Authoress Note: This is just a little idea I had as an opposing notebook of the Death Note. I'm sure there are similar stories to this kind of thing, but this is my own creeation.
All right, so I decided to go writing the fanfiction. Sue me. I couldn't resist. Ohhh.. Forgive me; this is my first attempt writing one for the Death Note series. I apologize in advance if there are any inconsistencies.
Enjoy reading.
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. Death Note belongs to Tsugumi Ohba and Takashi Obata.
Disclaimer 2: The idea of the Life Script belongs to me. Please do not steal. Thank you. Any Original characters, Keegan Phelps (no relation to Michael Phelps), belong to me. Thanks
"The God of the New World Strikes Again! Kira marks another kill in the criminal world, is he truly the savior of mankind or a terrorist in disguise as divine terror?"
The title she read over frustrated her. Ever since the 'Kira' attacks began, the whole world was thrown into a state of panic. 'I haven't seen America this scared since 9/11. May the souls of Ground Zero rest in peace.' She pondered to herself while trying to work on three research papers in her spare time.
Moving the mouse over her computer screen, she clicked on a video article, listening to recent interviews on Lockup. The criminals at the state penitentiary didn't seem to be holding up well. Some fumbled over their words; others didn't want to be seen on camera. They were worried they would be dead the next day. Some went in okay, she supposed, but others that were there for more serious crimes didn't come out or their faces and names appeared on the news quite frequently. It didn't matter when or how Kira struck, it was when he did that frightened everyone. Somehow, Keegan didn't find fear in him.
Over the years, she became numb to the instances of death. There were times she tried to make sense of the meaning behind it. She remembered at a young age she'd watched her parents die in a car crash. Then shortly afterwards, when she went to live with her grandmother Phelps, she passed as well. Perhaps she had become so used to it happening in her young life it followed her into adulthood. Funerals became ritualistic. Whether it was someone she was acquainted with or her next-door neighbor, death just seemed to be everywhere.
The cursor on the screen scrolled up and down until it rested on another 'Kira' article. Her brow furrowed and she bit the pencil between her cool dry lips in annoyance. Just what was so special about this guy magically being able to kill people just like that? Nobody just had the power. The more she read into this 'Kira' the more she found herself becoming mentally immersed in a theory this guy was some kind of terrorist, able to induce cardiac via some kind of medical device. There were some nutjobs out there crazy enough to build bombs, why not artificial implants to induce cardiac arrest?
There had to be some logic behind this mystery. It just always seemed that way to her, every action had a motive, every thought controlled an action, and every action could be counteracted or result in an equal or opposite reaction. She briefly flirted with the idea of entering an exchange student program at college. Then she could go to Japan for herself and investigate this 'Kira' issue, if just for the research. The young woman sitting at her computer desk imagined the frightened Japanese government. They didn't even know how to get a grip on the problem. They were probably scared shitless because the killer originated somewhere in Japan. Where else could the name for the murderer originated?
She stared at the photos of the recently deceased criminals. She watched the video on her screen again as one inmate described he was doing life for illicit sales of illegal narcotics and second degree murder. The camera panned to an officer within the jail who muttered in discomfort throughout the interview.
Keegan Allison Phelps chewed on her pencil with a bit of intensity. "Oh, please!" She huffed, mouth curving into a frown. "He's not gonna come after you. You're a man of the law, he doesn't go after whom he deems "the good guys." She muttered to herself while shifting back to her word document. All of this talk of life and death really bothered her. On a moral level, everything that this "god" stood for was wrong. He claimed talk of a "New World" and the irony behind it was…no matter how many he killed, there were always going to be bad guys out there. You could not balance one without the other. There were consequences to these things. Tapping her fingers on her mouse, she shook her head in disappointment as she turned off the video. "I wish somebody would be able to teach Kira a lesson. Not about Death, but messing with life in general."
The alarm clock on her nightstand flashed about 1:00 a.m in the morning. Taking online classes felt like nothing, but had time to stay up and do research papers. This was the fantastic life of an average college student. Unfortunately, she became distracted by the recent news reports. It cut into her research topic on mental illness excuses being abused in criminal justice system. All of this searching was cluttered by 'Kira this' or 'Kira that'.
"When will Kira strike again?" She raised her hands in the air in mock fright of the "so-called god."
