Chapter 6: A Death God Returns

Rosemary woke up the next afternoon, feeling euphoric.

She knew that Light was still skeptical at this point, and there was no way he'd be willing to give up his own life, to use the Death Note.

Yes everything was good.

Then Rosie frowned.

Did that mean her time here was over?

Well he probably hadn't burnt the book yet, so she had a little more time but still…

Rose shook her head, it was still the right thing to do, and if she only had a little while, she should make the most of it.

Rosemary got dressed, and dropped off her keys at the reception.

If she only had a little time left, then she was going to sightsee Tokyo.

….

Meanwhile at the NPA Headquarters, Mr Soichiro Yagami was puzzling over his house break in.

They'd found no evidence.

No fingerprints, no hair samples, nothing that indicated anyone had been there.

Except for some foot prints.

They were from some sort of sneaker shoe, with a flower print on the bottom; this combined with the small size suggested it was a woman, that had broken into their home.

But why?

They hadn't stolen anything, and if they wanted valuable jewelry they would have gone to the bathroom, or to his and Sachiko's room.

They could have been looking, for police information?

But then Light's room was probably the last place they would have looked.

Soichiro chewed the end of his pen in puzzlement.

"Hey Chief, what's bugging you?" asked Aizawa handing in his reports.

"Just this case."murmured Mr Yagami. "It's the person who burgled my house."

"Oh yeah I heard about that."said Aizawa, with a frown on his face. "Is your family okay?"

"No we're all fine, they didn't even steal anything. It's just they left so little evidence, something seems off" he admitted.

"Do you think they'll come back?" asked Aizawa.

"I don't know Aizawa." admitted Mr Yagami. "Anyway, I have other things to focus on."

"Oh yeah! Isn't there a meeting soon, about all those recent heart attacks?" confirmed Aizawa.

Mr Yagami nodded. "It sounds preposterous, but with the way they all happened at once, we have to consider that someone may have deliberately killed them"

"I guess, but would that even be possible?" asked Aizawa skeptically.

Mr Yagami paused. "...I hope Not".

….

Light came back home in a slightly better mood.

He'd done well at school today, and he was certain he'd be getting perfect marks for his work.

He still wasn't happy to be cleaning up that mess, but there was nothing to be done about that.

Thankfully his mom had stopped cleaning his room, since he'd started caring more about keeping it neat, and orderly, so he knew she wouldn't have seen the mess.

His mom never deviated, from her schedule

Taking off his blazer he borrowed some surface spray, and some cloths from the kitchen. He even joked to his mom that he'd gotten a bit lazy with his room, now that he was studying so much.

But Light was never Lazy.

"Urgh!" grunted Light.

The sauce had hardened, like he knew it would, and now it stubbornly refused to budge, no matter how hard he scrubbed.

By the time his Mom called him down for dinner, he'd only just finished cleaning everything, with only the paper left to dispose of.

Light swore if Rosemary Green, tried something like this again he'd find her, and put an end to her once and for all.

He sighed. Okay that was a bit extreme, but this whole thing had been annoying, and unnecessary to get through.

Thanking his mom for the meal, light went back upstairs to collect the paper, before taking it outside.

He had to make sure it was destroyed. It had been risky enough to leave it in his room all day, but he couldn't risk anyone seeing them.

Light walked down to one of the local alleys, with the paper in a bin bag, in his backpack. He tore the paper into pieces, before setting it on fire with a lighter, and quickly stomping out the flames.

By the time he was done, there were nothing but ashes, behind a bin.

Light breathed a small sigh of relief, as he walked back; at least that evidence was gone now.

When light returned to his house, he went back to studying, he couldn't afford to slip up now, could he.

Hours later, Light leaned back in his chair, done with the last chapter of his text book.

He briefly glanced over at the drawer, he'd put the Death Note in.

After he'd ripped out the pages, there had been no more black ink, but the sight had still been unnerving, and that ice cold touch when he'd grabbed it that night, was disturbing to say the least.

Light took the notebook from his drawer.

Should he keep writing?

I mean even if he knew this "Rosemary" had been the one to come to his room last night, the black handprint, the cold temperature, even the very nature of the book still suggested she might be some kind of supernatural creature.

If she was then would he really die from using this?

Light contemplated this, as he placed his chin on his hands.

And then he began to laugh.

