Misa had just returned to the headquarter and she was soaking in a relaxing bubble bath. That afternoon with Light had taken 10 years of her life, not to mentions those she had already given up with the eye's exchange. Light had left, only after talking to Rem and instructing her on everything she had to do with the Yotsuba, so he had left. In that moment Misa was relieved.
"Rem?"
Misa's voice was muffled in that wet and steamy bathroom.
"Tell me Misa."
The Shinigami appeared from above and approached the girl's bathtub.
"I would like to ask you something, Rem."
Said the model playing with the soap foam.
"Are you in contact with the King of Shinigami?"
Rem made an expression that to Misa seemed a grimace, but it was concern actually.
"What are you thinking at, Misa?"
The model clicked her tongue and twisted a golden lock of hair...
"To report Ryuk"
Rem appeared in front of her, lightning.
"What are you going to do?"
Misa looked at her firmly and spoke.
"You told me that my notebook was of a Shinigami which died to protect me and therefore it is rightfully mine. While you always told me that Light's notebook wasn't property of Ryuk but that he stolen it away from some other Shinigami. You also told me that Ryuk is considered a good-for-nothing in your world and that he has already had several shots for insubordination..."
The girl took a long breath and massaged her neck quietly.
"So, my intention is to make sure that the King of Shinigami's will discovers it and that he subtracts the stolen notebook from Ryuk, and Light will stop being Kira. Don't worry, I'm not going to do it now, I need the time to make Light believe he's going to kill L."
"Understood..." said the Shinigami even more worried than before "I don't know if I will succeed but when you tell me I will go to my world, and I'll try to get in touch with Yama."
"Yama Is the Shinigami King's name?" said the girl satisfied "well, I'll be happy to talk to him in person. And now one last thing Rem... You also told me that if by chance I gave up the ownership of the notebook I would forget every memory related to it. Right?"
"Exactly."
Answered the Shinigami.
"So if Light loses the ownership of the notebook because of the King of the Shinigami... would he loses all the memories related to it too?"
"Rule number fifty" began to recite the Shinigami "Who loses the ownership of the notebook, is immediately deprived of all the memories related to its use. However, this does not mean that he will no longer have all the memories from the day he came into possession of the notebook to the day he lost it, but that his actions will not appear as related to the possession of the notebook itself."
"Well" said the girl blowing a bubble "maybe I just found a way to save them both."
The sound of Misa's phone suddenly ended the conversation, Misa stretched out an arm and picked up her phone from the floor.
"Eru chan!"
She cried happily on the phone.
"Misa chan to what do I owe this joy?"
"Misa is happy to hear you before Saturday" said her happily "and then I'm having a nice hot bath full of foam, would you like to keep me company Eru chan?"
She perfectly knew it would embarrass him.
"Actually, I was going to ask you to come here, I need to talk to you."
Said the detective trying to ignore the girl's proposal.
"But Misa Misa is in the bathtub right now!"
The model complained while kicking in the tub.
"I can't come upstairs Misa, you have to come here. See if you can come here in half an hour. There's no one at headquarters right now."
The girl snorted loudly.
"If you will come here, I'll bake something sweet to you."
She insisted.
"Why should I risk eating a bad cake when I have plenty of fine pastry?"
He asked her amused and she heard him munching on something.
"All right, stubborn detective, I'll come now. Anyway, my dessert wouldn't have been bad, but you'll never know because Misa won't do it anymore."
She told him, taking the towel and starting to dry herself.
"Misa is too touchy."
"No, Misa is patient."
The young model answered annoyed.
"I am the patient one. And…speaking about patience, the bathtub thing I thought was included in the -many other things to do starter-pack-"
The detective replied nonchalantly clicking his tongue.
"What a perv!"
The model cried out, outraged by the insinuation.
"See you soon Misa chan"
He simply answered before hanging up the phone.
The girl ran into the room with her hair still wet putting on dry clothes. A pair of gray over-the-knees socks and an oversized sweater, then she jumped into the elevator.
"Here I am, jerk"
She said, entering the monitor room fast as the wind.
To her surprise she found him already waiting for her sitting in an armchair, around him there were a lot of trays full of crumbs.
The boy stood up and pointed her to the armchair while he took a chair for himself.
"Misa still has her hair wet and she is barefoot"
He looked at her slightly amazed.
"Just because someone rushed her."
