We're getting into the more explicit sexual stuff. If all goes as planned, we'll have L's perspective in the next chapter 3

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Chapter 29: Date Number 2, or the Baking Debacle

Aug 8, 2004; 04 20

Ryuzaki had never had cause to wonder if his teaching skills were up to par. What did it matter if it wasn't one of his strengths? He was an investigator by profession, after all. He couldn't rely on his own experience picking up combat lessons from Watari, for that man's method of teaching could be summed up via the phrase 'sink or swim'.

He needed to cut Rui loose, the sooner the better, but as it was, she was as sheep among wolves, or at the very least, a rabbit among foxes, able to evade danger to some extent, but unable to defend herself. She wasn't particularly aggressive by nature, either. What a conundrum.

From where she was supporting her frame on the floor with one arm in a backward plank position*, the troublesome woman looked up at him with large, guileless eyes, so clear that he could see his own reflection in them. As he moved forward, supporting her middle with a hand on her lower back to get her to arch up more, he let it linger just a second longer than he had to. She didn't seem to notice. Ryuzaki wondered what she saw when she looked at him. Didn't she know not to trust men, least of all him?

He stepped back, running a hand through his hair as he tried not to linger on the lovely way the curves of her bosom and derriere were highlighted as her body was held in that arched position, the way her shirt had slipped up to reveal a tantalising sliver of her stomach, or the way her chest rose and fell with exertion. Her skin really was just as soft as it looked-

He really ought to be avoiding her, but there was no one else who was suited to overseeing Rui's training. Any member of the task force could do it, in theory, since all police officers were required to learn judo, kendo or other native martial art forms. However, most of them were busy, and too many questions would arise upon his request. Watari... was not an option.

Despite it having had been years, Ryuzaki's limbs still smarted with phantom aches whenever he recalled one of Watari's combat lessons. He had been lucky that he'd had some instinct for combat, but Rui... Rui might perish under his instruction.

He swallowed as she shifted into a crouch, her rear in the air with all four limbs planted on the ground. Those leggings would not do. It wasn't at all her fault, but he'd see to it that she procured some looser clothing. She resumed the same backward plank position, this time supporting her body weight with her non-dominant arm, which was quivering.

"R-Ryuzaki?" Her voice was panicked. "Help me! I think I'm going to fall!"

You and me both , he thought ruefully, moving forward again and supporting her gently as she heaved a sigh of relief. You and me both, Rui .

But they had another two hours to go, and he intended to make full use of that time. The sooner she learnt to defend herself, the sooner he would be rid of a troublesome situation. They had about two months before the Kira case picked up again. Surely she'd be quite ready by then.

Aug 8, 2004; 10 00

Rui's limbs still felt like jelly, for Ryuzaki was a hard taskmaster. She didn't quite understand what lay in his head. Four days ago, right after she had finished her treadmill session, she had turned to find Matsuda and Ryuzaki in some sort of staring contest.

As always, she had greeted Matsuda with a smile. Matsuda's return greeting had been a little less exuberant than usual, though. He had looked between them, seeming to wrestle with a decision. It was moot, though, as Ryuzaki had cut him off the moment he'd opened his mouth.

"Come, Rui," the detective had said, guiding her gently but firmly towards the exit. "I need your assistance now."

But then he hadn't seemed to need her help in particular, which was quite strange. Instead, rather irritatingly, he kept asking her for things every time she tried to leave. He had first asked her to bring him two sugar cookies. And then he'd asked her for a fork. And then he'd asked her for a cinnamon roll. And then a pile of cinnamon rolls. And then some tea. Which he then claimed he needed a fresh pot of. And then he'd asked for another clean plate. Having given up on trying to leave, Rui had watched, brow furrowed and stomach growling, as Ryuzaki carefully placed one of the rolls on that clean plate, dressed it up with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles, and placed maraschino cherries all around the roll. He sure took his time with that one, and Rui hadn't understood it, for it was all going to end up in his belly anyway, or so she thought.

