Last chapter! I hope everyone enjoyed the story! I want to thank everyone who's taken the time to review and a big thank you to the people who added this story to C2s – I feel loved. :)

Chapter 10

The woman who walked in front of me was on the petite side, her spiked heels lending her an extra few inches, putting her at about the same height as myself. It was a little odd, seeing a woman in her mid-twenties with pink highlights in her blonde hair. She was walking down the street dressed in a short black miniskirt and a black leather jacket, at least that's what I could see her wearing from behind. Something in the way she moved though struck me as familiar.

Which wouldn't be all that surprising; this particular stretch of L.A. streets was famous for celebrity sightings. Though from the back alone, I certainly couldn't place her. An annoying ring tone filled the air, an excerpt from some tacky pop song. I rolled my eyes: I've never been much for celebrity-worshipping, and the silly things they did seemed to reinforce my already low opinion of their intelligence.

In the swish of her spiky bangs, I could partially make out her profile. She had that exotic gothic look that was growing in popularity since that Japanese actress who'd been in that huge trial about "Kira" had made it big here. I was slightly skeptical about that whole trial, seeing as how it had all happened when I was in high school and was too caught up in my own little bubble to pay much attention to the world at large. And I have always detested copy-cats. Though if this were the actual Misa Amane, that might be a slightly different story…

From the corner of my eye I noticed a man was following us from the other side of the street. He seemed to be staring at the Misa look-alike. Though when he noticed me watching him he immediately directed his gaze forward. Intrigued, I supposed that he'd merely recognized the actress. Though when we turned a corner onto a less busy street and he followed, I wondered if that was all there was to this.

The man had dark, messy hair, and looked to be in his late-twenties, I supposed. He was fairly slight in his build, and his clothes were far from stylish, but weren't exactly threatening either. But then again, this was L.A. and damned if I was going to let another woman walk around alone as evening settled in around us. So I continued following her, even as we passed the turn that would have delivered me safe at home. I wouldn't have kept following her, but the guy across the street was still following her too, staring at her in the strangest way. I started to wonder if maybe he was a stalker of some sort.

Finally, I realized I might also be coming across a little stalkerish, though the woman ahead of me seemed to be paying me no attention. I sped up a little and hesitantly tapped the woman on the shoulder. She turned around gracefully, and it hit me quite suddenly that this was no look-alike, this was the real Misa Amane! This probably made our stalker on the other side of the street, who'd now paused to watch us intently, all the more a threat to her.

"Umm," I stumbled for words, mentally hitting myself for not having taken the time to hash out what I was going to actually say to her. "I know this is going to sound really weird," I sputtered, "but that guy across the street has been following you for about half an hour." I raised my hand instinctively to point at the somewhat disheveled man across the street.

"What?" Misa exclaimed, staring across the street at the man in surprise. She blinked a few times, staring hard at the man. "I think," she began slowly, her features delicately wrinkling as if in concentration, "I know him."

I stared between Miss Amane and the strange man across the street a few times. Both remained frozen in place, in a silent regard. "Thank you for telling me." The actress said to me softly, her Japanese accent only faintly adding to her English. "I don't think you need to worry though." She said firmly. I suppose she meant for me to disappear then.

I took a few steps backwards and finally gave a sigh and turned away. At the next building I turned around though, to watch this strange scene unfold. After a second, I whipped out my cell phone, my fingers ready to dial 911, if anything weird happened next.

I watched the strange man finally step across the quiet street, until he stood just a few feet from Misa. It was strange the way the two stared at each other. It was like two people who hadn't thought they'd ever see each other again were meeting again. It was getting chilly as the night swept in and I began to shiver. Foolish me, forgetting my jacket again. I started when the two figures embraced. After a startled second, I regained my composure, alright, so obviously Misa knew this guy, and wasn't exactly scared of him if she was hugging him. My fingers itching over the cell phone pad, I called for a cab and went home, filing this strange little event in the corner of my mind with other useless attempts at being helpful.

Misa followed the slightly shaky hand of the girl across the street. The man she pointed at seemed oddly familiar. There was something about his wildly mussed dark hair, and the way it fell over his eyes, the almost thoughtless way he was dressed; it pulled at her memory. It couldn't be… Ryuuzaki?

