ExplodingPotatoes, THANK YOU for reviewing! ^.^ You SHOULD feel special! heehee Yesh...moosey fate... We couldn't resist xD Because you are so nice and asked for more, I am granting your request :)

This chapter is based on a conversation S and I (K) had about the bags under L's eyes. He must be very sleep-deprived to have under-eye rings like that! Who's with me? I mean, come on! But he's still uber-kawaii regardless x3

To anyone else who may be reading this, it would mean a lot to me if you reviewed! They really make my day, even if they're short :) (Thanks again, ExplodingPotatoes!)

Enjoy the manic-ness ^.^

-III. Concealer-

Kimiko and Suki peeked around the corner, looking at their target -Ryuzaki. He was sitting unsuspectingly in the chair in front of the TV, munching on a piece of cake.

"You got it?" Suki whispered.

"In my pocket," Kimiko answered.

"Are we ready to proceed, then?"

"Yes, but I think we should do so with caution. We don't want to alarm the target, or give any indication of our true intentions. Any little thing might tip him off."

Suki nodded at her partner. "Right."

"Uh...what are you two doing?"

The two slueths looked up at the latest addition to the Kira Task Force, Light. They smiled innocently up at him.

"What makes you sound so suspicious, Light?" Kimiko asked.

"Is it right to automatically assume that we're up to something?" Suki chimed in.

Light raised an eyebrow at them. He'd dubbed the both of them "maniacs" and "insane" after the Kira Reply Video Incident (that was still not discussed among the team members). He knew full well that it was right to assume they were being sneaky. Especially when they were hiding behind a corner looking at Ryuzaki.

"I know what you're thinking," Kimiko said.

"Oh?" Light asked, somewhat curious to see if she really knew or not.

"You're thinking about the whole video thing, right?"

Surprise flickered across Light's face, but he stayed otherwise emotionless.

Kimiko grinned. "Well, we're not up to anything like that, so you have no reason to worry!"

"Now if you plan on alerting Ryuzaki over there, I'm afraid we'll have to incapacitate you," Suki warned.

Light didn't doubt they could do it. He also knew that they had enough knowledge of criminals' minds that they could kill him and make it look like an accident.

Suki smiled, thinking that she'd scared Light enough to keep him quiet.

"So...what are you up to?" Light asked.

"You'll see..." Kimiko sang quietly. "Ready?" she asked Suki.

"Whenever you are," her cohort replied.

"Then I'm going in." Kimiko pulled something from her pocket and quickly handed it to Suki -so quickly that Light couldn't tell what it was. A pen, maybe? What would they be doing with a pen?

Kimiko stood from the "hiding place", and nonchalantly walked over to the couch next to Ryuzaki's chair. She rested her elbows on the back of the couch, leaning forward. "Whatcha watching?" she asked.

Honestly, Light thought, if these girls were actresses, they'd blow everybody else away! You'd never suspect Kimiko had a plan up her sleeve walking over there and asking that question like that!

It was true -Kimiko was acting far calmer than usual. It didn't escape Ryuzaki's notice, but he didn't comment on it right away.

"A crime drama of some sort," Ryuzaki replied, taking another bite of cake.

What else? Kimiko thought in an "Of course" way.

She exhaled, looking at the TV. Actually, it seemed she was looking right through it.

Ryuzaki looked at her as he swallowed his bite. "You seem...off today," he said.

"Oh?" she asked, only briefly glancing at him. "Do I?"

"Yes," he said. "Usually you're bouncing around and annoying everyone. Is something wrong?"

Kimiko looked over her shoulder at Suki, and winked.

Suki replied with a thumbs-up.

Light stood by silently, now intriguied at what their plan could possibly be. He was so curious, in fact, that he went to hide where Suki was hiding. He didn't want to risk messing their plan up.

Kimiko turned back to staring through the TV and shrugged. "Not really. I'm just...worried about something."

"Do you mind if I ask what you're worried about?"

