Authoress Note: Ooh! 33 reviews. Good job guys, also I did a sketch of the Life Script! Yay! You'll be able to check it out on Deviantart in the next chapter. I've still got come corrections to make on it. It's not that good but I figure that it'll help with the visualization. I'll try drawing the inside cover next. Haha.
All right folks, some mystery solving is in order. Also I owe my reviewers an apology. As you know last chapter didn't look as pretty as the others had. Here are several reasons why: I was rushed to get this updated to the story. Not by you guys, my parents wanted me to get off the computer and I don't have a computer at home. Ehhh…Anyways next reason, somehow my Word document cut off a good two page portion of humor reprieve for last chapter so you can bet when I checked it this morning I was kind of pissed to find only half my chapter in order.
So I wanted to apologize to anyone for any confusion and the mess made of chapter 12.
Now to the reviewers:
Sahxyel: Glad you still found Chapter 12 to be good despite its rushed stature. I'm glad you alerted me to the unfinished sentence in Light's section of the story. I didn't get a chance to read any reviews until very early this morning. I spent a lot of time in school trying to edit chapter 12 up early this morning so I wanted to make sure that chapter 13 won't have the same mistakes. Thanks for pointing those things out for me. I appreciate that.
Michi-nin: Yes, indeed. Light getting his hand cut open. I mean, it's not the death note's fault for rejecting the names, it's just those people's names are all ready in the life script. Also, it makes sense. I mean if you make sense of it, after you've all ready killed someone again they never say that you can or can't kill them again with the Death Note (or do they? I don't recall, oh well). So I developed the idea of the Death Note rejecting the name and kind of backfiring on Light. Not on purpose though, just because of the rules applying to the Death Note and the Life Script. But oh yeah! Light getting his hand cut was kind of entertaining. I knew the idea of Mello and Matt coming up was inevitable. I mean…I guess they can be. I haven't really thought that over much, but I don't want Keegan getting involved with the Mafia. So if I do decide to bring the Mafia lot in I'll keep Keegan out of it. Thanks!
PiScEs-BlOsSoM69: Well yeah. Light did deserve to get a nice smack in the face. Kuro's driving him nuts. It's natural. Haha. Everything happens for a reason, In Light's case it might be a bit more often than usual. Thanks.
Enjoy Chapter 13!
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 Ipod radio was switched on and a playlist that Keegan turned on was titled '80s Classics'. The chic' tune of Madonna's 'Vogue' had come on as she started vacuuming in the kitchen. Once Keegan gotten to the living room, Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin' ' had begun playing, and finally when Keegan had gone to the stairs it was some good old-fashioned 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen. Water from the wet sponge mop sloshed on the kitchen floor as Keegan spent most of the time cleaning. Ryuk of course was on her couch doing nothing, occasionally flipping through the channels for some horror movie or something to laugh at. Some good old schadenfreude.
Ryuk was given an unpleasant surprise when Keegan suddenly started using a contraption called a 'dust buster' upon the feathery apparel on his shoulders. Ryuk gave a guttural snarl at Keegan before he had suddenly disappeared and latched onto the ceiling, crawling along it like a brooding spider. "JEEZ! What are you trying to do?! Exorcise me?! Keep that away from me!" His eyes were glowing in anger at her, watching dust from the ceiling fall on the old pair of pajamas she was cleaning in.
Keegan stood looking up at him with laughter. "Aww…I'm sorry. Thought this only scared ghosts. I guess it works equally well on shinigamis. Hey, while you're up there-" She tossed the swiffer up at him. Ryuk caught it easily.
"Seriously? You expect me to do this?" He was complaining.
"It's one thing Ryuk. One chore. Besides it'll keep you occupied. Exercise is good for you, it's good for your health (if you guys have health) Not just human health either, Shinigamis need exercise too."
"What is this supposed to mean? That if I'm gonna stick around I have to work?"
