A/N: And here comes chapter four! Thanks to all who have reviewed so far! I appreciate it and hope you guys will continue to enjoy the story. (And sorry for the especially late update. I've been very busy unfortunately.) And hey! I just realized this will be my first post in 2014! Yaaaay!

Disclaimer: I do not own the brilliance that is Death Note.

Warnings: I'm going to be mixing aspects of the Death Note anime plot and the Death Note live action movie plot in this. Predominantly I'm sticking with the anime version, but I feel the added concepts from the movie are needed for what I'm planning later on.

Chapter 4

The Birth of Kira Part 1

1:13 p.m.

He was the perfect son.

The perfect brother.

The perfect student.

If he took just a tiny segment of time to date one of his devoted fan-girls, he would be the perfect boyfriend too.

He has a perfect face.

Perfect body.

Perfect mind.

He's been bred for perfection, not intentionally, but because he is the son of Soichiro Yagami, the chief of the Japanese Task Force. Many respect him because of his position, he's admired due to his integrity, and looked upon with scrutiny from some out of jealousy. Many want what Soichiro Yagami has. His job isn't perfect. The job has forced him to watch people, innocent and guilty alike, die. Even so, he has a wife that loves him more than anything else in the world, a bubbly daughter that brightens his day with her smiles, and a son he can be proud of to carry the legacy of his name.

The legacy of near perfection.

But that's just it. Near perfection isn't enough.

Not for him.

He watches and observes the world around him with distasteful interest, anger swelling inside him when he realizes the sheer amount of scum littering his surroundings and the society he dwells in. There are those who do nothing more than try to live honest lives. Such is something Light can respect, but more often than not, the people he sees are corrupt, filled with malice and hatred toward one another. Some of those same people end up becoming punk gang leaders or petty burglars while others become serial killers, rapists, and calculated thieves who will do whatever it takes to get what they want, whether it's to take hostages, plant bombs in the surrounding area, etc.

To Light, all of it was of the same degree. Others would say becoming a gang leader isn't the same as going from house to house killing people for no reason, but Light would view the concept differently, stating that in the end, the gang leader and the serial killer do the same thing. They steal, kill, and destroy. There's absolutely no difference, but society views the two problems in different degrees.

The student scoffs to himself, closing his eyes for a moment as the teacher drones on in his lecture. "What a flawed society."

The genius wouldn't limit his beliefs to just criminals either. He realizes, like any other smart person, that corruption exists within the systems of government as well as in everyday life. Greedy men and women take on certain professions and personas for no other reason except to gain wealth and prestige, going so far as to scam and take advantage of the people they're supposed to be helping. Like parasites, they suck their victim dry little by little, leaving them to die once they're finally through with their meal.

But worse than outright evil in Light's eyes is the hypocrisy of those who claim they're on the side of justice, yet never back up their beliefs because of the limits of a corrupted system. Instead they stand idly by, watching a world that continues to descend into depths of sorrow and chaos, never once making a move to step out of the bubble that is their pitiful lives. Even when they are called to fight, they back down, afraid to die for the cause they're trying to stand for.

Those types of people sickened him.

A month earlier, he would not have thought along these lines. A month earlier, he had complete faith in the police system, mainly because his father was the chief of the task force. A month earlier he would have agreed with his acquaintance/friend Shiori, (whom he noted had a crush on him), when she told him the legal system should always be used for any crime. In fact, at the time when she said those words, he did agree.

However, later that night out of boredom and curiosity, he decided to hack into the police databases. He wanted to see what kind of people were committing crimes and if said criminals were being punished adequately.

In his findings learned that many of them had never been prosecuted. Not just thieves or petty gang leaders with connections to drug cartels, but murderers and rapists as well. The kind of people who should never be allowed to see the light of day again, were getting off easy or without any punishment at all. They were walking the streets in broad daylight and at night scouting for their next victim like a predator would seek after their prey. In the end, the laws of this society could only do so much because of the flaws and loopholes presented within it, thus adding more flaws to the police system.

Light stared out the window, feigning boredom as his mind whirled with frustration. To prevent the outcry of the general public, the knowledge he stumbled upon had to remain a secret. He understood this, and kept the information to himself.

