"The name of the human written in this book will die."

If only such things were possible. Kiyomi had picked up the mysterious book and read through some of the wording. Seeing as it wasn't in Japanese and it was completely dark outside that proved not too easy.

The very first thing under 'How to use'. Write someone's name and they die.

Such a bad joke. Just tasteless.

Kiyomi did not want to bother with such things; there was a lot more to deal with, like the trauma of being forced to have sex with her principal. So she took it inside and tossed it on her desk. Maybe she would get back to it sometime, there were much more important things which needed her attention.

Like wallowing in pity and self-hatred from now on, and a shower; a very long, hot shower. Kiyomi really needed that.

"Christmas in two weeks," She muttered to herself, "That would make for a good gift… "

Having her loving principal suddenly die in a horrific car accident? Yes that would be a great gift. She would love nothing more than for that to happen.

It would make her life that much better, such a shame that it wouldn't work.

After all, a magical book that could kill? Really, what sort of childish bullshit was this?

"At least I'm getting what I wanted." Her dream school and a great career afterwards, something many people would do anything for.

Now she wondered if this is what she really did want.

….

"Ow, ow, ow."

Next morning, Kiyomi wasn't exactly feeling fresh and relaxed. Her escapade from last night had caught up with her, and she found it difficult to even move.

She groaned miserably, "Shit, my back hurts. " Her neck still did as well. "How can old people have so much energy?" Kiyomi blushed at the thought. Yes her pride was shattered, but there were a few memorable moments.

Now really wasn't the time to be thinking like that.

After a quick shower her head was a bit clearer. Then she noticed the book she picked up last night.

"Haha. As if I could kill someone like that."

It was completely ridiculous.

She turned her TV on to the news, "I'll give whoever thought that up points for being creative…"Whoever did think it up must have had many problems. It took someone really sick to wish someone dead. Maybe that was going too far, everyone wished some dead at some point. It was a human thing to do.

This just took it to a new level.

"Another mysterious death occurred last night, in Chiba-ken. "

'Hm. Kira again.' To be honest with herself, the constant news about Kira was interesting, but she could do without hearing about it every hour.

"Hiyougu Senichiro, age 42, was found dead outside of a bar at 25:00. He was arrested over 3 times for assault and battery and served a prison term of six months for assault with intent to kill. This is the latest in what has been called 'Kira incidents'. To give more detail-"

"Hah.." Kiyomi sighed, "That has to be some kind of plot… How can some kill-"

"Metropolitan Police have yet to conduct an autopsy, but it is believe that Senichiro died of cardiac arrest-"

"-Without even touching them." That was absurd, just completely stupid. 'Cardiac…. arrest?' It was just a passing thought, but she froze and stared at the news broadcast.

'Death… by heart attack?'

In a flash Kiyomi picked up the book and flipped through the first few pages. 'The name of a human written in this book shall die. Death will occur within forty seconds of writing the name; if a cause of death is not specified they will simply die of a heart attack.'

Then it took her the next three minutes to completely understand it. The stupid thing was in English after all.

"Haha.. That's just-" Kiyomi smiled for no reason she could figure out, "-no way."

Write someone's name and they die of a heart attack. It sounded simple enough.

All of Kira's victims have died from heart attacks, as far as she knew.

Kira couldn't kill L during the broadcast, only the person that was pretending to be L. so Kira needs someone's name in order to kill them.

"Death Note."

….

"Morning Takada-senpai."

In her usual manner Kiyomi waved to her underclassmen, as she walked through school. As far as anyone else knew, nothing was out of the ordinary. "Morning."

She preferred it that way; after all it would be troublesome if rumours started spreading. It was highly unlikely but if anyone found out, she would be the one taking the flak. Murakata would be in the free and clear due to his friends.

The girl was on her way to Murakata's office first thing in the morning like he told her.

With absolutely no ulterior motives. None at all.

Knocking on his door, Kiyomi walked in and took a seat.

"I see you're here." Murakata greeted her, not bothering to look up from his monitor. "And early as well."

"I am a good student aren't I?"

"That you are." He added with a smile, "In fact you couldn't have come at a better time. I just received an email from my colleague in Toudai. The heads seem very impressed with you, and they have requested an interview for next week. How does that sound?"

"Just fine."

Murakata strode around his office, "See, I told you. Everything would work out if you cooperated. You get what you want if you're willing to work hard enough. "

"I guess selling myself is part of it then?"

"No different from things I had to do as a youngster." That might have been a bit of a stretch.

