The Life Script Chapter 24: Kuro protects, a death note fanfic

Authoress Note: Wow! I hadn't expected Chapter 23 to go as well as I thought. Aww…thanks guys. That's awful nice of you. Great to know that even if I think a chapter isn't to my liking you guys still love it. I appreciate that; it gives me warm fuzzies inside. Also on a weird and rhetorical question: Do shinigamis get warm fuzzies inside? O.o

On another note, we're getting closer to the climax and how it's going to end. The end may have some intertwining with how the Death Note series ends in the anime, but that's all I'm going to say for now. I'm still working on it and I don't plan to give anymore away than that.

Also, if anyone gets the chance, I saw this really cool thing in the Director's Cut of the Death Note anime. Go to Youtube and type in 'Death Note Final Conclusion' if you've seen it, yay! If you haven't…go watch it now! It's kind of short and has English subtitles but I thought it was so cool.

Oh well. Time for reviewer acknowledgements:

KakaIru-luver: Aw, shuck. Don't rush anything. Take time to enjoy this next chapter first at least. ^^ Take a break. Thanks for your effort and 'fanart' support of Ryuk and Keegan. Haha.

Sahxyel: Well, for one thing even if Ryuk wants to kill Joe, he knows he shouldn't because it's for Keegan's sake to not look like a suspect and he knows that he'd technically have 'died' when she told him not to because she didn't want to lose anyone else previously. It was kind of hard to try and write the whole Joe incident the way it did. I mean, if anything I think Ryuk should have just run him over with the bike. At least then his 'actions' would be let slide because Ryuk could make up anything to defend himself in that case. I really would have paid serious money to see that scene in an anime. Haha, Ryuk running over someone with a bike. If he wouldn't kill Joe with the bike, I'd just want to see him hit him with it.

At least to the point where he would leave Keegan alone. I imagine we won't see Joe for a long time. He's not getting out of jail this time. I'm planning on having Ryuk tell Keegan the truth about how Light got the Death Note in the first place with repercussions to his actions, but of course knowing Keegan you'll know what to expect: locking him out of her room. Haha. I'm glad you liked Chapter 23, I thought it wouldn't go over as well as I thought it would but you proved me wrong. Yay! Thank you.

tHePuNkPriiNcEzs: I wanted to have Ryuk just hit him with the bike if I wrote a scene where Joe was walking across the street but I decided not to because I think I'll save it for later. Muhahaha. I also contemplated on having TJ come to the scene with said shotgun but I didn't because TJ's a lovable side character that you don't want to see go to prison because he's a minority and he gets into enough trouble as it is. Haha. Thanks.

PiScEs-BlOsSoM69: Yeah, I guess he's only out of character because it's fanfiction and the fact that he's got warm fuzzy feelings. Haha. Thanks.

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.

Christmas Eve always seemed like a slow day to Keegan in a sense, mainly because her parents had died two weeks before when she was little and it bothered her a bit. She usually wasn't fazed by death unless it involved Mr. Yagami messing up the balance in the world, and Keegan could only imagine what was going through Ryuk's mind as she did her last minute Christmas shopping for neighbors and family friends and Aunt Carol. They were in the shopping part of town where in the spring and summer it was just window shoppers, but on Christmas Eve it seemed like every damn person was running around at the last minute for that last gift.

She was all bundled up this time when they went out. A long black pea coat with jeans, the Chanel Boots that Aunt Carol gave to her last Christmas, a white cashmere scarf, and black beanie cap.

And Ryuk, well…his outfit never really changed with the whole "Roy" façade. When Aunt Carol found Keegan asleep on the couch and Ryuk playing video games this morning she asked him if he ever showered to which his response was: 'No, I clean my favorite outfit everyday though.' Keegan scolded him for that because he left her aunt confused to some extent before she decided they should get out of the house again.

Ryuk had never had a Christmas before, Keegan felt a little sorry for him because he was missing out on a lot of things and he didn't get any presents. Who knows how long he'd been around for anyways? They were window-shopping right now, and it was suddenly out of the blue when Ryuk, as "Roy", asked suddenly: "What the hell is Christmas anyways?"

