A/N: Hey, we're back and ready for more DN! I've decided to up the update speed, but don't hold me to it. I'm sorry everybody, but I kinda lied in the last chapter, no freelance chapters in the foreseeable future. From here on out, it's strictly business. Anyways, here's the third installment, enjoy and don't forget to review!

Just a tip: Listening to Death Note theme music makes the story sound so much better.

Chapter 3: Deliverance

"So I'll see you later tonight?" Sam Pyro asked as he and his companion, a black-haired beauty a few inches shorter than he was, stopped in front of his house.

"Yep." She smiled expectantly up at him, her hands behind her back.

Sam began to turn away, "Bye, then."

"Sam!" A playful expression on her face, "Stop teasing me!" Sam smiled and turned back to her. She stood up on her tip-toes to meet his lips as he leaned in. She was about to try deepening the kiss when Sam pulled away. "I'll swing by your place at six and we'll go eat okay, Ginko-chan?" he asked.

"'Kay." Ginko responded with a beam. With that, Sam turned and walked onto the stone steps leading to his house. Ginko watched him go for a few seconds before walking off in the direction of her own home. "Mom must be out shopping." Sam said with a smile when he realized the front door was locked. He reached into his pocket to fish out his key.

Overhead, Ryuk watched his target. "That's him alright. Sam Pyro, black hair, green eyes, but to think he lived here of all places." he said with look around. "Light really thought this one through. Well, here goes nothing." Ryuk held out the notebook Light gave him, then loosened his grip on it, and finally let go altogether. The Death Note fell once again into the human world.

Sam finally found the key in his pocket. As soon as the key turned in the lock, Sam heard the grass rustle behind him, as if something had landed there. He turned around and saw a black notebook sitting on his front lawn. In white letters across the front were the words, 'Death Note'.

"Death Note? It couldn't be…" Sam picked it up and stared at the cover, "Death…Note."

Sam turned on his desk lamp and stared down at the notebook in front of him. 'Death Note, that's what the guy on that broadcast yesterday said. The human whose name is written in this note shall die. Those were all his words. But this can't be real. There's no way. What are the chances of me getting a real one? There's also the fact that the notebook on TV was red…'

He opened the cover to see several scrawled lines written inside. The heading read, 'Death Note', then below that was, 'How to use it'.

"All in English? That's weird." Sam read further, 'The human whose name is written in this note shall die. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind while writing his/her name. Therefore people sharing the same name will not be affected. If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.'

"This is pretty intricate. This would all explain how Kira kills." Sam stood up and went to lay on his bed, "But all this other stuff about causes of death. Everyone knows that Kira can only kill via heart attacks, cardiac arrest. However, if he had the power to control the circumstances of death, he could hide all those deaths he wanted to keep quiet. So…"Sam sat up suddenly, "That's right! He would have the perfect advantage. But if all this was real, how can Kira-?"

"Sam! Come help me with these groceries!" Sam heard his mother yell from the downstairs kitchen. Sam grabbed the notebook on his desk, opened on of the desk drawers, and shoved it inside. "Coming!" he called as he bound down the stairs. He came face to face with his smiling mother, forty-eight year-old Matsuko Kokan. "Hey, how was school today?" She asked as she planted a kiss on his forehead.

"Boring as usual." Sam replied moving to put away the things his mother bought in two brown bags on the dinner table in the middle of the room.

"Keeping those grades up?" she asked.

"Yeah, I've just got finals next month, then the tests for college a few months after that. I'm taking a break from studying tonight, though."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I'm going out with Ginko." Sam put the last of the groceries into a cabinet and closed it. Turning back to her he added, "We're having dinner so just cook enough for you and Dad."

"He called earlier, he's working late again. He said he wouldn't be able to see you off tomorrow but he wished you a safe journey. Will you be ready to go tomorrow?"

"I almost forgot about that!" Sam exclaimed, and smacked himself in the forehead. "Good thing I packed up for the trip in advance." Sam told her as he made his way to the doorway, "I'll be in my room until it's time for me to go pick up Ginko. Night." He said then, walked out of the room.

"Good night." She called after him, still looking at the doorway he just left through.

"For me to make sure this is real, I would need to test it." Sam said, staring the notebook down. "If this thing can do what it says it can do, I should avoid killing someone I know… What's wrong with me?" Sam asked himself and massaged his temple, "Believing in something like this is ridiculous. I should be studying." He took a long moment to decide what to do next.

"I'll do this, test out the notebook, then I've gotta get ready to go." Sam flicked on the miniature TV that sat next to his computer. "Ah, NHN. This should be easy."

