Authoress Note: Look it! Look it! (hops up and down excitedly) 17! 17 reviews peepers! We should celebrate! (does the Caramell-dansen before realizing she ish the only one doing it). Ahem. Sorry. Anyhow, thanks so much to my fans out there! I'm sure that if you guys keep this up and maybe 'The Life Script' will gain more popularity. I'm so excited because this is my most popular story that I have here. Thanks so much guys!
Special Thanks: (The usual suspects and some new ones, lol. Jut kidding guys. You earn your spotlights as great and loyal reviewers, so thanks for all of your suggestions and helpful ideas. It helps that the reviewers can take part in helping me make my story a better reading delight for not just myself but you guys as well).
(A newcomer!) Sahxyel: I'm so glad you've finally come out of hiding. It makes me appreciate the fact that silent readers also enjoy my story. I'm glad you came out to review on my story and offer your delight in it. I hope you'll stick around and become a regular reviewer in the future chapters. I'd love to hear any input you'd like to suggest for the story. I always ask if my other reviewers can help me out by nudging me in certain directions. Glad you like the story. Thanks!
PiScEs-BlOsSoM69: Always thanks as a regular reviewer for my story. It's thanks to my regular reviewers that my story attracts more readers. I'm grateful to your loyalty to the story. Yes, yes. Another American SPK Task Force would be interesting but these events are happening kind of right in the middle of everything without it getting to drastic yet. I plan to hold off, but I will consider that idea: maybe. I'm not big on it, but it's definitely something to think about. Thanks.
Sharnii Brooke: Another regular reviewer I'd like to thank for staying loyal to the story. I'm thinking that when the story gets to 25 reviews I might actually do a sketch of The Life Script on deviantart (my name's the same there as it is here. Haha.). I can't guarantee it'll be the best sketch but it's just going to be a sketch. Just to give you better idea of what the life-giving notebook would look like. Anyways, it's always fun to torture Light though. I find myself disliking him more and more as I watch Death Note and just want to beat him with the damn notebook in general. He makes me want to chew bricks when he does that evil little laugh (shudder). But I figure Ryuk better check in while he's still on Light's good side. Thanks.
Syrupdrip: She's rather busy at this time, but I know she always reviews. SO I put this in here for her just in case. Haha. Thanks for also being another loyal reviewer. Hope you don't work too hard while you're busy.
I hope you all enjoy Chapter 9.
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
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"Well, Light certainly wanted to know where I've been." The shinigami was lying stretched across her couch as she fixed dinner in the kitchen with her aunt. Aunt Carol had come home early from work so Keegan had to stop talking to Ryuk until later when her aunt went out again (bingo night at the church you see). At this time, Keegan was multi-tasking as she cooked. Listening to Ryuk and stirring spaghetti sauce at the same time.
"So Keegan, did you get your paper done?" Aunt Carol asked.
The young Irish-American woman shrugged. "Eh. It was so-so. I didn't exactly like the alternative topic I had to pick, but I had no choice. All the internet news reports were overflowing with stuff about that serial killer 'killer' in Japan."
"Oh! You applied for an exchange trip there…right?" Aunt Carol gasped suddenly, almost dropping the cooked noodles in the sink. The thought of her niece wanting to go there when it was dangerous at that time with a murderer running about.
Keegan caught the sieve frantically before setting it down. "Well. I did. I got the email this afternoon that I wasn't approved for it."
Aunt Carol breathed a sigh of relief that Keegan wasn't leaving the country to go to some faraway place she'd never been. "I'm sorry Keegan, maybe it just wasn't meant to be."
Keegan ran a hand through her tangled red hair. "It's okay. There were some factors that contributed to it anyways. First, I didn't speak the language. So it wouldn't make sense, and second the professor found out about my motion sickness on planes." She divulged.
Ryuk's brows rose in curiosity at Keegan's brief weakness. "Scared of heights?"
'Never been a fan of them really. I'm not terrified of them, but high altitude makes me nauseous.' Keegan thought to herself. She could tell him that later.
"Keegan, I don't want you leaving me anytime soon you know. I'll cry when you move out." Aunt Carol whimpered. Poor stout little woman, she had lost her husband a few years back right after Keegan's parents died. So Keegan and Aunt Carol had something in common. They had lost loved ones. Pictures of her uncle were around the house but Keegan didn't think much of him because she never met the man. "I really will. " Aunt Carol didn't bother to talk about the recent miracles with Keegan considering that her niece had an Agnostic attitude and often didn't talk about religion unless in a debate at college in one of the classes.
