EDIT: Rewrite as of 2011.

People who have been watching the romance category label like sharks: you likely know how things turn out in the movie. All I can say is, this will turn out progressively more DN-esque as things move forward. That being said, be certain that eventually, Misa might figure out a few things and get seriously mad about being kept in the dark. Perhaps Rem will also make an appearance sometime soon, who knows? This chapter is mostly dedicated to L/Misa shippers in any and every shape and form.

All I can say is, read and review!

o.O.o

Legally Friends

o.O.o

"...and so the detention was fully justified by the law of the country the trial had taken place in." Light finished in his classroom voice, which was the perfect blend between politeness and authority.

It was nearing the end of November and the tabloids were no longer entirely so full of stories about Misa-Misa, who had decided to trade her smiles and coy winks for frowns and law books. The first wind had passed; she was beginning to fade into the background. Other idols were beginning to usurp her position as the top model of Japan and yet the perky blonde didn't seem to be fighting back too fervently. She got out of touch with most of her friends and spent her evenings pouring through her textbooks, reading them word for word and checking the meaning of phrases she didn't understand in a dictionary.

It was hard, unrewarding work, but Misa was beginning to understand things that she had never thought she could before. For example, that lawyers might be sharks, but sharks that watched the other predators in the water of legislative and that were necessary for society to keep running. Her world before had been small before – modeling and smiling all the time. But she was beginning to realize that there was so much more to things than that.

Misora-san nodded, not at all surprised by the brilliant answer to the question. Their key suspect, Yagami Light, was the picture of a model student.

"Excellent work, Yagami-san. Under those conditions…" But strangely, a lone hand in the front row rose uncertainly, ignoring the questioning looks of the glance. Naomi herself was surprised, but decided to see where this was going. "Yes, Amane-san?"

Misa swallowed before she started speaking. She was taking extra care with her grammar and diction nowadays, so that she could be taken seriously as a law student. Misa-Misa's cutesy speech had no place in the classroom. And she was here to be serious, not cute.

"Excuse me, Misora-sensei, but I had believed that if an indictable offence is committed, the Review Officer must make two reviews at first before the thirty-six hour detention can be justified. Otherwise, the detention could be considered a…" She knew this, she knew this. "A breach of basic human rights?"

There was a deafening silence in the classroom, as if no one could even believe that idol Misa-Misa had said such a complex sentence that actually made sense. Misora-san nodded again, hiding her surprise more thoroughly. "I see your point, Amane-san."

"And under that circumstance, it becomes clear that the investigation isn't thorough and diligent, which questions the very nature of the investigation." Misa continued, encouraged by this success. Though Light made an excellent point, he had forgotten the basic rules of this law. "By this logic, the defendant might charge the detention facility on two counts."

"Amane-san, I believe you're just filed two charges against the state and successfully represented your client on both counts."

Misora-sensei didn't really smile, but somehow, it felt like a compliment. The entire classroom was staring at Misa as if she had sprouted wings. Only Light was glancing thoughtfully at his textbook. First L reveals himself to him openly at their admissions ceremony, and then he finds Misa outmatching him in a classroom discussion. He didn't dare look out a window, lest he see a pig fly – or, more likely Ryuuk, who was on the prowl for apples, snicker at him.

"Now, if we are to consider…"

Misa was dazed for the remaining half hour of class. She had outmatched Light on the forum. Misora-sensei had commended her instead of throwing her out of the classroom. All this seemed so surreal that she hardly believed it, much less so when she was leaving class as one of the last students and the professor approached her with an approving nod.

"Excellent work in class today, Amane-san. You have improved drastically." Misora-sensei commented, seemingly pleased. Though the idol still dressed in her signature style, her behavior in class had improved significantly. She was obviously putting an effort into things now.

Misa literally beamed at her teacher. "Thank you very much, Misora-sensei! Misa-" Immediately, she caught her rush of joy and corrected herself. "I hope I will be able to continue improving."

"That is an admirable goal." Misora-sensei tilted her head slightly. While it was improbable that the idea would actually turn out to be real, she felt like asking about the ambitions of the young girl. "Have you considered applying for the chance to join the Kira Investigation Team?"

