'The Next Step' (third of a five part series called Better Shinigami) Death Note Rem Misa
Title: The Next Step
Fandom: Death Note
Pairing: Rem/Misa
Prompt: Table One/Step Forward (prompt 3) for 5_Prompts
Words: 2581
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mentions of death.
Summary: Misa works out the steps she needs to take. Is Rem as loyal as she could be?
It had been easy to get used to the shinigami’s presence. It would have been all too easy for Misa to feel out of her depth with something like a death note. Misa wasn’t stupid, but her intelligence lay in a well-timed glance, a honey-voice and just the right touch and the right smile. Anything that would have the country following a cute girl ‘because Misa-Misa asked you to’. But battle strategy had never been Misa’s area, to the point where she would lose severe cute-girl points if she so much as admitted that she knew what ‘battle strategy’ meant. That sort of thing wasn’t for innocent little girls.
Misa should have collapsed at the first hurdle. The pen should have fallen from her hand at the first name she’d written down. The pen shouldn’t have even touched the page. But she’d flipped open her magazine, and seen the headline ‘Idol Singer’s Cheating Husband Arrested On Drugs Charges’ and her pen had still hovered, but only for a second. Every stroke of ink, she told herself that it was alright, and she could turn back. She had until the end of the name to change her mind and yet the end of the name had come too soon and she’d written it. It had been so easy, so easy to picture his orange-tanned face whilst she was doing it, stretched into that sleazy grin. She’d heard from her friends that he pursued up-and-coming young models and that it would only be a matter of time that he went after her.
But after that, she’d finished his name, saw the Kanji written neatly on the page and hardly felt a thing. Perhaps it was the distance and the lack of contact. She didn’t have to feel any flesh give way under a knife or the recoil of a gun. She didn’t have to see any light disappearing from those already admittedly dead eyes. But something twitched and kept whispering in the back of her mind. It still might be wrong. But it wasn’t wrong. It was what Kira did and it wasn’t wrong. And she’d saved girls like her from heart break and drug addiction. And his wife from further abuse, although she would be upset, but it was for the good. They had a child, but the little girl would probably be better off without her dad. If he sold drugs, then who was to say that he didn’t also abuse his family? Misa’s parents had been good, and so they had deserved to stay alive.
Misa deserved to stay alive because she was only making sacrifices for the world, so it could be a better place. Rem’s presence punctuated that. The note book was a gift from on high and the shinigami was the messenger. So then it had to be right, because Kira had one, too. Misa could never be wrong for as long as she did everything for the right reasons.
Under the watchful gaze of that yellow eye, Misa flipped through her magazine, searching for those that the world could do without. An American actress was caught drunk-driving and had her sentence reduced and was free, and she would turn up dead in the next car ride she took. A woman had kleptomania, and stole compulsively. But she was ruining the economy and so she would die after thinking she heard a burglar, and then would end up falling down the stairs. Thieves could be as bad as murderers; after all, a burglar had killed Misa’s parents.
That was the first barrier to break. If Misa could perform the basic task then she knew she could take it further. She needed Kira’s attention and the best way to get his attention was to give him what he most wanted. What he probably wanted was the detective L. Misa had the eyes, and all she had to do was get him out in the open and it would be clear, written over his head in dripping red.
Misa would have hated having nobody to talk about this with, usually. It would sit forever on her tongue and in the forefront of her mind. It would be too much and she’d have to stop. Having Rem to chatter to made it much easier. She asked her friend to help her and she couldn’t even talk to her about it. She wanted to say what it was all about, and how exciting it all was, but then the girl would be dangerous and she’d have to kill her.
In the privacy of her own home, Misa would rave and giggle over her plans, whilst Rem listened stoically. Rem was important, and she was good for Misa to have around. But, in the end, Rem was just a tool. She came with the notebook. She wasn’t human. It was like having a pet that Misa could talk to. Rem told her about where her notebook had come from, and how its previous owner had died. He’d been killed by love. If a shinigami saves a human they love, then they die.
