~DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DEATH NOTE OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!~

A New World

Chapter 1: Shinigami

"Kira is dead."

The relief was nearly tangible in the atmosphere around the world.

'Oh, how wonderful would the surviving criminals feel when they found out. I bet none of them lost their family.' Sayu thought.

Sayu was living a life immersed in Hell. First, she lost her father, killed by fatal wounds when he had gone to work one day. A few months later, her dear brother followed, the cause of death said to be from getting shot by friendly fire accidentally. Her mother, immersed in blind grief, committed suicide by way of hanging herself in her bedroom. Sayu had been the first to discover her when she had come home from school a few weeks ago. "A tragic tale" the news had said.

Sayu stared into the distance, never moving an inch.

'Am I next?' she asked herself.

'No, Kira is dead. I should be safe.'

Kira. Another thing, he's the cause of her messed-up life. Her father never would have died if he hadn't been investigating in the Kira case. Light, too. And her mother's death was ultimately caused by him. Rage filled Sayu's already battered heart.

She felt nothing, nothing but the raging desire to find Kira's corpse and rip it to shreds. How, she didn't know. All she knew was that Kira was dead, and she was left with nothing.

Sayu hardly noticed it when the wild crowd around her erupted in cries of shock and relief at L's three words. She felt cut off from the world, as if she was a sadistic angel of death watching the sad fate of humans with glee. So much that it caused people to talk.

She had hardly cared when her friends stopped talking to her at lunch, didn't mind when she was openly avoided. Her doctor had suggested she go to a mental hospital, but she wouldn't listen. Sayu didn't care, for she had nothing.

And all because of Kira.

'Do I want to die?'

Unnoticed by Sayu, L continued his report to the people of the world. He had just mentioned the cause of death, suspiciously a heart attack, when the screen was interrupted by a rather stoic-looking news reporter.

"Excuse me the interruption, but we have just received breaking news: 34 year-old Kaimaru Sakami has died of a heart attack. He was convicted of murdering his wife and two children three days ago. It is debatable that he was the latest victim of Kira. Thank you."

Then L was speaking again.

"Impossible..." the voice gasped.

Blackness. Pressing blackness. Pain, and blackness. There was no avoiding it, no escaping it, no ignoring it.

Simply blackness.

'Am I dead?' I asked myself. Even then, when I had lost all grasp of life, I knew of death. 'No. If I were dead, I wouldn't feel the pain.'

And pain it was. Searing, ripping pain just over where my heart should be.

And the blackness. How I hated the blackness. It suffocated, immobilized, and overwhelmed me. It could have gone on forever, or only a few seconds, but it gave no illusion of ever ending.

I was just beginning to resign myself to my fate, when I felt a hard jolt, as if I had just hit a wall.

And then there was light. The pain had vanished.

I opened my eyes.

My world was blue. Then I looked down, and my world was gray.

'Blue... and gray?'

I looked around.

Wasteland.

'Where am I?' I thought.

Then the memories came.

Ryuk was bored. Again.

Life in the shinigami world was naturally boring. Nothing interesting like apples, or masterminds, or suspenseful criminal investigations...

'Too bad Light died...' he thought, 'he could have killed some time. Heh, killing is one thing he specialized in.'

His thoughts shifted, 'I wonder how the humans are doing... it must have been very confusing when Light died...'

'Maybe I could visit them again...?'

'Nah, I could be called by the King for spending too much time away from home.'

'But it's so tempting...'

'No! I must distract myself!'

Ryuk needed something to do. And fast.

"Hey, Ryuk! Why don't you play poker with us?" another shinigami asked.

Ryuk ignored them in his inner battles.

"Aw, don't bother with Ryuk," someone else said, "he never plays."

Ryuk could hear the gossip of the other players buzzing in his ear.

"Oh, okay. Hrmmm... I give up. Can we play again?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get it set up."

"Hey, did you know that a new shinigami arrived just a few days ago?"

"Uh huh. Heard he was more messed up than usual."

"No, I mean he's been to first to arrive in a while..."

Ryuk stood, as if being awakened from a deep sleep.

Then he turned to the shinigami and asked, "Where is this 'new' shinigami? I want to meet him."

A/N: So, do you like the new ch. 1 better than the old ch. 1? I don't know about you, but I'm satisfied (for now). Expect an update soon, I don't think I can keep this story to myself much longer, it's just TOO GOOD!

Please drop a review on your way out!