Ryuk's POV

I can smell envy, fear, anger, and they all feel so damn sweet. I twist my neck to take in a deep breath, sniffing in delight; the mixed aroma fills me with a strange, but pleasant kind of euphoria.

I stare at the other Shinigami surrounding me, lying around, doing nothing but gamble to fill their wasted time.

They're rotting slowly, more so than they already have, and there's no way in this realm or any other realm I am going to turn into another pathetic, decaying, weak creature.

That's it, I've taken my decision, I'm going to follow this scent and do something about it, I have no idea what I'm going to do, but it's driving me mad with desire, I tried to fight it, but it has overcome me.

That's a first; I'm always in control of my urges no matter how incredible they are. Interesting…

Screw shinigami apples, they're boring anyway, I prefer human ones, I've tasted them on many occasions and they're fantastic, and since I'm pretty sure the smell belongs to the human realm, I'm good.

I breathe in deeply, not for my personal pleasure this time, but as to locate the source of this astounding negativity.

Alright, perhaps I'll bring a few apples as a snack for the road; it's a long ride, anyway.

I'll probably wait a few minutes before I depart, though. I don't want to draw any unwanted attention to my sudden flight; every single move counts as suspicious these days. Untrusting fools.

I lean back and let out a mirthless chuckle as I once again sweep my eyes over the sad view and think of how everything that happened had led up to this useless, pathetic life, where all of us have lost the essence of being a god of death.

We have stopped using the Death Note years ago, when one of them fell into the hands of someone who could easily be the devil's embodiment on earth. His ownership of the Death Note led to the destruction of thousands from the human race, and the loss of our very own shinigami King, something which we once thought was impossible. We mourned him for weeks, and a new king was chosen, a mere coward, not worthy of the honorable title, but I couldn't stand in the way of the other Shinigamis' choice, unfortunately.

Fearing for his life, he decided not to repeat his ancestor's "mistake", and he destroyed all the existing Death Notes, save the one which had previously belonged to our king, he has taken possession of it. Now all we have left is our evil wit, gambling, and immortality. The latter one is under conditions, too.

Our dear old –well, rather new- Shini King grants each one of us one human life span every month so we can guarantee we stay alive. Of course, he doesn't give them out of the kindness of his heart; as each and every one who wishes to retain their immortality must serve them in one way or another, let it be offering him most of our hard earned apple storage, submitting to all his orders, or even rubbing his "sore" feet, as if he uses them anyway. He either hovers above us or has everything brought right at his own pampered feet. Some of us even worship him!

Looks like humans aren't the only pathetic creatures out there after all.

I snap back into reality at the sound of obnoxious chewing –which I admit I'm guilty of, as well- and I find Sidoh perched on a hard rock right opposite to my crouching position. I stare at him coldly, my gaze unwavering, until he finally takes it as a cue to speak out.

"What are you thinking, Ryuk?" he asks idiotically, in an annoying nasal voice, leaning forward as if he's waiting for me to reveal some juicy secret. Hmm, juicy… I could really use an apple right now.

Focus, Ryuk, focus.

Well, to explain things between me and Sidoh –not that way, you perverts!- we have what could be called an alliance, but there's no way in hell I'm telling him about what I've planned.

There's no such thing as what humans call "trust" in our species. An unnecessary extra word can cost you a life.

Come to think of it, even I don't know what I've planned, so that means I'm not completely lying.

Not that I care, anyway. Hyuk...hyuk..hyuk..

"Apples," I answer him simply with a smirk stretching on my face, and quickly change it into a fake dreamy smile, just for emphasis.

The foolish fellow nods, immediately buying it and says no more.

A few moments pass in silence, with nothing but the usual noises breaking it, when I find the scent creeping up on me again, attacking my nostrils, beckoning me to follow it to the ends of earth.

