In Anothers Shoes

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry that I've taken so long to update, but I've been super busy what with the start of school again, and I haven't gotten much time for anything except studying and homework. I also had a major lapse in inspiration for this particular story of mine and I wasn't able to come up with any ideas for a long, long time. My muse just now came back, thank kami, so I've been able to write this much.

Chapter 7

The Kira investigation was progressing at its usual slow, steady pace as the afternoon bled into the evening. The tension in the room had lessened considerably since the early afternoon, as the team members had become assured that Light was only shooting glares that threatened a vicious and speedy disembowelment at L, and not everyone in the room. They steered clear of the teenage boy-turned-girl, though, just to be safe; Light with PMS was not a force that anybody wanted to have directed their way, not unless they had a serious death wish, or a fully-stocked fallout shelter in which to hide until the danger had passed. At least, they thought, L would be perfectly capable at defending himself from teenage menstrual wrath.

…Probably.

So everything was going just about as smoothly as it could within the circumstances, and it was approaching the time when most of the investigators received a break for their evening meal, when the land phone rang, and L answered it. Now there was only one of two things that the land phone meant; either Watari or Misa was calling. Important contacts of L's would either be redirected to his cell phone or into the computer.

Light watched L delicately pick up the phone between his thumb and forefinger out of the corner of his eye, curiosity piqued. From the other end of the line, a high, feminine squeal could just be made out.

"Moshi-moshi," L spoke into the receiver. "Yes, Misa-chan? …Well, I suppose it's almost time for break anyways… What, is Misa-chan going to be naked?" At this, the voice at the other end of the line rose up into a scream of rage, which sounded something like "shut up you perverted voyeur!" After a few minutes of ranting, during which L held the phone a good distance away from his ear, Misa seemed to have calmed down enough to return to whatever topic they had been discussing.

"…Sorry, Misa chan. Okay, Misa-chan, we'll be down soon. Yes, Rai-chin* will come too… Yes, I'll tell him." Then L finally hung up the phone, and turned to Light.

"Misa-san requests our presence down in her room," L said, taking a quick pause to drain the last dregs of his oversweet coffee. "And she also asked for me to communicate to you that she loves you more than hugs, kisses, rainbows, soft cuddly teddy bears, cake, and the whole world." L took a sip of his coffee, thoughtful. "I think that it absurdly generous of her, for there is nothing in existence that is better than cake." Light rolled his eyes in response.

The two of them wrapped up with what they were doing, declared the mealtime break for the rest of the team, and made their way down to Misa's rooms via the elevator.

The two men were not quite sure what to expect upon entering of one effervescent blond-female-no-longer, but they certainly didn't expect for a beautiful stranger greet them at the door.

The girl looked to be in her late teens, or possibly early twenties. Her thick black hair fell in luxurious, stylish mess down to her ribcage, with a low fringe that just barely ghosted over her eyes. The face framed by her black locks was doll-white, long and slender and currently sported a happy little grin, which lit up her black eyes and shone off of her skin.

Physically, the girl had a tall, thin build and the body of an athlete, a quality which showed in the toned muscles of her long, smooth legs, which stretched out in sleek elegance from under a plaid, pleated miniskirt accented with black lace and silver chains in the popular punk Lolita style. A jacket designed in a similar style hugged her flat stomach and svelte waistline, with subtly puffed sleeves topping long, slender arms. The material of her jacket flared out over her hips ever so slightly, to meld smoothly with the lines of her skirt. Around her neck, a soft red plaid scarf was wrapped and tied in fashionable knot.

Overall, she was incredibly cute, and a total babe. She could easily be a model, with those legs.

…Which was all incomparably disturbing, since the two observers knew that this pretty, vivacious girl was L—well, Misa technically, but in the appearance of L---in drag.

"Ne, Raichin, Ryuuzaki-san, how do I look?" The girl--Misa giggled, twirling herself about to show off the entire look. Her skirt fluttered out around her in a joyful fan, lifting up to expose even more pale skin, and causing her hair to bounce emphatically across her shoulders. For a long moment, all that the both of them could do was stare. Upon returning to her position facing them, Misa giggled in a coy fashion, and pushed down her skirt with one manicured hand.

