End Games

Chapter 2: Encounters

It was getting late. Light Yagami got off at the train station by his apartment complex. He had moved out of his parents' house as soon as his incarceration ended. He had to admit, it had been a close call. However, having Mikami perform the killing of criminals while he was imprisoned had turned out to be the perfect plan. He also had to congratulate himself for thinking so far ahead by making Misa give him ownership her notebook as soon as she was taken into custody. He had not expected Misa to be arrested under suspicion of being the Second Kira but regardless, his overly-cautious nature proved to be a life saver. He gave Misa's notebook to Mikami along with instructions to start the killings two weeks after receiving it. Because the killings started up again while Light was imprisoned, he was exonerated of (most) suspicions.
Not only that, but choosing Mikami as his accomplice was an even better decision. He did exactly as Light told him, and what's more, he even made the deal for the Shinigami Eyes! Now all he had to do was find a way for Mikami to see L, and then it would be all over. Yes, everything was going well. Light was so pleased with the recent development of events that he had to restrain himself from smirking publicly. While it was dark and no one was around, he had no doubt that L would still be monitoring his every step closely. He had proven his innocence to the rest of the KIT members but L was not as easily convinced. Light was sure that in L's mind, he was still a suspect. Because of this, he could not yet resume the killings himself. 'No, not until I eliminate L' he thought. Then he heard it, fast-approaching footsteps coming toward him from behind. Light turned around and nearly toppled over when someone very familiar tackled him.
Misa had turned the corner onto Light's apartment complex. And there he was, about to enter. She ran as fast as she could to catch up to him. "LIGHT!" she yelled as she threw herself into his arms. In the blink of an eye, the petite blonde had Light in a vice grip. "Oh Light I'm so happy to see you! I thought I would die in there without you! Where have you been these past two days? You'd better not have gone out with other women because you're mine and no one else's!" she said without pause.
Light was shocked to see her. "Misa! What are you doing here? Does L know you left Headquarters?" he asked. 'Dammit, this woman, she's always so impulsive. The last thing I need is for L to come after me looking for her'.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe that pervert was too busy watching videos of me showering at night or something to notice that I left. Seriously, I walked right out the front door!" Explained Misa delightfully.
'Out the front door, huh? That can only mean that L is definitely up to something. Otherwise he would not have let Misa walk out without meeting any resistance' Thought Light. "Misa, listen. Thanks for coming to see me," Said Light. Misa's face lit up with anticipation. "But I have to take you back to Headquarters."
"WHAT?! But I just got here!" yelled Misa in her overdramatic tone. "Can't I just stay with you at your place even if just for tonight?" She continued. She put on her best version of a puppy face to try and sway his decision.
Light explained patiently, "I know you miss me, but I just recently proved to L that I'm not Kira, and I think he's starting to trust me. Soon he'll let me go back to Headquarters full time to work on the case with the rest of the K.I.T. I don't think it will look very trustworthy of me if I hide you in my apartment." He said trying his best to be patient with her.
Misa was upset now. "But Light, I'm not the Second Kira and I shouldn't have to hide from anyone. Please—" but before Misa could continue to pleading in her high-pitched whine, Light interrupted.
"No. I'm sorry Misa. I'm taking you back to Headquarters now." He said decisively. Light grabbed Misa firmly by the arm and walked with her back in the direction of the train station. Misa reluctantly followed. Even if she tried to stand her ground, Light was stronger than she was and could maneuver her small frame with ease, which he did as he dragged her behind him. The entire train ride there, Misa tried to be as affectionate and seductive as she could in hopes of making him change his mind. However, Light was impervious to her charms, it seemed. 'Why is it that the man I love is such an honest goodie-two-shoes who has to follow the rules all the time?!" She thought hopelessly. 'That pervert Ryuzaki, on the other hand, probably would have bribed me with chocolates to go inside with him. For once, Light, I wish you were a little more like the pervert' She thought, giving herself the chills at the idea of Light being more like L.
-in a dark corner down the block, a couple that appeared to be making out minutes broke their embrace—
A beautiful, tall blonde woman and an equally attractive blonde man stood in the shadows. The woman took out her cell phone and dialed a number.
"Ryuzaki, this is Weddy and Aiber reporting. We've confirmed that Misa Amane is with Light Yagami, but no suspicious actions took place between them.
L responded in a dull tone, barely betraying a hint of disappointment. "Did they seem to pass any sort of note or item between each other?" Weddy denied this and L responded "Thanks to both of you. Is that all?"
Weddy quickly said: "No, that's not all! Exactly how many times do we have to go on these boring assignments?! I demand an upgrade-" but before the woman could continue her ranting, the dial tone interrupted her. L had already hung up the phone.
