AN: This is my first Death Note fic, and it's not my best work, but I really needed to get it out. No flames please! Constructive criticism welcomed.

Disclaimer: If I owned Death Note, certain events would not have happened, and I would be filthy rich.

Light smirked ask he selected his favorite pen. It was time to work. Uncapping it with a flourish, he quickly disassembled it and used the inkwell to levy up the fake bottom in his drawer. Grinning with excitement, he reached in and drew out the Death Note.

A thin, cheap black notebook, the Death Note was Light's prized possession, for he could kill simply by writing a person's name in it, as long as he had their face in mind. He loved this power, relishing the knowledge that he was ending lives with his words.

Turning on the TV, he listened to the news. A man convicted of robbing a bank and injuring some customers was on the run. His name was Hiroshi Danno. Light waited patiently until a photograph from the security camera came up.

Perfect.

Smiling, he reassembled the pen and opened the Death Note to a fresh page. With smooth, practiced strokes he penned the name in.

Hiroshi Danno.

Sighing contentedly, Light leaned back and continued watching the news.

I love this job.

Meanwhile, far away, a middle-aged man in a cheap apartment started shaking as the first throws of a heart attack hit him, falling dead to the floor within seconds.

Up in the Shinigami world, a thin, skeleton-like shinigami adorned in Egyptian robes looked down upon the Human Realm. She smiled as she saw a man's lifespan get cut short. Some shinigami must be working. He watched as the silvery mist of the remaining lifespan the man was supposed to live out, visible only to shinigami like herself, drifted from his mouth. She watched it, intending to follow it's path to the shinigami who killed the man to tease him about working, but the silvery years didn't seem to want to lead her anywhere. They drifted across the human realm in a wavering path, as if unsure. Then, as if suddenly pulled by magnetic energy, they shot off across the sea, too fast for the shinigami's eyes to follow.

She blinked uneasily. Curious, she reached out at tentative finger towards the surface of the portal window, coming closer, about to touch…

"Aoi! What are you doing next to that dreary portal? Interested in humans now, are you? I never thought that would happen to you."

She drew her finger back hastily. "Of course not, Daiki! Who do you think I am? Jealous? Look what happened to him!"

"All right then." Replied Daiki. "Well, come and play with us! We could use a fifth player for skulls and bones."

Shrugging, she sent to the shinigami, pushing back disturbing thoughts of the disappearing years. It was of no matter. It had nothing to do with her.