Risks and Rewards

Description: Elijah has a new year and a new mission, but this time Light won't be so cooperative. Let the battle of ideology begin.

Disclaimer: Death Note is still not mine. Go figure.

A/N: ... snicker ... Boy, I had fun writing this. Enjoy!

Chapter 21

"That's all for today. I'll see you all again next week."

At the professor's words, Light began to put away his notes and prepare to leave the seminar. Next to him, Ethan did the same. A few minutes later, the two were exiting the building and heading for the central part of campus together, Ryuk floating along behind them.

Light was in an extremely good mood. An entire week had passed, and he had not received a single phone call or email from Misa. It seemed that Charlie's unsolicited interference had actually done the trick. He never would have guessed that something so simple could get rid of his blonde parasite. Misa had always acted too devoted and too stubborn to be put off by the appearance of another girlfriend. In a way, Light almost felt a little disappointed in her for giving up so easily. But he wasn't about to complain, not when he had had an entire week of blissful silence.

While the destruction of his relationship with Misa had gladdened Light tremendously, he had been equally excited by the construction of another, much different friendship. Mikami Teru, while clearly not on his and Elijah's intelligence level, was still an interesting and fulfilling acquaintance, similar to Ethan in mental capacity but far more rigid in regards to logic and truth. On the night that he had found the other man, Light had created a dummy email account, using one of the many free providers here in America, and joined the forum with the intent of commenting on Mikami's posts exclusively. Mikami had been quite surprised to see his arguments deconstructed with as much forethought and dedication as he himself used, but he had responded to all of Light's arguments beautifully and had even correctly deduced that Light was a Japanese speaker currently residing in an English speaking country.

Last night, Mikami had suggested that they exchange emails so that they could continue their conversations off of the forum. This morning, Light had expressed his agreement by sending an email to Mikami's account, an address that the other man had not yet offered nor had made public. Light had hacked the forum for it, an action that had taken a total of thirty seconds to accomplish.

All in all, it had been a wonderful few days, and Light was feeling quite content as he walked beside Ethan, chatting and laughing with the other brunet. In fact, the only thing keeping him from complete satisfaction was Ryuk. The Shinigami had fallen into his old habit of following Light around, staying a few paces behind him like a shadow and saying little except when it was extremely inconvenient. It didn't bother Light when he was alone, but when he was with his friends, something about the situation made him uneasy. For instance, at this current moment, the edges of Ryuk's dark wings kept fading in and out of his peripheral vision as he looked at Ethan. It gave Light the impression that his friend was unwittingly beneath the shadow of a malevolent specter that was simply biding its time before striking. Such thoughts were completely foolish, and yet Light could not completely shake them away. Nor could he quell the anxiety that rose in him at the knowledge that Ryuk had never elicited such feelings from him before.

The two young men had made it to the library and were about to step inside when Light's phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket, expecting Elijah or maybe Mark or Annie, but instead found himself staring at a number that he had stored in his contacts a long time ago but which he had not expected to use or see for the entire time he was in America. Confused, Light stopped just outside the door, opened his phone, and lifted it to his ear.

"Mogi-san?" he asked.

"Hello, Raito-kun," the deep, calm voice of the large man answered in their native language. "I'm very sorry to have to be calling you like this."

"Mogi-san," Light replied, also in Japanese, "what happened? Is everyone all right? Did something happen to my father?" Next to him, Ethan watched with mild concern at the expression on his friend's face and the words he could not understand.

"No, nothing happened," Mogi quickly assured him. "Everyone's fine. That's … that's not why I'm calling."

"Then why are you calling me?"

The big detective didn't answer right away. Instead, he slowly asked, "Raito-kun, where are you right now?"

"What do you mean?" Light asked back, beginning to get angry. "I'm in America. At my college."

"Yes," Mogi said, still drawing out every word, "but where exactly? You see, we're currently at the admissions office …"

Realization crept up Light's spine like ice. "Admissions office?" he asked. "You mean you're here? 'We'? Who's 'we'?"

