So unless you have something important to tell me-"

Eri cut him off with a wave of her hand, " Oh stop it. You know full well you'll ace that exam without even trying, and you know exactly what I want to talk about so don't try to blow me off. You know I hate it when you do that." She smiled and leaned forward excitedly, causing Light to draw back in surprise. "This Kira thing, your dad's in charge of it, right?"

Light nodded slowly, "Yes, but I'm not sure I see what you're getting at."

Eri almost rolled her eyes, It was like he was being intentionally dense! "Light, you and I want to be detectives someday soon, and this case is already huge! And with your dad working on it we'd already know way more than almost anyone."

"What exactly are you proposing?"

"I mean, we should ask your dad if we can help on the case. We've done it before, and if he says no we could always just follow along with what they find. The world's greatest detective is on this case Light, its a huge opportunity for us to see the real thing in action." Eri attempted her best 'please' face, "Please? He'll never say yes if I ask and you know it, he thinks I'm made of glass or something, but he also thinks the sun rises and sets because of you so-"

"No." Light said bluntly, cutting off her pleading as effectively as a slammed door in her face. He had returned his attention to his writing, but it was clear he wasn't focused. His eyes were glittering with an emotion Eri couldn't quite place, and his fingers were clasping the pen hard enough to blanch his knuckles.

Eri was affronted, but pressed onward. This wasn't the first time she'd had trouble convincing Light of something, and it wasn't likely to be the last. "Why not? Don't tell me you're not interested because we both know that's a lie."

Light let out a long-suffering sigh and adopted a tone as if he were speaking to a small child, "Because, interested or not you have no business interfering in a homicide investigation Eri. And why do you suddenly even care so much? The killings have been happening well over a week and you've just now brought it up so I think it's highly unlikely you intend to do anything about it. You're not a police officer or a criminal so I don't see how pursuing this and bothering me has a point."

Eri felt a flash of anger rise in her, but managed to quell it before she said something she'd regret; she was trying to get Light's help, after all. Even if he insisted upon being an ass about it.

"I care," She said slowly, "Because people are dying, Light. You and I have experience no one else in our age group has, I'm sure if we work together we could help! What if Kira was someone in our age group? We could be an incredible asset to the NPA. And even if we just helped a little bit we'd be doing something good, right?"

Light regarded her with a placid smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, and she felt indigence form at the lack of reaction from her friend.

"Come on Light!" She said, gritting her teeth as her voice came uncomfortably close to begging, "Incase you hadn't realized, this is sort of a big deal for me! And I feel like it should be for you too."

For a while, Light was silent, seemingly pondering whether her idea merited a response. Finally, he smiled one of his usual charming smiles, the one reserved for the girls that always swarmed him when he was trying to placate them. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Eri, listen, I understand why this could be important to you, trust me, I get it. But this is a serious matter, and I think that the best thing that we can do right now is let the police do their jobs. Eventually, I'm sure Kira will make a mistake and then its only a matter of time before he gets executed, there's no need to get involved where your presence isn't necessary or wanted. I know what happened with your parents made you sensitive to stuff like this but, really, this is going a little far."

Eri had to clench her fists to keep her temper in check, feeling her nails dig half-moons into her palms as she did. "This has nothing to do with my parents! This is about the people that are dying right now, people that we could help!" she glared at him, crossing her arms, "Seriously, did you hit your head recently and not tell me or do you genuinely not care?"

Light rubbed his palms against his eyes and shook his head, "Now you're just being unreasonable." He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, though you've always been fairly level headed, at least for a wo-"

"Light Yagami! If you finish that sentence I will punch that condescending look right off your face." She hissed, cutting him off and drawing away with a poisonous glare.

Light seemed to realize what he'd said and backtracked rapidly, "Eri, you know I just meant-"

It was no good, Eri had had quite enough for one day. Sure, she was fully aware how Light felt, but usually he was smart enough to keep it under wraps, which kept him bearable. For some reason, his filter seemed to be off today.

"I know exactly what you meant Light, but I'd have figured you were smart enough not to say it to my face."

She turned on her heel and stalked from the room, one hand tugging at her bangs hard enough she thought she might have pulled some hair out. She didn't bother to turn when Light called after her.

"Eri! This is ridiculous; where are you even going?"

"To class!" she shouted back, "I need to be somewhere where my friend hasn't decided to be a chauvinistic jerk. I'll do this without you if I have to Light, just do me a favor and don't talk to me for a while."

She stalked out into the nearly empty halls, startling a group of freshmen girls as she did and ignoring her surroundings in favor of her anger, which was a much nicer focus then the annoyingly persistent feeling of hurt lingering in the wake of her friends words.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of angry thoughts and muttering, with Eri's former good mood entirely destroyed by her unfortunate interaction with Light. Honestly, she didn't understand how it had escalated to the point it did. Light was often reluctant to go along with her on things but he'd never been so openly dismissive, and she had to admit, it was a bit of a shock.