“Oh, what a beautiful way to die!” she had trilled.
Rem had been silent and Misa couldn’t help but tease her more. “Would you do that for me?” she said, biting her lip, lowering her eyelashes. Many a man would gladly lay down his life for her, she was sure. One shinigami already had, after all.
“Don’t count on it,” muttered the shinigami.
It didn’t matter, though, because Kira was a better shinigami than any real shinigami, and he was bound to be willing to make sacrifices for anyone he loved. Anyone that had killed her parent’s killer had to be everything a knight should be. Misa was pretty enough that he would take her on as a reason to do what he was doing, surely?
After looking him up, she’d seen that he was handsome. It really couldn’t be a coincidence that he was beautiful and had killed her parent’s killer. She would meet him, and that would be that. They would make a beautiful couple for a new, peaceful world, one that they would work hard to create.
Making people want her was what Misa did for a living, but Kira would love her anyway. It wouldn’t be a skill she’d need to use on him. There would be no manipulation between them. Only pure and true love.
It was still a useful skill, though, and she could use it, anyway. Rem was there to help her with the notebook, and why couldn’t she help in other ways. She stood watching over her like a guard, and a good guard always sacrificed himself for his princess if he needed to. What kind of love could something like a shinigami have, anyway?
Misa didn’t want Rem to die, but she’d only really protect her if she loved her. Once Kira loved Misa then it would be fine. Hopefully, Rem would not have killed herself for anyone at that point. Misa was in a dangerous place, however, and L or anyone could find her and if need be, Rem could kill them.
But Rem wasn’t going to commit suicide, so Misa had to ensure that she wouldn’t mind doing so. It was for the greater good, after all, and Rem wouldn’t do anything except return to wherever the shinigami lived and kill people without even thinking about whether they were good or bad or anything.
If Misa could use herself to sell things for other people, she should be able to use herself to save her own life.
It was almost like seducing a man, after all. Misa hadn’t really done that, much, but she used her looks to get work as a model, and it was often the same thing. Misa assumed that she must have been doing something right with the shinigami who’d saved her life. There was nothing inherently sexual about Rem, however, so perhaps the yellow eye wouldn’t be on Misa’s body. She moved with a slight undulation to her hips for a while, and imagined if she could feel Rem’s gaze trained on her retreating figure.
It wasn’t tangible, obviously, but it was in the white of their eyes that she could see out of the corner of her own. It was more of an intuitive pull on her person. Of course, she could see their names, now, and just how long they had left. She couldn’t see any such thing suspended over Rem’s head. In Misa’s room, among the creepy-cute dolls and posters that decorated her shelves and walls, Rem almost looked like one of them. Like something that Misa had seen and bought, and carried home in a sweetly decorated paper bag. Except much taller, of course. But she did not look out of place in Misa’s home.
She met the slanted amber eye and it stared stoically back.
“It’s amazing how Rem fits in Misa’s room,” she said, with a giggle. Everyone loved that third-person thing. Rem nodded, slightly. Misa wondered if shinigami ever felt a need to be accepted or to belong.
“Misa is going to have a bath, now,” she said, then, solemnly. “Please wait until she is covered by bubbles before you follow.”
Once in that state, Misa considered the situation; Rem was watching her as she lay wet and naked behind a veil of steam. There were already magazines that would pay for that shot. It didn’t feel like when those sleazy media guys were watching her bikini shoots, though. Misa wouldn’t do nudity, anyway, but the offers came in and the looks were lecherous, regardless.
Perhaps it was just the sheer lack of humanity in Rem. Maybe she was approaching it the wrong way. Rem spoke to her a little differently, too. Misa should take note of that. Maybe she liked the soft, sweet side of Misa-Misa. It was, in many ways, her most marketable aspect, after all; little girls and middle-aged men alike took interest in this side. She raised herself from the bathtub and covered her chest, feigning a blush.
