Authoress Note: Wow! Crack Chapter 19 went better than I expected! I scratch that-Better than the Chapter with 'Rock 'em Sock 'em notebooks!' YAY! We're here! At Chapter 20 guys! Chapter 20! Can you believe it? I believe it? I know I can't! I believe some reviewer cookies are in order! Who has awesome baking skills….? Not me.
Reviewer Acknowledgment:
Jillian Jiggs: I do hope that last chapter satisfied your 'crack' craving. I don't know if Keegan can technically 'have' Ryuk's babies. We'd have to see what other shinigamis might say about that. You know? Also…what if The Death Note rule of 'no sex for shinigamis' still applies? That would be God-awful. Then again, with me you never know what I'll do. Hee hee. Thanks.
PiScEs-BlOsSoM69: You liked that part when he stole the motorcycle? I did too. I think it was pretty funny when he freaked out about the Harley Davidson jacket. Best Life Script moment ever. That's like his worst nightmare, waking up to find a Harley Davison label on his leather outfit and be like: 'wtf is this!?' Thanks.
Demi-Crow Sings: Do you know that it was YOU that inspired me to write the fanfiction? Absolutely! Of course it was! I remember when you told me 'I'd like to see where you'll go with this' and that was it. I was like: 'Fanfiction. Right now.' Muahah! So I do have to thank you for your inspiration for the story. Oh yeah? Chapter 3? Yeah. The earlier chapters aren't that well written. I apologize for that. Thanks though.
Michi-nin: If you'd like an image of Ryuk's 'bike' just go to the Harley Davidson website and look up Nightrod VRSC. I actually went to the Harley Davidson website to look at the bikes and went: 'Hmm…which one is best suited for Ryuk?' I saw the Nightrod VRSC and was like: 'That's the one.' Aww…Keegan's not that short. She's only 5'4 and Ryuk's like…6'1 in human standards? Have you seen the criminal line-up picture with him and Light? He's at least 7'0. Unfortunately, I can't bring L back because he's been dead for too long and Keegan doesn't know anything about him. I did think on it though and decided not to. Ryuk's not exactly 'human'. The human form allows other mortals to be able to see him in a 'human' state. They'd never know he was a shinigami. The human form's kind of a façade. You know? Tee hee.
Syrupdrip: I think I might do that idea next; he tries out his human form again and tries to fly through a wall? Yeah watch for the 'bam'! Then there will be random china dishes breaking in the kitchen. Haha. Glad to see you liked the idea of Ryuk getting a human form. I don't know if Light's plan will be full proof because he's going to figure out more on who hacked into the Task Force database. He'll be able to pinpoint that Kuro is in America but he won't know that Keegan is Kuro, let's just say. Thanks.
Sahxyel: I had to. Muahaha! I had to. Roy was the name that's been in my head for about two weeks now. So I picked Roy. It's like a miracle happened when Ryuk dropped that Life Script in a journey to sate his apple addiction. Yay for plot bunnies!
I actually WAS thinking of images from 'I CAN HAZ CHEEZEBURGR' but I thought it wouldn't go over well. So I didn't put a reference to the LOL CATS. I wish I had though now that I think about it. I like your enthusiasm for Lucil's face: 'KUROKAT ISH NO PLZD.' That would be great. Thanks.
Sharnii Brooke:Shh! Don't say that! Ryuk might protest against it. Also, I don't know if she can technically have his 'babies'. By the way: What would you call a half shinigami-half human child? Is there even a name for that? Lol Thanks.
Dragon's Return: (loops in a new reviewer) Well hello there. Nice to have you with us. Hope to be hearing from you very soon for the upcoming chapters. Thanks.
Here's Epic Chapter 20 guys! Enjoy.
--
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) and others, belong to me. Thanks.
--
"So, Roy. How long have you and Keegan been seeing each other?" Aunt Carol asked as they were sitting at the kitchen table having lunch. If Ryuk could call eating apples as 'lunch'. He almost choked on a piece when Carol Phelps asked him that question. It was as though she thought they were all ready in a relationship.
"Ah! What? Us? Together? Oh, no. I'm just a friend of Keegan's. We're not seeing each other." He assured, trying to not look at Keegan. Her face of course was priceless by the look she gave her aunt. Who would feel comfortable with that question?
"Aunt Carol…" Keegan said through her teeth.