"Iyaa~a, you two were trying to look at my panties, weren't you? You bad boys," The girl summoned up a blush and an expression of false modesty. Misa then looked up in Light's direction seductively through suspiciously thick, dark eyelashes. "Well, I don't mind if you look, Raito," at that she lowered her voice down to a flirtatious purr, "I'll show them to you anytime."

Light, upon realizing just what sort of equipment was currently hidden under that dangerously short skirt, turned white, and then flushed a heated wasabi green. This was all getting out of hand.

Light looked away from Misa (he just couldn't take that mental image any longer) to glance over at L, expecting to glimpse the same repulsion and horror in the other man's eyes that Light felt himself, maybe even more. After all, it was his body that was being desecrated in such a humiliating way.

But hidden under the expressionless mask of Light's face, L seemed to be… intrigued, maybe even a little humored. His gaze was focused intently on Misa, carding through every detail of her face, her wig, her clothing.

After a few moments of study, L pronounced "Misa-chan has done a very impressive job with this. If I did not know for certain that that was my body, I may not have recognized it as being mine, or even as being male. That is truly an excellent disguise."

Misa looked at L, a little surprised. "You… like it? I thought Ryuuzaki-san would have been a little bit more upset," Misa shot him a calculating look. "Does Ryuuzaki-san like seeing himself in women's clothing?" Under her breath, she added, 'I always knew he was a pervert.'

L, completely unphazed by Misa's words, spoke again. "It has been required of me to be proficient in the art of disguise, though I have not had much opportunity to exercise those skills as of late." L rests on chin on his hand, "and you have used some interesting techniques…"

Light got the feeling that he would not like whatever L was going to say next.

"…I want you to demonstrate these techniques for me."

Misa cocked her head, "On who? I know I'm so not wiping this off and redoing all this, not when I just got it so perfect."

"Why, on me, Misa-chan. Who else did you think I meant?"

Misa's eyes lit up then, and she gave an anticipatory squeal of delight.

Dread balled itself in the pit of Light's stomach. "Ryuuzaki, you don't mean…"

L turned his gaze to Light, and he can see the smirk in them.

"Don't worry, Raito-chan, I'm sure Misa will make you into a very attractive woman."

Author's Note:

Beautification all around! Woo! If anybody has any suggestions for the fashion or style of female clothing that L-as-Light dresses up in, I'm open to ideas. His outfit could be cute, sexy, extravegant and costume-like, businesswoman serious... Anything. Just make sure it includes a skirt, not pants. Short shorts are a maybe. L wants to infuriate Light as much as possible.

I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but I figured it'd be better to post a short chapter now than none at all for another few weeks. I'll try to get the next one started over the weekend, but I'm going to be busy making paper, so I'll do my best.

As a little treat and a sorry-for-taking-so-long-to-update present, I have created several images of L as a girl, with long hair and makeup and all that, just like from last chapter. To see all of them, you can either translate the link below into your address bar, or go to my profile and click on the working link there. My avatar is also one of these pictures of female L.

http : // s720 . photobucket . com/albums/ww209/nubial-sheep/FemaleL/

Check them out!

Also, while writing this chapter I found this weird coincidence in Misa's name: While I don't know the exact original kanji for Misa's name, some of the more likely translations are "faithful helper" and "beautiful helper". Misa is, after all, very beautiful, and is very helpful and loyal to Light.

Now, by some freak stroke of coincidence, the Japanese character "mi" spelled with different kanji also means "body", and another kanji for "sa" means "difference" or "variation", meaning that the name "Misa" also has the meaning "body difference" or "different body". How creepy is that?

Another strange coincidence: I share a birthday with one of the Yotsuba members. Thankfully it's not Higuchi (yuck).

I would now like to shamelessly plug my latest Death Note fic "Those Forgotten Dreams", a Oneshot of which I am very proud, which features dreams, angst, intricate of symbolism, and Light/Kira hotness. You should go read it!