Even so, the knowledge tore at his insides like buzzards would peck through the decaying flesh of a carcass. He mused to himself that the most maddening aspect of the knowledge he had gained was the realization that there was nothing he could do about it. He could come up with endless plans to put an end to their deplorable deeds easily, but to attempt any of them would be counterproductive and a waste of valuable time, especially when all the facts of the matter were laid out cleanly before him. He was a high school student. Though athletic, Light had never been much of a fighter. His father has guns in the house, but in Japan it's illegal for civilians to carry guns, and with Light being a grounded law-abider, he'd probably confront a murderer without said gun, ending in what would probably be his death. In the end, to go on any type of vigilante mission would probably end badly for him, especially when his father was the chief of the task force. The whole idea was just asking for needless trouble.

Even knowing this, he did some research and decided a week after the inital hacking into the police database to find the man who had killed a teenage girl a few years back. Not to confront him, but to see the truth of his discovery with his own eyes.

Light dressed down for the journey, discarding his usual professional attire for a grey hoodie, jeans, and tennis shoes. He didn't do this at home, instead changing in the bathroom of a gas station an hour after school. He had called his mother a few minutes earlier, stating he would be home late because he needed to study at the library.

Staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, he pulled the hood over his head of brown hair while sucking in a deep breath. "I must know for sure."

Outside the clouds had begun to cover the sky, hiding the setting sun from view and thus illuminating the world in a grey haze. As Light made his way to bar where he knew his target would be, small droplets of rain began to fall.

The steady downpour that followed did not deter him. After an hour of walking through the bustling streets of the Canto region and into the more busy streets of Tokyo, Light can upon the bar.

"This is it," he thought, taking a slow breath as he entered. Glancing around the dimly lit room he noted the mostly red interior, the few tables that were in front of the stage where a scantily clad woman was dancing, and the small groups of people sitting at those tables drinking beer and using drugs. Light cringed at the sight while carefully maneuvering around the small crowd to sit at the bar. The prodigy caught sight of the murderer, Takuo Shibuimaru, about a minute after he sat down.

The man was a slimy, loud, obnoxious sort. That much Light could see upon first glance. On the surface he was just an annoying punk, but based on the criminal files the young man had researched through, Takuo Shibuimaru was mentally unstable thus making him extremely dangerous. Light knew it was best not to draw attention to himself, so after taking one glance he opted to keep his gaze straight ahead and simply listen on the conversation the smug killer was having with his buddies.

"So I hear you got away with murder."

Light's hands involuntarily clenched into fists.

"That doesn't seem fair."

Light bit down on his tongue so he wouldn't speak. Only two sentences into the conversation and he was already seething with rage.

Takuo snickered, and while Light couldn't see him at that moment, he could envision the smirk on the criminal's face. "You know when I snap I don't know what's going on anymore." He paused and laughed softly. "And then I hear this voice from far away."

The other men sitting at the table were clearly confused. One of them even asked what voice Takuo was talking about.

In response, Takuo withdrew a combat knife from out of the pocket of his jacket and held it up to the first man's neck. "It tells me to kill you."

Light flinched involuntarily again, scowling as Takuo laughed and pulled the knife away from his friend who was about five seconds away from peeing his pants.

"Scum of the Earth." He was grinding his teeth together now. "That's what you are Takuo Shibuimaru. How could the justice system have failed like this?"

The question rang over in over in Light's mind as the insufferable man began to speak again.

"Did you hear? The parents of the kid I killed..." trailing off Takou started chuckling. "They were...they were crying when the verdict was read."

The man burst into laughter, screaming out with mirth as he mimicked the parents of the girl who he needlessly killed. The rage building inside Light began to boil over the surface. Even so, he couldn't lose control. Leaving the bar alive was his top priority no matter how desperately he wanted to punch Takuo.

Unfortunately, he couldn't quite stop himself from glaring over where the man in question was sitting.

And to make matters worse, he was caught glaring at them by one of Takuo's accomplices. Next thing Light knew, he was surrounded by three men and one of them was an experienced killer holding a weapon uncomfortably close to his throat.

"Stay calm," Light ordered himself, meeting Takuo's blank stare. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

"It's all coming back to me now." He paused and smiled while lowering the knife towards Light's chest. "How it feels when the knife cuts deep into the flesh before finally sinking into the heart."

"Okay, there's definitely something to be afraid of but don't show any sign of weakness," Light relented, his gaze firm and unwavering despite the psychopath clearly contemplating whether he wanted to kill him or not.

After a few seconds Takuo made a show of acting insane before taking a few steps backward. With a sharp intake of breath he looked Light straight in the eye.

