Death Note Fan Fiction ❯ True Affection ❯ A Discovery ( Chapter 9 )

 

True Affection

Chapter 9

--

Ever since Misa was a child, she would dread being put into the bathtub the same day she had her private dancing lessons. She would often return home with cuts and scratches from not being as skilled in the craft as her classmates, and often fell. So whenever the hot water touched her skin, it stung badly.

Standing in the shower, a faint line of nostalgia marked the recollective girl's lips as she sighed sadly.

Only, this time the water didn't sting anymore.

It burned.

Closing her eyes, she placed her fingertips atop a band-aid. An abrupt grimace contorted her features when she yanked it off and she bit her lip to subdue a whimper. For each that was removed, the more vulnerable she felt.

And only when all of strips of concealment were peeled and snatched from her skin did she fully feel violated, mistreated and misused by Light. She also felt a twinge of something that felt misleading at first, it was so foreign to her.

And that feeling was freedom; fluttering throughout her body and whispering atop her cold skin to remind her of its return.

At that moment, she desperately wished the injuries she had received really were just from her clumsiness in her dancing lessons.

She almost pretended and nearly convinced herself that they were. But the pain they unveiled were too heavily stained with Light's name to be a lie.

It takes time for the heart to heal and Misa was no different. She no longer desired to be at that man's side as a pawn nor as a lover—of which she never was the latter. She may have been only a tool to Kira, but she still had desired to be loved by Light at one point.

However, there was still a swelling pressure within her that remained unsettled; a pressure that Light had planted, cultured and left to spawn within her. Only he or her could remove it.

But she couldn't quite place exactly what it was.

10 minutes had passed.

Misa was so immersed in her thoughts, it took her that long to realize that her eyes were moist with a warm clear liquid.

The shower water had already turned cold.

And just as quickly, so did her concern for Light. Shivering from the sudden frigidness of the water, Misa turned off the shower and bent down to pick up her discarded band-aids from around the drain.

She had told Rem the truth, hadn't she? She couldn't care less about what happened to him. He could rot for all she cared.

Reassured of her choice of words, Misa boldly stepped out of the tub and grabbed a towel to dry off her hair and body with. Tiny spots of blood from her cuts were passed onto the fabric, but it still too noticeable for her to ignore, so she dropped it into the laundry basket she figured was being used as a hamper.

But even as her emotions began to betray her knowledge of the truth, one fact still remained constant.
And that was Ryuzaki, Lawliet, her Lawliet.

Delicately, colorful thoughts of him fluttered into her mind, gently erasing her miseries of her ex-boyfriend and bringing a soft genuine smile to her lips.

Lawliet.

From his style of dress, to the intricate way he lifted objects, the way his fingers marked his mouth, and the vastness of his sheer knowledge and accuracy were all genuinely appealing to Misa.

He was so unique and unorthodox, but also very sweet.

Especially to her.

Or at least she thought so. She had been pining after Light for so long, she had almost forgotten what actual affection felt like.

She never would have thought she'd be thinking of the eccentric detective so much as something so much more exciting and comforting than just being Kira's enemy.

She never imagined feeling anything for him like the way she did now.

Maybe if they continued spending more time with each other, Misa would capture his heart and finally have an actual boyfriend.

It was a very nice thought, but she had been trying to seduce L so much since he got her out of that jail cell that she couldn't blame him for not giving in.

Was she really that desperate to be with someone?

No. But she was desperate to be loved.

Being loved was something she badly wanted to attain, but not from just anyone.

Misa released a suppressed sigh once she realized her body was shivering from the cooled air around her.

Loosely hugging her arms to her chest, she tossed a look towards her pile of clothes on the floor.

She had been so eager to shower that she forgot to get some clean clothes beforehand and she refused to put on the undergarments she had already taken off, even if Lawliet wouldn't see them.

Misa blushed lightly at the thought. It was all his fault that she was thinking of such things! All because he looked at her underwear earlier...

But now that she wondered about it, where was he anyway? It was awfully quiet.

She paused, listening for any signs of his movement on the other side of the door.

When only silence greeted her, her curiosity claimed the better of her and she crept to the door.

Leaning against it, she pressed her ear to its hard surface and continued to listen.

"Ryuzaki?" she called dubiously.

When she received no answer, she called a few more times and steadied her hand on the knob.

Nervous and impatient, she shut her eyes and pushed the door open.

The cool rush of air from the other room brisked past her and doubled the coldness against her skin.

