What the Hell?
The night sky was like swimming in the ocean, but instead of starfish there were stars, and clouds instead of seam foam.
Ryuk had never gone swimming before so maybe that was a crappy metaphor, all that mattered was that he was soaring above Earth and far away from that abnormal kid.
Did a Shinigami have the right to call something abnormal?
In this case… maybe.
Japan looked different from a bird's eye view, it looked a lot prettier, but was still ugly. Humans in general were ugly, if not in the sense of outward appearances, rather their gooey centers. There were only a few in Ryuk's opinion who were exceptions to this… speaking of which… he briefly wondered how Light was fairing without him. He made a mental note to check in on him later if he happened to be flying over that way.
Ryuk looked at the instructions once again, then for the first time noticed another piece of paper underneath the first. These looked more like instructions, and the other piece was more like directions. Guess it didn't matter. Ryuk's eyes scanned the paper.
1. Never open the notebook once you obtain it!
2. Don't let anyone know what you're up to.
3. You have six days to accomplish your task. If even a second passes over the given 144 hours and the desired notebook is not in my hands, Kira is dead.
Well that's pleasant. How long is six days? Ryuk had never really paid attention to the passing of time before. Wait, of course he knew how long a day was. He felt like smacking himself but instead opted for treating himself to a nice juicy apple. There was no logic to that, but for the fact that he was hungry.
An apple and a hour later and Ryuk was finally at his destination.
"That's odd…" Ryuk mused to himself. The place seemed oddly familiar. He just couldn't place where he had seen it before. He looked at the directions paper and read that he should wait until daytime to search for the notebook. Great… He had several hours to kill, and no one to kill.
---
The sun rose and with it the sounds of children heading off to school filled the air. It reminded Ryuk of the days when Light went to high school. Ah the memories, but there was time fit for reminiscing, and time for carrying out other people's will. Now was the latter.
Ryuk sat perched on the ledge of the school's roof. The school was Deimon Private Senior High School, the home of the Deimon Devil Bats. It was ironic in many ways, that the person Ryuk blamed for all his troubles, was the owner of the notebook he was sent after. Was it karma? Or just a case of rotten luck. Rotten apples. Light.
Ryuk sighed. It was going to be a long day, he could tell.
The Shinigami had to wait several more hours before he finally saw his target. Yoichi Hiruma. Ryuk read his name from above the boy's head. He also took a look at how long the boy was going to live for. "Heh heh heh."
Throughout the school day Ryuk waited lazily on the rooftop, biding his time until he could get his hands on the notebook. Finally the last bell rang, the sound was echoing in the god of death's ears, and the kids piled out of the double doors of the building.
Hiruma.
Hiruma.
Hiruma.
"Ah ha." Ryuk finally spotted the name amongst the crowd. The blond haired pointy teeth and ear teen emerged on the field behind the school. Ryuk observed how others did the same, and soon there was a small crowd gathered inside the small clubhouse.
They came out of the tiny building moments later and were all dressed in red uniforms and appeared to be engaging in some form of torture. Ryuk didn't see the blond's bag anywhere on his person and assumed that it would be in the clubhouse. Now was as good a time as any to begin his task. How bothersome.
Ryuk was inside the clubhouse when he saw the notebook beside a laptop and flamethrower. A bizarre combination of things, but who was he to question it? This whole thing was child's play. Ryuk felt something more challenging would have been far more entertaining, and it would have.
"Woof woof, grrrrrrrrrrrr!" Ryuk turned around to see a monster of a dog. It was bearing its fangs at him, a gesture which Ryuk found rude.
The door to the clubhouse flew open and a shadow was cast inside. "Cerberus, what is it boy?"
It was Hiruma.
The blond looked at Ryuk, his eyes narrowed. "What the fuck?! I told that fucking manager that the mascot costume is a devil bat. What part of that did she not understand?"
Ryuk blinked. Huh?
"What the hell are you suppose to be anyways?" Hiruma eyed Ryuk up and down.
Ryuk would have to question where the teen learned his manners from at a later date, because the more pressing question was how the teenager was able to see him. No one was suppose to be able to see him unless he allowed it, and he certainly wasn't allowing it at the moment. "You can see me?"
