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Disclaimer: Death Note is owned by Tsugumi Ohba, and Takeshi Obata. Neither of whom are me.

Author's Note: This fic was originally written for the LiveJournal community of 30 Kisses. I'm still waiting to see if my claim for L/Misa is okay. Even if it isn't, I'll probably do this story anyway, just because I think it's a fun idea, and there's simply not enough L/Misa love going around. This is an AU, and dabbles with the idea of Misa meeting L before Light. Still with me? Good. Let's go.

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Theme 8: Our Own World

Misa had gotten used to the random phone calls at all times of the day. At first, it had been rather annoying, and she'd yell at him for bothering her in the middle of a photoshoot or interview. His excuse was always the investigation, but she'd still call him a pervert because she knew he just wanted to hear her voice and think lewd things. Naturally, this repeated accusation was always met with the same long silence on the other end of the phone, before a calm Ryuuzaki would reply, "I don't know why you have that impression about me, Misa-san."

So frustrating was it at times, that one day she decided to call back and give him a piece of her mind. It was only then that Misa noticed that he called her from different phone numbers each time. And the last number she had in her phone's memory had been disconnected. She suspected she'd get the same response from any number he had used previously.

But when the burglar was caught, Misa thought that it was the end of her talks with the odd detective. She found herself rather depressed over it. He called at the worst times --he did it on purpose, she was sure of it-- but it was nice to have a new constant in her life. It was stabilizing. There was nothing to be done, though. And true enough, her cell phone stopped ringing.

Until one night at around three a.m., when she was awoken from a sound sleep by the telltale ring of her cell. Misa was sure it was ten times louder than it normally was (or was that her need for rest talking?), and she nearly dragged herself out of bed to snatch the offending thing off her dresser.

"Yes?" she grumbled.

"Ah, Misa-san," Ryuuzaki's voice was pleasant, and far too alert for her taste. "You're awake."

"I wasn't five minutes ago!" she fumed. "Don't you know what time it is? Why are you calling?!"

"Hm? Oh, well the case I'm working on now is rather boring," he explained. "So, I thought I'd see how you were doing."

"...At three in the morning," Misa stated, flatly.

"Yes. Is this a bad time?"

"It's three in the morning, Ryuuzaki-san! Of /course/, it's a bad time!" she howled, hoping against hope that she was at least causing him ear damage. "Misa needs her sleep! I can't think at this time."

"Really?" he said, sounding surprised. "I find I think best now, since it's so quiet."

"That's because normal people are sleeping now," she retorted.

"They're wasting time. So, how is Misa-san?" he asked, good-naturedly.

She scowled. "Didn't I just... Misa doesn't believe you called because you were bored! Misa thinks you called because you want to picture her in her lingerie!"

"You sleep in lingerie?" The question was asked innocently.

Misa didn't take it that way. "Ryuuzaki-san really is a pervert!"

"That's not fair, Misa-san. You were the one that brought up your sleep garments," he pointed out.

She puffed out her cheeks in embarrassment and frustration. He was right, of course, but she'd be damned before she gave him that satisfaction. Instead, Misa released the air in her lungs, deliberately blowing hard onto the phone's receiver, and felt a childish bit of glee when she heard him hiss at the unexpected static.

"That was a very immature response, Misa-san," he muttered, sounding rather put off.

"Serves you right, waking poor Misa up," she told him a matter-of-factly. "And only because you say you're bored."

"Well, if you really are tired, then I'll let you go back to sleep," Ryuuzaki offered.

"No!" Misa said, a little too quickly for her own comfort. She sighed, sitting down on the edge of her bed. "Misa is fully awake now, anyway. Besides, you haven't called in a while," she stated, a little down. "Misa thought you forgot about her."

"Not possible," he said, almost off handedly. "But it gets rather difficult to find time to do something like have a casual conversation when I'm handling work."

"Hmmmm," Misa pursed her lips, pondering the situation. "Is Ryuuzaki-san that wanted a detective? You have many cases?"

"I'm kept busy," he deftly avoided a complete answer. "But it seems Misa-san is also quite busy. I've seen the cameos you've done on television lately."

"You have?" she perked up, delighted and proud. "Misa is being asked to do a lot of TV shows right now. Manager-san says this will be very good for Misa's career."

"It should be," he agreed. She heard him fiddle with something, making a light clanging sound she couldn't identify. "Misa-san is a very talented actress."

She beamed, even though he couldn't see it. She, like any other celebrity, liked having her ego stroked. Misa liked being liked. "Yes. And Misa is working very hard to be even better for when she gets a movie role!"

"I look forward to that," he told her. She heard the metallic sound again on the other end, this time with a sharper edge to it.

"You'll go see my first movie?" Misa tried to picture Ryuuzaki in a movie theater, but all that came up was a scene of him perched oddly in his seat, while the movie goers behind him threw popcorn, and demanded that he sit like a normal person.

"Of course," he answered, his voice sounding strangely muffled for once.

