Death Note Story:
"Skin Deep"
Light Yagami stretched his arms above his head as he sat at the computer command station desk just off the living room of his apartment that doubled as the Kira Task Force headquarters. The entire set-up was a farce, of course, and he enjoyed playing the part as its commander—L.
The real L was dead, murdered by a Shinigami—Rem. The Shinigami suddenly disappeared. Light found nothing but a pile of crystallized dust with a Death Note in the Main Server Room of the old Kira Task Force building that they abandoned when it was no longer found safe. Light's father then rented an apartment for Light and the new task force OPS was born.
The night was late and he could see the others were tired and falling asleep as they all wrestled with information about Kira's engagements. Dozens of criminals had just been killed in Japan and others' were being reported dead found around the world. INTERPOL was in a frenzy, but they weren't in any particular rush to catch Kira. In fact, crime was down almost 70% around the world, wars had stopped, and masses praised Kira for making the world safe again for the average person as criminals cowered in gutters.
Turning in his chair, he decided to call it a night. Besides, his back was beginning to stiffen and his butt was numb from sitting so long. There was only so much sitting the human body could take before it began to rebel. The others agreed and began to gather their things. Misa was on one of her commercial shoots, so after the task force members left, Light would have some downtime to render more of Kira's judgements.
Matsuda let out a loud yawn, stretching his arms. Ide aided Light's father in cleaning up papers on the floor and offered to drive him home. Aizawa's phone suddenly rang.
Aizawa stifled a yawn putting his cell to his ear, and said, "Yup?" Light figured it must have been someone he knew, not a professional call, or he wouldn't have answered it in a causal manner. Seconds passed, eyes widened, and any tiredness left Aizawa. "What kind of issue, Mogi?" Everyone looked at Aizawa. Then the older detective burst out with a small chuckle. "Really?" He held his mouth unable to contain himself with whatever Mogi had just told him.
Light cocked his head. Mogi was Misa's new Manager. What could be so funny?
"I know, I know…it isn't funny," Aizawa contradicted himself with a snicker as he looked at the others. "But what are the odds? I'll let the others know." He ended the call. Then he burst out laughing. Aizawa could be serious at time, but he had a healthy sense of humour. "Something—happened…" He sputtered, laughing. Then looked to Light. "I'm sorry…It's just—"
Ide asked, "What's so funny? Tell us?"
"And why did you just look at me a moment ago?" Light said.
Aizawa wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh, nothing that concerns the Kira Case," he said, snickered again, then cleared his throat, and composed himself. "That was Mogi, and he just told me—let's just say it's one in a million. When the commercial crew were packing up from the night, a skunk suddenly wandered onto the set, and, well…"
Soichiro Yagami said, "Don't tell me…"
Matsuda was now wide awake, and said, "What happened? Skunks are mainly nocturnal animals, some come out during the day, but they normally stay away from human beings…"
"Well," Aizawa began, "something drew it out of its den, maybe the smell of catering or something, because it wandered onto the set, and got spooked, and—"
Light's mouth dropped. "Sprayed? Who?" He dreaded the answer. Something about Aizawa's initial reaction told him it was painfully obvious and the question was mere formality.
Aizawa tried to stifle a snicker, but was unsuccessful. Light cringed and prayed it wasn't who he thought. Then Aizawa said, "Mogi told me Misa was the closest and got a full dose."
Light slapped his hands to his face. She lived here with him.
"Misa's clothes are bagged and will most likely have to be burned, Mogi said," Aizawa said. "Look on the bright side, Light. Misa was in costume at the time and the shoot finished. I'm told that those clothes are no longer needed. Still, Mogi did say Misa smells pretty bad."
Light lifted his face from his hands, dropped then, and said, "She's coming back here? She'll contaminate everything—our base of operations!"
His father approached and put a hand on Light's shoulder. "It's also where the two of you live, son," he said, his moustache twitching as if trying not to laugh. "Being a couple means you take the good with the bad just like marriage. Not to say you two are anywhere close to that point."
Light agreed, then: "But—she can't come here! What will I do? I have no clue what do in this situation. Maybe Misa should stay at a hotel for the night?"
Aizawa got a text. "It's from Mogi," he said. "They're on their way here, but they need to make a stop at a late night grocery store first to pick up a dozen bottles of Tomato Juice."
"Tomato Juice?" Matsuda asked.
Light said, "It's used to oust odoriferous odours like that generated from, say, a skunk," he explained, and sighed. He swore. His father suddenly burst out laughing. "It's not funny, Dad!"