"Well, it shouldn't be anything to be ashamed of if you are seeing each other. I think it's cute. You need to start fresh…especially after Joe." Her aunt declared.
Keegan choked on her iced tea and Ryuk crunched down hard on the apple piece in his mouth. "Can we not go there?" Ryuk asked suddenly. "After what happened a few days ago I could kill him."
Keegan shot a look at Ryuk and she kicked him from under the table. Ryuk made a muffled noise of pain before giving Keegan this look that spoke all volumes of displeasure. "Yeah Aunt Carol. Joe's going to prison for a long time. He tried to kill TJ. Remember? You weren't here to see it."
"He raised his hand to you Keegan." Aunt Carol frowned in anger.
"Yeah, she hit back though." Ryuk chuckled.
"I kicked him." Keegan corrected. "I hope it hurt too."
"You shouldn't talk like that! He could come back after you!"
"Why do you think I'm here?" Ryuk asked her aunt with a skeptical look. "That's why she told me to come. To give Joe something to be scared of."
"And what would YOU do?" Aunt Carol asked with her own skepticism. "Hm?"
"Call TJ's gangster friends." Keegan joked.
"They could help Roy whale on him." It was suddenly apparent that Keegan and Ryuk were laughing about that. "Come on Aunt Carol. You remember when TJ came over when you were here and Joe called my phone five times while we were having dinner. He said 'Man, I'm gonna get my buddies to drive by that cholo's house in Ireland if he don't cut it out. I tell you, my people are everywhere.'"
Ryuk glanced at Keegan. "He's been harassing you longer than that?"
"Right after we broke up." She answered quickly.
"Well, I won't tolerate criminal behavior in this house and if you think I'd let you call TJ's friends for help in such and act Keegan-"
"It was just a joke Aunt Carol. We're not calling anybody. I'd never do something stupid like that." Keegan insisted.
"TJ would." Aunt Carol rolled her eyes.
"You're only saying that because he's Latino." Keegan frowned.
"Oh Keegan…"
"Hey!" Ryuk suddenly butted in. "I thought I'd let Keegan try the bike out for a bit. It might get some of the hot air out of her head." He suggested, a grin on his face before Keegan kicked him under the table again.
"You're funny…" She said sarcastically.
"Are you good at handling that bike?" Aunt Carol asked, hoping to God that he was.
"I've been riding them since I was a kid with my parents." Parents…that was a pleasant word to use. Ugh. It sounded so gross. "So, I'm very skilled with it."
"Pfft. Yeah. Like I'm gonna get on that bike with-AH! HEY! HEY!" The chair beneath her suddenly lifted up and Keegan was slung over Ryuk's shoulder. "Put me down! I hate it when you do this! Just because I'm shorter than you doesn't give you the right to-" She was yelling at him in agitation and some Celtic cursing ensued before Ryuk gave a casual wave to Aunt Carol.
"We'll be back soon. I'll drive safely." He assured.
"Just make sure that hot air gets out of her head before you bring her back." Aunt Carol chuckled, shaking her head.
"I'll work on that. Sure." The door closed behind him with Keegan still yelling and beating her fists against his back before he set her down. Ryuk received and unpleasant slap to the face. "Ow…"
"What in the world do you think you're doing?" She suddenly found the bike helmet in her hands.
"Shut up and put it on." Ryuk snapped.
"Oh no, I'm not getting on this thing with you. You probably don't even know how to drive it."
"I've seen a lot in this world Keegan. So I know what I'm doing." Ryuk informed, pointing at the Nightrod. "Now, get on or I'll strap you to the bike myself."
"No." Keegan said stubbornly, pushing the helmet back into his hands. In return he shoved it at her and the Life Script along with it.
"You left this out in the wide open living room and she could have found it. Now I suggest if you don't get on that bike I'm gonna tell her that we ARE dating and that you had ME beat up Joe. You're aunt's pretty damn gullible Keegan. So shut up, and get on the bike."
She scowled down at the Life Script and then back up at him, his arms crossed with a frown. "Well?"
She shoved the helmet over her head and reluctantly pulled herself onto the Nightrod.
"…Shut up and drive."
--
"KUROKAT ISH NO PLZD." Matsuda read, unhappy about the latest rejection. "Well…I guess Kuro's not happy about us trying to butt in on his work." He scratched the top of his head with a frown. "This sucks."
