Since I'm apparently on a roll today with the rewriting, I'll probably manage to update the last chapter later today. I'll then focus on new chapters. (edited 05/03/2021)

May 21th, 2003.

"Oh honey!" Misa was dragged into a bone-crushing embrace.

"My baby. Oh we should've just stolen that car Takuma!" Her mother refused to let go of her, her dad managing to wrap his arms around them both.

"We were so worried pipsqueak..." Her mom smelled of peppermint and cherry blossoms, the thought made her want to cry. They were there, safe and sound. "I'm so glad you both are okay."

"That's our line Misa! A robbery of all things..!" Her parents had both agreed to add a few days to the time they already had off and Misa hadn't been to class the day before.

(her parents are flesh and blood)

(flesh and blood and warmth)

They ride past their house and go to their favourite restaurant instead, both adults had firmly decided to postpone the legal matters until later. Misa giggled when her father tried to convince her mom to buy a second plate, said woman then threatening to pop his eyeballs with her fork.

Everything was back to normal.

They both treat her like she is made of glass. (no, Misa is made of flesh and blood just like them)

(and steel and death, always death)

Gelus has been notably absent from her daily life, she's starting to worry.

She loves the little Shinigami, but he'll have to wait until after at least a few more days stuck to her parents' side. They go to the park next, buying themselves some ice cream. Her mother cackles like a hyena when her father's bubblegum one falls to the ground.

She's still impossibly pretty even with her nose scrunched up and upper lip showing more gum than teeth.

Misa has this pink dress on, with a burgundy leather jacket and her trusted boots on. She feels pretty.

The thing is that Misa is...slightly unhinged, or well not completely straight of mind. She acknowledges that, she is okay with that and she will accept this until it begins affecting those she cared for. (read : her parents, Nami and Mrs. Matsuo)

(the rest of the world could burn and she'd hardly notice)

Light Yagami and L Lawliet were monsters, monsters with drive and purpose. (Misa Amane had neither)

Despite this, Misa is happy. She's content, loved and living her life as she see fit.

Maria Anderson had been a lonely, miserable girl. With an absent father and frankly horrible mother - she'd never even tried! it was no wonder she had been a teenage mess of issues.

Angry and jealous and bitter.

It had taken her years of fighting with her mother and bad decisions, trying so freaking hard to make the woman care. Years, for her to finally understand things would never change. She made her peace with it.

Only to be born once again, this time to an absolutely perfect and adorable mother. Now that was just unfair.

"Misa?" Her parents looked worried, she loved them for it. "Your mother was asking if you and Nami were still planning on going sightseeing this summer?"

"Yeah, we are." Her father's features are back to normal, but that glint in his incredibly blue eyes tells her that he's wondering about her wellbeing and state of mind.

Tokyo was one huge area after all. She'd barely had the opportunity to see the place in all of her nineteen years of living in it.

It's not like she had much more to do besides work more hours at the cafe and Nami had recently developed an obsession with more rural areas - she blamed the girl's literature classes who'd sent her into deep musings and an obsession with Shakespeare.

They had already booked a few days in Hakone to remedy that, paired with a few places they wanted to visit in Tokyo in the short two months of vacation. She frankly couldn't wait.

"My baby girl going on her first trip without us..." she didn't hide the ungraceful snort that left her lips at that, Hakone was only 60-90 minutes away after all.

"You can be such a drama queen dad," Yui Amane nodded, despite having married that sap of a man. Who knew, that a girl from the wrong side of the tracks living with her alcoholic mother could've been seduced by a few burnt attempts at cooking and some flowers.

"Honey it's happening! Our daughter is finally going through puberty, talking back to her parents like that, the shock!" Misa's mother watched on with soft eyes as her daughter rolled her eyes so harshly one would think her eyeballs would stay stuck like that.

Yes, her baby had been quite the mild teenager. Far from her own screaming matches with her deadass mother and teenage rebellion in the form of tattoos the length of her back, any parent would've had a heart attack but not her own.

Grandma Hakane - her maiden name, had instead raised a brow between glasses of wine when she'd caught sight of it underneath a flimsy shirt before laughing at her daughter and saying something along the lines of them being not so different after all. She still felt like vomiting at the thought of being anything like the woman.

"Just make sure to have fun baby," the blonde haired woman sighed as she brushed a strand of similar hair out of her daughter's face. "You deserve it after what happened with that man and working so hard at school."

"I'm fine mom, and semester's only halfway through." The fact that her Misa was as fine as she said was of course a relief, if a bit troubling. Her daughter had always been a bit special, something only a parent could notice about their child. From the way she looked at child's toys with disinterest to how her mesmerizing eyes would sharpen with the intelligence of an adult as a toddler.

In the end it doesn't really matter, Yui smiled at her daughter as the girl sat on the park bench next to her husband, no it doesn't matter if her baby is different.

She'd shoot that man between his two eyes all the same, given the occasion.

"Oh let's go to the amusement park!" Her husband pressed a kiss to her lips, Misa fondly looking away and instead towards the path leading to the amusement park Takuma had just mentioned.

There was only one child in their little group, but by looking at the only man fooling around like that, some might believe him to be that child. Yui kissed her daughter's cheek when she was handed yet another stuffed toy, both her husband and daughter could never quite beat her at those games.

"Look who won, again." There was an almost moody grumble from the girl as she held the stuffed turtle to her chest. "I don't even see why we still let you play."

"Because when we play with other groups I always get you the biggest prizes," she reminded the young girl with a grin. "Besides, you seem to like your little turtle here."

"Honey you did not just call that a turtle," Takuma looked deeply insulted which was a bad omen if anything was. "That's a Squirtle."

"What in the world is a Squirtle?" Her husband gasped, Misa nodding in agreement as she tightened her hold on the stuffed toy.

"Daughter of mine I believe this situation calls for a very urgent remedy!" And that's how the three of them ended back home with their newly brought three first seasons of the anime with seemingly an infinite amount of popcorn and chocolate from the convenient store.

"You two are horrible," she managed to say in-between the first two episodes, she was surrounded by children. Misa still hadn't let go of the stuffed toy, a pair of soft, loose fitted pants on for nightwear.

"You're the one who lacks some culture mother," Takuma let out a deep chuckle as his two girls shot lightening at each other with their eyes.

Yes, this is what home feels like.