At one point, his antics briefly attracted Light's attention. "You can't have any," Ryuzaki had said, very childishly, in her opinion. But perhaps that was the whole point, for Light immediately averted his eyes, muttering that he hadn't wanted any, anyway.

However, somewhat uncharacteristically, Ryuzaki hadn't proceeded to eat his own creation. Instead, he suddenly met her gaze rather coyly, then looked away again, reaching out to tap the back of her hand to get her attention.

"I believe this might be to your taste," he'd murmured, subtly nudging the plate in her direction, peeking up at her through his lashes as he chewed the tip of his thumb. At that, her irritation at his countless demands inexplicably vanished, like sugar in hot tea.

Even now, four days later, Rui found herself smiling at the memory. It was more likely that Ryuzaki had simply changed his mind about eating his creation, but somehow, the way he offered her dessert was quite endearing. Cinnamon rolls were one of her favorites. Maraschino cherries, too, and chocolate.

Rui frowned, as that reminded her of her own fitness level, or lack thereof. She was getting better, but Ryuzaki's morning sessions often left her winded and her limbs aching. The way he'd gone about telling her of his decision to teach her capoeira had been rather abrupt, in her opinion. He'd simply called her that night, told her he was teaching her to defend herself, and that they would start at four AM the very next morning.

Ryuzaki had emphasised heavily on flexibility in that first lesson, devoting at least half an hour on various limb stretches. And then he'd made her do the ginga, a dynamic partial squat and lunge series of movements. All of this sounded easier than it really was, for he kept pushing her to go faster and faster and wouldn't let up at all. And somehow, despite the speed, he was always able to catch when she wasn't placing her foot or arms properly, and would move to correct them very strictly. It was all she could do to not trip, and she gave thanks to whatever gods existed in this world upon the end of that lesson. It wasn't over, though. He made sure she went out and rented capoeira videos to watch.

The grueling training continued the next morning, when she was again put through intense flexibility stretches, and also taught the Meia lua de compasso, which was the same move he used on Light. He made her repeat the kick over and over and over, alternating between legs, until by the end of the lesson her butt, lower back, shoulders, thighs and hamstrings ached like crazy. She never quite managed to achieve as high a kick as he did, though, but he seemed to accept that.

Which led them to where they were this day. The stretches helped (and so did painkillers), so that she was able to continue with the lesson, where he had her incorporating the meia lua de compasso into the ginga at the crazy speed he'd set her, first every two or four beats, then at weird, irregular intervals like every three or five counts. She supposed he was trying to beat flexibility into her skull. He would randomly call out what interval he wanted her to perform the kick at, and she was expected to shift immediately to that new rhythm. She lost count of the number of times she had tripped when attempting to switch rhythms. Yet remarkably, he was always able to catch her before she twisted something, so he must have been watching her with his full attention.

She tried not to think about the implications of that, instead, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other despite the aches and stiffness in her body.

"You're still walking a little stiffly. Did Ryuzaki do that to you?" Matsuda asked, from where he was walking beside her, laden with bags of icing sugar, flour and other baking ingredients.

"Yes, of course," Rui replied ruefully. Only Ryuzaki and his lessons could do that; she hadn't been working out enough otherwise. "My muscles are still aching. But it's for my own good, I suppose."

"Really? I thought it would've been good for the both of you." Matsuda looked equal parts intrigued and skeptical. "Must have been a rough night."

Rui supposed there was some merit in what he'd said. After all, training her must be helping Ryuzaki reinforce his own training. Besides, he must have his own reasons for training her in self-defense that were particularly important to him, or he wouldn't be doing it. "No, morning. Isn't exercise best in the morning?"

Matsuda looked taken aback. "A-ah, well I suppose it can be done whenever. But this kind of thing... isn't it usually done at night?"

What, did martial arts performance improve at night or something? She supposed that made sense; after all, one's voice always sounded best later in the day, as supposed to when one just woke up. Perhaps it was the same for agility. Matsuda would know better about that, since all police officers had martial arts training.

