AN: Hey, does anyone remember my promise that came waaaaaay back in chapter 4 that the story would get more interesting? If this doesn't do it for you than I'm not sure what will. BECAUSE GUESS WHAT??

No, wait. Scratch that... don't bother to guess, just READ!!

February 27, 2011
3:33 PM

In Tokyo, a man was examining an apartment building that he was considering renting. Tall and slender, with light brown hair and bright eyes, he was carefully inspecting the place from top to bottom looking for imperfections. But that wasn't really what was on his mind.

He was thinking about the apartment's former occupant.

So this is the place Misa spent the last few years of her life, he thought. I wonder how her life changed since the year we... lost contact. It's a shame that she committed suicide. She must have been terribly depressed because of...

He purposely left that sentence unfinished.

Suddenly his hand found a curious nail sticking out of the woodwork. He wasn't certain, but it didn't seem to belong there. Cautiously he pulled on it; almost without warning a small compartment opened and something fell out. Automatically he jumped back, but then he realized nothing dangerous had fallen out.

After all, how on earth could a black notebook hurt anyone?

The Realm of the Shinigami

A sickly gray shinigami with bulging eyes sat on the edge of a viewing hole that looked upon the human world. He didn't need to add to his lifespan for a while, and he certainly wasn't looking at anyone in particular. Goodness forbid if he was in love with one of those disgusting things. He had just gotten bored of gambling and had a vague hope that something in the human world would catch his eye.

He wasn't having much luck.

There was a woman in a store, a family at a park, some bums sitting in jail, a hobo eating a piece of cake, some people in a workplace, a man and a woman--

What the hell??

He focused in on one of the images he saw. A man was looking at a notebook that was impossible for a shinigami to not immediately recognize. Well I'll be damned!

That guy just found a Death Note!!

The gray shinigami quickly thought back. What was the name of that bored shinigami that dropped a notebook a while back... Ryuk, wasn't it? But since then he remembered Ryuk had come back because his spare notebook had been burned.

Or so those other humans thought, anyway.

Ryuk hadn't exactly been clear on the details, but he had definitely implied in the stories he'd told that his second Death Note had not been destroyed; instead, it was probably very well hidden somewhere in the human city known as Tokyo. The gray shinigami didn't think into it too much: he didn't know how the minds of humans operated. For all he knew it was possible.

In which case, Ryuk should know that it was time for him to go back and posess someone once again.

The shinigami grinned as he thought up a plan to entertain himself for a little while. Spreading his large skeletal wings, he took off flying, first to make a quick stop in the human world and then to the cliffs where Ryuk was almost certainly sulking alone. From quite a distance away, he could see the oddly proportioned black body against the dull landscape.

There he is, sitting up there all by himself... Probably thinking about the human world again.

"Ryuk," he said as he landed nearby, "what are you doing?"

"As if you care."

"Well, if yer not doing anything important then could I ask you something?"

"No. Go away."

The shinigami had figured that would be his response. "Fine, then. I guess that means I get this all to myself..." Reaching into some obsucurely odd position, he pulled something out of his tattered clothes.

An apple.

That instantly got Ryuk's attention. He practically drooled as he asked, "Is that what I think it is?"

As much as he tried disguising the interest in his voice, the pleasure leaked through. The shinigami gave him a sly smile. So he really does love apples that much... this could get interesting. "I'll give you the apple if you answer a question or two for me." As if to tempt Ryuk more he tossed it up into the air.

Ryuk's eyes never strayed from the apple. "Of course!! Whatever you want to know!"

Gotcha. "You dropped a second Death Note in the human world?"

"Yes. Can I have the--"

"No, answer a few more questions first. The owner died?"

"Yeah. Can I have--"

"Not yet. How'd he die?"

"I wrote his name down. Can I--"

"NO. Not yet. So did some other human really destroy that notebook?"

"Dumb humans thought they burned it. Thought. They didn't bother to test it to make sure it was real." Ryuk laughed a little at that memory. "Look, can I have that apple now??"

"One more question: where is it now?"

A sigh. "Hidden."

"Where?"

Ryuk scowled. "Dammit all, that's two questions!!"

Hah, this is just as entertaining as I thought it'd be! "You really don't want this apple that bad?"

Ryuk's face fell. "No wait!! I do!! He hid it in a secret compartment in the place where he and his girlfriend lived!!"

The shinigami considered Ryuk's response and shrugged. "You answered better than I thought you would. So here's a treat for you." He tossed Ryuk the apple.

"Why're you asking me all these questions about my Death Note, anyway?" Ryuk said as he bit into the apple.

"I think someone picked it up."

Ryuk took a giant bite. "Eh, that's good to know. I'll check it out later."

The apple was gone in seconds, and just as he finished the gray shinigami tossed him another one he had kept hidden behind his back. Ryuk's eyes lit up, and unlike the first apple he took his time eating the second.

"Hey, Ryuk," the shinigami said, "that human that had picked up your Death Note... what'd he look like again?"

Ryuk responded between bites. "I dunno... I guess he was tall, with longish brown hair... they look kinda the same to me now." He swallowed the last of the second apple down. "Why do you ask?"

"Cuz the guy that just picked it up... I don't know much about humans, but I think he looks a helluva lot like the one you just described."

Ryuk laughed. "Hah, funny. I already told you, I killed that human a long time ago. Him being alive isn't possible..."

"Just thought I'd let you know. It might help you locate him or something."

"Like I'd listen to you. You thought it would be funny to torture me with apples."

"Huh? Oh, yeah... I was bored enough to give it a try."

"Heh, when I got bored, I dropped my Death Note." Ryuk laughed again. "I have to admit, it did get boring in the human world for a while, though..."

The shinigami walked away, not really caring what Ryuk thought. Had he stayed a little longer, he would have realized that Ryuk wasn't finished.

"Still," Ryuk said to himself as he stood up and stretched his wings, "someone picked up my Death Note... Well, it gives me an excuse to go get apples, if nothing else...." He grinned with anticipation as he took off toward the portal to the human world.

AN: I can't remember who, but somebody complained to me in a review that I was posting filler. Well, I'm willing to admit it now: that's basically what it was. But hopefully there won't be much more.

Starting... NOW.

Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh OOH!! THE PLOT IS GETTING BETTER!!

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