Author's Note: Thanks again for the support for the fanfiction fellow reviewers. It's great to know the story is appreciated.

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

Her mouth opened partially and she gave him a look of disbelief. "Don't give me that, you know. Don't you?" Glancing at the notebook in her possession, she held up The Life Script to him. "Let me guess, in exchange for that information, you'll want this back?"

The grin disappeared from his face and he shrugged at her nonchalantly. "Honestly? I could care less about getting it back. Apparently, it's not really that important in the Shinigami Realm. They just left it lying around somewhere. My assumption is that it would be better taken care of by a human than anybody else. Besides, what's the worst you can do with a notebook of Life?" He snickered, earning a stern look from the pretty redhead.

His admission only fueled her incentive to get answers. He was a thief and the notebook didn't belong to him. "Then it's not yours?" She held it up and waved it at him again, a little more aggressively this time. Her brows knit together in frustration. "You stole this from your own kind?"

Holding his hands up in the air, he cackled at her. Ryuk found himself amused at her displeasure. "Hey! Look, if you don't want it, all you gotta do is hand it back to me and we can be done with this little game we're playing here. Make your choice all ready kid, because your pissing me off." At this he was in her face again, not recognizing her need for personal space. "Though I appreciated the apples, I should hold up fine for a while."

Reaching up a hand, the girl pushed him away from her. Keegan made a face before holding the notebook at herself protectively. "No, Ryuk. We traded. Fair is fair." She was determined to get answers. "Now tell me…do you know Kira?"

Grunting from her touch, he brushed his shoulder off and cracked his muscles. "Mmm. Say…I do know. What makes you think I'll tell you?" He ceased hovering above the floor and stood in front of her, bending his knees slightly so he could talk on her level, considering she was kind of short. As Ryuk gazed at her, his eyes glowed in the dark at her. Judging from her expression, she was wondering what he was doing. He read her lifespan as she stood there waiting for her response. He was taken by surprise at the information he received. "Well…that's interesting." He mused softly and he saw a look of confusion cross her face. This was rather strange. She possessed a long life span ahead of her and that was unusual to find in some humans. Something wasn't right though, for somehow it extended by itself. Glancing at the notebook, the Shinigami thought perhaps it had something to do with it.

His silence bothered her and she perked up, shaking her head at him. "What…are you staring at?" She questioned, finding it eerie he was able to sit for that long without so much as a word.

"Huh?" He was snapped out of his reverie and shook his head at her. "Oh. Nothing. I was just your life span." He saw her quirk a brow at him in concern. "Look, I can't tell you when you die, but looks like you don't got anything to worry about." He insisted, grumbling. "Really."

"Huh, interesting..." The girl commented aloud, clicking her tongue. "That ability come natural? Reading how long a person has to live?" Despite how creepy Ryuk's appearance seemed, she was pleased he could hold conversation well. He seemed well versed in his vocabulary and he spoke English.

The corner of his lips twitched slightly in discomfort at her question. What business did she have asking him about that anyways? He told her she was going to live a long life, so it should have made her yawn, nod, and go to sleep all ready. "Why does it matter to you?"

"I was just curious, chill out." Sighing, Keegan rubbed at her eyes. The lack of sleep started to get to her. "Look, I can bombard you with more questions tomorrow. I'll save you a few hours peace, right now. I need to sleep." Turning her back on him, she opened the door to her bedroom and stopped short of entering the room. Gesturing around, she nodded to him. "You can hang out wherever you like in the house, just in my Aunt's room. She's really Catholic and I don't need a priest coming to the house at 7 am when I've only gotten three hours of sleep. So if I find one here…I'll know it was you." She made sure to point at him, letting the shinigami know she was watching.

"Like a Holy Man's gonna get rid of me. I'm not causing any problems." Giving a huff, he crossed his arms in frustration. "What do you think I am? A little kid or something?"

With a roll of her eyes, she closed the door on with a smile. "Good night, Ryuk."

Not appreciating her dismissiveness, he phased his head through the door to prove his next point. "I can pass right though solid objects you know…right?" His response was a pillow hitting him in the face. "Agh!"

"Hey! I'm changing here, stay out pervert!"

It was around noon when Keegan dragged herself out of bed. As her head lifted from her pillow, she saw Ryuk crouched in her computer chair.

A smug grin touched the corners of his big, fat, crooked mouth and he waved, snickering. "Mornin' sunshine." He greeted cheerfully.

Rolling over, she pulled the covers over her head with a groan. "I…am going to beat you with that notebook. So help you…if you start singing "Good Morning Starshine." Keegan now began to regret chatting with that son of a bitch all night and then having to wake up feeling like utter crap. "You're so lucky I don't have class at the community college today. Otherwise, you'd have a face full of notebook."