"Really?" Rui mused. "Perhaps I'll ask Ryuzaki about that."

"Come to think of it, what's Ryuzaki like? I wouldn't have expected it of such a listless guy."

Had Matsuda ever seen Ryuzaki in combat? Rui supposed not, besides the time he and Light had had a spat. No wonder he was surprised at the idea of Ryuzaki being physically active.

"You'd think so, but he's actually really strong and flexible," Rui defended. "He's also very sharp and attentive. He never misses anything I do."

"Wow, I wouldn't have known that Ryuzaki had it in him," Matsuda whistled, sounding impressed.

Was it so surprising that Ryuzaki was combat-capable? "I mean, if you don't believe me," Rui ventured, "you could always take him on yourself."

She certainly did not expect to be presented with an utterly horror-struck expression. "What, are you afraid of fighting Ryuzaki?"

"... Fighting him?" Matsuda repeated dumbly. "Who said anything about fighting Ryuzaki?"

...Weren't they just talking about it? What did he mean, 'who said anything about fighting Ryuzaki'?

Wait... did Matsuda not know that Ryuzaki was teaching her to defend herself? Rui paused.

She supposed the conversation could sound very different, depending on the context. Oh wait, she'd been silent too long.

"Matsui... I think there's been a misunderstanding," Rui began, trying not to blush. "Whatever you're imagining between Ryuzaki and me is most probably wrong. We were-" She paused. Was there a particular reason Ryuzaki wasn't telling other people about these combat lessons?

Was it something she should keep to herself? Better to err on the side of caution.

"A-anyway, it's not what you think it is!" she finished lamely. She could just tell what Matsuda was thinking. She would've worn the same look herself.

"You saw how Ryuzaki kicked Light during their fight," Rui tried again. Everyone in the task force had witnessed it. "He was trying to get me to learn to do something like that."

Matsuda's expression cleared up. Now that was more like it. Or so she thought, but the next words out of his mouth threw her for a loop.

"Ryuzaki really cares about you, huh?"

"I think... I think you're arbitrarily attaching meaning to Ryuzaki's actions," Rui refuted immediately, trying to sound confident. "Perhaps they might carry that meaning when someone else does them, but you know Ryuzaki always has utilitarian reasons for everything he does. In this case, as someone who works with him, how could I not know how to defend myself? Even Watari, despite the way he looks, must be a great fighter, yes?"

Matsuda didn't even try to look convinced. If he held that skeptical expression any longer, she was sure, it'd stick on his face forever. "Okay, look, why do you think Ryuzaki holds any special sentiment for me?"

The brief flash of triumph on Matsuda's face gave Rui the uneasy feeling that she might've stepped into some sort of verbal trap. But had she imagined it?

"I've seen the way he looks at you," Matsuda began. Rui frowned, about to open her mouth to refute that, but he powered on. "It's hard to say, but it's different from the way he looks at us. And in the gym that morning, it was just for a split second before he noticed me, but you should've seen the way he was staring at your back."

Matsuda continued to present the many observations that he had niggling in the back of his mind which supported his conclusion. They all sounded so reasonable in his head, less so out loud. Moreover, no matter what he said, he was met with a blank, glass-like gaze that revealed nothing but mild curiosity. He had been certain that Rui fancied Ryuzaki too, but he was beginning to doubt that, given her non-reaction. It really sucked that the rest of her features were concealed by the white surgical mask she wore, but he was willing to bet that they would be arranged to convey that same blankness, like a doll. It was at least marginally more inviting than the complete vacancy of Ryuzaki's default expression, though. If there was something indeed brewing between those two, they deserved each other, he decided.

He knew that more and more uncertainty was beginning to show in his voice. It was one of the many things he wished he could change about himself - neither the Chief nor his son ever seemed to doubt themselves when they spoke out. Maybe that was part of why everyone seemed to listen to them.

Rui stepped in just as he began to trail off. "Matsui, I can see why you think that," she said sagely, and for a moment, he was grateful that she wasn't being dismissive of him. "But it also tells me that you've been watching Ryuzaki a lot." That blank expression melted into one of mischief as she waggled her eyebrows. "Do you like Ryuzaki?"

