Chapter 2

June 17, 2027, 5:35 PM

"I can't believe it! This is amazing!"

Jack Johnson was practically jumping up and down as he listened to the news report in Andrew Power's living room. Andrew sat on the armchair behind him smugly, a small smile on his face. The news reporter on the screen was talking hurriedly and nervously, his voice slightly muffled by a black cloth over his nose and mouth. Where his name would usually go at the bottom of the screen was a black bar. The emergency headline read: Seventeen Prisoners Die of Cardiac Arrest in Two Days.

Andrew switched the channel abruptly to another news broadcast, this headline reading: Sudden Inmate Deaths Herald Supposed Return of Supernatural Killing Force. The anchorman was speaking of a displeased entity wreaking newfound havoc on his tainted subjects. Jack was cheering even more fervently now as he heard the entity's name on the news for the first time since he was ten years old: Kira.

Andrew stood up looking gratified as he switched the TV to a local news channel and walked over to his desk. Jack watched him curiously as he pulled out of his drawer a small, crimson red notebook and a pen.

"Watch the scenario on the screen for six minutes and forty seconds," Andrew demanded abruptly. On the news channel was a live broadcast from Seattle, Washington of three bodies lying in the middle of the road. The bodies were being surrounded by police vehicles and ambulances, and walking with a few officers to a car was a large man in handcuffs. The bottom of the screen explained that the large man was Harold Warvel who had just used a semi-automatic rifle to rob a small bank, 

killing three civilians on his way out the door. By that time the police had already set up positions to arrest him, and promptly did so.

Andrew scribbled something into the red notebook and looked at the screen satisfactorily. Jack gave him a confused look and continued to watch as the police started to load him into a police car. The reporter finished talking and the channel went on to other news.

"Should I be concerned…?" Jack asked.

"Just keep watching. I bet you anything that they continue to cover the massacre in just a few more minutes."

They both turned back to the screen and listened to a stock market analysis for three and a half minutes. Then the market expert finished and the screen returned to the front desk. The anchorman spoke of an urgent broadcast in regards to the armed robbery from earlier that day, and the camera returned to the attack scene. The car that had been hauling Harold was pulled over and he was lying in the road covered in blood. The police surrounded him with guns trained as the reporter gave the story.

"After being driven about half a block north on Central Avenue the arrested suspect is said to have gone into a state of insanity, using his head to smash out the window next to him. He was of course unsuccessful in breaking free, but he soon beat himself nearly unconscious. Police pulled over to stop the man, but as they opened the door he is said to have leaped out at them and fallen over onto the street, an officer shooting him in self defense. As of yet the victim is assumed seriously wounded, but there hasn't been any detected motion in some time…"

"Amazingly accurate isn't it?" Andrew said, grinning. Jack once again turned to him confusedly.

"Hm?"



--

Kinddara Guivelostain was not pleased. In fact, to put things more correctly, she was absolutely livid. This arrogant man in front of her had bossed her around one time too many. It's as if he thought he owned her. She had been worn to the last nerve.

The moment she saw her notebook in the human world lying in that public park, she had leapt into the portal and flown as fast as she could to stop anyone from picking it up. But by the time she had arrived at the scene, the book was in the hands of a tall man with short brown hair. He was staring at it curiously, but on looking up to see the frightening creature charging at him ferociously, he threw it in the air and fled behind a nearby tree.

She stopped to pick it up, but then some innate impulse made her leave it lying begrudgingly. What had just happened was irreversible: the notebook had landed into the human realm and thus belonged to that man now. If she took it without his spoken consent then that would be breaking a rule. She had witnessed enough punishment in her day.

"Don't just stand there cowering!" she demanded of the terrified man, "Hurry up and come here!" The man slowly composed himself and made his way towards the large creature with stitches seeming to hold the two halves of her head together. Her large, sharp teeth glinted ominously as he stood before her. "Pick up that book."

He bent over and lifted it up, his eyes on the creature all the while. "Now hand it over and say: I forfeit ownership of this note to you." He stared at her blankly, making a motion with his arm but hesitating. "What are you waiting for?!"

"Why do I have to say that?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because I can't just take it from you, you officially own it."



"What exactly is this that I suddenly own.?" Andrew Powers said, realization suddenly dawning on him.

"I don't think that's any of your concern, it's mine," Kinddara scowled impatiently.

"But you just said I'm its official owner. Doesn't that make me entitled to an explanation of what it is? And it must be pretty important for you to be making this kind of a deal over it."

"You've caused me too much trouble already; you're not worth an explanation."

"Then I'm not giving it up," Andrew said defiantly.

"What?! Don't you even bother wasting my time, human! Just hand it over!"

"I'm going to my apartment where we can talk in peace, Shinigami. Come if you want any hope of having your notebook back."

Kinddara stared mutely after him, stunned by his knowledge of her. She fluttered angrily after him, up two stories into his nearby apartment building. She waited hunched over in his living room window, taking in the bland décor. A few moments later he emerged through the doorway with the notebook held delicately in his hands.

He walked over to his desk, ignoring furious objections coming from the Shinigami in his window. He drew a pen from his drawer and clicked on the TV. On the news was an update on a week-long kidnapping case, a man and his wife who had abducted four young girls and disappeared into the wilderness.

Andrew opened the notebook as if it were a sacred object and wrote down the names of the man and woman on TV into it. He turned back to Kinddara and stared at her hopefully for a moment, the look stunning her to silence.



"Tell me, Shinigami, what did I just do?" he asked as he stared at her intently.

"Excuse me?" was the only response from the bewildered creature.

He smiled. "Am I correct in thinking I just did those girls a service in writing those peoples' names here?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" she screamed falsely.

Andrew gave a small laugh before turning to look at the notebook admirably. "You're answer says it all, Shinigami."

--

The four Shinigami sat around the portal to the human realm looking smug. It had been a good three hours since Kinddara had torn towards that park, and now seeing this human making her so angry entertained them more than they had thought possible in their boring world. Deridovely was rubbing his wounds from her in glee, seeing the retribution he knew he could never give her coming from this little human.

"I can't believe she is so incredibly stupid," the Shinigami Gukku cackled.

"She didn't even bother listening to you, did she Ryuk?" Deridovely giggled excitedly.

"No, she was halfway to the park before I had even said anything," Ryuk responded, "She flew after him so fast, there wasn't even a chance for her to realize he had already picked it up (hyuk hyuk)."

"Now she's doomed to stay down there until that guy dies," Shazma spoke up, "And there's absolutely nothing she can do about it; that she knows about anyway."



"Yeah," Ryuk said, "I tried to tell her she could just kill the guy and come back, but so much for that."

"And the Old Man knows she never learned the rules," Gukku laughed.

"You know," Deridovely said, "I don't think she even bothered to get another death note. She was so worried about the old one."

"Isn't it against the rules not to own one?" Shazma asked.

"I think so," Gukku responded.

"Well I can tell ya one thing," Ryuk said as he remembered a certain situation of his own in the past, "whether she's breaking a rule or not, she won't be coming back for a while. I've seen that look on a human before, and it wasn't a good look then, I guarantee it's not a good look now."

"Sucks to be her," Deridovely said nonchalantly as he walked away.

"You said it," Gukku said as he got up and followed him.

"Is there anything we can do?" Shazma asked.

"Hyuk hyuk. You could either get the Old Man to change the rules or you could just sit back and watch like the rest of us."