Ryuk cocked his head to the side, shrugging as if her choice to stay up wasn't his problem. "Hey, you humans have free will. So made the decision to stay up half the night. Don't look at me like it's my fault." He taunted, so vivaciously if one might add.

Keegan sat up from her bed and rubbed her temples, sighing is dismay. She waved him off to get him out of the room. "Out. I need to get dressed."

"What? Aw, come on." He whined. "No fair. Can't I stay?"

"Absolutely not!" She turned, stomping towards him. Her green eyes gleamed in anger and she pointed to the door. "Get out!" She demanded, advancing on him.

Ryuk toppled out of the leather chair, landing flat on his bum and stared up at her in defiance. "No. You can't tell me what to do." He gave a light kick at her with his foot.

"Apples. You want 'em? You'll get out." Her hands went to her hips, nudging her head towards the door in exchange for this deal.

He looked back and forth between her and the door before, begrudgingly, he rose to his feet. "Argh." He should have never dropped the Life Script. She caught onto his weakness faster than Light ever had and he regretted it. Eventually, Ryuk transparently passed through the door to give her privacy.

After a few minutes, Keegan emerged from her bedroom in a green sweeter, skinny jeans, and black flats. She found Ryuk taunting her cat again as he sat on the railing. Reaching forward she shooed the cat off, leaving the shinigami without entertainment. "Are you just gonna be a pain in the ass all day or what?!" He snapped, gnashing his teeth at her.

"No, I'm not. Stop tormenting my cat and keep quite while I'm in the kitchen. I have to make sure I eat my breakfast this morning before my aunt leaves for work." That being said, she listened to the clink of dishes downstairs to greet her parental unit.

"You were up awful late last night Keegan; I heard you fumbling around downstairs. You weren't working all night on those papers, I hope." There was concern in Carol Phelps' voice.

From what Ryuk discerned, Keegan's aunt was a stout woman, in her mid-forties. She had a kind face, but clearly she had no other children that lived with her other than the redhead standing by the toaster.

Taking her waffles out of the toaster, the girl sat down at the kitchen table and poured syrup over them. "Hm? Oh…yeah. I kind of was. I stopped after a while when I got a phone call from Mia. The time difference in California kind of throws everything off. So, if you heard me talking down here, it was because I didn't want to disturb you upstairs." Her cover-up seemed like it was a harmless enough lie. Keegan wasn't so sure her aunt would believe she stayed up all night talking to a "god of death." That was one way to land in the loony bin around here.

With a small sigh, the older woman finished the rest of her coffee, and patted Keegan's shoulder. "Well, all right. I mean, I know you're an adult but I'd rather you not stay up so late. It can mess with your sleep schedule." Giving a nod, Carol moved to place her dishes in the sink.

"I can try, but I can't make any guarantees." Keegan smiled, her mouth filled with the sweet sticky taste of syrup and waffle. "Mmm."

"Gross."The shinigami commented, watching her eat with mild disgust. "I can't believe you actually put that stuff in your mouth. I don't know which I'm more repulsed by, those frozen little discs or that stuff you put on your apples." He was crouched on the table again, his gangly arms hung in front of him. Carol would have a cow if she saw him.

"You know, Keegan." Her aunt turned towards her, pointing at the table. "It's funny. I came downstairs this morning and found those weird scratches in the wood. I hope Lucil hasn't been using it as his scratching post. Those marks were awful deep."

Uh-oh. Keegan glanced at Ryuk in front of her and then back at her cat lingering in the doorway. She had to come up with some excuse. "I think Lucil's been doing that for a while, though. I saw him fighting with the neighbor's cat last night. He was on the table when he came inside. We might have to get him checked at the vet and update his rabies vacine." She insisted, watching her pet's fur stand on ends when Ryuk turned his head all the way around at him.

"Meowrrrr…"

"What's he fussing about?" Carol turned to stare at the cat across the room, curiously observing his behavior.

"He sees ghosts." Keegan's answer came with a smirk, knowing she was referrying to Ryuk. "I'm guessing there's one on the table."

He shook his fist at her, scowling. "Why'd ya have to go tell that bitter old hag about me?!" The fact she brought his presence up sort of irritated him. Was she trying to make herself look crazy?

"Well," The older woman sighed, looking at the ceiling. "It's a rowhouse and it's old. It was built in the thirties and the realtor said the previous owner died in it when I bought it."

"Who knows, maybe it's 'Casper, the friendly ghost'." With a mouthful of waffle, she began to tease Ryuk, while making conversation with her aunt. "Hello friends! I'm Casper!"

