Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. If I did, then things would have turned out very differently. Trust me.
A/N: I apologize for the long hiatus between chapters, this was a long one to write and I had an issue with USB deletion. And even worse, all of this coincided with the madness that is back to school. Alas. Anyhow, here's Chapter 3. Enjoy!
Chapter Three: Lost and Found
The next day, Misa was woken up by the sound of a phone ringing. She stumbled out of bed and staggered across the room to pick it up.
"Hello?" she asked groggily
"Miss Amane?" inquired a cool male voice. Misa's heart performed a sudden back flip.
"Ryuzaki! Why did you wake me up?" she asked, wiping sleep from her eyes.
"Be downstairs in half an hour, I want to speak to you."
"What for?" Misa yawned, but dead air was the only sound on the other end.
Half an hour later, Misa skipped out of the elevator and into Taskforce Headquarters. L was sitting in his swivel chair, typing on his laptop as usual. He turned around as the door opened, rose from his chair and walked across the room to meet her.
"Misa, I would like to ask you some more questions about your relationship with Light." He hesitated for a moment when he saw the surprised look on her face. "So if you could please come this way," he insisted gesturing at the empty hallway
"Why can't we just do it right here?" Misa asked belligerently.
L sighed deeply, as though he considered the very question to be so simple that it barely warranted answering.
"I want to ask you these questions in a place where you will not be under," he paused, shooting Light a sidelong glance, "duress".
"Fine!" she pouted, trying to arrange her face in a disappointed expression, although she felt as if she could have danced for joy. The plan could not have worked out better!
L nodded and turned to address Matsuda, who was currently in the middle of pouring Mogi another cup of coffee.
"Matsuda, watch the monitors for the front door. Inform me immediately if you spot anything out of the ordinary."
"Yes Ryuzaki!" Matsuda said eagerly, putting down the coffee pot and switching on the giant central monitor mounted on the wall.
L turned on his heel and began walking towards the exit.
"And try not to do anything rash," he said blandly, "we don't want another Yotsuba incident on our hands."
Matsuda sat back down in his seat, looking extremely embarrassed. L took another couple of steps forward but Misa did not follow.
"Well? Are you coming Miss Amane?"
Misa nodded, following him out of the room and into the elevator. She turned to face L who was scratching his head absently with one hand while the other pressed a button on the panel.
"Where are we going?" she asked, fighting to keep her voice steady.
L stopped scratching, turned his head and gave her what Misa frequently called "The Look."
An uncomfortable silence prevailed as they made their slow descent to the fourth floor. After another minute, the double doors slid open again, Misa's heart beginning to beat more rapidly by the second.
"Right this way," said L, gesturing to a door directly across from where they had just exited. She followed him into the room as he flipped the light switch to reveal a cozy looking bedroom with two squashy blue armchairs sitting off to the side with a glass coffee table in between. Misa noticed a small bowl of strawberries sitting in center of the table.
"Please, take a seat," he instructed, waving a hand distractedly at the set of chairs.
Misa obeyed, her heart pounding with nervous anticipation. What is this really about Ryuzaki?
It was another few seconds before L had settled himself comfortably in his chair, baggy blue jeans rustling loudly as he assumed his strange sitting position.
"Do you love Light Yagami?" the detective asked, chewing his thumb distractedly, his black eyes boring into hers. It was clear that he was wasting no time when it came to this interrogation.
Misa hesitated, not wanting to say anything that would betray her true feelings.
"How interesting," L muttered to himself.
"What's so interesting?" Misa demanded, the colour rising in her cheeks.
"It's so interesting your story has changed so substantially. Two months ago, you would have been able to answer that question without a moment's thought," he declaimed, hierophantic as ever. "What has changed Miss Amane?"
Misa bit her lower lip, a layer of the strawberry flavoured gloss transferring onto her teeth.
"I-I-I," she stuttered lamely. She had never felt so stupid in her entire life. She looked down at the navy blue plush carpet; her confidence evaporating.
Despite her apparent state of emotional turmoil, L persisted; his interest piqued. "Do you really love Light Yagami? Answer honestly Misa-san."
She forced herself to look up at him, and was surprised to see him staring at her intently, a vaguely hungry look in his shadowy eyes.
"I don't know if I do anymore," she told him, shaking her head for emphasis and rising to her feet.
