Disclaimer: In the days that have passed between this chapter and the one prior to it, I still have not acquired the legal rights to Death Note.

So I'm still doing this.

. . .

L was stressed out.

Scratch that, he was always stressed out but more so now, in that moment, than usual. Matsuda had gotten himself into a situation and the possibility of him getting out of that situation alive was a slight one. If the Yotsuba Group was truly involved with Kira and they had even the smallest suspicion that Matsuda had heard anything remotely useful, they would kill him. There was no question about that. It would be difficult to prove that Matsuda hadn't heard anything at all, especially given the fact that he had fallen into the head office.

Then there was the issue of Seraphine unessecarily risking herself. Matsuda's idea of calling Misa over and using her to stall time was a good one besides the fact that there was an obvious time limit on it. The longer the girls stayed in the Yotsuba Group, the higher the chance of them getting killed by Kira was and, as much as L detested the fact, he knew that he couldn't think clearly when Seraphine so close to danger. If she could only understand that. . .

Besides him, Light was trying to get his cousin on the phone one more time, letting out a frustrated snarl, "She's not picking up. Sera, what are you doing?!" He began typing into the phone again, automated beeps filling the room.

"Don't," L stopped him, "She's doing this to prove a point. She won't pick up. The best thing that we can do in her case is come up with a plan to minimizes her involvement."

Right now, he was trying to focus on getting Matsuda out of the situation. There was a very good chance that the Yotsuba Group would kill him or try to. Maybe the best course of action was to make them think that he was dead. . .

Yes, that was it. They'd have Misa invite the Yotsuba Group to the Task Force Headquarters under premise of it being her apartment. They'd got to her floor, Matsuda would pretend to do an act on the balcony and seemingly fall to his death . . . Misa would then insist that the group leave and she take care of it. The members of the Yotsuba Group would definitely listen, no one wants to be caught up in a scandal like that, and Matsuda would get out alive. It required minimal participation on Seraphine's part.

Perhaps she doesn't even need to be informed of the plan. After all, she's not a very good liar. If she had a genuine reaction, it would make the death seem all the more realistic.

Misa and Matsuda would be the only ones to know then. Hopefully, it would go well. This was Matsuda's only chance.

Turning to Light, L said, "Listen to me Light, there may be a chance that we could save Matsuda but we won't be able to do it without Misa's help. She'll listen to you and do anything you say, won't she?"

. . .

"Hi, I'm Misa-Misa! My only rule is that I don't do nudes but swimsuits and lingerie are totally okay. It's really nice to meet you!"

My heart was pounding as Misa spoke. The highest ranking members of the Yotsuba Group were there, standing a mere few feet away from them and I was hyper aware that one of them could be Kira. I could feel my face heat up as their eyes moved to me, gazes expectant as they waited for my introduction.

"I'm Sofia! I'm an intern at the company. I'm shadowing Misa-Misa until I get the experience I need to actually start working. It's nice to meet you." I offered, trying my hardest to keep my voice and hands steady.

I didn't like admitting it but I was a little scared. If I made any wrong move, these guys could kill me in a heartbeat. I felt like I was under a microscope, like every move of mine was being studied and dissected, that the wrong one would get me killed.

Fortunately, it seemed that they were more focused on Misa than her intern, Their attention was directed more to her than me, although there was one that kept glancing back at me. His stare was directed at anywhere but my eyes and I felt naked under his gaze. It made me uncomfortable and I could hardly wait to get away from him.

It was nothing compared to the royal treatment that Misa was getting, however. There were at least three that were eyeing her like that. It didn't look like it was unnerving her at all. She maintained her posture and kept a wide smile on her face.

In that moment, it struck me what a good actress she was. I had seen a few of her movies (At Sayu's request) and had written her off as an overdramatic model looking to make some extra money but here, in the moment, she was great. I knew that it had to be an act and she almost had me convinced.

"By the way, Matsu, Sof, since Yotsuba is kind of a big catch, I got the okay from the office to host a special reception." Misa said, glancing at both of us, "It sounds like fun!"

I gave her a look. The office? As in the modeling agency? How had they found out about this? No one knew about this except for the Task Force. . .

It was in that moment that it hit me. The office was the Task Force and this special reception was either a way for them to keep an eye on us or save Matsuda, maybe even both.

"I can't wait!" I said, mustering all the enthusiasm that I could, "I hope that you guys are ready for this!"

. . .

I was so not ready for this.

That became clear from the second that I stepped through the front door.

