A/N: Thanks to L Lawliet 4ever (I couldn't respond, but thank you so much for reviewing!) and to everyone who put this story on their Story Alert/Favorite Stories List!

30 Kisses

Theme #16 = All Your/My Life

Chapter Five: Thank-You Kisses

Finally blushing, Jackson focused her gaze on Ryuzaki. "I think we need to have a talk."

"About what?' Ryuzaki asked, nibbling on the end of his thumb again.

"I don't know," Jackson replied sarcastically, "maybe about how you knew who I was?"

Giving her a blank stare, Ryuzaki turned and began to walk towards the entrance of the food store. "I don't believe this is a matter we should discuss in public."

Jackson blushed at her lack of discretion. She'd made it a habit not bring up things from her past because of… what had happened, and suddenly she doesn't mind talking about in the middle of very public place? The Witness Protection Program had her under their wing, so to speak, for a reason. Admittedly, she'd long since settled into her new life, and no hassles had come about, but that didn't mean it wasn't still dangerous. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"Obviously."

With a scowl at his response, Jackson followed him back into the downpour.

Or, would have followed him back into the downpour, had Watari not been ready and waiting with the large black umbrella. Once both Jackson and Ryuzaki had reentered the car, Watari sat down in the driver's seat and started the vehicle.

"Wait a second; where are we going?" Inwardly, Jackson was cursing herself. She probably looked incredibly stupid in front of Ryuzaki, whom she was beginning to suspect was an incredibly smart man. First she had possibly ruined her cover, and then she had willingly gotten back into a car with strange men without first asking their destination.

Ryuzaki, who had begun to eat a bar of Hershey's dark chocolate, turned to face her in his seat. Not bothering to swallow before speaking, he said, "To my current living arrangements."

"Your current living arrangements? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," here Ryuzaki paused to swallow and take another bite of his candy bar, "that I move around a lot."

Jackson nodded. She could relate to that. Although having no issues with her new identity, she'd never felt completely safe and, as a result, she'd lived in numerous places over the years.

Fifteen minutes of awkward silence later and they'd pulled up to a hotel. An extremely expensive, five-star hotel, Jackson noted with a small, knowing smile. Her original guess had been right: Ryuzaki was a man with money. Whether the money was family money, or earned with hard-work she didn't know, but at this point it didn't really matter. What mattered was finding out how Ryuzaki knew her identity.

Shuffling inside, Ryuzaki passed by the front desk without so much as a glance despite the workers' polite, "Welcome back, Mr. Ryuzaki."

Going straight for the elevator, Ryuzaki stepped into the metal compartment and pressed the button for the penthouse floor. Jackson jumped past the doors just before they closed and sent a scathing glare to her companion. "You could have held the door you know."

"You were perfectly capable of getting in the elevator without my help."

Pursing her lips in a scowl, Jackson remained silent until the quiet was too much for her to bear. Watching the numbers over the elevators count up, she asked, "Where's Watari?"

"He went to get me more sugar."

"Sugar?" What could he possibly need more sugar for? But Ryuzaki said nothing, instead opting to finish off his candy bar and toss the wrapper to the floor. Gasping with incredulity, Jackson bent down to pick it up off the floor and scolded, "Ryuzaki! Shame on you!"

Once again, Ryuzaki gave her a blank stare that told her how much he actually didn't care. As it was, the elevator had come to a stop at the penthouse floor. Ryuzaki's "living arrangements" were, to say the least, pristine. Although it seemed her companion had no problem tossing trash where he stood, the penthouse was completely clean and free messes.

Standing there for a moment, Ryuzaki turned to Jackson and said, "Excuse while I go change."

Jackson watched as he disappeared around a corner and took a moment to frown upon the male species. Here she was, soaked to the bone because her exit from the car, and he wanted to get changed? Men. Selfish; the lot of them.

Ryuzaki returned less than five minutes later, dressed in the same exact style of clothing as before, but dry. To her surprise, he also carried another dry long-sleeved shirt and a pair jeans, which he handed off to her as he ordered, "Go change. The bathroom is the second door on the right."