"I'll say." Light said. "That's the fastest response yet. Not even a word from Kuro at all? Just this video of Kuro-neko?" He stared at the video of Lucil hissing and clawing at the camera with the blinking chat speak words coming up repeatedly. "Kuro doesn't want anyone's help. A little strange if you ask me."
"Any new messages from Kuro other than that?" He asked curiously.
"Nothing, but the Kira killings are getting worse. It's like Kira's working at double the capacity now that Kuro's back in the game." Aizawa sighed, snuffing out his cigarette. "I've really gotta quit this.."
"And Kuro just keeps fighting back. Harder and Harder. Hitting close to home." Matsuda said with concern. "I'm worried that Kuro might actually get caught in some kind of danger if he keeps messing with Kira."
"That's because Matsuda thinks Kuro's a girl too." Aizawa chuckled.
"Really! Kuro could be! If we don't start listening better to the SPK and negotiating better we could be out of our jobs if we don't keep up on the Kira case. We've got to leave Kuro alone now."
"What if Kuro is working for Kira though?" Light suddenly asked, turning to look at Matsuda with a serious face. "Kuro could just be a distraction-"
"If Kuro is a distraction then we've got to get back on the Kira case Light. We need to stop focusing so much on Kuro." Aizawa argued.
"How can we if Kuro keeps sending us messages?" Light felt a little more than annoyed at this. "You know?"
"Well you said we should start working on the Kuro case too. So it's you're decision Light. Are we to continue the Kuro case or not? Because we don't have anything and the SPK has something." They were right. Light soon realized this and he suddenly had to make a decision that would leave only him to find out who Kuro was on his own. "…Call off the Kuro case. We need to get back to work on the Kira case. There's nothing we can do for Kuro because Kuro is doing nothing illegal."
That was more like it. The rest of the Task Force seemed pleased and work on the Kira case began again.
For now Light would just have to send a message to Mikami in order to continue Kira's lure on Kuro. It didn't seem to be working as far as Light was concerned. 'It looks like I'm on my own for the Kuro case. For now I have to figure out who has been hacking into the database and pinpoint where the hacking is coming from.'
--
The rough air was blowing at her from all sides it felt like as Ryuk zipped through the streets back and forth on the bike quickly. Her arms were gripped tightly around his waist as they zipped in an out of traffic. "Where are we going?" She shouted through the helmet.
Wind on his face, Ryuk wasn't exactly sure either. All he had on his mind was just riding around on the bike to see what Keegan thought of it. All right, so he stole it. Big deal. It wasn't going to be his fault anyways. The guy that gave it to him was stupid. And Keegan…was mad as hell when he told her it wasn't his. So what? He wasn't going to give this nice motorcycle up just like that. "I don't know! I just thought about driving it around with you on it is all." He responded. "How ya doin' back there?"
"I hate this damn thing! I hate motorcycles in general!"
"Then why'd you get on it in the first place?" Ryuk asked.
"You bribed me into it!" She argued.
Oh, well. That was true. There was no way that she could have gotten out of that bribe anyhow. Her aunt would have immediately believed him if he decided to say: 'We're actually dating and didn't want to tell you. Keegan's so shy.' It wouldn't have been that hard for her aunt to figure it out. Wait…was he technically dating her? All right, so he did share some form of care for Keegan but he wasn't in love with her. That didn't happen, especially to him. "Yeah…I know." He chuckled. "Funny though right?"
"You're an asshole! That's not funny! Especially after Joe could have potentially killed me the other day-"
Her sentence was cut off and Ryuk suddenly hit the brakes hard on the bike. Several skid marks were burnt onto the concrete in the alleyway he had pulled into. His amber eyes glaring at Keegan when he turned his head to look at her. "…Shut up…about Joe."
He sounded obviously angry every time she mentioned him and Keegan nervously chewed on her lip. "Why does the thought of him bother you so much Ryuk?"
"Because he hurt you." He said through clenched teeth, his back to her. His hands were gripping the handles of the bike tightly. "Keegan, he hit you."
"I hit back though. I'm not afraid to get into a fistfight or a brawl with anyone Ryuk."
"Oh yeah Keegan? And whom have you fought recently? I don't think Joe counts." He asked, obviously not believing her if she had indeed fought others previously in her life.