There were models all over the floor that Misa and I shared. Some of them were half dressed, even. They all had the same smile on their faces that Misa wore on a daily basis. It became starkly clear, now that I was standing next to them, that I wasn't one of them. They were all several dress sizes smaller than me and their attire was extremely different from mine. I stuck out like a sore thumb and it was obvious.

Each of the models went to greet each member of the Yotsuba Group while I took a seat on one of the couches, a little awkwardly. After a minute, the man that had been staring at me earlier sat down next to me. He slung his arm over my shoulders and wore a smug expression, one that I immediately detested.

"So, you're a model, right?" He asked.

I knew that I had an act to keep up, for Matsuda's sake, but I wanted nothing more than to come up with an excuse and bolt, "Y-yeah. I'm just starting out. Misa's been helping me out a lot."

"Yeah . . ." He really didn't seem to be paying attention to anything that I said, "What's your name again?"

"Sofia," I lied.

"Sofia. . . Just Sofia?"

My heart began to race. Why did he want my last name? "Yes, I plan to go by just Sofia when I break into the industry."

My heart caught in my throat as I watched him process the information, "Well, just Sofia, I think that you're pretty hot. Why don't you come over to my place after this? I'll make it worth your while."

The panic turned into annoyance. So that was what he wanted. This wasn't Kira. This was a horny asshole, "Sorry. I'm spoken for."

"Come on, he doesn't have to know," He offered, arching an eyebrow, "Look, I've got money and I know that you new model types struggle. I'll pay you whatever you want for a night."

Was he seriously offering to pay me for sex? Who did he think he was? "No, I'm not interested. Excuse me." I made a move to get off the couch but was stopped when he pushed down on my shoulder.

I panicked for a moment and cast the camera above me a quick glance. If this situation got out of hand, L wouldn't let anything happen to me . . . Right?

"I said, I'll pay," He offered, gritting his teeth, "Anything you want."

"And I said no," I hissed, trying to shrug his arm off of me, "Let me go."

He opened his mouth to respond but, before he could, Misa cut in, "Hey, Sof? Can you do me a huge favor? We're all out of champagne. Can you run to the kitchen and grab some? Thanks!"

I locked eyes with her and she gave me a knowing look. Misa had seen everything and this was her way of giving me a way out. Thank God, that hadn't been a pleasant experience. Honestly, I was eager to put any distance between myself and that creepy man.

"Of course, Misa Misa! I'm on it!" I said, a little too enthusiastically, giving the man a hard look as I rose.

I made my way to the kitchen and dug out a bottle of Dom Perignon, pouring it into a few glasses when Matsuda stumbled out of the bathroom. He didn't look so good. The man was stumbling everywhere and slurring uncontrollably. I momentarily stopped pouring the drink and watched him. Was he seriously drunk? How could he be so unprofessional? I knew that he was Matsuda and he wasn't quite as capable as the other members were when it came to their skills as detectives but, still, Matsuda had always given it his all. I had never expected him to do anything like this. . .

"Wow, I'm so drunk," He slurred out, making his way to the balcony, "Hi everyone! I wanna thank you . . . That's great, h-huh?" He paused to hiccup, "Now, the moment you've all been waiting for!" With a flourish, he pulled open the door to the balcony and stood next to the ledge, "The Taro Matsui Show!"

I watched in horror as Matsuda, drunk as all hell, stood on the ledge of the balcony railing. He put his hands down and did a handstand but even I could tell that it was sloppy. He shook as he held himself up and I knew that falling was inevitable.

"Matsui, what are you doing?" I asked, champagne left behind as I approached him. There was a crowd around him and I could spot morbid curiosity in some of their eyes. It left me feeling sick. This was a man's life. What was wrong with them?

"I'm fine! Look at this!" He did a flip, landing on his feet and then he started to flag his leg. I was only beginning to panic more and more. This could end very badly.

"Get down from there!" One of the men said but Matsuda didn't seem to pay any heed to it.

"I got this. I do this all the time. See? Look at this!" Once again, he attempted to do a flip and I watched in horror as his hand slipped. A helpless look crossed his face for a second and then he was gone, helplessly falling at impossible speeds towards the ground.

Around me, the Yotsuba Group members began to panic but I was frozen in place. There was a helpless, terrified look on my face. It wasn't the first death that I'd seen but it hit me just as hard. Matsuda was dead and I had seen his last moments, I had seen the horror in his face when his hand slipped, and it left me frozen, petrified.

Matsuda was dead and then, suddenly, it occurred to me that he didn't have to stay that way.

Before I even had time to react to that thought, however, Misa's voice pulled me out of my trance, "Okay, they're gone! We have some free time now. Thank God, acting normal around those creepers was getting so exhausting," She paused for a second, noting the frozen look in my eyes, "You do realize that Matsu isn't actually dead, right?"