"Well, you see …"

But before Mogi could convince himself to properly explain, Light heard another voice in the background, the voice of a person rapidly approaching the older man. A voice that wanted to know who he was talking to and was it Light. A voice that demanded the phone so that she could talk to him instead.

"Oh no," Light whispered, covering his eyes with his free hand. "No, no, no, no …" He felt like he was going to throw up, and he must have looked the part as well for Ethan suddenly grabbed him by the arm.

"Light!" the other young man demanded. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"It's my ex-girlfriend," Light choked out in English. "She's here. On campus."

"Holy …" Ethan trailed off in shock, but a moment later, he had whipped out his own phone and was rapidly pushing buttons. "Give me a minute," he said as Ryuk began to snigger behind him. "I'll take care of it."

"You'll what?" Light asked, but at that moment he was assaulted by a tidal wave of high-pitched babbling and screaming.

"Raito!! Oh, Misa is so very, very happy to be talking to you again! Misa missed her Raito so very much! You must tell me where you are. These horrible people here won't tell me where Raito's room is. I told them that Misa is Raito's girlfriend come aaaaall the way from Japan to visit him, but they said that you should have told us where your room is. Then I said that it was a surprise, but they said that they still wouldn't do it and to get the room number from you anyway. Isn't that awful? Misa wanted to surprise Raito by doing up his room a bit and then waiting for him to come home by lying on the bed in some cute lingerie, but these horrid people have ruined it! So you must tell me where your room is, oh, but tell Motchi instead because he's better at directions than I am. Hee hee!"

"Misa …"

"No, no, no, Raito, don't say anything! I don't want to hear about how you don't love Misa anymore because we both know that it's not true. Raito is just confused right now. You've been tempted and seduced by some American hussy, so Misa decided that the best thing to do would be to come here and remind Raito of what true, pure love is. You've just been separated from your Misa too long, that's all. Once we're together again, Misa is certain that her Raito will realize that he still loves her, that he's always loved her, and he will propose on the spot and we'll get married and have a lovely little family together and Raito will never again think about another woman!"

Light wanted to shoot himself. What a truly horrible turn of events. Not only was Misa here to annoy the living daylights out of him, but Mogi was here as well. Mogi, who had undoubtedly been sent to keep an eye on Misa and would follow her everywhere. Mogi, who, should he ever set eyes on Elijah, would recognize him immediately. And Light had no doubt that Misa would demand to meet not only Charlie who had posed as his girlfriend, but also Elijah, Light's best friend, about whom Misa had complained repeatedly, accusing him of taking up too much of Light's free time when Light could have been talking to Misa instead.

This was definitely bad.

"All right, thanks. Bye," Ethan said into his own phone and snapped it shut. Before he could say anything else, Light snatched it from his hand and replaced it with his.

"Hold this for a minute," he requested, using Ethan's phone to call Elijah. His friend complied without question, but his face contorted into a grimace at the sound of the non-stop female chatter that emanated from the speaker.

"This is gettin' interestin'!" Ryuk exclaimed, but Light pointedly ignored him and waited for Elijah to pick up the other end.

"Hello?"

"'Lij," the stressed genius stated in clipped tones, "I need you to pretend to be sick for me."

"Why, Ethan," his best friend replied with smooth amusement, "your voice seems to have changed."

"I don't have time for that!" Light snapped at him, not appreciating the joke. "This is an emergency."

Elijah paused for a moment, taking in the urgency and mild panic of Light's tone. "I see," he finally said. "What has happened?"

"Misa is here. With Mogi."

"I see," the older man repeated, his tone calm but serious. "I believe I feel an insidious illness creeping up on me. I will inform my parents immediately."

"Thank you," Light sighed in relief.

"You're welcome. And good luck."

Elijah hung up his end, and Light closed the phone, handing it back to Ethan. The other young man took it and offered Light's back, holding the device with two fingers much as Elijah held everything. Misa was still jabbering.

"Does she have an 'off' button?" Ethan half-joked.

"No," Light replied with a tired sigh. Ryuk started sniggering again.