Answered the girl crossing her arms and heading to her seat.
"So, what were you supposed to tell me about?
She quietly asked him crossing her legs.
"This afternoon Kira gave his power to someone else."
He reply briefly, as he putted his hands in his pocket.
"There have been tree murders in a row, and the targets were not criminals but just businessmen."
He turned to the monitors and looked at them for a long time, then he spoke again.
"Change is so obvious that one might think that it was on purpose. I still don't understand why, but I'm sure this misdirection is a voluntary move by Kira and his attendant."
He finally turned to her.
"And it all happened after your date with Light."
He said, looking at her from his own shoulder.
"Did Light seemed strange to you in any way today?"
The girl raised an elegant eyebrow.
"That's all?"
She asked.
"Don't you want to know anything else?"
"Yes, that's all."
He reply dryly.
"Absolutely nothing, today was a date like the others. He acted like a normal boyfriend as always, then he disappeared. The only thing I can tell you is that he was in a hurry."
She answered by resting her face on a palm of her hand. But she retreated immediately after seeing the boy reach her with large strides. L leaned over her and put his hands on the armchair's armrest, his face was a few millimetres from hers, his eyes were wide open and darker than ever.
"What are you hiding from me Misa Amane?"
He told it quickly.
The girl drew her head back but did not look away.
"Nothing Eru chan, really..."
"Don't lie to me. Not you" he replied "I know you and I saw you with him today. You were scared Misa. What is Light doing? He is threatening you?"
"Eru…"
She softed her look.
"If you don't tell me, you're out of the investigation Misa."
He simply replied colder than ever.
The girl shook his arm with her hand, while the other touched his cheek gently.Here's her language he immediately thought widening his eyes to the contact with her hand.
"Eru, please, you need to trust me." she simply told him "I'm this close from framing him."
The boy widened his eyes.
"You what?! Misa what are you up to? We're not playing here, if I miss a beat I lose my life and with me all the taskforce's members! Do you understand this? Do you understand how easy it is for you to lose your life?"
The girl felt warm tears wet her face.
"Of course, I understand it, which is why I'd rather risk it than see you die. All you must do is to stay here, do not come out the headquarters and to trust me."
The boy no longer had his usual impassive expression and seemed almost in pain.
"So why don't you tell me now?"
He asked her, not moving a millimetre from her face.
"I cannot, it is not yet the time. Just one thing, when Light will tell you about the new Kira tell him that you have investigated me and that you have discovered who I really am. He'll propose you to hire me as an actress to collaborate with the taskforce."
She replied to him, looking him in the eyes again.
"Does this mean that he is convinced that you can kill me?"
Asked L looking at her seriously, his eyes darker than ever.
"I might have said something to lead him on... Damn, you're crazy good with deductions."
She told him, touching her still wet head.
"Obviously I cannot and I don't want to kill you."
A half-truth would have been good for that day. She would keep the story of the Shinigami for another time. She could not risk that Light guessed that L had understood everything.
They were super geniuses and they have always reached the same conclusions.
"I was wrong to involve you in these investigations."
He simply said as he walked away.
"I have already told Watari to never let you out of here again, except with my permission, and I intend to keep my promise."
Misa suddenly got up on her chair and grabbed him by the shoulders before he could get too far away, making him look back at her.
"Eru can't do it! It's too late don't you understand?"
"No, you are the one that don't get it, Misa!" he suddenly screamed, forcefully grabbing her waist to put her back on the armchair.
"Eru..." she breathed, astonished, looking at his hands on her hips, he had never behaved like that. He was always so quiet. She'd never seen him like that, if she hadn't know him, she'd think he was scared to death.
"As long as I have the control and I risk my own life, for me it is absolutely no problem, there is already someone who will replace me ready at Wammy's House. But if you take the control, Misa, you'll risk losing your life and I couldn't do anything but watch. And I don't want to watch you die."
"But you have to!" the model replied, this time resolutely "because Misa knows what she is doing! Eru doesn't trust her, that's the truth!" She ended up saying, starting to cry, for real this time. Then she approached the boy again and hugged him, although she was angry with him, she needed a foothold. She clungs to his white shirt and continued to sob for a long time. The boy stood with his back curved and put his hands on her shoulders to push her away slightly.
Misa looked at him in despair and threw her arms around his neck, cheek on cheek.