Luckily, she managed to avoid him for the rest of the day, which for her consisted of glaring openly at anyone and everyone who made eye contact and doodling the the margins of her paper until the clock ran out. When it finally did, she left the school as quickly as possible and opted to take the long way home through the downtown area, the better to avoid anyone who for some bizarre reason would want to talk to an obviously furious girl.

It seemed like a good idea at first, but several blocks of keeping her head down and her thoughts firmly away from a certain someone later, she looked up to realize she didn't recognize any of the buildings around her.

'Great…'

She was definitely lost. Not terribly so, but she didn't think she'd ever seen the hotel she was currently standing in front of before. Eri was beginning to wonder if she was navigationally challenged, she did seem to run off and get lost when she got upset.

That thought brought her back to why she was so angry in the first place.

She grit her teeth in frustration and sat down on one of the low benches near the entrance to the hotel, lowering her head into her hands and going over her interaction with Light in her head, becoming steadily angrier as she did. She'd expected resistance on Light's part, not flat out refusal.

"This Kira thing is making everyone so weird...' She thought dully, glaring at the busy street as if her mood was somehow its fault. 'Stupid Light. How am I supposed to do anything without him?'

Eri couldn't deny his indifference had hurt. Light was her friend, despite his opinions and how annoyingly right he was all the time. But he'd never just- dismissed her like that. She wasn't completely sure how to process it.

"Arrrrrre you ok?"

Eri jumped in surprise, nearly tripping over her own feet in the process as a low, semi-monotone voice emanated from her right.

Embarrassed to have been caught so off-guard, she tugged at her bangs and turned to find a dark-haired young man had sat down beside her on the bench, and was no regarding her with an expression that suggested she was a mildly interesting animal he was debating whether or not to approach.

He was one of the strangest people Eri had ever seen, and considering who she lived with, that was saying something. He was pale, with wide, dark eyes that were ringed with dark bruises, making him look tired despite the alertness of his gaze. His messy dark hair and baggy clothing made it seem as if he'd just gotten out of bed, and he wasn't wearing any shoes.

But what really caught her attention was the odd way he was sitting on the bench. He was perched on the edge, with his feet tucked under him and his knees nearly level with his chin. He had pressed his thumb against his bottom lip and was toying with it, continuing to stare at her as the silence that followed his question stretched on.

It took Eri almost a full minute to realize he was waiting for her to answer him. She mustered what dignity she could after almost falling into the street and flashed him a hollow smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a bad day, you know? Things are pretty weird right now…"

The man's lip quirked slightly, giving her the impression she'd inadvertently said something funny. He nibbled lightly on the edge of his thumbnail, distracting Eri so that she almost didn't hear his next words.

"Do you always sit outside hotel's when you've had a bad day? Orrrr was it just for convenience sake?"

Eri felt a flash of irritation, stemming partially from her wounded pride at having been so easily sunk up on and partially from the amused edge to his voice. It was pretty obvious from the way he was half-smirking or whatever that he knew she was lost, and being the source of some panda-eyed weirdo's amusement wasn't really improving her mood. She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at him, do her best to look like someone who wasn't worth bothering.

"Fine, so I might be a little bit lost. What's your excuse? Do you just like to sneak up on people?"

The man shrugged and bit the tip of his thumb pensively, "I didn't sneak up on you, you just weren't paying attention." His words came out slightly muffled.

Eri almost cracked a smile, and was forced to bit the inside of her cheek to keep from doing so. "I guess you've got me there…"

She sat down heavily on the bench beside him and extended a hand, her lip quirking at the surprise on his face as she did. "Lets start over, maybe at the part where we introduce ourselves like normal people? I'm Eri Yamazaki, and I'm out here because my jerk of a best friend pissed me off so badly I ran off like a child and got lost, and you are...?"

The man eyed her proffered hand as if unsure what to do with it at first, but eventually extended his thumb and index finger and gave it an experimental shake, making Eri stifle a giggle at the strangeness of the action.

"I'm Hideki Ryuga, and I'm out here because my handler insisted I get 'At least twenty minutes of fresh air and sunlight'." He reached into his pocket and removed an handful of brightly wrapped candies, selecting three for himself and offering the rest to her with with large, expectant eyes. "Want one? I find they're really the best way to clear your head in difficult situations."

She was pretty sure there was something her aunt had once mumbled to her about not taking candy from strangers (because they might be demons- or was it ghosts?), but she found it difficult to refuse that big dark stare, no matter how unnerving it was. She took one and popped it into her mouth, tasting a burst of strawberry as she did.