"Well, when she takes a breath long enough for you to talk, tell her to meet us at the sports' complex."

Light looked at the other young man with a mixture of horror and disbelief. "The sports' complex?" he repeated. "That's what you call taking care of it?"

"Do you have any better ideas?" Ethan asked him, sympathy evident on his face.

"No," he admitted, "but she'll never agree to it."

"She already has."

Light sighed and hung his head, defeated. "All right," he muttered, lifting the phone back to his ear. It took a bit of doing, but eventually he got Mogi back on the line and gave him the directions he needed. He hung up before Misa could reclaim the phone for herself.

When they got to the complex and the baseball field, Charlie was waiting for them, her legs spread and her fists on her hips. Her hat and glove lay discarded beside her, and as they approached, she reached up and undid her ponytail, letting her blond hair fan out behind her. Light faltered a step as she did so. He had never seen her with her hair down before; she looked almost feminine. The glower on her face ruined the effect, however.

"I have to warn you," she stated as they stopped in front of her, "I smell like dirt and sweat, but I'll do my best anyway." Her eyes scanned the area behind them. "Where is she?"

"She'll be here soon," Light replied. His face felt hot, and he found he was having trouble meeting Charlie's gaze. "You don't have to do this," he told her.

She brushed him off with a wave of her hand. "I said I'd do it, so I'll do it," she said. Then, turning to Ethan, she ordered, "You, go sit over on the bleachers and wait. While you're there, you can think about what kind of cake you're going to get me."

"Cake?" Light asked as Ethan nodded and walked away.

"Yeah," Charlie replied, shooting him a small grin. "You didn't think I was doing this for free, did you? And as for you guys!" she shouted to the knot of softball players who were watching a few feet away. "Don't just stand there gawking! Go hit some grounders or something."

The girls reluctantly broke apart and wandered off to do as they had been told, leaving Light and Charlie alone next to the vistors' dugout. Surreptitiously, Light looked for where Ryuk had gone and found the Shinigami perched on the backstop like some kind of giant bird. The god was looking straight at him, grinning.

A punch in his shoulder brought Light's attention back to the girl next to him. "Loosen up!" she ordered as he turned to look at her. "I'm only doing this once, so you'd better do your part to make it believable."

He swallowed with a bit of difficulty. Just what were they supposed to make believable?

Charlie laughed at the expression on his face, and finally the hostile aura that had been hanging around her disappeared. "Don't look like that," she chided. "I like you just about as much as you like me, but if you want to get rid of this chick for good, you'll have to act a bit." She took a step closer and, to Light's surprise, slung her arms about his neck. "You can act, right, peacock?" she asked with a flirtatious smile. "I bet you've charmed your way into dozens of girls' hearts."

She was way too close now. He could smell the earth on her skin, not an unpleasant smell but also not something to which he was accustomed. "Um …" he tried.

"Put your arms around my waist," she told him, her voice low and sultry. "Now."

"But …"

"Raitooooo!!!"

At that all-too-familiar cry, Light's brain came back on-line and kick-started his body into gear. One arm threaded itself around Charlie's waist and pulled her closer as he turned to smile sweetly at the blonde rocket who was screaming her way toward him. Misa had her arms outstretched as if she were planning on tackling him to the ground, but she pulled up and skidded to a halt as her eyes fell on the other blonde. For several long tense minutes, long enough for Mogi to puff up to a spot somewhere behind Misa, the two girls just stared at each other in silence. Then, Charlie lifted her head from Light's shoulder where she had been resting it and held out her hand.

"You must be Misa," she said with perfect civility. "I'm Chelsea. Light's girlfriend. It's nice to meet you."

Misa didn't even look at the offered hand. Instead, her angry gaze moved to Light. "So," she said in Japanese, "this is her? This is the slut?" When Light refused to grace this with an answer, her eyes cut to the other blonde and began examining her. "She doesn't look like she'd make a good wife," she stated with confidence. "She's too skinny. She looks like a boy! Where are her breasts? How is she supposed to feed Raito's babies if she doesn't have any breasts?"