"I'm still a full-time student Aunt Carol. I can't get my dream job yet." Keegan shook her head. "I'll be living with you for a while. Besides, it's just you and me. It's not a problem living here at all. I need to start paying you rent though."
"Freeloader." Ryuk cackled, pointing at her from the couch into the little window space that looked into the kitchen.
'You're gonna regret that later.' Keegan glared at him.
" Oh Keegan, you don't have to pay rent. You're basically like my child anyways. I don't mind. Keegan? What are you staring at?" Aunt Carol asked curiously when she saw the girl's facial expression change.
"Huh? Oh. Nothing. The cat was on the couch. He's gone now." She lied. Lucil had thankfully strolled into the kitchen at this time. So it made sense he was gone so quickly.
"Meowr."
"No Lucil, you moocher! None for you. You have cat food." Keegan whined.
"He is your cat." Aunt Carol chuckled, dishing out her dinner into a plastic container to take with her to bingo as she ate. Aunt Carol had to rush out or she was going to be late. "Oh! Look at the time I have to go! I'm gonna be late for bingo with the girls. I'll see you later Keegan. Don't stay up too late!" Keegan received a quick peck on the cheek before her aunt was out the front door.
She could hear Ryuk howling with laughter from the living room. "AHAAAHAHAH!!!! Oh! Oh that was absolutely priceless! That's a gut killer! Ahahahaha!"
He was just awful. Ryuk was obnoxious and a terrible houseguest to bear at this moment in time. "You're being rather rude." She said, marching into the living room. "You know, I feel sorry for you. It's pretty damn sad that you don't have somebody to look after you. I mean, who would? Look at yourself. Your mother must have not wanted you."
Ryuk composed himself after a few inside snorts of laughter before sitting up on the couch. "Shinigamis don't have mothers."
"I wouldn't blame you, you guys must really be that unbearable to deal with. You're lucky I have the patience of an oyster. Otherwise I'd just kick you out."
"Then why keep me around?" Ryuk asked snidely. "I don't pay rent, I freeload off your apples, and just go where I please in your house." He had a point.
"Because, I promised you an apple orchard and I intend to keep that promise." Keegan turned her back to him and pulled her hair up into a pony tail while going back to the kitchen to feed her cat. "So, there. I don't just need your help Ryuk. I made a promise to you."
"You Americans are weird. I think even Light can attest to that." The shinigami humphed, blowing a few pieces of cat hair off his bony cheek. "So you want those details or not?"
"He didn't care that you were gone?"
"Light? Nah. I don't think he cares much about anything but becoming 'God of the New World'. Besides, it's quieter here than in Japan." Ryuk chuckled.
"It's Ohio. Ohio's a pretty subtle state in the U.S. At least think so. Anything new really?"
"That whole Bible thing was pretty neat riddle considering that most of the Japanese population is primarily Buddhist, Shinto, or some other form of religion I don't care about." Ryuk waved the topic off dismissively.
"Was that a compliment?" Keegan asked, her hands on her hips with a laugh.
"No…" Ryuk lied. "All right, so I gave you some credit there. You're trying to send Light on a little soul search route, right?"
"It's supposed to show him that God is not a killer. He's a healer and a life giver. Otherwise Jesus wouldn't haven been born." Keegan explained. "But then again, Light wouldn't know much about the Catholic religion would he?"
"That's funny coming from you, you seem so distanced from your own religion in a sense."
"Like I told you before, I don't have too much faith since my parents died." Keegan didn't want to talk about the topic of her deceased parents with Ryuk. He might try and poke around to find a weak spot. So, you have their home web site?"
Ryuk muttered unintelligibly before he handed Keegan a slip of paper on a sticky note. "Wrote it down on the way back so Light wouldn't suspect anything. No imprints on the pad from my pen."
Keegan read it over and decided she'd have to translate it. "This is a good start. Thank you Ryuk. Guess that means we can go grocery shopping tomorrow. It's apple day."
For a moment, Keegan thought she saw Ryuk's mouth twitch. "I don't know whether that was a smile or some form of restrained Tourette's but uh…you're welcome?"