"Why do you care, Ryuk?" Keegan asked, pulling the helmet off her head.
"It was YOU who said that I care about you. So why shouldn't I?" He pointed out blatantly.
"And why DO you care about me Ryuk?" She put her hands on her hips with a frown.
"Who else is gonna put up with me?" He asked, getting off the bike. "Huh, Keegan? Certainly not Light or any of the other shinigamis that are familiar with my behavior."
Keegan got off the bike and held the helmet in her hands and turned away from him. Keegan had no answer to give Ryuk on that before she handed the helmet back to him. "…I'm sorry. I'll walk home. I shouldn't have even brought that subject up."
He pushed it back into her hands. "If you're sorry then get back on the bike and I'll take you home."
They shared a brief silence before she shoved the helmet back over her head and got on the bike. "Okay."
They blazed off on the road again, but Ryuk didn't take her home just yet. "So, where else should I drive this thing?"
"YOU SAID YOU WERE TAKING ME HOME!"
"Nope. I'm gonna ride this thing around 'til it runs out of gas."
"UGH! I can't stand you…."
"Yeah, yeah. I know."
--
It was about 10:00 pm by the time they had returned to the house and Keegan certainly didn't like knowing that she'd had to tell her aunt that they were trying to bike out around the whole town. Her aunt' immediate assumption was that they WERE dating at that Keegan didn't have to tell her because Aunt Carol 'just knew'. Getting off the bike Keegan handed the helmet to him and frowned. "Well Ryuk, now you don't have to tell my aunt we're 'dating' because she thinks we are."
"Right, she thinks you and 'Roy' are dating." He grinned.
"Ugh. Don't say that word." Keegan shuddered. "Just don't." 'Dating' being said word.
Getting back in the house, Keegan found that Ryuk was once again his shinigami self and invisible to the human eye (except hers) once more. She opened her laptop to find that there was a message waiting in the form of an internet stream. She'd used a special alert to track any messages sent to her by Mr. Yagami or and Kira message in general. This one was a bit different from any other Kira message Mr. Yagami had sent.
"Hello to you Kuro,
I'm Kira. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm guessing you've gotten this message now that I've sent it. This is a warning to you stating that if you mess with the 1st Kira any longer I'll be forced to punish you. See, the 1st Kira and I work together and I've recently been given orders to kill as many wrong doers as possible in order to frustrate you further in your search for him. Give up, you'll lose in the end and you know it."
After the message ended, Keegan was taken aback. "Ah…Ryuk. Is someone else calling themselves Kira in order to distract me?"
"That's one of Misa's messages. Only she'd do something stupid like this and call herself Kira to try and confuse you. Remember what I told you, Misa is Light's faithful lapdog and will do whatever it takes to please him." He leaned over her shoulder to look at the white screen. "So I thought that might help, you know."
"Really? Well thanks. I appreciate it. Even if I didn't know this was a lapdog message, I could still figure out that Mr. Yagami didn't send this."
"True, Misa doesn't have the brightest brain on the planet."
"Just who is she?" Keegan asked, suddenly googling her name into a search engine. "Last name?"
"Amane."
Keegan found a article of her on Wikipedia and some local Japanese advertising posters online with her in some obviously gothic fairy-princess outfit and some other provocative-wear. "Oh…slut." Keegan laughed. "It's a wonder if she's not doing porn movies on the side. TJ would get a kick out of this. She's a model? Yeah, try 'skank of the month'." Keegan scoffed. "Gross."
"She's got a lingerie line too, along with perfumes."
"She's be a great 'Victoria's Secret' Model. None of those girls have the greatest brains either." Keegan shrugged. "What? Is Mr. Yagami basically her 'sugar daddy'?"
"You could say that, but she doesn't know any better. Gotta give her some form of empathy. She's clingy and needy and annoying." Ryuk twitched at the thought, recalling when she hugged him and he was rather uncomfortable with the fact that he was even hugged in general. The thought returning to him now, Ryuk was a bit more disturbed by it. It didn't feel awkward or odd when he'd hugged Keegan. It was probably because she wasn't as clingy or needy (except when she got upset).
"I don't care. She's helping Mr. Yagami. So she'll endure my wrath. If he gets frustrated with her, he could probably kill her too…Would he?" Keegan asked, looking up at Ryuk.