"I wasn't aware that there was the opportunity to do so… that these weren't just rumors." Misa noted, still taking care not to slip into her Misa-Misa persona while speaking to a teacher.

"Well, in case the petition of the student council passes and I receive any information, I will certainly put your name forward for consideration."

The blonde hardly believed her ears and bowed immediately before practically bouncing away. "Thank you, Misora-sensei!"

Misora-sensei shook her head slightly while watching the girl dash off. The world was just filled with paradoxes.

o.O.o

During lunch break, Misa deliberately searched for Ryuuga, who was likely lurking around campus somewhere. Not that they were friends or anything – she was still sore about his refusal to help her and his insistence at simply criticizing her to her face. But he was the only one on campus who didn't either hate her because she stood in their way or coo at her because of all they saw her as.

She bought them both some low-fat sandwiches and, against her better judgment, a sweet bun for Ryuuga, which counted as a cake with icing for her. Her expectations weren't denied when she found him and a supply of sweets that she wouldn't have been able to consume in a year, much less a day, reading a book of some sort and generally being a nuisance.

Without fault, his black eyes rose once she got within detection radius and the idol received an approving nod, especially when she handed him the pastry with a smile.

"Misa-san." The pastry got more of a smile than she did, though. Still, it didn't put her mood out entirely. "You look happy."

"Misa is! Misora-sensei said that Misa has improved very much!" the blonde noted, sitting down next to Ryuuga. Somehow, it didn't bother her that much now that he was just plain weird; she didn't even care that they would be seen in public together. A fan was a fan and she was very happy now. "Misa beat Light-kun in a class discussion today!"

"Congratulations, Misa-san." It was slightly difficult to make out the words amidst the crack of a chocolate bar breaking, which made Misa frown.

"Ryuuga-san, you shouldn't eat that much sugar! You might get diabetes! Misa wouldn't want you to get sick!"

"I am perfectly fine, Misa-san, though I appreciate the concern." Ryuuga noted dismissively, fingers twiddling excitedly as he chose another ridiculously sugary food to consume from among his healthy supply. He picked up the candy as if it were made of glass and ate it with utmost care. Misa could only shake her head and accept it as his weird quirk.

She didn't have to like it, though.

By then, most of the people around had noticed them and a group of girls began whispered excitedly to on another before one of them timidly approached the idol.

"Hi Misa-Misa! My name is Ran and… um, wouldn't you… would you like to come sit with us?" she asked, hiding her shyness with an air of obviously fabricated confidence and a bright smile. Her friends waved at Misa, holding several fashion magazines. "We'd totally appreciate your opinion on this new cosmetics catalogue!"

"Maybe later. Misa managed to catch Ryuuga-san at last, so she wants to talk to him for now." Misa said brightly, hitting Ryuuga on the arm with the nearest law book she had to stop him from reaching for another pastry. It didn't stop him, though. "She will stop by later, Ran-chan!"

"Oh, okay." The girl blinked, surprised, glancing from Misa to her companion. They seemed thoroughly at odds with each other, polar opposites. "I didn't know you guys were… I mean…"

Misa laughed merrily, hiding the scream of What?! that her mind produced with effortless elegance. She obviously needed to clarify things.

"Silly Ran-chan! Of course Ryuuga-san is Misa's friend. Later, then!" As the girl nodded and walked away to gossip with her friends about this new and shocking development, Misa noticed that the hand she had been beating on went still. "Huh, what is it, Ryuuga-san?"

The detective had a slightly vacant, distant expression on his face, though he wasn't reminiscing. "This is the first time someone called me their friend." he noted with odd sincerity, finally plopping the candy into his mouth.

"Eh?" Misa responded intelligently, startled. He was around her age, surely-

On second thought, Misa could understand that. Upon first glance, Ryuuga really seemed like a sociopath and his visage wasn't appealing, but she couldn't imagine someone without a friend for so long. She knew by now that he was older than her by a margin or six years and that he attended To-Oh for "professional reasons", but still…

"That's just because Ryuuga-san is too perverted for most people! Misa can put up with it, though." the model added, seeking to cheer him up.

"Indeed?" Ryuuga asked mildly, reorganizing his sugar cubes.

