Death Note: The Fuki Case

Chapter 1: The Notebook of Death

"I'm telling you, people these days are just like that, they kill just because they can..." I heard Benneit say as we walked to school.

"I still don't think it's right, nobody should have that kind of motive, it can only lead to trouble..." I replied with a pondering expression. Believe it or not, I wasn't talking about what you think I was. I was talking about the latest episode of InterCyber, it was a show I watched over the weekend, and Benneit and I have a mutual interest in it. It's about this intergalactic empire and such... I don't want to go into detail about it. Be warned, you'll probably be getting more and more clues about the fact that I'm a nerd.

"Awww come on Haru! You have to admit, Galgamas should have killed the guy when Interos was about to take over his ship! It would have been an epic win for the series!" Benneit defended. This was classic Benneit for ya. He's hotheaded, he's impulsive, he's a little on the hyper side... but that's exactly why he's my friend. Benneit always stuck by me through thick and thin, even if he does get on my nerves once or twice. Anyway, I still wasn't on Benneit's side on this argument, let's not go into detail about it.

I'm going to end that part of the story right now and move on. It was the middle of my 3nd period class, history. The one class, might I tell you, is really the only one I hate.

"Alright class, it's monday again, and you all know what that means." Mr. Henry announced to the class as the bell ran moments before. I sighed at this. What Mr. Henry was referring to was his version of a "mega monday". It's the day of the week where the whole class goes to his desk to grab a newspaper, and then pick an article in it. After that we have to write a short paragraph of what the articles says and when the event in the paper took place.

I reluctantly grabbed a paper from Mr. Henry's desk and opened it.

"The stock market.. maybe I could do a paragraph on those. No... Gerald got in trouble for doing his paragraph on the stock market a few months ago."

It's not like I cared, I didn't care so much for current events, and I've openly admitted it too. It wasn't exactly current events though, it was what was happening in the current events. Every day you see a criminal get caught or arrested in the paper, and I could never really stand to see that type of thing. I wasn't one of those people who just wants to go out and be a cop and stop criminals though, I could care less, all I did was ignore it and move on. Bad things happen, and you can't stop them from doing so. I decided to do my paragraph on a figure skating competition that was happening at the local skate rink, there was no better story.

Allow me to skip ahead a little more, it was the passing period after my 4th period class, meaning homeroom was next, and I was just on my regular route when Benneit showed up.

"Hey Haru, did you hear about this one criminal who took out that cashier at that one fast food joint? I never thought ordinary criminals could be so brave as to rob such a popular place..." Benneit reported. I groaned and covered my ears.

"Benneit! You know how much I hate stories like that. It's best to just ignore them and let the police do their job." I sighed as I removed my hands from my ears. I continued on through my route, and Benneit refused to take a hint.

"Are you going to skip homeroom again? You know you'll get in trouble eventually..." Benneit advised. I didn't take the hint though. Nothing particularly important happens in homeroom, and even if there did, then Benneit would tell me after school or something. Believe me though, nothing important ever happens. If the school has big news for us, they tell us at either 1st period, or 4th period during class... homeroom was just a time filler for our school board.

I always spend the 30 minutes of homeroom in the library in a random section of it. I always choose the unpopular sections so not only students don't bother me, but librarians have no reason to come over because there are no books that have ever been checked out there. Today I was spending my time in the magazine section, and will probably end up listening to music. I sat myself down and took out my iPod, it was my only companion in this lonely place. I started listening to one of my favorite anime theme songs before I felt something. Something that was off, I felt a presence in the room.

I stood up, and looked around, it was all silent, I could hear the librarian at her desk stamping away at some books that were recently placed on hold for a few students. I peeked out of the section of the library I was in, and scanned the area... nobody. Then what was this heavy feeling? I turned back into the magazine section, the current one I was in, and looked at the shelves. Magazines dating all the way back to five years ago were stacked side by side neatly by date and time of publish. I took one out of the shelf due to curiosity

"Sports? I hate sports magazines..."

I hung in back into it's place, and took out another one a few shelves downward. I opened it up to see it was a national geographic magazine. It showed a picture of a couple of lion cubs being guarded by the male adult lion on one of their pages.

"Nature? Give me some action here.."

I took the magazine and put it back on the shelf as I looked about three or four shelves upward and picked one from the very end of the shelf. I pulled out of it's place and held it in my hands, only to hear something fall on the floor.

I looked down to see a black book, it looked pretty sleek and really thin, it was a soft cover and it didn't have anything on it. I bend down in curiosity to it.

"I wonder what kind of magazine THIS is... probably a gothic one..."

I simply bent over a touched the notebook with my thumb, index finger, and middle finger pinched between the two side of the book, but the very second that I touched it's cover... I felt something. It was an instant feeling of dread... of despair... it was a feeling that death was looking over my shoulder. I turned around, and of course I didn't see anything. I picked up the book and turned it over to the other side to see it's cover.

All the book had was a black cover, and bright white letters inscribed all fancy-like at the top of it. I examined the letters and felt over them. They were inscribed, not printed, but inscribed on the notebook like someone took a chisel and put them on there. As I read the letters... the only thing they said was...

