Two months had passed since Kira's last killing. Authorities were saying Kira had been found by the police, but unwilling to surrender, had not been captured alive. The super detective L was credited for the kill. Forums and chat rooms stated his name was Light Yagami, a police officer in Japan, though officials had never confirmed or denied it. They also claimed L had died in the fight against Light, though officials had never given a comment on that. No information on how he killed people was ever given.

Those around the world who believed Kira was the new god denied the claims. They said Kira could not be killed and was simply resting – that his powers had been taxed by the death of Light, his mortal prophet, and he would soon return.

Although officials applauded L for stopping Kira as the public expected them to do, many were inwardly frustrated. Not everyone believed Kira was a god, but many believed he was doing what they wished they could do. He was killing those humans that had done such terrible crimes they did not deserve to live. Not a god, but someone with the right idea.

One of the many people part of the group that did not consider him a god walked along the Miami boardwalk in the United States, enjoying her summer break. Her name was Raven Grayson. She had just finished up a late lunch at a pizza parlor and was heading to her favorite ice cream store for dessert.

The ice cream was within sight now. She shrugged her purse off her shoulder and zipped it open to reach for her wallet. As Raven did so, she turned her head slightly to look inside the large purse and saw movement on the beach. Curiously, she looked up. There was no one on the beach, but two feet away, just off of the boardwalk, was a black notebook.

Raven looked around, but there was no one near it. Hadn't she just seen it drop to the ground? With a frown, she let her purse fall back to her hip and walked to the edge of the boardwalk, dodging a sunburned tourist in a tacky button-up shirt. They always invaded Miami in mass during summer. The black notebook was plain, except for the words DEATH NOTE written in white on the top of the cover.

Now where had that come from? She ducked under the railing and dropped the few feet from the boards to the sand. What was even weirder was that there were no footprints near the notebook, so how could someone drop it?

Curious, Raven knelt and touched the cover to pick it up. A tingle shot through her arm and she jerked her hand back. It reminded her of a static shock, but was nothing like a normal static shock. She clenched and unclenched the fingers of the hand as the tingle vanished. Weird.

She shook it off and touched up the notebook again. There was not another zap. Raven assumed she had just imagined it as she picked it up and stood with it in her hand, opening the cover. Maybe there was a name in it…

The words on the front page's header surprised her: "DEATH NOTE: How to Use It"

She frowned, giving it a bizarre look. The words were in white boarded with more white on a black page. Above the words was a skull. Below were five bullet points, presumably the rules. Raven looked at the first of the "rules."

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

"D-die," Raven stuttered.

What was this? A bad feeling made her clench her teeth and she nearly dropped the book. Then she saw the second rule.

- If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.

Her breath caught. She remembered Kira. Those Kira "passed judgment" on died of a heart attack. Raven chewed her lip. The book slipped from between her fingers when she read the next one.

- This note 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.

Many believed Kira needed a name and face to kill a person. What was this thing? It sounded just like how Kira killed.

Raven took a breath. Calm down Raven, she told herself. This was probably just made by one of the fanatics of the 'Great God of Judgment – Kira of the New World.' That would explain why the rules coincided with Kira's killing methods. No doubt this was just that fanatic's way to explain Kira's powers.

That would explain the design on the cover and the so-called rules. Beyond the front page with the rules was only plain white sheet paper. The lines were black and wide-ruled. Nothing about them struck her as interesting. Likely, the fanatic hadn't been able to finish designing the rest of the pages before they dropped it.

Raven was tempted to leave the book there again, but something about it seemed too interesting. She closed the cover instead. With the odd notebook in her hands, she stepped back onto the boardwalk and resumed her walk to the ice cream parlor.

The bell mounted above the parlor's door jingled as she opened it and she nearly sighed at the blissful coolness of air conditioning. The parlor wasn't a large building and was nearly empty. There were a few more sunburned folk sitting in a booth and one bored teenager behind the counter. The counter took up half the interior, allowing the customers to see the various ice cream flavors. On the wall behind it was a huge chalk board with the flavors and prices. The teenager behind the counter, wearing a red t-shirt with the ice cream parlor's name, looked up from her phone at Raven's entry.

"Hi ya Rave," the girl behind the counter chimed in recognition. She waved. "You want the normal?"

"You bet Lily," Raven smiled. She shrugged off her purse to take out her wallet and slipped the black notebook into it. Lily and Raven's other friends often scoffed at how large her purse was, but it had its uses.

Lily started getting Raven's normal order ready. A scoop of butter pecan and chocolate marshmallow ice cream covered in chocolate syrup, sprinkles, whip cream, and a maraschino cherry in a bowl.

