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A/N: Sorry for the delay, am drowning in exams on this side of the screen... Thank you for your comments D

VIII. Replacement

Ryuuk eyed her speculatively as she crouched obsessively over the thin pages, painstakingly writing down word after word. She wasn't quite what he expected, what with her being a myopic old hag and living in a small cluttered apartment with a cat called Tibbles. Still, if the rapt attention she was giving to the Death Note was anything to go by, she might share some spirit of justice with his pet human... though she might also have alot of vendettas.

Maybe, though she seemed unlikely after the polished perfection that was Light, he had found a successor to amuse him. Time to make his presence felt though anyway. He had a particularly nifty line he was dying - dying, him! ha! - to try out. Well then,

Lights.

Camera.

Action!

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled as he stepped out of the shadows, grinning like a death's head. Tibbles hissed and fled under the cupboard and she jerked her head to look at him. She shrieked as her pen fell out of her hand, watery eyes bulging out of their sockets as he loomed over her.

'Fear me, mortal,' he thundered, 'For I am...I am...' his voice trailed away as her face took the colour of putty and she clutched at her heart. Wordlessly, she slid of her chair and fell to the floor.

Ryuuk paused as he took in the scene.

She died without having the decency to let him write her name in his notebook. And she'd ruined his entry. He was miffed.

'Damn human,' he muttered as he stepped over her body to pick up the Death Note. Maybe he should tone down the entrance a little bit when dealing with the elderly and their dicky hearts.

Ah well, he thought as he flipped open the notebook to check her count, at least he'd given her the time to wreck a little bit of havoc. But when his gaze fell on the spidery hand-writing, detailing the weight of sugar which had to go into the apple cake, and the amount of vanilla drops to be added and such ilk, Ryuuk knew, there was someone laughing at him up there.

Cause um... being an old Japanese lady she couldn't read English and finding an empty notebook where she could write her recipes was a bonus... and it made sense to me :p Bear with me, i'm in the middle of finals!

Poor Ryuuk. A replacement for Light won't be easy to find. Comments wanted:)