'Bull-fucking-shit.' Was that normal for high school students 20 years ago? Maybe it was, nothing surprised her right now. 'I would say I feel sick but he pisses me off too much for that.'

"That's not a very good look Takada..." Murakata quipped, "You should smile, you're moving up in life."

The only thing that was on her mind was how much she hated him. She hated that arrogant smile of his. She despised him for what he did to her. "I am aren't I?" Takada quipped back. Anything she would do to have his head pounded into a fine red paste, after all, the world would be a much better place without Murakata Murasaburou.

Could she? Takada's mind wondered to the black book in her bag, but surely that was some messed up joke. Someone should have thought of it during the whole Kira fiasco to stir some sort of trouble...

However, there was the fact that Kira could kill anyone without touching them and the book provided a way to do it, and with the L debacle on TV it showed that even Kira had his limits.. and so did the book.

'A name and a face..' Murakata was right there and his name was inscribed on that shiny gold plaque on his desk. So there was the Death Note in one hand and a pen in the other, Takada quickly flipped through the book and wrote her death wish. Now she only focused on her watch. '60 Seconds...'

Being an educator Murakata assumed Takada was just being no good and getting assignments done in his presence. "I don't allow homework to be done in my office-" He quipped, "But in last night's case I might let it-"

'59...60..' There it was.

'The fuck is... this..?' Murakata felt a sharp jolt go through his chest that quickly brought him to his knees. 'Stroke? Heart attack?' Those were the first things to cross his mind, Murakata knew that he wasn't in the Prime of his life, but he wasn't exactly unhealthy.

He had to get to a hospital, fast. Reaching out to Takada he tried to talk, "Am-bu..la.."

Takada simply stared unmoving from her seat. This was completely unbelievable. Sixty seconds on the dot and the focus of her hatred was just on his knees begging for help. Would she help him? Could she?

Once it was written it was set in stone wasn't it? Murakata was dying, and she signed off on it.

"Excellent.." Takada breathed out looking at the book in amazement. "I didn't think it would happen but... holy fuck it happened. This thing really works."

"You.. the fuck are.. get me hospit-" The pain in his chest was just too much to put a simple sentence together.

"You are going to die." Takada said simply. "I killed you. I guess you're right after all, I am moving up in the world, but you won't be around to see it."

This wasn't the way Murakata imagined dying. He knew life was fleeting, but if he did have to die why couldn't it be in a hotel with four or five of his favourite girls?

Murakata hit the floor with a soft thud, out of breath and out of life.

Takada snapped out of her glee and poked at the corpse. 'Oh shit.. he's really dead.. what did I just do?' Right now, all she could think was getting out of that office fast.

She ran out as fast as she could and closed the door behind her before screaming out. "Somebody call an Ambulance!"

...

Once back in the safety of her home, Takada took some time to think. Being asked question by the police was an experience she wouldn't like to go through again, of course they didn't suspect her of anything. It was gracious of the vice-principal to cancel school for the next 2 days, she could use the rest.

So far the medics that were on scene only said it was cardiac arrest, and that is what she need to think about.

She wrote his name down, and he dies right after, so the book worked and if she was correct then Kira was using the same thing. She would have to experiment with it later.

"Kira..." Takada had nothing against his self-righteous plan for justice. Just kill off the criminals, something she could agree with. However, in her opinion Kira was going about it all wrong. Hoping to scare everyone in obedience just won't work; history has proven time and again that human nature is too strong.

Besides, there was a whole other group of criminals that Kira completely ignored. Cabinet members, mayors, city council members, bank officials... they could get away with anything they wanted. Why? They had protection and people to keep them out of the spotlight, Murakata was a fresh example. Even if a high ranking official was caught embezzling, they would simply resign and get into a new position.

Shameless. Yes rapists and murderers were obviously bad and evil, but looking at one side of the coin would get him nowhere. If the country was to be changed it should be changed from the most important sectors... and only those with that kind of power could do it.

Kiyomi wanted that power.

Kira had a craving for disguised as an ideal, anyone could see that. Takada had no use for an ideal, she only needed the power. She wasn't the sort of person to go out in such a grandiose manner like Kira, never. She was much more discreet in everything she did.

"Yeah.." Why not? If she got into office she could do anything she wanted with the Death note? She could amass a fortune and have her very own entourage of minions to back her up if needed.

Of course, one needs money for that. Her family wasn't rich but they weren't lacking either and there was no way she could get into politics now right after High School.

"Alright then, school first, education is important after all." She muttered to herself. After all a free ride through Toudai was a major advantage of her, maybe she would go to Murakata's funeral, she could not have carved her new future without him.