.
.IV.
Inheritance

The faceless
turn away
from what they see
in mirrors.

There was fire, so much fire. The scent of blood hung thickly in the air, sweet and metallic, and didn't that just make him want to cry? Gasoline and burning flesh mixed with the screaming of a little girl. All of it was overwhelming.

He loomed over her, bathed in the light of fire, but he cast no shadow. Kurai's voice was hoarse from the smoke and her body was battered and bruised. He said nothing, unable to comfort her, and not wishing to.

He couldn't recall the last time he felt this empty.

He'd been with them, in the passenger seat, unable to let her die alone. It's his fault – his fault that this little girl is losing her mother and that the human that became a part of him is gone. Her soul already departed to who knows where. Not even gods of death know what happens to the humans they die.

Her blood was staining the seats, smoke licking the edges of her face, words quiet and needy and unafraid. "Please take care of my child, old friend," she spoke with the same hard tone he'd always known her by, but there was something else there, something that made his insides squirm. "Protect her in my stead. Promise me."

She'd always had a way with words.

Humans were so fragile. Little Kurai was sobbing and hysterical and losing consciousness quickly. He kneeled next to her, his left wing brushing the smoke aside, and let his fingers trail across Elise's exposed skin. Her many scars were exposed to the air now and new, gaping holes stood out against the paleness of her blood-less flesh. His teeth grated against each other.

"Sleep, little one," he rasped, and brushed some hair out of the child's eyes. Kurai slumped against his other wing immediately, and he laid her across the grass, away from the wreckage. She looked about as peaceful as she did when she was the one dying.

Rising to his full height, he scanned the highway for signs of the one who had killed his human. Even though Vile couldn't have prevented Elise's death, he was going to take them apart, piece by piece.

And he was going to laugh while he did so.

Sweeping through the destruction, he came across an unconscious man, middle aged, with a lifespan that carried him well into his elder years. Pure loathing flashed through the shinigami, and his wings flared aggressively.

"If she dies, then so shall you."

Taking the man into his claws, he began to feast.

Elise's mate was an idiot, he decided. Tsuki, while a good man at heart, infuriated Vile. It was bad enough that the child had lost her mother, but now she was going to lose her father because he couldn't hold himself together? What a pathetic, weak fool.

The feeling of powerlessness clung to Vile like white on rice, especially since he had to be careful not to be seen, because Tsuki had touched the fucking notebook. Elise's special notebook, found among her clothes, with nothing written in it and no name. Of course there isn't a name, she wasn't stupid!

Tsuki had actually tried to throw out the damn thing, but Vile managed to rescue it. They blamed the mess on a raccoon. It was now sitting under the bed, where Vile had also taken to lurking when Tsuki was in the room. They were right above the kitchen. Vile could float through walls.

His patience was starting to wear thin, and at this rate Tsuki would eventually discover him. Not being able to speak sucked. So he found things to tide him over.

Watching Elise's bitch of a mother die? Satisfying.

Pranking assholes and killing them in ironic ways? Also satisfying. He should be paid.

Stalking Kurai when she was out of the house and away from her father? Top priority.

If a twenty dollar bill accidentally ended up on the sidewalk in front of her, or the bullies at school got sick because their window had mysteriously opened in the middle of the night, or things she misplaced turned up again a few days later, he had absolutely nothing to do with it. Nope, he was wreaking havoc elsewhere, if anyone asked (which they wouldn't).

He's discovered when they're getting ready to move. Japan sounds fun, Vile thinks. He speaks every human language, and a few in-human ones, so that part isn't an issue. He hasn't spent time there since the Edo period, when they were more likely to walk the earth. That's how they became to be known as 'shinigami' in the first place. It stuck like a bad nickname and puffed up many already over-inflated egos. Vile is almost eager to see how the culture is different than the American one.

Tsuki finds the notebook under the bed, and immediately thinks that his daughter is to blame. Dick.

Vile returns to the house to find Kurai crying curled up in her blanket, begging for her mother. Hot rage fills him up and he's looking for what could have possibly upset his little one, so he can rip it apart.

Tsuki is in the living room, the notebook on the coffee table, and a glass of whiskey in his hand.

"What did you do?" Vile hisses menacingly, his voice sharp like a knife. Tsuki jumps and whirls around in shock, the glass dropping to the floor and shattering.

"W-What?" Tsuki stutters, scrambling off the couch and backing away from the pissed off death god. "What the hell are you?!"

Vile is in front of him in an instant, claws around his throat and teeth inches from his face. "The only reason you are not dead yet is because you belonged to Elise, and you are the only one that I will let care for Kurai," his voice is like gravel. Tsuki's eyes widen at his words, and he choked. "But make no mistake, human, if you hurt her I will end you."

