Blep,I don't own death note.

Chapter 04
Shoelaces and Straps

"You got to be kidding me!" Misa exclaimed out in shock. She was standing on a footpath, her hands clutching a sandal, which was now broken apart from a heel.

This day was turning out to be bad for Misa Amane. First her alarm didn't work, thus prompting her to wake up late. Then while getting ready, she was forced to take a cold shower because damn geysers weren't working. Of all the time they picked up to be malfunctioned, this was it, when the weather itself was going through the phases of confusion; dry and hot in day, wet and chilly in night. Like pick one, it's not that hard!

And when she reached her workplace, her muscles slightly numb despite patting herself thoroughly dry, she was immediately assaulted with scolds from her manager.
"Where the hell were you?!"
"I am sorry Yoshi! You see my alarm…."
"Never mind!" Yoshi dismissed her excuses and quickly pushed the short billowy frock in Misa's arms "Get dressed into it. The shoot will start in five!"
"Already?!"

Each day was tiring, but today was extreme. Misa didn't mind the burden, but by the end of photo shoot, her face was aching from smiling too much.

"Who says that modeling is a piece of cake?" Misa said aloud to no one in particular whilst stepping outside from the modeling agency and massaging her cheeks with her hands.
If I find someone sharing the similar opinion, I will make them change in dozen dresses and then we will see who will be eating their words back! The girl resolved.

Just when she was about to call Matsuda on her cellphone, she heard her surname being called.
"Miss Amane!"
"Hm?"

Right near the lamppost, she saw Light and Ryuzaki waiting, the former one standing, with his arms folded over his chest while the latter one was waving at her. The long chain that linked them together was gone for once, though that might be because they didn't want any unwanted attention.
Thoughtful actually, because it would be observing awkwardness at all levels.

"Light!" Misa beamed and literally skipped towards them.
"Hey" Light greeted, still not changing his stance.
"Good afternoon Miss Amane" Ryuzaki smiled politely.
"Hello to you too!" the girl nodded towards the lanky individual "Well this is a surprise, not that I am complaining, but where has the sun arisen from?"

'Sarcasm?' L mused, while Light sighed and asked "Is it wrong to visit your girlfriend at her workplace?"

"Not at all Light!" Misa replied back, smiling "I was just asking. It's not like you come here every day just to pay me a visit!"
"Light Kun was missing you" Ryuzaki injected "Plus I suggested that some fresh air will do him good"
"Aww! You missed me, Light?! That is so sweet!" Misa clasped her hands in happiness.

Yagami didn't comment on that. He however said this though "If you are going to be condescending, I shall get going then. There's lot to be done….."

"Nooo!" The model interrupted "Misa Misa didn't mean to! I am so sorry Light! Please forgive me" Amane then grabbed her ear lobes and lightly pulled them "Misa is so sorry!" she repeated.

"It's okay" Light shrugged it off "It's almost lunchtime, do you want to grab a bite?"
"Misa Misa would love to!" the blonde girl answered, now latching herself to Light's arm.

And off the trio went.
Despite with Ryuzaki tagging along with them, Misa, for once wasn't irritated with him. If anything, she should be thanking the heavens now. Light coming to her workplace and then taking her out for lunch; it was a miracle. Even if it came along with certain complications like Ryuzaki hovering near them, she wasn't complaining.
You don't get everything in this world; period.

Still it didn't stop the girl from wondering. Seriously what gives? She glanced at Light. He appeared to be tight-lipped, brows slightly furrowed as if he was concentrating on something.

'Is he tense?' the blonde haired girl wondered.
She then glimpsed at Ryuzaki, who was shuffling beside her, hands stuffed deep in his jean pockets. Compare to Light he seemed relaxed, content at most. But that could be due to day-dreaming about strawberry short cake.

'What's going on?'

They reached the local café eventually. After placing their orders, the three of them sat in a booth. With the awful chain gone, Misa took full advantage of it by sitting next to Light. No way in hell, would she allow that pervert to sit beside him. The said pervert didn't object. He obediently sat in front of them, in that signature sitting style of his and was now peering at the laminated menus pasted on the table.

'The hell?!' Misa's eyebrow twitched 'Why can't he sit normally for once?!'

Luckily the café was barely occupied, so the chances of embarrassment as caused by Ryuzaki were minimal.

Misa chose to ignore him and turned towards her boyfriend.
"So Light! How was your day?! Did you go to college today?!"

The handsome individual give clipped answers whilst tracing his fingers on a table top.

"Day was fine. And today my university was off, so I decided to accumulate my time by working on a case"
"That's great Light! How is it going?"
"Fine" Again, one syllabus answer. Misa decided to slide it, though it wouldn't hurt him if he provided some details. Even if most of it was boring and hard to comprehend at some instances, at least it would be better than this silence, which has now seeped in and was settling quite heavily.

"How was your day Miss Amane?" Ryuzaki asked after a pause, lifting his gaze from the table and fixing them on the addressed one.