"No one is ever going to put me behind bars."

The killer turned away, deciding that Light wasn't worth the effort it would take to kill him. The other guys followed behind their leader while the high school student fought to collect himself. Part of it was from that he had escaped what could have been his death, but mostly he was angry and even now, a month after the incident, that anger remains with him. While hidden underneath smiles and a façade of perfection, his sorrow festers under the heat of his undying rage against the criminals that go unpunished.

And in the end, there was nothing he could do to stop any of it.

"The world is ugly. The world is rotten to the core. And the so-called justice system is powerless against the filth that continues to emerge around every corner."

These thoughts circulated in a never-ending cycle in Light Yagami's mind. He quickly spiraled into a depression that he hid away from everyone. His life didn't seem to hold a purpose anymore, other than to keep masquerading as the perfect son of a near perfect family.

But to do just that is so...boring.

The current state of the justice system was depressing enough. Boredom was the last thing he needed in such a state, but his life on a whole had been endlessly mundane and mercilessly boring. The most exciting thing that had happened in his entire life had happened exactly one month ago in that bar. Perhaps he was a masochist or an adrenaline junkie for feeling excitement in a moment where he could have potentially died, but such a fact wasn't something Light cared about.

Sighing, Light gazed out the window while his mind drifted. The teacher was droning on about English verbs, something Light had mastered a while ago so there was no point in paying attention. If nothing else, the prodigy could at least find something to entertain him until class ended. Given the time, some students would be rushing for club activities or something else. A bird could fly by...

"Ugh, really?" Light wondered aimlessly. "A bird could fly by? I'm not just bored at this point. Endless years of doing the same thing over and over have driven me into a state where I need to be face to face with a killer to feel like something exciting has happened. It's plain ridiculous..."

Brown eyes began to widen as something peculiar met their sight. Light sucked in a soft breath, the world seeming to move in slow motion as he watched a black notebook fall towards the ground amidst the shadow of the campus building standing tall behind it.

The way gravity pulled at the book was almost supernatural in Light's eyes, almost as if the thing were falling from the sky far above. The light of the sun barely touched the front of the notebook, revealing two words in a scratchy script Light couldn't identify due to the distance. In fact, he was amazed that he had seen the notebook falling at all.

Light continued to stare at the book long after it had touched the ground.

An hour later when classes had ended for the day, Light had every intention to start the long trek home, but his curiosity about where the notebook came from and who it belonged to surfaced in his mind. Staring toward the spot where he knew it fell, he wondered why no one had bothered to pick it up and take it to the lost and found or something. It obviously belonged to a student and said student probably dropped the notebook from the roof of the building on accident.

Still, that had happened over an hour ago. If someone accidentally dropped it, that person would have rushed down to get the notebook, especially if it was something secret like a diary.

With mild interest he walked over to where the notebook still lay, untouched atop the wispy blades of grass. Brown eyes scanned over the words scratched across the cover in English.

Death Note.

Light raised an eyebrow at the name and glanced back behind him to make sure no one was watching, then with interest clearly reflected in his eyes, he picked up the notebook. Once again he inspected the cover, re-reading the English words written across it.

His eyebrow inched a bit higher. "Death Note? As in a notebook of death?"

For some reason he smirked, finding the idea ludicrous but oddly humorous. Now thoroughly interested, he opened the book.

How to use it.

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

Letting out a sigh, Light closed his eyes and shut the notebook. "This has to be some sort of sick prank." He placed the notebook back on the ground where he found it, once again having every intention of just going home while inwardly stating that the idea of the notebook was quote on quote "lame" not to mention "twisted."

And yet, something about that sentence, the one stating that a person would die if a name was written in it intrigued him. It intrigued him to the point where he only managed to walk a few feet away before turning back to pick up the notebook again.

Next thing he knew, Light was carrying the notebook in his school bag.

"There must be something wrong with me to even consider it," he thought as he crossed the busy intersection with a crowd of people trailing behind him and a few walking in front of him. The sound of their footsteps echoed in his mind and he was all too aware of the weight of the notebook in his bag.

When he returned home and was in the safety of his room, Light set the black notebook on the table and opened it again. This time he read through the rules.

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

If the cause of death is written within forty seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified the person will simply die of a heart attack.

After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next six minutes and forty seconds.

