Beyond Black And White
By Azure Sea
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 2: Shinigami
The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
- Death Note, Rule #1
"I'm home," Kenjiro announced, bounding up the stairs.
His mother barely had any time to react, abandoning her stew pot for a moment. "Oh, hello Kenjiro… how was scho—"
"BAM!"
He had already made it up the stairs, slamming the door behind him. His heart was racing madly with a rupture of thoughts in his mind. The Death Note… could it be for real? he thought. Rummaging through his bag hastily, he withdrew the strange black note, which was now very crinkled. It was though a mysterious aura was surrounding it… calling out to the boy's name.
Instinctively, Kenjiro opened the book to the preface, reading over the notebook's rules once more.
The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
A chill traveled down his spine as he read the first rule. How could this be possible? Surely one could not control another's fate simply by writing it down. Then again, he wasn't really sure if he could, or wanted to deny it. Eyes scanning the page again, he read the remainder of the rules.
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 held his breath for a long while, stopping to absorb everything. This note… how was it possible that it ended up in their mailbox? Perhaps the mailman delivered it to the wrong address… but Kenjiro was certain of one thing. Now that he had it, he would not be giving it back. At least not until he was sure what it was capable of.
"Oi… just write down a freakin' name already!" a voice yelled, frustrated.
Kenjiro turned around slowly, annoyed by the familiarity of the voice. "Toshiro, why don't you mind your own—"
He paused abruptly, noticing the ethereal figure behind him. It was something of a purple troll, bearing several piercings along its ears, face, and body. The only clothes it wore were a black shoulder strap along its chest and a baggy, tattered cloth with various ornaments on it which served as pants.
Even more distinguishing was the creature's head. It had a full, bright mane of hip length orange hair, negating a would-be demonic appearance. Atop its head, it wore a strange stone helmet which was tilted slightly to conceal partly yellow and whitish eyes. The creature's features resembled that of a human, but its nose was abnormally piggish and it had the ears of an elf.
Kenjiro's eyes narrowed, confounded by the demonic presence before him. "What in the hell are you?"
The creature looked slightly taken aback. "What am I? Wait… you're not scared by my otherworldly appearance?"
"I could care less about what you look like," Kenjiro claimed, in his usual, drowsy, sarcastic tone. "Just who do you think you are, and what are you doing in my room?"
The creature took the nearest chair, as if to imply that the explanation would take a long time. "You see," he began, fist in cheek. "I am a Shinigami from another plane, you may call me Girasu. What you have in your hands is my Death Note, which I had dropped some time ago."
The boy tightened his grip on the black note. "So… you've come to reclaim it, have you?" said Kenjiro, as if to challenge the creature.
"Err…. not quite," Girasu replied. He laughed a little, and then went on. "You see, I already have another Death Note. I don't mind if you keep that one, really… it makes little difference to me. But if you do choose to keep it then I must follow you until you die or until you give up ownership of the note."
"…Then why did you drop your death note in the first place, if not intentionally…? You seem not to have a purpose for coming here."
"Ha, well you see… that's the thing. The human world has gotten so boring nowadays thanks to the work of that "Kira" figure and his past subordinates. I just thought I'd spice things up a bit. That, and I also have a score to settle with Kira's Shinigami whose name is Ryuk."
"Wait… you're telling me that bastard Kira is a false God?"
Kira.
Kenjiro loathed the name of that "God", who was almost undeniably responsible for his father's death from a sudden heart attack. He grew up hating Kira simply for screwing up the life that his family once had, and by screwing up the entire world itself. What right did this 'God' have to change the natural order of the world? He didn't know a thing… he was simply a power hungry fool who didn't really have a place in the world.
Now impressions felt even worse, come the revelation that Kira was but a mere human that had toyed with the Death Note. "Girasu… our purposes our common; we both want vengeance on the God himself. So why don't you help me eliminate this fool called 'Kira'"
The Shinigami paused for a moment.
Then he replied.
"No."...