WHAT! Him, Matsuda Touta, like L ? Romantically ? "How could you even say that?" he winced, disgusted and outraged. Unrepentant, she began humming an opening tune that was strangely familiar, moving her shoulders along in some bad facsimile of a dance.

"Embrace me, Dance Again, Is it a bad dream? The closed kiss is like ice~*" Rui began to warble quite badly, her voice trembling from laughter as she struck various lovesick poses. And that was when Matsuda recognised the song to be Dakishimete Jitterbug, and then he, too, was breaking into laughter.

"Your singing makes even the deaf weep!" he laughed.

"Admit that you looooove him and I'll stop!" was Rui's reply, and she started up again. She wouldn't let up until he finally gave in and told her he wouldn't bring up Rui and Ryuzaki's possible love affair, if she wouldn't bring up the utterly repugnant possibility of his and Ryuzaki's. He got goosebumps just thinking about it.

Soon, the conversation devolved to talk of their favorite songs to sing to, and of a possible karaoke date planned for Light and Misa, and by extension, Ryuzaki, Rui, and himself.

Aug 8, 2004; 14 00

Welp, it was time for another 'double date' with the Kiras. Misa had somehow, through sheer force of will and great ability at being an annoyance, extracted a promise from them all that she and Light would have a date every week, and by extension, with Ryuzaki and her coming along as well. Guess who got stuck planning the dates. At least, Misa was some help this time.

Seriously. The least Light could do was plan this thing himself with Misa. As it were, it was much easier if these 'dates' were held indoors, so Rui had planned a baking date for them all, given the capacious kitchen that took up almost the entirety of floor nine, but for a small sitting room. The kitchen was stocked with all manner of state-of-the-art appliances. Who even planned the layout and facilities of this building? It was random as heck, although really useful this day.

In all honesty, she wasn't sure how they would perform. Misa, she was confident, would have the least trouble, as she had hosted her own cooking show in her early days as a model. Rui had accidentally stumbled upon her videos as she was researching bake ideas, and they were surprisingly (or not so surprisingly, given how professional Misa could be) good - aesthetically filmed, with clear, step-by-step instructions on the process.

In fact, they were going to be making something from Misa's show. It had to be something easy enough that complete beginners like herself could make it, but not too easy, otherwise those geniuses would get bored. She also thought about having a mini competition between the two teams, with her and Ryuzaki on one, and Light and Misa on the other. The boys were sure to be insufferable, but it would at least motivate them to participate, and she could foist Misa off on Light. Two birds with one stone, and all that. It was a little illogical in that the two teams would be using different recipes - Misa wanted to make pink champagne cupcakes**, while Rui had a craving for berry ricotta almond parfait*** the moment she saw that video, so there they were.

All four of them were assembled, one of them nearly vibrating with excitement, and two of them with hands in their pockets, looking like they'd much rather be elsewhere. Rui couldn't say she felt the same, though. She'd never really baked in her life and was looking forward to using all that cool equipment.

"Light, let's make cupcakes for everyone here!" Misa chirped, as she grabbed his arm, looking adorable in her pink, frilly apron with a heart-shaped bodice. It was the same one she'd worn in her cooking show. "You and I will be on the same team, and Rui and Ryuzaki can be on the other!"

Light sighed, clearly resigned as he obligingly trailed Misa to their station, which was located about a metre away from each other to accommodate the handcuffs. Perhaps a baking date with L was the greater of two evils where he was concerned.

Rui peeked over at the other team as she removed the roasted almonds from the pan. Surprisingly, they seemed to be working quite well, with Light concentrating on stirring a heating saucepan of pink champagne and Misa whisking dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. So far so good.

Well, not when it came to her team mate. "Ryuzaki!" she exclaimed in dismay. He had been given the job of sugaring and mashing up the raspberries, and now they had half of the original quantity left. He froze guiltily as the raspberry he'd been holding between his fingers disappeared into his mouth, chewing unceremoniously and noisily.