Light should be the one asking, not him! But Misa answered anyway. If this is how she gets to kill silence, so be it.

"Today was tiring! They made Misa Misa dress in 15 costumes! And that too with different makeup and hairstyles! By the end of the day, I couldn't feel my face!" the model ranted.
"That tiring huh? That's too bad" L murmured.
"I know right! And my morning didn't started out good either!"
"Really? Why is that?"
"Well first my alarm clock didn't work!" Misa started "then I was forced to take a cold shower, which reminds me... Ryuzaki you need to get those geysers fixed! For some odd reason, they aren't working!"

"Oh?" L mouthed "Well I will ask Watari to see to it. My condolences for your dreadful start to the day…"
Light let out a huff and muttered under his breath "Yeah right"

"In the meantime, you are more than welcome to use the other restrooms of the headquarters, including mine room as well" L continued, though he did noticed the irritated snort "All of them are equipped to meet your needs"

Misa was about to berate him of suggesting to use his bathroom but she quickly shut her mouth. His room….means that Light will be there as well (because of chained arrangements), so chances are that if she uses that restroom, she gets to meet her boyfriend as well. Misa Misa certainly can't bypass this offer.

"Misa Misa would do that! Thank you so much Ryuzaki!" Misa replied sweetly.

Ryuzaki smiled. Just then their orders arrived. Misa sniffed appreciatively the delicious wafts coming from the plate of Buffalo wings. She really was hungry.

While they ate, L picked the conversation up again.
"So Miss Amane, you said you had to try 15 costumes. Were they for any particular issue or promotion of your new film?" He asked, stabbing his fork on a strawberry and putting in his mouth which was wide open.

"A mix of both actually!" The model said as she grabbed the tall glass of icy lemonade to take a sip "First six were for the next eighteen issue while the rest were for the film!"
She then added "Misa Misa hopes those photos come out good"

"They are bound to be" Ryuzaki responded "You worked hard on them"
"Thank you Ryuzaki!" Misa grinned back.

Most of the time, she hated Ryuzaki from the core of her heart mainly because of him constantly tagging along with her boyfriend and becoming a major cockblocker during their dates. Not to forget, the way he stares at her, it makes her think that not only her exterior is being x-rayed, but the interior as well.
But then there are moments, where she softens up a bit towards him like when he asks her about her work and day. Light doesn't ask, like ever because it holds barely any interest for him yet Ryuzaki does. Sure people might peg this gesture that of admiration; after all Ryuzaki was a fan, but Misa couldn't help but think that underneath all that fondness, some tinges of care for her do exist. Rare it is, but in those phases, she finds the man with raccoon like eyes oddly endearing.

"You are welcome Miss Amane" Ryuzaki said, using his fingers to scoop up the cream left in the glass of almost empty strawberry smoothie "Speaking of the next eighteen issue, when will it come out?"

But before Misa could answer, Light cut in, who was pointedly ignoring their conversation before.

"Would you cut it out already?"

Misa's eyes widened in shock. Light looked angry, but why? They didn't do anything to aggravate him, at least not right now.

"Cut out what Light kun?" L asked calmly. It took every ounce of his willpower, not to split a smirk on his lips. It would only make the situation worse.

"Sweet-talking!" Yagami snapped "Just cut to the chase and ask already! It would save you a lot of time!"

"Chase?" Misa asked "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh nothing. Light kun is referring to the conversation we had earlier this afternoon" The detective answered the girl's question "About me asking him whether is he Kira, and you the second Kira"

"Oh that? Ow Light don't be upset" Misa comforted her boyfriend by rubbing her palm across the length of his sleeved arm.

So that explains why his mood was off, the golden haired girl concluded.
'They must have an argument, before coming here'

She continued "You know it's not true Light. Ryuzaki was just teasing you" She then glared daggers at the detective "You should seriously give it up Ryuzaki! It's getting old now!"

"Oh I am not the one fussing" L stated with nonchalance "Light is!"
"What?!" the brown haired student inquired furiously.
"We were just having a nice lunch until you decided to taint it with your temper"

"You….." Light pursued his lips, nostrils flared and fists tightly clenched. Any minute or next, he's going to end up murdering his colleague in sheer rage if he didn't get out of here soon. And should that happen, the possibility of him being Kira( which he's not) would probably exceed more than 100 percent.

"Light?" Misa asked worriedly, concern flitting across her face.

A silence before Light took a deep breath, letting it out quietly. Dabbing his chin with napkin, he spoke "Well excuse me for ruining this nice lunch, which I never wanted to come to at the first place"

Done with the wiping, he threw the napkin on a table and reached for his wallet. Thumbing the right amount of Yen notes and keeping them near the salt shaker, he stood up "I will see you in headquarters, Ryuzaki"

And with that, he left.

"Light! No wait!" Misa yelled, abandoning her food and running after him.

Light confessing that he never wanted to come to lunch sure did jab her insides rather unpleasantly, but that didn't deter her from running after him. She shouldn't have been surprised. It was too good to be true, that the love of his life would come traipsing in like that and treat her for an outing.
Still it hurt.