Aw. Man. It figured. He had no idea what it was. "Ohh…" Keegan groaned. "You poor thing. You don't know about many holidays do you?" She said, putting an arm around him in a sort of half hug as they walked down the street. "It's a Catholic Holiday, one my parents celebrated frequently. It was my mom's favorite holiday you see. It's basically to signify the birth of Jesus, except the weird thing is he was born sometime in the spring, at least that's what I hear." Keegan frowned, twitching her nose. "Exactly why I'm agnostic you see. It's not just because of my mother, it's also because the Catholic religion is confusing enough as it is." She patted his back.

"What's up your sleeves today Keegan? You're being awful close today." Ryuk rolled his eyes. "You're creeping me out." He tried to shake her off.

She frowned, smacking him in the back of the head. "Hey, my parents died real close to Christmas, give me a break. It's not the best holiday for me you know." She reminded.

He rubbed the back of his head. "Oh…yeah. So…what's the present giving supposed to represent, then? What's that got to do with a baby being born?"

"…Think of it as this Ryuk, the gifts were a belated baby shower." Keegan explained in simpler terms.

"So we're basically getting gifts for other people because of a fricking baby shower?" He said with disbelief. "That's the stupidest holiday ever." He huffed. "Sheesh, you humans and your weird beliefs."

Keegan ignored Ryuk's comment and stopped in front of a small boutique store where they had several Rachel Ray cookbooks that her aunt had been wanting for the longest time. "I wish I could buy them all for her. She loves Rachel Ray and Guy Fieri." She sighed. "Hey. Stay here for a second, I'll be right back." She told him before going inside the store to purchase the gifts to get for her aunt.

This was stupid. What was he doing here with her shopping? Ryuk didn't even have money of his own to get a gift, let alone try and make something for Keegan. Ugh. Making a gift would have been disastrous; he doubted she would have liked a necklace made out of bones from the shinigami realm. Then again he could always steal something from that one shinigami who had a fascination for jewelry. "Nah, too risky. Wait, what's the matter with me?" She slapped himself. He couldn't be thinking of gift giving at this time, he had work to do. Like watching out for Joe, keeping Keegan's identity a secret, and laying low as a casual sort of 'boyfriend'. There was that word again: 'boyfriend'. He didn't like the word too much but…this was Keegan he was thinking about here. This was the same human that had bawled her eyes out to him to tell him that she loved him, the same human who supported his apple addiction, the same human who had no fear of him in any way shape or form when she basically was best friends with 'death' in a sense, and this was the same human that didn't want to see him get hurt or tortured or die.

What caused humans to care so deeply about things that should have been unimportant? If Ryuk could categorize himself among things that were "pointless" to care about he put on the list pets, shinigamis, people who were all ready dead, and love. Then again…

He lifted his 'human' hand up and covered his mouth with it. Recalling the night he'd so recklessly kissed Keegan and in return had her kiss him not even less than a week ago. It had felt…nice. He couldn't deny that he hadn't liked it and the fact that it could possibly happen again because of the relationship Keegan now shared with him. He was confused. "What the hell's wrong with me?" Ryuk wondered.

Across the street he caught sight of something unusually fascinating to him in a shop window. Whatever it was he liked it, well he thought Keegan would like it. He didn't know how he'd get it and he certainly wasn't going to shoplift it since Keegan had a problem with stealing as it was. So if he couldn't steal it as a person…

The shop was relatively empty when he passed through the window. He'd pick-pocketed some poor old geezer for two twenties without being seen in his shinigami form and was now in the shop hunched over staring at the object with clear intent on getting it. This said present was an antique of some sort judging by the sign out front reading: Quillo's Blast from the Past. It looked relatively new and he even wondered why humans uselessly threw stuff away only to have it resold to other humans.

The clerk at the front desk was a man probably in his late 50s flipping through a t.v guide for the next episode of 'The Unit' before he heard something jingling in front of him a found the little desk bell next to him suddenly ringing. His eyes widened at the sight and on a pad of paper next to him horrible handwriting scratched out: 'The one in the window. I'm wanna buy it.'

Knowing full well he couldn't be seen, Ryuk determined that this man probably thought his shop was haunted. Without questioning he watched the terrified human stumble over towards the front window and start pointing at various objects until the pad of paper floated over to him and the handwriting appeared again. 'The one in the box, stupid. The one with the cat in the moon.'