"Death note..." I whispered.

"What is this thing? It's giving me such a horrible feeling..."

I started to skim through the book, I went page after page after page but there was nothing. It was a blank book that had nothing written in it. All it had were dozens upon dozens of pages with faded gray lines separating the sections of the pages like notebook paper. In fact, this thing was more like a notebook than an actual book or a magazine. I flipped to the front of the notebook to see some writing written on the inside of the cover. It was right next to the front page. I glared at the words written, they too, were inscribed.

"Death note... how to use it?" I whispered aloud.

"What could be more simpler than using a notebook?"

I had to read some more of these words, just to see what it had to say. If I was lucky I could get a laugh at it if it explained something so simple like 'how to write' or something. My eyes went to the first sentence.

The human whose name is written in this note shall die.

I gasped, that... was definitely not what I was expecting it to say.

"Wait... this has to be a joke. One of those dark jokes that you only understand once you read the next few lines! Yeah, that's it... I hope..."

I decided that perhaps this was the case, and I read further down the page to see the next instruction.

This not 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.

My eyes went slightly wider than they already were. If this was a joke, I certainly didn't get the punchline. It was actually a little elaborate, meaning that perhaps... whoever wrote this... was serious?

If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.

I shook my head at this, slightly tucking my body into the farthest corner of the section so nobody would see me. I put the notebook closer to my body, making sure to get a good look at the page. For some odd and unknown reason... I couldn't stop reading what was on this page...

After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

I was surprised at how exact the instructions were. The instructions didn't give you a rounded or even number, it gave you an exact number which was the exact time limit. Why were these instructions so exact? So the notebook can work more efficiently? Perhaps to draw attention away from-...

"GA! What am I thinking? This is sadistic! This is wrong! This is completely..."

"Unbelievable..." I finished aloud. I gasped as I clamped my mouth shut in order to keep from getting too much attention. I stopped reading the instructions and started to flip through the notebook. All those blank pages, so many of them, waiting for someone to write on them like a sort of hypnotization.

"AH! No no no! Don't even think about it Haru! I know what I'm thinking and I better not!"

I couldn't help it, I thought about testing the notebook on something, just to see if it would work. I knew it wouldn't, I knew it couldn't, I knew there was no way, but somehow there was this tiny spark inside of me, this miniscule flame that was burning inside me. The tiny ember glowed, and it repeated the words "try it... try it... try it..." I resisted this urge and immediately closed the notebook and put it back on the library's shelf.

The bell rang, and it was time to go home. I sighed as I walked out of the library. I turned down the hallway and inched closer to the school's exit as everyone rushed out of their classrooms. I went over to the entrance... and stopped.

"I know for a fact that I'm going to regret this..."

I turned a full 180 degrees and walked towards the library once more, fighting back the crowd of classmates running towards the door. I struggled against the steady stream of teens until I made it back to the library. I snuck inside while the librarian was still doing her stamping, and rushed back to the shelf and got what I needed. I casually attempted to walk out the library's entrance once more, and then...

"Put it back..." the librarian said without even looking at me. I went wide eyed, and looked back at her.

"E-...excuse me?" I innocently asked.

"How the hell did she know?"

"You took something... put it back..." the librarian sighed looking up at me. I guess I was caught.

"Ok, ok, you got me.." I depressingly said as I reached from behind my back and took out a national geographic magazine. "I just wasn't sure if I could check out the magazines or not, but I wasn't willing to take that chance.."

"Actually, you can check them out, bring it over here." she replied holding her hand out. I gave her the magazine as she scanned the bar code on the front and typed into her computer. "It's due on the 14th." she said in dismal tone as she handed the magazine back.

"Thank you..." I smiled as I walked out with the magazine in hand.

"That was close..."

I opened up the magazine and there was the notebook, perfectly positioned in the magazine to the point of invisibility. Luckily the notebook was so slim, or that would have never worked. I knew I'd regret taking the notebook, but I had to know... I just had to know if this was legit.

Luckily, nobody was at my house at the time, my dad was out at work, and my mother was out shopping, so I had the house to myself. I immediately took the notebook out and up to my room where nobody would be able to see.

I shut off the lights and turned on lamp beside my bed. I had the notebook in my lap, it's first blank page on one side... and the instructions on the other side.

The human whose name is written in this note shall die.

That rule was the hardest to believe. Without actually doing it, I had no way of knowing it actually works. There was only one problem though... who could I possibly test it on?

If the notebook really did work... which I highly doubt it would... it would have to be someone worth killing. Someone this world could do without. I started to ponder on who could possibly fit that description.

"Someone this world could do without..."

I shook my head, maybe I was thinking about this too hard, I continued down the page that had the instructions to the notebook.

This note shall become property of the human world the second it touches the ground of the human world.

The way the notebook worded that rule...it acted as though the notebook was not of this world. I guess it made sense, a notebook that could kill people is obviously not of this world. Then again I could safely assume that regardless due to such insane "rules" and whatnot.

The owner of the note can recognize the image and voice of it's original owner, i.e. a god of death.