"Yeah. He would. He's willing to kill anyone that would possibly get in his way or expose his identity as Kira. Even his lapdogs are susceptible to his 'power'." He saw Keegan look down at the Life Script. "…Would he do it now?"
"Probably not. She's too loyal to him. So he has no need to."
She left the Life Script alone. "I could write her name in it…but I won't." Keegan sighed. "For now…let's go fix the problems all ready created."
"Careful Keegan…Mikami could get involved too."
"Mikami…the other lapdog?" Keegan asked, looking down at the Life Script. "And he's just as bad as Mr. Yagami?"
Ryuk nodded. "Why? What are you going to do?"
Keegan grinned. "Spam."
"What?"
"Spam my message all over the Task Force database in the criminal section. If that's how Mr. Yagami's getting his names." She picked up her camera and hooked it up to the laptop. "It's time to hit back."
"How?" Ryuk asked, looking over at Lucil coming out of his litter box.
"Taking lots of pictures of Lucil, and using the LOL CAT Chatspeak to spam Kuro-neko all over the Task Force it possible that I could hack into Mr. Yagami's computer?"
"Not a chance. I don't even know anything about his laptop." Ryuk stared at the glowing screen on her laptop before Keegan got up from the couch and started taking pictures of Lucil in the dark. His one golden eye was glinting in the camera light with each picture. She often told Ryuk to provoke Lucil into 'angry' faces and took pictures of him all over the place: the kitchen, the couch, the cat tree, in the bathroom, and on the stairs. "This will be good."
"You've got a lot of work to do there Keegan." Ryuk mumbled while she uploaded almost 50 pictures of Lucil onto the computer. Her camera all ready hooked up, Keegan started recording her next message after all of the chatspeak words were in the pictures.
--
12: 00 p.m--Japan Time.
Just as soon as the Task Force was about to go for their lunch break-
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" Aizawa snarled suddenly.
Light and the rest of the force looked up at Aizawa'a annoyed face when he brought the laptop to them to show the many different pictures of Kuro-neko plastered all over the criminal database. Light couldn't have been more mortified. "Well, now we know that Kuro obvious likes to hack into the database." Light scoffed.
"Maybe it's a message. Like when we tried to negotiate an alliance with him last time." Matsuda suggested. "I mean, all of the pictures have legible words on them."
"Sure Matsuda, we're gonna find an answer out of: 'Syztim undr maytenze.'" Aizawa growled as he read some of pictures. "How many pictures of one cat did he take?"
"The SPK may have had the same problem, a system hacking." Light pondered.
"I don't know, they'd surely have let us know if Kuro had hacked into their system. I mean, they're always on par with current situations. I think we're the only ones that Kuro likes to pick on." Matsuda whined. "That's not fair. Why not the SPK too?"
"Because…I don't think Kuro views the SPK as a threat. Why us, I don't understand." Light said, "Are we sure that Kuro's not just trying to send us a message through-"
He was cut off when Aizawa clicked on a hidden file embedded in one of the pictures. It popped up and the black background with the backwards-white K was again presented to them.
"Greetings Task Force. It's been a while I suppose. Sorry for Kuro-neko's rude behavior. He's a mischievous little feline." There was a chuckle and Light growled.
"Have you been hacking into the data base, Kuro?" Light asked.
Light, unexpectedly received a response. "Yes. I have."
The rest of the Task Force stared in wonder. "Why?" Matsuda asked.
"It is my assumption that Kira knows most of the criminal names from the database. Only a hacker would be sneaky enough to get into the database and get at these names. I, like Kira, am a hacker myself if you haven't all ready noticed. I'm surprised you all don't bother to do system maintenance on your Task Force database. It's really easy to get into."
"And you've been using our Data base to counter-act Kira's killings?" Matsuda asked.
"Correct, because, unlike Kira I have real power. I have good power. I have the power to put the world's balance back in order. I don't even think Kira can even begin to FATHOM what I have in store for him. That…AND the 2nd Kira. Oh yes, I know about the 2nd Kira too."
It was a case that L had seen over long ago. The 2nd Kira, when Light first met Misa. "2nd Kira? But that hasn't surfaced-"
"I received a message from the 2nd Kira urging me to stop 'messing' with the first Kira. I'm here to tell you, and Kira if he's listening. If Kira has hacked into the database…that I'm not going to stop. I refuse to stop. You can't make me stop. Nobody can." There was silence before Kuro gave a brief humming tune and a computerized sing-song voice of a child's voice recording came up.