An indeterminate amount of time later, Light could actually smell the repugnant odour even before Misa got to their apartment door. He put a hand his nose as a knock came at the door. He opened it and then immediately took several steps back as the smell filled the area between them. He even felt himself gag and his eyes begin the water.
"Oh god! Back away from me!" Light asserted.
Misa began to cry as she stepped over the threshold. She extended her arms out, even tried to hug him for support, but he backed off further, even bumping into the couch. Misa wailed. "Even you won't come near me! Mogi abandoned me outside the apartment front entrance. I had to come up several flights of stairs by myself because there's something wrong with the elevator."
Light recalled there was something wrong with it and it would be fixed tomorrow by Building Management. The task force had to walk down. They were lucky and had left fifteen minutes before Misa's arrival. But now he had to deal with this situation alone. They were all cowards!
"Pew!" Light said with his hand over his nose and mouth. It didn't help. But he was prepared, And tossed Misa a black garbage bag. Aizawa said Mogi told him the clothes Misa was wearing at the commercial shoot had been disposed off, but the skunk smell had soaked skin-deep. "Take off your clothes, Misa, and wrap them up in the garbage bag. We'll throw them out. And get into the shower! Did Mogi leave anything with you?"
"Yeah…" Misa sniffed, and nodded, and closed the door behind her. "He's downstairs with a dozen cans of tomato juice," she said. She wailed as she undressed. "You're being so insensitive, Light! I would've thought you'd be kinder to me!" Instead of putting them in the garbage bag, she viciously threw them at him. Instinctively, he put out his hands in an attempt to save himself. Unfortunately, they smacked him in the face and chest.
"Damn it, Misa!" he said, yanking them off.
"This is all your fault!"
Light's clothes were now filled with the skunk odour. She stood naked in front of him, but her voluminous body was the last thing on his mind. "How is this my fault?"
"I-it…just is!"
Now contaminated himself, he shoved the clothes into the garbage bag without reserve. His own clothes would have to be burned, too. Luckily, he wasn't wearing anything indispensable. He had dressed for it on the off chance something like this would happen.
Light groaned under his breath. "Just get into the shower and don't touch anything!" he told her. He knew what he was going to be forced to do and he dreaded it. "And I'll be right there!"
Misa stormed away and into the bedroom, he then heard her turn on the shower. But soap and water was not going to get rid of the smell. It would have to be thoroughly scrubbed off and out of her pores and that entailed he would have to be right there with her.
He cursed his ill-luck and pulled off his own shirt to shove into the bag when a knock came at the door. He opened it and saw Mogi wearing an industrial face mask standing a few meters back in the hallway. At his feet were the dozen cans of tomato juice. "I didn't think you'd want to wait to get these yourself," the big, hefty man said. "Good luck, Light!" he then said, turning to leave. "I'm going home to have a shower. We both hitched a ride with one of the cast who was also sprayed, but only mildly. I left my car at the site."
"Wait, Mogi!" Light said, extending a hand out. But the task force member ran down the hall into the stairwell and was quickly gone, leaving Light alone. He hauled in the cans in himself and then stripped bare after getting a can opener.
Light growled to himself. He couldn't believe this was happening.
He was Kira, and soon to be the King of a Brand New World—now about to play servant to his subordinate due an inauspicious issue of circumstance. Of course, it wasn't Misa's fault—or his. These things do happen. But why him?
"Light! I need help!" Misa shouted over the sound of the shower. "Come scrub my back! Did you get the tomato juice Mogi bought?"
"Yes," he replied back with a huff, voice elevated so she could hear him, and with slight dejection, as he removed his briefs and stepped into the shower with her. He brought half a dozen cans of juice and placed them on the floor.
Naked, they faced each other. She wrapped her arms around him, and smiled. "You do care about me, Light," she said. Her breasts pressed against his chest. "I'm sorry I threw my clothes at you, but I was mad—but not at you." She pulled back. "And I knew you'd help me here."
Light sighed. "So you decided to contaminate me?" He sneered, but then let out a heavy sigh. There was no point in complaining. "Let's get started. I've had a long day."
Misa's hair was foaming with shampoo and dripped down her white silky frame. She smelled so bad that Light thought his nostrils were on fire. He washed her back with normal soap, then switched off the shower. The tomato juice would need to be rubbed everywhere for it to have any effect. He retrieved a can of tomato juice and poured it without reserve over her head. It cascaded from her hair down to her toes and he began to scrub her with it.
"Oh! It's cold!" Misa shivered.
Light didn't care, as long as it killed the smell.