Out of modesty, she lowered a shielding hand southward to hide her dignity and took a quick peek around L's bedroom.

Mild piles of clutter and speckled dust littered the small space of L's quarters, but other than that, there wasn't another human in sight.

Or more specifically, not a certain shaggy haired detective hiding in sight.

A light giggle escaped Misa's lips at the thought of L not being human.

Just thinking about him spread a tingling warmth that kindled in her heart and spread throughout her entire body.
And within that moment, she felt certain of her next move.

Glancing over to L's closet in the corner to the left of her, that was halfway shut with a few articles of clothing sticking out preventing it from being shut correctly, she spotted a spot of white peeking out.

One of L's casual t-shirts, most likely.

Drawn to it, she walked over to it and snatched up the garment.

She took one more suspicious look behind her and clutched the shirt to her chest as she ran back into the bathroom.

Closing the door promptly, she leaned her back against it; feeling her head spin from the thrill of possibly being caught by L.

Or anyone. The thought mad her blush strongly and she shook her head. She hoped to high heaven L didn't have cameras installed in his room and more importantly if he did, that Watari did not see.

She shut her eyes and took in a deep breath that finally calmed her nerves.

Delicately, she brought the garment to her nose and inhaled daintily.

She never told L, but she loved his scent.

Yet, without her realizing her actions triggered a twinge of remorse to nip at her heart and she lowered the fabric.
That familiar prickling stung the backs of her eyes and her composed features faltered as she withheld her tears.

Why did she let Light have his ways with her? Wasn't she a loveable person? Didn't she deserve love? Did she even love herself?

No matter what, she had to be strong. Even if she had to fake it; lie to herself and pretend that she would make herself appear cheerful, she would do it.
Not just for L, but to convince herself that she was going to be fine.

She forced herself to laugh in the presence of her dejection and to keep a smile on her face. At least for now before her second interrogation began and she had to be serious.

Silently, she began to slip into L's shirt while a constant swirl of thoughts fleeted about her mind

'He's nothing like Light...'

--

In the secluded space of Misa's room, L meticulously rummaged through her top drawer using only his fore fingers and thumbs. He took his time as he picked up one piece of lacy, expensive looking undergarment at a time, examined it's appearance, then returned it to its place.

While some of Misa's clothing choices were more... “appealing” than others she had in the drawer, L looked through each of them with nonjudgmental and bored eyes.

Clothes by themselves were quite uninteresting to him and he preferred not to imagine how Misa would look in them. He'd rather see her clad in them in person.

But, if that were indeed the case, what was he doing still going through her clothes? Why hadn't he just picked out a set of a bra and panties and then left?

Pondering the irony, a twinge of pink kissed his cheeks as he held up a v-string thong.

Yes, why was he still going through her intimates?

He paused in his thoughts as he inwardly questioned his motives. Then, he placed the thong back into the drawer and pulled out a laced pair of midnight black hip-cut panties and a crescent cupped matching bra.

"No tracking bugs here either." He flatly noted to himself.

He had also took it upon himself to search Misa and Light's rooms for any "souvenirs" Light may have planted to further attempt to blackmail Misa with.

So far, he had found none.

Done with going through her clothes, he pressed his hands against the drawer to close it, then he stopped.

Casually, he reached in the drawer again to retrieve an extra pair of dark panties and nonchalantly shoved them into his back pocket.

Whistling a bit, he clutched the first selections in his hand, and made his way to Light's bed.

Although he hadn't found any evidence yet, he was certain that he would.

His dark eyes ghosted over the made sheets of Light's bed, and the nightstand next to it.

Perplexed, he trudged over to it and lifted his free hand to take hold of the knob to the compartment beneath it when his next thought made him freeze.

Quickly, he turned on his bare heels and padded back into Misa's room.

If Light were to truly blackmail Misa, the proof wouldn't be so obvious.

While he did search Misa's room already, there was one spot he didn't thoroughly investigate. Her bed.

Sure, he had sat on it and even bounced on it, to test it of course, but he didn't lay in it.

And knowing Light, L wouldn't put it past him to somehow store razor blades within the mattress so that whenever Misa turned to a specific degree, the blades would protrude and cut her.

Convinced that he had overlooked important details, L sat on Misa's bed and pulled back the covers.
As he did, the dry sound of paper tapped against the floor.