Unwilling to look a gift horse in the mouth, Jackson changed into the proffered clothing. When she did shuffle back to the main room, after cuffing the pants' hems several times so as not to trip, Watari had already arrived from his errand and Ryuzaki had proceeded to drop several spoonfuls of sugar into a small cup of tea. Sitting back on the couch, knees once more pulled to his chest as he sipped delicately from the teacup, Ryuzaki stared at her unblinkingly as she entered from the bathroom.

Watari took her wet clothes from her hands before she could ask, so she took the chance while he was gone to say, "Tell me how you knew."

"I told you," Ryuzaki replied, setting his teacup on the coffee table in favor of a chocolate-covered strawberry, "I recognized your face."

"You don't understand, Ryuzaki, I've been hiding in plain sight for what feels like all my life and no one has ever once recognized me. How did you?"

"I'm trained to notice such things." His answer was vague, and only succeeded in frustrating her more. Before she had a chance to say what she really wanted to say, which was something considerably rude given the circumstance, Ryuzaki gestured to the space on the cough next to him. "Come. Sit. Tell me."

She wasn't a stupid woman. She knew what he meant. He wanted her to tell him what had forced her to go under the Witness Protection Program. But from what information she'd already gathered from knowing him, something told her that he already knew what her circumstances had been. This was just a reinforcement technique. "I saw my family murdered. Right in front of me. My mother, my father, my brother, even my baby sister. "

Ryuzaki said nothing, and she took it as a cue to continue, despite the tears that had begun gather in her eyes. Some things don't get better with time. "The serial killer, or-or who they-they thought it was left me alive. It's apparently the way he kills. His-his method, I guess."

"Nine years," Ryuzaki mused aloud, "and they still haven't found the murderer."

"Yes; how did you know?"

"People aren't kept under the Witness Protection Program unless they have yet to testify, which means you haven't testified because the killer is still at large."

Swallowed back her tears the best she could, Jackson distracted herself by tucking her hair behind her ears. "And I'm beginning to think they never will."

Ryuzaki leaned towards her, cocking his head to the side, and giving her one of those familiar strange looks. "I could find him, or her, in a week."

Snorting in doubt, Jackson wiped away the tear that had trickled down her cheek with her thumb. "Oh, yeah, sure. What could one guy do in one week that a whole team couldn't do in nine years?"

"I'm quite competent."

"Is that so?"

"It is. I'm not a famous detective for nothing."

"What?" Jackson paused mid-sniffle. Was she sitting next to a mentally unsound human being? Should she be worried for her safety? Watari came around the corner to set a small plate of sugar cubes on the coffee table. "You could—who are you?"

"L."

"Wait. So… 'L?' As in… that's your name? As in… the detective from…" Jackson momentarily debated punching him the nose, and then cementing the action by stepping on his sweets, but then her mind caught on his boast. "You—you could find him?"

The pair locked gazes. "And I will."

Jackson's heart began beating fast in her chest. She sat up straight. "Are you serious?"

"I've never been particularly fond of jokes."

Overwhelmed by the possibility of catching her family's murderer, Jackson slung her arms around Ryuzaki's… or was it L's… neck, jostling him enough that he dropped the strawberries in his hands. Jackson covered his mouth with her own and pressed him against the arm of the couch. Drawing a breath long enough say, "Thank you! Thank you," before leaning back down give him another joy-induced kiss.

The sound of glass clinking softly on the coffee table brought Jackson's attention back to reality. Watari, however, was already walking back into the kitchen.

L sat up, clearing his throat as he did so. A barely tangible flush rode high on his cheekbones as he said, "Now, tell me anything and everything you remember from that day, and exactly the way you remember it."

A/N: Okay, so right now, Jackson's story seems kiiiiinda similar to Misa's, but it's really not. All shall be revealed soon enough! But anyway, thank you so much for reading, and pleeeease review! I said it before, and I'll say it again: I like knowing what I've done right, what I've done wrong, or what I should do better.

Thanks again for reading! :3