Of Life and Death
By fourthfireshadow
A flutter of pages...
The spot of dark ink as it bleeds on a lined page...
The utter silence that follows the madness...
This was how the world changed...
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Sakura resisted the urge to sigh, feeling utterly bored. Why was school so lame? She blew her bangs in frustration and leaned her head on her palm. Her grey eyes glanced around the large classroom, her lips quirking in distaste at the silent surroundings. No one was doing anything remotely interesting. Even the class bullies were silent—true, they were drooling in the back, but that doesn't make it any more interesting. Her eyes fell to her watch. Only an hour and a half to go.
She sighed depressingly. An hour and a half too long.
She looked at Takumi playing a PSP under his desk enviously. Sakura felt like face-palming—that was why we needed to plan for the future! She twirled a dark lock of hair between her fingers.
"Yagami-kun, can you please translate the last two sentences into Japanese please?" Kiyoshi-sensei asked in a peaceful voice. That voice was practically only reserved for that one particular student. Yagami Light. The Golden Boy. The one that can do no wrong.
She shifted to look at the boy in her thoughts better. In his defence, he really was like a Golden Boy. The model citizen, with the perfect looks and the perfect behaviour, always lending a helping hand. She bore no ill will towards the person, and they guy was one of the few boys in campus who was actually genuinely decent considering everything.
But she didn't know why she always felt like keeping distance between him and herself, maybe it was just her presumption that no one could ever be that perfect. A person who appeared to be that perfect had to be hiding something. He was an enigma. A mystery.
On the other hand, maybe that's just her excuse for herself. Her eyes narrowed determinately. She wasn't called the friendliest—friendliest, annoying, persistent, sly— person in school for nothing after all. She had a reputation to live up to, why leave Golden Boy out of that? She smirked.
"...Follow the voice of God and he shall calm the waves, and protect us from storms..."
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— Chapter 1-Rebirth—
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"Hey Light, you wouldn't terribly mind if I sit next to you today, do you?"
The boy looked confused for a split second before directing an easy smile at her and gesturing to the empty seat next to him. "No, of course not, Ikeda-san. Go ahead."
Sakura smiled thankfully, "Thanks, you have no idea how annoying it is to sit next to Takeda, of all people." She rolled her grey eyes to emphasize her point before setting her things in a heap on the desk and sitting down ungracefully.
He was looking at her, his light eyes showing amusement before making a noise of agreement from the back of his throat and looking back out the large window.
"um, i know we haven't really...talked that much before today," Sakura began, feeling the tendrils of nervousness creeping up for some odd reason, "...so, i'd like to change that."
Light raised his eyebrows at her words before narrowing a bit. Where was the sudden interest coming from? Especially from her, Sakura Ikeda, another top student apart from him and the resident prankster? Was she really as friendly as everyone says or was this another one of the girl's foolish schemes?
Her own eyebrows rose at the odd look before a small grin appeared, "Don't worry; I'm not doing this for a prank or something. I'm just doing it to be friends, really."
"I didn't—" Light began, not going into how she came to know what he was thinking.
"I'm not your fan girl either. Hope you're not offended." She said teasingly, a grin growing. She really hoped he'd pass the test...
His eyes widened at the teasing from the girl before his lips quirked upwards, "oh, well that's a shame. However will I go on now without another fan girl added to the ranks?" he replied, sarcasm practically dripping from each of his words.
Sakura laughed lightly, surprised at the negative humour. She was so glad the guy did have a sense of humour. "You're alright, Light. I think we're gonna get along just fine."
He looked amused again as he ran a hand through his chestnut hair, making it appear more tousled, "Well, i'm glad you approve then."
"You should be, otherwise you'd be denied of my enlightening company." She retorted as she lifted her chin, feigning arrogance.
"I think you confused enlightening with entertaining." Light said, nodding his head seriously.
Sakura let out a surprised laugh, "Jerk."
"Now you know my true nature." Light said, a teasing smirk on his face. He looked much younger, she abruptly noticed, when he was smiling. More boyish and genuine, less calculating. She liked this side, she decided.
"How will I ever survive now?"