"Huh?" I grunted at this rule. A god of death? Wait a second, the guy who wrote these rules must have been in some sort of polytheistic cult. These rules are so dark that they're starting to make me depressed.

If a human uses the note, a god of death usually appears in front of him/her within 39 days after he/she uses the note.

"So if I use this just once... then a god of death will appear to me within 39 days huh..."

That tore it, I had to use this thing at least once. I had to find out if this was really the real deal. I closed the notebook and went downstairs, I think I had the perfect type of person in mind to use this notebook on...

"A person this world could do without, isn't it obvious? If I use the notebook on criminals then it's like I'd be doing the world a favor, regardless of if the notebook worked or not."

I turned on the television, and typed in the news network's channel as I opened the notebook to the first blank page. The news network was telling this story of a women in a car accident due to a iced up road. I had to watch the news for at least 15 minutes before they gave me something to work with.

"One of our top stories tonight, citizens of new york city have been captured prisoner by local terrorism supporter Arnold Dean. He has currently positioned himself at the Pioneer's Bank located near the time square of new york, and is threatening to completely devastate the building with explosives unless a ransom is paid." the female reporter informed.

"This is something I can work with..."

I went to the kitchen, and reached into our junk drawer to take out a spare pencil. I sharpened it a little with a pencil sharpener from my backpack, and started to write the perpetrator's name.

"A-...r-...n-...o-...l-...d...D-...e-...a-...n-.."

I put down my pencil and looked at the clock. If the instructions on the notebook were accurate, he'll die due to a heart attack in the next 40 seconds.

"One...two...three...four...five...six..." I counted. It seemed longer than it actually was, kind of like when you watch paint dry. "Ten...eleven...twelve...thirteen..." I continued to chant. If this worked, then I might have discovered the greatest tool that mankind has ever known. However, right when I hit the twenty-one second mark... I realized something.

"What the hell am I doing? Am I being serious? No person deserves to die for any sort of crime! As long as they learn their lesson and pay their debts, then they could turn to good citizens!"

I started to regret this decision of mine, and turned my pencil around. I started to rub the rubber eraser on the name that I just wrote.

"Twenty-five...twenty-six...twenty-seven..." I continued to count. I had to make sure that I was aware of how much time I had to erase this name. "Huh?" I grunted as I stared at the page, something was wrong. I continued to rub the eraser harder against the page I had written the name on... but no matter how hard I tried... the name would not disappear.

I grabbed the pencil with two hands and chafed the eraser against the paper, attempting to undo my misdeed, but it wasn't working. It was almost as though I had written the name with a permanent pen rather than just a pencil. The lead that I had used to write the name was ignoring the eraser that was pummeling it and staying on the page like a tattoo.

"Thirty-one...thirty-two...thirty-three!..." I gasped, continuing my endeavor to erase that one single name. Why was I in such a panic? Could it be that deep down I knew the notebook would work?

"This is impossible! It's written with lead, why won't it go off the page?"

"Thirty-seven...thirty-eight...thirty-nine..." I gasped as I dropped the pencil form exhaustion. My hand was sore from my attempt to delete the name, and I looked at the eraser on the pencil...which was now worn all the way down to the metal part that held it in place...

"Forty..." I sighed, looking at the news screen. The reporter was continuing on with the news like normally.

"In other news, Oklahoma had a wake up call with-...huh?" the reported stopped as she held the earpiece in her ear. "Are... are you sure?... Um... this just in! Suspected Terrorist Arnold Dean has apparently let his captures free from the Pioneer's Bank building! Chet is on the scene with the story!"

"Thank you Donna, as you can see, the captives have been released from the building armed with explosives, it is unclear as to whether Mr. Dean is giving in to his crime or using a different bargaining chip, but it appears that all the captives have been accounted for." a male reported started to explain as he walked down a street with a microphone held up to his mouth. He approached a crowd of steady civilians that were flowing out of a building and tapped one of them on the shoulder. "Excuse me miss, what happened while you were in that building?"

The person the reporter had tapped was a young women with matted up black hair and a face like she just saw a zombie decompose before her very eyes. She looked at the reporter with foreign eyes, like she didn't even know where she was.

"I... I don't know... he just... he just collapsed..." the women told as she turned back around and walked away.

"Collapsed?"

"Collapsed?" I looked at the notebook with eyes of fear, but also curiosity. "How is that possible..." My thoughts of the notebook had somehow changed, I saw it work before my very eyes. What if it was a coincidence though? What if somehow at the same time I had written the name that Arnold just had a heart attack at exactly 40 seconds? However, that doesn't explain why I wasn't able to erase the name after I wrote it regardless of just being written with a pencil. I closed the notebook and started at the cover, examining the inscribed words on it.

"Death note..." I whispered. "What in the hell have I just discovered..."

"More than you care to know of..." I heard a voice speak from behind me.

HeroSpirit sighs. "Ah, the first chapter of my Death Note fan fiction, I hope the readers like it."

Haru: "I'm sure they will, it is Death Note after all. You don't have to be picky to like Death Note..."

HeroSpirit hits Haru with a newspaper

HeroSpirit: "That is an insult to Death Note fans everywhere!"