The man picked up a dusty jewelry box that held in it a silvery medallion with a curvy black cat curled around it as though it were circling the moon. "Th-This one?"

The pen that was writing on the pad poked at it in recognition and the two twenties were presented out of thin air. 'Nice doing business with you.' The lid on the box closed in the man's hand and he watched as the box disappeared with the ghost.

He ducked into an alleyway before he reverted back to "Roy" Again and stuffed the box in the inside pocket of his jacket. He quickly hurried back across the street just in time to lean against the window of the shop casually while Keegan came out with the cook books all wrapped together and she was smiling. "I'm sorry I took so long, the line was long and I went straight to a little old lady doing free gift wrapping because I have horrible wrapping skills." She chuckled.

"Took ya long enough." His lips twitched into a soft laugh.

"Okay, when we get home I've got to head to the grocery store real quick. It's for Christmas Dinner for my Aunt. I promised I'd do the food shopping this year for dinner this holiday."

"Will there be apple pie?" Ryuk leaned his head over her shoulder with a grin.

"There's always dessert at Christmas." Keegan rolled her eyes at his behavior and pushed him away. "Come on, we have to get home and put these presents under the tree."

Keegan was a little worried after she'd left Ryuk alone at the house. He just seemed so laid back and at ease after she had left him to his own devices. "Oh, God only knows what he's doing with Lucil." She mumbled, pushing the cart through the aisles and picking out a large bag of apples, a chicken to roast (because Keegan didn't feel like turkey this year), a couple potatoes for homemade mashed potatoes, cinnamon, green beans, and a number of other good things that Aunt Carol usually used to make homemade dishes for Christmas Dinner.

"Let's see…who's coming again…"

She went down the list of people that were going to be joining them for dinner. "The Smiths, The Wahbergs, The Warfs…am I forgetting anybody?" She wondered.

Did Ryuk even want to come to Christmas dinner? Keegan thought and shrugged. "Maybe he'll have a change of heart about Christmas." Maybe it was best that he didn't come, he probably didn't want to be around a bunch of people that he didn't know besides Keegan.

She was lost in thought while she exited the store to be met by Gevanni, Agent N, and Miss Lidner standing outside by an unmarked car.

"Hello Miss Phelps." Near greeted her casually.

"Boy, you're a real lounger, aren't you?" She said, looking Near over in that same pair of pajamas she had last seen him in. "What? Do you guys need another statement or what? I've got to get home and put groceries away. Christmas is tomorrow and I don't want to be late getting home. My aunt insists that we go to church at least on the holidays."

"Of course, that's fine. I understand." Near said with a nod. "It is the Holidays."

"The least we can do is give you a ride home, we can talk on the way there." Miss Lidner suggested. "Would you like that?"

Keegan didn't want to seem uncooperative, so she reluctantly complied. "My mom and dad used to always tell me not to get into cars with strange men, women, or people in general when I was little. I don't know if this should be an exception because you're cops."

"We assure you Miss Phelps, it's just in regard to recent events involving your ex-boyfriend." Gevanni tried to give a better explanation for their reasons. He opened the side door for Keegan and gestured for her to get in. "After you Miss Phelps."

She got in despite the fact she didn't want to. Once inside the car, Miss Lidner and Near followed suit. "What did you say your address was again?" Near asked.

"1531 Jefferton Avenue." Keegan responded, buckling her seatbelt. "Sorry, it's a precaution I always take. I never get into a car without putting my seatbelt on; safety first."

"We heard about your ex-boyfriend coming back for you again Miss Phelps, aren't you concerned that he could break out of prison again to try to come after you?" Miss Lidner asked with worry. "I mean, you're a young woman in a very dangerous situation."

'Dangerous situation as opposed to what? They could also be using this as a cover up to try and say that I'm in danger if I keep striking back at Mr. Yagami.' Keegan thought, holding her groceries to her so they wouldn't fall over. "Gee thanks so much for your concern of me, but I'm pretty sure he's not getting out this time. Even so, I think my boyfriend scared him out of his mind when he threatened to run him over with his bike. If you'd have been there, you would have seen that my current boyfriend had the front wheel positioned at Joe's crotch." She laughed fondly at the memory.

