Random Philosophical Theoretical Hypothetical Analytical
A collection of random oneshots and drabbles involving various themes, philosophical mindsets, and the like. Written in preparation for a Creative Writing 10 project. Explores characters' identities and personas. Contains gender switch, quotations from random sources, long-winded rambles, and the like. May also contain cheesiness to the max and sexual situations.
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, neither do I claim Cao Xueqin's work as my own. I am just a humble fan cobbling together shabby sentences in hopes of bettering her art.
Transcience
It was April, the month of the cherry blossoms. All around the park pink petals were drifting from the trees. Raito inhaled their sweet scent. Normally, he would have preferred to stay in his house, studying or "working". But since the results of the To-Oh University Entrance Exams were due today, his mother had urged him to go for a walk to clear his head and relax. And with L on his case (no pun intended), there wasn't much he could do except comply with his mother's wishes, be the perfect - but ordinary – son until L's attention was somehow diverted.
Raito frowned. Under his feet twigs snapped and fallen flower petals were crushed. He had thought L, of all people, could understand. Considering how much evil he – or she- must have witnessed by now. Kira was no vigilante. Somewhere inside him he knew that killing was in itself not the best solution, but what could he do? Those animals deserved to die. With every man killed, every woman raped, every child brutalized, the world was rotting at its core. His was the only way to heal the broken world for a new dawn.
The cherry blossoms made it look as if it were snowing. He decided to take the time off to rest his mind, calm his racing thoughts (it wouldn't do to appear the slightest bit strained when he got home, though he could always chalk it up to examination stress). But he was startled out of his reverie by a soft voice chanting some sort of… prayer. He turned around to see who it was.
Tired-looking white shirt and coarse denim pants contrasting sharply with the surroundings, Raito recognized the girl that had sat behind him during the Todai entrance test. Back slouched over with her hands in her pockets, eyes closed and face turned up to the sky. Her hair was dark and looked like she had hacked it off herself, and her skin was unhealthily pale, as if she rarely ventured out of doors. Dark bags underscored her eyes. But for all that, she was attractive in an unconventional way. Her build was tall, delicate and fine-boned, and her face was calm like a Boddhisatva's. Her lips were moving slightly, and Raito inched closer surreptitiously to listen, slightly entranced by the distinctly odd sight. The girl was reciting a poem in Mandarin:
Who will care for the fallen blossoms and the dead maid?
Suddenly, she stiffened and opened her eyes, freezing Raito to the spot with one wide-eyed and dark gaze.
Raito stood rooted to the ground. The young woman wasn't really glaring at him or staring at him antagonistically. Her head was cocked to one side, eyes sharp with interest. But he felt like he had interrupted her in some hallowed moment, and so he flushed and muttered an apology, turning to leave.
She stopped him with a question. "Did you hear what I was reciting?"
Raito stopped, floundered a bit, then decided to tell her the truth. Smiling in a practiced, sheepish schoolboy way, he replied smoothly.
"It's one of the poems from 'A Dream of the Red Chamber', right?"
The young woman nodded, but didn't say anything. Just stared at him unblinkingly. Raito began to feel decidedly antsy and decided to fill in the blank silence himself. "If you don't mind me asking, why were you reciting it?"
The girl shrugged, and turned her face up, eyes following the blossoms' lazy descent. "It seemed like the perfect poem on this occasion. A poem about the brevity of life, in the midst of the cherry blossoms," she turned to look at him once again. "Here in Japan, they symbolize death, do they not?"
Raito shrugged then hesitantly stepped closer. "In a sense. They symbolize the samurai, the way they fall off just after they bloom." He stopped beside her, though still at a respectful distance away.
"Hmmm… "The young woman picked off a fallen petal from her shirt and inspected it. "Isn't it strange?" She commented. "All our lives we work for seemingly impossible goals, and sometimes we even succeed. But the moment we die, poof!" She dropped the petal. "They're all gone, and we don't even know what awaits us." She turned to him. "Makes everything seem rather pointless, don't you think?"
Raito processed her cheering words for a moment, then picked up a flower lying at his feet. "It depends on you yourself… I believe," he said carefully. "Because if you have people who follow your work, whatever you fought for will never die. I think the idea is to always have the bigger picture in your mind, never to give in to petty pleasures." He glanced at her. "At least, that's what I believe in."