“Rem…please do not look at me when I’m like this,” she stammered.
Rem said nothing, and merely phased back through the wall. Misa stared at the space where she was. Perhaps Rem was not a human-loving shinigami. Feeling some sort of irritation, Misa got out of the bath and stormed out, forgetting all traces of dignity. When faced with her, Rem gave her a sort of muted questioning look. Misa told herself if she could get Rem to protect her up until she could get to Kira, it would be much better.
Still, Misa kept her cutesier side in mind when it came to Rem. Misa was energetic by nature, but keeping herself in that sort of idol-mode was grating, even for her. This was especially true on top of keeping up with being the second Kira, because L was the end goal, she knew. It seemed like he wouldn’t be too difficult to get rid of in the long run, judging by how much trouble he was having finding Kira. Even Misa was ahead of him in some ways. Perhaps if she did get Rem to feel for her, then the shinigami could kill L and that would make Kira most happy with Misa. Of course, Rem would go, and Misa would at least rather try and kill L, herself. Especially if Kira found out that she didn’t do it, herself.
Because that was the important thing, right? If Misa was truly worthy of Kira then she should be able to take out one little detective, right? Rem’s protection should be over the long term. If Misa did it right, she would be able to get rid of L, keep Rem around and work alongside Kira.
The shinigami kept her stoic visage, mostly, and the fact that she couldn’t work her out was infuriating to Misa. But she persevered, and hoped that the shinigami would eventually serve as more than an earpiece for Misa’s plans. Although Misa still had to admit that her presence gave her a little extra courage.
A week passed and Misa kept up her diligent work as the new Kira, watching television and flipping through her magazines and scribbling down certain names that appeared in floating red above faces. Hopefully, Kira’s expectations of her grew as her position as the new Kira did.
Misa sat one evening on the end of her bed, watching the news with Rem standing ever silent across from her. Misa still wore the dress she’d had on from an exclusive meeting with a couple of television executives and some fashion designers. She would take it off after the news was over and put on something more comfortable. She still didn’t know how great Rem’s allegiance to her really was, although she could probably determine that the shinigami at least would not abandon her.
There was an announcement, then. They were asking her to turn herself in, that it could all just stop now if she wanted it to. Perhaps she would have hesitated over the offer if she’d been alone. The floor of her position might have disappeared from underneath her and become unstable at the offer. The offer of release might have proved too much, even if she knew the place that offer had come from was faulty and didn’t punish those that they should. Maybe she would have found being Kira harder all along and that that voice would the final straw in convincing her that it didn’t need be hard any longer.
But, then, she’d had Rem, who had stood there like a fairy-tale creature beside the beautiful maiden. She reminded Misa of what she was going for here. And with that, Misa strode from the room, leaving the shinigami to flap her wings solemnly behind her. There was no time to consider her lace and rubber dress, or the fact that it would take half an hour to get to where she’d found out that Kira lived.
Meeting Kira was both everything Misa had imagined and almost nothing like it at once. He was as handsome as he’d seemed that day in Aoyama, and intelligent and strong and well-mannered. But he was cold, too. Most men would open up to her almost immediately, particularly after she had opened up like she had and she was throwing herself at him, wholesale. But nothing, not the crying, the flirting, the devotion or the way she was dressed would force his face to crumple. Nevertheless, she could forgive him for it. He was Kira, and he would love her, eventually, once she had proved herself to him. And surely some romance would make him open up, too. Misa was sure that that always worked.
She had been so wrapped up in meeting Kira, that she hadn’t registered the words said by Rem until afterwards. The shinigami had as good as threatened Kira in her name.
“Rem,” she said, later, stretching on her bed, clad in a black nightie. “Are you really going to protect me?”
Rem nodded her skeletal head, slightly. “You are human,” she said.
Misa didn’t really understand what she meant by that, but she smiled, anyway. It was all coming together. She was Kira’s girlfriend- pretend only but she could change that!- and there was something comforting in the idea that a creature like Rem was protecting her from something awful.
