Ray walked outside to grab the newspaper from is mailbox. A lonely life with his younger siblings. He never goes outside and tends to play on the internet. Living such an unlucky life tends to be hard on him, but today is different. Unlucky? Perhaps. Chosen? Probably not. Blessed? Indeed...

Early that morning

"Rayray! Can I go to Takada's house?" asked Ray's younger brother, Tenshi. 8-years-old, and still childish compared to his younger sister, he was gifted with good manners. Ray respected him for that and usually replied with "yes" to any question Tenshi asked.
"Of course, just remember to stay away from strangers and be home by eight. Dinner will be ready by then." Ray said turning his head to his side as he still sat at the computer. Tenshi nodded and ran out the door. Ray continued to look around on the computer for interesting facts and forgotten mysterys. "Nothing.." he said with dissapointment.
"Ray." said his youngest sister, Suki. She was only 6-years-old and very mature, but not so respectful of her older brother. "I'm going to the store." she said and Ray just chuckled. "Huuuuh? What's so funny?!" she blurted out in fury.
Ray spun in his chair and looked at Suki. "You're not going anywhere."
"How come Tenshi gets to leave and I can't?! That's totally unfair, Ray! You know how responsible I am!" Suki shouted, turning it into a tantrum. This was the more immature side of Suki. If it's not her way, it's not "fair."
"Suki. I love you and I believe you, but there are lots of creeps out there. I don't want to lose you." Ray said trying to use the "I love you" trick. It usually calmed Suki down and made her appreciate him more, ending the argument all together.
"Fine." she replied, crossing her arms and walking away. Ray just smiled and went back to the computer.
"Ah! I just remembered..." Ray thought as he got up and grabbed his coat. "Suki. Please, stay here. I just realized I forgot to deliver this package to our neighbors. I'll be right back." Ray said putting on his coat and grabbing the package that had been delivered to his adress instead of the house down the block.
"Okay!" Suki replied from her room as she lay on her bed and began dialing a number on her pink cell phone.
Ray got outside and began walking down the street. It wasn't more than 4 steps before he was hit on the head by none other than the book of death. "Ow!" Ray exclaimed as the book slammed against his head and fell to the grass. Ray rubbed his head and looked down on the book. "De..ath...No...te...?" he read as he bent down and picked it up. He flipped open the first page and saw the list of rules. "The name of someone written in this book shall... die...?" Ray read with wide eyes. "This... this is... lame." he said closing his eyes and shutting the book. He looked up at the sky and saw nothing. No planes this could've fallen out of. Nothing. "Hmmm... I'll see about this then." he said as he shoved it in a coat pocket and delivered the package.

Present time

Ray, on the computer, was looking up stuff for Death Note but nothing appeared except the name of a band. He leaned back on his chair and stretched. "This has to be a hoax." he thought to himself. He looked over at his coat pocket, grabbed the book, and set it down on the table. "If this is a real book of death... then it should be used for good, right? Was it intended for evil use?" he thought to himself and opened the front cover and began reading the rules. "Someone thought of these pretty well. The instructions are so precise it's like this is almost real." he thought to himself and began searching for criminal activity on the internet. "No... what if something happens? What if this is real and the police try to catch me? I have to think of something... I'm just gunna test it. See if it's real." he thought to himself as he went into the computer preferences and made sure he was using a proxy. He went onto the Most Wanted web page and found the 4th name from it along with his picture. "Yusei Agari..." he thought as he wrote his name down. Ray then sat there for a few seconds, heart racing, and closed out of the internet and wipped his history clean. "It's time to make dinner." he whispered to himself as he looked at the clock. 7:31 pm.

The Calm Before It All

The room was dark, save for the small bit of light that poked through the curtains placed on the far back glass wall. The place was fashioned like a bachelor’s loft, with one large room holding everything. A raised platform held the ‘kitchen’: a chrome stove, sink, and dishwasher. Also on the platform was a massive bookshelf, stacked with old, dusty texts forgotten by time that this man had recovered using his vast sum of money. On the main floor, there was a sitting area stationed in the center. Two leather couches, a glass coffee table, and a rather extravagant looking burgundy rug. The floors were hardwood, and polished to sparkly perfection. And in the back off all this, situated right in front of that southern-most glass wall, was his desk.

The man himself, Zekkai Dakkumeru.

There he sat in his cushiony black leather office-chair, spinning around and laughing like a sugar-rushed child. The news he had just received from Shidou, his Shinigami was simply splendid! So splendid that he let the portly thing have his fill of sweets for the day.

“Ah! Another Notebook! Here! In the Human World!” Zak threw his arms out in excitement. A long, extended chorus of obnoxious mildly insane laughter left him, “This is so exciting! More death! More chaos! It’s so close I can feel it---“ He ran one of his hands along his neck, “Clawing at my neck! The sweet smell of corpses! That gorgeous color of blood! Ohhhh I love it! I simply love chaos! Love it, love it, LOVE IT!” The twisted information broker gave himself a strong bearhug. Suddenly, Zak froze dead in his tracks. His spinning ceased as he drooped over the warm glass of his desk. A skull, battered and discoloring in some areas sat in the center of the thing. With passionate crimson eyes he grasped it, and pulled the human remain close to his face.