"And as for Kira stopping me…or finding me…You caaaaan't catch me. Nanny-nanny boo boo. Youuuu caaaaan't catch me. Nanny-nanny boo booooo."
Matsuda of course didn't get what Kuro meant. "Ah…was that supposed to be funny?"
Kuro gave no indicated response to Matsuda before a question was directed at Light.
"Tell me Mr. L…does it frustrate you, thinking that I'm working for Kira?"
"How would you know about that?" Light asked, uncomfortable to think that Kuro was in his head now.
"I wouldn't. I just heard about it. Researched on it. As one with divine intervention on their side, I have a tendency to get information very well." Kuro answered. "So then Mr. L. I've got a riddle for you, one that Kira gave to me personally to answer. So when I answered it he'd be quite confused."
"All right, I'm listening." Light said, a little annoyed with Kuro's games. "First some questions though."
--
"Careful Keegan. Light's no stranger to interrogating people." Ryuk warned.
In silence, Keegan looked over at Ryuk with a concerned look on her face before she nodded her conformation that she could handle this.
"Go on."
--
"Has Kira done something to you to inflict your wrath upon him?" Light asked curiously.
"He has." Kuro answered with a sense of vengeance in the computer tone of voice.
"How so?" Aizawa asked.
"I am a being of moral standards. I believe that Kira is a highly disturbed individual that needs to be punished for the crimes he has committed. It doesn't matter that there is evil in the world because of criminals, God gave humans free-will. Kira cannot make people behave the way he wants them too. See, I hate Kira because he thinks he has the world in the palm of his hands by instilling fear in the lives of those who might do bad things. He not only would kill criminals to 'put this world in order' but he would also try to maliciously kill a little girl recently healed from her cancers (by my power) to make his point to me not to mess with him!"
Light looked taken aback. Kuro certainly seemed unforgiving of that notion he had tried to kill little Cameron Simpkins with the Death Note. "You're also angry that he targeted one of the ones you brought back to life?"
"I. Am. Furious. Mr. L." Kuro hissed.
"So in response, while you laid low for a while, you hit him back harder than he could ever imagine?" Light asked. "How did you manage to strike back so quickly?"
"I waited…See, I have a personal life to uphold as well. Unfortunately, personal life got in the way of things. But I used this as an opportunity to lay low and when the time was right, I struck back. I imagine, Kira suffered some painful damages from my power."
So it had been Kuro that caused the Death Note to reject the names he was writing in it. But…how? Light looked back up at the screen on the laptop. "Do you know who Kira is?"
"…I do. But I won't tell. Until the time is right."
"Why make us go through all of this work then? It would be easier to tell us." Matsuda pleaded. "Please, Kuro if you are for the good of this world, you'll tell us. Won't you?"
"I cannot. Emotional damages could happen. Plus…you'd never believe me unless the evidence was there, which it isn't." Kuro answered. "I apologize that I must lead you and Kira on a wild goose chase again. But hopefully it will give you more on who to suspect Kira as."
"All right then, thanks. Now, what about that riddle?" Light asked.
"What do you call yourself if you are dead yet alive at the same time?"
"That's easy. A vampire, what else?" Light asked.
"A zombie?" Matsuda suggested.
"An angel?" Aizawa pondered, cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
"Actually, that is what Kira would be if I asked him the question. A creature that feeds off the fear and blood of the living. I'm actually what one would call…Schrödinger's Cat."
"Schrödinger…As in…Erwin Schrodinger?" Light asked.
"Precisely. Sir Erwin Schrödinger was quite an intelligent man. He was so smart that he actually created a physics theory without having to use a real life experiment. He imagined how the experiment would go in his head. The experiment involved putting a cat into a box and closing said box. A gas would then be injected into the box. Of course the whole purpose was to never open the box. If the gas worked and poisoned the cat it would be dead and he would never know (cats are quite quiet creatures, like Kuro-neko fro example) but even if the poisonous gas didn't work and the cat was alive he'd never know because he'd never open the box. So the idea is…I could be either dead or alive. You'd never know."
"But that doesn't make sense." Aizawa snorted.