"You keep that up and I'm gonna make you regret those words. I'll take that notebook back." The shinigami warned, glaring at her.

"Whooooo….I'm so scared." His agitation was entertaining to say the least. Finishing off her waffles, she cleaned up her mess at the table and started on the dishes.

Smiling at her niece, Carol checked her watch before leaning over to kiss Keegan on the cheek. "Well I've got to run, dear. Don't work on your school stuff too hard. I love you, bye." Collecting her keys from the table, she smiled and walked out the front door.

When her Aunt was gone, her smile faded into a frown. Immediately, Keegan went to the fridge to pull out another apple. Tossing it to Ryuk, she sneered. "Here. Now shut up."

The piece of fruit nearly hit the floor before the shinigami made a grab for it with his long fingers. He snatched it up, hurriedly crunching into its sweetness. "Don't waste it you moron!" He complained, chomping right into it.

"Now…" She began, reaching underneath her sweater for the The Life Script. She'd tucked it between her jeans and top to keep her aunt from touching it. "Who is Kira?"

He stopped chewing on his apple long enough to ponder her question. Did he really want to tell her? Then it hit him. She didn't just give him the apple to shut him up. She was baiting him. "Damn. I knew this wasn't for nothing." Lying across the table, he continued to snack on his treat. "All right, all right. I'll tell you. It's gonna cost ya though. I just don't get why you wanna know who Kira is so badly, Keegan. Aren't you afraid he could kill you just like that?" He snapped his fingers, gesturing to her. "You're human and…he could be a shinigami like me for all you know."

"Yeah, well…" Keegan peered down at the notebook in her hands. "I gotta start somewhere; however you seem to have knowledge of how he kills Ryuk…and I think you'd give it away Kira was like you. So," She slid back into the chair across from him. "What's his secret? Is he using a Death Note?"

He had to give her more credit than he originally thought. She took some time to think on all of this. "Sharp, aren't ya?" He chuckled, his mouth spewing apple crumbs. He ate the core when he was finished before doing a back flip to upright himself on the table. "Bingo. You hit the nail on the head there."

Her eyes glinted with intuition before she went back to the fridge and pulled out several more apples. She was running out and would need to go to the store for more soon. The packs wouldn't cut it and she highly doubted that Ryuk liked clementines. "Tell me more." She coaxed, pushing her bargain towards him. This was turning out to be an interesting interrogation.

The shinigami twitched at the sight of the apples sitting in front of him. She knew just how to play him and did it well. The hospitality was a little questionable but, he wasn't going to complain. "Heh. You play dirty. I don't know if you're worse than most humans or the smartest one I've met. I think this is the start of a…really beneficial partnership."

Tapping the table, Keegan gave a light huff and a smile. "Well, let's just say I'm glad I don't have to pay you money. I mean, how would you use it where you come from?" Turning, she set the Life Script on the table in front of him. "Who is Kira?" She demanded.

Picking up another apple, he munched on it. Slowly, he became more cooperative "Well, I'm not exactly on Kira's side. So… I guess I can tell you, also since Kira doesn't know who you are, you've got nothing to worry about.'

"Right." She folded her arms in front of her, standing up from her chair. "So tell me."

He licked his lips, brushing his fingers over his chin to wipe off any crumbs. "Kira, is a pseudonym used by a young man known as Light Yagami. He's part of the Task Force in Japan and is basically playing a hypocrite. He's a pretender on his own force trying to track down 'Kira.' You know, keep your friends close, enemies closer kind of thing." Ryuk answered, rolling his shoulders.

"So he's human, has a Death Note, and is killing people that don't fit the criteria of "good" by his definition." Nodding in understanding, she began to try and comprehend this guy's nature. "How old is he?"

"He's in his early twenties, maybe about your age, few years older than you." Ryuk informed, eating another apple. He spoke with his mouth full. "You're running low on bribe material. Choose your next questions carefully."

Slowly, she started to pace. "All right. So…He goes after criminals and people who come close to finding out who he is. Now, I'd like to get to Japan, so I can stop him with the Life Script. Realistically though, it might be unwise." This was a tough one, she'd never thought she'd actually get to even deal with Kira. Now that she had the power to do so, it would take some planning on her part. "Okay, let me get this straight. The Life Script can intercept what the Death Note does. If he's trying to kill someone, the exact same time I write that person's name in the Life Script, his killing attempt is null and void. Right?" She glanced at Ryuk, who smacked his lips, nodding at her as she pieced the information together. "And if so, Mr. Yagami will not suspect anything about there being The Life Script."

He perked up, grinning at her. A gruff chuckle escaped him. "Ooh…Clever. You're right there; you spent time reading those rules over carefully last night. You can't fool me with that fake sleeping technique. I saw the little flashlight under the covers." Reaching forward, he picked up the last apple. Holding it by its stem, he dangled it in front of her. "One more and it's no more questions about Kira for today."

