TW: human trafficking
Chapter 8 : Kiss Me
July 11, 2003
After hours of dancing on the pole and what must have been the equivalent of thousands of yen in tips, Misa found herself back in the dressing room with the other girls. There were a few others there now as well, some in awful states like Ginger, and some just as bubbly as Kitty. These girls came from what was called the "Upper House," and they had received much more in tips than Misa had. Misa could only assume what was going on up there, but she had to be careful about what types of questions she asked.
"Shift change soon. Take your breaks now, girls." Doc had called into the room. "Except you new girl, you're done for the night. The boss would like to see you up front when you're finished in here."
Misa nodded before turning to Ginger. The girl looked absolutely exhausted, like she was going to fall apart at any minute and was having trouble getting out of her boots.
"Let me." Misa offered as she kneeled down to undo the laces. It was already 3:00 and Misa had been here for six hours, but it seemed like the other girls had been here all day. In fact, it seemed like they never left this place at all. In between the dance sessions, Misa had gotten to know a little bit about the girls. Kitty and Candy had been visiting America from China and Japan respectively, but had decided to stay after meeting Daddy. They told Misa they made quite a bit of money here and saw no reason to return to their old lives. Ginger on the other hand had ran away from home and had no where else to go after being cut off by her parents. She seemed to miss them a lot, but she wasn't comfortable talking about them. For her part, Misa fed them all a story that she had run away from home too after being cut off, just like she practiced with Aiber. The girls all bought it and Ginger in particular seemed to gravitate towards her more, wanting to bond over the shared trauma.
From what she gathered, these girls had been manipulated into staying by Daddy, possibly seeing him as a boyfriend or father figure, but that was just a guess. The Upper House had to be where the trafficking was occurring because only regular pole dancing and lap dances were performed on the main floor. As Misa was the new girl, she wasn't going to be brought to the Upper House, at least not yet. That meant that they were slowly luring these girls into this kind of work. It had to be because of the money and the fact that the girls had nowhere else to go, but they made so much money from stripping, Misa didn't understand what would make them agree to sex work. It had to be drugs. She'd seen enough track marks on the girls and saw how many of them drank throughout the night. The drugs were making the girls more compliant.
As Misa finished taking off Ginger's boots, she looked up to see the girl slightly dozing off. The poor thing, she must be truly exhausted.
"We're gonna take our breaks now. It was so nice meeting you Rose!" Kitty called, suddenly giving Misa a quick hug.
"It was nice meeting you too, Kitty!" Misa hugged her back and tried to match the girl's enthusiasm. Kitty was way more buzzed than she had been earlier.
"I hope you'll come back tomorrow. It already feels like you're a part of the family." Candy added in.
"Of course!" Misa said cheerfully. She waved at them as the girls collected their things and left the room.
"I guess Ginger is using her break to sleep again, I'm using mine for food." She heard Kitty say to Candy before they left. So the girls had to choose between sleep and food on their breaks? They were being worked to death.
As Misa put her trench coat back on, she decided to take a chance and ask Ginger a few questions before leaving. The girls were alone now and Misa could probably justify taking a few more minutes to get to know her coworkers before facing Daddy again. As gently as she could, Misa lightly shook Ginger awake. "Hey Ginger, are you okay?"
"Rose? Oh… I-uh, I'm alright." The redhead stated as she slowly sat back up. "Did the others leave for break already? I guess I should get something to eat too."
"You look awfully tired Ginger, are you sure you're okay?" Misa held the younger girl's hand and looked her in the eyes before giving a small squeeze. "You can trust me, you know. You can tell me anything."
Ginger looked away for a moment before looking back and Misa noticed the tears pooling in the girl's eyes. "I'm just… I'm just so tired. I'm so tired all the time. I want it to stop, but I can't. I just want to sleep. That's all I want." The redhead began to quietly sob and Misa wrapped her arms around her, rubbing small circles on her back.
"Oh honey, you should get some rest. Surely there's a place for you to sleep?"
"N-no, n-not here. All w-we do here is w-work." Ginger cried.