"She's insulting me, isn't she?" Charlie calmly asked as her hand came back down.

"Yes," Light answered.

"Mmm," she hummed, obviously unconcerned, and settled her head back onto Light's shoulder with her hand resting gently on his chest. Feeling slightly offended on her behalf, Light tightened his own hold on her and rested his chin on the top of her head in a show of protectiveness. He narrowed his eyes at Misa as she bristled at them, silently daring her to say more. So what if Charlie was a bit flat-chested? She still had adequate curves on her lean, muscular body. His hand was resting in the dip of one of those curves right now, and it felt quite nice actually. In fact, if he could forget for the moment that the woman in his arms was loud, overly opinionated, and extremely pushy, he could almost convince himself that he wanted her there at his side. Almost.

Misa looked like a little ball of fluffy gothic fury by this point, ready to explode into a fireball of skulls and kittens. "Get your filthy hands off of my Raito!" she demanded, still in Japanese. "He's mine! Not yours, mine! I'm his wife! So take your slutty paws off and go seduce someone else with that little boy body of yours!"

"Misa!" Light interrupted her sternly, also choosing to speak in Japanese. "That's enough. First of all, she doesn't understand a word you're saying. Second of all, you are not my wife. You're not even my girlfriend. I dumped you weeks ago. It's over between us. I'm with Chelsea now."

"But … but …" Misa's eyes quickly became large and round and began to fill with tears, a classic female tactic. "But Misa came all the way from Japan to see her Raito. Why is Raito being so mean to his Misa?"

"You chose to come here knowing that I was already with someone else," he replied, completely unaffected by the waterworks. "And, I might add, you dragged Mogi-san away from his work to accompany you. You've totally ignored everything I said to you, disrupted my schedule and Mogi-san's because of your own selfishness, and insulted my girlfriend without provocation. I see no reason why I should even try to be nice to you."

The tears flowed down the blonde's face freely, but she straightened herself up for one last attempt at victory. "No!" she cried. "No, I won't accept it! I refuse to be set aside for this American whore!" Eyes flashing, she turned her attention once more on Charlie. "She's blinded Raito so that he can't see her evil plot, but Misa can. Oh, yes, Misa can! She's just using Raito! She doesn't love Raito. And no matter what he thinks, Raito doesn't love her. She's just made him think he does with her lies and her cheap tricks. Raito loves Misa, and Misa loves Raito, and Misa isn't about to stand by and watch her Raito be destroyed by --"

"Oh for Christ's sake, would you just shut up!"

Both Light and Misa stared in open shock as Charlie pushed away from Light and closed the distance between herself and the other blonde with a few angry steps.

"Look," she said, getting right in Misa's face, "I have no idea what you're saying, but whatever it is, knock it off! I told you over the phone and I'll tell you again: you've been dumped. Light may have been your man in the past, but he isn't anymore. He's mine, and for your information, I intend to keep him."

Misa's eyes narrowed at the intrusion, and in broken English she declared, "No, Misa fight for Raito."

Sighing and shaking her head, Charlie stepped back a few paces. "Honey," she replied tiredly, "it doesn't matter how willing you are to fight. You've already lost." She crossed back to Light and stood in front of him. Over her shoulder, she said to Misa, "If words won't convince you, maybe this will."

Light knew exactly what was coming, but before he could do anything to stop it, Charlie had grabbed him and slammed their lips together. He instinctively tried to pull away, but her hands held him fast long enough for him to remember what they were trying to accomplish and to realize that this was a necessary evil to obtain their goal. Resigning himself to kissing this hated firebrand, he relaxed and encircled her waist with his arms. Charlie relaxed as well, pressing her lean body up against him and moving her hands into his hair.

And it was at that moment that, as far as Light was concerned, everything went straight to hell.

