Beyond Black And White

By Azure C

Author's Note: The Death Note manga is written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. This is merely a fictional piece of work written as a tribute to their story, with the pretense that Light won the battle against L and continued to assume the role of Kira. The Death Note rules and anything borrowed from the manga are not my property. So, without further ado… here's the fic.

With L's successors dead, the world has fallen into an age where Kira is the absolute power. But as Light Yagami's days are numbered, he must search for someone worthy of inheriting his rule…

Page 1: Successor

Death Note

How to Use it

I

The human whose name is written in this note shall die.

This note will not take effect unless the writer has the subject's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the subject's name, it will happen.

If the cause of death is not specified, the subject will simply die of a heart attack.

After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 400 seconds (6 minutes and 40 seconds).

He looked over the balcony… a lone man of at least fifty, sitting on a comfortable ornate chair which gave him a perfect view of the world. A perfect view of his world. One which was envisioned by his desires and motives, then molded to become a near Utopia.

In the eyes of a God, it was truly paradise…

Light, don't you get tired of seeing this all the time? the Shinigami whined. I mean, things aren't exciting anymore without L and his successors. At least they were able to give you some competition…

The man called Light ruffled his reddish, plentiful hair a bit, as if annoyed by the remark. He stood a rather tall man for his age, with a medium build, and bore a handsome, yet stern look on his face which complimented his amber eyes. Often, people would mistake him for being younger than he actually was, but he thought little of those remarks.

"Ryuk… this isn't a 'game' as it was thirty years ago," Light said sharply. "We went through a trial to attain this world… and now it is nearly perfected. Few people dare to commit crimes in the presence of Kira, and even the few who dare defy his rule are punished swiftly and soundly."

He paused for a moment, grinning a wide, imposing grin like he would he those days past. "Everything is falling into place…"

The Shinigami called Ryuk stared at him with a mixture of both amusement and incredulousness. He didn't notice it much until now, but the man seemed to have matured a good deal.

It all began that fateful day when they first met, at a time when Light was but a mere high school student.

…I was... bored too…

"And yet", Ryuk thought. "Here you are right now, looking over the perfect world with a clear sense of what the term 'justice' really means."

It was truly a rare thing for a Shinigami to be attached to a human. But Ryuk couldn't help but feel that Light was the perfect owner of the Death Note. A merciless, yet insightful God who loomed over the Earth, unhesitant to pass judgment to those who committed sins.

Nevertheless, he stubbornly hung onto his position of being a neutral player in Light's little chess board. After all, it was not for a Shinigami to decide what was right or wrong…

"This world…" Light said, suddenly. "Do you think that it can always remain in a state of peace, Ryuk?"

"Err…" the Shinigami murmured, scratching his head questioningly. "To be honest, I never thought such a thing was possible. But you've almost done it, Light. As for whether or not it can remain this way… well, I'm not too sure. I didn't really think about it until now."

The man shook his head, clearly frustrated by the lack of a helpful response. It had always been this way… at some points; Ryuks indecisiveness would have blown their cover; had it not been for some quick thinking. But what he really found frustrating was the Shinigami's tendency to remain neutral… perhaps even Rem would have made a better partner. "I was just thinking…" Light began, ignoring the previous statement. "That the world could revert back to the way it was, if the God 'Kira' ever vanished."

"So… you're thinking that one must take over the title of 'Kira', once you pass on, Light?" Ryuk deduced.

"Yes… that person would be my worthy successor."

DING-DONG!

The bell chimed, indicating the end to yet another school day. The boy groaned, packing his books into his bag and heading outside. "Life… it's such a pain," he uttered, mounting a bicycle. "Same old routine… over and over again."

"Oi… Kenjiro!" a voice yelled from the school. He whipped around, not surprised to see a grinning, bespeckled boy along with a slightly plump, glasses wearing boy approaching him. "We were going to walk home together, remember?"

"Perfect…" he muttered under his breath.

Kenjiro Takai was a typical, dark-haired sixteen year old boy. By 'typical', he was average in many senses of the word; appearance, grades, physical ability, and so forth. What did differentiate him from the crowd was his innate tendency to carry a dark, heavy presence with him wherever he went… something that was easily evident by the serious expression glued onto his face. His father had died when he was only four, and his elder brother Keiji was off studying abroad in University, so Kenjiro lived a fairly dull life with his mother in a medium sized house at the edge of town.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," Kenjiro called out dryly to his two friends. He stopped just at the front door, checking to see if there was any mail. He always found it exciting when his brother sent a letter for the U.S.

"Hmm…. now who the hell would send this?" he muttered to himself. A black notebook was shoved into the small mailbox, slightly creased as a result of being forced in.

The title "Death Note" was inscribed onto the front cover…