Okay, so here is my first attempt at GOOD fanfiction... To those who read my smut; sorry. I know it sucked ass. But, I finally have a computer to help edit my works, so it's bound to be just a little bit better,right? Gawd I hope so. Well, anyway, here it is.
Killer is his name: A Death Note Story
Prologue: Slow Beginnings
I ve never been a bible pusher. I have never gotten on top of a proverbial soapbox and preached my beliefs to those who believed differently then I. Yes, I believe in God, whoever that may be. (You know, I ve never really met the guy...) And, yes, I read the bible on a daily basis. Despite my strong belief of an all knowing, all-powerful being who looks after us, I am not like those in-you r-face-24/7 Baptists who don t want to let people be responsible for themselves or those anyone-who-doesn t-agree-with-what-we-say-is-the-devil/i-will-turn-up-my-nose-at-the-lesser-beings-who-don t-worship-God-as-good-as-i-can Catholic's. I'm more of a subtle believer.
My mom doesn t like that about me. She wanted me to try to save the whole human race from eternal damnation at the ripe age of sixteen. But, hey, ignorance is bliss. God forgives the ignorant. If you tell them before they meet God, there is the chance they won t believe you and then God will say ; "you were notified of my existence. Why did you not come to me?"
Anyways, my religious self is unimportant to you. You probably don t see the reason of me telling you this. Trust me. It is important. I just can t go on any longer without documenting this series of events that led me to this point in my life. I am Juno Matsumoto; my story begins shortly after my sixteenth birthday, when my father, Hiroshi Matsumoto, moved my family to Kanto, Japan. Like any other stubborn teenager, I didn t want to move away from my home and my friends. I was in my senior year of high school and I d be damned if I was uprooted before skip-day! Now, I know many of you are thinking Wait? Sixteen? And a senior? Well, I skipped two grades in junior high cuz my dad wanted to tutor me after school in the advanced math the kids in Japan were learning so I would have bragging rights on the other kids. In his words.
My dad was a really good man and a great father. Even though his family resented him for falling in love with a white woman and moved all the way to California to be with her, he never let that affect him. He took all the hushed scoldings and silent glares with a bright grin and a smart remark. I wanted to be just like him.
The only time Dad and I ever really argued was when he took me out for donuts and hot chocolate to ease me into the idea of moving.
I remember sitting in our usual booth at the small family owned bakery as I slurped the soggy marshmallows off the top of my cup. I kept stealing small glances at my father s almost scared face and his twiddling thumbs, not touching his chocolate sprinkles that he otherwise would have massacred. It was easy to tell when he was upset.
Tearing off a piece of my own chocolate glazed, I didn t look at him as I asked , so, pop, what s up? I heard his gasp then the sound of his own Styrofoam cup falling over as he accidentally hit it with his hand. , Oooh ooh! Hot! Hot! He mumbled as he struggled to stop the liquid from getting on his white work shirt. Mom would kill him if he got chocolate on it again.
I couldn t help but giggle as I handed him some of the napkins on my side of the table. , Okay, now I m positive something s wrong, Dad, , Alright, kid, I shoulda known I wouldn t have been able to get one past you. I swear, the way you read people scares me sometimes, He said with a sigh after he straightened up his side of the table.
I just grinned cheekily as I waited for him to explain his uncharacteristic bad mood. He just stared me down with a, unusual for his face, serious expression.
He honestly looked liked the last thing he wanted was to be telling me what he had to say, and it was beginning to annoy me.
", Spit it out, pops, I m sure whatever it is it isn t bad, "I said, my irritation unhidden.
He let out a big sigh as if he was gathering up his courage to say it." , Okay. Juno, we re moving. "He said in an also uncharacteristically commanding voice. He even puffed up his chest to give off that Authority vibe. I nearly burst into laughter.
The tough guy act lasted about five seconds under my deadpan stare, he let out a breath and his puffed chest went back to normal as he then wrapped his arms above his head like he was trying to escape my imminent wrath. Aforementioned wrath didn t come, but, he was still waiting for me to burn him to ashes with my eyes.
", Oh? When?" I asked, taking a sip of cocoa.