Not ten minutes in and they already encountered trouble. Rui breathed in, pinching the top of her nose. They didn't have more raspberries, but they had strawberries. They'd have to substitute.

"All right, Ryuzaki, never mind. Here, you take this sugar and mix it in with the ricotta until it's smooth. Don't eat it." So saying, she marched to the fridge, took out an undefined quantity of strawberries that looked roughly to be about the same amount as the raspberries, and began to prepare them.

She frowned. They were taking a bit longer than she'd expected, for they weren't as juicy as the raspberries turned out in the video. She added more sugar, then added a little strawberry jam, in the hope that it would replicate some of the juices. Only time would tell if it was the right decision. In the meantime, Ryuzaki had finished with his ricotta, and he was now skulking about behind the other two, bothering them, stealing ingredients, and generally being a nuisance as Misa tried to flirt with Light, attempting to help him with mixing the butter and vanilla. Rui snickered behind her mask as Ryuzaki sneaked some of the pink and white pearl sprinkles that were meant to garnish the frosting. He withdrew his hand right before Misa's wooden spoon connected.

Well, Ryuzaki could entertain himself, she decided, as she brought the immersion blender into the heavy whipped cream. She glanced over at the other station, where Ryuzaki was now virtually breathing down Light's neck as the latter studiously ignored him, trying to concentrate on adding milk bit by bit to something that he was mixing with an electric mixer as Misa cuddled up to him. That had to be the frosting, Rui guessed. She congratulated herself on having chosen something with less potential for mess. The other team was really fast, though. Misa already had her cupcakes in the oven, and they smelled good.

She squinted at the next set of instructions. Fold the whipped cream into the ricotta? What on earth did that mean? Banishing visions of whipped cream shirts being ironed and folded, she watched intently as Misa in the video seemed to add the whipped cream on top of the ricotta, then cut into the bottom of the mixure in the middle, and brought one half of the mixture over the other, again and again.

"What are you doing?" Ryuzaki's calm monotone sounded from right behind her ear, making her drop the entire jar of whipped cream into the mixing bowl of ricotta, base-first, only barely managing to catch the bowl before it tumbled over the edge of the table. Some of the ricotta splashed out onto the laptop screen and keyboard.

By reflex, she fished the jar out of the ricotta, then realised she needed to salvage the laptop first. But she couldn't put down the jar with its ricotta-covered exterior, so she froze. And cursed.

"I'll get that." With that, a pale, lanky arm reached out from behind her, wiping at the laptop using a dishcloth held with a two-fingered grip.

For what wasn't the last time, Rui couldn't help thinking that Ryuzaki smelled good. Why was it that she could smell his softboy lavender smell even amidst the sweet scents of baking goods?

Did he have to stand so close? She could feel the heat of his body off to the right just slightly, behind her, as she tried to scrape the ricotta off the jar exterior with a spoon. She wanted to move away, but she had to hold the jar above the mixing bowl so that it wouldn't drip elsewhere.

And then her clumsy fingers dropped the spoon into the mixing bowl as well. They'd only had extra large mixing bowls in stock, so now the spoon was buried somewhere in the ricotta at the bottom of the bowl.

"Ah." Rui really wanted to facepalm, but she had her hands occupied. Now Ryuzaki was reaching around her waist to fish the spoon out with chopsticks. Give her cardiac arrest, why didn't he. Great, now her hands were trembling noticeably.

Rui breathed out slowly, trying to pass that off as irritation and not nerves at his proximity. Giving up all pretense of adhering to best practices in baking, she carelessly scraped the jar exterior off with her fingers and wiped them off the edge of the bowl, as Ryuzaki released the ricotta-covered spoon from his chopstick hold and withdrew his arm.

Turning around to thank him, she wasn't prepared for how closely Ryuzaki was still skulking about behind her. In a moment of weakness, her eyes were drawn downwards, to the way his mouth puckered slightly as he sucked once, twice, languidly, on the tips of the chopsticks.