What? "Misa, I . . . You saw him fall, didn't you?"

She blinked at me, a knowing look spreading across her face, "Oh, right, I remember now, Ryuuzaki said not to tell you," She let out a sigh, as if the conversation was somehow exhausting her, "You remember how Matsu was in trouble with the Yotsuba Group, right? Well, Ryuuzaki was convinced that the only way to get him out was to fake his death. Personally, I think Matsu could be an actor. He was pretty good there -"

"And Ryuuzaki told you not to tell me?"

"Yeah, he said that you might give it away," Misa explained, shrugging at me, "Not all of us are actors, Sofia, sorry."

The strange state that I had entered when I saw Matsu fall to his assumed death was replaced by a consuming sort of anger. Everyone knew about this but me? I was more than capable of handling this so why was I excluded? I was a part of this case too. L had basically guaranteed that when he arrested me.

This had to be some sort of sick revenge for me disobeying his orders earlier. Whatever it was, it was wrong. Tricking me into thinking that someone I'd once known has died before my very eyes was wrong. L had to know that this was going too far.

I was dangerously quiet for a moment, "Are they here right now?"

"Who? Ryuuzaki and Light? No, they're gone, dealing with Matsu, but they'll be back later," Misa replied, not even bothering to lift her gaze from her magazine, "Can you actually grab me that champagne though? I'm feeling like some alcohol."

"Come on," I said, storming towards the door, "We're waiting for them. They . . . He can't just do this to me!" I said, pacing and venting while I waited for Misa to meet me, "I'm a part of this case too! I'm involved in this. I don't understand why he feels the need to exclude me. You know, he has some weird vendetta against me and I don't know what -"

"Oh my God," Misa groaned, head dangling off the edge of the couch, "Can you just stop? All you do is fight with Ryuuzaki and, not that he doesn't deserve it, I mean he totally cuts in on my time with Light, but it's so annoying. It's giving me headaches which is so not healthy."

I was taken aback by how strikingly honest she was, "Misa, no offense, but you don't understand what happened between Ryuuzaki and I and why he and I tend to argue so much."

"You know," Misa suddenly sat up, "Once, I had to work on this shoot with these two models. Their names were Sakura and Svetlana. Both were total sweethearts but all they did was fight and fight and it was so annoying. Eventually, the director got so fed up that he threatened to fire them but, like, he couldn't find replacements in time so, instead of booting them, he made them talk. It turns out that Sakura was pissed at Svetlana because Svet totally stole her boyfriend. My point is that maybe you should talk things out with Ryuuzaki? Please because I totally cannot handle watching your arguments anymore. It is so awkward."

It came out in a jumble of words and an obscure story but it made sense. I had been acting pretty immature lately but that was because L slept with me and then arrested me. He used me for sex and that hurt. I had been taking that hurt out on him without confirming my theory.

L had never said anything to imply that he'd used me. This entire time, I had felt so certain that I was right that I never even stopped to talk to him about it. It was a scary thought . . . But what if I was wrong?

Oh God, I've made such an ass of myself in front of the Task Force then . . .

"Right, maybe I won't go down and talk to them just yet then . . ." I said, taking a seat on the couch next to Misa, "Uh . . . thanks for the advice, I guess? I think I knew perspective might have helped."

"Anything for my future cousin-in-law! Now, come with me, I need you to give me a second opinion on this outfit I picked out for my next date with Light. It's already fabulous, of course, but I just need to hear someone else say it."

. . .

There was a mostly victorious air among the members of the Task Force that night and, even though L couldn't approve of it (There could be no victorious air without an actual victory), he understood why everyone was so happy. They had saved Matsuda who had some pretty valuable information with him, enough information to convict every member of the Yotsuba Group as Kira but getting that information was easy. As much as Matsuda's bravery was appreciated, they would have learned what he knew one way or another. The difficult part would be actually catching Kira and jailing him.

Even if that happened, there was no telling that Kira's power wouldn't pass over to someone else. As head investigator on the case, L had a responsibility to detain the current Kira but he wasn't certain that would stop Kira all together.

There was a high probability that, once the Yotsuba Kira was caught, another Kira would emerge. It might even return to Light again. It felt like Kira was leading L in an endless cycle, a loop of seemingly pointless detective work. Kira was playing a game and L didn't like the role he had in it.

He blinked at the computer screen in front of him, lit up with the details of one of the many other cases he had taken on. The answer was fairly obvious but, even so, L couldn't focus, not with so many details about the Kira case floating in his mind, not tonight.