"Miss Phelps, we're talking about how you're life could have been threatened and you show no concern?" Near said, skeptical of how Keegan could be so calm and collective about the whole event that had happened before they had met in person and after they had met in person. "That's a bit odd, eh Miss Phelps?"

Keegan looked up at Near with her brow cocked before she shrugged. "Agent N, I was in a near death accident when I was a little girl. It was a car crash and my parents died in it. I guess…I'm no so scared of death anymore because I actually stared it in the face at some point in my life and I'm alive to tell the tale."

'Ryuk…I wish you were here right now. I'm sick of getting asked questions about this; you usually know what to do. You usually know what to tell me right now. I shouldn't have left you home.' Keegan gave Near a funny look. "Look, if you guys haven't anything else to ask of me, I've really got to get going."

The car stopped at her house and Gevanni turned around in the front seat. "Miss Phelps, we're here."

"Thank you for the ride home, I appreciate it." Keegan was let out from the car before Near appeared at the door with a small smile. "Miss Phelps…"

"Yes, Agent N?" Keegan said, a little annoyed.

"You've got a nice cat." And the door closed.

"Meowrrrrrr….hssss!" The mangy black cat pawed angrily at the shinigami as Ryuk came closer to him.

It was all he could do to pass the time by while Keegan was gone. He didn't feel like playing any video games (since he'd played every game Keegan had, including the crappy original Playstation Games) so all he could do now was taunt Lucil and wait for her to get home.

Ryuk had Lucil cornered in the kitchen, by the refrigerator, when Keegan came in with the groceries. "Hey, what took you so long? You were gone a lot longer than the last time you went to the grocery store. Something happen?"

The bags clunked down on the table and Keegan shooed Lucil away so that Ryuk wouldn't bother him anymore. "…Yes. The SPK, they gave me a ride home. I think they wanted to ask me some more questions but were hiding what they really wanted to ask me. They asked me about you, me, and Joe."

He turned his head towards the kitchen window and peered out at an unmarked car driving up the street and he frowned. "They're trying to figure out more about you."

"…They can't do anything to me Ryuk. I'm not breaking the law, and I doubt they'd expose me publicly. Unless they want me to stop bringing people back to life."

Ryuk was generally silent for once and didn't have a snide remark to give to her before he mumbled. "You know…the world wouldn't be messed up if Light had never found the Death Note."

She had just opened the fridge to start putting away the chicken and stuff that needed to be chilled before what Ryuk had said interested her. "What do you mean? 'Found' the Death Note?"

"…Light didn't find it on his own. And I didn't 'accidentally' drop it like I did the Life Script." Ryuk cracked his neck and an eerie silence followed.

"What?" Keegan said, dropping a can of cranberry sauce.

"Remember when I told you…I only came here because I was bored?"

Keegan could only give a subtle nod. "Yeah…?"

"I dropped the Death Note to get some entertainment." Ryuk admitted, not knowing whether to be ashamed or just hate himself at this moment because he just told Keegan what could have ultimately been an end to their relationship.

He suddenly found the can that had been in her hand hurled at his head and he hit the floor hard by the impact. When he sat up again, he found Keegan gripping the salt and pepper shakers in her hands with a death pressure until she hurled them at him too.

"Aah!"

"HOW COULD YOU BE SO CARELESS RYUK?!" She screamed.

"Keegan it-Ow! Ow! Ow!" He was pelted with several apples from the fridge now. "I can-OW!"

"YOU PUT THE WHOLE WORLD IN DANGER AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO TELL ME BEFORE?!" Keegan stomped towards him and slapped him in the face.

"Ugh. Stop acting like a kid throwing a tantrum Keegan!" He caught her hands a wrought iron grip in his bony fingers and snarled at her. "WILL YOU SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME?!"

She stopped struggling, but only because the grip on her hands hurt so badly. Did shinigamis have super strength or what? "What were you thinking?" She said, obviously mortified by how he would have acted so thoughtlessly just because he was 'bored'.

"That's only something humans do Ryuk. How could you?" She whispered in horror.

