In The Shadow of Death

Tsuiyo Zenith Theta

A/N: Hello all you happy people!

This first chapter is very short, but don't worry! It's only the first chapter in an epic story, so stay tuned and REVIEW!!!

Chapter One

The Shinigami World-a barren wasteland. The sky was grayed by the waterless clouds. There were very few trees, and even fewer of them blossomed into anything worthwhile.

All in all, it was a pretty crappy place to live.

A few Shinigami, trying to ease their boredom, were sitting around playing cards and gambling. One of them called to another Shinigami sitting on the edge of cliff. "Hey, Ryuk," he said. "You want in?"

Looking forward into the dismal horizon, Ryuk answered, "I…dropped my Death Note."

The Shinigami shook his head an sighed. "Again? You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Ryuk grinned. "Heh. When that Light Yagami got a hold of it-my life had never been more exciting. Now, ever since then, things have gotten even more boring than before. Perhaps someone as interesting as Light will pick it up. At least, that's what I'm hoping."

The black hedgehog raced through the streets of Central City. As much as Shadow hated to admit it, he really did enjoy running. He refused to show it, but was actually pretty happy on the inside.

As he was skating through, something black and rectangular caught his eye. He skidded to a stop and turned around. Snatching it up as he skating, the title caught his interest. "Death Note?"

He opened it up to the front cover. "'Whoever's name is written in this note shall die'?" He looked upon it with contempt. "This is a load of crap...but, I may be able to find some use for it."

"Yo, Shads!" Shadow's arch-rival called out. "What's up, dude? Hey, what's that?"

Shadow held up the notebook as high as he could, which was still as high as Sonic could reach since they were both the same height anyway. "None of your business, faker. And don't call me that!"

"Why do you keep calling me faker?" Sonic asked. "You were the one that was bioengineered in a lab."

Shadow pondered this for a moment, humphed, and Chaos-Controlled away. Sonic shrugged and dashed off.