Limited Eternity – Chapter 1

It's been a month since Danae started living with the newborn Ryuk. The former Shinigami has been rather challenging as a roommate. He faced difficulties with everyday tasks; he had no idea how to cook, clean, wash the clothes she had so kindly bought for him, or how to use any electric appliances in general. She still remembers the first time he tried to turn on the TV.

"I have watched Light do this many times," he had said.

She had found him inspecting the black box thoughtfully, searching for something that would trigger his memory. After a few failed tries she gave him the remote and explained every single thing, only to end up watching cartoons with him. He stared into the screen like a little kid, watching colorful aliens full of enthusiasm.

Or that time, when they went shopping together for the first time and took the bus to get to the town's center. She was perfectly clear when she told him to go get them two bus tickets as she waited at the station. Having forgotten about his 21st century ignorance, she almost had a heart attack when she found him raging in front of the tickets machine, ready to write its company's name on a piece of paper from his Death Note.

His funny behavior had been explained. The first time she saw him endeavoring to make the toaster work, she had asked him in what century he used to live before he became a Shinigami. She was joking obviously, just teasing him for his clumsiness.

"In the 15th century," was his answer.

She thought he was kidding, until she noticed the seriousness that his brown gaze emitted. Of course, during that century technology was nowhere near present's wonders. People used to bath in wooden bathtubs which they filled up with boiled hot water and they would entertain themselves with occupations such as archery, hunting, literature, theatre and art.

She waited at least a month to get her remaining questions answered. She needed to know more about the two Death Notes he was always carrying with him, the Death Eraser, Light Yagami – Ryuk was referring to him very often– and everything else that pinched her curiosity. And apart from Ryuk's difficulty of getting used to technological progress, the time he used to live in explained other things as well. And first of all; the old Death Note on which his name was written on.

"That Death Note is not mine," he explained, chewing on another red apple. "It belongs to the Shinigami King, that old fart who wrote my name on his Death Note 6 centuries ago."

Ryuk had told her many stories about the Shinigami Realm, where every god of Death rots in boredom, and its ruler; the King of Shinigami. That "old fart" was the one that supplied every Shinigami with Death Notes, but kept his own as well.

"He is very old, possibly centuries older than me, that's why his Death Note is now a piece of rotten paper." He stayed silent for a few seconds, inspecting the fruit in his palm with a skeptical expression on his features. "Hehe, I tricked him again."

Ryuk had told her about the first time he tricked the King; when he stole and threw the Death Note of another Shinigami in the human world and descended to follow Light Yagami, or Kira, at his path of becoming the "god of the new world". Apparently, the raven haired man in front of her was very mischievous and she should have her alarms activated at all costs around him.

"The Death Eraser is his as well," he added.

"So you stole the eraser and this Death Note from the King, because it was the only way to come back to life, right?" she asked, showing him the King's Death Note which had lost its black color long ago. It was now dark brown with fainted, grey letters on its rough cover.

"Yes." Pride was evident in his expression.

"And you wanted so much to become human again because…?"

"I was bored."

That was his answer to almost everything. Boredom was his excuse for getting constantly involved with the human world.

"Hm. But apart from that, you said you wanted to prevent the rebirth of Kira. You said he has found out about the Death Eraser and the only way to keep it away from him was to give it to a human, because you were confident he would steal it from the King as well… am I correct?"

"Yes, and I know that if Light comes back to life, he will send me back to the Realm… and I want to stay here, as a human."

Danae was well aware of the emotion in his eyes. The nostalgic tone in his voice was nothing but a pleading. He was practically begging her to help him prevent Kira from getting the eraser.

"Alright then, the only thing we have to do is ruin Kira's plans," she announced with confidence in an attempt to make him feel more comfortable. "What do you think he will try to do now, Ryuk?"

"Ah… the only way to get the eraser is to wait for your death, Danae."

She gulped. He was talking so casually about it.

"But he can't kill you himself. If a Shinigami kills for any other reason apart from expanding their lifespan, they will die."

That information was new.

"Wow… can't they just pretend they're killing to expand their lifespan?"

"No, if that was possible, poor Gelus would be alive now."

"Who's Gelus?"

"A Shinigami that fell in love with a girl and killed someone who was about to murder her in order to save her. The Death Note can feel our motives, Danae."

Several thoughts were pounding at the walls of her mind as she was trying to comprehend all those supernatural rules and facts.

"Hmm… so if Kira can't kill me by himself, he has to find someone else to do it. A human, perhaps?"