"…I dropped it long before I met you Keegan. It was a long time ago when I didn't think for any particular reason. I just sat back and watched to see what happened next, like a movie almost." He admitted. "I didn't care about consequences then like I do now. But then again…had I known that dropping the Life Script would have a different outcome than the Death Note…I'd drop the Life Script over again just to replay it over and over a because we met Keegan. If Light had never picked it up and used it, I would have never stolen the Life Script and you'd be dead somewhere because I wasn't here to protect you from Joe. TJ would be dead too. Can you be angry at me now?"

She ripped her hands from his grasp and opened her mouth to scream at him, but found she was at a loss for words.

"You know what they say about destiny Keegan?" Ryuk asked. "They say it comes full circle."

"How would you know that I'd be dead Ryuk? You told me I had a long life span." Keegan said through clenched teeth.

"You do…Even without the Life Script, but that's the funny thing. I can read your life span, but it's confusing. You've got a life span that fluctuates with the decisions you make in life. It's very unusual Keegan. See, if you and I would have never met, Joe could have killed you at some point." Ryuk pondered on what he said for a moment before he looked up at the ceiling. Then a horrible thought hit him: "Joe could have possibly just stalked you your whole life until he waited for the right moment to kill you."

Ryuk's next words sent a chill down her spine. Joe? Stalking her 24/7 and just waiting for a right moment to kill her? There was a change on Keegan's face and he saw an emotion he didn't think he'd ever seen in her before. Fear.

Fear was an emotion that made humans pathetic to look at, but Keegan's definition of fear was far above pathetic. She looked honestly terrified. Terrified because she had made a decision in order to make a better decision for herself and it could have ended tragically or violently. She never really seemed to care about her own life like she did anyone else's which was intriguing about her because Keegan was just always a selfless person and never wanted for more or less.

The fact that she looked so vulnerably afraid was a bit sad, usually she seemed so brave but at this point in time she was at a loss for words and frozen in place. "…Do you know how I would have died if Joe would have killed me?" Her voice shook.

He couldn't really tell her how she died but…maybe if he made it subtle."…Let's just say lead isn't a very soft material when it hits you up close." Ryuk told her.

Whatever feeling she had left in her legs was gone, because Keegan suddenly collapsed to the floor without warning and lay on the floor in some sort of catatonic state before Ryuk stood over her with a brow cocked at her behavior.

"…What are you thinking about right now?" He asked her.

She didn't answer him for several long and painful moments before Keegan whimpered. "The car crash." She said suddenly.

"What car crash?" Ryuk said, not understanding. It wasn't long before he realized she was thinking about her parents that very moment."

It was too tempting not to ask, to be able to hear it in every detail but if Keegan had been there Ryuk had to know. "What do you see, Keegan?"

Her hands were clutched around her in a tight self-hug and she felt her face grow hot and her eyes stinging. "Dad's driving. Mom's in the passenger seat looking back at me while I hold the bag of groceries safely on the floor."

There was little he could do at this moment before he continued to ask her. "Is she in a good mood this time?"

Keegan sniffled. "Mom's smiling, she's not yelling, she's not talking about God. Dad's got the radio on some country station." It was as though she was there, reliving it. Ryuk couldn't believe this, how awful did that have to feel?. "The seats are a warm leather. It's a hand-me-down Cadillac." Her voice was wavering now.

"What's your mom talking about?" He crouched down to her level to get a better look at her face. She was on the brink of tears.

"She's asking me if I want to go to the park tomorrow." Keegan sputtered.

"And your dad?" He continued.

"He said it would be a good idea, because he was off work the next day." She felt her eyes stinging again.

"Then what?"

"I was about to answer when it happened. The other car hit the Cadillac. Mom hit her head against the dashboard. The airbag didn't save her." She began bawling. "I couldn't hear her crying for me. So I knew she was gone."

Oh, the agony. Ryuk couldn't look at her when Keegan lost it. "Oh…Keegan."

"Dad's bleeding!" She cried. "He's crying for me and mom. I can't help them!" It was hard not to pay attention to Keegan. She seemed to cry a lot after they had some sort of argument, but this time it was different just like when she had told him she loved him.

"I can't help them! I can't…I can't help….There's blood everywhere." She wept. "The other driver's getting out of the car and yelling at us to get out and look at the damage 'we' caused." She sobbed. "Dad can't move, mom's dead, I can't cry! I can't cry for them because I'm too scared from the shock. THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE!"

