Death Note: Re-Note

The Dark Angel

My name is Ryuk. I am a Shinigami of the Shinigami realm. Some years ago I witnessed the most interesting events in human history unfold before my very eyes. An individual known only as Kira attempted to change the world for the better by killing criminals and anyone in the way of what the world he was attempting to create. Using the Death Note, the notebook of a Shinigami in which the names of those who will die are written, Kira became a God to the world. Of course, he was simply a human… His real name was Light Yagami. He was perhaps the most disturbed and yet intriguing human I had ever come across. Manipulative, cunning, and intelligent, Light Yagami used his skills to best those who wished to stop him as well as control those who wished to join him. Misa, a popular actress and model at the time, became his apprentice, the second Kira. Her power was even greater than Light's since she had made the Shinigami deal for the eyes that allowed you to see a person's name.

However, L, the super detective who had solved many of the most difficult and unusual cases the world had ever known, became Kira's thorn. L was perhaps smarter than Light Yagami, but also humble. He enjoyed the company of good people and was most of the time a 'sweet guy' as they say. He delighted in coffee and sweets of all kinds. But when it came to the art of investigation, L was the best of the best. He knew in his heart from practically the very beginning that Light Yagami was in fact Kira and was willing to do anything to reveal the truth. But Light Yagami devised a plan which had him lose his memory of the notebook. With this, L's plan to reveal the truth about Light Yagami failed. Eventually a new Kira resurfaced, seemingly the real Kira. And the focus of the investigation was turned. Eventually that Kira was caught and as planned the memories of the Death Note were returned to Light Yagami.

Light Yagami's next moves were to kill more criminals, using Misa once more. Eventually, L found himself a victim of Kira's wrath. Light took his place as L. A few years went by and no results came from the investigation. But the end came swiftly. Near, L's successor, and Mello, another of L's successors, wreaked havoc on Light Yagami's reign as a God. In some would say desperation, Light turned to a man named Mikami to be his right hand. Mikami, however, became rash and acted on his own which quickly led to Near finding the other notebook. Light Yagami was caught. A victim of his own ego and overconfidence… And so I killed him… for his time was up… and I was bored… That is the story of Light Yagami… Kira…

Twenty-five years had passed since the death of Light Yagami, the one the world knew as Kira. The Death Note taken by Near had become proof of the existence of a higher power. But Near and the SPK members had to keep the existence of the Death Note a secret. The official statement had been that the one known as Kira had been killed in a fire fight, but the method which was used to commit his murders was never revealed. Eventually after popular vote among the SPK members, the Death Notes were said to have been destroyed, thus ridding the world of what humans would probably call the most dangerous weapons in the world. With the loss of their 'God' Kira's followers revolted for several years, but eventually most of them abandoned the Kira religion and returned to a life of normalcy. By the sixth year, the remaining Kira loyalists became a terrorist group. Their goal was to cause destruction in the name of Kira. However, as the years went by the KLG became more concerned with robbing banks and funding their underground empire. By the fourteenth year, the crime rate had begun to rise again as the world returned to its usual routine.

This was the result of Light's actions. It was unfortunate. But crime had only been stalled during Kira's time. Light's world had fallen apart quickly after his death. After eighteen years, Kira's God like status was reverted to nothing more than a terrorist… And finally after twenty-two years, with the exception of the KLG, most of the world had renounced Kira… The shinigami realm was as boring as usual. And I sort of wanted to see what would happen if I dropped my notebook again into the human world. I had to admit I didn't expect to feel so regretful in having killed Light Yagami and ending all the fun. But Light Yagami would have died anyway. Even still, fifteen years passed and I quickly got bored of the usual routine. I missed the human world… I missed the apples... Plus I wanted those other Death Notes back. I'm pretty sure the humans must have destroyed it, but still… So I decided that I'd have myself one more thrill in the human world. I dropped my death note into the human world as I did before and waited.

In the human world, there lived a boy named Raiden Ozaku. He was a seventeen year old student. He was a tall young man, handsome, with long black hair, pale skin, and blue eyes. He was popular with the girls. However, he kept to himself mostly. He was very intelligent, perhaps more intelligent than most students and yet he lived a modest student life. He studied psychology and planned to focus on the career. His mother had been killed in from of him when he was a little boy. His father, Raito Ozaku worked for the ICPO. So was barely at home to take care of the family. His grandmother, Yumi Nataka, was an old sick woman. And his two siblings were each under the age of six… He was silently angry at the world… at the betrayal, corruption, and violence inflicted on the innocent… at the rising crime rate… He was angry that the world had reverted to its old ways… as though it had never been through a revolution… At his mother's grave, he swore to her that he would change the world…

The date was March 13th. It was pouring that morning as he opened the front door to his house. His grandmother was still sleeping. His father was at work as usual. As he walked to school, his umbrella in hand, he saw a notebook… just lying there in the middle of the street… and he picked it up… Death Note… What a strange title… What's it doing here in the middle of the road? Someone must have dropped it I suppose… There's something written inside. The human whose name is written in this note shall die. Strange, what an odd thing to write… Raiden Ozaku found himself debating whether or not to take the book. Something about the book tempted him. He checked his watch and realized that he would be late for school. I suppose I can just take it… I'll figure it out later… Raiden placed the notebook in his bag and continued on his way to school. In time he would find out just how special the notebook really was.