"No matter what you do, Misa will go on and there's nothing you can do to stop her. If you stop me, you'll ruin the plan and Misa will lose her life, and so will Eru. I don't care about dying, but Eru doesn't have to die, so Eru must trust Misa." she whispered into his ear with a broken voice from crying.
"Let's make a deal Misa" said the detective looking ahead "you go ahead with your plan; I'll follow the investigation against the new Kira and I will propose to Light to involve you. But you will be under my strict surveillance, and before this is over, you will tell me the truth, I don't care if you had to get your hands dirty, I will protect you, Misa. Because you are not Kira."
And because I care about you more than my own life he continued in his mind.
"But Eru that would not be fair, you are Justice...» she whispered with her shaky voice.
"Justice does not exist in this world Misa chan" he answered "but you do, you do exist. I have always been childish and selfish after all."
Misa shook herself free and looked into his eyes, it did not seem true that he had totally and willingly entrusted himself to her. So, she kissed him on the right cheek, then on the left, then on the tip of his nose, then on his forehead.
"thank you Eru chan, thank you!" she whispered at every kiss.
"You won't regret it, I promise you."
She saw the boy's eyes still ajar for the myriad of kisses and she would want kiss him for real, but the detective opened his eyes again and her courage failed her. She'd bothered him enough for that night.
"Promise that you will be careful ad nauseam"
He told her with the most apprehensive look she'd ever seen.
"I'll be more nauseated than Eru when he eats sweets all night, I promise!"
"I never feel nauseous after eating sweets all night..."
"Well you should..." replied the model showing a disgusted face.
"So...We'll see each other tomorrow night, Misa" said the detective finally more relaxed.
"Right! Tomorrow is Saturday already!" shouted the happy girl "you still haven't told me anything about it!»
"Because there isn't nothing to say about it, just wait for Watari's car at 7:30 P.M., I'll be waiting for you for dinner. It is better to move with different cars to be safe."
"You are right..." The model replied, "now I'm gonna dry my hair, I don't want to catch a cold just the day before our first date!" then she looked up with an index under her chin and added "actually if we consider the pastry shop… this is already our second date!" she said by touching her blond hair and feeling a chill of cold running through her back.
"Well, I suppose you'd better not", he said, scratching his dark locks.
"Well, then…good night!" she smiled back to him running away.
The boy was staring at the spot where the girl had disappeared. He was hoping with all his heart that she knew what she was doing, although from the little he heard it seemed a well-articulated plan. He still had doubts about how she had led Light to believe she was the second Kira. And...if she wasn't, who was the real second Kira? It was not possible that there was another, because the murders were done regularly and at the same pace and by the same person, the first Kira. So, the second Kira had simply lent his power to the first Kira. By now it was almost certain that Misa was the second Kira, but how had she managed to seize such power and especially, why go so far to capture Kira? Why get her hands dirty too? Suddenly he remembered every time that the girl had confessed that she would manage to do everything in order to save him. Why did she want to save him? Unlike him she was not alone in the world, so why his life mattered so much to her? It made no sense. Then he remembered that afternoon far in time when he was 12 years old and Misa was only 7 and his heart sunk. Cause deep down he knew why she wanted to save him at all costs... It was the same reason he wanted to save her too, even if it meant betraying Justice.
The next morning Misa, as planned, sent to Light the text "hey I miss you so much" and within a short time the boy had arrived in their usual cafe. The model gave him the list of names to be executed. She was happy that at least for now Light had not asked her to use the notebook, Rem had told her that those who used the notebook even once, weren't accepted to Heaven neither Hell. Misa did not fully understand what this meant, but she feared it and decided not to write any names, unless this was strictly necessary to save L.
"Here we are, Misa" Light told her as they were walking around Tokyo "yesterday Rem has given your death note to the Yotsuba's C.E.O and as I imagined he did not control himself. Only in one night he killed three of his competitors, of course L has became suspicious immediately. Now we have to wait a few weeks for the headquarters to investigate, then I am sure that L will ask for you."
Misa leaned on his arm and smiled at him.
"You are great Light!"
The boy smiled and put his arm around her waist.
"You see, I've got great plans for us, Misa."
Sorry for the terrible delay, my life has been a bit of a rush recently…Thanks for all of you that has read and commented the story, I'm here only for you. Keep commenting and supporting, it means the world to me.
