This story was co-written by HybridDemon and I. You may or may not notice the slight changes in writing styles, but nonetheless, we have put a great amount of effort into this, so please enjoy.

Rating: M Not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16 with possible strong but non-explicit adult themes, references to violence, and strong coarse language.

Words: 993

Based upon: Deathnote

Chapter 1: Test

Light gazed off into the horizon, his pale eyes swinging back and forth, trying to find some object of interest to examine, hopefully to pass the last few minutes of Calculus.

His eyes widened slightly as they lit upon a small black notebook lying out in the open. Its pages were ruffled and bent, covered in dirt and grime. The whole thing had a lost and forlorn look to it, which only increased the teenager's curiosity further.

Ten minutes later after school, Light casually went over to the side of the school to where he had seen the notebook earlier. There it lay, even more homely than before. Light cautiously made his way to it, lingering a few feet back to see if anyone was watching before picking it up.

A look of disgust crossed his face as he examined the back, "Disgusting," he spat. He flipped the book over in his hands to examine the front. And stopped.

Death note.

Instantly Light snapped his head up, looking for a camera, or an idiotic teenager waiting for his prank to play out. Not a soul in sight… Light frowned and opened the first page and grimaced. It was written in English, what a pain.

Light translated the words quickly in his head, his curiosity increasing with every word that passed by.

"The person whose name is written in this note shall die."

Light almost had to stop himself from laughing out loud. Ridiculous! That was impossible! Then he could just write anyone's name, and they'd die!

He continued reading, the next line out loud, "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. What a load of crap," Light didn't even bother reading the rest. He tossed it over his shoulder and walked away, dismissing the whole thing.

Ryou watched Light from behind a garbage bin. His eyes followed the book that the Yagami boy threw down. After Light left, Ryou crept up to the book and lifted it off the ground. His eyes scanned the front page before he opened it and scanned down the rules.

Ryou laughed, what idiot would actually believe such a thing existed? The teen pocketed the notebook and carried it home, whistling.

Several hours later Ryou sat at his desk, running the day's math homework over his head. He sighed and leaned back, "Math is stupid, someone as popular as me shouldn't have to deal with stuff like it," he passed one hand through his light blond hair and considered the next question.

He stopped suddenly.

Remembering the notebook he'd picked up earlier, his eyes drifted to where his back pack lay abandoned in the corner. The top of the Death Note stuck out, just far enough that he could read "Dea-." He narrowed his eyes before getting up and snatching it from his bag. He plopped back into his chair ungracefully and scanned the rules again, before laughing. "This is such an elaborate prank," he chuckled, pulling out his cell phone and dialing his best friend's house. He got through on the third ring.

"Hello?" His best friend's voice broke through with a bit of static, leaving Ryou's ear ringing.

"Hey, Sonoda-kun!" he replied.

"Hey, Ryou-kun, I have bad news..."

"Hmmm?" Ryou felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"You know Nikki-chan?"

Ryou's heart skipped. 'How could I forget?!' He wanted to yell, 'I only dated her for seven months!' "Yeah, what about her?"

There was a short pause, "I heard she's screwing that Agatsuma boy."

Ryou felt his face colored with rage, "Is she now?"

"Yeah. I thought you'd want to know."

"Yeah, yeah. Thank you."

As he spoke, he grabbed a pencil and twirled it in his fingers, staring at the blank page of the Death Note, examining the mud stained corners. He chewed the inside of his cheek, an annoying habit he'd developed, before leaning over and writing quickly. "Nikki Katame. Is walking across Soyama Ave. when she is hit by a car at 5:42 PM."

"Hey man, you okay?" Concern filled Sonoda's voice.

"Oh yeah," Ryou replied coolly, looking at the clock. He had a minute and thirty-four seconds. "I'm through with her."

"I know. You just sounded uptight for a second."

"No, no. I'm good." He glanced at the clock. Fifty-four seconds remained. He was glad that Nikki lived close to Sonoda. If he had to wait any longer, he would probably die.

"So, did you get the math homework?"

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah. Sure." Ryou replied nonchalantly.

"Man, you sure you're alright? You sound really distracted..."

"Yeah, I'm fine." 'Twenty-three seconds.'

"I'm just wor--"

"Does it look like it's going to rain?" Ryou asked suddenly.

"What? Huh? I don't know." Sonoda replied, sounding slightly irate.

"Well, look outside." 'One second... '

"Eh, it looks a little dark. I don't think it'll be bad though."

"Ah. Thanks." He gripped the pencil tight in his hand, his nails digging into his palms. He was an idiot for believing even for a second that this stupid thing might work.

"Anyway, yeah, I couldn't get problem thirty-- is that Nikki-chan?"

"What?" Ryou asked, dropping the pencil on his desk.

"Dude, she's walking across my street, what the hell? Right in the middle of a green-- holy shit!"

"What?!" Ryou gasped, "What happened?"

"Oh my god, oh my god, she was just hit by a truck! Oh my go-- "

Ryou didn't hear the rest; the phone fell with a dull thud on the thick carpet. Ryou gazed at the Death Note with a look of mixed horror and disbelief as he re-read the first line.

"The person whose name is written in this note shall die"

The look of horror was replaced with a sinister grin. It had worked…