Stacking them was another habit of his Misa didn't fully understand, but she knew better than to question it. She might beat Light in a classroom debate on a technicality, but whenever she tried to do the same with Ryuuga, he came up with an argument that gave her a headache.

"Uh-huh! Because Ryuuga-san gives good advice." Well, really obvious advice, but she was in a good mood – so what? She could afford to be lenient. "Still, you could use a makeover…" The model gasped slightly, getting an idea. It didn't seem to startle Ryuuga, but he certainly had cause to fear if he knew what it was. "Misa knows!"

"What is it?"

"Misa wants to thank Ryuuga-san for cheering her up and being a good friend!" Misa proclaimed, already seeing the results of her plan in a mind's eye. "She has a plan, but she isn't telling! Why are you smiling like that? Misa thinks it's weird."

"You said that I am your friend again." he commented, as if he had just had a revelation. He had a slightly dazed expression that people usually associated with daydreaming. "That sounds nice."

"Ryuuga-san is weird." Misa proclaimed, whacking him over the head with a book lightly, much to the detective's surprise, before laughing at his stumped expression.

She found she actually enjoyed these weird encounters they seemed to have. And she did consider the strange Ryuuga her friend, as in the oddball necessary in every group to make the others seem normal in comparison. Still, it was a better friend than those few from the business who didn't seem to understand why she didn't just quit after her first failure or remind the university that this was Misa-Misa they were dealing with, which wouldn't solve her problem at all.

From the moment she stepped into the building, she reminded herself that she wasn't Misa-Misa here.

"Ryuuga-san better not disappear on Misa again!" Misa threatened, waving a reproaching finger at her companion once they were walking through campus; Ryuuga had announced that he needed to get to work before he was missed and Misa offered to escort him, much to his amusement.

When he was slouched like that, they were almost of the same height. They were certainly an odd pair, with Misa dressed so trendily and smiling so brightly and the detective wearing clothes that might as well have been his for years and thoughtfully sucking on his thumb.

"I don't believe I have much control over my own schedule, Misa-san." he noted, calculating the high probability of Misa getting upset about that. Again, he was proven right, but at least the model didn't use her textbook to maim him any further.

"Misa will cry if Ryuuga-san doesn't come!" Misa threatened, nudging him slightly to make him pay attention. She wouldn't dream of trying to fish his hand out of his pocket and hold it while they were walking side by side, but she didn't mind pestering him for fun. "She'll start nasty rumors about Ryuuga-san and completely ruin his top student reputation!"

"When have we established that I care about whatever reputation I could ruin, Misa-san?" Ryuuga asked, thoughtfully chewing on his thumb.

The model stuck out of tongue for a moment, unable to come up with a better response. Then, she sighed slightly and managed to make a serious face. "Just come back to school. Misa would miss Ryuuga-san. A bit." she added quickly.

Ryuuga blinked, but didn't look at her – something seemed to have caught his attention. "I will try to keep that in mind."

Misa looked in the general direction the boy's eyes had strayed and found herself goggling at an old-fashioned limousine with a distinct Western feeling to it (or at least how Misa perceived Western styles from her time on TV). It came complete with an elderly chauffeur, who left the car and opened the door with a respectful glance towards Ryuuga, who didn't seem at all surprised by this. Misa was thoroughly flabbergasted. She had judged Ryuuga by his clothes, which suggested a lower middle-class family, certainly not this. Even she couldn't afford such luxury and she was one of Japan's icons.

"Wow… Misa didn't know Ryuuga-san was rich!" Then she frowned and put her hands on her narrow hips in righteous indignation. She didn't like being kept in the dark, but it just reminded her of how little she knew about Ryuuga as a person. "Hey, you should return Misa's phone, then."

Large black eyes found hers and Misa could almost swear that she saw childish glee twisted into perversion in that single glance.

"You have very kindly loaned it to me; I shall have to take advantage of your generosity this time, Misa-san." Ryuuga proclaimed seriously, fishing out her phone from his pocket and raising it above her reach in a delicate two-fingered grip before she could reach for it.