"Here you go," Lily set the bowl with a spoon on the counter and Raven gave her the debit card.

Lily tapped on the register, imputing her order. "So Rave, looking forward to next year? It will be our last." She swiped the card.

"Oh yes," Raven replied sarcastically as she tapped in her PIN number so the payment would go through. "My senior year in high school, how exciting."

Lily smiled as the receipt printed and she tore it off and gave it to Raven. Raven nodded to her classmate and took her ice cream to her usual window seat.

A small TV was in the parlor playing on the news station. It was muted, but there were captions on it. Raven sat down and ate the cherry. Then she mixed up the two flavors of ice cream with the condiments.

Relaxing, she started eating, savoring the flavor. With a smile, she set her purse on the table and reached inside for her wallet to put her credit card back. Her fingers brushed against the black notebook as she did so and she paused.

Slowly, she took it and her wallet out and set it on the table next to her treat. Raven replaced the credit card and wallet back into her purse. Then she turned her attention to the notebook titled DEATH NOTE. It looked odd, but she'd seen stranger Kira-related paraphernalia.

While she ate, she opened the book to the rules. It seemed straightforward enough. The name of the person will write in here will die and if you write the cause of death in the next 40 seconds and details about the death in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds, the person will die as specified. If nothing is specified they die of a heart attack. You have to think of the person's face as you write their name for this to work.

The Kiranite that had written them had clearly thought about it. Yet, the more Raven looked at those rules the more tempted she was to test them out. She would not be the first or last to think that there was something about the DEATH NOTE that encouraged people to try it at least once. Raven reached inside of her purse for a pen.

Whose name should she write? On the off chance this was real she should use a criminal's name and make it a heart attack victim. Everyone would think that Kira had killed them. It would drive the authorities crazy.

Raven glanced at the TV. A picture of four people was being shown on it. Their names were under the pictures. "Hey Lily, can you unmute the TV? There's something going on."

Lily looked at her and then the TV. "Give me a minute," Lily warned.

She ducked under the counter and Raven could hear her rustling things. Then she stood with the remote and hit unmute. The volume was very quiet and she turned it up.

Gradually, the news anchor's voice could be heard. "…police have them cornered. Johnathan Miles, Mark Forrest, Anthony Rogers, and Caleb Grant are corned at long last in an abandoned warehouse by the harbor. A furious gunfight is going on between officers and these criminals in order to capture them. These four are the prime suspects of murder, arson, drug running, and kidnapping."

Lily set the remote down and leaned on the counter. "Looks like Kira's got some new targets. I hope he takes care of them."

"Lily," Raven sighed as she twirled the pen around. Her purse was between the notebook and the counter so Lily couldn't see it. "Kira – Light rather – is dead."

"There's no way that's true," Lily scowled. "Kira's a god, you can't kill a god."

Raven looked back at the TV. Lily was one of those fanatics Raven had been thinking about earlier. In fact, Lily was pretty creative. She could easily see her classmate coming up with this entire DEATH NOTE thing as her way to prove Kira was real. Maybe she should ask her if she knew about it.

"The criminals have sufficient cover and ammunition," the news anchor said as the screen cut back to her. "Authorities cannot breach their stronghold. Kira, if you can hear me, these officers are in need of help."

"Come on Kira," Lily rooted on quietly, "take them out."

Raven smiled as she wrote the names of the four criminals while she pictured their faces one by one. All she wrote down were their names. That was all she needed to do, right? She put her pen down once she finished and looked at the clock on the wall. It was a little past 2:43 pm.

The news reporter continued to speak about the criminals as Raven counted down the seconds. 23, 24, 25, she counted. Will this really work? 36, 37, 38, 39, 40…

The news anchor didn't change his tone. There was no sudden report about the group's death. Raven waited a few seconds more but there was still nothing. It was as she expected, nothing more than some Kiranite's idea to explain Kira.

She might as well ask Lily if she wanted the notebook.

"Hey Lily," she started to ask.

The door opened at that exact moment and the bell jingled loudly. A group of five teenagers, friends likely, walked in.

Lily glanced at Raven, but Raven shook her head. She'd ask Lily about the notebook later. Instead she finished up her ice cream and replaced the DEATH NOTE into her purse. She threw away her paper bowl and plastic spoon and left to let Lily deal with the crowd.

Given that she had just eaten, Raven decided she probably shouldn't go to the amusement park or fetch her roller skates from her car. She glanced at the sun, seeing how far it was from the horizon. With a shrug, she decided to change into her bikini, which was in her purse, to work on her tan.


There's another DEATH NOTE! This takes place after the end of the anime with Light Yagami dead. I wonder how Raven will use the powers of the DEATH NOTE?