Light's eyes were beginning to brighten. "So depending on the person you have in mind, you can either kill them easily or painfully..." He trailed off, closing the notebook again as he rose from his desk chair. Walking across the room to his bed he added, "this is pretty detailed for a prank, I'll give them that."

Laying down, Light wondered for a split second the "them" he was talking about. He didn't know who the notebook belonged to and now that he had pretty much stolen it (let's call it what it is shall we) he didn't have a prayer of figuring it out unless someone caught him with it, in which case he'd simply say he found it and hadn't had the chance to take it to the lost and found. Besides, the notebook was nothing more than a sadistic prank. Perhaps the person who made this stuff up was being bullied at school and was making a kill list within the notebook, or was going to but then dropped it from the roof.

Light continued to stare at the ceiling, unsure of the feeling that was starting to swell inside of him.

"So I write a name and that person dies," he muttered almost sighing his disappointment at the true owner of the notebook. "Like anyone would believe that."

His bedroom was silent and dark, almost eerily so. When he opened his eyes again, the ceiling met his gaze. The now setting sun was barely shining in through the window.

In a breath he was off the bed and in his desk chair again with a pen in hand and the notebook wide open before him. He suddenly understood the feeling that was swelling inside of him, something he knew he had never known before this moment.

Temptation.

His pen hovered over the page, almost begging him to write a name.

"On the off-chance that someone actually dies...would that make me a murderer?"

Light withdrew his pen from the page, contemplating on whether or not he should really test this so-called "Death Note". He knew ahead of time that it wasn't going to work. There was no way it could.

"It's impossible. People don't die from having their name written in a notebook."

With that thought in mind, Light turned on the TV. The news immediately popped up on the screen. There was a breaking news story about a hostage situation at that very moment. What luck.

"The assailant who killed six people yesterday at a busy shopping district in Shinjuku has now taken eight people hostage at this daycare center. His hostages include children and teachers."

The reporter on the screen was suddenly replaced by the picture of the suspect holding the hostages.

"The police have now identified the suspect as forty-two year-old Kurou Otoharada, currently unemployed. We expect negotiations to begin immediately."

Light stared at the screen, memorizing the man's face before copying his name into the notebook. He finished writing the name five seconds before the reporter appeared on the screen again. His gaze then fell on the digital clock above his bed.

"A heart attack in forty seconds," he thought, still skeptical, "We'll see."

Light watched the news report monotonously, counting the seconds in his head before gazing at the digital clock again. Forty-five seconds.

"Looks like the notebook doesn't work," Light thought, though the smug smirk he'd had on his face seconds earlier had disappeared. "Oh well, I didn't expect it to work anyway."

Was he actually disappointed?

Light didn't dwell on that afterthought. He turned off his desk lamp and was just about to turn the TV off when...

"Wait we're seeing something here!"

Light gasped, his thumb frozen over the power button on the TV remote as the desk reporter at the studio continued speaking.

"There's movement at the front entrance!"

The male reporter was speaking as footage of women and children rushing out from the building met Light's eyes. "The hostages are coming out and they all look to be unharmed." The scene switched to men wearing heavy protective gear and police shields entering the building. "The special forces are moving in. We don't know if the suspect has been arrested yet though."

Light continued to watch the scene, unsure of whether he was in reality or having a really weird nightmare. Could it be that...

"Okay...we have confirmation! The suspect has been found dead inside!"

Light gasped, his gaze falling directly on the Death Note as the reporter repeated the news that Kurou Otoharada was dead.

"Special forces are denying the allegations that they shot the suspect," the male reporter stated.

"Is it possible the he was feeling cornered and decided to commit suicide?" the female reporter from the studio asked.

"According to statements from the hostages, the suspect suddenly collapsed."

Light Yagami stared at the screen in awe, completely astonished and downright flabbergasted as only one thought came to his mind.

"Was it...a heart attack?"

It had to be a coincidence. Certianlly it was just a freaky and terrifying coincidence. Certainly Light Yagami, son of the chief of the Japanese Task Force did not just kill a man using a little black notebook. There's no way that he could do something like that. He would never kill anyone.

Still, he wrote a name in the Death Note and someone died.

He shook his head in complete denial.

"Light!"

The boy in question involuntarily flinched at the sound of his own name.

"It's already six-thirty you know," his mother called up. "Don't you have cram school tonight?"

Light could barely respond, but he managed to tell her he'd be downstairs in another minute or so. While doing this he turned off the TV, grabbed the notebook from off his desk shoved it into his school bag.