Intrigued, he began to swing his legs atop the bed to slide to the opposite side until he remembered the possible thought of the hidden razor blades, and simply stood to his feet instead.

Slowly, he walked to the other side of the bed and peered down at the floor.

Sure enough, there was a balled up piece of paper.

Seeing this, L's expression shifted from that of uncertainty to curiosity as he dragged his thumb across his bottom lip.

That piece of paper wasn't there before. He had already searched the room in that very spot.

Briefly he glanced upwards and his eyes skimmed the walls.
Had a shinigami somehow entered the room without him seeing? He knew he was able to acknowledge Rem's appearance, but only because he touched Misa's Death Note.

He wondered if more than one Death Note existed, not counting the fake one he crafted.

And if there were other Death Notes in the human world, that meant there had to be more shinigami like Rem roaming about.

Considering this, so far, that was his best answer to the paper's sudden appearance.

But all that seemed to lose its significance as he bent down to retrieve the parchment.

From a slight touch alone, he could tell that it was from Misa's Death Note.
Unraveling it, his dark eyes briskly fleeted over its contents littered with Misa's handwriting.

"If any kind of murderous attempts were to happen to

Light and he is killed before Misa Amane's lengthened life span

is expired, then Misa Amane will take her own life to be

freed from this world and will die by her lover and savior's side.

Misa Amane will be the only other person to be affected by this and

can't go back on her word, because she intends on seeing this through the entire

use and time of the lifespan she is entitled to have.

The only way any of this will occur is if Light Yagami is sentenced to

death after his court trial in the following day in any way.

Note, that if his trial is canceled, then his life will not be in danger

and Misa Amane's life will not be in peril and nothing bad like that

will happen to her. But if Light Yagami's sentence is carried out, and

not with a trial of any kind, then what has been written still stands.

Be that it may, if any of Light Yagami's family, or any of the task-force members are

able to rectify, stop or prevent any of Light Yagami's sentence to occur,

to allow both Light Yagami and Misa Amane's lives to be spared. If Light Yagami is

let free before his trial and/or sentence, then he will have the ability to

go and do whatever he pleases with his beautiful and intelligent lover, of whom he,

of course, loves with all his heart!

Light Yagami, the man that Misa Amane loves the most, will finally have the chance,

as long as he sees fit, to control the world as its god and eliminate all threats and

long-time criminals that have never been faced with proper justice for as long

as he deems necessary. Under Light Yagami's reign in his new perfect world, not

a single threat will remain that will get in his way. This does not make Light Yagami a

certain criminal, or any type of bad man at all anymore. Because of this, no officer,

detective, organization or any type of establishment that was once against Light Yagami

remains as an opposing threat to the god of the new world.

In which, Light Yagami, as Kira, as god, will have no threats and no enemies and will

love his queen of the new world unconditionally, unless he, by some chance decides to not be

with such a gorgeous and talented woman anymore, in case she makes too many mistakes to

a degree that is unforgivable. If Light Yagami's beautiful lover continues to act like a bad

pawn towards Kira, then only at that point, I guess it's alright for her to be disposed

of, but she will always long for Kira. And since this note is really long, I will end it with

Kira being the future god of the new world. To his prosperity, beautiful lover and justice!!”

After reading, and digesting the seemingly foolish banter within the note, L skimmed over the words again to catch anything he may have missed.

“Hmm. Interesting...” L mused to himself, “You've gotten a bit sloppy, Light.” he muttered under his breath.

He could obviously tell that Misa was not the one that actually wrote that message, although the paper, ideals and handwriting were hers.
While Misa would most likely have wished and hoped to at one point rule the “new world” with Light and struggle to write down every imaginable situation for every scenario that had his life in the balance, he severely doubted that she would have implemented a hidden message within the passage.

That, was all of Light's doing, he was certain.

However, despite the personal bite the hidden words had inflicted upon him, L was more interested in the mention of her extended lifespan than anything else.

He would be sure to ask her about that. He already tampered with her life. Now he had to know the severity of the consequences.

Promptly, he balled the paper in his hands as he walked into the bathroom and dropped the note in its rightful place in the trashcan.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he then proceeded back towards his room.

--

“Misa, I've returned, so I hope that you are decently dressed and...” L trailed off as he opened the door to his room.

His expression remained collected, but his eyes widened just a tad more than usual.

There Misa was, wearing nothing more than his t-shirt, sitting on his bed, waiting for him to return.

Misa's straight blonde locks smoothed over her shoulders in attractive semi-wet clumps as she turned to face the flabbergasted male.