Taking the pencil she'd been chewing on earlier, she began to twirl it through a lock of frizzy red hair. Finally, she felt the need to stretch her legs. She'd sat for too long and decided it was time for a snack. All was quiet in the household, except the snores from her Aunt Carol as she slept in the room down the hall. Damn, that woman sounded like a bear, bless her kind heart.
Creeping down the stairs, Keegan stopped in front of the mirror by the hall bathroom to fix the buttons on her pajama shirt and the tie on her sweatpants. The kitchen was a serene sight. The moonlight filtered in from the currents on the windows, there were no cars riding up and down the streets this time of night. It was peacefully quiet.
Opening the refrigerator door, she pulled out a packet of Mott's pre-packaged granny-smith apple slices. Paired with a little cup of dipping caramel, she sat down at the kitchen table and began to munch on the fruit, getting ready for her second wind. She pulled the lid up on the dipping cup and went to town on the caramel as soon as the apple slice touched it.
'I'm taking off, gonna find some stuff to do for a bit. I'm getting kind of bored hanging around you.'
'Mmhm. Yeah, that's nice Ryuk. I have some work to finish.'
The disinterest in Light's tone put him off. Wow, talk about him not giving a shit about the shinigami anymore. This kid really was starting to think he was a god. Heading out was easier than previous times he'd left in the past. Most of the time when the shinigami came and went as he pleased, he had to do something that benefited Soichiro Yagami's son one way or the other.
Leaving Light to his own devices was a fucking walk in the park this time. There were no strings attached, there was no 'Ryuk, where are you going?' it was just…like he didn't exist anymore. He knew that was the plan in the first place but…the change in the game shouldn't have surprised him anymore. At least he could take pride in his little idea taking motion. The Life Script hadn't been lost…yet and he was already halfway across the world by now.
Floating carefully above a metal trashcan, Ryuk carefully crouched on top of the lid and held the white notebook up to the moonlight. The silvery cursive title glowed from the reflection on its cover. Tilting his head all the way to one side, he chuckled to himself, holding the notebook out in front of him. "Hey, from this angle it looks kind of pretty."
A loud clatter from behind the dumpster adjacent from his trashcan, a blur of orange and black fur tumbled in front of him. He watched two alley cats duke it out over territory. A mangy, one-eyed, black cat, with a snaggle tooth, hissed and bit at his opponent. The offender was an orange tabby tomcat with a fatter build. In the end, the bigger cat fled from the ugly one's ferocity and fast moves. Afterwards, he watched the animal turn towards him and give a low growl. Ryuk glanced at the feline with apathy before his tongue rolled out of his mouth and he turned his head upside down, cracking the bones in his body, and garbling at the beast. The cat's tail brushed out and it scurried back to the dumpster.
"Sheesh." He grunted while clicking his joints back in place. He returned his attention back to The Life Script before the cat was back again, glaring at him with that one glowing yellow eye that stood out in the dark like a bull's-eye. Another growl escaped the animal before it hissed at him. "Whaaaaat?" Ryuk whined, his lips curled into a sneer. "I'm going anyways, so can't you just stay the hell away or what? Get out of here, go on, git!"
The cat hissed, pawing at thin air before it stopped at the flick of a light from the window behind the shinigami. Immediately, the shinigami jumped as it opened, unaware there was even a window behind him. "What the?"
The commotion outside had interrupted Keegan from her snacking. Seeing what the noise was about, she opened the adjacent window to the alley. The only sounds she had heard was her mangy cat fighting but afterwards over he must have wanted in, as he resorted hissing at her from outside.
She frowned when she saw the one-eyed little beast, looking up at her, before he meowed cutely. "Ugh. I thought you wanted to stay out, Lucil? Now you want in? Make up your mind." The girl complained while crunching on her apple slice, she held the window open, allowing the cat entrance. "You better not have gotten rabies from that fat old tabby. I know the neighbors don't take him to get checkups, so if you get sick I'm gonna be pissed off at you." She closed the window and turned the light off to sit in the dark with her apples and caramel. The cat in turn curled around her legs, purring. Compared to a few minutes ago, he was happy to see her; usually he was devoid of emotion when she petted him. She sighed. "If this is only because you want you can forget it." He meowed in response t her and Keegan shook her head. "No, now get on with you."
