Patches of ice cracked beneath pairs of feet on the pavement. Breath formed clouds from both chapped and healthy lips. Frost formed patterns on the windows of businesses. The sun, only a feature of vanity, lay in the sky of the cold Winter and began setting steadily in the sky. Ryuzaki was seated at a table across from Misa in the library, by the window, his hand outstretched on the cedar furniture to lay on hers. It's just a matter of time before the final steps of this plan commence… he thought, going through a mental checklist of everything that could go wrong, but was unlikely to, thanks to his sturdy plan.

"Ryuzaki?" Misa snapped her fingers in front of his face. "We're still on a date you know, to catch a criminal or not. At least act as if you enjoy my company." She laughed.

"Oh, I guess I should be more engaged in you, we are supposed to act as a close enough couple to actually interest the abductor in taking you away from me." he said, sarcastically Shakespearian. He'd been told to dress like a normal person, as to not rouse any suspicion that his outing with Misa was staged. It was a lure to draw out the criminal. He seemed to have an affinity for kidnapping married or committed women, teenagers and young adults alike. So of course, the first destination on this false date was the mall. Misa had picked out his clothes of course, forcing him into the male version of her own choice in wear. It was surprisingly accustoming; His messy hair was brushed out and side swept. A well tailored white button up, silver accents around the collar, a tie with similar details,(clip on, Ryuzaki didn't have a clue as to how to knot the thing with how little experience he had outside his usual long sleeve shirt and baggy jeans) a choker with black pearls and spikes, and heavy grey trench with black leopard fur innards completed the top of his look. A pair of snug ripped jeans, the same shade as his jacket with a shadow caste pocket watch at the hip, and ankle boots completed the lower half of his look. He'd hated it at first, but Misa had fawned over him in her picks, and even Light gave his approval when the detective sent him pictures over text messages.

"Hey, there's something I've been meaning to ask you…" the aforementioned girl said, eyes fixed on her hand atop Ryuzaki's with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"What's that?" the detective asked, already expecting a cliché confession of some taboo the model was committing behind her boyfriend's back.

"Can you keep a secret?" she continued, leaning over the table to whisper.

"If that's what you meant to ask me, you really are the Daphne of our group if you don't know the answer."he replied, a faint smile on his mouth.

"Promise?" she said, extending her pinky and gesturing for him to do the same.

"I promise." He replied, curling his pinky over hers gently.

"Okay… what if I told you I've been thinking I need to break up with Light?"

"I'd think you were crazy, if I didn't know you had reason."

"Well… I've decided that because my modelling job is becoming more demanding…"

"…it's best he and you separate before he becomes jealous."

"Well, yes. It's not that I don't love him, but modelling means doing risqué things sometimes."

"I know, posing for Vogue isn't exactly smiled upon in love." the detective sighed,

"Hey!" Misa blushed heavily as Ryuzaki pulled out an issue of Vogue with her scantily clad form on display.

"This is you right?" he confirmed, laughing to himself.

"Put that away!" she squealed, rubbing her knuckles into his head from across the table. "Really though Ryuzaki, I had no idea you read Vogue just to see me on it." Misa said with a smirk.

"I suppose I'd have to in order to prove my point, am I right?" He countered, rubbing his fingers along the bound image of his friend.

"Oh whatever! Let's just go, it's kind of late now and Light will probably be here pretty soon." She responded, looking out at the now gold flecked violet sky.

"If you insist, my lady." Ryuzaki replied, standing up, pushing in his chair and beginning to pack up the small belongings he'd brought.

"One more question though." she prompted, noting the detectives expectant face. "Do you love Yagami Light the way that I do?" the whole world seemed to halt for a few moments.

"…What a silly question." he answered, walking past Misa and holding the door open for her as he reached it. "Yagami Light is my friend, I've never loved anyone."

"Why not?" Misa asked, exiting the library with him and beginning the walk to the same alley that Himetami Hodou had been taken at.

"Why do you think? Loving people often means giving up things for them. You gave up some of your freedom in modelling to be with Light. Now you can't give up anymore and have him. How much does someone have to give up for someone to love them? And if that person loves them, will their love be enough to compensate for what they've had to give up?"

"I've never thought of it like that… I wish I were smart like you and Light, so I could look at things from a more detailed perspective, see the way things work and not just how they exist for us." Misa said, eyes diverting to the snow ridden side walk as the answer to her question spawned more questions in the back of her mind.

"Don't. Sometimes its easier to be simpleminded. You reach for more things because you don't see that you could be incapable of them, you move to the future quicker because you're not tediously planning every little bit and getting frustrated when you consider the possibilities that could ruin your resolutions." Ryuzaki gave her a light hug as they reached the alley to part ways. "See you at HQ." Intelligence can be such a curse; The Shinigami said that Death Notes only bring suffering to humans. Light's intelligence was what drove him to insanity when he found the Death Note. He died, in the past that only I can remember.