He then released his defense pose and looked tentatively at me." , Wait, you re not mad?"
I looked at him with my best durh look.
He seemed to calm down a bit so he took a small sip from the remaining cocoa in his cup. After he was done, he wiped some non-existent sweat from him brow and took his glasses off and set them down on the table to his left.
", In a month, I found this really great job in the Kanto region, close to a nice neighborhood and a good high school. You re finally going to be around equals, gosh, June you and your mother are gonna love it in Japan! And I know how much you love anime and manga; there are tons of that over there! I knew I was smart to teach you and Mom Japa-"
I cut him off , "Whoa, Whoa, Japan!" I nearly shouted. I could feel my anger rising steadily but not as fast as the panic of being thrust into another country. I was thinking a different part of town (our current one was slowly descending into becoming a trashy neighborhood) but not a whole country!
The fear came back real quick.
The next month went by a little faster than I would have liked, my days were filled with packing and brush ups on my Japanese. My mom was pretty excited about the move, to my surprise. So excited, in fact, that she instantly began adapting to the culture . She was wearing a kimono this one time I had my boyfriend over.
My God, that was embarrassing. We were just walking in from school, tired as hell and I was pretty grumpy. I had told my teacher about my move out of the country and then had the pleasure of getting caught under the stampede of teenage girls who wanted to know if I was going to see if the rumors about Asian guys were true for them. Gotta love answering those kinds of questions with my boyfriend four feet away. Yeah.
The first thing I noticed about my mother was the traditional kimono with the hair up in a bun on top of her head in the living with a spread of food on our coffee table.
", Uhh, Mom?" I asked as I mentally prayed to be adopted.
She looks up from the table and then smiles brightly at me and Patrick, my boyfriend. , Hey, kids, you re just in time to sample some of the traditional Japanese foods I ve been experimenting with. At that I gave Patrick a look that said , Run. Run while you still can! He then replied with a sweet smile that said , Not a chance. He proceeded to walk into the living room, but, was stopped by my mother.
", You better take off those shoes before walking in here. Only socks are acceptable on a tatami mat," She said as if she knew something we didn t and was bragging.
Patrick and I both deadpanned at her before complying. We sat at the tatami mats that my mother had placed around the coffee table. I took note of everything she made from sukiyaki to gyudon domburimono and miso. Where the hell did she get time to make all this? I thought. I was about to start eating when I noticed there wasn t any silverware. Now how the hell am I supposed to eat this without something to eat it with? I thought. My eyes widened as I glared suspiciously at my mother. She s not gonna try to make me eat with chopsticks is she? Better not
" , Now, I bet you re wondering where the silverware is. I am going to tell you right now, I threw all of them out," She said pleasantly as she handed Patrick and I each a set of chopsticks.
I glared at the heinous sticks with a slight twitch in my eye. She s really going to make eat like this. Really.
", Are you kidding me?" I asked out to no one in particular, still glaring at the sticks.
", No, not one bit. Sweetie, if we re going to be living among the Japanese we must learn how to live like them, "My mother said as she poured Patrick a cup of tea and set it near him.
", But, we re not Japanese. We re Americans, "I said as I closed my eyes in annoyance.
My mother looked at me with bewildered eyes." , Better not let your father hear you say that. You are as Japanese as your father and as American as I am. You need to be able to show that to your grandparents when we visit them,"
My eyes shot open. Oh, yeah, I totally forgot that we d be seeing them soon after the move. Now they were some real stiffs, and that s even on the Japanese s standards. My mother had a self satisfied look on her face. She poured me a cup of tea just as she had Patrick before me.
", Ok. You win. Show me how to do this, Yoda," I said.
She giggled at my reference." , First, learn the proper meal etiquette, you must. Then, how to impress grandparents, my young paddawon, "She said, imitating Yoda.
I chuckled as I drank my tea.
I had Patrick come over to help me pack my things the next Saturday when both of my parents would be at work so he and I could have some alone time. It surprised me that when I told him I was moving out of the country he was somewhat okay with it.
His words were ', I love you, and I hope you love me too. If we have that, I m sure we can make this work .'