It was slow at first. A slight giggle that came out of nowhere, but grew to a maniacal cackle, as Light found himself unable to do anything, but break down. He was left almost shaking, in his motions, as his mask finally began to strain.

He'd already murdered so many people. He kept using the notebook, even though he knew something might happen to him.

"It's too late now." Light stated. He'd accepted his fate, regardless of how badly he'd be punished for his sins.

"Heh." chuckled Light.

"Listen for the voice of God, follow it and know that in time you will find your own salvation" quoted Light from his class earlier that week

Light already had his salvation.

Opening the notebook, Light reached for a pen and turned on the tv.

He wrote well into the night.

….

"I'm telling you I saw a flying human fall through the hole!" insisted Gook.

"Yeah? And how would a human rupture the barrier between dimensions?" asked Deridovely, sarcastically.

"I don't know they're always making stuff!" said Gook.

"Even they can't do something like tha-."

"I've dropped my Deathnote." said Ryuk, interrupting their bickering.

This gained the attention of the other Shinigami.

"Hah! You really messed up, didn't you?" Pointed out, Deridovely.

"Hold on a sec? Didn't you already trick the Old Man to get a second book? Don't tell me you dropped both of them." asked Gook in disbelief.

"I can't believe that, you must have some idea where you dropped it." Insisted Deridovely.

"Yeah." grinned Ryuk. "The human world."

The two shinigami went quiet.

"The human world?"

Before Ryuk could answer, he had unfurled his wings and taken flight into the world below them.

….

Light got home earlier than usual that day. It was last minute, but they'd decided to cancel the last two periods of class.

"What a nice surprise!" said his mom. "I wasn't expecting you home so early."

"Yeah. Hi mom. It's because... Huh?" he said noticing her open palm."Oh, the results of the nationwide exams, right." Light reached in his bag, and handed the results to his mom.

"Goodness! Number one again! These are the highest scores you've had." His mom exclaimed in delight.

"Yeah, I guess." exclaimed Light without much enthusiasm. "I'm going to study in my room, so please don't interrupt me, ok?" he finished, as he continued walking up, the stairs.

"That's fine. Oh Light, do you want anything at all dear? You can ask for whatever you like" asked Mrs Yagami.

"No, I'm fine Mom, thanks though." Said Light as he entered his room.

He smirked as he eyed the Death Note. "I've already got what I want."

Light flicked to all the new names he'd written in the past few days.

"he he he he."

Light began giggling, at the thought. He had so much power now it was unreal.

"Well I see you've taken a liking to it."

"AHH!" Screamed Light, Who quickly spun round, to see the demonic looking owner, of the raspy voice. He fell backwards in shock, at this...thing in front of him.

Ryuk tilted his head.

"No reason to act surprised. I am the Shinigami, Ryuk. That used to be my notebook." He said pointing to the book in Light's hands.

Ryuk paused. "And Judging by your laughter, you've already figured out, that what you have is no ordinary notebook."

Light calmed down. Ryuk eh?

"Shinigami: A God of Death, huh? Well, I'm not surprised." Light stood up. "In fact… Ryuk, I've been waiting for you."

"Oh?" asked Ryuk.

"I've already figured out that this Death Note is real, it didn't take me long. And now that I've witnessed the proof of its power I only feel more confident in what I'm gonna do." Light stated firmly.

"That's interesting." said Ryuk with a grin "I certainly wasn't expecting this. Several Death Notes have made their way into the human world in the past. But you're the first to have written this many names. Look at how many people you've killed in only five days. Most are reluctant to write this much." he said looking over Light's Deathnote.

"I've already prepared myself Ryuk." light stated firmly "I used the notebook even though I knew it belonged to a Shinigami and now that Shinigami has come. So what will happen to me? You're here to take my soul, right?" he asked, certain he was going to die now.

But Ryuk looked surprised.

"Hmm, what do you mean? Is that some fantasy you humans came up with? I'm not gonna do anything to you." Ryuk smiled wider "The notebook becomes part of the human realm from the very moment it touches the earth. In other words, the notebook is now yours."

Light was confused.

"This...is mine?" he asked, with uncertainty.

"If you like." Said Ryuk. " If you don't want it just give it to someone else. But if you give it away I'll have no choice but to erase your memories of the notebook."