As he turned the corner, he could hear Misa's distant scream and the sound of warning shots, the scrambling of a number of feet and sirens wailing. The mission had been a success of course, a sneak attack on an amateur who'd thought himself clever. Continuing his walk, he thought about the monotony of procedures that was yet to come; interrogation, uncover his victims, rescue, court, execution… he'd done a number of cases under this sort. It was an old routine by now. As much as he loved revelling in the feeling of all his plans coming together, all his conclusions proven to be perfectly correct, he felt disenchanted. Reaching the headquarters, he saw the vehicles parked outside, lights still flashing red and blue off the white snow on the asphalt. Misa and Light greeted him, exiting a police car.

"Well I guess this case is taken care of." Light said with a shrug.

"Yes… quite." Ryuzaki agreed, flicking a glance between his friend and Misa as he observed the antsy expression on her face.

"All that's left is to just find the girls after we interrogate the hell out of him, bring his execution to death sentence or life in prison for sex trafficking and possibly raping them."

"Um… about that, you guys." Misa spoke up quietly. "Before you and the police team came and got the man," she nodded towards the centre vehicle, criminal scowling in the backseat. "He said 'I'll have my men do to you what they did to your pretty boy brother.'" Her fists clenched up so tightly Light and Ryuzaki could hear the scraping of her fingernails against thick leather gloves. "I want to go with the team and find the victims of this guy."

"Misa, that's out of the question, how do you know the place isn't…" Light was cut off quickly."Hanashite!" she shrieked, a sob escaping her angry voice. "This is my brother, one I didn't even know I had til today! I was helpless again, just as the night my parents were murdered. It's personal now." Ryuzaki stood in a shocked silence with his friend, in the cold, as their friend stormed away from them and into HQ,. She usually went home at this hour, but it looked like she'd be staying the night in one of the intel rooms, which were complete with couches, a computer, and a coffee maker. With a sigh and further slump of his posture, Ryuzaki patted Light on the shoulder.

"Well. It's pretty safe to say that tomorrow your girlfriend will execute that guy."

"Yeah, I'm a little concerned about her being a justified murderer." he agreed.

…

Light scrambled into the warehouse he'd gotten coordinates to, with Ryuzaki and the task force. Throwing open the door and finding a group of girls on the floor, gagged and tied up, but living. Misa still was yet to be found. He ran up the first stair case, the wrought iron pounding so hard under his feet, he could feel it vibrating through the soles of his shoes. His partner followed steadily behind. He gasped from effort and tension as he kept running up the stairs, reaching a room at the top of the three stair cases he'd run up so quickly, and threw the door open. The scene was utterly awful… a gun shot wound and some stab marks had been found on each of the four guys lining the floor, all of them lined up in pools of their own blood. Light's breathing only increased, akin to the start of hyperventilation, until he looked to the corner of the room. There was a body, isolated from the pile of men. Feet moving against his will, it came into view, hair, a familiar sunlight colour. His breath hitched in his throat as he knelt down beside the body. He felt like he might be sick as he further ruined his mental state the more his body investigated the corpse without consent from his mind. His hands reached out as he closed the space between him and the cadaver, having to finally wheeze in a breath for his cold, numb lungs to fuel his life force. Agonisingly slow, the identity came clear.

"M…" his voice was like a kitten's pitiful first squeak… before exploding into a scream. "MISA! MISA!" Hot tears fell like burning wax down his face, drowning his pores as saltwater, Ryuzaki silent like a statue in the background. "Misa! Snap out of it… hey. Misa! Wake up! Onegai, MISA!" He shook her, cradling her face in his hands, trying to convince himself this was a bad dream. This only made the nightmare real though, thick blood staining his hands and wrists as realised how sticky her temple was. More horrified, his eyes darted to her right hand; black steel carved into an elaborately detailed capital "L". No… no she wouldn't! Don't tell me this is… suicide? He rattled her body again, wishing he could wake her from her eternal slumber. The cheerful, loving, beautiful girl was now a lifeless doll in his hands. He recalled everything from last night, her immediate storm into HQ after telling him and Ryuzaki what the guy had told her, her spending the night in the intel room, her anger…

"I told her," Ryuzaki spoke up from behind, his voice dry and hardly above a whisper. "It's better to be simple minded." He seemed to be in a shock, murmuring "My fault, my fault, everything is my fault." over and over again. He'd never planned for what would happen if Misa acted on impulse for the revenge of her vague, newly discovered brother. For the way it reminded her of her powerlessness to her parent's death. Ryuzaki clenched at his chest painfully, twisting his shirt in his hand. Is it because I changed the past with the help of that Shinigami… because she halved her life twice to get the Shinigami eyes after giving up ownership and her deal with Rem? It doesn't go unaccounted for because that past was only rewritten, not deleted from all of happening… Misa. Misa! The great detective was brought to his knees next to Light, who was still holding Misa's limp body in his arms. I… made a mistake. His vision grew hazy, edged with darkness and his heartbeat suddenly a dull, slow thud in his ears. This atonement is… death.