Disclaimer: I don't own.

Warnings: Not officially beta'd, though I had it looked over. Some spoilers for canon (manga, mainly) events revolving around the "relationship" of Amane Misa and Lawliet L.

A/N: Writing this pairing, even if it was really a sort of odd, one-sided thing, was incredibly odd for me, seeing as I don't think I could ever, ever ship them. But hey, it's part of your graduation gift Madi, so whatever. You've read this and approved, and so, I shall post.

"Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense."

~Mark Overby

When she first spotted him, she decided he was the one. Not The One—The One everyone always talks about finding, The One everyone spends their life searching for. No, he was simply the one she was going to set her sights on for the moment. Sure, Raito was good looking and all, they even shared a common bond—and she truly did have feelings for him—but he was cold and calculating underneath the surface, and Misa saw that right away. He would let no one close to him, at least no closer than his perfectly-laid plans would allow, and so she would cling as best as she could while setting her sights on her other target.

In reality, she knew it was a petty goal: he was a famous detective, so focused on his work that he barely seemed to notice anything else. She could dress however she wanted—short skirts, low tops, and fishnets galore—but he never even batted an eye. His emotions were closed off, locked away and well-controlled due to years of necessity.

But, unlike Raito, deep under he still had real emotions.

It was Misa's goal to tap into those.

It was difficult. She was barely allowed around him anyway, and that was while she was heavily supervised and near-required to cling to Raito like the lovesick koala she had signed up to become.

The truth was, during her entire escapade, Misa wasn't sure she had ever been alone with Ryuzaki once.

Granted, you couldn't blame him; he was being targeted by a serial killer, the same serial killer who was standing in the room with him no less, and it only made sense for him to be heavily guarded. But there seemed to be something more than that, something less about survival and more about familiarity that kept Ryuzaki from going more than ten feet away from his safe guards.

So Misa put on her happy face, her Misa-Misa façade, and followed through. She made the right comments at the right time, carefully constructing and controlling a master plan that only a woman would be able to see. Men's minds didn't work like hers, after all, and so it was easy to set up her own game, a kind of cat-and-mouse that had her as the observing scientist.

The day the topic came up, she seized her chance. She leaned in, lips connecting in a carefully-planned moment with Ryuzaki's cheek, and his reaction was exactly as she had predicted: pure, untainted surprise. He'd never been involved in that kind of contact before, something that didn't shock her now, and his reaction to her offer of 'friendship' was more than accepted. It was, in fact, celebrated in a type of almost childish-glee that Misa knew could be nothing more than his own mask.

She never managed to get past that, no matter how hard she fought. It was a difficult enough task to stay connected to Raito in an attempt to forge her plans: staying connected to Ryuzaki and forming a bond with Ryuzaki was even more difficult. That moment brought her no closer to her goal than she had been before, hadn't set her back but hadn't truly moved her forward, and that was the moment she realized—

Nothing would move her forward.

Because he wasn't Ryuzaki. All of her "Ryuzaki-san"s, polite and carefully formed on her perfectly made-up lips, went to waste. Even before it was official, she could tell that wasn't who he really was—his own façade wouldn't allow him to give his name.

So when the news came, when she learned he was the famous L, it wasn't as great of a shock as it could have been.

owari

Ending A/N: Reviews are greatly appreciated, ESPECIALLY if they contain critiques of any sort! As noted, I'm not totally comfortable with this pair or with this fic or even with this character set (I tend to stick to Matt and Mello...), so feedback is adored!