China Doll

-:-

Light was almost shocked when he didn't hear more childish outcries excreted from her mouth. He sighed, and put his index finger and thumb on the smooth half circle of the bridge of his nose.

"Misa, don't act like this."

His apt mind quipped at ultra super speed 'well how do you want her to act?' Everything she did aggravated him. Everything. Whether more word vomit was spilling from in between her lips or she was silent as a tomb, every action, every gesture, every stinking, conniving, grating thing she did was just under the extent of making him want to put a gun in his mouth and pull the trigger.

Okay, maybe that's a bit much, but it's hard to think clearly when all he could think about is how unsatisfied he was with this girl who claimed to be his soul mate.

I can't do this anymore, he told her. I can't go on trying to pretend that I'm enjoying all of these trivial activities when there's a cold blooded killer on the loose, he told her. Why can't you just grow the hell up and understand that my true wish to be here, without your meddling, he told her.

She just stood there, reflective cobalt blue eyes shimmering with the glass surface of tears. Maybe she did possess the ability to shut the hell up.

And perhaps he had gone too far this time.

Nonetheless, she was starved for many things, including love. And was just something that he could not give her. In fact, even if he could, the grotesque kraken inside of him wouldn't give it to her anyways. It held his love inside of him with its sucking tentacles, reserving it for the future utopia. Not this airhead model.

She was Kira without the elegance, without the brilliance. She was a mockery of everything Kira stood for, and yet she idolized him like so many others idolized her in turn, for being beautiful and perfect and cute and fashionable.

She was something you could touch, something you could hold. So…materialistic.

What the real Kira stood for was something that you couldn't hold in the palm of your hand. It existed in the recesses of your mind, floundering around until the right prodigy came along to activate it. You can't see it or touch it. It just echoes in the land of forever, beckoning with its siren call.

That's what Kira loved. Not this girl. Not this clumsy, obnoxious girl.

But something in her gaze made him want to freeze everything he was doing. Like she had asked him to do just seconds before. Normally she would start crying. Not real crying, mind you. Those fake, phony, gasping tears would come, and then to keep up appearances, he would present a plastic apology and everything would be alright again. Her glossed lips would stretch in a wide smile, and then she would skip off, in a singsong voice saying how excited she was for the 'next time' that Light would take her on a date.

Today…

Her face, still like stone, said one thing. Don't bother.

And then she turned to leave.

"Misa-"

She still hadn't spoken since he practically grilled her on a skillet and then left her drying out under the heat lamps until she was to be served. He called out her name, in futility, but once she looked back at him once more, he refrained from saying anything more.

It was almost like…a challenge. A dare. A 'just see what happens when you belittle me like that one more time' expression.

Light found himself unafraid, intrigued even, that she had the ability to so wordlessly fight back against him, especially when she had done nothing of the sort before.

But she still pissed him off.

That being said, Light walked back to the long desk of computers and flopped back down into his respective chair next to L's. The dark haired man gave him a slow and unreadable side glance, once again showing off the two vacuums that were his eyes.

"I don't know what possesses her to act this way. It's getting pretty damn ridiculous."

They were wasted words. The both of them knew why Misa acted the way she did. But perhaps in a microscopic blip of chance, one of them knew that there was more under the surface beyond her China doll exterior. Light wasn't worried that she would leave, not a single bit. But her brief display of self assured confidence still had him uneasy. About what, he wasn't sure. He decided that he was going to keep it vague, to not let himself sink into too much detail when it came to Misa. Besides, Kira would never take the time to immerse themselves with a seemingly trivial matter such as that.

Misa would never betray him. No matter how mad he made her, and vice versa.

It was useless to keep on complaining how much he disliked her in the many senses he shouldn't. She wasn't disposable. Although she sat on the shelf a lot, with her by his side he could always whip her out for something useful to his plans.

He half expected Ryuuzaki to acknowledge his expressive displeasure with the girl, but the man said nothing, did nothing. Just sat there like a gargoyle that was carved hundreds of years ago, not moving an inch until he reached for his cup of lukewarm sugar with a side of coffee.

In the most insignificant of reactions, however, L gripped the fragile cup with two fingers, but not in a vain caress. He took a trembling sip, the uncharacteristically shaky slurps not catching the teenager's attention.

And then, with the strength of his index and thumb, he broke the tiny handle into pieces and the cup was left to fall against the cold hard floor. It shattered, sending pieces of porcelain and watery brown liquid everywhere.

Light jumped and his arms went to cling to the rests on the side of his chair. Such ungainliness. Ryuuzaki treated tea cups like they were the queen of England's golden toilet seat. And he had just completely shattered one of them. All Light could do was stare at the spilled coffee and the mountain of wet sugar that fell with it.

"Oh…" Ryuuzaki sighed, his monotonous voice once again mocking a little thing called emotion. "What a waste."

The man loved creating his own irony. Reaching down, he dipped a finger into the small mound of sopping sweetness and brought it to his tongue.

"Ryuuzaki, did you just break that cup?" Light asked, eyes widening just a fraction. While wearing a constant masquerade, one gets used to never using full fledged sentiment. A never-ending control, it was.

L pursed his lips together and then twitched them to the side. "Brilliant deduction. You have much to be proud of."

Light inwardly sneered at the sarcasm. But he was still far too confused. Ryuuzaki was obviously bothered by something, but what?

After a few seconds though, inside he laughed at himself; getting all worked up about a broken tea cup, please.

"Well, where's a rag so I can clean this mess up?" Light asked.

"Why don't you call Misa? I'm sure she'll jump at the chance at cleaning it up."

"...Huh?" Yeah, really smart reply.

"Just don't tell her it's really mine."

The cryptic son of a bitch.

Well, not that cryptic. Light knew what he was doing. Of course, he never thought Ryuuzaki was the type to guilt trip someone, especially when, really, in this case it had absolutely no personal gain on his side.

"Look, its seeping into the tile cracks, let me just-"

"Watari can do it." Ryuuzaki said shortly.

"Yeah…okay."

He broke the cup. He gripped the oval handle so hard with his two fingers that it broke in two. Light hardly saw the man overreact to anything. Whatever kind of strength, physical or mental, Ryuuzaki always applied the right amount. No more, no less.

"Is something wrong, Ryuuzaki?" Light asked.

"Elaborate." Ryuuzaki said. "Define 'something wrong'."Funny how much of an arrogant drawl he could muster without even trying.

"Do I honestly need to answer that? I asked you first." Light countered.

In a flash, L's fingers flew across the keyboard in front of him and closed out the files he was inspecting. Breaking out of his bird-like sitting posture, he rose from the chair and made his way to the exit.

"Are you even going to answer my question?" Light called after him, now thoroughly irritated. So both his girlfriend and his partner were acting like lunatics. Absolutely splendid.

L stopped his awkward shuffling, but didn't turn around. "No, but…if you play with your doll for too long without being thankful that it was bought for you, she'll fall apart."

And he left.

Light's eye twitched.

Puzzling to anyone else, but L's mind wasn't the only sharp one around there. Kira didn't like being told what to do, even if it was indirectly.