"Thanks- wait, handler? You mean your dad or something?'

Hideki shrugged, his weird half-smile tugging at his lips, "Something like that, yes." He cocked his head, extenuating his almost childlike manner. "Soooo… what happened with your friend?"

Eri felt her the beginnings of a good mood fizzle at the reminder. "Why do you care?"

He unwrapped another candy, "As I said my- father, won't let me back inside until at least twenty minutes have passed, and from what I've deduced about this building in the past ten, its unlikely I could find another way in, not to mention unsafe. In other words, I've got time so, why not?"

He gave the candy an experimental lick and stared at her expectantly.

Eri felt as if she wanted to argue, but something told her this guy was good at getting people to talk to him. She sighed in resignation and leaned back against the bench. "Fine, I guess I do too, and I'd probably feel better telling someone about it. You've heard about this 'Kira' thing, right?"

Hideki nodded slowly, his thumb once again pressed against his lips.

"Well my friend and I want to be detectives someday, so I thought that we should investigate a bit, just to keep up with what was going on and make our own deductions on it you know?" She grimaced, "He wasn't exactly enthralled by the idea…"

"Ish' he uh Kira shupporter?" Hideki mumbled through a mouthful of candy.

Eri actually laughed at the ludicrousness of that idea. "No, nothing like that. He said some things, I said some things, I guess I may have over reacted a bit…" She tugged sheepishly at her bangs. "'Doesn't change the fact he was being an ass about it; I just… maybe he's right. This case is pretty serious and its really none of my business anyway."

"Some people spend their lives being in peoples business." Hideki said, in a low enough mumble She almost didn't hear him. "Not that you should go running off looking for a serial killer, that would be foolish, considering no one knows exactly HOW he kills. Still, I'm sure you could come up with a few, interesting theories…" he tailed off and picked at the fraying edge of his jeans.

"I take it you already have a few of your own?" She replied, partially as a joke, and partially as a challenge.

He shrugged, not looking up from his task, "A few, yes. Most still need a bit of work."

Almost in spite of herself, Eri found she was beginning to like this guy. And if nothing else, his appearance had certainly taken her mind of the fiasco with Light earlier.

"Are you going to tell me what those theories are? Or just act like you didn't say anything?"

"Hm? Oh look, my twenty minutes are almost up."

She cracked a smile, rising from the bench and moving to stand in front of him. "Ok, I see how it is. But I have to admit, as cliched as that 'Some people' line was, I weirdly feel a little better."

"Glad I could help"

Hideki stood, and she noticed he remained in a slightly hunched-over position even while standing, which put them on nearly equal height. He glanced back at the hotel, running a hand through his disheveled ebony hair.

"I should really get back… I'm almost out of candy and I think Watari has a cake upstairs." He muttered distractedly. Eri glanced down at her watch and nodded.

"I have to get home anyway, my aunt will probably forget to eat dinner again if I'm not there."

He shot her a look of mild confusion, "I thought you were lost?"

Eri grinned and held up the wrapper to one of the candies he'd given her. "Nah, I remember now. You were right about that whole 'helping to clear your head' thing."

He looked surprised for a moment,as if not sure she was serious. Finally, he offered her a brief, genuine smile.

"I'm often right."

Eri rolled her eyes, 'I can tell." She turned towards the street and started off,pausing briefly to turn back and call out behind her; "Enjoy your cake Ryuga, and, thanks. For talking to me, I mean."

As she walked down the street and out of sight and earshot, she failed to hear his softly muttered reply of "Your welcome."

He watched her retreating form until she was out of sight, then gingerly removed a sleek, black cellphone, dialing a number and holding it between his index finger and thumb, raising his other hand to his mouth to nibble at the nail.

"Watari, please bring up the files on all deceased members of the NPA in the last ten years, I have a theory I would like to confirm."

Several days after meeting and subsequently forgetting about the strange man she'd met in front of the hotel, Eri received her first world from Light since their fight in the form of a voicemail:

"Eri, I'm sorry about what I said the other day, but let me make it up to you. We haven't been to Spaceland in a couple of years, so how about we go on saturday, like old times? Let me know if you're up for it.

…..

Well there you have it, Eri's changed more than she probably anticipated and we get a first look at everyone's favorite panda-eyed detective! I just hope I did a good job of keeping him in character, he can be a challenge to write:\ I hope you liked the new chapter and as always, please let me know what you think:)

twilightamanda: I know exactly how you feel, part of me wanted to do that exact thing but I couldn't mess up the balance I'm trying to create. It definitely would have been interesting though….

Tziphora: Thanks so much! I hope you enjoyed the new chapter, I was gonna hold back on L for a bit but even I was getting a little impatient with my long winded scene-setting.

delahwly: I hope she didn't disappoint, thanks for your review:)