A/N: Hahaha…uh, yeah. So a lot of people have pointed out to me that I goofed up big time on the socks thing. When I was writing it, I kept thinking I was forgetting something too. And I was like, o no, just no shoes. And then I published, and suddenly got a bunch of reviews saying "NO SOCKS" Well, not really. You guys were all really nice about it, but I nearly hit my head against a wall. How could I forget no socks? Who doesn't love toes? Anyway… I've tried to fix it. Sorry it's taken so long to update, and that its so short as well… life has been crazy the past few weeks.


Chapter Three

Misa sat huddled on a couch, staring blankly at a wall. Her eyes burned slightly, and she could just tell she looked a mess. Yet she couldn't bring herself to care. Somehow, that slap to her face had woken her up to many things. She sighed softly, Raito would never love her. She focused blurrily on a picture on the wall. Maybe Raito wasn't even capable of love at all.

She shifted slightly, leaning against the cushions. Her head hurt. She wondered why exactly she had come to Ryuuzaki for comfort – it wasn't like he was particularly good at it. At some point he'd left her on this couch and disappeared.

Misa lifted her head and watched Ryuuzaki enter the room. She observed his strange shuffling walk without emotion – she felt too drained to even begin to care about his strange appearance. She watched him slide a plate across the table to her, settling onto an armchair with a plate of his own. She stared at the plate with distaste.

"I can't eat that." She said softly.

"Why not?" Ryuuzaki inquired, the same way he always did. "One slice of cake will not make you fat. It might, however, make you feel a little better."

Misa looked from the strange detective, perched awkwardly on the edge of the armchair, to the chocolate cake sitting before her. It looked… fudgey. And gooey. And extremely sweet. She reached for the plate slowly, tentatively. Her fingers slide around the cool porcelain, and the plate was in her grasp. She brought it closer to her, examining the chocolately goodness. She lifted the fork daintily and brought a tiny bite of the cake to her lips.

She closed her mouth around the bite of chocolate cake and closed her eyes. The cake was surprisingly less sweet than she'd expected – the bitter rich flavour of dark chocolate teased her senses. It had been a long time since she'd allowed herself even the slightest indulgement.

She opened her eyes and found Ryuuzaki staring at her intently. "It's good." She admitted grudgingly, as her fork scooped up a larger bite. She looked at Ryuuzaki askance for a moment. "Why are you wearing socks?"

At that Ryuuzaki frowned. He shifted his stare down to the offensive white cotton socks. "It was an experiment."

Misa stared at him oddly. "An experiment for what?"

He shook his head. "The experiment failed actually."

Misa stared at him for a long moment, the strangeness of the scene finally sinking into her numbed brain. She laughed suddenly. A strange, strangled sound in the quiet room. "I'm such an idiot." She said. "You were right. I should do more things for myself. I should always have done more things for myself. Raito won't love me no matter what I do." She sighed, but something inside her felt like it might burst. She needed to get these things out of her; outside, into the world, where she could actually look at them, and maybe begin to understand them.

"I just thought that maybe my life would start to make sense again. After my parents died… I felt like I had nothing. And I thought Raito could make things better. I… I thought I loved him. But now I'm not so sure. How can I love someone who doesn't think of me as a real person, let alone an equal?" She shoved another bite of cake into her mouth.

"I think… it's the fact that he thinks I'm completely stupid that hurts more than anything. A slap to the face is cruel, but maybe I needed it. Maybe I've been acting so long I really have forgotten who I really am." Her forked scraped across the plate. "I'm just so sick of doing everything he tells me to without questioning it. Has he ever thought that maybe he might be wrong about some things? I mean, he goes around, acting like a god. He's just a person. He's no more special or better than I am. There's nothing he can do that I can't."

Misa licked the fork absently. She raised her gaze to Ryuuzaki. "Do you have any more of this cake?"

Ryuuzaki sat stock still at Misa's strangled laugh. He wasn't sure what he could do if she started going into hysterics or something like that. Truthfully, he had no idea how women acted in these situations. After all, the man she claimed to love more than anything or anyone had just slapped her across the face. Who knew what Misa might be capable of?

He stared at her for a long moment. Did she realize she wasn't talking in the third person? He watched her rant on and on, devouring the chocolate cake in record time, her fork scraping up every last crumb and particle of icing. Who was this woman sitting in front of him?

"I mean, he goes around, acting like a god. He's just a person. He's no more special or better than I am. There's nothing he can do that I can't." Ryuuzaki's eyes widened. Had Misa just said what he thought she said? He watched her raise her eyes, and dimly heard her request for more cake.

His mind was working at lightning speed however. Evidently Misa wasn't the dumb blonde she pretended to be, but she was letting things slip. Unless she meant them innocently. Mentally he measured what she said. Certainly Kira thought of himself as a god, and evidently Kira had no more actual power than the second Kira. He stared at Misa for a long moment. Was it possible that Raito and Misa were the guilty parties after all?

He raised an eyebrow. She'd said she'd done things without questioning them. He thought hard. It would be difficult to convict Raito – they had no evidence. But with a personal testimony… he looked at Misa, who was now staring at him in worry. But would Misa willingly testify against Raito? He chewed on his lip. Would she do it if he could promise her her freedom? Just how badly scorned did she feel?

"Ryuuzaki!" Misa's voice cut through his reverie. "Are you ok?"

"Yes, of course. I was just thinking." He watched Misa's face fall, thinking he hadn't been listening to her. "I was just shocked to hear you speak in first person." He watched her eyes rise again to meet his. He watched them sparkle, and as red from tears as they were, he couldn't help but find her beautiful. Surely the great detective L could finally put an end to this case?

"So can I get another slice of cake?" His eyes widened slightly; there was always a lead somewhere.