Nao has to admit that the job has some nice aspects; like shoes.

Enfer

| Hell isn't other people. Hell is yourself |

XIII

"I have a case in America." L drops a folder on the table, picture of mangled bodies spread on the table. She hums, Watari pouring more coffee into her cup.

"Good morning to you to." She can taste the sarcasm in her words, makes her coffee bitter. She can't help that her eyes wander to the photos, to the way the bodies are positioned. That's right, bodies, because there are more than one.

She should be in the dining room with the kids; instead she's having coffee in the detective's room and gruesome pictures instead of bacon – not that she minds the blood or guts, maybe just not during breakfast.

"Ah yes, good morning." Watari busies himself with pouring another cup of coffee. He doesn't even flinch at the pictures on the table, not that Nao expects him to. He must be used to it by now.

At least Kira didn't make a mess like this, body parts thrown around carelessly and red, red everywhere.

"So, you're going to America?" That certainly looks like a case that would need actual on site contact and not just a laptop with the letter L on it. He nods. "When do you leave?" Not that she minds a few days of rest.

"Soon. I'll be gone a couple of days, a week at most." Overly confident as always. She almost rolls her eyes. Didn't she use to think that if he didn't solve the Kira case, it would eat away at him? He looks recovered right now.

"Nao-san, would you like to accompany me?" She blinks, her coffee sip not quite swallowed. "I'm sure Watari wouldn't mind sitting this one out." And by the looks those two shared, they've clearly talked about this before consulting her.

"You want me to drive you around and serve you cake?" Not that it sounds like the most difficult job in the world, but she distinctly remembers telling him that she had no interest in cases.

"I'm sure Watari would be more than happy to sit down with you and explain his job thoroughly." Spectacles shine in the sunlight and Nao feels a little… cornered.

She takes a sip of her coffee.

"It's not permanent, Nao-san. It can be just this once." She sighs – not buying it. Nao understands then, she understands that this was probably planned from the beginning. It's more than just feelings and revenge. He wants to bind her.

"Of course, there's no one I would trust more for the job than you, Nao." Ah, the old man just twists the knife in the open wound. He smiles at her and while she does answer it, she can't help but be a little miffed.

"Sure, why not?" And now she can just sign her life away on the dotted line, maybe with a little blood to make it official. You'd think she would have learned her lessons about making deals with devil and all that. She takes a sip of her coffee and decides that images of torn apart body parts are better than whatever this is.

"Thank you, Nao." For once in her life, she's ticked off with Watari.

"Now, we just need to do something about Nao-san's clothes." She nearly chokes on her coffee a second time.

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Nao cocks her head to the side, takes one look at the black pumps and decides that she quite likes them. Well, she is a woman, isn't she? And she can certainly appreciate nice shoes, especially the expensive kind.

"Heels help display the talocrural region and the leg's dorsiflexion." She can read between the lines. Who would have thought? The Great Detective L has a preference for women in heels. "And, of course, traditional colors make one appear classier." She can't argue with that.

One of the sales assistant nods her head, even though Nao's pretty sure she can't understand a single word that comes out of the detective's mouth. However, he has a credit card in his hand that doesn't seem to have a limit and keeps reaching for all the more expensive brands and so far, he has impeccable taste.

Nao snaps a picture of the shoes with her phone and sends it to Misa, takes pity on the sales assistant.

"What he means is that he has a kink for women in heels; the kind that aren't flashy." She smiles then at the woman who seems to understand all of a sudden and rolls her eyes at the man who seems to enjoy bothering sales associates.

"How does Nao-san feel about handbags?" She makes a face.

"I don't like purses. I'd rather have a backpack." Her eyes scan the luxurious shop, land on one of the decked out, golden shelves and she point towards it. "I want that one." It's very, very pretty, enough that she knows she'll probably walk out of here with it even if he doesn't buy it for her.

It's not like Nao isn't used to expensive objects. While her family doesn't live in a mansion or have butlers, her father makes more than enough money and has a preference for Italian made suits and pricey leather shoes. And while her mother cooks and cleans, she does all of that with her diamond earrings and pearl necklaces.

