Chapter eight- Grounded.

Misa had never been this scared in her life. She sat before a single intercom with a man glaring moodily at her on the other side.

She'd been in a robbery heist, ending with her tragically becoming an orphan. But this scared the crap out of her.

Misa swallowed fearfully.

"Ryuu-Ryuuzaki, could you say something please?" She stuttered weakly.

L drew his thumb away from his lips after a sickening moment of silence. "I. Don't. Know. What. To. Say," he murmured finally. "You see, Misa, I'm not used to being pulled from work because my wife beat the crap out of another model. That's why I don't know what to say."

His voice held a certain questioning, as though asking what provoked her so much as to go so far as to attack another woman.

Misa wasn't about to tell him from fear that he'd think her silly because of it. "Just say anything," she said suddenly, "Anything's better than your silence."

"Very well. Anything, you say?"

She nodded.

"In that case, you're grounded."

Misa jumped up, eyes wide. "WHAT?!"

A small smile slowly crept to his face. "You heard me. You're ground."

"You're not my father!" She argued back. "I don't have to listen to you."

The smile grew even wider. "Very observant, Misa. You right; I'm not. But, may I remind you of our contract? You'll listen to me, whether you like it or not."

Misa heard the amused tone in his voice and half-thought about going up and breaking down the control room's door. That ought to wipe the smirk off his face.

"Fine," she caved. "But my phone won't be taken from me! And I need to be able to go out, so I can keep my job as a model."

Ryuuzaki stroked his chin, thoughtfully. "You still have that job?" He asked teasingly.

She bristled. "Of course I do! I'm their MAIN model, they can't just fire me! Besides, who would take my place? Kohane?" She scoffed childishly. "I seriously doubt that."

He nodded. "I suppose so. Fine, you can go outside, but you will be carefully guarded to make sure you don't get into more trouble."

Misa smiled, safe with the knowledge she had him wrapped around her finger. "Thank you, my husband."

He nodded, disregarding her sarcasm. "Most welcome, my wife."

Ryuuzaki clicked the intercom button off, pulling his phone out of his pocket, dialing a certain idiot.

Matsuda answered nervously, already fairly certain who was on the other side. God, how he wished he could be some other guy at the moment.

"Y-yes?" He answered, unable to keep the quiver from his voice. "This is Mat-Matsuda's phone."

Ryuuzaki rolled his eyes unmercifully. "Do stop that stupid stutter," he snapped. "I'm not going to kill you, you idiot."

For some reason, Matsuda took little to no comfort in the statement. "Of-of course not."

"Matsuda?"

"Y-yeah?"

"That quiver. Stop it already, or I'll ground you," he growled.

Matsuda flushed at how motherly Ryuuzaki's words sounded. He suddenly found humor in his higher up's sentence. "Was that Misa's punishment?" He asked, amused.

Ryuuzaki scowled. "As a matter of fact, it was, actually. But that's not what I wanted to talk about!"

Matsuda sighed. "Let me cut to the chase for you," he groaned, "You want to yell at me for letting her out of my sight?"

"Nailed it, Matsu. I'd applauded you, but I'm too busy cursing your existence," he muttered coldly.

Matsuda hung his head in shame. "Oh. I'm sorry! You were counting on me and I totally screwed up!"

"Yes, you did. I needed more time to check her room. It was quite inconvenient to stop when I know I was so close."

"I know! I'm sorry! I'll do better, L- Ryuuzaki."

His eyes grew wide as he hissed into the phone, "Matsu, you idiot! Keep your voice down. She doesn't know yet!"

Matsuda winced at the rebuke. "So s-sorry, Ryuuz-zaki. I'll try har-harder."

"You do that, Matsu. Oh, and Matsuda?"

"Uh huh?"

A smile crept to L's face. "You're grounded."

Ryuuzaki allowed himself a smile as he hung up. Matsuda may have screwed up, but he was finding out that Matsu's screw ups were somewhat beneficial.

And this one pushed him closer to the second Kira. After all, maybe now he'd get to see how she kills.

He watched the screen as she moved about. Occasionally moving herself around on her bed, first from her back, next, to her stomach.

Her obvious discomfort was amusing to L. Why so nervous? He wondered thoughtfully to himself.I already know your secret. No need to hide it anymore, my lovely mass murderer.

She was talking, suddenly. "I'm bored!" She yelled. "Ryuuzaki, talk to me PLEEEEEEEASE?!"

He sighed, fingering the intercom button unconsciously. It took him a moment to realize he hadn't pressed it yet. He did so. "Yes, what is it, besides your boredom, that is?"

"I'm bored!" She complained again.

He smirked, an evil thought forming in his head. "You want me to come down and play with you?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

It was as much as a joke as an invitation.

She growled, flipping the camera off. He laughed at the gesture as she screamed, "No, you perv! I don't wanna play with you like that."

His laughter finally receded as a strikingly snide look took over his face. L was feeling distinctly evil, and who knew it? Misa was fun to play with when wound up correctly.

"You're so cute when you're mad," he murmured thoughtfully to himself aloud.

That caused Misa to cease her infernal bratting. "And I'm not the rest of the time?" She scoffed.

He shook his head, her voice penetrating his daydream and pulling him out completely. "Sorry, Love. Did you say something?"

She gasped. "You're ignoring me now?!" She screeched, outlandisly inhumanly sounding.

He flinched at the pitch. "Blow my eardrums, Love, and then it'll seem like I'm always ignoring you," he warned her, having grown fond of their constant banter.

She blushed sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm not the greatest at using inside voices."

He stifled a chortle. "I'll second that."

"Hey! You're so mean to me. Do you take pleasure in hurting your wife?"

If he was to chuckle, it would come out wryly. Very wryly. He held it. "Continually, on occasion, yes. You are rather quite fun to mess with."

She blushed at the sentence, her mind connecting the words altogether in a wrong way. Ryuuzaki noticed the blush and faintly felt his mouth twitching return, guessing her reasoning for embarrassment.

"Ironic, isn't it?" He inquired aloud, the irony of it all not lost on him. "A married man and woman can get embarrassed by the slightest hint of an innuendo cast by their partner."

Misa's blush deepened as he spoke. "I'm going to bed now," she mumbled uncomfortably. "Don't watch, or I'll think you're a creep."

Ryuuzaki snickered. "Yes, you do that, Love. Whatever floats your boat."

But he didn't turn his gaze away.