Just as soon as that window opened, Ryuk lost it at the scent of the apples in the human's possession. His head perked up, nose sniffing as to where he needed to follow the scent. His eyes became all bug-eyed and wide. "Ohhhhh….Damn. Gotta have one. I don't care what kind, I just gotta have one now!" Clawing at his hair, he started bashing his head on the brick wall.. "Maybe…Yeah. It couldn't hurt. Human's half asleep probably. She'll think she's dreaming if I steal that apple." He fumbled with the Life Script before storing it away in on his belt clip. Then, he fazed through the window to find himself in an American household, in the kitchen.
"Apple, apple, apple. Where's the apple?" His head swayed from one way to the other. He spoke aloud to himself before finally spotting the small packet on the table next to some gross looking brown sauce. He watched, appalled as the girl picked up a slice and dipped it into the packet. "Yeeuck." Ryuk shook his head in disgust, mortified by the sight. "What the hell are you doing, kid? Who does that with apples?" He circled the table, almost like a vulture. They were right there, his delicious treat in all of their glory. They were in little bite-sized pieces, but he didn't care! It was apples.
It was now or never while she focused on that hat mangy cat. His hand reached out to pinch over the plastic of the little bag. Slowly, it began moving across the table. Thank goodness humans couldn't see him unless they touched the Death Note.
Keegan's hand reached for the bag again as she shooed the cat away but it wasn't there, it was moving…across the table by itself. Once more, Lucil was hissing at Ryuk. Without thinking about it, the girl swallowed and immediately slapped her hand over packet.
"Oh come on, kid." Ryuk hissed between his jagged teeth, glaring at her. "Damn it, let go!" Coincidentally, she'd slapped her hand over his, though she couldn't see it.
"Now? Seriously? In the middle of the night? You know, I can prove a lot of things, but ghosts I can't approve or disprove. Can't you poltergeist just let me enjoy my healthy snack in peace?" Not knowing that anything was really there, she decided to assume her house was haunted whenever the unexplainable happened in it.
He blinked at her, tilting his head to the side in confusion. Was she talking to him? Impossible! This human girl couldn't see him, which could only happen if she had touched a Death note. Giving another tug on the packet, he growled and thrashed a little bit. There was no way-Shit! The Life Script came loose from the side clip and Ryuk watched as it flopped onto the table. Unlike with his notebook, this incident was accident. He stared for a moment, glancing between the girl and the book. It sprawled in the middle of the wooden table where Keegan's gaze left the packet of apple slices and fell on The Life Script.
Quirking a brow at the sight of the notebook on the table, she looked around to see if it really had "magically" appeared out of thin air. "Oooookay, I get it." She finally concluded, nodding to the Script. "You wanna make a trade. That's fine. You give me this… fancy notebook for my apples. Yeah? Mmhmm. I see how it is." There was no logic behind any of this now that was for damn sure. This ghost was clearly real and meant some serious business with her midnight snack.
He gulped, having to decide between his mistake and the apples. His desire got the better of him as he gazed at the delicious little slices. Finally, he relented, his plan all but forgotten for the moment. "Uh…sure. Why not? It's yours, knock yourself out. I just want the apples."
Even though she couldn't hear Ryuk, Keegan reluctantly relinquished her snack and picked up the notebook. "Fine. Thanks, I guess." As soon as she touched the cover, the packet slid off the table and floated in mid-air and it was like watching some scene out of a movie. The 'poltergeist' finally revealed itself and it wasn't exactly pretty.
Ryuk began devouring the apple slices one by one before Keegan turned to the obnoxious eater and stared at him with the Life Script in her hands. She was taken aback by the grim creature, watching Lucil hiss wildly at it. What she saw was an unearthly looking thing that looked like it was half starved and quite frankly on acid or something. It, he, she. Whatever this thing was, Keegan knew that must have been what her cat was making a commotion about outside.
After Ryuk had finished off the pack of apples, he returned off his high and back to the reality. His eyes focused on his surroundings before finally on the The Life Script and the girl holding it. She could see him? Oh yeah, she could see him. Right, looks like the rules still applied to this thing too. He gave a shake of his head for a moment, before looking around and approaching her, but she didn't move. "…Oh, yeah…Uh…boo?" He said, stretching his fingers out and moving them like he was some kind of ghost at her.
"…Boo?" She blinked in disbelief for a moment and crossed her arms. "Oh, that's original." Her tone dripped with sarcasm and she gave a roll of her eyes. "So, Mr. Poltergeist. You like apples huh?" She carefully gestured to the empty plastic package on the floor of her kitchen. "You're gonna throw that away I hope, I don't let litterbugs trash my house."