-Back at Headquarters-
L was sitting at his desk stacking empty mini JELL-O containers on top of each other. Well I guess this little experiment yielded...nothing. Frankly, I'm not surprised. The door to the main room of Headquarters opened and in walked Light with Misa in stride. L turned slightly to greet the newcomers. The slight motion caused the mini JELL-O containers to wobble and crumble on his desk.
"Good to see you here again, Light" said L giving Light a small smile.
Light went straight to business. "Ryuzaki, I'm here to bring Misa back."
"Very well" L replied.
Light waited a moment and then said what had been on his mind ever since his incarceration ended.
"I also wanted to talk to you about coming back to work with the K.I.T." said Light carefully. L said nothing, making Light uneasy. It was extremely crucial that he be let back into L's inner circle. The only way to bring him down was from within. "Now that that we know that I'm not Kira, I'd like to be part of the investigation again. I know I can help, you once said so yourself" He continued.
"Yes, I expected you'd make such request" responded L.
"In that case—" Light continued only to be abruptly interrupted.
"HEY! Doesn't anyone even remember that I'm here?!" yelled Misa. She was holding Light by the arm tightly now. "Light, please tell me you won't leave right away. Stay with me tonight." She pleaded.
Light looked annoyed now. He tried to pry his arm out of Misa's vice grip unsuccessfully.
"Not now, Misa. I have important business to discuss with Ryuzaki" Said Light, scowling at her.
"Our relationship is important too! Why don't you ever want to talk to me? All you ever do here is talk to Ryuzaki! Well, why don't you just ASK HIM OUT ON A DATE. I think you two are just PERFECT for each other!" Said Misa dramatically.
Light was gaping at her. He couldn't believe her stupidity. 'Dammit Misa, you're making this so difficult. All I need is to get things settled with L so that I can come back to Headquarters and gain his trust. If only I could talk without interruption!' Thought Light angrily.
"Misa, please—" he started to say in a warning tone, but again Light was interrupted by Misa's pleas.
"But Light! Don't you want to spend time with me?" She held onto him even tighter than before. Finally, Light snapped.
"Misa, STOP!" yelled Light. The blonde gasped as Light forcefully pulled her arms off of him and then pushed her back with more force than was necessary. The backwards momentum made her lose her balance and she fell onto the floor.
At that moment, time seemed to stop. The room was silent and no one was saying a word. Misa was on the floor, looking up at Light, inwardly praying that he would at least show some concern for her. When Light did nothing, she felt her heart break a little, and her clear blue eyes quickly started filling up with unshed tears.
Light stood before her, not saying a word. He was shocked at his own outburst. He simply looked at her before saying "Misa, I'm sorry, but you shouldn't hold onto me like that. You know I don't like it." He wasn't making the situation any better.
Misa couldn't stand to look at Light in the face so she looked at L. His large dull, dark eyes were looking straight at her, as though he were seeing her for the first time. She couldn't remember a time when he'd really looked at her with his full, undivided attention, almost as if he were concerned. She didn't like him seeing her in such a vulnerable state. As hurt and embarrassed as she felt, she most certainly did not want his pity. That would be the worst. Everything started going blurry for her as hot tears clouded her visions. She silently got up and began to run up the stairs. It was quite a few floors up but Misa didn't care. By the time she was at her penthouse door, she was full on sobbing.
Back in the main investigation room, L and Light stood silently for a little bit. L looked pensively at the floor, a hint of a frown on his face, whereas Light was still mulling over what to do next. Light broke the awkward silence "Well, that was...unexpected. I'm sorry for the uncomfortable situation." he gave L a small, polite bow. "Please let's go back to the issue of me working with the K.I.T. again."
L nodded slightly and said "I'll discuss it with the rest of the task force tomorrow. You may return to Headquarters after I speak with them."
Light smiled slightly and said "Thanks Ryuzaki. I'm sure that together, we'll catch Kira and bring him to justice!"
L nodded slightly but his face remained serious. "Yes, after you made the very honest move of bringing back Misa Amane, the Second Kira, how could I not trust you to work on the investigation?" L said suspiciously.
"Eh, right." Responded Light, not missing the suspicious undertone behind L's words.
"Now, Light, I have a lot of work to do." L said as he swiveled his chair around so he was facing his computer screen and the crumbled pile of JELL-O containers on his desk.
Light took this as his cue to leave. "Alright, thank you Ryuzaki. I'll see you soon." He said as he departed from the room. 'I can't believe how easy that was. L, your days are numbered' thought the brunette as he walked out of Headquarters.
Once Light was gone, L began to rebuild his stack of JELL-O containers. All the while, in his mind he replayed the scene that had taken place before him a few minutes ago. He saw the hurt in Misa's eyes as she looked at him. He had never seen that look on her face. It was a look of pure humiliation and hurt. 'That was not right' He thought to himself as he stacked his fourth JELL-O container.
