The end is just a new beginning…

The cool breeze was blowing through my scarf, sending a shiver down my neck, while the snowflakes kept falling. They are just like people, in a way…there are so many, yet every one is unique and different from the others. Some can be similar and some can end up as complete opposites, still, they cling to each other as they fall towards the earth. But, out of the millions that fall each year, there is always one that sparkles especially bright for you…

RURIN

"Rurin-chaaaaan!!!!" I turned, detecting the ball of sparkling white snow flying towards me. I ducked, quickly scooping some snow for the counterattack. "You're sooooooo dead Zeku!!!!!" XD. Instead of hitting Zeku-kun in the stomach, it smacked Hireki, who was kneeling down to tie his shoe, right in the face. . He somehow always ends up as the victim… Yaoki giggled, and aimed one at Kurei who, of course, didn't plan on joining us in our "immature time passing." He was waaaaaaayy too sophisticated for primitive games such as snowball fights.8p

By the time we got to the café, everyone was soaking, even Kurei (since he couldn't dodge Yaoki's snowball X).Walking past the pile of snow by the entrance, I noticed something black hidden beneath a thin layer of snowflakes. I stayed behind, uncovering the ULO. (unidentified lying object) o.O??

I sat, slowly sipping my caramel hot chocolate, studying the black notebook. "Death Note?" I twisted my head around, noticing Yaoki-chan standing behind me, examining the note in my hands. "I found it on the street…" I explained, but it was too late. Yaoki was already into it. "What does it say?" I hoped she wouldn't ask that. :/ From all the horror movies I watched, I could say that a death note is a note that once read, you die, but that would be ridiculous, unless we're on some bizarre reality show. Cautiously, I opened the notebook, as if waiting for some monsterthingie to jump out. X0 The first page had writing on it, if you can call it writing. If I didn't have to check my nine year old brother's homework back home, I would need an expert to decode those scribbles. Looks like Yaoki couldn't read it, which was probably a good thing.

"Lets go. This is so damn boring!!" Zeku complained. Sighing in relief, I slapped the note shut and made my way to the door. :] "Death Note?" Kurei was curiously staring. "Yea I found it by th…" "What does it say?" he cut in. "I didn't read it yet…" I answered, surprised. Who knew Kurei would be interested in something as stupid as this? o.OHe was very distant, the serious and calm type, and definitely not the childish-prank-admiring type. (All the girls went crazy for him.) Kurei wasn't particularly close with anyone…I mean he does hang with Hireki and Zeku-kun but he never even invited anyone home, even those two. Now that I think about it, even though I've known him for about two years, it is only about the fourth time we are having a direct conversation. "Can I have it?" My mouth made the sound before I managed to stop it. "No." It looked like he was surprised by my momentary answer…and so was I. It is probably just some stupid prank, so I should make good use of it and give the note to him so we can become better friends or something…but in truth…I want to know what it says too. "No" I verified my answer, rather to myself than to him. "Then wanna come over and read it together?" O.O!? I looked up to see his face, to make sure he isn't kidding. Kurei's face, that rarely showed any emotion, now looked somewhat friendly. I nodded and hurried out the door after Yaoki.

"Hey Rurin-chan! Wanna come over?" Yaoki asked as we walked to the station. I paused, trying to think of a decent excuse, that didn't include telling her where I'm actually going. Its not that I mind her knowing, its just that Zeku and Hireki-kun will hear and start wondering what's going on. Not like something is but…still. -_-

"I'm afraid she can't make it." I looked at Kurei, stunned. So did everyone else, except for one little detail. They weren't staring at him, but glaring at me. "Where are you two going?" Yaoki asked, looking from me to him with an intimidating smile. "Rurin asked me for the class notes from Thursday." Kurei replied, as certain as ever. Since a-I was absent on Thursday, b-he is the top student in class, and c-the notes are at his house, there is absolutely nothing strange about me going there. ^.^ I knew he was smart, but not sneaky smart. Our train came first, with a piercing whistle that deafened everyone at the station. I hugged Yaoki-chan, then Zeku and Hireki good bye, (while Kurei restricted to a simple nod,) and got onto the train.

Even though he was sitting right beside me, he still felt so far away…like his body was forgotten by his mind, which was already a million miles away. "Rurin…" I opened my eyes (after noticing that they were closed) and realized that I was leaning towards him, our faces inches away from each other's. #'.'#. I quickly pulled back into my seat, blushing so hard that my cheeks started burning. Carefully making sure that I won't be noticed, I looked over at Kurei, who was staring out the window. His face was just a tiny bit more reddish than usual. His head began to move, so I turned away.

