Legally Damned

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, who does around here anyway?

By SpiffyBalak

Chapter 1

At times, it was good to have a six-foot tall imaginary friend. School wasn't helping Raito keep his cool, and with details of the Kira case spreading around To-oh like an enraged baboon, Ryuk floating around kept him sane enough to not switch the attendance sheet with Death Note paper.

Ryuk put on little shows for him, often taking advantage of his incorporal nature. He'd play hopscotch on his classmates' heads, make silly faces behind the professors' backs, tell jokes during awkward silences, and steal apples if he could find them. Supposedly, he didn't care for Raito (or anyone), but he wasn't doing a good job of proving it.

This didn't relieve Raito of his righteous anger. He was still collecting the names of criminals, because as far as he was concerned, the government didn't know how to handle them.

"There seems to be a group of people-thankfully, they're a minority-that just can't be cured of their criminal insanity. They do the crimes, they're put in prison, they're well behaved, oh, they're model prisoners!-then they're released and go on murderous rampages or whatever, just like before. They have various reasons for acting like this-sometimes mental illness, sometimes sheer boredom. Why should we release them at all? Lock 'em up and throw away the key!"

Tatsuya Hiroyama sighed. "Because we can't tell if they might've been framed. It's better to let hundreds of guilty men run free than to imprison someone innocent or keep someone who's repentant locked up."

"Then they should get evaluated upon entering and exiting prison, and not just psychologically. It would be helpful to know just who can become a productive member of society again. And we gotta have enough room for them! Some random guy swallowing what he thinks is E isn't harming anyone but himself, but the prisons are filled to the brim with those kinds of people, so if Bubba gets mad and stabs someone to death, there's a good chance he can walk free, because they gotta have room for the potheads!" Raito slammed his fist on the desk hard enough for a few cracks to form.

"But drugs ruin just as many lives as murderers, perhaps more. My uncle was shot by the guy that sold him heroin because he didn't pay up..."

"So can drinking. But most people can have a drink every once in a while without ruining their lives. Most drug users don't kill for their next fix, and many are responsible members of society. If I were in charge, I'd abolish all those laws against victimless crimes, and chase after the actual threats," Raito grumbled. "In America, if some hippie smokes pot, and gets arrested for possession, his ass is thrown in jail for god-knows-how-many years, but if he kills his girlfriend first, he walks in-hey, what the...?" Raito felt a strange tingling on his arms, and jerked irrhythmically, trying to shake whatever it was off him.

Tatsuya blinked. "Raito, are you all r-"

"Ayeagh! I'm-gyaa!"

The tingle had spread all over his body, and the heat was searing his flesh like lava, particularly around his gums, where he could feel tiny drops of blood form. Raito's eyes flew up into his skull, where lights flashed rapidly in different colors, red, blue, yellow, green, orange, over and over again as his heart pounded like a machine gun. The lava sank into his muscles, starting with his feet, where it sliced through tissue like someone cutting up a pizza, and it crawled up his legs, his torso, dipped into his arms and hands, and his fingernails were melting and being forged into knifes...

Then, just as the force was about to reach his neck, Raito stiffened. Muscle by muscle, the pain went away, and his eyes seemed to drop back into his sockets.

He quickly ran his hands over his body.

Nothing new. No claws, no fangs, no wings. He hadn't even gotten taller.

"Eeeeghhhh..."

"What the hell? I'll call a-"

"No, I'll make it through the day. It was probably just a fluke. If it happens again, I'll see a doctor." Raito stretched his arms and gave a half-smile.

Tatsuya glanced at his classmate.

"All right-o..."