Charlie's lips parted slightly against his, and she expertly slid her tongue into his mouth. Once inside, she began to caress his tongue sensually with her own, coaxing it into reciprocating with gentle but confident strokes. Light was responding before he could stop himself, and a heartbeat later, he was kissing Charlie deeply, tangling their tongues together in a heady dance of unexpected passion. He pulled her closer, relishing every curve as it fit against his own body, feeling the muscles under her skin positively thrum with strength and warmth. Her hands stroked his hair gently, pausing now and again to massage circles into his scalp. He released one of his own hands from her waist to slide up her back into her own hair; the ends were stiff with sweat but the rest was surprisingly soft, like spun silk.

Light had never had a girl kiss him like this before. His high-school girlfriends had all been too nervous, too inexperienced. They had kissed like the virgins they were. Takada from To-Oh had been an ice sculpture: beautiful to look at but forever stationary and cold. Kissing her had been as stony and frigid an affair as one might expect from the Ice Queen. And kissing Misa had been like kissing a dog: too much energy and enthusiasm and saliva. She had always made it perfectly clear through her kisses that she was eternally devoted to him, but while Light was more than happy to accept and use that loyalty, it wasn't exactly a turn on for him.

Charlie kissed like a pro, confident and sexy. She kissed with her whole body -- hips pressing, hands moving, tongue teasing. This was more than a simple gesture of affection; this was an all-out seduction, and Light was rapidly losing himself. Forgetting that he felt nothing but annoyance for the woman in his arms. Forgetting that it was all an act. Forgetting that they had an audience.

A sudden chorus of cat calls and wolf whistles from the field surprised him into breaking away, but Charlie quickly caught him and pulled him back in, her lips now curved in a smile as she continued to kiss him. Her teammates took this as encouragement and whooped even more loudly, shouting out congratulations and the occasional raunchy comment. Perhaps as a response to their reactions, perhaps to egg them on further, she lifted her right leg and slung it around Light's hips. An unusual streak of playfulness shot through Light as she did so, and the hand that was stroking her hair came down to clasp the leg more tightly to him and to support it. A wild roar of approval poured from the other athletes, causing Charlie to fall out of the kiss, laughing. Still holding her to him, Light joined her, resting his forehead against her shoulder as he laughed with abandon.

He felt light, giddy. A strange combination of joy and arousal. And for some strange reason, he sort of wanted to kiss her some more. The stray thought passed through his foggy mind that perhaps he should ask her to be his girlfriend for real, but thankfully enough of his sense remained to inform him that he would be horrified by that suggestion once he had come down off of this bizarre high. For now, he would just enjoy the rare occurrence of being happy in Charlie's presence. The mortification would come later.

"Knock it off!" she was shouting to the other girls. "Can't a girl make out with a hot guy in peace anymore?" That produced a few more whistles which she waved off with a grin. "Aw, shut up! You're all just jealous!" Returning her attention to Light who was still in the midst of a giggle-fit on her shoulder, she nudged him gently with her nose and said, "Come on, pretty boy. Look alive." She wiggled her leg a bit, trying to get it free.

Obeying both of the implied orders, Light dropped her leg and lifted his head to meet her gaze. For a frozen heartbeat, he found himself stunned into silence by the sparkling blue of her eyes. She was smiling at him, a calm, almost fond expression. It was so unlike the usual energy that always lightened up her face, and yet it still looked like it belonged there. It was still Charlie. Her soft, vulnerable side that she never let anyone see.

While Light was still marveling at this change in the she-devil he thought he knew, Charlie leaned in and placed a single kiss on his lips -- soft, tender, intimate. Then, her expression hardened and her eyes slipped sideways even as her body turned slightly in his grasp. Light followed her gaze and understood immediately.

Oh yeah. Misa.

She was standing there in utter shock, her eyes staring and her mouth hanging open. As motionless as the pictures for which she always posed. Her expression was one of betrayal and despair, her body language of the completely crushed. A silent accusation lingered in her eyes: You never kissed me like that.

Mogi, Light noticed, had politely turned away and was carefully investigating the side of a building.

Shifting slightly so that he held Charlie to his side like he had at the beginning, Light looked pointedly at his ex-girlfriend and asked, "So, Misa, do you understand now?"