She found the cold leather of Ryuk's chest against her face again and she curled up closer to him tightly. "Mom!" She cried. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

It wasn't much he could do at this point because Keegan was facing her ghosts and it must have hurt after the longest time of holding everything in for 12 years. "I think she's not mad at you anymore." He mumbled, not knowing what else to say.

There wasn't anything to really say except gather Keegan up in a tight embrace and basically just lock her there so she wouldn't try and escape to her room to cry. "…I'm sure they're in heaven, Keegan."

Hours later, she was sitting next to Ryuk on the couch with a box of tissues next to her in case she started crying again.

"Dad used to watch M.A.S.H a lot when I was little. Mom had her soap operas." Keegan rubbed her nose with a tissue in her hands with the laptop on her coffee table.

"What about your grandmother? You never were affected by her death? You said you went to live with her and then finally Aunt Carol. What happened to your grandmother?"

Keegan opened the laptop. "I wasn't as affected by my grandmother dying because she was all ready 80 something years old and I was just this little kid who didn't think about anything else but the car crash at the time. My grandmother was deaf, so I always used to have to communicate to her with sign language. She was a great woman; this was my dad's mother. My maternal grandparents died when I was little. She used to cut the crusts off my sandwiches just like dad, and then I'd get upset and not eat because she cut them just like dad and she'd cut the crust off by cutting out the middle of the sandwich in a circle. That way it was nothing like the way dad cut it."

She chuckled. "I used to get so mad at her because she would say I looked just like dad and I'd hate it when she talked about y parents when I was little. I attended catholic school up until I was in freshmen year of high school."

"So, we're basically gonna sit here and listen to your life story?" Ryuk laughed. "Real original Keegan."

She was silent for moment before she looked up at Ryuk with a smile. "Why do you always put up with me crying?"

"…because it makes me upset when you get upset." He told her. "It makes me think someone's hurt you and I need to make you feel better."

"Aunt Carol says that too. She gets sad when I get sad. She used to make me spaghetti and meatballs whenever I got upset because her philosophy was: Spaghetti always makes smiles."

"What a stupid philosophy." Ryuk scoffed.

"It worked for me." Keegan sniffled.

"Yeah, yeah. You gonna quit crying for today? It's Christmas and I don't feel like having to listen to anymore sad stories for today." He asked.

"Yeah, I've got work to do. Some more loose ends to fix."

"Do what needs to be done."

Aizawa seemed to be lost in thought before Matsuda shook him out of his thoughts. "Hey, You okay? You seem out of it lately."

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah. I guess it's just this damn Kira case again. I feel like we're not getting any closer to solving this case." Aizawa rubbed his forehead. "Ahhh…I can't stand it. I wish we could call it case closed but…then Light would think we're giving up." 'Do what needs to be done.' He thought. "I'm going home. I don't feel very good."

Matsuda watched as Aizawa got off the sofa in the office and left. He felt kind of bad for the guy, knowing that it must have been hard trying to support his family while working almost 24/7. He scratched the back of his head before Light came into the room. "Huh? Aizawa go home all ready?"

"Yeah…he's not feeling well." Matsuda said with concern. "He looked kind of sick. I just hope he's not coming down with something while we're on the case."

'Aizawa's been weird all day. It's like something's bothering him. Hm. I just hope it's got nothing to do with his health. We need everyone's help we can get.' Matsuda thought.

"Oh. Hey, I'm going to get some coffee and bring it back. Tell everyone else." Light said, closing the office door behind him. When Light was gone, Matsuda went over to the computer and opened it. In the background of the criminal database, he saw that the Kuro-Neko images were still up and he thought over Kuro's whole attitude towards the Task Force in general. Each time anyone else questioned Kuro, This anti-Kira agent seemed to give only Light lip about anything before cutting the transmissions short.

He skimmed through the pictures before a sudden Kuro transmission came up and Matsuda was all by himself to answer. "…H-Hello?"

"Task Force."

"Hm? Oh. No. Not all of the Task Force. It's just Matsuda right now. Kuro, right?" He asked to be sure.

"Yes, you are correct. Hello Mr. Matsuda. Nice to meet you. I don't believe I've been given the chance to speak with each Task Force member individually. Is this a new plan Agent L is trying out to find out who I am?"