"What's your favorite pizza?" Again, my mouth starts talking by itself…but it could at least ask a less weird question during such an awkward moment. He looked a bit confused as well (and of course he tried to hide it.) After what seemed to be an hour pause, Kurei finally caught on. I heard a soft chuckle. "Pepperoni." Then came another long awkward pause. "We can order some at my place." Then after realizing that pizza was too childish for him, he quickly added, "if you want." Another forever-lasting pause. "What's yours?" "What?" "Pizza." "Oh. Hawaiian." "Why?" o.OWhat kind of person asks why my favorite pizza is my favorite? Cause I like it. Duhh. But he was clearly expecting a more detailed explanation… -.-* "I like pepperoni because its spicy. Not everyone can eat it and not get burned." I looked over at him, to make sure that he's not making fun of me. His face was friendly at first, (as friendly as I've ever seen it,) but then it went back to being emotionless and he turned around. So did I. I guess my startled and puzzled expression made him close up on the world again. "My first pizza ever was Hawaiian. I liked how the sweetishly sour pineapple blended with the salty cheese." I glanced at him for approval. He turned to look at me, then sighed and went back to his friendly face. The train gave a high pitched shriek before coming to a complete halt. "That's our stop." Kurei grabbed his backpack, then, after a short pause, took mine as well. I was about to protest, but he shot a let-me-handle-it glance at me. 8\The sun had already set and the moon was sparkling in the sky.

We turned right from the main street, onto some deserted dark alley. In the distance, I could make out two men silhouettes, with broad, muscular shoulders. I glimpsed at Kurei. His face remained absolutely straight, with no hint of concern (or confidence). His pace remained steady as well, moving closer and closer to the two shadowed figures. If you watched any American movie that included a dark street and two or more muscular men, you know what I was hoping won't happen. Just when we were about 5 steps away from the two strangers Kurei unexpectedly froze. I stopped as well, looking at him for an explanation. His face was emotionless, even his deep green eyes looked empty. "Kurei of the NiiroShikon(Red Fang)" asked one of the two. I looked up at the guys in front of us. They both looked about my age, 16 or 17... and didn't look very happy when they noticed that I was examining them. "Okeru and Hiruto of the Akasai(Bloody Fire), isn't it?" He knows them…that can be good…or very very bad. I checked his face expression, then the other two's. It looks like everyone loosened up a bit… "Last time we met you left so quickly that we didn't have enough time to say thank you. So the boss asked us to give you this…" The second guy took out a package and handed it over to me. Before I managed to stretch my hands out for the parcel, Kurei swiftly snatched it and put it into one of the backpacks. "Tell Jiko I said hi." "We will." Kurei began walking, grabbing me by the hand and pulling me after him. Not the rough way, more of the this-is-for-your-own-good way. "By the way Kurei-samma…this might be non of my concern but who is this girl…"asked the taller of the two, curiously staring at me. Kurei paused. "You're right. This is non of your concern." And continued walking. When the two guys were definitely out of sight, I decided to start my intimidation about them and the Red Fang. "Kurei…who were…" "I'll explain at home" he cut me off, and let go of my hand. The rest of the way we walked in silence, Kurei's face still fixed in the emotionless expression.

I wondered around the living room while Kurei closed the door behind us. Even though the house was quite big, everything was pretty neat…for a guy. "Let's go. I'll show you my room." I turned around, seeing that Kurei's face was friendly once again, I nodded and followed him upstairs. v His room was a bit messier than the room downstairs, but still, pretty neat. "Wait here" he ordered, and disappeared out the door. In a few seconds, he reappeared with a chair and placed it by the table, next to the other stool. He sat down and signaled me to come over. As I sat down, he put the Death Note down on the table and flipped it open. "The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die. After you've written the name, you have forty seconds to write the cause and then six minutes and forty seconds to write the details. If no details are included, then the person will just die of a heart attack." "So…what do you think?" Kurei was inquisitively waiting for my opinion. "This is probably some stupid prank by the middle schoolers" I answered. What else could it be? "I'm gonna search it up on the net…" he said and took out his lap top. Google. Death Note. A link to Wikipedia. "Death Note is a popular manga and anime series about a high school student named Yagami Light who wants to use the note to rule a utopia that he creates by killing all the criminals…"Kurei explained as he browsed through the summary. "Then he kills the world famous investigator L but gets caught by his successor Near." "It was just an imprudent prank after all…" I stated. He clicked back to Google and changed his search. "I had a death note." About twenty sites popped up, one being realdeathnotes.net. He clicked on it.