"Why don't you come with me then?" Misa wasn't even sure if it was okay for her to ask this, but she wanted to get Ginger out of this situation. The longer she stayed the more clear it became that L's suspicions about this place being the center of a human trafficking circle were true. The girls must be disappearing because they were dying from being worked to the bone.
"I c-can't. I w-want to. B-but they'll find out. Th-they'll hurt m-me." Ginger whispered.
Misa was now fully deviating from the plan, but she couldn't watch this poor girl struggle any longer. She leaned in close and whispered in her ear, "Meet me around back in a few minutes. Make sure no one follows you. I'll give you a sign." She then got to her feet and collected her purse.
"It was so nice meeting you Ginger, I hope I see you again soon!" Misa called loudly as she left the room, not daring to look back. She could only hope that Ginger would listen to her and that she'd be able to get the redhead out of this mess.
As Misa entered the main room, she was stopped by Daddy.
"You did well for you first night, doll. But unfortunately, we're gonna need to take a portion of that. Think of it as liability insurance." Daddy explained as he took Misa's purse from her. He left her only a few bills and then placed his hand on top of her head to stroke her hair. "You're a good girl, aren't ya? But maybe you need a little protection? We can protect you. Come back tomorrow night."
Misa did her best to give the man a genuine smile, "I like that very much. I be back tomorrow night." He continued to stroke her hair for a few more moments. His hand trailed down to her back next and then he held her around the waist. Everything in Misa was screaming for her to bolt, but she was afraid of blowing her cover.
Right as he was leaning in, his cellphone suddenly started to buzz. "Sorry doll, I've gotta take this. I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"
"Of course!" Misa tried to smile as genuinely as possible and not turn around to leave too fast. She kept up a normal pace as she left the club, and as soon as she was outside, she let out a deep breath. Her whole body was still shivering, thinking of what he might have done if not for the distraction.
Misa walked down a few blocks before she spotted Wedy's bike. She sped up just a little bit and finally let the tension fall from her shoulders once she was with the older woman again.
"How'd it go?"
"I'm not eager to go back, but I certainly learned a lot." Misa said. "But uh, I may have deviated from the plan a bit."
Wedy raised an eyebrow at this. "In what way?"
"I told one of the girls to meet me out back and make sure no one follows her. She's so tired and she really needs to sleep. I was thinking-"
"You want to rescue her." Wedy stated bluntly. Misa nodded with a small smile. "Fine. Get on the bike and let's be quick about this. Put on your helmet."
Wedy drove slowly back over to the Clubhouse, taking an indirect route that kept them hidden in the shadows. As they hid in a nearby alley, Misa saw Ginger waiting out back with a coat on, looking around nervously. Misa tapped Wedy on the shoulder and pointed to the girl, which the older woman flashed her lights at to signal to come over. Ginger walked at a fast pace and made it over to the bike, but just as she arrived, Doc busted through the exit.
"Gingy, baby, where ya going?" He called as he looked around. Once he spotted them, he took out a gun.
"Get on! Quick!" Wedy shouted. Ginger hopped on the back, holding onto Misa tightly, as Wedy revved the engine and quickly reversed down the alley. The three women on the bike was a tight fit, even with how small they were, and Misa held tightly onto both women, hoping no one would fall off. She heard a few gunshots and a car engine turning on before Wedy spun the bike around and they were racing down the streets.
Even as they entered the main road, Misa still heard gunshots and ducked her head. Wedy began to weave the bike between cars, suddenly entering the left side of the road, dodging cars driving right at them. Misa tried not to scream, but Ginger wasn't able to hold her fear back.
"We gotta lose them!" Wedy yelled. Misa turned around to see a car behind them disobeying traffic laws just like them. The car was a red mustang and it was slowly catching up. Wedy suddenly made a left turn, but the car followed. Suddenly there were more gunshots and Ginger was screaming once again as all the women ducked and Wedy continued to weave the bike through traffic, narrowly avoiding being hit.
Misa felt a buzzing on Wedy's waist and grabbed the woman's phone, answering it for her so she could stay focused on not letting them be hit by a car.
"Misa, tell Wedy to take the next right. Penber and Misora are waiting on the next street with a blockade." Oh god, it was L. Misa didn't have time to worry about what he was thinking though.