It's all about priority, at least that's what her parents taught her – even if you have the money to buy an expensive car, you don't need the chauffer, you can drive it your own damn self.

Her cellphone beeps as the detective points to the backpack on the shelf – black and big enough to fit at least a hundred pictures of mutilated bodies or whatever L wants her to put in there. The text message reads, 'Light said it was a picture of very expensive shoes. You're so lucky' and then she receives a second text, from said Light, who simply says 'stop giving her ideas'.

"Nao-san, please try this on." She raises an eyebrow, totally unamused.

"Senpai, pencil skirts, really?" His thumb ghosts over his lips, the hint of a smile there. "You'd think you were grooming me to be a school teacher." All she would be missing is the high ponytail and the large ruler. She can see the white blouse that is paired with the taupe skirt.

"Ah, perhaps Nao-san would prefer a dress." No, she would not.

"Nao would prefer pants." He doesn't look like he likes that idea and shakes his head. He pushes the outfit in her arms and she barely has time to register as he pulls her away from her seat.

"We are on a schedule here, do not dawdle." She rolls her eyes.

"Your boyfriend is nice; a little weird, but nice." The sales associate says as she hands her another blouse to try on. Nao merely raises an eyebrow, looks at how the famous detective handles shopping for women's clothing and snorts.

Maybe, on a weird day, she would ask where he picked up his fashion awareness.

"You look… kind of hot?" Mello offers later when she tells him that she's leaving for a few days. The blonde takes one look at the grey skirt and the black blouse and the heels and the way her hair is pulled in a ponytail and raises an eyebrow.

"I look like a librarian." Nao says flatly; yep, a very rich, very stuck up librarian. Mello snorts and tells her that he'll try not to blow up the classroom while she's gone. She shrugs her shoulders and tells him that blowing it up is fine as long as he wears the proper safety equipment.

She should not be allowed children or teenagers. There are two types of people at Wammy's; sociopaths and people who enjoy spending time with sociopaths. And to be fair, she sorts of falls in both categories.

.

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Nao uses one seat on the plane just for feet. Of course, he has a private plane. She distinctly remembers something about the Task Force Headquarters and helicopters.

"Not that I mind the expensive clothes, but why do I have to wear them?" She has an entire row of airplane seats all to herself and it's so ridiculous she wants to laugh. From the row next to hers, the detective looks up from his laptop.

"As Nao-san knows, even if workplace equality is promoted almost everywhere, some people, mainly in jobs viewed as man-only, still consider women to be inferior." She lives in Japan, of course she knows that. "Not only are you female, but you are also young – the clothes are a way to make you seem cold and detached, but also competent and respectable."

Uh, not bad.

"Also, they are not clothes that Nao-san would usual wear. Which means that one would really have to look to recognize you. Not that this job is particularly dangerous, but we do have to take a few precautions."

That actually makes sense.

"And last, but not least, I do enjoy watching Nao-san dressed like that." Her eyes narrow. "Of course, Nao-san always looks pretty." She decides to stick the headphones into her ears and complete ignore him for the rest of the flight.

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Nao can't say she's nervous. She is not nervous as she strides into the dark room and some man in charge introduces her – for now she's promptly named Watari's temporary substitute and she's perfectly happy with that title – she isn't nervous when she pushes the black with white screen on the desk and takes a seat back and she's not nervous when she eyes the blown-up pictures of crime scenes that are coated with blood.

She has to yawn at some point because she's bored and keeps thinking about how amazing it will be to take off those heels once she returns to the hotel room.

"Hi." Lunch break and she blinks at the voice – the man is tall, not bad looking and maybe a few years older than her. He offers her a smile and she cocks her head to the side, her arms crossed over her chest. "I just thought I'd see how your first day on the job I – they mentioned you're Watari's stand in."

She thinks about it for a second and then smiles.