Fandom: Death Note
Pairing: Rem/Misa
Prompt: Table One/Step Forward (prompt 3) for 5_Prompts
Words: 2581
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mentions of death.
Summary: Misa works out the steps she needs to take. Is Rem as loyal as she could be?
It had been easy to get used to the shinigami’s presence. It would have been all too easy for Misa to feel out of her depth with something like a death note. Misa wasn’t stupid, but her intelligence lay in a well-timed glance, a honey-voice and just the right touch and the right smile. Anything that would have the country following a cute girl ‘because Misa-Misa asked you to’. But battle strategy had never been Misa’s area, to the point where she would lose severe cute-girl points if she so much as admitted that she knew what ‘battle strategy’ meant. That sort of thing wasn’t for innocent little girls.
Misa should have collapsed at the first hurdle. The pen should have fallen from her hand at the first name she’d written down. The pen shouldn’t have even touched the page. But she’d flipped open her magazine, and seen the headline ‘Idol Singer’s Cheating Husband Arrested On Drugs Charges’ and her pen had still hovered, but only for a second. Every stroke of ink, she told herself that it was alright, and she could turn back. She had until the end of the name to change her mind and yet the end of the name had come too soon and she’d written it. It had been so easy, so easy to picture his orange-tanned face whilst she was doing it, stretched into that sleazy grin. She’d heard from her friends that he pursued up-and-coming young models and that it would only be a matter of time that he went after her.
But after that, she’d finished his name, saw the Kanji written neatly on the page and hardly felt a thing. Perhaps it was the distance and the lack of contact. She didn’t have to feel any flesh give way under a knife or the recoil of a gun. She didn’t have to see any light disappearing from those already admittedly dead eyes. But something twitched and kept whispering in the back of her mind. It still might be wrong. But it wasn’t wrong. It was what Kira did and it wasn’t wrong. And she’d saved girls like her from heart break and drug addiction. And his wife from further abuse, although she would be upset, but it was for the good. They had a child, but the little girl would probably be better off without her dad. If he sold drugs, then who was to say that he didn’t also abuse his family? Misa’s parents had been good, and so they had deserved to stay alive.
Misa deserved to stay alive because she was only making sacrifices for the world, so it could be a better place. Rem’s presence punctuated that. The note book was a gift from on high and the shinigami was the messenger. So then it had to be right, because Kira had one, too. Misa could never be wrong for as long as she did everything for the right reasons.
Under the watchful gaze of that yellow eye, Misa flipped through her magazine, searching for those that the world could do without. An American actress was caught drunk-driving and had her sentence reduced and was free, and she would turn up dead in the next car ride she took. A woman had kleptomania, and stole compulsively. But she was ruining the economy and so she would die after thinking she heard a burglar, and then would end up falling down the stairs. Thieves could be as bad as murderers; after all, a burglar had killed Misa’s parents.
That was the first barrier to break. If Misa could perform the basic task then she knew she could take it further. She needed Kira’s attention and the best way to get his attention was to give him what he most wanted. What he probably wanted was the detective L. Misa had the eyes, and all she had to do was get him out in the open and it would be clear, written over his head in dripping red.
Misa would have hated having nobody to talk about this with, usually. It would sit forever on her tongue and in the forefront of her mind. It would be too much and she’d have to stop. Having Rem to chatter to made it much easier. She asked her friend to help her and she couldn’t even talk to her about it. She wanted to say what it was all about, and how exciting it all was, but then the girl would be dangerous and she’d have to kill her.
In the privacy of her own home, Misa would rave and giggle over her plans, whilst Rem listened stoically. Rem was important, and she was good for Misa to have around. But, in the end, Rem was just a tool. She came with the notebook. She wasn’t human. It was like having a pet that Misa could talk to. Rem told her about where her notebook had come from, and how its previous owner had died. He’d been killed by love. If a shinigami saves a human they love, then they die.