"Take the next right!" She screamed at Wedy, and as the woman did so, Misa felt something graze her right arm.
Sure enough, at the end of the road Raye and Naomi were waiting with a blockade of police cars and behind Wedy more cops entered to throw out a chain to pop tires. The red mustang followed right behind them and went over the chain, popping the tires and spinning out. Wedy quickly spun off to the left to avoid being hit while police chased after the spinning car.
Finally, the women came to a stop and Wedy turned off the bike. Able to catch her breath again and no longer running on adrenaline, Misa felt a sharp pain in her arm.
"Rose! You've been shot!" Ginger shouted. Misa looked down at her arm to see blood and quickly used her other hand to cover the wound, but pain shot through her system and she cried out.
"Misa! Let me help you!" Naomi called as she sprinted over. She helped Misa down from the bike and brought her over to a nearby car to sit down. In her periphery, Misa noticed Wedy leading Ginger over to Raye.
"This is gonna hurt, I'm sorry, but we can't risk infection." Naomi warned as she began cleaning the wound with alcohol, Misa cried out and tried to muffle her sounds with her hand. Naomi then placed a sterile dressing on the wound and wrapped a tourniquet around her arm to stop the bleeding. She kept Misa's arm elevated and told her to breathe. "The good news is you were only grazed by the bullet; it didn't fully enter the body. We'll get an ambulance over here shortly."
Misa tried to breathe through the pain and focus on something else. As she looked around, it looked like Raye was taking a statement from Ginger and that Doc was being arrested in the distance. Wedy was taking a smoke break over by her bike. L was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he?" Misa questioned, knowing Naomi would be able to tell who she was referring to.
"He's sending a swat team to the Clubhouse to grab the boss before he flees and to get the girls out of there." Naomi answered.
"Did I mess up?" Misa asked quietly. She knew that this was supposed to be a stealth mission.
"No, you just sped up the process. Honestly, with you befriending Ginger and leading to Doc's arrest, we should have enough evidence alongside the tapes to bring the trafficking circle down. This will make it easier to find the other girls who disappeared too." Naomi replied. She was being sincere, Misa could tell by her voice. Misa only hoped that L felt the same way.
.
A couple of hours later, and Misa was back at the hotel. The EMTs had cleaned out the wound, placed some antibiotic ointment over it, and patched her up. Afterwards, she had gone with Wedy to drop Ginger off at a treatment facility to treat her for her withdrawal. Daddy and Doc had gotten her addicted to heroine over her time spent with them and it would be a long time until she recovered, but the people at the treatment facility were sympathetic to her situation. She had hugged Misa goodbye, begging her to stay in touch.
During the ride back, Wedy revealed to her that she had almost ended up like those girls at one point in her life. She had been 16 and homeless; she had no money, no place to go, and no one to count on. An older man had offered her a place to stay if she did a few favors for him. She had ended up robbing the man instead, the first person she ever robbed, and moved on to a life of crime after that.
"I robbed people for years before moving on to bigger things. Jewelry stores, banks, museums, you name it. For 9 years, I was nothing but a criminal."
"What changed?"
"I met L, and well, your mother." Wedy said simply. They got off the bike and walked back towards the hotel.
"Really, you knew my mom?" Misa asked excitedly.
"Yeah, she was a pretty fiery woman. You seem a lot like her." Wedy gave Misa a soft smile, which Misa matched.
"I wish I could have asked her about all her adventures, I never got the chance. I'm sure she really liked you though." Misa said as she thought about her mom. Okasan always did enjoy meeting strong women. She would have loved Naomi too.
"Oh, I don't know that she enjoyed working with criminals as much as L does, but she did show me there was more to life." As they finally entered the hotel room, Wedy ended the conversation. "Maybe I'll tell you about it another time."
Once she entered the room, Misa immediately became nervous and looked down at her feet. She wondered if the others would be angry at her for her impulsive decision. Now that she was away from the drama, she realized she had put herself and other in danger on a whim.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps walking towards her and looked up to see L coming right at her. The look in his eyes was more intense than she had ever seen them before, and she nervously took a step back. Once he reached her, his hands brushed her hair out of her face, her wig having been removed sometime after the chaos, and he looked her in the eyes. "Are you okay?"