"Ryuuga-san is being mean and weird again!" Misa cried, jumping up and down to reach it and failing. Part of her was resolved to start a tickle war right then and there, but she decided to let it slide just this once. "You are fortunate that Misa is in a good mood today, or she would sue you for theft!"

"You seem to have found a new enthusiasm for a career in law." Ryuuga commented, observing the petite blonde carefully. She had always had a presence that demanded attention, but now, she seemed slightly less wild and more focused in her aggressions. She had found a way to channel her own superior energy into focus. That was a great step forward to her.

"Uh-huh! Misa likes helping people and…" the model trailed off for a moment, as if uncertain how to continue. Then, she bounced a bit on her heels, finding her point again. It made L wonder how come someone who consumed so little sugar could have this much energy. "Well, this can make a difference! Not just for Misa, but for everyone! Maybe Misa can use her popularity to bring attention to more important things than lip gloss flavors… right?"

Not that she believed it entirely, but it was something to think about. Misa desperately needed to latch onto something that would allow her to justify her lack of success in winning back her true love. And if she acted well enough, she could hopefully convince herself.

It certainly gave L something to ponder while riding back to the headquarters – it was nice to take a break from considering every angle of the Kira case every minute of the day. Misa's reason for being there was obvious, but she put Light off-balance, if only a little. If she were to completely refocus, it would be somewhat inconvenient for him for actual legitimate investigation-related reasons. And having some measure of contact with her – though only enough to ensure that Light didn't see them together too often – would ensure that he had more control over her while steering her unpredictability towards the other side of the chessboard.

Petty, of course, but L had never claimed to be the most honourable and mature detective on earth.

"Ryuuzaki, pardon me for saying this, but I don't understand why you're wasting your time on that girl." Watari noted as they took a turn away from the university. He honestly didn't understand the girl-child's appeal beyond the obvious, and his would-be-ward's general disposition would have usually allowed him to overlook such things after less than a moment's observation. "I understand that you admire her work, but she isn't involved with the case at all. Wouldn't it be better to focus entirely on Yagami-kun?"

"I think she has potential, Watari." L noted, knowing that an explanation was necessary this time. Watari had cause for concern, even though it wasn't really his business at all. Better that he be assured of the truth now than let him find the photos of Misa L browsed on his laptop in the few minutes a day he had tagged reserved for sleep. "Besides, it's hardly appropriate to say that she isn't involved; as Yagami-kun's ex-girlfriend, she must have some insight into his character. She might not be directly involved, but she is an unfamiliar element on the playing field. Yagami-kun wasn't expecting her to re-enter his life in this fashion."

"You are planning to use her? She doesn't seem to be cut for the kind of work we could use her for." Watari noted, his frown visible only in the overhead mirror of the car.

"That would be risky both to me and to Misa-san." L explained, chewing on his thumb thoughtfully. He didn't really know why he needed to justify Misa's role in his plans to anyone. But he refused to heed any objections to her presence simply because she wasn't useful. So he decided to make her useful and label her an official part of the plan. "She is an unpredictable piece, because she doesn't belong to either side. Her actions are difficult for me or Yagami-kun to anticipate. And that could work to my advantage."

"So you support her to keep her where she is and keep Yagami-kun off-balance."

"Partly." L confirmed, glancing out of the window for the first time during their rides through Tokyo. There was a large poster of Misa in an advertisement about lip gloss. The image almost brought out a smile of the detective, but it wasn't nearly enough. It was the memory of what she had said combined with the image that caused the corners of his mouth to twinge upwards for a moment or so. "She called me her friend today…" he murmured softly, trailing off.

He certainly wasn't one to daydream, but L certainly hoped that having Amane Misa officially say that they were friends wasn't a sign from some kind of deity that he had used up all the good fortune meant for a single person.

As that was something that wouldn't be wise to condemn or support, Watari chose not to reply to that wistful statement of his employer, employee and responsibility all in one. Usually, only a large birthday cake could manage to produce such results. Having that list expand wasn't much of a relief.

To think that the world's most brilliant mind could be turned from a calculative and cunning crime-solving instrument into a human boy who was set completely off-balance by meeting a girl. Kira obviously wasn't god; he didn't have that kind of sense of humour.