“Oh, what a beautiful way to die!” she had trilled.
Rem had been silent and Misa couldn’t help but tease her more. “Would you do that for me?” she said, biting her lip, lowering her eyelashes. Many a man would gladly lay down his life for her, she was sure. One shinigami already had, after all.
“Don’t count on it,” muttered the shinigami.
It didn’t matter, though, because Kira was a better shinigami than any real shinigami, and he was bound to be willing to make sacrifices for anyone he loved. Anyone that had killed her parent’s killer had to be everything a knight should be. Misa was pretty enough that he would take her on as a reason to do what he was doing, surely?
After looking him up, she’d seen that he was handsome. It really couldn’t be a coincidence that he was beautiful and had killed her parent’s killer. She would meet him, and that would be that. They would make a beautiful couple for a new, peaceful world, one that they would work hard to create.
Making people want her was what Misa did for a living, but Kira would love her anyway. It wouldn’t be a skill she’d need to use on him. There would be no manipulation between them. Only pure and true love.
It was still a useful skill, though, and she could use it, anyway. Rem was there to help her with the notebook, and why couldn’t she help in other ways. She stood watching over her like a guard, and a good guard always sacrificed himself for his princess if he needed to. What kind of love could something like a shinigami have, anyway?
Misa didn’t want Rem to die, but she’d only really protect her if she loved her. Once Kira loved Misa then it would be fine. Hopefully, Rem would not have killed herself for anyone at that point. Misa was in a dangerous place, however, and L or anyone could find her and if need be, Rem could kill them.
But Rem wasn’t going to commit suicide, so Misa had to ensure that she wouldn’t mind doing so. It was for the greater good, after all, and Rem wouldn’t do anything except return to wherever the shinigami lived and kill people without even thinking about whether they were good or bad or anything.
If Misa could use herself to sell things for other people, she should be able to use herself to save her own life.
It was almost like seducing a man, after all. Misa hadn’t really done that, much, but she used her looks to get work as a model, and it was often the same thing. Misa assumed that she must have been doing something right with the shinigami who’d saved her life. There was nothing inherently sexual about Rem, however, so perhaps the yellow eye wouldn’t be on Misa’s body. She moved with a slight undulation to her hips for a while, and imagined if she could feel Rem’s gaze trained on her retreating figure.
It wasn’t tangible, obviously, but it was in the white of their eyes that she could see out of the corner of her own. It was more of an intuitive pull on her person. Of course, she could see their names, now, and just how long they had left. She couldn’t see any such thing suspended over Rem’s head. In Misa’s room, among the creepy-cute dolls and posters that decorated her shelves and walls, Rem almost looked like one of them. Like something that Misa had seen and bought, and carried home in a sweetly decorated paper bag. Except much taller, of course. But she did not look out of place in Misa’s home.
She met the slanted amber eye and it stared stoically back.
“It’s amazing how Rem fits in Misa’s room,” she said, with a giggle. Everyone loved that third-person thing. Rem nodded, slightly. Misa wondered if shinigami ever felt a need to be accepted or to belong.
“Misa is going to have a bath, now,” she said, then, solemnly. “Please wait until she is covered by bubbles before you follow.”
Once in that state, Misa considered the situation; Rem was watching her as she lay wet and naked behind a veil of steam. There were already magazines that would pay for that shot. It didn’t feel like when those sleazy media guys were watching her bikini shoots, though. Misa wouldn’t do nudity, anyway, but the offers came in and the looks were lecherous, regardless.
Perhaps it was just the sheer lack of humanity in Rem. Maybe she was approaching it the wrong way. Rem spoke to her a little differently, too. Misa should take note of that. Maybe she liked the soft, sweet side of Misa-Misa. It was, in many ways, her most marketable aspect, after all; little girls and middle-aged men alike took interest in this side. She raised herself from the bathtub and covered her chest, feigning a blush.
“Rem…please do not look at me when I’m like this,” she stammered.