"Right. Good luck with discovering who Light is going to pick."

"So you believe that Kira – Light, will give a Death Note to someone and wait till that someone decides to write my name on it?"

Ryuk was silent for a moment. He took the last bite of his apple and ruffled his spiky hair. The words were about to leave his mouth when a loud noise was heard from the balcony. They looked at each other and quickly ran outside. The metallic ladder Danae was keeping next to the flower pots has fallen on the floor.

"It might have been a cat. They usually ascend by climbing the trees," she brushed off the incident, although Ryuk looked a little bit more worried.

"I don't think Light will wait, Danae."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sure he is going to pick someone who will be at least as ambitious as he was, someone who will take advantage of the Death Note immediately. And if Light tells that someone about a girl that owns the Death Eraser, that someone will definitely hunt you down."

A deep sigh escaped her lips as she returned in the living room, heading to the computer where she has been editing her work. She is a journalist, spending hours every day in writing and posting articles or taking interviews from people that her company would assign to her. It's not as simple as it sounds. A job like that could turn to be dangerous or really tiring, especially when people would not cooperate.

She sat on the wheel chair and opened a new tab on the browser.

"Hey Ryuk, could you tell me a bit more about Light-kun?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Something useful that will help me find public information about him on the Internet."

Obviously, the police had concealed the identity of Kira, as well as his way of killing. The public had no idea about any Death Notes or Shinigami.

Ryuk took a chair from the dining table and sat next to the young woman.

"Hmm… he was a student at the To-Oh University and afterwards a member of the Japanese Task Force."

She searched through the Internet for hours, while Ryuk was giving her more and more clues. She ended up with a significant amount of information about the young genius.

Light Yagami appeared to be a very intelligent young man, claiming the highest scores since High School, getting accepted in the National Police Agency since he was just 23 years old and solving countless criminal cases. According to the data she collected, he was much respected as a personality and many people addressed to him when they needed help.

"There's something that Internet conceals from you, Danae."

"What? That he was Kira? I know that already."

"No, that he was a womanizer."

"Oh don't tell me!" She joked, rolling her eyes. Of course, the guy had the profile of the perfect criminal.

She gave another look at the photos she had printed. She had found pictures both from his student years and his alleged career. No wonder girls would fall for him. No matter how she tried to convince herself otherwise, Light Yagami was incredibly handsome, with his light brown hair framing his face in such a perfect way that highlighted his cheekbones, the formal style of his that seemed to be present since his school years and those big, chestnut eyes full of confidence.

Ryuk must have noticed her staring at the photo in her hand.

"Well… he doesn't really look like that now."

"Haha, yeah I bet he is just a scarecrow of bones, like you were, right?"

"He is even worse. He has no lips and his eyes are two little red, shining dots."

"My… at least I'm not in danger of falling for him~"

The former Shinigami laughed a little before rubbing his eyes with his fists. Danae realized he was sleepy so she opted for the last question of the day.

"Ryuk, do you have any idea of how we're supposed to find the guy that Light will now choose to give the Death Note to?"

He hummed in thought.

"It would be hard to do that on our own. But… there must be someone… who will definitely get very close to their identity, if the killings start again."

"And who's that?" she asked, even though having another ally did not really suit her plans.

"Hmm… something like Rear, Bear, Dear, Near..." he blabbed, making her laugh at his attempts of recalling the man's name. "Must be working for the FBI now, white hair, dark circles, looks like a depressed version of Casper the ghost... dunno, you can search for him if you like, I'm going to sleep."

"Haha, alright then," she wished him goodnight and planted a kiss on his cheek, making him blush visibly.

"I have told you so many times, it won't be good if I fall for you, Danae," he reminded her, touching the spot where she kissed him. She smiled at his bashfulness as he disappeared in his bedroom.

Even though it's only been a month, she had developed a rather intimate relationship with the newborn man, leaving behind the fears that had agitated her when she first met him as a god of death. However, she had easily found out that he was rather shy around women, and she loved teasing him.

It was 2 A.M. and she decided against searching for that man Ryuk told her about. She had to go to work early in the next morning anyway.

She gave a last glance at Light's best photo, among those she had printed. It showed him shaking the hand of a journalist who was probably there to interview him about a case he had solved. She shivered at the thought that in other circumstances, she might have been the one shaking Kira's hand.

Light's death was labeled as a car accident, which she found a pretty pathetic and banal lie.

Looking at the photo in her palm, she could only tell the thriller of her life was just beginning.

Why on Earth did Ryuk choose her, among all people to do this job