“But Shidou doesn’t know where it dropped…” With the hand that wasn’t holding the skull, he reached forward, and gently caressed its brittle ‘cheek’. A warm smile was on Zak’s face, “It doesn’t matter. That’s right…it doesn’t matter who you are. One way or another…you’ll use the Notebook. Whether you’re just curious…or out for blood—that first name will be written.” The smile transitioned to an eerie grin as he calmly sat the skull back into its spot on his desk. “The only thing I have to do…” The office chair rolled an inch back. He sort of floated out of the thing and stepped towards the glass behind him. The man’s hands gripped the silk curtains; he pulled them back, and leaned into the glass. The office overlooked a bustling Ikebukuro cityscape. In the distance, there was a tall skyscraper, a gigantic screen was there on it, the time was displayed right now.

“Is wait.” What started as a chuckle, slowly escalated to a full out maniacal cackle.

“Shidou! Commere! I’ve got a job for you…”

"Buzzz...Buzzz..." Logan's cell phone was going off.
Logan opened his eyes and looked passed the phone on the nightstand to his alarm clock. The clock read 2:00 A.M. He reached past the phone and grabbed his smokes. He sat up and began to smoke while rubbing his head. Logan grabbed the phone and called back. The number came from an officer way above his ranks.

"What is it?" Logan said as the officer picked up on the other line.
"I have a body for you. Ill give more details when you get to the scene..."

Logan got dressed in his black suit and got into his car. He made his way to the address he was given. It was in the downtown area in some no name appartments. Logan went up to the comanding officer. "Do we know who it is yet?"
"We sure do!" said the CO, "But yo got to see it to believe it"

As Logan followed the CO into the complex he was given the details. "A neighbor started noticing a strange smell coming from next door. They complained to the landlord about it. The landlord came and knocked on the door. After getting no reply unlocked the door and went in. This is what she found." Explainded the CO as he pointed to the doorway of a room taped of with yellow police tape.

Logan lit another smoke after he entered the room. He knew exactly who it was. Espesically since he had once chased this man after an armed tobbery a few years back. Yusei Agari. Logan had lost him that day and all traces of the man since then. He squated down to get a closer look. He took a long drag as he studied the body. It sure as hell was him.

Odd though it looked like he had just fainted. Logan half expected him to come to at any moment. But the smell was enough reassurence that Yusei was dead. Logan got up and walked up to the officer. "Do we know what the cause of death is?" He asked as he put out his smoke in an ash tray that was in the appartment.
"It seems he just had a heart attack at around 8:15pm. We'll need an otoplasty to confirm, but were almost certain these are the facts."

"So why the hell did I get called down here in the first place?" Logan was a little pist.
"Well since you were last in charge of his case. You are in charge of the paper work on this one." Logan was more than mad now, but was actually glad to see that Yusei got what he deserved. So he diecided not to express his oppinions to the CO. Logan headed back to headquarters still a little in shock of what he just saw. A quick smoke fixed that though.

Markov was more then happy to drop that miserable brat that was supposedly his daughter off at her new school. He stepped out of his car clicking a button on his key chain to close the doors behind him. He clicked it a gain to lock it then strolled forward with a high chin and a menacing scowl. He was called to Tokyo to work on a mysterious case of random deaths that seemed to be caused by natural illnesses throughout the Kanto region. Though it was fact that these natural occurrences were so unnatural for the simple reason of them following an odd pattern. They died of health problems that had never previously been noticed in their anatomy. From heart attacks to suicide, it didn't matter. Markov was 99.7% positive that there was some evidence of the persons in question pending doom.

Lost in his train of thought he hadn't noticed that he was already standing in an elevatior taking him to the floor where his office was. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, remembering that he hadn't slept in days. He'd been working on these cases for over nearly two years and he'd gotten nowhere. It was frustrating. The probability of him solving the case in the next five years was too depressing to contemplate. He sighed as he plopped down in front of his desk and ran his fingers through his scraggly hair.

One week later...



His Shinigami's 'job' had been to gather information on every single fatality caused of cardiac arrest within Japan. Why Japan? Because it was the most logical choice. His notebook had fallen here after all, so it wouldn't be far off to guess that the second one would fall in the same place. Japan wasn't as large as other countries, that said, it still wouldn't be an easy task to start a manhunt single-handedly. Before him, on his desk, Zak had a small stack of papers. These papers contained a list of all reported cardiac arrest related fatalities from the last month up till now. It was a lot smaller than he expected.

"Hah...very good Shidou. Here." Zak slid open a compartment of his desk. Inside there was a shiny new candy bar. Smirking he tossed it to the portly shinigami who immediately devoured it in his wretched manner. It was disgusting to watch. "Now leave me, I need to get this done." He shooed the thing away and quickly delved into his papers. There was something very specific he was looking for: a death where the patient had absolutely none, or very little history of heart related problems. Whoever possessed the Death Note would most likely use a heart attack to kill their first victim; they would have no knowledge of the fact that they could use it to create other causes of death. And, there was a very good chance that said heart attack would be very random for the victim the user chose.