Slowly, life returned to the small blonde girl. Her mouth closed, her back straightened, and her eyes began to fill with unshed tears. "Yes, Raito," she replied quietly. "Misa understands."

"Good."

"Misa understands that Raito is too far gone to save."

"Exac -- what?" He stared at her, not believing what he was hearing.

"Raito has been completely seduced," Misa continued, nodding sagely to herself. "Misa cannot save him from his fate. However, Misa will be faithful and wait. When the American whore tires of Raito, Misa will be there to mend his broken heart." Smiling beatifically, she clasped her hands together and declared, "Broken and alone, Raito will seek out his one true beloved, and Misa will welcome him back with open arms to heal in her loving embrace!"

"What's she babbling about now?" Charlie murmured to him.

"You don't want to know," he informed her, resisting the urge to slap a hand over his face in disgust. As ridiculous as the girl's fantasies were, if they got her away from him for good he wasn't going to complain.

"Come on, Motchi," Misa called, apparently perfectly content with how the situation had turned out. "Let's go." She turned and began to skip away, trusting that Mogi would follow her.

"Wait, Mogi-san!" Light called as the big detective began to leave. It didn't seem right to him to have the man come all the way to America and then leave again without at least exchanging words.

As if reading Light's mind, Mogi lifted up his phone and said, "I'll call you when we find a hotel." His eyes flickered to Charlie who still stood in Light's arms. Solemnly, he apologized, "Again, I'm sorry about this, Raito-kun."

Light waved it off, saying, "It's not your fault. Don't worry about it. I'll talk to you later, Mogi-san." The big man nodded and wandered away after Misa, leaving Light to sigh in relief that it was finally over.

A few minutes later, after both Misa and Mogi had disappeared around the corner of a building, Charlie straightened up and punched Light in the shoulder. "There you go," she announced with a grin. "Mission accomplished."

"Yeah," he replied, reluctantly dropping his arm from her waist. That heady pleasure from kissing her hadn't completely faded away yet, and he found himself unwilling to let her go. Fixing on a friendly smile to hide his disappointment, he said, "Thanks for your help, Charlie."

"Not a problem," she replied easily. The sound of clapping cut off any further comments she might have had, and they both turned to see Ethan approaching them from the bleachers.

"That was quite a show," he joked, smiling. "Excellent job, both of you. For a minute there, I actually believed you were going out."

"Ha!" Charlie laughed, causing a strange pain to twist in Light's stomach. "The miracle of acting, my friend. The miracle of acting."

"Indeed," Ethan agreed. Then, with more seriousness, he asked her, "So when did you want the cake?"

To both males' surprise, Charlie waved a hand and announced, "Forget the cake. I'm good."

"Really?" Ethan pressed, astounded to be let off so easily.

"Yes, really," she assured him. Turning her gaze to the other brunet, she smirked and added, "Thank Light for being such a great kisser." While the talented person in question began to turn red, she retrieved her hat and glove and shoved them on her head and hand respectively. "Now, gentlemen," she stated, "I have a practice to get to, so while you're welcome to stay and watch, you'll have to do so without me. See ya!" She took a few steps towards the field, but before she got too far, she stopped, turned, and came back to Light. Reaching up with her free hand, she grabbed him by the chin and pulled him down for one more brief, tongue-heavy kiss; then, licking her lips a little, she winked at Ethan and stated, "Icing," before walking off for good.

Light felt for sure that his face was going to catch on fire. The full weight of what had happened was finally settling on him. He had made out with a hated enemy … and liked it. A large number of the enemy's friends had witnessed the event as had one of his own friends and the obnoxious Shinigami who hadn't the slightest idea when to keep his mouth shut. And to top it all off, he had just been compared to a cake.

This was nothing short of the deepest level of Hell.

"Are you okay, Light?" Ethan asked as the addressed man dropped his head into his hands with a pained groaned.

"Kill me," Light muttered in response. "Someone just kill me now."

Ethan simply smiled sympathetically in response, took Light gently by the shoulders, and led him home.