Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or the tale of Beauty and the Beast. Only meant to be a fun take on my favorite fairytale and my favorite anime. :) This disclaimer is for all following chapters also.
A heart of Winter won't last long,
And love's Summer soon will fade.
Spring can end in broken hearts,
But Autumn's beauty always finds a way.
She was looking up at me in an expectant manner. I hoped she didn't think there was going to be another date. She's not even that pretty. All I wanted was to get home and relax. The entire time we had been out, it felt like someone was watching me and it was really starting to annoy.
"So Light," she fidgeted. "I had a good time."
"Right," I stated in the most final way I could. "Good-bye." Turning on my heel, I left her at her gate. Honestly, some people couldn't take a hint.
I had walked down a couple of blocks and turned onto my road when I saw someone standing on the sidewalk. As I got closer, I could see that it was a girl. Pale skin, blonde hair and dressed mostly in black, she stood very still and stared at me. When I was a few feet away I stopped. This girl had to be an idiot. She was standing alone in the middle of the night on a nearly deserted street beside a row of rose bushes. She wore less than I originally thought and being dressed in skimpy black clothing was, possibly, the easiest way to attract unwanted attention. I inwardly rolled my eyes and started to walk around her. If she wanted to get raped or killed, it was no business of mine.
"Hello, Light!"
I stopped again when I heard her voice. It was… very, very cheery.
And loud.
She was smiling at me like we were friends and holding her purse in front of her with both hands. I didn't even care how she knew my name. It wasn't like she could hurt me. I stared back at her for a moment before walking around her and continuing on my way.
"I said 'hello', Light Yagami."
I turned and glared at her still smiling face. "And I ignored you."
The smiled dropped from her face. "That's not nice, Light, and right now you could do with showing a little kindness."
"Who are you? How do you know my name and what the hell is that supposed to mean?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes.
"My name is Misa Amane!" she replied, smiling again and bowing. "It's not any real wonder that I know the name of the adored Light Yagami and you will soon find out what I mean."
"Right, whatever." I turned to walk away again.
"You weren't very nice to Yuri, either."
"You're the one who was watching me?" I spun around at her, truly angry this time. I could feel my hands balling into fists at my side.
"Of course I was watching you, silly! You're not very nice to anyone, really. Like poor Matsuda." She pranced a bit closer and leaned over to smell a rose. Picking it, she held it out to me. "What do you think of it?"
This was completely absurd. "Who are you?" I demanded again.
"I told you, I'm Misa. What do you think of the rose, Light?"
I was starting to think she was actually crazy. "How do you know Matsuda? Did he ask you to follow me?"
"He didn't ask me to do anything. I've never met him. Of course, I guess that doesn't matter all that much to you since you DO know him and still announced to everyone in the school square that he's gay."
"He IS gay," I explained. I laughed a bit.
"So are you," she countered, staring me straight in the eye.
"So," I shrugged, smirking. "What of it?"
"You are fine with your sexuality, but his secret was not yours to tell. You were never kind to him before that, but somehow he trusted you enough to show you some of the fear he had about telling everyone that he is, in fact, gay. You saw that fear and exploited it." She stepped closer to me. "And you, knowing that you are a gay man, still go on dates with girls who might have feelings for you. You take what you want from them…" "And what's that?" I bristled.
"Power," she nearly spit back at me, still in her high, not quite lilting voice. "You show everyone that you have power over them. You show them that you believe yourself to be better than them, than everyone else. Occasionally, you do that with men, also. But they're a little harder to fool, aren't they, Light?"
She looked at me with eyes that were almost empty and omniscient at the same time. My body was starting to feel slightly unreal. Not quite tingling but something was there.
"What do you think of the rose?" She asked me again.
"I think it's an ugly, worthless thing that's going to be dead in a matter of hours," I finally answered as cruelly as I could.
"That's sad," she said, and she actually looked it. "This is a very special kind of rose. It only blooms in autumn. When everything starts to change in beautiful colors, its buds burst in blood red."
Right. Perhaps she's a drug addict and a stalker. Then again, almost everyone knows about me, anyway.
"Misa Misa is going to do you a favor Light Yagami," she grinned, holding the rose close to her now and looking pleased with herself. "I believe that you could become a good person." She bowed her head and blew gently onto the rose and the rose started to glisten and glitter. She held the flower out to me, "Take the rose," she ordered and, inexplicably, I did.
"Guard that rose," she told me. "I tell you now that, in two years, that flower will die."
That was when I realized that she was beginning to change. If I hadn't been staring at her for the past five minutes I wouldn't have noticed it. Her ears grew to points and her eyes became more feline and her being became more ethereal.
"What's happening to you?" I asked.
"I'm going to teach you a lesson, Light. You have two years. Two years to fall in love; true love, and see that love returned. Two years until the rose dies. If you succeed in loving and being loved, you will return to your human state." I quickly tried to back away and found myself unable to. I knew deep down that this was not a game; that she was not human. "What are you going to change me into?" I asked in a shaky voice that I did not recognize as my own.
"I only change you into what you are on the inside," she explained, raising her hand. Sharp words began to echo in my mind, though I didn't see her open her mouth.
Cruel.
Hateful.
Ugly.
A Beast.
A/N: Big thanks to my awesome beta Amy!