He glanced over to his right. It was late and Light was asleep in the bed next to him. L was sitting in the chair beside him and, as he looked at his suspect, he couldn't help but think about what would happen if Light became Kira again. He would surely kill L and take his title. There was no question about that but what would happen to the rest of the Task Force? To Sachiko Yagami? To Light's sister? To Seraphine?

As if she knew, there was a soft rap at the door, "Ryuuzaki?"

His eyes moved to Seraphine, lingering in the hall. Her hair was messy, presumably from sleep. She was clad in her pajamas, the same that she'd been wearing when he detained her for questioning about the human traffickers so long ago, and, although she was speaking quietly, there was a muted exasperation in her eyes.

He knew that this was coming. She wasn't pleased that he hadn't told her about the plan to fake Matsuda's death and Seraphine never shied away from letting him know that he'd done something to vex her.

"Seraphine. Come in," He said, typing something on the screen in front of him, "Where's Amane? Close by, I assume."

"She's in the next room over," She explained, stepping into the small room and sitting on the edge of Light's bed, "I need to talk to you."

"If this is about the fact that I didn't tell you about our plan to save Matsuda, I have an explanation," He began, fingers flying across the keyboard in front of him, "Would you like to hear it before you start to argue with me?"

"Actually, no, I'm not here to talk about that . . ." She trailed off, glancing at Light, "I figured that the only way I'd ever get to talk to you alone was while he was asleep."

"Mm, we're not alone," He answered, "There are cameras everywhere although I'm sure that Mogi is asleep by this time. It's fairly late. You should be in bed."

"I know but I couldn't sleep. The truth is . . ." Seraphine paused, red slowly coming to the tops of her cheeks, "I wanted to apologize."

That caught his attention. His fingers paused on the keyboard and his eyes snapped over towards her, watching her carefully, "What for?"

"I've been acting really immature. I'm sure that you've noticed that I've taken every opportunity to pick a fight with you. When I'm not doing that, I'm usually sulking. I've been acting like a 12 year old," Her eyes were on the floor, "Truth be told, I assumed that you . . . you kind of just used me for sex and then you arrested me afterwards. That's why I've been angry."

His eyes returned to the screen, "I figured as much."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw hers return to him, "And did you?"

She had him in a corner. The truth was that he didn't. The truth was that he'd gotten too wrapped up in the moment, too wrapped up in whatever was between them to stop like he was supposed to. After all, L was L. He was the best detective in the world and the best detective in the world wasn't supposed to kiss any potential suspects. The best detective in the world wasn't supposed to kiss anyone, not unless it was for a case.

And, even with all that in mind, he'd kissed Seraphine. He hadn't kissed for the sake of the case, he hadn't had sex with her to get information. L had done it because he wanted to, because he cared about her in ways that he wasn't supposed to.

He had feelings for Seraphine and it was selfish. If he had any ounce of personal morality left in him, he'd turn her away. He'd lie to her and tell her that he did. It would spark her anger, it would incite another dozen arguments, it would hurt her, and it would ultimately ruin whatever spark they had but L was selfish and he didn't want to ruin it.

So he told the truth.

"No," He responded, after a moment's pause, "I didn't. I didn't use you for sex, Seraphine, I didn't use you at all. Anything romantic that transpired between us was because I have romantic feelings towards you and I know that you have them towards me, I have for a while but," He shut the screen of his laptop, locking eyes with her, "The fact of the matter is that you are still a suspect and I cannot be with a suspect. I am beginning to doubt my claims that you might act as a Backup Kira but, frankly, I'll need more evidence on that to clear you. Until then, nothing can happen, I cannot let it happen."

L had expected tears, he'd expected some sort of withdrawal from her. After all, it was a blunt statement, blunt enough to hurt, but, strangely enough, he was met with a smile, "I can wait for you to clear me and you know why? I'm not the Backup Kira and you'll figure that out soon and then . . . Then we can continue this conversation. I'm innocent and, once you see that. . . we'll be together."

His eyes searched for face for any ounce of untruthfulness but there were none. After all, she was a bad liar, and he would have seen through her if she'd attempted to fib,

Strangely enough, the statement filled him with the strangest of hopes but instead of acting on them, he just said, "It's late. You and Amane should return to your floor."

"Right. She has a shoot in a few hours. I wouldn't want her to sleep through it," There was a teasing glint in her eye as she rose, headed towards the door. However, just as she reached it, she paused and glanced over her shoulder at him, "Hey, L?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Goodnight."

Once again, that strange, hopeful feeling filled him as he said, "Goodnight Seraphine."

. . .

Omg that was such a cute ending

Bye fam i ship it

Review or Matsuda will fall out of your window/balcony. Whatever you have.