"O-oh, yes. I'm fine." Misa squeaked out as she blushed. His hands caressed her face for another moment before he seemed to realize they weren't alone, and he took a step back and cleared his throat.
"The owners of the Clubhouse have been arrested and will be questioned later today. Seeing as it's 5am, I'd advise you all to get some rest before we meet back up in the afternoon to go over evidence and next steps." L stated.
"Thanks L." Wedy yawned. She placed a hand on Misa's shoulder and gave a small squeeze before retiring to her room.
Naomi and Raye bid everyone goodnight as well, Naomi giving Misa a small wink, before leaving to get some rest as well. Aiber had been the last to return to the room, seemingly just getting off a phone call, and he waved goodnight before quickly heading to his room last, leaving Misa and L alone in the main room together.
"Shouldn't you be getting some rest?" L asked as he went into the kitchen to make himself some coffee.
Misa followed after him, hoping he wouldn't mind the company. "I can't sleep. I can never sleep in new places. It took me a week to be able to sleep in Mako's house."
"You should at least lay down. You have a wound to heal." L pointed out softly.
"I don't really like being by myself. Would you come with me?" She looked up at him with a shy look on her face. He hesitated to answer, so she added in, "Please? You can just sit in a chair nearby. Having someone to talk to would be nice."
He sighed heavily before slowly nodding his head. "Okay, Misa. I'll meet you in there in a few minutes."
Misa headed back to her room, where her suitcase was already waiting, and changed into a big t-shirt to sleep in. She removed her lacy panties for a more comfortable pair and then took out her contacts. After brushing her teeth and then her hair with her left hand, Misa posed in the mirror trying to look cute and innocent, being mindful of the wound on her right arm. It wasn't like she was trying to make anything happen, she just wanted to spend more time with him. She felt comfortable around L, and she had had a very long day. Besides, Naomi was with Raye, so really he was her only option, she tried to rationalize.
She climbed under the covers and waited with her bedside lamp on. She didn't have to wait long as there was a small knock at her door. "C-come in." She said nervously.
L walked in with his normal hunch and a cup of coffee. He grabbed the chair in her room and turned it towards her, but kept plenty of space between the chair and the bed. He sat in his weird way and took a few gulps of coffee before he addressed her. "Are you sure you're doing okay?"
"Yeah, it doesn't hurt too bad. They gave me some pain meds. It hurt like hell at first, but it's much better now." She said, looking down at her wound. Honestly, she thought it was pretty cool that she would have this scar from being shot at. It made her feel like a badass.
"I didn't mean, well that too, but I mostly meant with everything else that happened today." He clarified.
Misa took a moment to get her thoughts together before she answered him. "Well, it was hard to see those girls like that. They all looked so lost, and so tired. I was really sad to see them like that, but I'm glad now because we got them out of that creepy place."
"I'm sorry I sent you there. Men can be such vile creatures." L said as he looked away from her.
"Oh, no, I was happy to help! I mean, I didn't like the men there, but it wasn't so bad!" Misa quickly rectified.
"What about when that man pet your hair?"
Oh yeah, L had been watching through the cameras. Oh… that meant he saw her dance. Misa reddened, unable to speak for a moment as the realization hit her. He saw me pole dancing in my sexy outfit… What did he think of it?
"I'm sorry if that question made you uncomfortable." L said, drinking his coffee again.
"N-no, it's okay. I mean, it wasn't okay when he touched me, but once it was over, I was so relieved- Wait, were you the one who called his phone?"
L choked a bit on his coffee, coughing quite a bit and holding his drink off to the side so it didn't spill on him. Misa smiled and tried not to laugh at him. "Thank you, L. I'm glad you were looking out for me."
"All men are vile creatures, Misa." He told her after he collected himself.
"You're not vile, L. You're a good man."
"You don't know that."
"I do." She insisted. "You were good enough for my mother to leave the world in your hands. You were good enough to solve my mother's case. You were good enough to not treat me like I was weak and fragile. You were good enough to save me from what could have been a really bad situation. I know you're a good man."