"Misa would like that," she admitted. She stared across the room, her eyes catching the glint of a picture frame's edge in the moonlight. And even though she couldn't see the picture itself, she knew what it was, the smiling faces that it held, and she felt a wave of cold wash over her. Her mood changed drastically. "Ryuuzaki-san?"

"Yes?" he said, and she could tell he had picked up her mood swing. He sounded cautious.

"Their murderer still hasn't gone to trial," she stated, frowning. "Why? Why hasn't he?"

Ryuuzaki hadn't called her after the burglar had been found. One of the regular officers on the case had. And now, almost a little over a month's time had passed, and he had yet to stand trial. Time and time again, his lawyer would figure out a way to stall the case. For Misa, it was like learning about her parents' death all over again.

"I'm sorry, Misa-san" Ryuuzaki began, sympathetically. "All I could do was find him, and bring him in. I don't control the courts."

"But you're supposed to be a great detective!" she cried, suddenly feeling her anger rise. "That's what Misa was told. Didn't you find evidence against him? You have proof that he did it, right? So, why can't they just put him in jail?"

"Yes, there's proof," he conceded. "There's no doubt in my mind that he is the killer of Misa-san's parents. But, justice doesn't work like that. You can't just lock people away without allowing them a trial to defend themselves."

"Even if he deserves it?" she snapped, clenching her free hand into a white-knuckled fist. "He deserves it!"

"Even if he deserves it," Ryuuzaki said, calmly, "justice cannot be rushed."

Misa seethed. "Misa hates your justice! She hates it! It doesn't work!"

He was silent for a long time after that declaration, and Misa wondered if he might have actually placed the phone down. Finally, she heard Ryuuzaki take a deep breath before saying, "Misa-san, if we simply punished everyone we thought deserved it, we would soon become no better than the criminals who received the punishment. It would be far too tempting to go over the line; to push the boundaries, and become nothing more than murderers ourselves."

She narrowed her eyes. "Even for you, Ryuuzaki-san?"

"I believe I too would not be able to resist the temptation of abusing such power," he told her. "Anyone having that much power would be dangerous. Even someone who was entirely virtuous would most likely become corrupted by circumstances sooner or later."

Truth be told, Misa knew what he meant, where he was coming from. She knew that Ryuuzaki was correct. And yet, she couldn't help but hold on to the anger that had festered since her parents' death. After all, they were dead, her precious, kind parents, while their murderer still walked the streets like it was nothing, as he played the system for all it was worth. It made her ill.

"I should let Misa-san get some sleep," he interrupted her thoughts.

"Don't go, Ryuuzaki-san," she pleaded, gripping the phone tightly. "Misa hasn't talked to anyone much for a while. Not a normal conversation, anyway."

"Is this a normal conversation?" he sounded truly puzzled.

"No," she admitted. "But, it's close enough."

"Ah."

"Misa just wants to hear someone else's voice. I've heard my own too much lately," she said, her righteousness slowly deflating, and giving way to a slight depression.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked, curious.

"Can you talk about your case?"

"No."

"Oh," she frowned, but wasn't really surprised with the answer. "Then... What do you want to talk about, Ryuuzaki-san?"

"Me? Well, we can talk about this cake I just bought today at a bakery I found nearby."

"Cake?" Misa repeated, completely confused.

"Yes, cake. I've come to the conclusion that people would be far happier if they ate more sweet things," he explained, for all the world sounding like he was stating solid facts. "I've never seen a person less happy than they were before they had cake."

"Misa doesn't eat cake," she scrunched her face up. "It's very fattening."

"You don't eat cake?" Ryuuzaki sounded slightly horrified. "Almost everything is fattening, if eaten incorrectly."

She placed a hand on her hip. "How do you eat cake 'correctly?'"

"You enjoy it, of course," he replied. "This cake is especially good for that, because it has a nice buttercream icing. They put a lot on it, so you actually get a few fork-fulls of icing before even touching cake."

Misa's mouth twitched. He sounded almost... Childishly happy over it. She blinked when the clanging sound resounded again on Ryuuzaki's end. "Ryuuzaki-san?"

"Yes?"

"Are you eating that cake now?"

"Yes."

She made an involuntary sound of disgust, as she glanced at her clock. "It's almost four in the morning!"

"It's very good cake," was his response.

"No wonder Ryuuzaki-san can't sleep!" Misa flared. "You eat too much sugar."

"I really don't think that's possible, Misa-san," he said. "I sleep when I wish. I simply have no time for it."

"But you have time to wake Misa up in the middle of the night?" she challenged.

"I'd rather talk to Misa-san than sleep," Ryuuzaki admitted.

Despite herself, Misa blushed a deep crimson at the remark. She was used to compliments, considering her line of business. Still, it was unexpected to receive one from that wasn't connected to her job. "Really?" she questioned, a little bubbly.

"Of course," he said, oblivious to the affect of his previous remark. "Talking to Misa-san allows me to continue to work later. And I can't eat cake sleeping."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

"...Misa-san? Did you fall asleep?"

"Ryuuzaki-san?"

"Yes?"

"You really don't know how to talk to women."

"Hm?" he said, and she heard him take another bite of cake. "Really? I've never noticed."