"It's ONE thing Ryuk. Besides, you want apple juice when you're all done right?"
He muttered various curses under his breath before he started moving the swiffer along the ceiling.
To Carol Phelps the whole scene where Keegan had been conversing to the floating swiffer sweeper was baffling and she began mumbling unintelligably before she caught Keegan's attention.
Though, Keegan of course hadn't been paying attention until she realized her aunt was standing behind her staring up at the moving swiffer on the ceiling. "G-ghos…Gh-…"
Keegan looked a little more than appalled to find that her aunt looked just as shocked as she was. Her aunt had just walked in the door to come home from work and she looked faint.
Shoot! How was Keegan going to explain this to her aunt? Excuses were ouf of the question and she wasn't even sure if she'd believe the truth. "Oh…um hey Aunt Carol. Remember that conversation we were having the other night about the house being haunted?"
Her aunt nodded slowly, mouth slightly agape.
"Well…I got this one to do some house work."
"I'll kill you Keegan!" Ryuk shook his fist at her. "You let slip about the Life Script to that lump of lard and I'm gone!"
"He's not too pleased, but there's a positive side to this."
"Keegan…I'm going to lie down for a bit. When I wake up…this will have been a dream. I think I worked too late today and haven't been sleeping enough." Aunt Carol was trembling as she fumbled towards the banister and stumbled up the stairs.
"Okay…ah…take half a benadryl before you lie down too. That might help you sleep. You look kind of tired." Keegan suggested, almost insisting it.
After she heard her aunt's door close, Keegan snatched the swiffer from his hands. "You stupid ass!" She slapped him over the head with the dusting object. "Why didn't you tell me she was standing right there?!"
"I was too busy trying to figure out what the hell to do with that thing!" Ryuk snapped.
"You're the paranormal creature, you should have that sixth sense!"
"You're the pre-cautious one here!" Ryuk snarled. "Always telling me what to do, ordering me around, and bribing me with apples."
"Honey, you got yourself in trouble with an addiction like that."
"Yeah? Well don't expect any more help from me then! I told you, I'll leave. You'll never see me again. And I'll tell Light about you even."
Keegan scowled up at him. "Do so, and you're grounded."
"Pfft. You can't ground me." Ryuk huffed, grinding his teeth at her.
Keegan's brow cocked. "Oh? Really? Well, that would mean you'd be wandering around for days on end without any apple food of any kind. I doubt Mr. Yagami would supply you with anything then. It seems like he's abandoned you from the looks of it. Why should he care about your withdrawl symptoms?"
There was silence. Very, sullen, mood silence before he mumbled under his breath. "Fine, I'm sorry…"
"Whaaaaat?" Keegan held her hand up to her ear. "I didn't quite catch that. What did you say?"
"…Sorry." He muttered in agitation.
"That's better." Keegan said, turning on her heel to stroll into the kitchen, leaving Ryuk in a rather sulking state.
"You want this apple juice or not?" Keegan called to him from the kitchen.
Ryuk's head shot up. "What?" Was she serious? Damn, this human was a walking train wreck of rapidly changing emotions. One moment she was angry and the next she was back to her usual unfazed behavior. Keegan held out a Styrofoam cup to him.
"Here. It's Apple Juice. I don't know if you'll like it. You have to drink it rather than chomp on it. I personally like apple cider better. It's all nice and hot when it's cold outside." She shook the cup at him. "You want this or not?
"Why are you giving me this when we just basically screamed at each other?" Ryuk cocked his head to the side at her through the kitchen window. "It was pretty obvious I was 'grounded'."
Keegan put her hand on her hip. "Will you just take the damn thing all ready?" She hissed.
Ryuk snatched it and took a few sips from the straw. Not overly enjoying the rush of sweet toxicity to his mouth. He tasted too much sugar and handed the cup back to Keegan. She promptly poured it down the sink. "Ah. Too sweet? That's Minute Maid brand for you. Added sugar." She shrugged. "Juicy Juice is legitimate juice. No added sugar. I'll get some of that brand tomorrow."
