A: Two chapters in one day, I'm feeling mighty generous to everyone! I really need to slow down now though; I'm starting to run out of ways to fix the next chapter. It's really hard to fix what I had, as you'll likely see when you get down there. In the meantime, enjoy this while you can...
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, otherwise Light would hide behind telephone poles with a pair of binoculars to spy on L when the genius detective happens to be right there next to him.
Chapter Two
Moon walked up the steps to her house. She tried the door. Locked. No problem. She fished around in her pocket for the keys, unlocked the door, and stepped into the house, calling, "I'm home!"
No answer. Her mother must be at the studio, just as she had been all of the week since Moon had found the mysterious notebook on her desk. She padded slowly up the stairs, pausing at the door. She grabbed the paper in the hinge and scuffed her foot along the floor beside the hinge. Satisfied, she then opened her door, closing it carefully behind her. She turned to plop down on her bed when she caught sight of the skeletal shinigami sitting in her computer chair.
"Aiiieghhh!" she screamed, staring at it.
"Peace, peace, little one, I did not mean to frighten you," it said, making calming motions with its hands. She shook her head, having calmed down rather quickly after her first absolute freak-out.
"Kind of hard not to scare someone when you have a skeleton for a body."
"True, true." The girl stared at the creature, trying to resist the urge to ask What are you?
She succeeded. "Who are you?"
"I am Jicami, a god of death."
"Why are you here?"
"My dear, you have my Death Note."
"Your Death Note?"
"Yes, Moon, my Death Note."
Her eyes grew wide then. "Oh, this Death Note," she said, pulling the notebook she had found on her desk out of her bag.
"Yes, that."
"Okay, then, you can have it back," she said, proffering the notebook to the shinigami.
"Oh, no, Moon, I cannot take it back, for you see a Death Note that falls into the human realms belongs to the human realms. So you are the current owner of the Death Note, unless, of course, you want me to find another owner..."
"No," she shrieked, clutching the notebook to her. "I can't let this fall into the hands of a criminal!"
"That certainly would be bad for your world." They sat in silence for a moment before the girl was overcome.
"Jicami?"
"Yes?"
"Did Kira only kill mostly criminals, or was he really just a cold-blooded serial killer?" The shinigami smiled ruefully.
"I think the Death Note can tell you that for yourself." Curious, the girl opened the notebook and flipped through the rules, not even looking at them. She already instinctively knew how to use it. She eventually came to the names in the notebook. She saw countless criminals and then the giveaway. Lind L. Taylor was written in large capitol letters across one of the pages.
"This was Kira's notebook," she stated, staring blankly at Jicami.
"Yes," Jicami answered, even though she hadn't asked a question. She looked at the notebook now, not even seeing the names as she flipped through the pages.
"How do you know my name?"
"My dear, I've been watching you since the day you were born. I know everything about you."
"So, then, why did you pick me, Jicami?" The shinigami hesitated. He didn't want to have to talk about this so early. She couldn't handle the truth yet. Instead, he decided to tell her a half-truth.
"I picked you, Moon, because you are Kira's true heir. Not Mikami. Not Misa. You."
She sighed and tucked a bookmark in between the first two blank pages. She set the Death Note aside then, and reached into her bag to pull out a laptop and a ream of paper. "Toss me that pen, Jicami. I guess I'd better get to work."
"That a girl, Moon. Now, what are you planning to do?"
She glared at the shinigami. "I'm going to finish the work my mother started once I make sure I know all these rules back to front."
"Why do you need to find out all of its limitations?"
"Well, because last time there was a Death Note about, Near got ahold of one with Mello's help, and managed to figure out the damned thing. Kira lost. No doubt that with prior knowledge of the Death Note, he'll be on to me faster than anything. Somehow, I don't think Kira found out all there is to know about the Death Note."
"If you need the rules, then you might not want to kill anyone just yet."
"And why's that?" she asked, looking up from the notebook, eyes flat. Goodness, thought Jicami, she's more deadly than any shinigami I've met. I wouldn't want to cross her in a blind alley.
Aloud he said, "Because that notebook's list of rules is incomplete. Kira buried it about halfway through his campaign, so it doesn't have all the rules he discovered, never mind any that he never found out."
Her eyes narrowed angrily. "I guess you'll just have to fill in the blanks then, now won't you?"
"Give me five days, by the human calendar, in the Shinigami realm, and I'll have a complete list of official rules for you."
She gauged him for a moment, weighing the outcomes. "Fine," she snorted, "but you'd better have a very specific set of rules"
He nodded and flew out of the room, vanishing through the wall. As soon as he left, she sagged onto the bed. Putting the Death Note into her bag and closing it firmly, she hid under the covers. "I may be Kira's heir," she murmured, curling up on herself, "but do I really have the guts to follow the same path he did?"