Bursting the doors open, she came out, panting slightly and swirled her gaze around until she saw Light, who was turning around the corner. He was too far away, but she can still catch up, if she hurried.

"Light!" Misa shouted, picking up the pace and maneuvering away from the people that were coming from the opposite direction "Light!"

Misa had only taken a couple of steps, when all of sudden her ankle twisted rather uncomfortably, disrupting the rhythm.

"Woah!" Amane caught herself on time. She then limped towards the footpath. Once safe, she surveyed the damage and to her disappointment, she found out that her shoe was broken.

"You got to be kidding me!" she exclaimed out in shock.

This was too much. Misa Amane was now on a verge of breaking down. First waking up late, then taking a cold shower, then reaching late to her workplace. And if that wasn't enough already, the heavens decided to test her further by bestowing temporary happiness upon her that her boyfriend wanted to take her out for a date, only to find it later that it was just a ruse. How miserable. And to put a cherry on a cake of despairs, her shoe broke down as well.

"Miss Amane?"

Misa flicker her gaze sideways and saw Ryuzaki standing nearby, a finger on his lips. Usually she would have thumped his chest with her tiny fists, rebuking him for ruining the lunch, which he didn't, but technically it was his fault that Light was in such a foul mood at the first place. So yeah one way or another, he was to be blamed. But Misa lacked the strength to throw a tantrum at him.

Today was such a long long day and she wants it to end already.

"What's wrong?"
"My shoe broke" Misa mumbled dully. Ryuzaki peered down and observed it. From the looks of it, she can't walk, at least with that sandal.

"Can you call Watari? Misa Misa wants to go home"
"Watari can't come"
"Why the hell not?" Misa asked, slightly cross.
"Because he's busy right now"
"Urgh!" Misa was losing patience "Fine, I will call Matsuda to pick us up"
"But it will take time for him to reach here, Miss Amane. We are quite far away from headquarters"
"And Misa Misa can't walk!" the model remarked "So I have no choice but to call him!"
"Is it because of the damaged shoe?"

Misa resisted rolling her light brown eyes. Well duh! "What else would it be?!"
"I happen to know the solution to your predicament"

'Please don't tell me he knows how to fix shoes!' the girl deliberated, incredulous.

"And that might be?"

Ryuzaki didn't say anything. Instead he leaned down, undoing the laces of his sneakers. He then slipped his feet away from them, so now he was standing sock-clad on a concrete. Grabbing one lace of each sneaker, he straightened up or at least what his bad posture allowed.

"Okay" Ryuzaki voiced "Let's go to the bus station Miss Amane"

And he started walking away, though he was doing more than just walking. Holding the lace of each shoe in each of his hands, he started rotating it in a clockwise direction in the air.

"What the?..." Misa trailed, puzzled.

Is this the solution Ryuzaki was suggesting in solving her predicament? If it was, it was bizarre, Misa established.

Ryuzaki didn't look any less than those street performers, who were always performing on sidewalks, but at least they had colorful ribbons and rings to swing, not a pair of worn-out shoes.

"You coming Miss Amane?" Ryuzaki called out.

Misa stood there for a while, before reaching for her shoes and unlatching them one by one. While doing so, her mind was thinking along the lines of 'Can't believe I am doing this…' Tightening her grasp on the straps, she twirled the heels in the air as well. And walked towards him.

Misa smiled. Despite having such a sucky day, she had to smile. And how can she not? Here she was, in the middle of a street, walking barefoot and swaying her shoes in the air. She must be looking like a joke. Though she can't deny that this was rather fun.

Labeling this solution as fun? Misa Misa must be really tired.

She eventually reached Ryuzaki who had now stopped swiveling his shoes, having them flung across his shoulder.

"Ready to go?"
"Yes, but I don't have a bus pass"
"That's alright, I will pay"

And from there the duo went towards the stop, barefoot. The girl glanced at her odd companion from sideways.

Well one thing was confirmed now, Ryuzaki did care, in his odd way. The fact albeit warmed her from inside.

Miss me?
okie that was lame and scary once you know where that line came from*shudders :S

I don't know whether you watch Bollywood films or not, but this particular scene of lobbing shoes in the air was taken from the film 'Namastey London'. I found that scene so adorable and figured out that it would look so cute on L and Misa xD so dre we go ^^
You should watch this film, it's really good! plus Katrina looks so pretty! *heart eyes*

As for me...hehe, first of all, i apologize for updating late T_T Reasons behind for not updating...well the list is long and personal, so let's leave that behind, shall we? But i can tell you this much, I have been re-watching death note and while watching it, i came with the idea of how to mold this story. I can't tell much...except this that it's crazy and pretty much cliched at places, but meh what else isn't cliched these days? *shrugs shoulders.

A heartfelt thank you to those who read, faved and followed this story, Thank you so much :'D 3 ^w^

And always, let me know your thoughts on this chapter!
Noni :)