Chapter twenty-six- Engagement and Merriment.

Misa's felt a smile embrace her facial features as she heard the door crack open and make laughter come from the other side. "Ryuuzaki, you there?!" She called through the door.

There was a slight pause before the intercom received her message and chimed in, "Yes, now I am, Love."

Rem chortled "Maturely" as Misa stomped her foot. "Hmph! Is that so?! Well then, would you KINDLY unlock this door?" She hissed.

There was a carefree laugh before he answered. "Oh, do behave, Love. I've been out, getting the engagement ring you so desired."

Misa immediately froze. "Is it pretty?" She asked giddily, like a child pestering it's mother over a birthday cake it wanted made perfect.

"Hm? Oh yes. It should be after all the money I used to pay for it, all nine digits."

Misa stared in shock. How much did he pay? She wondered in amazement. "What's it look like?" She queried aloud.

"It's dark silver-set, with diamonds lining the band. And a black diamond sits in its middle. I saw it, and figure it screamed you."

Her face broke into a silly smile. "If it's screaming, you might want to get that checked out," She teased playfully.

He rolled his eyes in response to the jest. "You know what I mean, Love," he grumbled warily.

"Oh, have a bad day?"

The continual mocking in her tone was apparent. "Yes and... no."

Misa groaned. "Oh, what did L do?" She asked, her voice dropping into a troubled drawl.

What did do? Hm, good question. What DID he do? "He mocked me relentlessly," he settled on finally.

"Aw, did he hurt your pride? Did you get into a fight?"

No, as we're really the same person, that's practically impossible, he pondered to himself. He refrained from saying so aloud.

Instead, he answered, "Yeah, big fight. Very brutal. I almost feel sorry for the taskforce guys who had to witness it."

Misa laughed aloud. He felt a eyebrow arch at that. "I'm sorry. But you're just so ridiculous. Where's L? I hear the boys on the other side. Is he still here?"

Before he could stop himself, he lunged to his feet and yelled into the microphone, "NO!"

Misa winced and covered her ears. "Not so loud!" She complained.

Ryuuzaki mentally cursed himself. "Sorry, Love, but we split up after the... quarrel."

She scrunched her nose up in distain. "Doesn't surprise me. L's a coward and he knows it."

Ryuuzaki bit the edge of his finger. I'm a coward? Guess I never really thought about it like that... "Yes, you're right. He can be quite the child."

Just him saying so brought a smile to Misa's lips. "You're so strange, Ryuuzaki. And you make the weirdest friends. I wonder if you've noticed that yet."

He shrugged. "Yes, quite a bit, actually. But I still fond of the few I have. I forgot, if you want to see the ring, Watari has it outside."

She shot a skeptical look his way. "And it's not locked?" She asked gradually.

"No. Go right ahead and open it."

Misa slowly made her way over to the door and found, to her utmost surprise, that it wasn't locked. "Told you," Ryuuzaki joked over the intercom.

She stepped out and the taskforce members clapped. Her eyes widened at seeing matsuda. "Matsu, what are you doing here?" She cried delightedly.

The man in question just shrugged. "Ryuuzaki asked me to. He said it'd be important to you. It is... isn't it?"

"Of course it is! And I wouldn't have it any other way!"

Matsuda smiled cheerfully.

Watari cleared his throat and walked over and passed her a small, black box. She gingerly opened it and gasped.

The glowing, black diamond shined up at her with the accessory of three more clear-cut diamonds surrounding it. The band was made up from dark silver and the gothic designs were not lost on her.

"It's so beautiful," she breathed out in utter shock and awe.

"Hm, yes. Well, for tradition's sake, Misa Amane, will you marry me?" He teased.

Her face broke into a broad smile. "No!" She joked back.

He smirked wryly and rolled his eyes. "Heh, I think it's a little too late to be refusing marriage, as we're already passed the engagement stage, as it is."

"I know! I was just teasing." She grinned smoothly, making the taskforce members feel really uncomfortable- all except Matsu, who was having a blast.

There was a slight pause. "Yes, stoic blood seems to run through your veins," he muttered sarcastically.

She stifled a giggle with her hand, choking abruptly off the cheerful sound. "Hey, you're one to talk! Oh, yes, you are."

"We should probably get going," Aizawa broke in before they could got really into it. "We'll leave you two alone-" you lovebirds, he added silently, willing the temptation to smile away.

Misa smiled prettily at them, waving all the while. "Yep, see you guys later!" She chirped happily.

They waved back with not nearly the same amount of enthusiasm as the young model. Not that they didn't want to leave...

They did. A lot. Too much?

Yeah, sucky chapter. Sorry. There's just been a lot going on in my life right now. Plus, I've been writing this through a writers block- PAINFUL. You know this because it's the one time I clean my room. Yeah... well, I'll try to get a new chapter up soon. Write you later.