Death Note fic
Oct. 2nd, 2008 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tallulahgs[Title] Misa's Five Cats
[Fandom] Death Note
[Rating] PG
[Characters/Pairings] Misa, Raito, Matsuda, brief mentions of the rest of the task force
[Warnings] Some cat death, spoilers for Misa's fate, written by an author who should really take the cold medicine already
[Word Count] 1138
[Notes/Summary] Pretty much "Five Times Misa Amane Owned a Cat" :D Written for and crossposted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
dn_contest, prompt "cat".
Misa never really owns the first cat. Gin is part of the family, there ever since she can remember. He only scratches her the time she tries pulling his tail, when she's three. The rest of the time he tolerates being picked up and carried about, or put in a doll's pram, or passed from child to child when Misa is showing him off.
When he grows older, Misa's mother sits down with Misa in the living room and warns her gently that Gin won't be around forever. Misa stares at the late-afternoon sunlight and wants to run away and hide. As soon as the conversation is finished she does run, out into the garden where she pretends she's having a lovely time picking flowers (she plays cute like this sometimes; she's old enough to know it's playing).
When she comes home from school one day and finds her mother red-eyed and tearful, she guesses what's happened, because it's the worst thing possible that she can think of.
***
Misa owns the second cat, but only for a little while. It is a present when Misa gets into high school. It is a gold-coloured kitten, and Misa gasps prettily and hugs her parents even though she's not completely sure whether she wants another cat. Her parents want her to help look after it, and the claws catch on her dresses. Still, she calls the kitten Mai, and all her friends say how cute it is.
When the man comes to the house in the dark, and comes upstairs, he first wakes Mai, and Mai, almost not a kitten any more, rubs around his ankles because she can't conceive of anyone not liking her, and the man kicks out and Mai hits the wall and never makes it to being a cat. Misa doesn't find this out until much later. She doesn't think of even asking about Mai for a really long time.
When she comes home from the last acquittal, she is so tired that she can't stop herself thinking of Mai, and then she can be angry that the man did something mean as killing a kitten. If she hates him for that, it's almost manageable.
***
Misa makes a pretty poor job of owning the third cat. When she moves to Tokyo, she's feeling nostalgic and a little bit scared, and she gets him because she doesn't want to feel like childhood is as far back as she's frightened it is. He is white, and scratches her a lot, and always looks vaguely grubby. He also makes her think of her parents and everything she's lost and everything she hasn't found, and she doesn't want that. In revenge for all this, she names him Neko.
When they arrest her she doesn't remember Neko until after she's forgotten everything else. She tells the stalker about her cat, explains that she's worried no one will feed him, and does Stalker-san really want her cat to die when she loves him so much? She says it until she almost believes it herself, because at least worrying about the cat distracts her from her aching limbs and her mouth, so dry it seems to be eating its way back through her entire head, and that she can't move, oh, she can't ever move.
When she comes home after they let her go - and for the last time before everything changes - she finds Neko is gone. She assumes he went to find someone who would actually look after him, and, despite herself, she's pleased.
***
Misa forgets that it wouldn't be just her owning the fourth cat. He's also a kitten, with orange fur the exact same colour as Raito's hair. That's why she buys him. That, and that she wants them to look after something together. She wants Raito to find him sweet. To find them both sweet. She calls the kitten Tsuki.
When Raito sees Tsuki, he wastes no time in pointing out that he doesn't like cats, that they're too busy to look after a pet, and that their flat is the Kira task force HQ and no place for a kitten. He says all of this coldly and rationally, and in return Misa pouts and sulks and refuses to listen. She feeds Tsuki scraps and squeals when he stumble-walks and plays with him for hours until even Raito loses his temper and snaps at her that never mind the kitten, he's getting sick of hearing her baby-talk. She carries Tsuki about and she deliberately lets him into the main room when the task force are working because she loves that it interrupts their precious work and reclaims her house, just for a moment. She loves to hear Matsuda get distracted, or hear one of the others snap at him to stop looking at the damn kitten already.
When she comes home after a three-day shoot, Tsuki is gone. Raito denies all knowledge, and does it so irritatedly that she pretty much believes him. Surely he'd take more pride in it if he had - but of course, he wouldn't. She tells herself it doesn't matter, that it wasn't making him happy, but she's still sorry.
***
Misa refuses to own the fifth cat. It comes along afterwards, after January 28th, after Raito dies, after everything is over. Appropriately enough, it's black. Misa is curled up on the couch pretending to watch TV when Matsuda brings the cat to her. He explains, haltingly, that he remembered the other kitten, the one who vanished, and he thought she might like...
When Misa looks at him, she realises that he knows, and that no doubt he's read somewhere that suicidal people can be talked out of it if they have something else to look after. He wants her to decide that she can't possibly go because who would feed the cat? Matsuda suggests something as a name, but Misa refuses to remember what it is. She has, perhaps, never been this angry.
When she decides never to come home, she is tempted to leave the front door open and let the black kitten wander out onto the road. But in the end, she doesn't. Maybe because as she leaves for the last time, she picks the kitten up and feels the soft fur under her hands, and remembers stroking Gin as she left for school in the mornings. Her childhood is very far back now, but for that one moment, she can almost believe everything is going to be all right.