Well, she was a bit strange wasn't she? She wasn't running away in terror or quivering like Light had when they had first met, this human…something was different about her…something was wrong with her. Pulling himself from his thoughts, Ryuk grunted, stretching his limbs out a bit. "Hm? Oh. Yeah. Call it my personal drug."
"Apples? A drug? So, they're like your crack basically?" Still holding the Life script, she observed the shinigami, taking a step around him. Lifting up the book, she began to flip through the pages. "Nice notebook you gave me by the way. Fair trade I guess."
He made a face at the reminder of his mistake. " . I have an uncanny ability of dropping and losing notebooks a lot." He scratched the bag of his head. "I didn't mean to give it to you, it's what happens when…I get like that, all crazy." He insisted.
Keegan's brow cocked in surprise. "Oh? Really? Well, you traded it for the apples, like I said, seems like a fair enough deal."
Waving his hands a bit in the air at her, the shinigami grumbled. "No. No. See, you don't get it, I didn't mean to. You couldn't have heard what I was saying in regards to that whole 'deal' you thought I agreed to. You wouldn't be able to see me without touching that notebook." He tapped the cover of the book in front of her. "It was an accident really. I just dropped it, I have this habit, ya see."
"Ohhhh. I see. Well, I suppose the right thing would be to give it back. I normally would, but you technically traded it for my apples whether you wished to or not and…if dropping stuff is a habit, well honey that's your fault and you should probably fix that." Keegan restated, shrugging her shoulders. "So, I get to keep it." Turning from him she moved to pour herself a drink from the fridge. "Well, Unless you really want it back." Her gaze scanned over the title of the notebook as she sipped the glass of iced tea in her other hand. "Life Script?" She read aloud curiously. "I've never seen a brand of notebook like that before. Where'd you get it?" She asked, opening it up again and flipping through the black pages. "They're all blank."
"Yeah, well, bet you'll get a kick once you start reading what it's about, it's got rules and stuff." Ryuk chuckled, flipping over to be standing on her kitchen table. The reminder of his original plan came to mind once more. 'Hey, this might work out after all. I just gotta keep baiting her along, yeah. That's it.' "You Americans are certainly different from the Japanese." He mused, leering over her shoulder from the kitchen table.
"Yeah?" She closed the notebook and stepped away from him. Clearly, he had no definition of personal space…whatever he was. Keegan was assuming he was a male given his gruff voice and build. "Where are you from, pal?" She asked, turning to the inside cover of The Life Script.
"The Shinigami Realm." Ryuk answered casually, watching as she drew away from him. "So, seem curious about the book huh? I can tell you about it, if you want." He laid himself out across the tabletop, grinning.
"A…Shinigami? So, you're from Japan then?" She gave him a once over, frowning at his casual attitude and the fact he was on her table. His offer to explain everything to her only fueled her annoyance. "I can read, thanks. Unless it's all written in Japanese, then we might have a problem." She gave a short laugh and turned to the 10 rules in the book, skimming over each of them. "Magic notebook? Reminds me of Harry Potter. Ever seen it?"
Magic? Was she serious? "You humans are weird." He commented, giving her a shake of his head. "Never seen it and don't really know what it is." He gave her a shrug of his shoulders.
Closing the script, she placed her hands on her hips. "Then you wouldn't understand the concept of Witches, wizards, warlocks, or J.K Rowling." She shook her head. "Therefore, Magic Notebook."
Fine, he'd play along with this little game. She seemed so sure of herself, but in a more amusing manner. Compared to Light, at least the female was entertaining to talk with. "We prefer to call it The Life Script. There's only one…and you got it in your little hands right there." He extended his pointer finger in her direction.
She slowly nodded to him, opening her mouth part way, before she spoke again. "Ah. And…how come I couldn't see you before?"
"Because you hadn't touched the notebook." He answered quite simply. "It's the same way with a Death Note."
Death Note? Now he had her interested. "Life Script…Death Note?" She paused, allowing a silence to pass between them. A small smile touched the corner of her lips as she set the notebook down in front of the shinigami. Carefully, she pulled up a chair in front of him and sat down. "What's your name?"
"You can call me Ryuk." The Shinigami grinned, with a gleaming Cheshire-like smile.
Author's Note: Well, that was certainly an interesting encounter. Hope you liked it. Please Read and Review. Let me know if I should make another chapter or not?