"Hm? No…I don't thinks so. Agent L never told me anything about a plan. So I don't think there is one." Matsuda scratched the top of his head. "Why?"

"I want you to be sure. Check the room for cameras and recording devices please, I'd greatly appreciate it. I have things I'd like to discuss with you Mr. Matsuda. I previously spoke with Mr. Aizawa the last transmission. Maybe if I hear it from you."

Hear what? No, never mind that. Kuro? The infamous Anti-Kira Kuro wanted to talk to him? He didn't know whether to be concerned or excited. "Oh…uhm…Okay."

Matsuda did as Kuro asked and found nothing. He took time to look thoroughly before he returned to the laptop. "All clear."

"Good, now Mr. Matsuda, I assume that you have no further leads in the Kira case…in how many months or so?"

"Oh, leads? I don't even know. It's been a while. I just handle filing and special operation plans. You could call me the errand boy sometimes. I don't like my job very much."

"…Do you tire of looking for Kira?"

"Something always says that you know who Kira is. Is this true, Kuro?" Matsuda pulled up the spinning desk chair towards the computer and sat down in it.

"Oh Mr. Matsuda. I do know who Kira is, but I can't tell you because I said before it could lead to emotional damages."

"Well…if you don't want to tell us…how will we catch him?" He asked. "You don't make sense sometimes Kuro. It's almost as if you're-"

"Like Kuro-neko? I'm random? I'm spontaneous?"

"Yeah. Like you're a little kid playing a game." Matsuda sighed. "It's great because you're able to combat Kira. But we haven't see Kira try to kill any of those criminals you brought back to life. Why is that?"

"Kira can't. My powers counteract his. His powers are useless against me." Kuro told Matsuda plain and simple.

"All right, so you seem like a relatively nice person. You're only rude to Agent L. Why is that?"

"I don't like rude people, Mr. Matsuda. Agent L is no exception because I find his whole attitude towards me rude. I mean really, what idiot tries to figure out someone who is saving the world from a monster?" Kuro said with an annoyed tone.

"You know…come to think of it…you're right? Why would Agent L want to try to find you? You're not a suicidal target asking for Kira to kill them." Matsuda sounded rather surprised. "You just sound-"

"Like I know why Agent L's looking for me?" Kuro asked suspiciously.

Matsuda placed a hand over his mouth. "But…What about Kira? If Kira can kill us by name and face and manipulate the death…How can-"

"Do you fear Kira…Mr. Matsuda?"

Matsuda didn't answer for a minute before he nodded. "I don't want to tell anyone…but I'm always afraid to some extent. I'm always the coward."

"You're confusing cowardess with common sense, Mr. Matsuda. It's common sense to be afraid that you're going to die or be killed. So I ask you this-"

"Yes?" Matsuda got close to the computer screen.

"Do you want me to grant you immunity from Kira?"

Matsuda stared at the screen with his mouth slightly agape. "How can you do that?"

"My power, I need your name and face just like Kira does. But I can just find your picture on the database. Just like Mr. Aizawa, just like you…he fears Kira too. So I ask you…will you let me protect you?"

"Why…would you want to protect us?" Matsuda asked softly.

"Why not? I'm against Kira enough as it is. Let's start at the 'root' of Kira's problem."

Matsuda looked at his I.D card and looked at the screen with a frown as he thought of Light's attitude and face towards Kuro. How could he act that way to someone who was saving the world from Kira's death and destruction."

"I put my faith in you, Mr. Kuro."

"Miss. Mr. Matsuda. It's Miss." Kuro chuckled. "Of course, you will keep our conversation to yourself and speak of it to no one except Mr. Aizawa. Understood."

Matsuda nodded. "Yes. I understand."

As Keegan looked at the pictures of Matsuda and Aizawa on the computer she wrote their names in the Life Script.

"It is done."

It was snowing the next morning when Keegan woke up to look out the window at the streets. It was mainly flurries but they soon began to lie and Keegan giggled at the sight. Ryuk was lying on his side with his back as support for Keegan as she slept curled underneath her covers last night. Ryuk wasn't really asleep but lost in thought before Keegan's arms were thrown around his neck. "Merry Christmas!"