"You wouldn't think so if you knew all the things I had done, all the things I was willing to do to solve a case." There was an intensity in L's eyes again, like he was trying to warn her away from something, but she wasn't buying it.
"L, I almost killed the man who murdered my parents. I won't judge you for the things you've had to do. I can handle it." At some point, Misa had moved out from under the covers and sat on the edge of her bed, much closer to L than she had been.
L sighed heavily and placed his mug on the ground. "Misa, I put you in danger today. I shouldn't have asked you to come on this case."
"Did I die? Or did I help you solve the case faster?" She challenged.
"You are too young, there's so much you don't know. You're only attached to me because you hero-worship me after I helped take down the man who murdered your parents."
"You can teach me. And before you said that I was a huge part in taking him down and that I saved myself." She inched just a little bit closer to him.
"I am a detective, the world's greatest. Any sort of relationship with me would put you in danger. Besides, all my time is devoted to cases."
"We made a really great team before. I can continue to help you in the future. I won't break so easily." Just a bit closer.
"I can't take you on every case. Most of the time we won't even be in the same country."
"I have that phone." She smiled at him, he was running out of arguments.
He looked like he was just about to say something else, but then he stopped himself and got out of the chair. For a second, Misa was afraid she pushed too far and that he was going to leave, but then he was leaning down and capturing her lips in a soft kiss.
It took her a moment to react, but then she was carefully wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him down to her. He was sucking on her bottom lip as she licked his upper lip and then opened her mouth to him. She felt his tongue enter her mouth and the two slowly licked at each other before going back to sucking harshly at each other's lips. She laid back down on the bed and he hovered over her, their lips still attached, but she leaned down incorrectly on her right arm, causing her to flinch. L immediately jumped off of her, panting slightly.
As the older man tried to recollect himself, Misa cursed her arm for ruining the moment. "I'm sorry Misa, I got carried away. You should rest." He said, not meeting her eye, before he left the room.
Misa huffed as she got back under the sheets. She could only hope he wouldn't avoid her again, but she had a good feeling that things weren't going to go her way.
.
L tapped away at his laptop, pulling all the evidence together and going over everything that needed to be done tomorrow. He'd have to send the team back to the Clubhouse to look for any evidence of the girls who disappeared and try to collect statements from the owners to determine the locations of the bodies. The American criminal justice system was rather flawed, and there was a good chance the girls could be arrested for prostitution if they weren't able to prove it was human trafficking. He was glad to have the owners in custody so soon, but it wasn't without its downsides.
As L tapped away, he heard a pair of footsteps enter the room.
"Hello Aiber, up so early? Don't you need your beauty sleep?" He asked in his regular monotone.
"I couldn't sleep, Nadine called me and told me Rico has pneumonia. I'm sure he'll be fine, but ya know, a dad's got to worry." Aiber said casually as he sat across from L.
L nodded, recalling that those were the names of Aiber's wife and son. He's not sure when Aiber became so comfortable telling him the details of his life, but they had known each other for quite some time, and Aiber had been grateful to him for getting him out of a sticky situation where had L not intervened, he would have been killed by the mafia.
"Does that mean you're done with this case?" L asked.
Aiber chuckled and shook his head. "Man, are you telling me to go take care of my family? That girl's made you soft."
L paused for a moment wondering if his infatuation for Misa had been that obvious to the others. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"Bullshit. I've known you seven years and in all my time working with you, you've never asked a single person if they were okay on a case." Aiber laughed a bit again. "Come on, you can't tell me you haven't noticed yourself."
"I've gone soft?" L repeated, thumb at his lip as he thought about it. Had Misa really made such a dramatic impact on him?
"Honestly, it makes sense. She's the yin to your yang. You two fit together." Aiber mused.
"What do you think Deneuve would say?" L wondered aloud.
"Ha, she'd probably give you hell. Tell you to be good to her girl and all that. But I think she would have come around to it, she seemed to respect you. Enough to give her alias up to you, at least." Aiber answered honestly.