-A couple of hours later-
Misa was sitting by her floor-to-ceiling living room window overlooking the city. Even the nice night-lit view of Japan could not cheer her up. Her eyes were puffy from when she was crying earlier and she felt exhausted. Still, she could not let herself sleep. She could not get the evening's events out of her mind, Light's insistence that she return to headquarters, his pushing her away, his standing before her not saying anything, L suddenly looking at her with those big eyes, pitying her. 'Was he trying to help me or something? Yeah, as if he'd do something like that...' She thought cynically.
The door to her penthouse suddenly opened and in walked the very subject that had been on her mind a mere seconds before. "What are you doing here, pervert? " She asked looking up at L and wiping her eyes with her hands. For some reason she didn't want him to see her crying.
"Will you please stop calling me a pervert?" L said dryly. "I only wanted to see if you wanted a piece of cake." He gave her a small smile. Sure enough, he had brought a small plate with a piece of yellow cake with a lot of icing on top.
"No thanks, cake makes you fat. The last thing I need is to get fat" replied Misa miserably.
"Actually, I've found that you don't gain any weight if you burn calories by using your brain." He explained. Misa rolled her eyes half-jokingly.
"You would say that. Unfortunately I'm not a mad genius like you who can just burn a gazillion calories by sitting and thinking all day."
"It's true though. Your brain burns, on average, about 20% of your daily calorie intake. It's always active and so it uses up the most energy." He explained as he took a large bite out of the cake.
"Whatever." She looked at him eat her cake. "Hey, are you serious? I thought the cake was for me!" She said sounding more like her usual self.
"Yes, I am always serious about cake" Said L in between bites. Misa looked pointedly at the cake and her stomach gave an involuntary grumble. She was actually really hungry. L noticed her looking at the cake. He stopped half-way through the pastry and offered it to her. She tentatively took it, though she did not touch it at first.
"Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden? Don't think that I'm going to forgive you for keeping me locked in here just because you brought me cake. Besides, it's your fault that Light and I can't be together right now!" Misa said, taking a bite out of the cake.
L responded "We've been over this. While you may not 'remember' being the Second Kira, there is enough evidence against you to at least throw you in jail as a Kira conspirator. I'm actually doing you a favor by keeping you here" he told her. Misa was about to say something in outrage when L put a finger up to stop her. "Also, you may have forgotten that your apartment is wiretapped and your crying is getting to be quite distracting." He finished and put his finger down. "Now you can say whatever you want."
"How many times do I have to say it?! I'm NOT THE SECOND KIRA for the millionth time—" Misa stopped herself with a defeated sigh before she verbally abused him. "Nevermind, just forget it. It's not like it'll make a difference what I say." She said and took a large bite out of her cake.
There was a minute of silence. L stood there pensively watching her devour the cake and then said. "Misa, I believe not too long ago you said that we were friends, correct?" She looked at him and said "Mhm, what of it?" as she took another large bite of her cake.
L placed his forefinger on his bottom lip, as he formulated his next question: "Well, this is being a good friend, isn't it?" He asked. Misa was a bit taken aback by his simple question. She never took L for the type who cared about friends. In fact, as far as she was concerned, his only goal in life was to catch Kira. She suddenly found herself wondering what kind of person L was deep down, and what he would do if he weren't looking for Kira.
"Yeah, I guess the circumstances are a bit muddy but I suppose you could call bringing fattening sweets to someone who's depressed being a good friend." She said as she took one last bite out of her cake.
"And do you feel better now?" he asked now looking straight at her. Now she was really weirded out. He was looking at her again and she wasn't used to it. Not to mention that he's actually asking her how she feels. This was definitely bizarre.
Suddenly, Misa burst out laughing. L looked at her, intrigued. Misa could not stop her laughter and L had to ask her "What's so funny?"
Misa finally stopped laughing and gave him a small smile. "Oh Ryuzaki, it's just that asking someone how they are doing is something that's so natural for people. But when you do it, it's like the most bizarre thing. You actually had me worried!" She said and then started chuckling again. Misa had a melodious laughter that L found surprisingly pleasing.
L gave her a small smile and scratched his messy black hair. "I suppose you're right" He said. They spent a few more seconds in silence just looking at each other and then L said, "I have a lot to do so I'm going back to work downstairs. And please stop crying, it is somewhat of a neusance" He said nonchalantly as he walked away from Misa.
"Easy for you to say!" She yelled back at him. "Ha, maybe I like annoying you. If I am the second Kira, then I could kill you at any time instead of just being a nuisance. I'm actually doing you a favor every moment I don't kill you." She taunted playfully, using his earlier argument against him.
"Is that a confession?" L said playfully as he turned toward her.
"Of course not!" Misa said quickly. Geez I hope he can take a joke!' She thought.
"Goodnight" said L as he exited the apartment.
"Goodnight" Said Misa to no one as she smiled to herself. 'That was kind of pleasant' she thought as she got up from her window and went to retrieve her journal. It was going to be a long night still, but she had to admit that she did feel a little better