Anger. Jealousy. Betrayal.

Lawliet watched the screen in front of him. The scone he had been eating beforehand was a melting mess on the floor, his hands in clenched fists to stop himself from striking the computers.

Her erotic sounds echoed throughout the room as Light Yagami pleasured her in ways Lawliet could not.

Chief Yagami paced the living room, trying to ignore it. "I can't believe my well behaved son would do this! For God sake, his mother and sister are still in the house! He would never-!"

"Sometimes the people we think we know aren't who they seem." L murmured, a faraway look in his dark eyes.

Above all the feelings he felt right now, hurt was the emotion that suffocated him the most. His breathing became heavier as she became louder. His nails dug deeper into his palms as Light buried himself further into her. His heart became colder as she revealed her true self to someone other than him.

The screen suddenly went dark. Watari grasped the remote in his hand, ending the torture. "I'll take over. Take a break, Ryuzaki."

L nodded with a blank expression. "Call Reina and tell her to come back with a report on her discoveries."

With that, he got up and walked away. He didn't realize where his body had carried him until he found himself in her room. A single candle illuminated the walls, Reina always afraid of the dark which led her to take extra precautions in case the power were to go out. He chuckled to himself. Typical.

A ghost of a smile reached his lips, seeing the photograph on the nightstand. It showed the entrance of the orphanage they lived in back when they were young. He was carrying her small body on his back, struggling to carry her squirming self. The rest of the children crowded around them. Everyone grinned at the camera.

He wished to go back to the time when he was protecting her from those bullies who envied her. She was the perfect princess with her knight in shining armor stuck by her side. Her smile was real and she was truly happy.

Key word: Was

Now, he could see the light in her eyes dimming. Her forced smile around him, trying to maintain the façade that she was not dying inside. He could tell that with every passing day, a piece of her is lost. He feared that one day, he would look at her face and not recognize the person in front of him.

Watari once said to dispose of anything that might reveal their true identities.

As usual, she never listens.

Holding the photograph above the flame, he watched as it was consumed by flaring orange. The memory disappeared, with only ashes remaining.

The old times are gone. He thought to himself, making his way out the door. Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment... until it becomes a memory.

At that moment, Lawliet wished he had valued their times together, the distance between them growing with every step he took.

~*~

"So here's the deal." Reina began, pausing to take a sip from her hot drink.

The strong smell of caffeine and cocoa beans were heavy in the air. Chatter and the sound of life surrounded them. The coffee shop had just been a few minutes walk from the house.

"Kira."

He laughed. "You must not be completely sober."

"I can smell your fear." She giggled, biting her lip. "Let's go somewhere we don't have an audience. Then we'll talk."

His body stiffened, knowing she was referring to the hidden surveillance cameras. 'How the hell did she know?'

"Fine. Let's go."

She smirked. "It's a date."

Light watched her every movement, the voice in his head warning him that she was dangerous and a liability. At least he already knew her name and had even checked her passport when she was asleep, giving him a sense of security. Reina Yumiko. The purse he had looked through was sitting on her lap.

Of course, he did not know it was a fake passport.

She continued. "Since I know who you are, it's only fair that you know who I am."

He frowned, "I am not Kira."

"So you say." Reina nodded, noticing how his foot tapped impatiently underneath the table. She noted how good he was at controlling his facial expression, but she could tell how annoyed he was getting. "You are the Chief of Police's son and smart enough to hack into his files. In one of these police reports, have you ever came across The Seductress?"

He looked up slightly, recognizing the alias, but feigned ignorance. "I'll play along for now. Let's say I did. What's the relevance?"

"I am that woman."

His heart stuttered, remembering exactly what the report had said. 

"Don't believe me?"

He scoffed, looking away from her bewitching eyes. "Any normal person wouldn't."

Reina's lips curled into a smile. She reached over, placing her hand over his. He tensed for a moment before relaxing. The way her index finger traced the lines on his palm, although he hated to admit it, made him unwind and brought him a feeling of tranquility.

That feeling shattered as she began to speak.

"When you're not lying, your average blinking rate is 17-20 blinks per minute. When you do lie, you try to keep steady eye contact, shortening it down to 9-12. Furthermore, people tend to look up a little and then to the left when they're lying, which you did instinctively. When someone is trying to mock a feeling, their expression tends to be limited to only mouth movement. Even you can't fake micro expressions."

He tried to pull away from her hand but she kept a tight grip, pressing on his wrist.

"Nervous? Your heart rate has increased to twice the rate it was before."

Agitation was written all over his face. He finally managed to escape her grasp, rubbing his bruised skin. His eyes narrowed into a sharp glare, realizing that he'd clearly underestimated her abilities. He wanted nothing more than to kill her at this moment, but his inner strategist told him to be patient. No matter how infuriating she was, her skill in the art of body language would be particularly useful later on.

There was also a small part of him that was infatuated with her, impressed by the woman.

1, 2 and 3...

RING! RING! RING!

The fire alarms suddenly went off. People screamed in panic and scrambled to safety. Reina watched as Light glanced down at his pocket in slight apprehension. That was all she needed.

Her hand swiftly snatched the wallet from his jean pocket.

"Hey-!"

"Upon hearing a smoke alarm, a mother would look towards her child." She dodged his hands as he tried to grab it back, seeing the fear in his once collected eyes. "Amazing how alarms can expose our true priorities."

Reina ran into the mass of people who were trying to leave the coffee shop. Passing by a table, she grabbed a trench coat that had been left behind and took a beanie right off a woman's head. In her new disguise, she lost Light in the crowd. Once she was a safe distance away, she began to look through what she had acquired.

Nothing unusual. A few credit cards here and there, some cash, an I.D. Her fingers brushed against a folded piece of notebook paper before she finally gave up.

A large, eerie shadow suddenly loomed over her.

"Looks like the apple is out of the bag," A dark voice snickered from behind her.

Reina turned around slowly, coming face to face with a God of Death.

— — —
Caf·feine
/ kaˈfēn,ˈkafˌēn /
noun
A crystalline compound that is found especially in tea and coffee plants and is a stimulant of the central nervous system.
— — —

A/N: To those who noticed.. Yes, I did use a Sherlock line... Also, Benedict Cumberbatch is my daddy *le smirk*