I decided not to wait. I was quite impatient. After all, I had waited some years to come back to the human world. It was ridiculous for me to wait a few days. Besides, I had a feeling Raiden would be just as interesting as Light was, if not more… And so I jumped into the portal between the realm of the Shinigami and the human world. I came into the human world during a storm once before. What a coincidence to have it rain as I entered the human world once again. In no time I found my way to Ozaku's school. There he was sitting in his classroom learning some boring lesson. I remember spending time in Light's classes. It was a small sacrifice for some fun and apples… Apples… I wanted an apple so bad now… I tried to keep hidden while I waited for the boy to finish his day of classes... What I wouldn't give for an apple.

The classes ended, much to my relief. I watched behind the bushes as Raiden walked down the road back to his home. It was still raining. Barely had stopped for more than an hour…

Once I felt he was finally alone, I decided to make my presence known. Raiden was turning a corning. I decided to meet him there. I flew past him without him seeing and stood in the corner. "Hello, Raiden…"

"What is- What the…" Raiden fell to the ground, frightened by me. I enjoyed scaring humans. "What- what are you!?"

"I am the Shinigami Ryuk… You have something of mine."

Am I dreaming? This can't be real… What does he mean I have something of his? What could it be…? Wait… the notebook? Death Note...?

"The notebook…" Raiden said calmly as he stood up. "It's yours. Isn't it?"

"Yes. It is. Or rather it was. From the moment the Death Note touches ground of the human world, it becomes the property of the human who first picks it up. In short, you are now the sole owner of the Death Note. It isn't that I care if you use it or not. In fact, if you don't want to use it, you can just give it back to me, in which case I'll have no choice but to erase your memory of the Death Note. Of course as a God of Death, it's suggested I at least tell you about the Death Note. The Death Note gives its owner the power to kill people simply by writing down the victim's name. Of course the note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind. Therefore, persons sharing the same name will not be affected."

"The rules are all written in the notebook, so in any case you can look through the book and read the rules. But as I have said, this Death Note is yours. You may choose to give up ownership, or use it as you wish."

"As for me, I simply am required to stay here until the Death Note is finished or until I see you die, whichever comes first."

Raiden stood there shocked. He was holding the Death Note in his hands now. He looked up at me. At first I expected to find his face filled with terror. But Raiden Ozaku had a menacing smirk on his face. And then an all too familiar evil laughter came out of him…

"You've been here before, haven't you?" Raiden asked. "You've brought the Death Note to the human world before haven't you?"

"Maybe…" I said with a chuckle.

"You gave this notebook to Kira… Didn't you?" Raiden continued ask.

"Very well, you caught me. Smart kid… Yes, I did bring a Death Note to this world once before… Not this one… another one… I came back for it. There's two Death Notes here in the human world… three if you count the one that I dropped. "

"So Kira had a Death Note…" Raiden spoke quietly. "What do you want from me?"

"I simply want you to help me find the other Death Notes… What you do with the one you have is your own decision… So Raiden Ozaku… What do you say…?"

Raiden's facial expression was that of shock and delight all at once as he tried to make sense of what he was hearing, of what he was seeing…

"Why do you give me this?"

"There it is again, the unfailing arrogance of humans. Why is it that you always think you've somehow been chosen? I dropped the notebook. It landed on that street, and you just happened to be the one to pick it up. I might have dropped it purposely but you finding the notebook had been nothing more than a happy coincidence. Frankly, the main reason why I dropped the notebook is the same reason I've done it before… well besides the fact that I also hope to find the other two notebooks if possible… But mostly, I was just bored…"

"You were bored...?"

"Mhmm… Shinigami get bored too you know… It's no fun doing nothing all day and never really sleeping. Could you imagine an eternity of the same job over and over and over… sometimes we Shinigami need something more interesting to do with our time… Atleast this one does…"

"What do you want me to do with this then?" Raiden asked me. I was beginning to think the boy was not up for it. It mattered not. I'd just find someone else.

"Nothing you don't want to do, Raiden Ozaku… Simply return the notebook to me if you don't want it. Otherwise, if you want to use it, you can use it as you see fit."