"Hey." Ryuk called, watching Keegan toss an apple at him from the fridge. He was chomping down.
"Yeah?"
"Why are you bein' so nice to me Keegan?" He asked out of curiosity while she was in a good mood.
As Keegan pulled the Life Script out from underneath a creaky floorboard, she glanced at him. "Hm? Oh. Well…it's not really too big of reason."
"Seems like it is to me." He was suddenly on her table. Ryuk had a tendency of sitting suddenly on things when he had just been in the other room.
"Well, it's because you remind me of TJ. Only…a little less responsible and needing somebody who can deal with you. I don't know how his family stands him."
"You love it, don't you?"
"Love what?"
"Thinking you're everyone's mom." Ryuk chuckled.
"Nuh-uh!" Keegan snapped at him suddenly. "That's not true."
Ryuk gave her a skeptical glance. "Hmmm?"
"Okay, fine. It's like crack to me, like apples are to you. Only I can handle my 'addiction' well. I've been handling mine longer than yours." Keegan opened the Life Script to find Cameron Simpkins' name glowing. Her hands gripped the page. "That son of a bitch!" She snarled.
Ryuk stopped chewing on his apple. "Hm? What? What's the matter?"
Keegan threw the Life Script on the table. "He tried to kill her! He tried to kill that poor little girl I saved almost a month ago to get to me! What kind sick freak does that?!" She gripped the ends of the table. "I'll make him pay…" She sneered, a nasty scowl on her freckled face. "Light Yagami you will know Kuro's wrath."
--
"Hey. Light, what happened to your hand?" Matsuda asked, pointing at the white bandage wrappings around Light's palm.
"Hm? Oh. I had an accident last night. Cut myself with a steak knife. No big deal." Light assured, but he knew full well that wasn't the truth. Misa even had figured out that not even a steak knife could have damaged her beloved Light's hand. Something had happened with the Death Note that Light couldn't explain and he was aggravated by it.
So much so that when he went to get a cup of coffee, Aizawa asked the same thing and Light snapped. "How many people are gonna ask me about this today!"
Aizawa drew back slightly with his brow cocked. "Ah…Sorry?"
"Oh…" Light groaned softly, leaning against the file cabinet. "No, no. I'm sorry. I didn't sleep well last night and tried to find out more on the Kira case. Reviewing over suspects. I haven't been feeling well today. And N isn't giving me any reprieve either. N couldn't be Kuro though because the SPK actually exists. All I want to know for Kuro's case is if we're dealing with a criminal or not. I'm feeling the stress lately from handling he Kira case too much. Maybe I need a break."
"You look tired." Aizawa added in.
"Who knows? Maybe I am." 'Tired of Kuro's tricks.'
Some time that same day between the hours of 3:00 and 5:00pm the Task Force seemed to randomly receive a live stream right from Kuro. "Hey!" Aizawa yelled when the laptop screen lit up and they were once again listening in on Kuro. Kuro this time was able to have them respond directly back.
"Ah. The Task Force and Kira (who is out there somewhere) I'm glad to see you're all still going at my case. How goes the search for Kira? Not too well I suppose. Now, are you all equipped with the answer to my last riddle?"
"What walks on two legs in the morning, three legs in the afternoon, and no legs in the evening? You mean that riddle." Light spoke up suddenly. "It's a man in the morning, an older man in the afternoon and the last part of it you didn't specify anything."
"Maybe it's a rock." Aizawa said humorously. "Rocks down have legs."
"Humorous as that is, you're answer is wrong. At least the last part is." Kuro chuckled. "The answer is a man in the morning, and old man in the evening, and a dead man at night. Sounds intriguing, right? Thought I would give my riddle a little spice to it in hopes that it adds salt to Kira's wound about Mr. Takata still living. Oh? That. Yes, I know. Kira tried to kill him again a few days ago."