She cocked her head to one side, eyes regarding him curiously. "But aren't those by themselves worldly desires? Destined to fade away? The Divine Attendant Shen Yin was sent to the red dust precisely to know the emptiness of human existence. The Vermilion Pearl Blossom followed to repay him for saving her life. but no matter what Bao Yu did, it was never enough, wasn't it? He and his love were destined to be eclipsed and driven apart by the ambition of their family. And from the height of splendor fall they did into desperate circumstances. The only peace they gained was after they returned to the Great Void," she shrugged.
Raito was silent. Then he smiled. "Not to say that I'm overly optimistic or anything, but I think there's more hope than what you just said. And time and again, in history there's always been people who stood on their ground and made a difference-"
"Like Kira, I presume?" the young woman scoffed. "I refuse to believe a reign of terror will change anything in this world. True Justice does not threaten. It inspires fear, yes, fear of the law. But it does not dictate who does or does not have the right to exist."
Something about the way she said it made Raito hold his tongue and control himself. The uneasy feeling in his gut, which he'd been feeling the moment he saw her, deepened. But before he could think of a reply, her face softened and she said quietly.
"I'm sorry. You musn't think I am condemning the entire human race. But it is hard… Especially on a day like today…" She trailed off.
"… We all have our bad days, I suppose," was the only thing Raito could think to reply.
"I'm not saying that the world is utterly beyond redemption or anything…There's always been hope, if only you look hard enough." She closed her eyes. "And I don't believe people should be herded like sheep. I am someone who lives for herself and for what she believes in." She opened them. "Nothing and no one can change that." She glanced sharply at Raito
Her words confirmed Raito's suspicions about her, but he was careful not to let anything show other than mild agreement. "I too, am a person who lives for what I believe in…"
"Just as long as what you believe in does not result in directly harming others. But then again, this is only what I believe in." The girl straightened herself and made to leave. "It was interesting, chatting with you, though I'm afraid I monopolized most of the conversation. I hope to see you soon.
"By the way, Todai results are in," she turned her head towards him.
Raito had been a little dazed by the strange conversation, then gave a start. It had been two hours since he took a walk. "Okaa-san must be waiting for me now," he bowed. "Forgive me, but I must go." He straightened up. "Your name is…?" He inquired.
She grinned, curved and slightly predatory, making him feel slightly ill at ease. "You'll know soon enough." She started to walk away. "I will be seeing you, Yagami-san." She called out.
Raito whipped around in shock, but she was gone.
He was alone among the cherry blossoms.
The entire encounter had had a dreamy, surreal quality to it. But he was in the real world now. And as he wrote name after name in the Death Note, the afternoon's events replayed in his mind.
The way she looked, the way she stood, the way she talked, the way she walked. Everything was ingrained in his memory, burned into it with an iron brand. Under the cover of darkness with only the glow of the television to see from, he wielded his pen with an even bloodier zeal than before.
The young woman would forever haunt him, he knew, even long after she had returned to the Great Void. But that was no matter. Even better for her to look down on the world as he tears it down and builds it up brick by brick, according to his own master plan.
He paused for a moment, eyes falling on the cherry blossom lying on top of his university acceptance letter. He took it and breathed in its sweet fragrance. Then he crushed it between his fingers. Wiping his fingers dry on his pants, he reached for the letter.
Aloud, he told the shinigami standing behind him. "Ryuk, looks like it's going to be one wild ride for the two of us."
On the television, the insignia of his rival glowed.
Okay… so a chance encounter between two genii, with L having a particularly bad day…
I know they don't officially meet until the start of the school year, so I guess this counts as AU. Ah well. Have the freedom.
XD I really should be studying for my French midterms right now, but this little oneshot had been nagging at me to have it written all day.
"The Dream of the Red Chamber" is the greatest Chinese classical novel of all time. Written by Cao Xueqin during the Qing Dynasty, it deals with the fall of the Jia family from great prosperity, and is a social commentary about the feudal system. There are numerous subplots and even more characters (to the point of giving one a headache), but the main thread is about a tragic love story between two cousins, Jia Bao Yu and Lin Dai Yu. They are both reincarnations of spirits from the Illusory Land of the Great Void, sent to experience the pointlessness of human existence.
I'm aware that the verse L recites may not be accurate, since I don't have my own copy of the book (I borrowed it from the library). But Lin Dai Yu recites it when she's burying flower petals and weeping over the transcience of spring. :D
Reviews are greatly appreciated. But please, don't flame the gender switch. If you don't like it, then for God's sake, don't read it! Why torture yourself?