Now she turned and looked at Ryuzaki, as if she were contemplating whether or not to tell him what she was thinking about or not. She stood from where she'd been leaning, and walked around so she was in front of Ryuzaki. She scooted his coffee cup to the side, and sat down on the coffee table, resting her chin in the hands, staring at Ryuzaki.

He continued to eat his cake, only slower now. He watched Kimiko cautiously, wondering what on earth was going through her head. Then thinking that maybe he didn't want to know.

Kimiko dragged the silence on for as long as she could. She just sat and blinked. And blinked some more, looking pensive.

"Ryuzaki?"

"...Yes?" he asked carefully.

Kimiko blinked for a couple more seconds. "Are you getting enough sleep?"

Now he blinked at her in slight confusion. "What?"

"Well, the bags under your eyes. Someone on a regular sleep schedule doesn't have big, dark circles under their eyes."

Ryuzaki cleared his throat, lowering his cake plate. "I assure you, your concern is unnecessary. I get all the sleep I need. I'm perfectly fine." He looked at her. "Why this sudden worrying spell?" he asked. "You've known for quite a while now about my not-so-normal sleep patterns."

"I know," she said. "It just seems like the circles are getting darker now."

"Hmm?" Ryuzaki asked, touching a couple fingers just under his left eye. He looked at Kimiko again. "...Why do you care so much about this?"

She actually blushed, and even Kimiko herself didn't know if she was acting or not. "Never mind that. Suki and I think we've found a solution to your problem."

"Really?" Ryuzaki asked, bracing himself for Suki to come in with some sort of under-eye-circle vacuum or something.

"Yep." Kimiko leaned around Ryuzaki and signaled to Suki.

Suki nodded and stood, walking over to stand next to Kimiko. "Say hello to our solution," Suki said, holding up what Light had thought was a pen.

Ryuzaki stared at the shiny round tube. "...What is it?"

Kimiko took the tube from Suki and uncapped it. "It's perfectly harmless!" She twisted the bottom, and the end of a skin-colored stick of...something appeared.

Ryuzaki was already feeling afraid.

"We promise, it won't burn or anything," Suki said, crossing her heart.

"I use it myself," Kimiko said, trying to reassure Ryuzaki of their good intentions.

"But...what is it?"

"I have to say I'm wondering the same thing," Light said, walking closer. "What is that?"

Kimiko and Suki gave Ryuzaki and Light "Come on. Seriously?" looks.

"You guys have never seen this before?" Kimiko asked.

The two guys shook their heads.

"Light, you've got two girls living with you! You've never seen your sister or your mom use something like this?" Suki asked, pointing to the mysterious magic solution in Kimiko's hand.

"Like I pay that much attention to my sister's and mom's makeup practices?" he asked.

Suki sighed.

Ryuzaki looked at the tube fearfully. "...Makeup?"

Kimiko rolled her eyes and shot Light a look. "It is not makeup!" She smiled sweetly at Ryuzaki. "It's just some concealer!"

"...Concealer?"

"And you call yourself the world's greatest detective." Kimiko shook her head. "Ryuzaki, all you've gotta do it sit still and close your eyes. I'll take care of the rest."

"And I'll supervise," Suki said, smiling widely.

Ryuzaki's eyes widened and shook his head, the black spikes of his hair flurrying about wildly.

"Come on," Kimiko cajoled.

Ryuzaki just shook his head again.

"Please?"

Nope.

Her gaze hardened slightly. "L...?"

He shook his head even more vigorously.

Kimiko's look now edged on a glare. She turned and calmly handed the stick of concealer to Suki, then turned back to Ryuzaki. She stood and leaned forward, her hands on the armrests of the chair Ryuzaki was stuck in.

He leaned as far away from her as he could, wishing he could just run for it.

"Say yes," she said, her voice soft and strong and threatening all at the same time, "...or I'll use your full name."

Ryuzaki's eyes widened. "You wouldn't."

"Try me."

Ryuzaki might've been able to come up with a way to get out of that particular form of extortion (like the fact that he knew Kimiko's real name, too), but his fear was hindering his reasoning skills. He knew that Kimiko and Suki were not ones to be trifled with. Especially Kimiko when it came to himself. She could easily take him out and knock him unconscious. (He knew from experience. But it'd only happened once. Okay, maybe three or four times...)

