Rivals.

"My fears are," She whispered now, wanting L's full attention and getting it almost immediately. "...Myself, meeting other people face-to-face..."

There was a pause.

L uncharacteristically longed to urge her to say something else, he wasn't sure why but he wanted to hear the sound of her sweet voice again. Instead he said, "Why yourself?"

She giggled, a sound that made L feel tingly, almost embarrased...Shy. "Oh, I can be pretty scary, y'know."

"Really."

"Yes..." She dragged out the S.

Another awkward silence; neither of them were really used to interacting with other humans that weren't already used to them.

"The drug case," L said finally. "You didn't tell me why you choose a drug case."

"Oh. That." She seemed exasperated at having to explain, which confused L mightily. "I choose it because I was afraid of myself."

She wasn't making any sense.

L waited for her to continue, plopping three more sugar cubes into his tea and watching her dip her finger in a tub of chocolate spread and lick it off delicately. This girl was mighty confusing, and so young too...She was what, fifteen? She was distracted so easily, a characteristic of a small child, and it was very difficult to believe that she was the mastermind behind all those cases solved by Deneuve. He was starting to doubt that this was even his true rival, but then again, why would he/she send such an odd girl?

Maybe he was thinking too hard about this, in fact, a lot of people considered him to be strange and not what was expected of a detective. What was expected of a detective?

Before he had much time to ponder this he noticed how extremely close Makenna was getting. He looked into her uncertain eyes, his own full of wonder. What was-

Makenna had pressed her lips to his with quite a bit of force and L's response was to freeze in place.

Her lips are so sweet.

After a while L began to loosen up, kissing back feverishly.

It was amazing.

That unexplainable feeling was coming back, much, much stronger than the first time he saw her. His heart started beating faster than before and his cheeks flushed. He was suddenly so aware of how close she was, her warmth, how little she felt in his arms...

He groaned softly into her lips.

She pulled back, closing her eyes gently and licking her lips. He didn't want her to stop, she tasted so good...But then he thought about the investigation. He had to clear his mind of this before it started really distracting him. Was this her plan? To win purely by making him want her so much he wouldn't...No, couldn't focus? She had just unknowingly taken his first kiss.

Makenna stood up slowly and shuffled from foot to foot awkwardly. She seemed fairly uncertain of what to do at this point.

"Um...I...I'll send you an email tonight, okay? I've already arranged for you to stay in a hotel."

And with that she almost ran from the room, leaving L stunned.