Rem said nothing, and merely phased back through the wall. Misa stared at the space where she was. Perhaps Rem was not a human-loving shinigami. Feeling some sort of irritation, Misa got out of the bath and stormed out, forgetting all traces of dignity. When faced with her, Rem gave her a sort of muted questioning look. Misa told herself if she could get Rem to protect her up until she could get to Kira, it would be much better.
Still, Misa kept her cutesier side in mind when it came to Rem. Misa was energetic by nature, but keeping herself in that sort of idol-mode was grating, even for her. This was especially true on top of keeping up with being the second Kira, because L was the end goal, she knew. It seemed like he wouldn’t be too difficult to get rid of in the long run, judging by how much trouble he was having finding Kira. Even Misa was ahead of him in some ways. Perhaps if she did get Rem to feel for her, then the shinigami could kill L and that would make Kira most happy with Misa. Of course, Rem would go, and Misa would at least rather try and kill L, herself. Especially if Kira found out that she didn’t do it, herself.
Because that was the important thing, right? If Misa was truly worthy of Kira then she should be able to take out one little detective, right? Rem’s protection should be over the long term. If Misa did it right, she would be able to get rid of L, keep Rem around and work alongside Kira.
The shinigami kept her stoic visage, mostly, and the fact that she couldn’t work her out was infuriating to Misa. But she persevered, and hoped that the shinigami would eventually serve as more than an earpiece for Misa’s plans. Although Misa still had to admit that her presence gave her a little extra courage.
A week passed and Misa kept up her diligent work as the new Kira, watching television and flipping through her magazines and scribbling down certain names that appeared in floating red above faces. Hopefully, Kira’s expectations of her grew as her position as the new Kira did.
Misa sat one evening on the end of her bed, watching the news with Rem standing ever silent across from her. Misa still wore the dress she’d had on from an exclusive meeting with a couple of television executives and some fashion designers. She would take it off after the news was over and put on something more comfortable. She still didn’t know how great Rem’s allegiance to her really was, although she could probably determine that the shinigami at least would not abandon her.
There was an announcement, then. They were asking her to turn herself in, that it could all just stop now if she wanted it to. Perhaps she would have hesitated over the offer if she’d been alone. The floor of her position might have disappeared from underneath her and become unstable at the offer. The offer of release might have proved too much, even if she knew the place that offer had come from was faulty and didn’t punish those that they should. Maybe she would have found being Kira harder all along and that that voice would the final straw in convincing her that it didn’t need be hard any longer.
But, then, she’d had Rem, who had stood there like a fairy-tale creature beside the beautiful maiden. She reminded Misa of what she was going for here. And with that, Misa strode from the room, leaving the shinigami to flap her wings solemnly behind her. There was no time to consider her lace and rubber dress, or the fact that it would take half an hour to get to where she’d found out that Kira lived.
Meeting Kira was both everything Misa had imagined and almost nothing like it at once. He was as handsome as he’d seemed that day in Aoyama, and intelligent and strong and well-mannered. But he was cold, too. Most men would open up to her almost immediately, particularly after she had opened up like she had and she was throwing herself at him, wholesale. But nothing, not the crying, the flirting, the devotion or the way she was dressed would force his face to crumple. Nevertheless, she could forgive him for it. He was Kira, and he would love her, eventually, once she had proved herself to him. And surely some romance would make him open up, too. Misa was sure that that always worked.
She had been so wrapped up in meeting Kira, that she hadn’t registered the words said by Rem until afterwards. The shinigami had as good as threatened Kira in her name.
“Rem,” she said, later, stretching on her bed, clad in a black nightie. “Are you really going to protect me?”
Rem nodded her skeletal head, slightly. “You are human,” she said.
Misa didn’t really understand what she meant by that, but she smiled, anyway. It was all coming together. She was Kira’s girlfriend- pretend only but she could change that!- and there was something comforting in the idea that a creature like Rem was protecting her from something awful.