"Why?" Tsuki manages to get out, "Why aren't I dead yet?"

Vile thinks the man has a death wish. It's not unlikely. "It's your fault that Kurai was sick, and your fault that Elise gave her life for her."

The human blanches. Then he nods.

Vile leaves for a few days, and when he returns there is blood under his scales. He doesn't hide himself any longer, and Tsuki pretends he doesn't exist, because his attention is solely on his daughter (as it should be).

Kurai grows, but she is lonely.

Vile follows her wherever she goes, always making sure that no one dares to harm her. He won't kill them, no; he doesn't want her to realize that something is wrong. She knows exactly when everyone is going to die, and if someone drops before then, she'll freak out. He doesn't want to scare her like that. Not now.

Hopefully, not ever, but he isn't stupid. One day, Kurai will hold his notebook instead of her idiot father.

As she ages, she becomes a lot like Elise. Cold, cynical, and she has a dark sense of humor. But there are differences. Kurai doesn't try to impress anyone – she does what she wants, and doesn't let anyone push her around. It makes him kind of proud.

He misses her laughter though. He doesn't even realize this until Tsuki is in the hospital. The last of the resilience she holds close cracks and breaks, and suddenly she is raw and open and in so much pain it hurts to watch.

He will not leave her side though. Not ever.

(Even if he thinks Tsuki drowning in his own blood is an ironic justice.)

Unlike last time, she doesn't hold on. She breaks completely and utterly, and her relatives on her father's side (all worthless, he decides) are the only thing keeping her from essentially starving to death because she doesn't have the presence of mind to know, or care.

She is just as empty as he is now.

It's unacceptable.

So he finds some paper that isn't cursed, and begins to write. Watching Tsuki over his shoulder for years, he can mimic the handwriting perfectly. His muscles are not as fallible as a human; he makes no mistakes.

He writes a letter.

(It's his way of saying sorry.)

Kuru found him the next day, just as he's finished mailing the letter and his notebook. It would have looked funny – him crouched down and trying to stuff the package into a tiny mail slot. Kuru is not impressed.

"This is where you've been hiding, then?"

"Hiding? No way, I'm done with hiding," Vile denied.

"Vile–"

"No, shut up!" he whirls around on the shorter death god, "I follow no one, and I owe no one my allegiance! I'm not going back."

The bear shinigami's eyes narrow at him, "I'm here because of the recent deaths. I thought you would know something about it."

Vile pauses, and he is confused, "Deaths? Humans die all the time!"

"By a Death Note, Vile – almost sixty humans have died in the last month."

"Wait, what?" Vile is left reeling. He'd been so caught up in Kurai's depression that he didn't even care what was happening to the world around her. "You thought I was doing that?"

"Obviously I'm wrong," Kuru rolls his eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he snaps.

"You're obsessed with that human, Vile."

"No I'm not," Vile whines like a child.

Kuru examines him for a moment, green eyes sharp, before he turns his back on him. "I'll let you know who it is when I've found them. The King won't be happy about this."

"Fuck the King!" he shouts into the empty air.

"What are you?" her words were dull, and a little bit afraid. It's the first spark of anything he's seen from her in several months. His fingers twitch.

"Haven't you figured that out yet? I'm surprised."

He's getting some major deja-vu. The same look Elise first gave him was on Kurai's face, but it's gone a split second later. They're not the same, but like mother like daughter, they're both broken and bitter. The same suicidal light is shining through Kurai's dark eyes. He wants to smother it.

"The shinigami Vile, isn't that right?" She stared him right in the eye, and an electrical shock goes through him. The fear is gone, replaced only by anger and loathing. She hates him.

"Nice to meet you," he replies.

Kurai ends up killing another man that day, just as swiftly and with the same clinical consideration as Elise sacrificed her mother. It makes him feel … nostalgic, which is totally freaky.

The fire in her eyes as she decides she's going to chase a serial killer is not something he'd seen in Elise though. She was never so reckless. Kurai though, he remembers that feeling of potential, her heavy gaze, and it's returned for the first time in years.

He thinks that the hollow feeling in his chest eases a little. This might be fun.

Of course she would think he was a hallucination though.

A/N: And THAT was the big plot reveal, that never actually got mentioned in RED. It'll be brought up in CRIMSON (when I actually get there, in maybe a hundred years lol). It took me a while to iron out the details in this. Vile is pretty fun to write, as he has some similar characteristics to humans, but some of them are different, and it's hella interesting on my end.

Last part up next. AKA, a preview of CRIMSON.