Disclaimer:I do not own Death Note or any of its characters. I merely worship them.
A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update this, I was temporarily cut off from the computer and was hit with a rather nasty case of the flu. Anyways, enough about that, on with the show!
Chapter Two: Mind over Matter
L was wandering around the tenth floor of Taskforce Headquarters, peering into open doorways and empty rooms searching for any signs of human life. He was followed closely, as usual, by his aide Watari.
"Where is everyone?" L wondered aloud after five minutes of fruitless effort.
"I believe they have all gone out for lunch, Ryuzaki. I heard Mogi mention a sushi bar," Watari remarked. "Miss Amane was still in her room when the others left the building."
"I see," said L, making his way into the small table at the back of the workroom and settling himself in a chair.
A few minutes later, Misa arrived. She was wearing a lacy red corset, black skirt and a pair of black platform heels that were ridiculously tall, even by her standards.
"Hey Ryuzaki! Do you know where Light is? I can't find him anywhere!"
"Light and the others have gone out for lunch today," the detective said morosely.
Misa pouted and moped grandiosely as she took a seat across the table, but to L, in this particular instance it seemed quite contrived.
"Watari, could you bring the food now please?" L asked.
"Certainly, Ryuzaki," Watari said, turning to leave the room.
Misa opened out her black clutch purse, pulled out a tube of strawberry flavoured lip-plumping gloss and began applying it to her already full lips in her most seductive manner, noticing how it was making his toes squirm. That's right Ryuzaki, you may be the world's number one detective, but you are only human, she thought.
After a minute or two, Watari reappeared bearing a large tea tray laden with various types of sweets and fruit. L picked up a piece of pie from the tray and started to devour it, a lock of dark hair falling in front of his face as he munched.
"Ryuzaki? How do I look today?" Misa inquired innocently, standing up again in order to model her outfit.
L quickly swallowed his mouthful of pie.
"I think you look cold," he uttered in his usual listless tone, dropping sugar cubes into his tea with one hand and scooping up a handful of strawberries in the other. Misa took her seat again, but refused to be deterred.
"So…um, do you like strawberries?" Misa asked, putting on her most winsome smile.
"Yes," he stated, dropping a berry into his mouth and washing it down with a generous gulp of sweetened tea.
Well, that went just great, Misa thought darkly. Ryuzaki's going to think I'm some sort of super idiot now. Time to take a different tone.
"I think that Higuchi is Kira," she mused, gingerly removing a cream puff from the tea tray.
L raised an eyebrow, or at least he would have done if he possessed any.
"He may have faked that confession he gave you to cover up for someone else," he countered.
"I've met him Ryuzaki," she asserted, "Higuchi is very arrogant. He holds a low position compared to the others on the board of directors but he feels superior to them because of his power to kill. After all, he could kill any one of them whenever he feels like it," she giggled.
L was mildly taken aback by this little speech. He never knew that Misa had the capacity for such intelligence. She may not be able to communicate on the same plane as him, and her vocabulary had much to be desired, but it appeared that there was more to her than just a pretty face. It was proving to be quite an aphrodisiac.
"You raise an interesting point Miss Amane," he murmured, biting into a pastry thoughtfully.
"Why thank-you Ryuzaki!" she purred taking an exaggeratedly large bite of her cream puff, intentionally causing a respectable amount of filling to spill out of one end and land just an inch below her collar bone. She licked her lips to rid them of the excess cream, perhaps just a bit more flirtatiously than the task would normally require.
L, who had been watching her eat the cream puff quite intently, let out a miniscule gasp. He immediately lunged forward, one foot on the table and reached towards her. He gently slid a long, pale finger across Misa's collarbone, lifting the creamy filling off and popping the affected finger, cream and all, into his mouth. He stepped back off the table and resumed his seat, still sucking on his finger.
L marveled at how much more wonderful the cream tasted now that it had rested on Misa's skin. The light fluffy goodness was mixed with a familiar fruity flavour, completely contrary to the apple Danish he had just finished. A berry of some sort he surmised. He looked up suddenly, his eyes meeting hers.
"Waste not, want not," he commented dryly, although his voice was slightly muffled due to the fact that he still had yet to remove the finger from his mouth.
Misa flashed him a vivacious smile "It's alright Ryuzaki. I understand." More than you know.
L nodded formally, extricating the finger from between his lips with a resounding slurp that made every nerve in Misa's body prickle and every hair stand up on end.
"Well, this has been a very nice lunch, hasn't it?" The detective mentioned this as though commenting on the weather.
"Very!" Misa chattered, all too happy to break the silence. "We shall have to do this again sometime soon!"
"Yes, rather," L droned, reaching for a miniature chocolate chip cookie and cramming it hastily in his mouth.
Time to go, Misa thought. Now to make him feel a little jealous and leave him wanting more.
"I suppose I should check to see if Light is back yet," Misa told him.
L gave her an unfathomable look. "Oh, alright then. Goodbye Misa-san."
"Bye Ryuzaki!"
L got up and walked with her to the door and went alone to the elevator. As he pressed the down button, he heard Misa's voice shriek Light's name somewhere not too far in the distance. L turned his black-haired head to see that Light and the others had returned ten minutes early from their lunch break.
At that moment, the elevator doors slid open and L walked inside without saying a word to anyone. He dully pressed a button with a number four in Cloister Black font emblazoned on its front and waited patiently for the elevator to reach his floor.
Does Misa really care about me after all? he wondered. Just as this thought had crossed his mind, his finger strayed to his mouth and as he began to chew the skin, it hit him like a wave.
Misa was only talking to Light so much after lunch to make me feel jealous. Girls have been known to do this from time to time, I've been told. L sighed, satisfied that he was able to figure his way out of one more incident concerning the opposite gender. It became evident to him that he would have to take some kind of action of his own if this whole situation was to move forward. L hesitated. Is that something I really want to have happen? he asked himself. The answer was one that only required one word. "As William Shakespeare once said, the course of true love never did run smooth,"L said to himself, his thin lips twisting into a wry smile.
A/N: I know that the timeline is not exactly accurate, but it was necessary for the plot of this fic to continue moving forward. After writing this, I have never been able too look at cream puffs the same way. Oh L, you rascal. Quote is from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I just could not resist. Until next time!