"It does, you'd have to ask the late Erwin Schrödinger though why it seems like it doesn't. It's too hard to write out the equation for the theory. It's easier to describe it in the experiment way. But I guess I'm harder to figure out…just like Schrödinger's Cat. I'm afraid that's all the time I can allow for this evening. You've had me overstay my welcome with all of these questions. Goodnight…Task Force. Mr. L…"
That said, the stream ended and Light was left with a lot of thinking to do on his mind.
"Well, Light. What do we do now?" Aizawa asked, putting out his cigarette after taking a long drag on it.
"We find out where Kuro's hacked in the system from. Maybe that was a hint at how to locate Kira. Kuro did say that Kira could be hacking into the system to get at the names of these criminals."
All of the sudden from the T.V, noon news came on and several criminals that Light had ordered Misa to kill today were still alive and somewhere…Light knew somewhere…that Kuro had distracted he and the Task Force to get those names and save the ones just killed.
--
The pen scribbled the names down onto the Death Note page excitedly. Misa was all too pleased to be doing a good job for Light. Just as soon as those criminals had dropped dead though…
--
Keegan was watching CNN when they had just received a news report of 10 criminals in Japan dropping dead from nowhere. CNN usually got names quickly so Keegan had time to write down the names quickly after they had died. The response wouldn't take long to happen.
--
Within moments of writing the names down in her own Death Note, the names on the pages started glowing red and ink began bleeding out of the pages and she panicked. Unsure of what was happening until the news came on and she was just as shocked as Light must have been at work. He watched the news frequently enough, but Misa's shock was more of fear. This Kuro meant business and Kuro acted fast when it came to those who had just died. She looked down at the ink bleeding out of the pages and tried to sop it up with paper towels. "NO! Not on the carpet again! Light's going to be so angry with you!" She whimpered.
--
Keegan, now satisfied, closed her laptop until she got another message. It was from N this time. "Oh shoot! Is this from the same guys that were in my house a few days ago asking me weird irrelevant questions?" She asked Ryuk, he was sitting next to her casually.
He leaned in her line of vision to look at the screen before he nodded. "Yeah," He chuckled.
"I'm guessing they've tracked your hacking skills."
"…Ryuk…do you think they know I'm Kuro? I mean…should I be worried?"
"Maybe a little." The shinigami answered with a warning. "Near's pretty smart Keegan."
"Child prodigy?" She rolled her eyes. "Oh, great. I thought he looked a little young for an 'agent'."
"He's not a 'kid' Keegan. He's probably about the same age as you…maybe a little younger than TJ." Ryuk pondered aloud.
"Hey…" Keegan said suddenly. "Thanks."
"For what?" Ryuk asked curiously.
"You know…sticking by me through this." Keegan shrugged.
"I told you, it's about the apples." He defended.
"Even if it isn't about the apples Ryuk…I'm really glad…I met you." She mumbled, kind of embarrassed to admit it.
"What?" He said, rather surprised. "Why'd you ever be glad to have met me?"
"My life's been too ordinary and since you came I've definitely been having quite an adventure. So…thank you. For being around me." She held her hand out to him to shake it. "That's what friends do."
They shared an awkward silence before his hand reached up and they shook on such a great achievement. "You know those feelings I told you about today?"
Awkward silence now.
"Uh…yeah?" Keegan said, glancing at him after they'd finished shaking hands.
"I think I like them." He muttered, obviously not wanting to admit it. "I think I like them…a lot."
More awkward silence. "Oh…uh…that's…cool?" Keegan said oddly, scratching the back of her head.
"Yeah." Ryuk mumbled.
"So…" Keegan trailed off. "Sticking around so Joe doesn't get me if he busts out of prison?" She chuckled.
Something must have snapped in him. Every time he heard Joe's name, the image of him hitting Keegan came to mind and he felt even more threatened by the fact he could possibly hurt Keegan again if given the chance. He probably hadn't meant to feel the way he did but with such anger coursing through him, the shinigami just wanted to rip Joe to pieces.
Ryuk's gaze turned angry and she suddenly found herself face to face with his human form once more. Cornered at one point on the one side of the couch, he was gripping Keegan by her arms tightly. "Don't ever say his name again." He hissed.
Then it happened. Keegan was faced with the dilemma of a very awkward kiss that was crushed against her lips by Ryuk. She beat her hands against the leather of the Harley Davidson jacket until her arms went limp and Ryuk pulled away. He obviously didn't know whether to feel gross or just a bit shocked at himself in general. What had possessed him to do that? Well, whatever had told him to do what he did…he had liked it.