That's it, I can't wait anymore, I need to find this fascinating human. I bolt rapidly from my seat, causing Sidoh to stumble in surprise and back away as I head to my cave with slow, unhurried steps, so as not to arouse suspicion and hide the view to the outsiders' eyes with my frame, shoving my hand into a familiar crack, I retrieve my beloved death note –which unbeknownst to the King, is the only one that survived other than his.-

Oh, did I mention that I switched his note with mine? He's so ignorant he didn't even notice the difference; the king's note is supposed to have better effects, more…how can I say it? More options?

Yeah, more options. Heh, sounds nice.

Don't expect me to explain them now! Where's the fun in that? Wait and you'll see.

Anyway, I hide the note expertly under a fold in my clothes and walk casually towards the king's filthy throne.

He doesn't pay attention to me until I speak.

"I'm leaving."

He looks up at me in nothing but pure bewilderment, his red, angular face contorting in surprise, he shoves his servants away, sending them scurrying away indignantly and stares at me with a thousand questions swarming in his pitch black eyes.

"What for?" He asks with a forced tone of authority, trying desperately to hide his bafflement. I sneer to myself. How pitiful.

"I'm visiting the human realm," I say shortly.

"There's no need to!" he replies angrily, growling slightly.

"There is to me," I answer him challengingly, cocking my head to the side.

"You have no place to stay but here, to serve your lawful king and do your duties. Should you neglect them, you will be deprived from what keeps your generously granted immortality," He snarls threateningly, baring his sharp, decaying teeth, as if that coward, who's afraid of his own shadow, can knock a speck of fear into me.

"I think I'll live," I reply sarcastically with a deprecating glare. "I think you'll have to rub your own feet this time."

I turn around so that my back faces him. Among the protests and howls, I spread my wings, take off, and navigate downwards, heading to the human sky, leaving the horrible stench and grey, depressing ashes behind, with a satisfied smile decorating my ruined face.

Finally, I can soar towards the scent that's been driving me insane with desire. My wings are fluttering freely, in harmony with the unfamiliar gusts of wind.

Ugh, I was too busy making a dramatic, oh-so-badass exit to bring my road snacks. Now, I'm beginning to have these withdrawal symptoms again.

Oh, well, I like drama anyway, and I think I was fantastic.

Besides, I'll only have to wait a few hours till I sink my teeth into the heavenly human apples.

So juicy, so red, so succulent, so ridiculously delicious, so…Focus, Ryuk!

I force myself to snap back into my senses, wiping the drool off my face with a clawed hand and I focus on the mission ahead. I have amazing navigation skills, but I still need the least amount of concentration.

To be honest, I have no clue what I'm going to do once I get there, I don't even know why I'm following that scent, but the unknown is always fun, and I have this inexplicable desire to do something about it.

After hours of restless flying, I'm finally there, and the essence is stronger than ever, drawing me unbelievably close, like the strongest magnet there is.

It's late, almost midnight. The sky is painted in deep ink, with a few stars illuminating the otherwise black canvas above. The wind is light, but cold and refreshing, and I can catch a glimpse of the crescent peeking timidly among its astral comrades.

The nature of this world astounds me. Being a Shinigami doesn't necessarily mean I don't appreciate beauty, on the contrary, being imprisoned in an ever-grey world helps you see other worlds in a whole different light.

I can glimpse a large building, a huge one, actually. That's the one, my target's here, I can feel it.

Said building appears to be newly painted, with a fancy entrance gate and a large garden surrounding it. Trees, various bushes, and swings are scattered all around the garden and a lake extends behind it, giving the whole view a different kind of beauty.

I hover towards it to survey it closely. "Wammy's Institution for the gifted," I read aloud. Hmm, gifted. Mentally, maybe? So it's a house for geniuses? It certainly doesn't look like a school, it's too big and I can see windows everywhere, meaning there are dormitories. It could be an orphanage, which would make sense of the negativity resonating from it.

You must admit that I have some amazing deductive skills if I'm right about this.

