Okay, so the story is winding down now(there should be just one more chapter after this)… I hope it meets everyone's expectations!

Chapter 9

"Misa." Misa turned at the sound of her name. "I want to leave the human realm." Misa sighed, splashing water onto her face. She was still in the courthouse, trying to compose herself after that morning's events. Raito's death had been both terrible and a relief to her, but in the end all she wanted was the get away from any more death.

"What am I supposed to do about that Rem?" Misa said firmly, her eyes not leaving the reflections in the washroom mirror.

"Give the death note back to me." Misa sighed softly, shaking her head at the shinigami's reflection. A look of comprehension crossed the shinigami's features, "Raito had my death note."

"Yes," Misa replied with a sigh. "But you can't just take it back." She turned around to face Rem. "It's currently under heavy security, and if it just disappears, then the hunt for the next possible Kira will never end."

"Then how do I get it back?" Rem stared at Misa blankly, wondering slightly if she necessarily had to do what Misa told her.

"I don't know." Misa let a heavy sigh escape her lips. "Talk to Ryuuzaki. I'm sure he'll figure something out for you. He'll probably make sure the death notes disappear from the public eye anyway." Turning back to the mirror, Misa proceeded to fix her makeup and her hair.

"Ryuuzaki?" The shinigami said with slight distaste. "Must I?"

"No. You can technically do whatever you want, Rem." Misa said softly. Straightening her back after applying her mascara, Misa turned to face the shinigami once more. "I don't want to see you anymore though." Her eyes watered slightly. "You've been more than a good friend," she whispered hoarsely, "but I need a chance to move on, to get over all this. I don't want to forget what I've done, but I need some time where I'm not forced to remember everything either."


The young woman walked slowly out of the courthouse. Sliding a pair of sunglasses on, she ordered her bodyguards ahead of her, to the car. She needed to leave this building, and this chapter of her life, alone. Her heels tapped out a staccato rhythm across the marble floor, throwing echoes through the open hall.

"Where are you going?" A second haunting voice rattled across Misa's spine.

"Hello Ryuk." Misa said, stopping in the middle of the marble foyer, but refusing to turn around to face the shinigami.

"You don't really think you get to walk away from all this so easily, do you?" The shinigami said threateningly.

"You don't really think you scare me, do you Ryuk?" Misa said scathingly. Watching Raito die in front of the entire courtroom, she'd known it was Ryuk who was responsible. Watching, knowing everything she knew, something in her hardened and a resolve grew strong. All her life she'd let other people control her, or use her, or mold her into who they wanted her to be. Sitting in the courtroom as it emptied of people, all stunned into near silence by what was perhaps the strangest trial in human history, she realized that it was time to be the Misa Amane that Misa wanted to be.

"Brave words. You know I can kill you just like I killed Raito." Ryuk stood directly behind Misa, but she still refused to turn around.

"But you won't." Misa said firmly. "You know I'll be far more entertaining to watch from wherever it is you watch people." She paused. "Besides, Rem wouldn't have taken half my life that first time if I was destined to die so soon." Misa didn't look back as she heard Ryuk disgruntled wheeze, she merely straightened her sunglasses and resumed walking across the marble floors.

That was the last time she ever heard the voice of a shinigami in her life.


Misa stepped daintily down the courthouse steps to her waiting car. She paused, slowly removing her sunglasses as a pale man stepped before her. "Ryuuzaki." She said warmly. "L." She smiled. "I guess you're going back to solving the world's most terrible crimes?"

Ryuuzaki smiled slightly, the most expression she'd seen cross his face in a long time. "Maybe. I might take a vacation first."

"The famous L takes vacations?" Misa asked sweetly, though a melancholic wistfulness tainted the teasing tone in her voice. She looked towards the car that waited for her. "I'm going to America." She said softly.

Ryuuzaki didn't reply right away, though Misa wasn't sure if it was because of shock or if he just didn't really care. "I suppose that's a good move for your career?"

Misa nodded in the affirmative. She turned her gaze back to Ryuuzaki's dark eyes. "Thank you." She said softly. "Thank you for everything." She chewed her lip for a long moment before throwing her arms around a thoroughly startled Ryuuzaki. "Goodbye." She whispered hoarsely into his ear before pulling away. "It's been an honour to know you." She said softly, bowing her head a little before sliding her sunglasses back onto her face and stepping past him to her waiting car.


Ryuuzaki turned to watch Misa rush down the last few steps. In some ways she was running away from her past, in others she was merely racing forward into a future where she would be herself, instead of the fake plastic act she'd been before all this. In a silence borne of shock Ryuuzaki watched dumbly as Misa smoothed her skirt before sliding into the black car.

In silence he watch the dark colored car pull away. He watched the vehicle cruise down the street, finally disappearing around a corner. He could feel a lump forming in his throat. Was this it? Thank you, thank you so much, goodbye? Goodbye forever? The young man let his head tilt forward, allowing his dark unruly hair to cover his eyes. Eyes that raged with a sea of unspoken emotion. Emotion the world could not be allowed to see.