So that weird stalker girl was wrong? There was nothing to fear?

"So, then, you're saying, I can use the Death Note all I want and I won't be punished?" clarified Light.

"He He He" chuckled Ryuk. "Let's just say this; you will feel the fear and pain known only to humans who have used the notebook."

Ryuk paused

"And when it's your time to die, it will fall on me to write your name in my death note. Be warned, any human who's used a Death Note can neither go to heaven nor hell for eternity. That's all."

Ryuk laughed again.

"Well now you have something to look forward to after you die."

Light had paled slightly, as Ryuk had continued talking, but was stopped from replying by a knock on the door.

"Light?" asked his Mom.

What did he do?

"It'll be alright, answer it." said Ryuk.

Trying to act natural, Light replied.

"What is it?"

His mom opened the door.

"I thought you'd like some apples, the neighbors brought them over for us." she looked around "Why on earth is it so dark in your room? You'll ruin your eyesight." she said, scolding him, lightly.

What was going on? His mom couldn't see him?

After his mom had left, Ryuk grabbed one of the apples.

"That notebook you found originally belonged to me and since you're now using it, you are the only one able to see me and of course, my voice can only be heard by you. In other words, the Death Note is the bond between Light, the Human and Ryuk, the Shinigami."

Ryuk bit into the apple.

"Yum."

"I just have one more question, I wanna ask you. Why was I chosen for this?" asked Light.

Ryuk continued eating apples

"Hey, are you even listening?" Light asked, getting annoyed.

Ryuk finished another apple, with a smile.

"Apples in the human world are worth the trip. What's the best way to describe these? Juicy?" asked Ryuk.

"Will you just answer my question?" Light asked one last time, as he was growing exasperated with the shinigami

"I didn't choose you. Don't you see? This is all just an accident. You actually thought you were chosen because you're so smart or something? Don't be so vain. It just happened to fall around here and you just happened to pick it up. That's why I wrote the instructions in English, the most popular language in the human world." Ryuk stated simply.

Light stared at him, annoyed.

"Then why did you drop it in the first place? You even wrote down specific instructions, so don't try telling me this was an accident!" Light exclaimed angrily.

"Why?" asked Ryuk "I did it cause I was bored"

Light was silent.

"You were bored?" he clarified.

Ryuk swallowed another chunk of apple.

"The truth is Shinigami haven't got much to do these days." he paused.

"Most of the time we're either taking naps or gambling. If you take the time to write names in your Death Note, the others just laugh at you for working so hard. Even if you wrote the name of another Shinigami, it'd be pointless because they wouldn't die. And so because we live in the Shinigami Realm it brings us no amusement to kill those in the human world either."

Ryuk paused.

"So, I figured I'd have more fun if I came down here myself. Anyway, I'm surprised at how many names you've written. But I wanna know why you only wrote the cause of death for that guy who was hit by the truck." finished Ryuk taking another bite.

Light smirked.

"If you don't write the cause of death the victim simply dies of a heart attack and that's probably the best thing about that notebook Ryuk" he said confidently.

"You see" continued Light "I've already exhausted the list of major criminals, and eventually i'll get rid of them all"

"What's the point of doing that?" asked Ryuk

Light looked outside. "It's only a matter of time before people figure out that these criminals are being eliminated by someone. I want the world to know of my existence. That there's someone out there passing righteous judgement on the wicked".

"Why even bother? What are you trying to achieve by passing judgement on them. I mean, why do you care?" asked Ryuk, not understanding Light's motives.

"Why? I suppose I did it because I was bored too.I wasn't ready to believe it at first, but it's obvious now. There's something about the Death Note itself that makes humans want to try it out at least once." admitted Light.

Light paused.

"At first, I wrote the names of the worst criminals I could think of. Like I was cleaning up the world, one name at a time. So that eventually no one will ever do anything evil again. And while the truly guilty ones who deserve to be punished for their crimes died of heart attacks. The people who are less guilty but who still make trouble for others would slowly be erased through disease and accidental death."

Light turned to Ryuk.

"Then and only then the world would start moving in the right direction. It'll be a new world, free of injustice, and populated by people who I've judged to be honest kind and hardworking."

"But if you did that, it would make you the only bad person left." Ryuk pointed out.

Light chuckled.

"What are you talking about Ryuk? I'm a hard working honor student considered to be one of Japan's best and brightest."