"It's fine." She just can't wait to take off the clothes and have an abnormally long shower. And the man smiles and for a second, Nao is reminded a bit of Matsuda who always made sure she was okay.

But the moment is shattered when the man leans in a bit too close and places his hand on her thigh. She blinks, her eyes going back and forth from the hand and to the sleazy eyes – definitely not Matsuda.

She stands up then and smiles at him, making sure to bat her eyelashes and tilt her head to the side innocently.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?" She noticed the machine outside the room when she first came in. "My treat." Obviously, it works and he's still there when she returns five minutes later and hands him a Styrofoam cup with a wink.

"One of the officers on the case suddenly became ill." There's a pointed stare towards her as she kicks the heels off her feet and let's herself fall on the couch.

"He'll live." She pretends not to see that mildly amused look on the detective's face and stretches her feet instead.

"Nao-san…" And then he shakes his head. "I do not understand how people fail to see how dangerous you are." She blinks, turns her head to the side so she can stare back at him. He's perched on one of the armchairs, plate of cake in front of him and fork paused in between lips.

"People have no self-preservation? Especially when it comes to defenseless women like myself?" Not that she's violent or psychotic, but people show know better than to try anything with her.

"Sometimes I wonder why I'm still alive even if aggravate Nao-san on a daily basis." And he truly looks puzzled. She smiles.

"Well, after all the efforts I took to make sure you didn't end up one of Kira's victim, it would be counterproductive if you suddenly dropped dead, don't you think?" Besides, it's not like she actually kills people.

Later that night, after she's had the shower of the century, she's curled on one end of the couch, eyes on the TV and trying to digest the Chinese takeout that doesn't taste anything like actual Chinese food.

"Did Nao-san have time to look at the case?" She blinks at the screen, turns her head to the side to watch the other occupant of the couch and nods her head.

"It's kind of hard not to when I had to sit through at entire meeting for it." And the enlarged pictures of dead bodies everywhere, the crimes bloody and violent.

"What did she think of it?" She rolls her eyes at that, is reminded of their first few meetings.

"Well, clearly it's not a serial killer, more like a mass murderer who still hasn't found a pattern. And while the victims have no obvious connection, when you pull up their transaction records, you can see that they all stopped at the same convenience store. I'm pretty sure that if you pull up the employee schedule, all of them talked to the same clerk –

There are several things that are wrong with what follows; the way he presses his body onto hers almost sends them crashing to the floor and since he's stopped her mid-sentence, her mouth is frozen there, opened and she has to blink a couple of times before actually closing it and returning the kiss properly.

Not to mention that barely twenty-seconds before, they were talking about murder. But that hardly matters, especially when his hand sneaks under her pyjama top and she gasps, jerking at the touch. She can feel the smirk on his lips and his weight on her and, when she moves to reach for his shoulder, they fall on the floor.

She lands on top of and hums; fisting her hands into his shirt and pulling at the fabric. It's better that way. First off, she probably has a lot more experience at this kind of thing than him and, secondly, she rather likes being on top.

.

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"It was Colonel Mustard, in the study with the ranch." She says when Mello asks how it went. The blonde rolls his eyes at her and she smiles. Actually, it was the clerk from the convenience store, with whatever heavy object that was lying around – but she keeps that fact to herself.

"Oh, and I had sex with L all over the hotel room." Mello actually chokes on the chocolate she brought back for him and Matt keeps pounding on his back until he spits out a big, spit covered chunk.

a/n: So, in the end, they do end up together, in some bizarre, totally weird way. Not that there is any other way they would actually admit they are attracted to each other. This has been a wild ride and I don't know if you call this a happy ending, but it is the end. Honestly, if you guys want some sort of epilogue, I could probably whip up one, but I'm glad with this being the end.

I want to thank everyone who stuck with me till the end. Honestly, I never expected this amount of positive feedback, especially for an OC. I hope I did the Death Note characters justice and managed to keep them all within the realm of what is possible for them. Drop a review and, if you want to check out my other stories, feel free to. Thank you so much for everything and I hope we meet again for another adventure.