"Oh?" He picked up a large strawberry and took a bite, the juice tinting his lips red.
"Yes Ryuzaki, and I think you know why"
L rose to his feet "And why would that be Miss Amane?" he quipped, popping the rest of the strawberry into his mouth.
"Because," she declared with renewed confidence, "I'm in love with you."
L's thin mouth turned up at the corners in what could only be considered a smile. He took a step, his lanky frame drawing closer until there was only inches of space separating them, his face nearing her own.
"Tell me Misa" he asked, reaching out to toy with a strand of her hair "do you like the taste of strawberries?"
Misa grinned. "There isn't anything I like better."
He leaned closer still, pressing his sugary lips against hers, savouring her sweet taste. Misa, kissed him back in kind as he wrapped his spindly arms around her, drawing her closer to him. L staggered backwards, stopping just short of the edge of the bed, their kissing growing deeper and more ardent by the second. L began to plant kisses down the side of her jaw, grazing her cheekbone with his cool lips. Misa buried her face in his dark, soft hair.
"I love you so much Ryuzaki," Misa breathed into his ear.
L's lips reached hers once more "Not as much as I care for you," he crooned softly.
They fell back onto the bed, entangled in each other's arms, locking lips with a renewed zeal. L had never felt so happy before in his entire life. He may have been new to the whole concept of romance, but he had to admit that he liked it so far.
Matsuda initial excitement over his new assignment quickly waned over the course of the next few minutes. After watching streams of pedestrians walking past for what seemed like aeons, Matsuda failed to see how anything suspicious could possibly be happening. He switched dispassionately through the different camera angles, searching for something that would make his life seem a little less mundane. Matsuda figured that a quick check through the rest of the building wouldn't hurt, so he flipped to the first floor, and checked all the rooms. Then he checked the second, then the third. He was casually going through the fourth floor when he saw something stir in the middle of one of the screens.
"Aizawa! Mogi! I think I've got something here!" Matsuda shouted, excited to have finally found something of interest.
The members of the taskforce stopped working and gathered in front of the monitor.
"What is it Matsuda?" Aizawa asked, sipping a cup of coffee. "What's the big deal?"
Mogi squinted up at the screen. "I don't see anything."
"I know I saw something!" Matsuda cried. "I know I did!"
Mogi took a second look at the blurred image on the screen. "Hey, wait a second! This isn't the fourth floor, is it Matsuda?"
Matsuda looked at him quizzically. "Yeah, how did you know?"
"Matsuda, the rooms on the fourth floor are L's personal rooms," Mogi explained.
"What should we do?" Matsuda whispered.
"First of all, you should try zooming in," Light suggested. 'The cameras on the fourth floor aren't really used, so you may need to adjust them a bit."
Matsuda nodded and bent low over his keyboard. After a few seconds of furious typing, the members of the taskforce gave a collective gasp as an image snapped into perfect focus on the screen.
"Got it!" Matsuda said, swinging around in his chair to face the others, beaming from ear to ear. The smile faded slightly when he saw the expressions of mingled horror and incredulity on his colleagues' faces.
"Wait a second! Isn't that-" Mogi gasped, pointing to the screen.
Light shook his head in disbelief, but said nothing.
"What the hell is this?" Aizawa exclaimed.
"What's going on?" Matsuda asked. "What happened?"
Matsuda looked up at Light, who was staring glassy-eyed at the image flickering across the screen.
"Matsuda," Light said weakly, "bring up the audio."
Matsuda obliged, bending low over his keyboard once more. A couple keystrokes later, audio, streaming live from the fourth floor, sounded through the speakers.
"I love you so much Ryuzaki," a soft female voice whispered.
"Not as much as I care for you," murmured a very familiar male voice.
Matsuda froze in his seat. Slowly, he looked up at the monitor looming before him. It only took an instant for his brain to register what he was seeing, eyes widening as cold realization dawned on him.
"Misa-Misa?" he said shakily.
A/N: Once again, please pardon the timeline inaccuracies. Apparently, I am living vicariously through L, at least when it comes to the décor of his bedroom. I am still fighting the desire to redecorate my room accordingly. sigh It is also obvious that I had bit too much fun keeping Matsuda as out of the loop as possible for as long as possible. He just seems to be that kind of guy and it just suited this situation so well. Poor Matsuda. How could he have known that performing routine surveillance could be so scandalous? Until next time!