"Aah! Keegan, what are you doing? Get off!" He exclaimed, trying to pry her arms off him. "You're choking the life out of me!"

Of course Ryuk only said this because he didn't want her crushing her present he had stashed away. Keegan immediately got out of bed to rush downstairs in her pajamas. Leaving Ryuk alone in her room, changing into his human form before he peeked his head out of the door with worry that Keegan might jump him if he stepped out the door. She was sneaky enough as it was. "Keegan…"

"Oh, Roy," Aunt Carol said with a yawn. "Good morning. I feel like you live here now or something. Have you been here long?"

"Oh. Uh…no. But Keegan woke me up early and scared the hell out of me." He said. "This is kind of my first Christmas. My parents are uh…well. Their not Catholic and we really don't celebrate anything really." He scratched the top of his head.

"Well, we're glad you could celebrate it with us. Presents are downstairs. I got you something."

Aw. Damn. Gift giving? That sucked. Not that he wouldn't enjoy presents but Keegan's aunt had actually gotten him something? This woman must have been a saint if she raised Keegan all of her life. "Ohh…ah…wow. Thanks. I wasn't-You didn't have to-"

"Shoo. Before I push you down the stairs with the broom in my closet boy, it's Christmas and you're not staying up here cooped up in Keegan's room."

He found her aunt's words a bit creepy and he came down the stairs to see Keegan sorting gifts. There was a knock and TJ and his family were coming in then.

Oh no. More people. Something he disliked a lot was a large crowd. It was just TJ, his mother, his father, his sister, and his aunt with baby Rico cooing in his mother's arms. "Ohh…uh…"

"Hey! Who's this?" TJ pointed at Ryuk with a bag of presents in his hand. "Keegan, I thought you wouldn't get another boyfriend after Joe."

Ryuk clenched his teeth. "Please, don't mention him. I'm half tempted to crash any old car into the jail he's being held at to kill him."

At that moment TJ's attitude changed and he laughed. "Oh, you wanna kill Cholo too? You cool man!" He laughed. "Feliz Navidad, my brother."

"Oh…yeah. Uh. Merry Christmas too." Ryuk said, unsure of what TJ meant when he said 'Merry Christmas' in Spanish.

"Hi, TJ." Keegan laughed, picking up several boxes that were for him and his family. "TJ, this is Roy. We've been seeing each other since I broke up with Joe. I…didn't want to tell anybody because I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Oh! That was you with the bike on cholo's crotch, man! That was cool, you lookin' so badass!" TJ was punching Ryuk in the arm playfully. "Hey man, I saw that. So cool. How much did that bike cost? You buy it especially for that occasion?"

"Nope. Given to me as a gift." Ryuk said, suddenly smug about his bike, though he knew Keegan was fuming mad inside at him for even mentioning that stolen bike.

"Tito, mi hijo. Stop." His mother insisted, cursing at him in Spanish to behave before he got into any trouble.

Keegan shook her head before she went over to Rico and began fawning over him. "Oh! There's the baby, did Santa Claus bring you something good for Christmas?" She giggled, being allowed to hold him because she used to babysit TJ. "Aww…Hi Rico."

The baby cooed in her arms and began laughing when Keegan made faces at him ad gave him back to his mother. "Aunt Carol's cooking breakfast in the kitchen, but if anyone wants apples-"

"Hands off! Apples are mine." Ryuk suddenly shouted.

"…Damn, man. Chill."

Upstairs in Keegan's desk drawer though...

The Life Script started glowing again: Rule # 18: The user of the Life Script's life span may fluctuate up and down from time to time. Shinigamis who are in the binding contract of the Life Script with the human user are allowed to tell the human their death if it is requested of them to be told. The effects of the answer though may result in the Life Script feeding off the emotion of the human user not of its own will though.

Rule # 19: All humans will eventually die, the Life Script does not grant immortality but prolongs a human's life span to a much longer period than what it once was before (i.e: A man who was supposed to die at 72 but dies at 43. When the man is brought back his original life span is set back to what age he was supposed to die at. Or if an infant dies and if brought back to life, the child will live to see old age).

Authoress Note: Now this was a chapter I really liked. I hope everyone else did too. Thanks for reading, keep an eye out for the next chapter. Read and Review.