He told himself he had to test it once more. If the Death Note was real, he had to be sure that it was and from there...figure out what to do with it.

Hours earlier

2:11 p.m.

Crystal Makano was having an inner panic attack at the aforementioned time. After her confrontation with Ms. Tanaka, she had sprinted down the stairs, hoping to grab her notebook and then just leave school altogether. She was wasting her time at the establishment anyway. After all, with her deductive reasoning off the charts and her near perfect grades, any other school in the country would be happy to take her.

Unfortunately, her plan was severely derailed when she ran into the principal...literally.

Crystal attempted to explain that she had dropped something off the roof and needed to get it, but the principal wasn't listening, and when an angry Ms. Tanaka came storming down the hall twenty seconds into Crystal's explanation, all hopes of getting outside to grab her Death Note right then were completely thrown out the window.

Fast forward to an hour later brings us to the aforementioned time, 2:11 p.m, with Crystal sitting at a desk in an empty classroom aside from herself and the principal. Outwardly, the young woman sat in silence, simply staring at the clock with a blank expression while barely fidgeting with the ends of her sleeves.

Inside, Crystal was meticulously calculating the seconds that were ticking by, fear mounting with each minute that passed without her having the notebook safely in her custody. Her anxiety was beginning to seep out into her calm demeanor. No one else would notice the slight changes in her body language, but she could feel the changes.

For one, she was sitting up almost completely straight at her desk, something she never did under any circumstances. Her breathing was a millisecond quicker than normal, tiny beads of sweat were gathering at her brow, and her fingers were shaking as she tugged at her sleeves. To add insult to injury, there was a seemingly nonexistent twitch occurring with Crystal's right eye.

She was fighting with her inner self to simply go off the chain crazy and burst out of detention in whatever way possible while her more rational side was telling her to calm down. Her actual mental state was somewhere in between crazed lunatic and painstakingly calm.

The second hand on the clock had reached the twelve again. The time was 2:12 p.m.

For another moment Crystal considered just running out of the room and getting the notebook, but if she did that there was an absolute guarantee that the principal would follow and that he might catch a glimpse of the notebook. If such were to occur...

Crystal narrowed her gaze on the clock, refusing to let her mind go that far. Still, him seeing the notebook would be bad. Her sanity would certainly be questioned and if she didn't want to go to extreme measures to keep the notebook secret, she would just have to stay put and wait for detention to end.

Thing is, she wouldn't be allowed to leave until 5:00 p.m.

She'd only been in the room for only under an hour and her anxiety was beginning to get the better of her. With an inward chuckle she rationalized that she would not do well in solitary confinement if she ever ended up in a mental hospital. This alone was setting her on edge.

Thirty seconds had passed with Crystal accomplishing nothing but stressing herself out. She knew she had to calm down. It wasn't like someone was just going to pick up the Death Note in the next minute. Everything was going to be fine.

"That's right," Crystal thought, slowly exhaling. "When 5 o'clock rolls around, I'll simply leave detention, go outside, pick up the Death Note, go home and then..."

The second hand hit the twelve and the minute hand moved.

2:13 p.m.

When Crystal opened her eyes again she was calm. Her mind was clear of worry and the signs of anxiety, (small as they were) disappeared altogether. She stopped fidgeting and simply stared at the clock, slightly impatient for the time of her release but not to the point where she felt sick inside.

Crystal knew that something drastic had changed how she felt about this situation, but she couldn't really place the reason. In fact, she couldn't remember why she had been so upset to begin with. She remembered telling the principal that she dropped a notebook from off the roof, but that didn't scream "big deal". After all, once detention ended she could simply retrieve it and if it's not there then she'll just go to the lost and found to see if anyone took it there. Worse case scenario would be if someone stole her notebook, but that wouldn't matter. There's nothing in it but math notes, right? Or perhaps English?

Crystal shrugged, strands of her slightly unruly curly hair falling into her eyes. "It doesn't matter. I've memorized everything anyway. Maybe I should do some drawing while I'm in here."

With that thought in mind she reached down into her backpack to get out her needed supplies. If the principal was going to sit there staring at her, she may as well attempt to capture his likeness on paper.

Something still didn't feel quite right, but Crystal no longer cared.

A/N: And that ends this chapter. Crystal has lot her memories of her own Death Note, but will that last? Find out in the next chapter!