His face became stern

"And I… I will become the God of this New World!"

Ryuk stared back

and grinned.

Light sat down. Clearly the owner of the book didn't care either way how he'd use it, but then what else but a shinigami could have come in here without being seen?

What was Rosemary?

Light looked over at Ryuk who was finishing off the final apple.

"Ryuk." he called out just as Ryuk, was about to take the last bite.

"There's one more thing i'd like to know. Is there a type of creature that can mark Deathnote pages, but not touch it?"

Ryuk paused, and put the apple down.

"Well there is one thing like that" he said.

Light's eyes widened; so she was some kind of supernatural entity.

"What is it?" Light asked, curious.

"A spirit." Ryuk said simply, taking that last bite "mmmm."

Light's eyes widened. Wait, a Spirit? That hadn't been the answer Light had been looking for.

"You mean a Spirit, has been stalking me?" asked Light, in disbelief.

"Well if the notebook was ice cold." Light stiffened. "And covered in black slime, there's nothing else it could be."

"Is that what happens to people who die then?" asked Light, who briefly considered the criminals he'd killed.

"Not really." said Ryuk. "Most humans end up in Heaven, or Hell, it's rare for them to stick around".

Ryuk sat back.

"Ghosts are the people who die without purpose"

"Purpose?" asked Light, with an eyebrow raised.

"It means they haven't done whatever, they were supposed to do in life. Usually if you're killed by the Death Note you were meant to die regardless of your life span, but some people"

Ryuk chuckled.

"Luck out let's say, and end up dying before their time. When that happens, there's only two options left. To be reincarnated, or to stay behind".

'That's it?' though Light, what a horrible decision to make.

"Most people want to stick around, but when you can't talk to your loved ones without them, going crazy you to tend to distance yourself. When that happens they're pretty much lifeless husks."

Light was beginning to feel a little sorry for Rosemary.

"I see. Why can't they touch the Death Note?"

"Spirits are dead." Ryuk said. "They can't increase their Lifespan, and so have no reason to use the Death Note."

So that's why she hadn't taken it?

"When a ghost attempts to steal or use a Death Note, it is marked so that shinigami can detect that one is near."

"You can't see them?" asked Light, confused.

"We can." said Ryuk. "But they can move fast, and be hard to track down in a crowd; some of them act so normal, they may as well be alive."

"But I thought you said, they were lifeless." pointed out Light.

"Well." explained Ryuk. "That's if they've given up living. When they're new especially, so long as they act like a normal everyday human, they can pretty much go on with their lives."

"So the ghost that came here was new?" asked Light.

"I've never seen a spirit, last longer than two decades" admitted Ryuk. "Most of them go insane within a Year."

"I see. So the spirit was mostly likely of a woman, who had contact with the Death Note when she was alive." concluded Light.

Ryuk grinned.

"Oh she was intentionally looking for the Deathnote?" Asked Ryuk, who was suddenly a lot more interested, than before.

"That's interesting, because it's impossible for her to have encountered one before then." He said, grinning even wider.

What?

"How is that impossible?" Demanded Light.

Ryuk just chuckled more.

"The last Death Note to enter the human world, was over a century ago. There's no way she could have lived that long without snapping." he stated, confidently.

'But if she couldn't have been near one' thought Light.

"Then how did she know I had a Deathnote?" asked Light, bewildered.

Ryuk smiled.

"That's a good question."

….

Rosemary had a wonderful time the next three days, after she left Light.

She'd tailed after tourist groups, without being seen, and had found out so much about the city; like where all the great eateries were, and what the significance of the most important landmarks was.

She'd even rented a small hotel room, since the weather was getting colder outside; she supposed she technically could have stayed outside, but it wouldn't have been very comfortable.

As she lay on her bed the third night, holding her small souvenir plush kitty, Rose frowned.

She should really check back on Light, to see how he was doing, it'd been three days and she was still here.

Did that mean something had gone wrong?

"Nah." decided Rosie confidently, she'd stay tonight and then she'd go and see how he was doing tomorrow; besides tomorrow was Saturday so she didn't have to worry about him going off to school, and could see him straight away.

With that in mind she slipped into, her brand new purple, silk pyjamas, and went to bed; determined to end her small holiday tomorrow, and go find Light.