Title: "Abysmal Sex Lives"

Author: Sashocirrione

Spoilers: MAJOR spoilers for everything up to approximately the end of the Yotsuba arc.

Warnings: NO UNDERAGE READERS. Sexual activities. Infidelity.

Summary: After the Kira case fizzled out unsolved, Light married Misa out of a sense of duty. However, he doesn't meet her needs, and years later she finds herself drawn to Light's seductive friend Ryuzaki. Somewhat ambiguous ending.

Pairings: Mainly LxMisa, plus a one-sided LightxMisa, and probably an implied one-sided RemxMisa

Additional Notes: The plot diverges from canon in the beginning of this fanfic, in ways that should be obvious in the fic itself. Before that divergence, all canon events happened as normal. I am attempting a multi-POV technique in this fic, where every time there is a switch in POV, it is not necessarily linked to a scene change. The POV style may be rough because I'm still learning this technique. Please let me know if the multi-POV technique ends up messy or confusing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, and I do not make any money from these writings.

CHAPTER 1

Rem waited until they were at Higuchi's home again before she asked the question that everything hinged on.

"Are you still planning to kill Misa a few years after you marry her?"

"Yeah," Higuchi answered. "Why not? It's perfect. Life insurance money is great, monogamy is for fools, models get old fast, and once I've got my hands on her notebook I can always find another sucker to trade for the eyes. Everything makes sense. Hey, don't want to keep her around after I'm bored with her, or give her too much time to get smart and turn on me."

"And what if she won't marry you, or she won't let you use her eyes in your schemes?"

"Well, then I'll kill her right away, of course. After all, she's the only one who knows I'm Kira. She's not more powerful than me just because she has the eyes. As long as both of us have death notes, whoever strikes first wins. One hint of disloyalty, and Misa's dead. I can't chance it any other way."

Rem sighed and closed her eyes; the same desperate plans as before running through her mind. It was settled, then. If Higuchi was determined to write Misa's name, he needed to die. Everything did make sense. Misa was currently free, since she was making a movie, modeling, appearing in magazines, and helping with the Kira investigation. Light's plan had obviously worked and suspicion had drifted away from Misa and focused on Higuchi. No, even better than that. L must trust Misa immensely to employ her in the investigation itself.

With Misa no longer imprisoned, it was not necessary to still be Light's patsy, to follow the rest of his plan, whatever it was. Light had refused to explain it all, and trusting Kira was deadly, Rem knew. Leaving Misa's life in Light Yagami's hands would be immensely foolish.

Just like Higuchi, Light would kill Misa the moment that she became an obstacle to his plans. Light-as-Kira clearly would have done so ages ago if Rem hadn't threatened him back then, and now if Rem became dust, nothing would protect Misa in the slightest. Nothing, that is, except ensuring that Light Yagami would never regain his Kira memories and powers. If no death note was involved, Misa could only die when she ran out of lifespan, no sooner. That was how it was fated.

Waiting until Higuchi was asleep, Rem disabled the mansion's fire alarm system and the sprinklers. She removed Higuchi's death note from its fire-proof safe and placed it on a stack of papers in the center of his desk. Then she set fire to the very flammable, over-stuffed sofa in the corner.

So far, she had done nothing against the rules.

When the fire was crackling merrily and beginning to spread up the curtains, Rem retrieved the magazine with Misa's photo that she'd been reading earlier and stared at the smiling face of the tragic, beautiful girl that she would never see again.

Rem muttered to herself, "This is what I owe you, Misa, for agreeing to that foolish trade that wasted half of the new years Gelus granted you. I do not know what I was thinking at the time, to allow you to bully me into that agreement. As I die today, my remaining lifespan will add to yours and more than restore what I took. May they be happy years."

Rem dropped the magazine so that it lay on the floor open to Misa's photo. As she contemplated it and her own fast-approaching mortality, she wrote Higuchi's name, all the while hearing the rush of flames behind her blazing higher and starting the process of consuming the house. Crumbling into dust herself, Rem knew that all evidence would quickly be destroyed as well, with both death notes burnt to ashes and Light's memories rendered forever unobtainable.

THREE YEARS LATER...

When she answered the doorbell in high spirits and nothing except lingerie and a mini-skirt, it wasn't her husband Light there waiting for her, it was only Ryuzaki.

"Oh, hi!" she said, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

She debated whether to hide behind the open door, but Ryuzaki had already seen her, and she'd appeared in public wearing much more scandalous-looking outfits; the bustier almost looked like several revealing tops she owned. Besides, Light would be home soon and he needed to be reminded once again of what he was missing.

L studied Misa, the probable second Kira who still seemed entirely clueless about the whole thing, before stepping inside and saying, "Did you forget about the chess game I had scheduled with Light?"

"Oh, another one of those!" Misa said, "I'm sorry, Light's not home right now but he should be soon. He didn't upload anything like that to my calendar, but I know he wouldn't forget a game with you. Go, sit on the sofa. I'll get some tea and sweets."

While Misa was assembling a bunch of Ryuzaki's favorite things on a tray, her phone rang and she answered it to hear Light's voice.

"Misa, I'm running late. Tell Ryuzaki to wait for an extra half-hour."

"Okay, Light. Your wife loves you! Kissy kissy!"

In answer, there was nothing but a click of the call disconnecting.

Trying to keep the pain from squeezing her heart, she quickly assembled the rest of Ryuzaki's treats and entered the living room to find him crouched on the sofa, staring in her direction with those big, strange eyes of his.

L watched her approach, thinking, as he always did on these visits. He couldn't stop his mind from re-chewing years-old speculations and trains of thought, deduction upon deduction, even knowing that they would lead nowhere unless some new evidence presented itself. There was something maddening about an unsolved case, and he couldn't leave it alone.

Of course, the only way to do that was to be personally involved in Light's life. Light was far too sharp about surveillance for any other method to work. L always studied them, Light and Misa, waiting for a slip-up that might reveal that needed piece of evidence. Kiras were potentially far too dangerous to leave alone, but they couldn't be incarcerated without absolute proof. That wasn't L's way.

So, he kept coming around, a friendship that was real, as far as Light and Misa knew. It was not unpleasant. Light was an interesting person to talk with, and Misa was alluring. It was the closest thing he had in his life to true socializing. L still refused to call them friends in his own mind. Suspects could never really be friends.

Misa set down the tray before him and he absently took a mochi ball between a thumb and forefinger, squeezing it in an attempt to determine what the filling was while another part of his mind still lingered on the problem of the Kiras. A third train of thought abruptly intruded as he realized tears were trembling on the edges of Misa's lower lids, almost ready to spill over. Attempting to put concern into his tone and to hide his excitement at the chance to earn a little more trust, he chose his words to be comforting and to gently suggest that information was needed.

"What is wrong, Misa?"

A/N (Author's Note):

You probably guessed it: this is another fill for the Death Note Kink Meme #2, which is on LiveJournal at dn_kink2.

The request reads:

"Misa cheats on Light

AU: Light and Misa are married. But Light doesn't show much interest in his hot wife, be it due to work or other reasons.

One day, his best friend Ryuzaki seduces her when he finds her alone.

The kink is Misa really wanting to be faithful to Light and hating the idea of cheating, but being so severely turned on that she just cannot resist."

This is planned as a short multi-chapter fic of probably 2 or 3 chapters, without a fully conclusive ending (in other words, a somewhat ambiguous ending). I haven't done an LxMisa in a while, though I did tuck a little LxMisa ficlet into my Smutty Shorts collection.