Poor little ones. I grin to myself; I can't help but seek pleasure at humans' pain. They definitely deserve it. Those creatures are even more twisted than we are, and that's saying something. I mean, we are evil, but at least we don't have any other choice in order to live, besides, we're straightforward about it. On the other hand, they do everything by means of deceit, even if it wasn't necessary, it's just in their nature.

I snap back into reality yet again when the aroma attacks me, begging me to come in, and I obey it immediately.

Very gently, I follow my strong senses and find my way to the second floor, still flying.

Good, the window's open, it makes it easier for me to come in comfortably. Passing through walls is fun at first, but it gets tiring and boring. Not my cup of tea anymore.

Oh, no, I'm using human expressions, I hope that whoever I'm going to meet won't rub off on me.

I float silently into the dark, untidy room, surveying my surroundings, and out of exhaustion, I stumble on a book thrown carelessly on the wooden tiles of the floor, causing me to face-plant on the green carpet covering the center of the messy room.

How graceful of me.

Fortunately, the noise caused by my oh-so-graceful entrance doesn't wake the human occupying the bed to my left; it just makes him stir a bit. Apparently, this person can sleep through a hurricane.

I collect myself hurriedly and walk towards the bed; this is the one I've been looking for. I inhale deeply and bask in delight, letting the satisfaction of finding my target take over me, I then curiously spare a glance at the one who's been troubling me for the past few hours. The duvet is covering everything but his head and hands, but it shows more than enough to see who he really is.

It's just a little boy in his early teenage years. A redhead who seems to be wearing black, leather gloves and a striped t-shirt. This particular one has a strange sense of clothing. Who can sleep with leather suffocating their skin anyway?

Ignoring his fashion quirks, I allow myself to get closer to him, and growl quietly in his ear, just to get a few laughs, but I get no response. Dammit, he's getting frustrating.

I resort to letting out a wild, bone-chilling scream that finally causes him to tumble out of bed, dropping on the floor and struggling inside the tangled mess of his blue sheets –which, by the way, clash horribly with his hair, just saying-. I grin widely; this one might be entertaining after all. I can hear him cursing faintly and muttering incomprehensible words.

Before I know it, I'm cackling loudly, doubling over with laughter; something about his helplessness makes the whole situation hilarious.

He finally manages to escape the sheets after a three minute long fight and sits helplessly on the floor, looking nowhere in particular. He keeps gazing around him in confusion, and to cut it short, I force my eyes shut and my whole body becomes tense, finally enabling me to be visible to him. Naturally, my sudden appearance causes a terrified scream to rip his throat as he shakes his head repeatedly and backs out towards one of the drawers, curling his body and wrapping his arms tightly around his knees.

I find myself laughing even harder. "Hey, calm yourself, redhead," I say with a grin still plastered on my face.

"I've been playing too much video games," he says tiredly as he collects himself, swallowing a bit of saliva and forcing himself to speak calmly.

He looks up at me with sleepy eyes before he rubs them in consistently, I sigh and shift in boredom. "Look here, pal," I begin, inching closer to his sitting figure. "I'm just as real as you are, and as much as I appreciate and quite enjoy your little entertaining show, you have to touch this because making myself visible to humans in this particular realm is pretty much energy draining, not to mention that I can only stay here as long as you or any other person has possession of the death note. So, till now, my stay here is illegal, and as little respect I have for law, if we're not careful enough, there could be dire consequences, and I'm not the only one who's gonna be harmed." As I speak, I fumble around with my fingers, searching for the Death Note in this particular fold in my clothes, as I get hold of it, I present it to the boy whose bright green eyes have been widening comically for the past few seconds.

He quickly gets up with a squeak, swaying slightly on his feet, drops of sweat evident on his tired face as he approaches me hesitantly, his eyes are set and his jaw is clenched. I don't see what he's so afraid of, I'm usually pretty lovable. Hyuk…hyuk…hyuk…

He once again stares at me with untrusting emerald eyes, his trembling hand reaching out unsurely, as if he's going to withdraw it at any moment. I nod in encouragement, still grinning widely and holding the note out for him.