Light, who'd also heard Kimiko's threat, felt gleeful hope. L's real name? That was something he desperately needed if he was going to stay Kira and create the new world he wanted. Would it really be so easy to figure it out? Was a little makeup all it took to break the great L?

"L..." Kimiko said.

He swallowed, averting his eyes from her glare. He gritted his teeth, gripping the armrests so hard that his knuckles started turning white. He looked very much like he was in pain.

"L La-"

A breath hissed out through his teeth. "Fine," he said quietly.

Kimiko's glare disappeared and was instantly replaced with a look of pure glee. She laughed. "Yay! Thanks, Ryuzaki!"

Light grunted frustratedly in his head. Damn, he thought. So close.

"Just sit back, relax, and we'll have those under-eye circles gone in no time!" Kimiko promised.

"You sound like one of those shopping channel ladies," Suki said. She plastered a fake smile on her face and held up the concealer. "It'll make it look like you have no eyes!"

"What? !" Ryuzaki asked worriedly.

"She's kidding," Kimiko said, shooting Suki a look. "Gimme that." She snatched the concealer from Suki and twisted the bottom again. "Suki, make sure he doesn't escape."

"Right-o!" she said, walking around to stand at the side of the chair.

Kimiko leaned down closer to Ryuzaki, moving the concealer to his face.

Ryuzaki swallowed again.

"Oh, calm down," Kimiko said. "You're acting like this major surgery, or like you're in a horror movie or something."

I think I must be, Ryuzaki thought. A really bad horror movie called Attack of the Makeup-Wielding Maniacs.

;;;;;

"What do you mean, there's no more?" Suki asked incredulously.

Kimiko turned the tube upside down, squinting up into it. "I mean it's all gone!"

"You mean you used it all and...?" Suki asked, gesturing to Ryuzaki's face.

"My eyes feel heavier, if that's any consolation," Ryuzaki said.

Kimiko sighed and hung her head, utterly defeated.

"What's wrong?" Ryuzaki asked.

Light shook his head. Leave it to Kimiko and Suki to experiment with something like this, he thought. And of course they'd get a result like this.

"Take a look for yourself," Suki said, holding up a hand mirror.

Ryuzaki took it from her (holding it by the edges, of course), looking at his reflection.

The bags under his eyes were still there. In fact, they looked completely unchanged.

"It's like I just drew on his face with a white crayon!" Kimiko said, shocked that their experiment had failed. "It did nothing! No-thing!" she said, separating the word into two words.

"Does this stuff actually work for you?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Of course!" Kimiko said.

He handed the mirror back to Suki. "Well, I'm going to go wash this stuff off, if you don't mind." He hopped down from his chair, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Before he went over to the bathroom, he pulled one of his hands out of his pocket and patted Kimiko on the head. This was his version of offering comfort.

"This is ridiculous," Kimiko grumbled, looking at the empty tube. She turned it over and over in her hands, briefly scanning over the side effects and uses. All the stuff that was always printed too small to read, and was basically just there so you couldn't sue the company that made it because the warnings were there, technically.

Then something caught her eye. She raised the tube up closer, straining to make out the tiny lettering.

This concealer is not to be used for under-eye circles that are ever-present, and reoccuring. Be careful not to use too much concealer, as it may make your under-eye darkness look WORSE.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"What, the warnings?"

Kimiko snapped her head up to look at Suki. "What? ! You knew? !"

"Of course I did," Suki replied calmly.

"Then WHY did you go along with this plan? And let ME do this? !"

"'Cause there's nothing better to do around here," Suki said, shrugging.

Kimiko sighed heavily, facepalming and falling backward onto the carpet.

"You alright?"

Kimiko looked at Ryuzaki, then groaned, rolling over onto her stomach and burying her face in the carpet.

His under-eye circles looked lighter now...without the concealer.

The second part of the warning Kimiko found was one that I actually read on the internet, and it seemed fitting to put it in here ^.^

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Until next time :D