Light now looked disturbed. "Again?"
"Again?!" Matsuda and Aizawa said in unison. "What?"
"But…Mr. Takata's still alive." Light informed. "If Kira was trying to kill him again, why wasn't he able to?"
"I'll never tell. After all, I AM the one that brought Mr. Takata back to life. Oh, just thought I'd inform you, I assume you've heard of that little American girl: Cameron? Little girl with the two cancers? Well, Kira tried another murder attempt last night some time within the evening. Don't worry about why or how I know, I just do. Know this, Kira, I will certainly not tolerate you picking out victims that I bring back to life. I will make you SORELY regret trying an attempt like that? You sick demon. Calling yourself a God when you out rightly tried to take the life of a child that has committed no infractions, no crimes, and is still in the prime of her existence of a happy innocent childhood."
"Kira tried to kill a little girl?" Matsuda whispered in horror. "My God, that's horrible. Kira has to be stopped more than ever. I mean, if he's going to pick on a little girl. That's just…cruel. That's not 'justice'. That's-"
"Suspicious." Kuro added in, obviously quite angry. "Be warned Kira. I will make sure that you pay for your crimes and if you try to deliver your 'threats' to me again…You will know more than just my wrath. As of this day, to the Task Force I ask you to not meddle in my affairs with Kira. Let me do you a favor and bring Kira out for you. And to you, Kira, I strongly declare a personal 'war' with you after this fiasco you have pulled. Killing a child I cannot forgive. You have been warned.
Good day."
"Well, looks like our workload just increased." Light grumbled. "So much for sleep."
--
"Sir, we've just picked up a frequency stream directed to the Task Force in Japan. To the L division." Miss Lidner informed Near. The youth was seated on the floor nibbling on some sandwich crackers that was supposedly his lunch. At the same time playing with that one strand of hair by his ear.
"Hm? Oh, yes. That. Let's have a listen in on it."
Gevanni brought the stream up just in time to catch the last bit of the conversation.
"Be warned Kira. I will make sure that you pay for your crimes and if you try to deliver your 'threats' to me again…You will know more than just my wrath. As of this day, to the Task Force I ask you to not meddle in my affairs with Kira. Let me do you a favor and bring Kira out for you. And to you, Kira, I strongly declare a personal 'war' with you after this fiasco you have pulled. Killing a child I cannot forgive. You have been warned.
Near sat and listened with interest on this part of the conversation before the clip stopped playing. "It's an audio recording…Kuro sounds rather angry."
"I think Kira tried to try and push Kuro's buttons yesterday. While we were working on the Kira case, Kira tried to strike at one of the recent miracle people that Kuro had revived. Of course the child is still alive. No affects to death, healthy and cancer free."
Near looked up at the ceiling in contemplation before picking up a little black cat chess piece and he gave a small smile at it. "Kuro…hm. Kuro's like a little black cat. Cats are interesting creatures. Kuro seems a lot like one. Nurturing, good natured, has a personality…and can turn in an instant from lovable to fierce. I think that's what had happened. Kira is acting as the hand that strikes at it when he tried to do away with this little girl, one of Kuro's many miracles."
"Kuro's slowly moving the miracles up and out of America. The miracles never stay in one state. They jump around. They're sporadic. I like this Kuro character. He's very interesting."
"Ahem. Kuro could be a woman too you know." Miss Lidner crossed her arms in front of her.
"Yes, yes. Maybe Kuro is a woman, compared to how big of a reaction Kira got out of Kuro when he tried to strike at this little girl." Near put one of his cracker sandwiches down and started playing with a 1000 piece puzzle. The picture of several black kittens cuddled together on the box art. "Kuro…Kuro the Cat." He chuckled.
--
Keegan turned the stream off and smiled to herself. "Oh yes, Mr. Yagami. You tried to get personal with me, It's time for some much enjoyed payback."