L remembered when Deneuve decided to give her name up to him. She told him it was for the best that she retire and spend more time with her family after he beat her fair and square. He remembered her mentioning a very cute daughter who had a habit of getting into trouble. He never thought he'd meet her himself one day and that she'd become a helpful ally and yet also the biggest distraction to his work. Watching her dance the other day had been… No, those thoughts aren't productive. Forget it.
"You already debriefed me yesterday on the VIP status and now that the owners are in custody and we have a warrant to search the place, we can figure out who was on that list and what services they received. You're free to leave if you wish." L went back to tapping away at his laptop, ignoring the smirk Aiber gave him.
"If you say so." Aiber stood up and paused for a moment. "She's passionate just like her mother. Far more impulsive, but so far that's been a good thing. And you seem more human around her. I think it would be a good thing for you." After giving his unsolicited advice, the con-man left to grab his bags and headed home.
L tried very hard to focus just on work. He really tried, but he was already a goner.
.
Later that afternoon, after everyone was well rested, part of the team left to question those who were on the VIP list while the other part of the team went to investigate the Clubhouse for any signs of the missing girls.
Misa, however, was forced to stay in the hotel as L worked on his laptop in the main room. He told her that her part of the case was done now, and they'd simply arrange for a quick photoshoot with some American magazine and ship her off back home. Misa was told her only job was to rest now, which of course she wasn't able to do. She wanted to know what was going on. Were the other girls okay? Did they find the bodies of the missing girls? She couldn't just lay in bed not knowing.
Not able to take it anymore, Misa walked back into the main room to question L on what was happening.
"The other girls have all been taken to treatment facilities. Some of them have been placed in foster care. We're still looking for the missing girls, and some of the girls have reported seeing the one known as Doc drag bags out to the dumpster. If that's true, we'll have to track and investigate the landfills nearby, which won't be easy to do, but it'll only be a matter of time before we find them. Anything else you wish to know?" L said robotically as he continued to focus on his laptop and not her.
"Yes. Are you mad at me? About last night?"
"No."
"Are you going to stop talking to me again when I go home?"
"Maybe."
"Why?" Misa groaned. This man could be so infuriating sometimes.
"I don't think it's in your best interest to be involved with me."
"But do you like me?" Misa asked. He had kissed her last night, surely he was at least attracted to her. They could build something from that, couldn't they?
"Whether or not I like you isn't important. What's important is keeping you safe." He deflected.
"It's important to me! Am I not pretty enough?"
L sighed, "You know you're beautiful. You're also only 18."
"Well how old are you?"
"That's a secret." L said with a smirk.
"You're attracted to me." Misa accused, finding a new direction for her argument.
"That doesn't mean anything."
"It means plenty. Kiss me." She joined him where he was sitting, leaning over the chair and playfully batting her eyelashes at him.
"No."
"Kiss me."
"Misa."
"Please?"
She was leaning over him, just about to ask him to kiss her again, when he reached up and placed his hand on the back of her head to bring her down to him and softly capture her lips once again. It didn't last long though and he quickly pulled away. "Please go rest now." He said softly.
"Promise you won't disappear on me again?"
"I can't make that promise."
She grumbled as she pulled away to leave the room, but just before she was completely out of earshot, she heard him say, "I do like you, Misa."
.
.
.
Author's Note: I was supposed to be studying for my midterm, but instead I finished writing this chapter, LOL WHOOPS.
This completes this short little arc. I hope you enjoyed this story and I hope I did a good job of adding some more depth to Aiber and Wedy. The next chapter will be another transition, it'll be pretty long too because I'm covering from the end of this chapter to November, so it might take me awhile to write. Or maybe I'll write it really quickly instead of getting studying done again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Light will finally make an appearance either at the end of the next chapter or at the beginning of chapter 10! We're in it now folks! I honestly didn't think the opening of this story would take me so long, but here we are. I'm thinking this story is going to end up being at least 30 chapters, maybe more. I keep on adding new things, so we'll see how it goes.
If I wrote a fanfic after this one where Misa's parents were actually killed by Kira instead of robbers and she wanted her revenge against him, would y'all read it? Let me know.