"It's like I've been saying," the man on the set said to his fellow newscaster beside him, "Kira is no god. He's just some snot-nosed punk trying to play with the big boys. He's just a conniving, spiteful…"

Already, Sam had had enough after about five seconds of hearing the man speak. He was obviously intoxicated; he sat swaying back and forth in his seat, bright red face, continuing his rant against Sam's god. Kira, the man who avenged the deaths of his parents. Kira stood for justice and this…sorry excuse for a human felt the need to criticize the god that had sacrificed so much for the birth of a new world. "No tact at all." Sam spat angrily, ripping the top off of his pen and scribbling furiously into the notebook in front of him, the only thing that offered some hope of ridding Kira's new world of such an incompetent fool.

"Now just forty seconds, right?" Sam whipped out his watch and counted away the seconds, never taking one watchful eye off the screen, the newscaster continued as his partner tried in vain to quiet his squawking. "37…38…39…40!" Sam watched intently. Suddenly, the man stopped rocking and was silenced instantly. His sway was quickly replaced with a very violent shaking. He clutched his chest, and fell forward onto the news desk. The woman beside him clamped a hand to her mouth, eyes opened wide in horror.

For Sam, time stood still. He sat, fixated on the screen, Death Note clutched firmly in his hands. 'Did I just kill someone?' was the only thought racing through his mind. Then, he finally realized the power of the thing he held in his hands. Sam's view slowly shifted to the black notebook in his hands. 'It works! The Death Note is real!'

"Nice, huh?" He heard someone behind him speak in a dry rasp. Shaking, he turned slowly to face the one speaking only to come face to face with the Shinigami Ryuk. "Hi!" Ryuk rasped.

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" Sam screamed, he leaned back quickly to escape the phantom only to tumble out of his seat to the floor along with the Death Note.

"Hyuk, Hyuk, Hyuk! So you finally used it. Guess he was right, you are a lot like him after all."

"Who…who are you?" Sam asked franticly, using his legs and arms to crawl backward, away from the monster.

'Light was expecting me, but he had the notebook for five days and this kid just used it for the first time. I shouldn't have expected him to respond as Light did. Oh, well. It's done now.' Ryuk thought, then said to Sam, "Hey kid, relax. I'm not here to hurt you or nothin'. I'm Ryuk, the Shinigami that dropped that notebook. Get up, Sam."

"You know me?" Sam asked from the floor, still a little shaken.

"Yeah, I know you. That's the whole reason you have the notebook in the first place, it's a present from Kira." Ryuk told him, pointing at the Death Note. "It's all yours, use it as you please. Kira sent it so that you could help him. But all that's for later on, for now, just enjoy it for a while." Ryuk chuckled.

"K-kira? He sent it to me?" Sam lost the scared look, for it to be replaced with wonder. "Why would he send me something like this? Does it have to do with that broadcast a few days ago?" Sam stood up unsteadily.

"I told you, that's you all about that later. For now…I want apples." Ryuk said hungrily.

"Eh…apples?" Sam responded with a cocked eye. "I'll get your apples but stay here, someone might see you. The last thing I need is my mom seeing you."

"Oh don't worry about that." Ryuk informed him, he pointed again at the Death Note. "You can only see me because you touched that notebook. If a human doesn't touch the Death Note, they can't see the Shinigami that possesses it."

"That's good to know. Still…" Sam looked at his watch, "I want to know more about this notebook when I get back." He ran downstairs and grabbed several apples under the suspicious gaze of his mother then returned to his room.

"No wonder you dropped the Death Note into the human world. I'd be bored too." Sam told Ryuk as soon as the Death God had finished his explanation of the state of things in the Shinigami Realm.

Ryuk finished another apple and grinned at the boy, "Yeah, that's when all this started. I dropped the notebook into this world and five days later, we have Kira."

"You said, 'that's when all this started'. Do you mean the Kira's battle with L?"

"Mostly."

"Mostly?" Sam asked.

"I mean other stuff has been going on that you never heard about." Ryuk told him.

"Could you tell me?" Sam seemed to be pleading for this, hoping for more information about the person he admired most, Kira. When Ryuk didn't respond, Sam said, "I used to doubt Kira but for a while. I used to think he was evil, but when I saw how the world was becoming a better place, I thought maybe he was doing things for the betterment of mankind. Then some maniac murdered my parents." Sam lowered his head and spoke softly now, "Kira passed judgment on that man and then I saw how foolish I was being. I accepted Kira. But…" Sam paused and when he spoke again, Ryuk had to draw closer to hear him. "A while back, someone very important to me was kidnapped. The people who did it were never captured but when she returned, she just wasn't the same, traumatized by the whole experience.