She was numb for several long and quiet moments before Keegan registered in her brain that Ryuk had actually done something to obviously piss her off enough to-
SLAP!
"Ow." Came Ryuk's voice in the dark.
Keegan stormed out of the room with the Life Script in her arms and up the steps before she slammed her door shut. Aunt Carol had gone out with her girl friends for more Christmas shopping and Ryuk and Keegan were alone in the house.
Once more, Ryuk found himself locked out of Keegan's room. "Keegan…"
The door cracked open and Keegan was looking out at him crumpled on the floor outside her room looking rather guilty. Was that for real? The anger and jealousy on Ryuk's face certainly was real and every time she mentioned Joe to him, he always got defensive of her and angry in general. So…was it because of Joe that he felt the way he did?
"…If I told you…that I think I feel more for you than I should…" Ryuk was trying hard to get something off his chest, through gritted teeth even. "What would you say?"
She had no true answer for Ryuk. It was hard to comprehend. Ryuk? In…actual love with her? Okay. So if he was, he didn't want to say it. Obviously it made him uncomfortable, but…the signs were all there. Weren't they? Jealousy over an 'abusive' ex-boyfriend that could have killed her if he wanted to, maintaining her secret identity even when around Mr. Yagami, he was around her 24/7 basically, he hadn't judged her for getting upset over him possibly dying, and hell, he had basically tried to be a show off to her with his 'bike', he'd taken her for a ride for hours on said bike, making sure she never left the Life Script anywhere for anyone else to see it, and to top it all off this human form was another thing.
Her hand was cupped over her mouth as she recalled only seconds ago…that awkward kiss. Joe obviously had something to do with it but…it just seemed so…unintentional until he had followed her up here again.
"I-I don't know. I mean…" Keegan trailed off.
"It's confusing. Earlier today with the video game…" She murmured. "I don't want to embarrass you."
Embarrass him? Keegan had never done a thing to embarrass him for as long as they had known each other. Bribing him with apples in the beginning seemed annoying and loathsome then but…now that Ryuk thought about it…
"I'm glad…I dropped the notebook that night." He muttered, bowing his head.
"What?" Keegan said, looking up from the floor.
"…I'm kind of…you know…" He was trying to get the word out. "Happy, we met. I don't think I could have lasted much longer if I hadn't. I thought it was just because of the apples in the beginning…I learned later on…it wasn't just about the apples anymore." It was hard to choose. Keegan or apples? Why choose when he basically had both?
"What about the apples?"
"I got both." He explained.
"Both?" She asked curiously.
"You and apples." He answered reluctantly.
The door creaked open a bit more. "It's not about the apples anymore…?"
"…No." Ryuk looked away from her outside the door. Reaching a hand up to rub the top of his head.
"What about the other shinigamis?" She asked. "What if Mr. Yagami finds out?"
Now she was looking for an excuse. Ryuk scowled at the floor. "I don't care what they think. They can go fuck themselves for all I care." He sneered. Oops. He'd just cursed when it was obvious cursing wasn't allowed in the Phelps' household. He half expected Keegan to slam the door on his hand. No such reaction occurred and Keegan opened the door slightly wider.
"What about Mr. Yagami?"
"…I'd kill him for you."
The door swung open and Keegan dropped to her knees to pull him into a tight hug. "…Okay." She whispered.
"Okay what?" He asked, brow quirking in response to her answer.
"Okay! We're dating! Are you happy?" Her face was buried into the leather of his jacket, but she wasn't crying. Her arms just tightened around him to the point where he could probably choke if he had the ability to breathe.
Ryuk blinked several times before he was holding Keegan with a mischievous grin on his face. "Yeah. I think so."
"…Don't expect to get another free kiss in again. That's the last thing you'll ever do." She said seriously. "It's gonna cost you quite a few apples, mister."
"…Worth it."
--
Authoress: Okay, so I think this should be another 'crack' chapter as well. Also, I believe this should give you Keegan x Ryuk shippers some glee. There, your crack is briefly sated…hopefully. But that doesn't meant 'baby-making' will come out of this! So, shush. Okay then folks, read, review, or flame. Thanks. Stay tuned for Chapter 21