"Hmm…" the boy began to think to himself out loud as we started walking down the street towards his home. "The person whose name is written in this notebook shall die… Would I be willing to write someone's name down? Could I? What if I could do what Kira couldn't… Crime has been rising lately. I am witness to the consequences of that. My mother was killed by a car thief. Ever since I've wanted revenge… I've wanted justice…"

"Well I'm sorry to hear that I suppose." I replied though I felt no remorse since I knew the shinigami who had killed his mother. "I'd try to imagine your sorrow and all, but I'm hungry."

"Hungry?" Raiden replied. "Do I have to trade something for it? Like my soul?

Humans and their silly superstitions…

"The only price to be paid is the feelings you will experience when using the Death Note. But I have a good feeling about you... You might actually enjoy it. Of course in the end, the decision is yours… so… What's it gonna be Raiden?"

"I'll… keep it…" he replied to my delight. "For now…"

"Very well, as you wish…" I said to him. Humans are a complicated but interesting species. It almost makes me regret killing them with my Death Note… almost… Gotta love those humans… so interesting… I almost forgot how much fun humans can be.

"Wait, can people see you?" he asked as he made it to the door. "My family would freak out if they saw you. What if someone saw you while we were walking down the street just now?"

"Don't worry. Only those who have touched the notebook can see me. Just make sure they don't touch the notebook themselves, otherwise they'd see me too."

A young girl came walking down the stairs followed by two little kids. She looked quite young, almost looked like a young teenager. Her name was Kyoko Takamo. She was a twenty year old young woman taking care of the two little kids in the family, Rei and Juno. Their father was a special investigator of the ICPO and worked late nights, which meant that Kyoko would babysit for the two little ones while Raiden was away at school.

"Hey Rain. How was school? Your father will be working late tonight again."

"Hi Kyoko… That's fine… School was alright I suppose. Same stuff as usual. I'm going up to my room to study. Please don't disturb me."

"That's fine. I'll be cooking tonight. Once the kids go to bed, you and I can watch a movie or something. Sound good, handsome?"

"Very well… I have to go study now." He replied as he turned to the stairs.

"As you wish, Rain…" She said with a wink. "Come on kids, into the living room we go."

Raiden walked up the stairs and headed to his room. Please have apples… please have apple… please have apples I thought to myself as we made it to his room. He opened the door and walked in as I followed behind him. When he closed the door, he walked up to the desk which was right in front of his window and put down his back next to the chair and placed the notebook on the desk. I looked around. No apples… What kind of human doesn't have apples in his room!? That's just not normal…

"Do you have apples by any chance?" I asked as calmly as I could. I didn't want to seem desperate. My body was beginning to twitch just thinking about human apples.

"Apples…?" Raiden asked as he stared down at the Death Note. "There's one in the cooler by the TV there… Help yourself I guess…"

"Oh yes!" I said as I took out the apple quickly. "I knew there was something about you I liked! By the way, why does Kyoko call you Rain? And who are the two little ones?"

"Um… She omits 'D' and 'E' out my name and calls me Rain sometimes... and they are my siblings, adopted... Now about this notebook, I assume in exchange for the ability to use the Death Note as I see fit, you want me to help you find the other Death Notes."

"Well yes…" I mumbled as I munched on a delicious apple. "Oh yes… this is good, yes… juicy…"

"What will you do for me?"

"What? The notebook isn't enough? Man, you humans can be very demanding…"
"How do you know the other notebooks have not already been destroyed?"
"I don't… They aren't… terribly important though." I said as I swallowed the rest of the apple. "I just thought it would be nice to have them both… um so, got any more apples?"

"Fine, Ryuk… I'll help you find the other Death Notes. But as for this notebook, I will use it to rid the world of criminals as I see fit. I will do what the one that came before me could not do. I will bring about true justice to the world and rid the world of all its vermon. I shall be Kira. I will succeed where the one that came before me failed. I will be the angel of vengeance, the angel of justice, and the angel of death all together."

This is going to be very interesting… I'm aching with anticipation… Of course it could just be that I could use another apple… Still… Raiden Ozaku... what an interesting young boy… He might prove to be even more fun that Light… Ugh if only he had another apple…

A menacing laughter escaped him as he stood there looking down at the Death Note. It was amusing to witness the rebirth of Kira. Vengeance was at hand for Raiden Ozaku. He was about to embark on the path towards his destiny. His promise to his mother would be fulfilled. He would change the world. He would make the world a better place. He would rid the world of evil… This was his promise. This was his destiny. He would become Kira…

"I shall be the dark angel…" He said as he looked out into the world from his window.
Humans never stop amusing me… I thought to myself as I laughed quietly.