The blond frowned, "No, I'm just talking to myself."
"So you can see me?" He asked to confirm it.
"No fuck." Hiruma spat before muttering under his breath something about retards and then proceeded to pull out a rifle from thin air. "Come on. You need all the practice you can get before tonight's game."
Hiruma marched out of the building, and a baffled Ryuk followed. He had just gone over the threshold when the blond lowered his weapon and fired at an unsuspecting Sena Kobayakawa, Ryuk read the boy's name. The boy had slowed down in his running and paid the price in rubber bullets.
"Get back to work fucking shrimp! No slacking." Hiruma barked the order.
Ryuk gave off a round of wheezy laughter, "Things just got interesting."
---
Light laid stretched across his bed. He had been starring up at his ceiling for awhile now. He had written names in the Death Note already, but he did not feel satisfied. Exasperated and feeling drained of energy he threw his pen. It hit the wall opposite his bed and fell onto the desk. Angry at nothing in particular and yet at the same time everything was the only way to describe the emotions buzzing in his head. Light grabbed for the remote at the foot of his bed and turned on the TV. Ryuk was the last to watch anything, therefore it was on one of the cartoon channels. Some annoying theme song was playing, oddly enough it reminded him of the Shinigami. He started flipping through channels, looking for one that was broadcasting news at this hour. Chances were he would have to wait until later for that though, because it was still early. He stopped his futile search when the high school football team that he was infatuated with came on the screen. The only reason they were on TV was because their quarterback was blackmailing the TV station, or so rumors suggested.
Light wasn't really in the mood to watch today. He was about to turn the TV off when something caught his attention. It was just now halftime and the cheerleads stormed onto the field. In the middle of it all was Ryuk…
Light bolted upright, his eyes grew wide. "What the hell?!"
"Are you okay Light?" Sayu, his little sister, called through his door.
Light recovered from his shock quickly, "Yeah I'm fine."
"Then what was all that about?" She inquired.
That girl really was too nosy for her own good. "It's nothing."
"Oh?"
"I'm watching football, I was just commenting on one of the plays."
"Oh, okay!" Her footsteps could be heard walking away. What a simpleton who need only to be fed simple answers.
Light looked back at the screen to see Ryuk dancing around with the cheerleaders. His fingers dug into the blankets of his bed, drawing them into his palm, as he fiercely glared at the television. What was that idiot doing? What if L was watching this? He could ruin everything! If Light was thinking rationally he would have considered the fact that anyone watching would just assume Ryuk was a mascot, and from the way he was dancing around it was obvious he was playing the part rather well, but alas he was not in his right mind. Or his left for that matter. Rage has a tendency to blind people, and to stop clear thoughts from getting through to them, like a clogged artery.
Light slid off his bed with only one objective in mind, finding Ryuk and killing him, or at the very least chewing him out for all the trouble he's going to cause him.
Light found his jacket in his closet where he had hung it up earlier and picked up his wallet from off the desk. If he took the bus he could be at the high school the next day. Now all he needed was an excuse to give to his parents…
He may be in college but it would look less suspicious this way.
Of course! The best kind of lie is as close to the truth as possible.
Light practically flew down the stairs in his rush. His mother was in the kitchen and he poked his head around the corner. "Hey mother, I'm going out for awhile, I'm not sure how long I'll be gone."
"Where are you off to?" Sachiko Yagami, Light's mother, turned around to regard her son.
Light told her that he was going to watch his favorite high school football team play tomorrow, and that he would be staying at a friends house over in that area.
"Well that's okay I guess, but are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner before rushing off? I'm fixing-"
"Yeah I'm sure, I'm in a hurry." Light waved goodbye to her and was out of the door before she could finish saying what she was fixing for dinner.
Light started out running at full speed but had to slow down because he didn't want to draw attention to himself. His heart rate became regular and he found the crisp air clearing away the patches of fog in his head. He may have acted on impulse instead of thinking this through, something he did about as often as Ryuk ate pears, but he really couldn't leave Ryuk to do as he please. No, that would only bring trouble…
To be continued…
Author's Note: I changed my mind, I think this story might be longer then I thought. I think that's good news, however.