He forces his eyes shut, slamming his hand impulsively on the note and as soon as he touches it, his eyes once more fly open, widening in horror, a violent shudder runs down his whole body, and he gasps in deeply.

Suddenly, it all finally makes sense to me; even I didn't know of this asset, I can feel all his thoughts, feelings and memories being transferred into my mind just as his fingers touch the note, putting all the missing pieces together, I can finally understand this boy's complex life.

It's starting to cause me a splitting headache; I hold my head with both hands, applying pressure on it and thrashing around in pain, yet a smile is drawn on my face. This is fun.

He, on the other hand, has his mouth opened in surprise, holding his head in a mimicking position to mine, and trying to set his choked screams free, but to no avail. The room is quite silent.

The pain comes to a sudden halt, and we both sigh in relief and breathe heavily after the strong attack of these bouts of pain.

Okay, I have to admit, it's not fun as I thought, but it will do. It's just started, anyway.

"Now," I speak up softly after recovering from the searing pain, "I've smelled you and all your pain millions of miles away and I greatly empathize with you. How could these fools treat such a genius this way?" I summon all the memories I recently learned to use them in my emotional speech.

"How unjust could a mere mortal be?" I circle him rapidly, causing a gust of air to ruffle some of his crimson bangs. "It's frustrating, isn't it? How can someone, who's supposed to be an equal to you, treat you as his inferior?" I say with my voice dripping with fury, my tone getting louder and louder till my last question turns into an enraged screech. His soft neck twists in peculiar angles trying to keep up with my constant motion, his hypnotized eyes following my every move with unspoken, but very evident wonder.

"I know how it feels to be underappreciated" I hiss bitterly, "It's awful, isn't it?" I arrange my features into a fake, sympathetic face, pouting excessively as I let out a loud cackle." He shudders again. "You can defeat them all, get through all these obstacles in your way to recognition, success, and appreciation!" I go on passionately. "But I believe you need my help," I whisper, touching his shoulder lightly. He jerks away from my grip, giving me a dirty look. I receive it happily, remaining still and quiet, waiting patiently for an answer.

"How?" he finally croaks after a long stretch of silence; quietly, angrily, desperately, with pain staining every single letter in the short word he utters. So sweet.

I flash him a wide, gleeful smile and shove the object I hold close to my heart right under his nose. "This," I whisper in his ear. "Is the solution to all your problems." My hot, heavy breath tickles his neck and face, and yet again, he shivers violently.

"What is this thing? You've been carrying it around all day, asking me to touch it causing some creepy ass mumbo jumbo, and now you're saying that it holds the solution to all my problems?" he says calmly, but with a hint of anger and curiosity. "Psychotic freak of nature," he mutters under his breath with a mirthless chuckle.

I choose to ignore his hurtful comment and sigh, rolling my eyes, "You're supposed to be a genius." I say in exasperation. I flip the note over to the Rules Section. "Read." I order him, thrusting it into his open palms and waiting not-so-patiently for him to find out what it really is.

His eyes run quickly over the lines and with each passing second, he seems more horrified. I can feel his muscles tense and his breath quicken. His heart is a whole other story; it's almost jumping out of his fragile ribcage. Here it comes again; fear.

He swallows carefully, "Is..is any of this true?" he asks in a stutter, scratching his scalp in worry, already expecting the answer. So, I decide to play with him. I lean closer to him until my breath lightly touches the back of his neck, making him tremble and his hair stand on end.

I'm enjoying this way too much.

"Tell me, Matt. Do you believe in the supernatural?" I ask curiously.

He frowns, "Well, you're here. And I don't know what you are, you're unlike any other species on earth, therefore, you, yourself are supernatural." He concludes, deep in thought.

"So is this note, and the supernatural has always been interesting, am I right?"

"I don't see where you're going, freaky dude." He eyes me suspiciously.

"Just answer the question, please." I say sweetly. Or as sweetly as a shinigami could get, we're not exactly the most delicate creatures.

"Yes," he sighs.