It had 27 blog entries from 13 different users, all starting with "I have a death note". After scanning through a couple entries, we stopped on one written by someone under the name "Osuraki Hirashi." "I have a death note. I found it on my balcony one day and decided to pick it up. The second I touched it I could see a shinigami standing beside it. When I came back to my senses, he told me what the note really is and what it can do. I couldn't find the guts to use it, so I decided to write the instructions down on it so that maybe one day, someone can use it to make the world a better place." "This is useless blabber from people who got no life…" I began. "Continue reading…" Kurei ordered. "At first, I also thought that it was merely a joke, but its real. To prove it, I made a small x on the 21st page from the front…" "Check the note…" Kurei ordered. "Don't tell me you seriously believe this crap…" He sharply turned around, and gave me the most threatening look I've ever seen in my life. His eyes were cold, his face frozen in a frightening expression. "Just do it." he said and turned around. With trembling hands, I found the x sitting in the corner of the page. "But you realize that this x doesn't prove anything…" I continued, looking at his face transform. He looked furious, like a cat who's been beaten up by a mouse. Then, his expression suddenly started to loosen, and a curious, daring smile appeared. "If you're so sure it's just a joke, then write your name down." At first, I was about to say yes, but then, something just clicked. It was almost like a quiet whisper whispering in my ear…'don't..'." "Relax…there's no need for either of us to write our names down." I looked up at his satisfied smile. "We can test it tomorrow." Now his face formed a concerned expression. "It's getting late…want me to walk you home?" If I said yes, then if there will be another strange bunch in the street, he'll go straight ahead towards them. What if this time they turn out to be strangers… "Thanks, I'll be fine by myself." "There are a lot of people in the street that you might not want to encounter…" "I realize that." "Suit yourself. Your backpack is downstairs. When you're out of the house, turn left. The road will lead you to the main street." "Thanks." I reached my hand out for the death note. "Can I keep it for tonight?" Kurei's green eyes pierced me. "Ok." "Thanks."

I shut the door behind me and swung the backpack on my shoulder. As instructed I turned left. In the distance, I could hear two male voices talking.

KUREI

Death Note huh? If this fairytale turns out to be true, I can certainly have some fun with this. But, if all those rule things are true, then Rurin is the owner of the death note… But if they are, then where's the so called shinigami? "We got names, you know." I turned around to find the source of the unfamiliar voice. "Boo." On my right, some crazy creature was inches away from my face, staring right into my eyes. I gasped, leaned back, and fell of my chair. It had pale white skin, tightly stretched on its bony body covered with a skinny black costume. Under the messy forests of black hair, were two piercing red eyes staring back at me. Gasping for breath, I tried to make sense of all the thoughts running through my head. "So, you're a shinigami, eh? Prove it." "Isn't my appearance enough?" The beast leaned towards me, his stinky breath cutting off my oxygen. "Will do for now." I got of the floor and shook the dirt of my pants. "With your existence verified, I can assume that the note is real?" "I'm not answering any of your questions until you call me by my name, you ignorant jerk." The website said shinigami lived for thousands of years, so how come this one is still such a baby? "What is it?" "Guess!" This idiotic being is really starting to piss me off. But, I can play by his rules. "Can you give me a clue?" "It hides in the dark and disappears in the light! Come on it's sooooooo obvious! Even an idiot like you can guess this!!" Too bad this death note is useless against shinigami. "Is it Kumori? (shadow)" "Yaaaaayyy!! You got it!! Took you a while though." His rotten-toothed smile made me wanna puke. "Now will you answer my question?" "Sure." *pause* "Sooo…" "What?" "Are you going to answer?" "What?" "The question!!!" "What question?" "Does this damn notebook work or not?" "Yep. It does." "How?" "That's not fair! I asked a question, then you asked a question, so now its my turn again!!" o* "What's that?" Kumori pointed to the computer. "Oh…that's the Death Note manga." I made the web page full screen. "That's Ryukira!!! This is sooo unfair!! I want to be on the internet too!!!!" "So he's a real shinigami…the one from the manga?" "Yes!!!!! Can you believe it!!!! He's on the internet and I'm not!!!!!!" Kumori screamed, choking on tears. "Shut up. Someone might hear you." "Only you can hear me, remember? Stop being so mean to me!!!!!" God. If I ever get a job, it will most definitely not be a babysitter. "Ok, now it's my turn to ask, right?" I tried to talk as softly as possible, it usually calms down kids in a hysteria. "Right." Kumori whipped his tears off with his arm. "Good, so what…" "Oh and by the way, the girl that came out of your house, Rurin, isn't it? Well, she turned onto a street with two very big mean looking guys. Just so you won't say 'why didn't you tell me' later." Damn. If she's the owner of the Death Note, and she gets killed by those two, then the note returns to Kumori and that's the end of it. I flew down the stairs and out the door, not bothering to see if Kumori was catching up.