Gazing at the shinigami, she watched him hold the apple. She had to think carefully on her last question. Did she really want to get involved in all of this? Was it going to be worth it? How was she going to give Kira, Mr. Yagami, a taste of his own medicine? She wasn't going to Japan. It was safer if she stayed here in America where he couldn't single her out easily in his own territory. If he didn't know her name or her face, she was protected under anonymity.

Keegan opened the Life Script and looked at the black pages with the silvery lines separating each little section. She gazed up at Ryuk from the notebook. "You recently saw Mr. Yagami…didn't you Ryuk? And if so…that means you'll have to return to him if you're gone for longer than anticipated. " She thought back to the night before and just how strung out he was on those packets of apples. Compared to now, the shinigami was perfectly fine. Clearly, Light abused his power with Ryuk and didn't take into consideration to keep him close. He was expendable because he was "immortal" and couldn't assist Light. It didn't seem to be in his nature. Then, it was like a light bulb went off in her head. It was a spur of the moment plan, but she thought it would be a good idea. "You'll have to go back eventually."

"Riiiiiight." Ryuk was halfway through the apple. "Your point being?"

"I just had a thought." She announced, picking up the Life Script and showing it to him. "Basically, I can stop his killings with this. Ryuk, how would you like to play a game? You ever seen people in a wild goose chase?"

"Oh?" Ryuk stopped eating the apple when he got to the core. "Well, I've seen the Task Force on one, but...you've got my attention. Go on…" He was now sitting, patiently waiting to hear this. This was getting heated.

"Kira…has a few variations, I think, don't quote me on this, 'white' is one of them and it also hints at 'light'. I just think it's silly, considering Mr. Yagami, as the killer, is right in front of them." A thoughtful expression crossed her face. Her brow knit together in deep thought. Slowly, a small smile crept to the corners of her mouth. "What do you think of a challenger to Kira? Like," She tried to think and then looked over at Lucil's fur and then down at her shoes. "Kuro." She grinned to herself while looking at the black pages of the Life Script.

"Kuro vs. Kira?" Ryuk cocked his head to the side with heavy interest now. "All right. I see where you're going with this."

"I need your help though." A frown etched into her features and she came to the edge of the table. "Not with a lot of things, but a few."

He snorted, shaking his head. "Look, I told you, I'm not on Kira's side. So, what makes you think I'm on yours, because you got the notebook?" A sort of cockiness laced his tone. "Say, I…go back on my first visit to Light, I could easily tell him about you. You so sure you want to trust me?"

"Well Ryuk, I know you won't do that…" Keegan began, opening the fridge to gesture on behalf of the apples. "Say I die, because you told Mr. Yagami about me." She pulled out the last apple from the fruit drawer. She watched him gulp at the site of it, glancing between the pretty red head and the apple in her hand. "I assume he doesn't supply your cravings well. So, if I die…who is gonna feed you? Judging by how much of them I give you…you need them badly. Otherwise, looks like weird stuff might happen with you if you don't. So, you keep my identity a secret, and I'll make sure you never go without apples again."

Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. DAMN! Ryuk began to grind his sharp teeth together. "You're too smart for your own good." He growled, leering closer to her. "You've mastered the art of bribery, that's for sure. Perhaps even better than Light," He swallowed the core.

"When they catch Mr. Yagami…I'll make sure to take you to the biggest best apple orchard in this country." She needed to sweeten the deal, somehow Keegan didn't think he was convinced. "Think about it Ryuk, you will be set for the rest of your existence. Now, I can't take you there yet, but in the meantime, I can make you all sorts of apple recipes."

His eyes widened and he scooted closer to her from the table. "Huh?" Ryuk perked up. "Apple dishes? What…kind of stuff is that?"

Turning, she moved back towards the sink. A small smile graced her lips. "Oh…Apple pie, apple sauce, apple cider, apple butter, and apple dumplings…Shall I continue? You name it, I'll make it." She tormented him with the promise of sweet treats while tempting him with the fruit in her hand.

Ryuk twitched and contorting his body in delight of the thought. "Oooooohhh! Stop, stop, stop! All right! You've got a deal! I'm on your side; I'm on your side. Just give me one more apple and it's a deal!" He squirmed with need.

"Deal." Keegan said, tossing him the apple. "Thus, Kuro…is born."

Author's Note: Yeah, I know, Kuro. But this time, Kuro won't be so obvious to figure out as with Kira. Lol I hope you enjoyed this little Mafia-style deal portrayed between Shinigami and Human. Thanks. Read and Review.