His plain shirt hung perfectly about the curves of her petite body; its wrinkles complimenting her form generously.

Her brown eyes studied him with a faint glint as she parted her lips to speak.

“Welcome back, Ryuzaki.” she greeted evenly, uttering his code name at the last second.

L remained silently stunned a moment longer, carrying a stare that most likely took the place of a long blink.

A very long blink.

“What are you doing on my bed?” he finally managed to relocate his voice and sounded a bit more stoic than he appeared.

Expecting the question, Misa casually drew a hand beneath the weight of her damp hair and flicked a lock of it behind her. “Waiting for you.” she stated calmly in a soft tone.

“I'm aware of that...” he muttered, suddenly deep in thought. He figured she'd put the same clothes on she had on before or just wait in the bathroom until he arrived with her undergarments.

Had she even heard him when he said he was going to get them?

Obviously not!

Aimlessly, his vision slithered down her somber face and over her entire form.

Figuratively, she was naked; exposing all her aches, faults and crimes to him as they lie freshly visible to his notice. He could see every cut, every bruise and blemish in their blatant form, uncovered by any make up or band-aid.

She was showing him everything she had kept hidden for who knew how long.

To him, such a bold gesture went far beyond being drenched in the truth and honesty, but blossomed pure, vulnerable trust.

And that was a notion he could truly respect.

“Here.”, he uttered, presenting her bra and panties to her, “I brought you your needed apparel as I said I would. That is, before you slammed the door in my face earlier.”

A distant look on her face, Misa's eyes trailed down to the clothing in his hand, then wavered back up to meet with his own searching eyes.

There was a connection struck between them at that moment; a mutual, odd, yet familiar connection.

It was as if they had journeyed within the other and found understanding like two orphans claiming a place they belonged.

“Um, thanks, Ryuzaki.” the girl barely whispered as she took the pair of panties from him. “You can keep the rest.” she added, turning away from him and scooting off the edge of the bed, “I know you have more stashed away in your pocket! It's ok.”

Inwardly, L could feel his brow break into cold sweat, but he played it off with a casually calmed expression.

To give her privacy, he turned his body away from her and listened as she slipped the laced fabric on.

She was acting strangely more serious than usual. In the back of his mind, he was certain that some recent incident had to occur to cause her attitude to change. He labeled himself as one of those possible reasons and Kira--Light, as another.

Once the garment was in place, Misa felt a little relieved L actually did bring her something to wear. Shyly, she dared a glance over her shoulder at him and was a bit surprised to see his back turned.

Almost instantly, her solemn features brightened and without realizing, her body gravitated towards the man before her. Still kneeling atop the bed, she fell forward with widely spread arms, wrapping them loosely around his slender frame and hugged him tightly.

“Thank you, Ryuzaki.” she spoke sincerely, her tone lightly on the edge of a cry.

Surprise wrought L's form and he stood perfectly still, unsure of how to react. “I...um... Misa, are you alright?” he questioned softly.

“I will be.” she answered, hugging him once more before slipping away from his warmth and the wild thumpings of his heart.

Gingerly, Misa pushed her lithe body off the mattress, not taking her eyes off of him as she bent down to grasp an end of the handcuffs on the floor.

The scraping sound it made caused L to face her. He watched her with frantic and perplexed eyes as she fastened the metal bracelet in place. Carefully, as if calculating her next action, or masking her nervousness and uncertainty, Misa rested her hands back atop L's bed and slithered her body across it until she was in the middle.

Once there, she readjusted the cuff and whisked a few stray strands out of her face. “Alright, Ryuzaki. The Second Kira is ready to begin.”

-

To be continued!

-I actually wanted more to be in this chapter, but it hit 9 pages so I decided to cut it here. I also got smacked with writer's block so, sorry for the angst and lack of goodness.

-Can you spot the hidden message in the note Misa supposedly wrote? I got the idea of such a hidden message from “ my-tears-for-you” on DeviantArt dot com. She was the first I've seen to use such a method for a message in her L x Misa story Mystery Lover, so check it out if you like! It's hot!

-Oh, and the mention of Misa covering her dignity by placing a hand southward goes along with a type of "saying" that if an American woman is seen naked, she will cover her chest; if an Asian woman is seen naked, she will cover her womanhood, and I think a Middle Eastern woman will cover her face if seen naked. Correct me if I'm wrong.

-Mel