Rurin

As the distance between the two shadows and myself decreased, I could recognize them as the two guys from before. The tall one, who was leaning on the wall of the narrow sidewalk nudged the other, who was crouching down. Maybe I should turn around and run…but they could probably catch up to me, especially since they seemed to recognize me. "Isn't it a bit dangerous for a girl to be walking around by herself this late?" "What a narrow-minded thing to say, Hiruto. She must be at least a class C if she was with Kurei. This part of town is a playground to her." Class C? And what do they mean by 'playground….' I don't like where this is heading… "Class C? What are you talking about?" Okeru and Hiruto exchanged puzzled glances, then chuckled softly. "Don't worry," reassured Okeru, "we're not one of the PFUTEJ." "We're juunin of the Akasai." Hiruto finished for him, with a 'pleased to meet ya' smile. What are these two…PFUTEJ, juunin…I must spot the camera before I end up the laughstock on national TV. "What are you two doing?" Kurei's breath belt hot on my neck in the night's chilly breeze. I looked around, and saw his eyes staring hatefully at Hiruto and Okeru. They backed away, their faces frozen in a worried expression. I swallowed hard. "I thought I told you to stay away from h…" "We were just talking…" I cut off his harsh speech with my silent whisper. His head turned, and two sea green eyes pierced me like a blade. Seing that his anger kept rising I decided to try my last resort. "You promised you'll explain everything at home, so perhaps now would be a good time to…" Kurei's eyes widened and his feet clenched. "To what?" he demanded. "How much do you know!" It is all or nothing… "You mean about PFUTEJ and the junin?" He shot the most horrible glance a human being could manage at the two guys in front of him, then looked away in uncertainty. Perhaps I made the wrong move to act like I was aware of things; instead of calming down he was more and more consumed with rage and hesitation. Hiruto's and Okeru's faces changed into more determined expressions. "I can assure you, Kurei-sama, she doesn't know a thing." Hiruto spoke out, still hesitant. "I believe she was acting aware for our sake." added Okeru. Kurei paused in surprise, then settled down. The storm in his sea-green eyes seemed to be over. "You two may go." Hiruto hesitated. "Maybe we should walk her home so…" "Let that be my concern." Kurei answered abruptly as he waved the two guys off. When Hiruto and Okeru were out of sight, he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me in the direction of the main road after him. "I thought I told you I could get home alone." I rebelled, but was momentarily silenced. "I'd rather make sure you don't make any unappointed encounters from now on." "So will you tell me?" "No." "But you promised…" "You already heard too much for one night." "Just one question…" "Denied." "Who are juunin?" "I thought I said denied!" Kurei was getting pissed again. He escorted me into the train and watched the doors shut between us. "Just go home.." I read on his lips.

Kurei

I shut the door behind me and collapsed on the bed. "You like her, don't you?" The high pitched voice…uhhh…not again. Shinigami. "Yea, just as much as rabbits love to eat foxes." "Rabbits are vegetarians. You must be very dumb if you don't know that." That brat…I'll just try to be patient. "It was sarcasm, which meant that I don't like her at all." "Then you're not only dumb, you're also not funny. But it's ok. It's the outside that matters. As long as you don't open your mouth, she'll like you back." "I don't care if she'll like me or not!" "Don't worry! You have a chance with her!" "Don't you get it, I DON'T LIKE HER!" "Then why are you making such a big deal out of this!" I gave up. Arguing with little pests like him will get me nowhere. I have higher ambitions. Yet, the brat had a point. I can't ignore the girl now. Even though she might not know every detail, she probably has some understanding about the PFUTEJ and the juuni, and I can't afford even that information to leak into the public. Perhaps I should go kill her right now… "If you're thinking about your next date, you should take her to a horror movie. She'll be shivering all over you." I looked over at Kumori, who was flying out of the room, flapping his black-feathered wings. "Where are you off to?" "I'm gonna go tell Rurin-chan how you feel about her." I sighed. "Baka! (idiot) She will scream the second she sees you before you even get to say a word." I gave him a 'dissed' smile. "So you DO like her!" "WHAAT?" "You never said you didn't this time!" "That's because I said it at least twenty times earlier!" "So you just realized you like her." "Baka." Rurin…I wonder what you're thinking right now.

To be continued upon request…