Ryuk was sitting next to her this time holding the Life script up, almost trying to put it in Keegan's face to make her use it. "Come on, make with the script use all ready. I want to see what you've got planned."
Keegan snatched the notebook from him. "Stop. You nearly scared my aunt into a catatonic coma. You're lucky she woke up and thought she was dreaming."
Ryuk shrugged. "Old biddies gotta lose their minds one way or another." He leaned over her to look at the screen. "So, how's Joe?" He asked.
Keegan slammed the laptop shut. "Why do you keep asking me about him? I told you, I don't want him back in my life. So shut up." Keegan growled.
"You sound defensive on that subject. Because he called you yesterday and you didn't answer? And that lovely voicemail he left you." Ryuk was poking the grizzly bear with a stick. A very sharp and pointy stick.
Keegan clenched her fingers into the fabric of her pajama pants. "Ryuk…if you don't stop messing in my personal life-"
"If he's not a part of your life anymore why do you still have feelings for him?" He hissed.
"I don't, so why do you care? Are you jealous Ryuk? Are you developing feelings you shouldn't have?" Keegan asked, nastily.
Ryuk curled up on the couch with a sneer. "Yeah right. Nobody wants to-"
"Dangerous territory there, especially with a face like yours." Keegan pointed at him. She started her hack into the Task Force database again and got into the criminal files. She found several more recent kills that must have occurred a few days ago. 5. That's not a lot for Light. "He must have to be very cautious if he's pretending to try to catch himself as Kira."
"I have feelings to you know, not the kind you're thinking of, but I take offense to that."
"Do you guys even look at yourselves in mirrors?" Keegan asked, looking at the several recently deceased criminals before she took the Life Script and started writing the names down in it while looking at the pictures and faces.
"We're shinigamis, I know we're not the best looking things on this earth but give me a little dignity here."
Keegan shook her head. "Fine, fine. Fine. I'm sorry, but you prying into my relationship with Joe is unacceptable."
"He says he's coming back to town to visit you in your voicemail."
Keegan gave him a death glare. "And HOW did you know the password to my voicemail on my cell phone?"
"Your password is the same as your cat's name." Ryuk snickered. "Here kitty kitty." He grinned at Lucil, her cat who still didn't like Ryuk being around. Keegan closed the laptop again and picked Lucil up. "Well then, I suppose you'll have to tell Joe, his visit's not welcome."
Keegan glared at Ryuk as she held her cat. "Come here sweetie. Mommy will fix you up some nice tuna in the kitchen. Mean old scary ghosty there can go without apples for breakfast tomorrow." The cat felt secure in her arms and was purring as Keegan petted him and cuddled him and gave him little baby kisses. "Yes precious, mommy knows. You love her too." She knew of course that Joe coming to visit would be a problem. He was probably trying to get back together with her again, which Keegan didn't want. She tried to mask her worry by fussing over her cat.
"Ugh. Gross." Ryuk gagged. Of course when Keegan mentioned him not getting apples-
"Say what now?"
Keegan grinned at him. "You heard me. If you don't start being nice to my baby Lucil I'll have to start taking apple privileges away."
"It's a freaking cat, an animal, a-"
Keegan held Lucil up to her suddenly and smile at him. "My calling card. I don't need to just use the Backwards white K as my calling card anymore. Lucil can be my mascot. Kuro-neko." She chuckled. "Kuro-Kat. I'll have to think on the mascot name later."
Ryuk hissed at Lucil in her arms, which prompted the cat to go running into the hallway bathroom by the kitchen. He was twiddling his fingers mischievously. "Heh. What?"
Keegan tapped her foot in annoyance. "Yeah, you're grounded for sure."
"Whyyyyyyyy?" Ryuk whined.
In the notebook on the table another New Rule had just been produced: #12.
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Authoress Note: Whoot! Sorry folks, you won't learn what rule 12 is until Chapter 14. Long chapter kind of for this one huh? Hope you all enjoyed. Please read and review.