"Then why don't you see for yourself if all this is true?" I hiss.

"What?" he explodes. "No freaking way!" he screams at the top of his lungs. Powerful pair, I must admit.

"I won't endanger anyone's life just because a freak like you wants to have some fun. I won't kill people just to get what I want, it doesn't matter anyway; I have no ambitions. I won't commit murder for anyone, not even for Mello!" He keeps chanting his words like a mantra, stumbling upon his words and making him sound like a fool, but that doesn't make him any less defiant.

"Stay away from me you shitty freak!" he spins around so as not to face me. Ouch, that hurt. He called me freak three times in the span of seven minutes. Not cool.

But it's so freaking funny, too. "Shitty" doesn't sound like a serious word at all. Hyuk...hyuk…

Looks like Mr. Cherries here has a noble streak, he seems to be quite a handful as well.

Oh well, it's nothing I can't handle. He'll come around.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure you're a stupid hallucination anyway. That's what sleep deprivation does to one. It makes you hallucinate creepy joker-y creatures that want you to kill people by means of a pen and magic paper." He waves his frail arms around crazily, which draws an amused smile on my face, but I'm still mad.

"I thought we went through this before, Cherries, I am real, and you can't convince yourself otherwise." I growl. "Oh, where are my manners?" my tone changes with my realization. "Of course you won't trust me or do anything I ask you, you don't even know who or what I am!" I flash him an enthusiastic smile.

"Ryuk, shinigami at your service," I bow mockingly, quickly regaining my casual, sarcastic nature.

"Sh-shinigami," he stutters with a calculating look on his face. He looks up at me with amazement. "It means a god of death!" he exclaims, surprised at his own conclusion.

"You have some astounding observational skills." I note dryly, but I'm finally relieved that the truth is sinking in; I was beginning to get sick of that boy.

He adjusts his position to place himself on the bed, sitting cross-legged and putting his chin into his palms, newly found fascination evident in his bright eyes.

"You don't wanna commit murder, am I right?" I drawl. "At least not for now," I add as an afterthought.

He rushes to his feet with too much force, he snarls, his eyes flashing with anger. I gotta say, this boy has very expressive eyes.

"Not ever," he growls. "Get back wherever the hell you came from, shinigami." He says with a patronizing frown on his face.

"Now, now, Cherries, calm down," I coo him. "Fine, I won't force you to commit murder, but sooner or later, you'll find people standing in your way that are better off dead anyway," I caress his face gently, and I find myself attacked with the irresistible scent all over again.

He flinches away from me. "You said you could help me, right?" he asks unsurely, mistrust covering his entire body; his eyes, face, and posture.

"Oh yes." I answer simply.

"Why?"

"Because I'm bored."

He does a double take and narrows his eyes at me.

"I'm telling the truth, I swear," I say confidently, lifting my hands up as a sign for surrender.

His features relax a bit.

Perfect.

"Under no circumstances I'm going to hurt anyone in any of your twisted ways," he waves a warning finger around.

"We shall see," I purr. He sends a dirty look on my way and I receive it with a delighted smirk.

"Get me an apple, will you? I'm starving," I rub my empty stomach sorrowfully.

He gets up, storms out of the room with a part-angry, part-confused face, slamming the door behind him, I stay where I am and wait restlessly for my beloved snack.

I sigh in content. It's a good, good day. I mean, after all, what's the use of immortality if you don't take it as a chance to have some fun?

As long as you have nothing to lose, you can do whatever the hell you want; there are not consequences to suffer.


Sorry, this chapter is extremely late, but life gets in the way and I've had an awful writer's block, thankfully it's cured now. Also, this chapter was very exhausting to write because this is my first time writing a fanfic with a decent plot that isn't a one-shot.

I'm feeling indecisive about this one :/ It turned out to be MUCH longer than I planned it to be, and have mixed feelings towards it, so it would be awesome if you told me your opinion in a quick review, it would mean the world to me because I put too much effort in this chapter, to be honest :)

Thanks for reading ^_^