Layman here, on my second horror fic centered in the Death Note universe. This one will actually contain characters and references to many different Anime and Manga, so don't be surprised to Bleach, Higurashi, and others make an apearance.

Also, the main character was kind of inspired by Misora Naomi in looks and occupation, but the personality is completely orginal. If there are any similarities to Naomi, it was not done intentionally. -----------------------------------------------

...

I hate winter, and everything about it: the cold, the ice, even all those Santa's on the street corners. To be honest, I'd much rather be on a beach somewhere, (Hawaii or Maui would be nice), sipping lemonade and being waited on hand and foot by a bunch of tanned, muscle-bound locals than freezing my tail off here in Japan chasing after the scum that slither and crawl through the alleys of this God forsaken little town I'm stationed in.

Konichiwa, my name is Itagaki Ai, P.D., although most people just call me Shell.

Anyway, as I was saying, I hate winter. These were the thoughts I was thinking as I got out of my car at the scene of a murder. And it was a very unusual murder too, or so dispatch had said. They didn't give me anymore information, so I'd have to grill the cops already at the scene if I wanted to find out more.

The location was an alley between two apartment buildings in a small town not to far from Tokyo. I won't bother giving you the name of the place (not that it'll do you much good, there's nothing remotely worthwhile here anyways), but I live here, so I probably shouldn't badmouth it too much.

Fortunately, albeit grimly so, the dead body takes precedence over my personal feelings.

I've seen many corpses in my time with the police, but they were always intact. Sometimes they'd be missing a finger or an eye would be gouged or slashed, but for the most part they'd remained intact.

This one had it's heartstrings pulled. Literally.

"Grusome, isn't it?" Chief Yagami Soichiro said walking up next to me.

"Hmm," I nodded. "It's not often you see one strung up like that either.

The corpse in question was strung up between the two buildings by his wrists with barbed wire. He must have been hanging for a while now, because the barbs we already embeded under the skin.

"So what do we know?" I asked.

"We know he used to be Watanabe Aizen, a local ramen stand owner. He was reported missing a few days ago by his wife, Hitomi. He was found here an hour ago by a passing jogger." The chief handed me an evidence bag he'd been holding. "This was found in his chest."

I took the bag and looked at it closely. Inside was small piece of wood with the initials "B.B." burned onto it.

"Another 'Beyond Birthday' killing?"

"It get's better," he said, "turn it over."

I looked on the other side and saw a message burned into the wood, same as the name.

"'This is your only Wanring. Only the ritcheous Will survive now. Enny of you who Endaever to stop me, I will Kill them. so Says Beyond.'

"Dramatic much?" I asked, staring in disbelief at the grim poetry.

"And aparently an atrocious speller."

"Does he always leave notes like this?"

The Chief thought for a minute.

"Actually, this would be the first time he's done something like this."

"That means he's planning something," I said. The Chief nodded on agreement.

"The only question is, what is he planning?"

"Chief!" a young looking lieutenant called, running up to the chief.

"What is it, Matsuda," the Chief sighed.

"They just found choke marks on the body."

"What!?"

"Are you sure?" I asked. Mastuda nodded.

"Under the chin. It looks like the victim was choked to death before he was mutilated and strung up."

My god, this person was a psychopath. That was way out of my league.

"What sort of deranged sicko kills someone and then mutilates their body after death?" I asked to no one imparticular.

"Beyond Birhtday?" Matsuda offered helpfully, only to back away under Yagami's glare.

At this point my cell phone beeps. One new text message. It's my roommate, Sakura, saying there's a key above the door to our apartment. She must have a date tonight.

"Shell-san, what is it?" the Chief asks. I look at him, then at my refection in the window I'm standing next to. I still have the same worried frown from my realization a minute ago. I shake it off and turn back to him.

"It's nothing," I say. "I guess I'm still not quite use to all this...this..."

"Then that means you're still human."

"Hmm," I grunted, nodding somberly. "Say, I think I'm going to head home now. And could you do me a favor? If you could send all the relevant information to my house. I think it would be better for me if I didn't have to look at the actual body."

"I don't see why not," Yagami-san said, "but you own me a favor now."

"Last I checked, you still owed me five favors, including this one," I called as I headed for my car.

.oOo.

At home I retrieved the key from above the door and headed inside. The lights were off, so it meant that Sakura had aleady left for her date.

I flipped on the lights and headed into the kitchen to get a snack. I looked in the fridge and saw we still had some milk left, then I took it out and set it on the table. I checked the cubords next and decided to open a box of chocolate-chip cookie I'd bought the other day, (my one weakness). After I poured the milk and set the cookies on a plate I brought them over to my desk and turned on my computer.

Something you way not know about computers is that with the right knowhow, you can watch live TV through them. I guess it involves a special attachment and a lot of skill or something, but it can be done.

This is how my computer is now, courtesy of Sakura's boyfriend.

As the machine booted up, I noticed a small note left on the keyboard. It was from Skaura. It read...

'Dear Ai-chan, Raymon-pii set the computer to record the next episode of Wild Hearts, so the Internet might be a little slow. I probably won't be back before you turn in, so leave the key in our place, OK? Love, Sakura-chan.'

I groaned; she was still calling him by the pet name she gave him when they first met. Because of this I almost never heard his real name, and I'm terrible at remembering names. It's weird; I never forget a face, but I can't remember names to save my life.

The computer finally finished the start-up process and I saw a little progress bar in the lower right corner of the screen. I scoffed. 'Is there any soap opera that Skaura won't watch?' I thought to myself as I logged in to the police server.

As I browsed over the B.B. files I slowly devoured the plate of cookies at my side. I absently looked out the window at the now moonlit street below. A young couple was sitting and holding hands at the bus stop across the street. I found it odd that the boy had such bright orange, but what did I know about the latest trend? There were a few more teenagers there, but they were just standing around.

One girl imparticular caught my eye. She was shorter than the rest, and by the way she seemed to shy away from the other strangers down there gave the impression of timidity. She was wearing a white dress with blue trim, and a beret to match. Aside from the cute sailor motif, she was wearing a burgundy shall. A bulging grocery bag in her hand told me she had just come from shopping. Under her hat I could see traces of muted red hair.

And her eyes....

Her eyes were focused straight at my window, directly at me.

I stared back for a while until the bus came along and blocked the other side of the street from my view. When it finally pulled away only the couple were still there.

I closed the curtain and sat back in my chair, wondering what had just happened. The way the girl had stared at me, it was like she was staring right through me, like everything about me was exposed to her.

It scared the hell out of me.

I got up and brought the remaining cookies back to the kitchen, downing the rest of my milk on the way.

It must be stress, I reasoned with myself. I've been putting in too many hour lately.

Yeah, working from home is probably the best thing for me now.

Thoughts of Beyond.

Soon, the final voice of the chorus will be arrived, ready to sing her final song.

Soon, the beginning will finally start, the end of this menial existence and the beginning of clarity.

In word and method I announce my coming. For those to prepare for the cleansing I am to bring, tears of rejoicing shed for my arival.

Soon, I will free a tormented soul from her broken Shell.

Soon, someone will die.

Soon.
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One last thing. For some reason this story highlighted in my mind two constants I put in most of the stories I write. Check out my other stories, do you think you can find them?