He poured a can over himself and scrubbed himself down, adding more, until each of them looked like two homicide victims covered in crimson.
Light smiled for some perverse reason as he looked at her. Misa smiled back. Her blonde hair was now red and he had this weird sensation of reaching out and strangling her. But he didn't. Strangely, he found the situation somewhat erotic. He was completely covered in tomato juice and he imagined it was blood. He was aroused and she sensed it.
Misa smiled. "Partners in life and partners in death," she said, hinting at the Death Note.
They faced each other. And suddenly he found himself leaning close and kissing her, his tongue inserting in her mouth. Covered in crimson with her here excited him. Misa didn't resist. He was forceful, but she liked it. He hugged her tightly, his arms firmly around her chest. He whispered in her left ear, his hot breath falling down her neck, making her shiver, and he said, with a sinister grin: "Don't forget Misa that you are mine! We'll control the world amass with the Death Note and forge a new legacy for Kira. Nothing will stand in our way!"
"Oh, Light…"
Light felt overwhelmed, but not with passion. He wanted to dominate Misa. She promised to be at his side and help him. And at this moment, he needed to blow off some steam.
For the next thirty minutes, he showed Misa that he was Master. The bathtub at the end was awash with crimson, like blood spatter from a crime scene. They were both covered in tomato juice, everything about them was red. Light kept pouring it on himself and Misa until the smell of skunk was completely gone as Light took Misa in the throes of passion and consequence.
Misa cried out for more and he gave it to her.
He climaxed and gripped Misa tightly against himself, then he whispered in her ear again—like the devil would tempt a projector: "You are mine, Misa! Forever and always, mine! If you leave me, I'll make you regret it. I, am—your god!"
"Oh, yes! Oh, yes!" Misa screamed. "I'll never leave you, Light. Never, never, never! OH GOD!"
Afterwards, they both washed off, and as Light towelled down, Misa remained in the tub, and turned it into a bubblebath. He didn't care. As long as the smell was gone.
As he stood drying his hair, he looked down and Misa smiled at him, and she said, "Be a dear, Light, and get me my cell phone? I need to check my messages."
"I'm not your errant boy," he scoffed, but he didn't feel like arguing, and sighed. "Where is it?"
"On the bed, I dropped it there just before I came into the bathroom," she said. "And don't worry, it wasn't sprayed, and Mogi placed it into a plastic bag just before he gave it to me."
Light left the bathroom and found her phone in the plastic bag. Luckily, it didn't smell. He unwrapped it, but before returning to the bathroom, he decided to look through her messages.
"Um, isn't that an invasion of Misa's privacy?" the voice of Ryuk suddenly said, as the Shinigami popped into existence. Light looked up at the lanky god of death with its black leather fetish and taste in silver gothic jewelry. "You never know what secrets she'd hiding from you." Ryuk let out a low throaty chuckle. "But I highly doubt it, Misa is loyal to you."
"I'm not interested in your judgement, Ryuk," Light said. He scrolled through her messages and pictures, but found no evidence of anything untoward against him. Satisfied, he gave it to Misa.
"Thanks sweetie," she said, and then began to engage with her phone.
Light winced. He hated when she called him that. Light left to get dressed for bed.
"Sorry I missed all fun, sweetie," Ryuk mocked. Light frowned. "You know, I always wondered how you humans procreate. You two were in there for a long time. Will we hear the cry of a little baby Kira soon?" Ryuk chuckled. "And will you ever let me watch?"
"It was nothing of the sort," Light said, but he lied. He had lost himself. It was both exhilarating and fascinating that he allowed himself to just let loose and gave into his carnal desires. "And certainly not!" Light cleared his throat. "Women are fickle creatures and they get angry easily. Misa can become unstable at the snap of finger, as you know. Sometimes you just have to engage with him and give them a concession for them to keep obeying your whims."
"That's a little sexiest of you," Ryuk said.
Light said nothing, then: "Did you dispose of the clothes?"
"After you entered the shower," the Shinigami said. "The smell was very bad!"
Light surveyed the apartment. He then lit some of Misa's scented candles to drive out the last lingering odours away. He returned to the bedroom and slipped on some plaid pyjama bottoms. He went commando. He disliked rough things against his skin.
Making his way to Misa's walk-in closest, he took a knee, pulled up a secret compartment in the floor, and took out a hidden Death Note. The same one he collected from Rem's ashes. He had more work to do and more criminals to kill.
Kira's job is endless. His passion to cleanse the world of evil is in of itself skin deep.
END