Such a sweetheart, right? How lucky am I?
As we were boxing up some of the stuff I had on the top shelf in my attic, we started talking about how we were going to keep seeing each other from thousands of miles away.
", We could skype," He suggested.
", That could be fun, if you knew how to use a freaking computer, "I reminded.
I was in my closet haphazardly grabbing bags and old boxes from the top shelf and throwing them in the middle of my floor, where Patrick was sorting the objects/old clothes in piles of Keepsakes, give away, and the goodwill box.
", I could learn," I smiled as I sensed the pout that was no doubt on his cute face.
", Well, better earn fast, cuz I m going to be gone in less than two weeks," I said.
I gasped as I accidentally pulled on a slightly heavy box, not knowing it had another on top of it. I tried to stop it from falling, but, that only resulted in me going down with it.
", Oww!"I fell on my hipbone, with the box on the front of my stomach.
", June! Are you alright?" Patrick said, slightly panicked as he picked the box up off of me and set it near the give away pile.
I rubbed my exposed skin where the box hit." , Yeah. Wow, that was heavy, what the flapjack is in there?" I said as I crawled two feet to the box.
I opened the top flaps and peered down inside. Patrick followed and also looked inside. His expression was like mine. Utterly confused.
He reached in and pulled out ..A stuffed bear? Only a stuffed bear. WTF!
A week and three days later .
", Call me when you get to the airport. Text me when you board. Then when you land. And any other time you want. You better get on twitter. Don t be afraid of the time zone, I ll always pick up. OHHHH, I m going to miss youuuuuuu!" I smiled as my best friend Amanda tackled me to the ground in a hug that could crush Andre the Giant.
", I love you, too, Mandy," I said as I stroked her sunny blonde hair.
She released me and stood up offering her hand to help me up. I took it as I smiled gently at her. Me and this girl went way back. Like, our moms are best friends as well and they got pregnant with us at the same time, kind of back.
I saw her staring back at me, tears slowly gathering around the rims of her blue eyes." , GAH! "she cried as she pulled me into another hug." , I love you so much! You better not forget me or replace me with an Asian kung fu master for a new best friend!"
", Lord knows, I couldn t get rid of you if I wanted to. We re stuck with each other for life," I assured.
She released me, wiping at her eyes. ", Better be."
", Kay, ladies, I understand the need to be all sisterly, but, I want some Juno time, too," we both looked away from one another to see Patrick bringing out my carry-on bag and my black leather jacket.
:, So? You get the most time out of her then anyone!" Amanda glared at him.
Patrick smiled cheekily." , Oh, well, I guess. That just means she likes me more than you,"
Amanda huffed" , I met her first. She s my best friend, she loves me more,:
", Yeah? Well, I was born first! Midget" He threw back.
Amanda' s eyes widened as did mine.
", You so did not just go there! "I said, giggling. It was fun watching those two go back and forth. Gotta love twins.
He looked at me with his hazel eyes.
", I so just did," He bent down to kiss my cheek.
I blushed, seeing as PDA wasn t a usual thing for us. , Hey, Juno, come on! We gotta be there before 7! My dad shouted from the car.
I look back at the two I was leaving behind. I quickly give Amanda another hug and a chaste kiss on the lips to Patrick. He turned me around and put my jacket on, then turned me back around, ignoring my shocked expression, and gave me a bigger kiss that left my mind blank for two seconds.
Before I could regain my senses, he thrust my carry on in my hands and gave me a gentle push towards my parents, who were watching with amused smiles.
I walked to the car opened the door to the backseat on the drivers side and tossed my begin before getting in myself. I waved once more to Patrick and Amanda.
My father started the car, but didn t back out. He looked out his window at Patrick and told him to take care of himself.
", You too, Mr. Matsumoto," He said back waving.
With that, he backed out of the driveway and drove away from our old house. I turned in my backseat, watching Amanda, Patrick, and the newly posted for sale sign on the lawn shrink away until dad turned out of the neighborhood.
Yall' know the drill, read review, and if you like alert! And if you have suggestions or just wanna point something out that i'm doing wrong, Holla. I can take whatever you guys can dish.