Quickly, she moved her gaze up to meet his, the way she'd originally intended to. But the soft, hungry look in his eyes, a perfect mirror to her own emotions, did not allow her to feign normalcy. Swallowing, Rui's gaze was drawn back down to his lips as they released the chopsticks. Just for a millionth of a second, so briefly that it would have been missed had she not been watching so intently, the tip of his tongue curled, swiping around the very tip of the chopsticks before he removed them.

She should have looked away then and there, but he caught her eyes again. His gaze, brimming with so much want and promise, lingered, almost caressing hers. She felt herself twitch pleasurably down there, accompanied by a hot seep between her legs that was her getting wet. Nothing particularly dramatic, just noticeable enough to her that she made a mental note to change panties as soon as they were done.

It couldn't have been more than a second before he turned away to place his chopsticks in the sink, releasing her from his spell. She vaguely registered that he was shuffling over to the other team to harass them again, but she was more focused on slowing the rapidity of her breathing pattern and the flushed, racing feeling of her foolish, sensitised body. She squeezed her thighs together and clasped her trembling hands, willing them to stop shaking.

A quick glance around assured Rui that no one had caught that little exchange. Misa and Light were both bent over the frosting with some pink food coloring as they tried to get it to a pleasing color without it going into bubblegum territory. She wasn't sure what Ryuzaki was doing, as she was decidedly NOT looking at him. The implications of their mutual exchange were another conundrum she'd have to deal with, but for now, they had to add the whipped cream to the ricotta-

Rui caught the acrid smell of something burning and instinctively looked to the oven where Misa and Light had their cupcakes baking. Alarmingly, there was some smoke coming from it, and it was getting thicker by the second. Misa screamed as whatever was inside caught fire, clutching Light's arm.

Springing into action, Rui rushed towards the oven, upsetting her bowl of ricotta in the attempt. Light, who managed to shake Misa off, got there before her, turning off the oven, and she nodded to him as she reached for the ventilator button. They all rushed out of the kitchen, shutting the door behind them as they waited for the ventilator to do its job. Rui winced, thinking of the elbow grease she'd have to put in to salvage the oven.

"Well, that was an experience," Ryuzaki mumbled dryly from his position beside Light, as the boy looked worriedly to the smoke-covered kitchen. Rui looked away before he turned to her.

"Misa's cupcakes..." the model lamented dejectedly. Rui felt for her. Her parfait was ruined, and she'd been so looking forward to it, too. And the huge mess under her purview! But first things first...

"Is everyone all right?" she asked, taking off her own apron and looking around at all of them. The enthusiasm of their responses varied from a chipper 'yes!' to a non-response.

There was a brief awkwardness as everyone looked around at everyone else before Light spoke up. "It's been an hour, Ryuzaki. We should get back to work."

"Whaaaat~? Already?" Misa whined, but Light was unrelenting.

"Sorry, Misa, but we have to catch Kira," he said firmly, then looked to Rui. "Thank you for planning this, Rui."

Rui bowed in response as the boys walked towards the staircase.

"Come on, Misa. You should get back to your living quarters, too-"

She was interrupted by Misa's tackle hug, which nearly bowled her over. "Did you see the way Light and I got closer?" she gushed happily, swaying them around. Rui personally saw nothing of the sort, but if Misa was satisfied, her job was done. "So I have some other ideas for the dates, and next time maybe I could also lend you some-"

Well, Date Number 2 was a success. Kind of.

Notes:

*Part of the lyrics to Dakishimete Jiruba, the Japanese cover to Careless Whisper. Just google on Youtube.
"抱きよせて Dance again (Dakiyosete Dance again)
悪い夢なのか ふさいだキスは氷のようさ (Warui yume nanoka Fusaida kiss wa kouri no yousa)"

**freshcoasteats pink champagne cupcakes: /pink-champagne-cupcakes/

***nibbleanddine almond raspberry ricotta parfaits: /almond-raspberry-ricotta-parfaits