There was silence from Ryuk and he crossed his arms in front of himself and mumbled something, obviously not used to thanking anybody for anything. "Erm…raggle…something. Yeah." A quick cough to mask a 'thanks' and Keegan shook her head.
"It's okay. You don't have to say it."
"Than-HEY!" Damn it. She almost got him to actually say it.
"Exactly."
--
After once again examining Kuro's recent disk message, the Task Force decided to call it quits for a while and work on the Kira case again. Light was working from home because at this time he needed to record his response to Kuro. If Kuro was as serious about stopping him as he was about becoming the world's new God, then he'd have no choice but to accept Kuro's wild goose chase. "All right then. Kuro. You want to play? Let's play."
As an untraceable stream, Light was going to live stream it right to Kuro from just about anywhere. The game had finally begun. "It has been brought to my attention that somebody wishes to challenge my power. How careless of you to think that you can win against me. You're nothing but a foolish coward who runs and hides when it's time to face up to the challenge. You bothered me once; I ignored you and merely thought of your message as a mere prank. Now that you've tried to challenge me again with a second message, I'm answering. So now the only question I want to know, Kuro, is will you live up to your challenge? Or will I kill you before then? I'll await your response at anytime, until then. You've been warned."
"Let's see how you like that Kuro." Light chuckled. "Until then, I'll have to continue using the Death Note limitedly until I have more proof of your power. Then I can establish a pattern of your miracles and figure out who you are so I can kill you. I'm brilliant. I really do take myself for granted sometimes."
--
"Achoo!" Keegan sneezed, clasping her face into her hands with tissues littering the floor and the little trashcan beside her on the sofa. "Ugh." It hadn't taken more than several sick students in her class for her to get sick. Keegan ended up catching a cold and had to stay attached to the couch for a few days until her prescription for her cold medicine came it. She admitted herself to the doctor who confirmed it was just a virus and certainly not the flu. Keegan was sure relieved but Ryuk didn't seem too pleased.
Just the day before Keegan had gone out to get him those apples she had promised and now he couldn't eat them because he thought he might actually get infected with something disgusting if he ate one. Not that he could, just, Keegan was coughing and rubbing at her sore throat the entire way back with the bag. "This sucks." Ryuk said, perched on top of the couch, hovering over Keegan.
"Tell me about it. I can't do anything. I mean, when I got home from the doctor's I practically had to puke in the hallway bathroom. It was probably yesterday's lunch. Ugh. I want my medicine to hurry up and get here soon. Aunt Carol needs to go pick it up. I don't want to be sick anymore than I have been."
"You coughed all over my apples." Ryuk complained.
Keegan's nose was all red and her eyes were watery and she sounded sleepy. "Ugh." She rolled over so that she wouldn't have to face him, the t.v was muted at this time and she had several cans of ginger ale and a cup of ice water on the coffee table next to her as she snuggled into the couch and burrowed under the blankets into a warm safe haven.
"What?" Ryuk snapped. "You're seriously gonna lay there and just-"
Keegan didn't get to respond before she pulled herself out from the blankets and suddenly stuck her face into the trashcan next to her and began chucking cookies again. "Ughhh!"
Come to think of it, this was probably the first time Ryuk had actually witnessed a human getting sick before. It was kind of nasty to look at and he sure was glad shinigamis weren't afflicted with the same ailments. "Ah…"
"I'm sorry I got your apples infected…" She coughed out from the trashcan. "I didn't mean to. I promised to get them for you though so I did."
Ryuk couldn't think of anything to say to Keegan at that moment because she was puking again. When she wasn't sick before, she looked mean and hardened to the world; A very unfazed young woman who was used to being solemn and by herself. Now she looked tired, exhausted, vulnerable, needy, and maybe clingy because she kept whining about her aunt coming back. It was unusual to see Keegan look so frail.
"Well…er…" This was hard to say. How do you excuse yourself for your behavior when it's just your natural self? He scratched the top of his head. "It's not your fault I guess." Ryuk mumbled, obviously unused to being so…so…nice. "Don't take this the wrong way."
Keegan didn't answer him, but she rolled back into her place and snuggled back into the blankets. While she wasn't looking though, Ryuk had plucked up the Life Script and began muttering in annoyance. "When you get better though…you owe me. Big time." He said, tucking the Life Script underneath her pillow.
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Authoress Note: Aww. Wasn't that nice of Ryuk? Teehee. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed. Stay tuned for Chapter 10!