[Fandom] Death Note
[Rating] PG
[Characters/Pairings] Misa, Raito, Matsuda, brief mentions of the rest of the task force
[Warnings] Some cat death, spoilers for Misa's fate, written by an author who should really take the cold medicine already
[Word Count] 1138
[Notes/Summary] Pretty much "Five Times Misa Amane Owned a Cat" :D Written for and crossposted to
dn_contest, prompt "cat".Misa never really owns the first cat. Gin is part of the family, there ever since she can remember. He only scratches her the time she tries pulling his tail, when she's three. The rest of the time he tolerates being picked up and carried about, or put in a doll's pram, or passed from child to child when Misa is showing him off.
When he grows older, Misa's mother sits down with Misa in the living room and warns her gently that Gin won't be around forever. Misa stares at the late-afternoon sunlight and wants to run away and hide. As soon as the conversation is finished she does run, out into the garden where she pretends she's having a lovely time picking flowers (she plays cute like this sometimes; she's old enough to know it's playing).
When she comes home from school one day and finds her mother red-eyed and tearful, she guesses what's happened, because it's the worst thing possible that she can think of.
***
Misa owns the second cat, but only for a little while. It is a present when Misa gets into high school. It is a gold-coloured kitten, and Misa gasps prettily and hugs her parents even though she's not completely sure whether she wants another cat. Her parents want her to help look after it, and the claws catch on her dresses. Still, she calls the kitten Mai, and all her friends say how cute it is.
When the man comes to the house in the dark, and comes upstairs, he first wakes Mai, and Mai, almost not a kitten any more, rubs around his ankles because she can't conceive of anyone not liking her, and the man kicks out and Mai hits the wall and never makes it to being a cat. Misa doesn't find this out until much later. She doesn't think of even asking about Mai for a really long time.
When she comes home from the last acquittal, she is so tired that she can't stop herself thinking of Mai, and then she can be angry that the man did something mean as killing a kitten. If she hates him for that, it's almost manageable.
***
Misa makes a pretty poor job of owning the third cat. When she moves to Tokyo, she's feeling nostalgic and a little bit scared, and she gets him because she doesn't want to feel like childhood is as far back as she's frightened it is. He is white, and scratches her a lot, and always looks vaguely grubby. He also makes her think of her parents and everything she's lost and everything she hasn't found, and she doesn't want that. In revenge for all this, she names him Neko.
When they arrest her she doesn't remember Neko until after she's forgotten everything else. She tells the stalker about her cat, explains that she's worried no one will feed him, and does Stalker-san really want her cat to die when she loves him so much? She says it until she almost believes it herself, because at least worrying about the cat distracts her from her aching limbs and her mouth, so dry it seems to be eating its way back through her entire head, and that she can't move, oh, she can't ever move.
When she comes home after they let her go - and for the last time before everything changes - she finds Neko is gone. She assumes he went to find someone who would actually look after him, and, despite herself, she's pleased.
***
Misa forgets that it wouldn't be just her owning the fourth cat. He's also a kitten, with orange fur the exact same colour as Raito's hair. That's why she buys him. That, and that she wants them to look after something together. She wants Raito to find him sweet. To find them both sweet. She calls the kitten Tsuki.
When Raito sees Tsuki, he wastes no time in pointing out that he doesn't like cats, that they're too busy to look after a pet, and that their flat is the Kira task force HQ and no place for a kitten. He says all of this coldly and rationally, and in return Misa pouts and sulks and refuses to listen. She feeds Tsuki scraps and squeals when he stumble-walks and plays with him for hours until even Raito loses his temper and snaps at her that never mind the kitten, he's getting sick of hearing her baby-talk. She carries Tsuki about and she deliberately lets him into the main room when the task force are working because she loves that it interrupts their precious work and reclaims her house, just for a moment. She loves to hear Matsuda get distracted, or hear one of the others snap at him to stop looking at the damn kitten already.
When she comes home after a three-day shoot, Tsuki is gone. Raito denies all knowledge, and does it so irritatedly that she pretty much believes him. Surely he'd take more pride in it if he had - but of course, he wouldn't. She tells herself it doesn't matter, that it wasn't making him happy, but she's still sorry.
***
Misa refuses to own the fifth cat. It comes along afterwards, after January 28th, after Raito dies, after everything is over. Appropriately enough, it's black. Misa is curled up on the couch pretending to watch TV when Matsuda brings the cat to her. He explains, haltingly, that he remembered the other kitten, the one who vanished, and he thought she might like...
When Misa looks at him, she realises that he knows, and that no doubt he's read somewhere that suicidal people can be talked out of it if they have something else to look after. He wants her to decide that she can't possibly go because who would feed the cat? Matsuda suggests something as a name, but Misa refuses to remember what it is. She has, perhaps, never been this angry.
When she decides never to come home, she is tempted to leave the front door open and let the black kitten wander out onto the road. But in the end, she doesn't. Maybe because as she leaves for the last time, she picks the kitten up and feels the soft fur under her hands, and remembers stroking Gin as she left for school in the mornings. Her childhood is very far back now, but for that one moment, she can almost believe everything is going to be all right.
