A (revised) Death Note Story:

The Art of Fighting Crime

The Death Note brings out soul's darkest secrets and desires. With every name written in this plain notebook a life is taken away, innocent or not. Light Yagami was gifted with such a thing. Willing to do anything to achieve his divine vision, he changed the world. Detective L was incapable of stopping him and, to his dismay, he died leaving the case to his successor, Near. Near, following L's investigation and strong intuition, took down Yagami.

Now with full possession of the horrific book, sitting by the window, Near gazed at the Death Note. He wondered, fascinated by the idea of a supernatural book in existence. He imagined how Light claimed and controlled his victim's fate just by writing their name down. Peculiar, interesting, yet diabolically evil.

Night grew cold and silent, the wind blew gently flipping the white pages of the Death Note. Near leaned in closer, surprised to find something visible. Words. Names, to be specific. They were faded, someone had erased them.

Light Yagami
Misa Amane
Elle Lauliette

The very last name was legible and dark.

Olive Kruso

"Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it."

-Bertrand Russel

. . .

Chapter 1

The hanging chandelier illuminated the golden ballroom for the chauvinistic gathering. Dancing guests swiftly shifted on the beige marble floor in unison flaunting their elegant gowns. There were laughs, meaningless chit chat, and smiles on the nameless faces as they twirled together with their partners. Having the time of your life and drinking to your heart's content was a tradition in the Yagami Manor, the most honorable family around. Their Noble Line was pure and simple, yet firm and powerful throughout parts of England.

This family lived in the outskirts of London, in a calm serene estate filled with rose bushes and a Gothic structure made of elegant stone and fine steel gates and fences. The trip to London was no more than a day away, convenient for this family. In this home there was life and work to attend to, including the festivity of the booming ball. The Yagami family could not possibly leave their guests unattended.

Light Yagami, oldest of the Yagami children, was in this party not completely savvy with the elated air. He had other things in mind. He smiled politely acting as if his heart was pounding for this 'humble' gathering. He danced simply to please his mother and to keep up good relations with these girls' families. The ivory clock, which stood on top of the peak of the ballroom entrance, ticked slowly testing Light's patience.

He escorted a young lady by the hand, as a gentleman would, to the dance floor and swept her away, wooing her with his adoring dance moves. The couple looked rather dashing together on the dance floor. But, surely, Light was not happy. He wished to be somewhere else other than in the mess of the crowd. He would feel most at peace in his study.

The dancing was boring him and the young lady he was sharing the dance with was clearly ditsy, and only cared about herself image next to him. She did not belong in the party. This was another scheme Light was all too aware about. A seducer she was, wanting to gain his money. She tried to reveal more of her cleavage and looked at him with lustful eyes. Noticing the foul play on the woman's part, Light bid her farewell and left the dance floor. She gave a nasty scowl as he left, waved her hand around apathetically, and quickly wrapped her arms around her former partner.

Light's mother, noticing her son fleeing, was taken a back. She quickly rushed to Light. She confronted him and demanded an explanation, he quickly stated he had business to take care of in the nearby town and would hurry back. He gave a perfect smile, kissed his mother's left hand and left the scene.

Outside he took his family's ebony carriage, with a fine white horse named Peggy, to town. Light opened the door and mounted the carriage and seated himself on the crimson seats. The driver was given orders to go to Percival, town known for it's misery. The road to Percival was a nasty path under the showering night. Light did not mind the traveling conditions, he was glad he was away from pretentiousness and lies. Rain pattered on the car door's window. Light looked beyond the glass into the darkness and saw nothing. It did not take long to get to Percival. The shadows and building structures made their way up through the hazy pale moon that hid behind the dark gray clouds. The carriage came to a stop. Light took out an extra umbrella stashed underneath the seats, opened the door for himself, and stepped away from the carriage telling his driver to wait inside a inn nearby. The driver made no comment and quickly made way through the street of the cramped town. Light walked the streets alone, observing people in black hide away in thin alleys while they looked at him in disgust. He did not notice, for he kept walking holding on to his father's gun tucked into his coat pocket.

A lonely old woman wrapped around a shawl with her walking stick came to Light's view. She was pushed by a drunk and the drunk hiccuped swears at her. He passed into one of the alleyways disappearing from sight. Light stood still and kept his distance. A guard in red uniform stepped his way toward the old woman, only to go around her as if she was never there suffering. He did not offer her his help. The Guard quickly made his way into a bar. Light was horrified and almost flew to the woman's aid. He extended his long fingers to help her, but once she got a good look at him and his clothes, she pushed his hand away, she herself got up with great difficulty.

"I don't need help from some rich boy who feels sorry for me. Who do you think you are? Thinking God might give you something great after helping me? Get away from me you spoiled git!" She stood and walked away from Light. That was not what he wanted to hear from a helpless woman. Light felt sick to his stomach, he was not used to being treated in such a way. He ignored his thoughts and made his way to the hotel, there his driver waited.

Light frowned to himself, turned on his heel, and left into the pounding rain. Raindrops slid down his Adam's apple making him shiver slightly at the cold. All this time what his father was saying about the well security of the country were facades. There was no protection for the people, they were just getting stepped on by the very people that should aid them. Light resented everything he ever believed in. Why was he lied to? For what purpose? People were suffering while he was living a luxurious. How could he have been so blind? Ignorant? Why?

There was a gunshot.

Not far from where Light was standing, a blood curdling scream was heard from the bar. People started to scramble out of there. The Guard came out seconds later with a deadly wound and collapsed to the ground bleeding out. The old woman held an ivory pistol and stood below the bar's entrance. Her pale gray eyes met Light's. He froze noticing she was raising her gun... to her head. He ran to her on an impulse. He noticed her pain stricken face, tears were falling down her droopy cheeks. She was going to do it. She wouldn't be dealing with her torment anymore.

"STOP!" Light cried out, but he was much too late. With a pull of the trigger... BOOM!

She ended her life.

Brain and blood gushed out as she hit the cold ground once again. Her wide eyes looked blankly at nothing. She could not hear the chaos, she could not feel her pain, she only saw the light in which was now gone from her pale ash eyes. Light was at his knees next to her. Light made no sound, he only closed her eyes. He stood, left to the hotel, got his driver, explained nothing, and went back to the carriage.

He went home.

Revised A/N: Well, I hope some people manage to read this and get to like it because I'm kinda okay with it. I'll be publishing new chapters when I'm done revising the chapters I already have up. Thanks for reading if you are!