Certainly it had been years since she'd seen him now, so obviously he wouldn't look exactly the same. "You don't need to worry though…" she heard herself tell the girl who'd alerted her to his presence. She wondered briefly why exactly she was sending the girl away; this man wasn't necessarily Ryuuzaki after all, and even if it was, why exactly did she want to see him alone?

Misa watched the man cross the road slowly, coming to a stop just a foot or two away from her. Close up, she was almost certain it was him, those strangely expressionless eyes were hard to forget, and memories of those days still surfaced in her dreams. In her dreams Ryuuzaki was always the rock she held onto, his presence reassuring on levels she wasn't quite sure she wanted to deal with. "Ryuuzaki?" she finally breathed.

"It's been a long time." The man replied slowly, his English came out with a touch of a British accent and Misa immediately recalled Ryuuzaki saying he'd spent a number of years in England. Without thinking, she threw herself forward and hugged him. Her eyes closed, Misa marveled in the fact that somehow fate had thrown them back together… alright, maybe she was getting ahead of herself. But wasn't it odd the way Ryuuzaki's arms had tightened around her almost immediately? He'd never done that all those years ago, always so awkward and distant.

Misa didn't move for a long moment. "I missed you." A slightly hoarse voice whispered into her ear. Misa stepped back quickly, pulling out of Ryuuzaki's arms in surprise.

"You… what?" She squeaked. This couldn't be her Ryuuzaki. He would never have said something like that.

"Missed you." The young man said firmly. His eyes betrayed nothing, though the corner of his mouth seemed to want to smile at her. "I didn't realize that after spending so much time with people, I'd end up missing them." Misa relaxed slightly, alright, that sounded a little more like him. "And I always felt like I should have said something that day when you left," he continued, "So I promised myself that if I ever saw you again I would tell you so."

Misa stared at him for a long moment. "So how have you been?" She said softly, awkwardly.

"Good. Bored. There aren't any challenging cases after Kira." The detective said dismissively. "I've seen you've made a name for yourself here though."

Misa nodded absently. "Once I learned English it was easy enough." She replied. The space between them seemed vast and awkward. She rather wished she could close it somehow. Maybe she shouldn't have hugged him. Or maybe she shouldn't have been so surprised that Ryuuzaki had actually missed her.

She watched the man stand there awkwardly. "Do you want to get a coffee?" He said finally. "I believe that's what one's supposed to do in this type of situation." Misa smiled, one that warmed her eyes and melted away the tension in her shoulders.

"How about supper?" She replied laughingly, extending a hand to Ryuuzaki. She watched him look thoughtfully from her outstretched hand to her sparkling eyes before delicately taking hold of it.

"Only if we can have cake for dessert." He replied solemnly. Misa smiled and nodded of course, taking note of the slight crinkle of amusement around his eyes. Maybe they weren't so expressionless after all.

Misa directed her old friend through the busy city to her favourite restaurant, a cozy little place that she assured him had excellent cake. He'd looked at her with wide eyes and she'd merely smiled in reply. "You taught me not to fear cake, remember?" She had teased. It was strange how comfortable her hand felt in his, how quickly things had gone from awkward to comfortable.

Sitting quietly while Ryuuzaki finished his cake, Misa stared out the window. A few stars shone stubbornly through the aura of light the city threw around it. A small sigh slipped through her lips, and she felt the warmth of a hand cover her own. Her gaze followed the hand up to Ryuuzaki. "You know you don't have to feel any remorse anymore, right?"

Misa tilted her head slightly. Was that what she'd felt all these years? Remorse for everything that had happened? Remorse for hurting and killing people, even if indirectly. Remorse for Raito's end. Remorse for letting herself be pushed around and controlled for so long. Remorse for leaving Ryuuzaki on the courthouse steps when there was till so much to say.

Misa nodded softly, another smile working its way across her lips to light up her eyes, "I know." She replied softly, letting herself squeeze Ryuuzaki's hand ever so slightly. She met Ryuuzaki's dark eyes, suddenly strangely open and expressive to her. "I know."

The End