"The whole family was good friends with my own family for years. I've known her for over six years. When they moved away, it was pretty hard for me. I've always wanted to get back at those who caused so much pain. On top of that, her father died shortly after. They sent a letter, I never got all the details but what I could gather, he was definitely murdered. If I can help Kira get rid of people who cause tragedies like this, I can truly be happy. But I can't help if I don't get the whole picture. Please Ryuk."

Ryuk stared at Sam for a few seconds before saying simply, "L is dead."

"…I know."

"Wha...huh?" Ryuk gawked in amazement at the teen.

"It was in that broadcast. The guy said, 'I'm not as soft as L or Near. When I find out who you are, I will kill you.' Anyone could deduce from that that L is out of the picture, most likely that he's even dead. I bet Kira has even taken over as the new L. I've noticed that L hasn't really been all that efficient for quite a while. I'd judge that he's been gone for over five years, right?" Sam explained. "But that doesn't explain who Near is. Any insight would be helpful…"

'Wow, he's a lot more like Light than I expected. I'd better keep an eye on this one…' Ryuk thought. "Sorry, but everything else is for later. For now, it's important that you know that I'm not on your side or against you. There's no cost for using the Death Note, only the terror or torment you might feel for killing another human being." Ryuk looked Sam right in the eyes; Sam saw his own scared reflection in Ryuk's dark orange ones.

"Also, don't think any human who uses the Death Note can neither go to Heaven of Hell."

Early the next morning Sam Pyro, and his invisible companion Ryuk, set out on their journey. At 11:30 Sam and Ryuk boarded a train headed north. During most of the ride, Sam had asked several questions about the Death Note like, if he tore a page from the notebook, would it still have the same effects the notebook itself? Pretty soon he built up a pretty good understanding of the Death Note and its workings. He understood that once a human's name was written into the notebook, their death was inevitable. He could use its powers without pulling out the notebook itself, change the way someone died after it had already been written in(provided it was within the allotted six minutes, forty seconds), and knew the limits of its power.

"So you won't tell me anything?" Sam asked for the umpteenth time.

"Nope, I told you, I'm just acting as a spectator for now. You won't get any help outta me." Ryuk replied with a grin.

"Then I take it my sob story last night had no effect on you?"

"Sob story? That was all made up?"

"Nah, that was all real. I just gave you the dramatic version." Sam smiled.

"Nice try but I don't have 'sucker' tattooed on my forehead." Ryuk said and chuckled. "So where are we going anyway? You take this long trip so close to your finals like this…seems like you don't even care."

"I'll tell you what. If you tell me about this Near guy, I'll tell you where we're going." Sam told him.

"Sorry, no deal." Ryuk grinned.

"No go, huh? We're going to visit a dear friend of mine. I haven't seen her in months." Sam relented, "The girl I was telling you about last night. Her mom thought it might do her some good to see a familiar face."

"Another girl? You're pretty popular."

"You mean Ginko? We're just friends."

"That's not how she was acting last night." Ryuk chuckled.

"She can draw her own conclusions from our relationship. It's just that I'd rather go out with her than study. But it was never like that with Sayu." The teen said in a definite tone.

"Sayu?" Ryuk's eyes widened but he caught himself in time. Sam turned to the Shinigami as he recomposed his face. "Yeah, the girl we're I'm going to see."

'Sayu? Light's sister? This could all be some big coincidence, but didn't he mention how this girl was kidnapped and her father died? Could that be Soichiro Yagami? Could this really the same person? Did Light plan this?' Ryuk thought.

When the pair arrived in the station, Sam hailed a taxi and caught a ride out to the country side. Finally, he reached his destination: a log cabin located a couple of miles outside of the nearest town. Sam paid the driver, gathered his luggage in both arms, and walked up to the front door.

"So this is it, huh?" Ryuk asked.

"Yep…"

"Aren't you going to knock?" Ryuk asked after a few seconds.

Sam scowled at the Shinigami, "I'm nervous okay? I haven't seen Sayu or Sachiko in while." He raised his arm to knock, hesitated for a second, stood up a little straighter, and then knocked firmly…

A/N: Sorry, if this one feels a little short, but it was mostly meant to be an intro chapter for Sam. I'll try to increase the length of the chapters later (maybe). In the next chapter we'll learn a little bit more about why Light chose Sam to become the newest Kira, and the plan that Pride and the others have been working on. Until next time, later!