CHAPTER 2: REBIRTH
Blackness surrounded Rini. She thought that her eyes were open, but she couldn't tell. She tried to move her hands, feet, anything at all. Her body wouldn't respond.
It was as if her body shut down on her. All Rini could do was sit in this utter blackness, thinking her time away.
"Is this what happens when you die…?" She thought. Rini had no concept of time in this black place. She felt as if she was slipping, but where was there to slip to? After maybe a few days of silence and blackness, Rini gave her new home a name.
Waiting.
That was all that could be done in a place like this, so the name felt suitable. Rini sighed in her mind, since her voice couldn't utter a sound. "I've been here forever and all I've done in this place is named it." She thought bitterly.
"Rini."
A voice of power and pride cut through the blackness. Rini would've jumped if she had been able to.
"We of the Shinigami Council have looked at your case and decided to give ye a second chance."
"My case…? A second chance…?"
"Your life has been taken far too long before your time. Also, because of the worsening Kira case, we cannot take anymore people who have been murdered by a Death Note."
"I don't understand." Rini thought. What the voice was saying confused her more and more.
"Ye shall be returned to Earth as a half-shinigami. You shall walk the Earth as a human by day, and hide in the shadows as a shinigami when the moon rises. This is the only fair way we can think of. The other conditions of your new life will soon be revealed to you."
The darkness was shattered by a blinding light.
"Wait!" Rini's voice suddenly worked as the light gave way to blackness once more.
I can be sure that you'll find me there
Something cold and wet fell onto Rini's nose.
"That's annoying…"she muttered. Suddenly, Rini realized that she just felt something. Her eyes shot open and she quickly sat up.
Rini was in a graveyard, rain dripping down onto her from a tree just above her. A piece of paper was in her hand. She unfolded it and read the small but clean handwriting.
Taken before your time had come
Now going back to where you are from
Not of flesh and blood, but shinigami be
Until the sun rises and sets thou free
Into a human form, until the moon rises,
Then transformed into shinigami, removed of your humanly guises
Ye will stay on the earth until your love must come
And join the spirit world
Ye shall both die as one.
"Are these the conditions that the voice spoke of?" Rini asked. She stood up and dusted herself off, looking around her. She looked at the long flowing dress that she was now wearing.
"I don't remember this…" Rini muttered. The dress was extravagant. The fabric flowed around her perfectly. Red flower petals decorated the fabric.
"Wow…" Rini looked down at her bare feet. Scattered on the ground were some dead roses and a picture. Rini sat down again to look at the picture and as she did so, she felt something thump against her chest. Rini looked down to see a locket around her neck. The letter L in old English was carved onto it.
"I don't remember that either…" Rini commented, now turning her attention to the photograph at her feet.
Inside of the picture was Rini, smiling and happy. A young man stood next to her. He looked surprised to see the camera that took the picture. He had messy black hair and dark rings under his eyes. Even from the picture, Rini could tell that he had a slight slouch.
"I remember him…I think..." Rini said, trying to force her mind to remember who the boy was.
"Don't close your eyes, Rini!"
The voice that she had heard over the phone the day she died. That's who he is.
"Zaki-kun!" Rini smiled, glad that she had remembered her best friend.
"Who are you?" A cool and collected voice startled Rini. She jumped up and hid behind the gravestone closest to her.
"Why are you robbing my friend's grave?" Rini looked up at the man now accusing her of robbing a grave. It was the boy from the picture.
Zaki-kun,
Her friend.
"I'm not robbing the grave…"Rini said quietly, not coming out from behind the gravestone.
"Then why are you wearing the dress that I buried her in?"
"You buried me in a dress this expensive?" Rini stood up from behind the gravestone, staring at L who was starting back at her.
"Rini…? But how…?" L seemed at a loss for words.
"I don't even know myself. But don't you remember the last thing I wrote in my song book?" L pulled the small black book from out of his pocket.
"Let me see…You talk about a dream that you had one day. The dream was about your death…You go on to say that you would feel guilty if you did die…Then you say…"
"If worst comes to worst, I'll try my best not to leave you behind. My friends, I'll be back someday." Rini finished what L was going to say.
"Yes, that's it." L said, his tone of voice not changing.
"I thought you were just trying to be poetic, I didn't think that you actually meant it…"
Rini laughed slightly. "It seemed like a promise to me." She said.
"So….You believe that I'm your friend come back from the grave?" Rini asked.
"Yes," L said "there's no doubt in my mind. You knew the exact words that you wrote in your journal. Also, before I startled you, you said 'Zaki-kun'. Only one person in this world has ever called me that." Rini smiled at L. She was glad that she didn't have to explain who she was to him.
"So, how long have I been dead?"
"Let's see…" L bit on his thumbnail in thought. "It's been….2 years, 3 weeks, 6 days, 18 hours and 12 seconds since you passed away."
"Not that you're counting or anything." Rini laughed. L smiled slightly.
"I missed your smile." he said.
"So fill me in." Rini said. She blushed slightly at L's comment, but acted like it didn't faze her. Rini sat down on the ground, her dressed covering her legs. "What's happened in the two years that I've been dead?" she asked.
"Well…." L said, trying to remember. "Hiro is dead." Rini gasped and covered her mouth. "Poor thing…" Rini said quietly.
"Don't you dare take pity on him." L said. His words were hostile, but his voice remained calm. "He killed you, and after that, a few other girls. He deserved what he got."
"What exactly did he get?" Rini asked. She still felt a slight pain in her heart for Hiro.
"Well, he was sentenced to a life in prison. A mass-murderer named Kira killed him. We're still trying to catch Kira." L sat down in his own odd way next to Rini as he spoke.
"I see…" Rini said. She held her new necklace lightly in her hand.
"Do you like the necklace?" L asked, changing the subject. "I had it made special for you." Rini stared at L at this statement.
"You've given me too much, Zaki-kun." She said. "First the dress, now this necklace. I can't have these; they're probably worth a fortune…" Rini took off the necklace and handed it to L.
"No, I think you deserve some nice things, Rini." L said, handing the necklace right back to Rini. "Everyone at your funeral thought the same."
"The people at my funeral?" Rini said. "How many people would come to my funeral?"
"Quite a few." L said. "I think at least 40 people came. It was all very depressing. People do miss you." L bit his thumb as he spoke, seeming absentminded.
"Really, they do?" Rini asked. She put the necklace back on her neck without even thinking.
"Not everyone thinks you're as worthless as you think you are." L said, turning to face Rini. "You just happened to be influenced by the three people that did." Rini could feel tears welling up in her eyes at the memories of how badly her parents and Hiro treated her.
"Now," L said. "Let's get out of the rain." He stood up, pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. "Watari?" L said into the phone. "I'm finished here, please bring the car around. Oh, and I am bringing a guest with me….You'll see…Thank you…Goodbye." L flipped the phone closed.
"Oh, I almost forgot." He said. He picked up a rose that he had dropped on Rini's grave. "I don't see the point of me leaving this here if you're standing right in front of me." He handed Rini the single rose.
"T-thank you, Zaki-kun. You're too kind to me." Rini said kindly.
"Not as kind as you deserve." L said. A black car pulled to the front of the cemetery and L began walking toward it.
"You seem to think very highly of me, Zaki-kun." Rini said.
"Maybe you should as well, Rini-san." L said. He opened the door to the car and gestured to Rini to get in. Rini stepped into the car and saw Watari was the driver.
"Miss Rini." Watari said with a warm smile. "It's very good to see you again. You kept the promise that you made in your journal, I see?" Rini turned to L and smiled slightly.
"See?" Rini said. "I told you it was a promise."