"you'll cope."
The smile didn't go away. Yeah, she'll like getting along with him. That she was sure of.
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"Another is the extinction of many species of life on the planet—"
"You seriously went to see that shit?!"
"—species are becoming extinct at a faster rate than has occurred—"
"It was a complete waste of time. You get the feeling that they're just trying to make money."
She was bored. Again. Not a real big surprise or anything, but still. Her eyes slid sideways to her desk mate. One would think Light would help in getting rid of her boredom, but no, she had to find out the hard way that when it came to studies, the boy always paid attention in class. Either that or he was staring out the window like a loner or a stalker. Or both. Whatever. She really wanted to poke her tongue out at him right now. How dare he ignore her to look out the window?!
This was the third week they'd been sitting together. In the first two weeks, it was always she who used to go to him, but lately, he had also started to seek her out more. Thank God. He really had to take more initiative in forming social circles. It was only later she found out he didn't even have a proper person to call a friend. So, she became his self-proclaimed first friend.
She sighed. He really was dull in classes though.
It was then she noticed something outside.
A flutter of pages...
a...notebook...? was that a notebook that was falling from the sky? She held in the snort, what idiot drops a notebook from the roof? Or lamer than that, what idiot goes and studies on the roof?
Her eyes sharpened, though. However, there was something about that notebook that made it seem as if it was something more, something...other-worldly, in a sense. Even if that sounded like crap.
With a soft plop, the notebook hit the ground and lied unassumingly in the grassy place. No one would even give the black covered book even a second glance, of that she was sure of. She glanced at Light and her eyes narrowed at the look on his face. Curiosity and something else. Something she couldn't place. She glanced to the front when she felt his stare on her face. For some reason, she didn't want him to know she also saw the fall of the mysterious notebook.
Sakura pursed her lips. She'll go check it out after classes. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back after all.
It's gone!
The notebook's gone, not a trace of it. Which only meant two things; either a passerby saw the notebook and took it, or the more likely option, Light took it.
Noticing how active she'd gotten because of a stupid notebook, she released a sigh and shook her head. "What is so special about this book to get me so worked up?" she muttered to herself.
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The Shinjiku phantom killer, Otoharada Kurou died fom a sudden heart attack, freeing all the hostages...
Shibuimaru Takuo, a local gang member, was killed recently due to a road accident...
Akahito Abukara, a highly probable suspect of a Yakuza was...
Fumihiko Fuchida, dead due to heart attack...
It was hard not to notice the news. It was even harder not to notice the sudden deaths of criminals. It was the new hot topic in all groups, sites, assemblies. It was the focus. It was surreal. It was judgement.
Sakura's eyes closed of their own accord, wondering how the hell the world became this crazy. It was no coincidence all these criminals died due to heart attacks. Not all of them were smoking cigarettes or something...
So, that means a lone person is doing all this, but how could a person induce heart attacks? Even more unreal, how could three to four criminals die of a heart attack simultaneously? No common person would ever have such a power. No common person should.
She pushed lightly with her feet, the swing rocking slightly as her hands gripped the metal chains tighter. She couldn't even make up her mind completely if what this person was doing was totaly wrong or not. After all, this person was wiping out all the criminals, but then again, no one should have the right to kill anyone like that.
It was only then that she noticed something poking through one of the bushes, something white. Curious, she stood up to obtain the item, probably something some kid dropped and forgot. Reaching the bush, she pulled the thing—a notebook, go figure—out and stared blankly at the cover.
The calligraphic lettering spelling 'Life Note' stood out sharply against the blindingly white cover. Life note? Literally translated, a notebook of life. Her brow rose in annoyance, what kind of a title was that?
Opening the book, there was one whole page of text written.
Life Note
~How to use it~
The human whose name is written in this notebook shall be brought back to life.
This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore people sharing the same name will not be affected.
The maximum number of years a human's lifespan can be increased is 52 years.
The notebook shall become the property of the human world once the notebook touches the ground of (arrives in) the human world.
Once the human is brought back to life, the writer can specify if the human will retain specific memories before his/her death.
The world really is crazy.
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