"This won't tell me who you are...but it will at least tell me where you're at..." If the victim was in Japan there was a very good chance the user was here as well. It would be safe to assume that whoever was in possession of the book would want to do a killing that they themselves could clearly see the repercussions of, but that the entire world wouldn't. Someone local, a bully at school, a jerky co-worker, maybe even someone they've seen on the local news. Certainly not a big name...

"Hmm...." Again and again, Zak shuffled the papers. But none of the names and descriptions matched the criteria...no-wait. "Amagi?" The name John Doe was underneath his index finger. Shidou couldn't get information on this one but it was the only name on the list that he couldn't clearly mark off as a non-candidate. This John Doe was most likely involved in a police investigation, it was natural that they wouldn't release much information. "But why would a heart attack victim be involved in an investigation..." 'Odin' licked his lips.

"Looks like it's time to pay Logan a visit..." Zak reached for the skull that sat at the edge of his desk. "I'll have one of my men give him a call...."

Logan was sitting at his desk finishing up paperwork on a murder involved with a shooting. Small crime compared to what happened to logan in the past. They easilly put away the culprit, a local thug. Another cop came up to Logan and put a piece of paper on his desk. He looked down and saw it said, "Call me." Logan knew who it was, but he had no idea what it was for. Had he known something about Yusei Agari. But how could he know it wasn't on the news. I'll have to find out what he knows. His info has always been good before. Logan made his way to the garage and once in his car he made the call. It went staight to voice mail.

"I'll be at the usual in 15," Logan's message was clear. He made it to a coffee shop that they had met at multipule times before. Logan went in and got his coffee. The coffee shop had a few tables on thier back patio that Logan had often used. He would slip the manager some money on his way out to insure they weren't disturbed. He began to drink his coffee and lit a smoke as he waited.

Ray woke up from his little nap and looked at the clock. "Already?" he asked as he got up and rubbed his eyes. "That man... Yusei... did I really kill him?" he asked himself remembering the day before he had written his name down and then the man was suddenly dead. He was able to find this leaked information online, but ddin't know much about the man to know why. "No... It's gotta be wrong. A coincidence... I'll... I'll try it one more time." he said to himself as he got up, went to the computer, and looked up a random name for a criminal. "No... I have to know first hand." he thought as he slipped the notebook in a pocket of his jacket and left his house. "I'll be back soon. Forgot something at the store." he said and closed the door behind him.

He was sitting on the train to go into the city. "I have to go into the city. If I go too close to home, someone might suspect it." he thought as the doors opened and he left the train. Finally making it to the store, he noticed a group of thugs beating up a business man.
"Please. I- can give you mo-money. Any amount!" shouted the man, begging for his life. Ray quicky hid around a corner and saw a display of masks. He looked around an grabbed the closest one, a white mask with a solid, black circle around the left eye, and put it on. He then took out the notebook and walked close to the thugs.
"Halt! Who are you?" Ray asked as the thugs stopped and the leader walked out of the ground and laughed.
"I'm Takashi Usugai, Who the hell are you?" he laughed and Ray began to write his name in the Death Note.
"This is extremely risky, but there's no other way." he thought as he finished writing his name. "I am a messenger of God and I have written God and told him to punish you." he responded and the thugs started laughing hysterically.
"You have to be shitting me?! This guy is loony!" Usugai laughed as he pulled out a knife and stopped laughing. Everyone around them was screaming and began to run. "Die you little punk!" he shouted as he ran towards Ray, but then suddenly stopped and fell to the ground.
"W-what? Boss?" asked one of the other thugs.
"Judgment has fallen upon his soul. Who's next?" Ray asked and the thugs got up quickly and ran for their lives. The business man was coughing up blookd at this point and Ray came over and helpped him up.
"Th-thank you... I will rep-"
"No need to, sir. I don't want money. I just want people to be punished for their crimes." he said as let the man stand on his own. He then ran away into an alley and looked around, making sure no one followed and took off the mask. "What... I killed him..." he said acting like a completely different person. He kept the mask in his jacket and bought a candy bar before heading back home.

Ari sat in her dressing room thinking of the masked guy she saw save that man on the street from thugs. She was in that crowd of people when everything happened. A girl with long hair, tinted pink with hair dye, and a short petite frame. The masked man wrote in a notebook and seconds later one of those thugs hit the ground. After the masked man disappeared EMS later confirmed that he was dead. He said he was a messenger of God. He had a dark twisted appeal that made her blush. "I'm going to meet him." She told her reflection with an enormous grin. She then got p and walked out and headed to the rehearsal hall to join the rest of her band.



---------

Markov was at his desk, drifting in and out of sleep when he received a phone call from an anonymous source telling him to be at a coffee shop around 5:15 pm. There wasn't much to the message. All it said was that he would see something interesting related to his unsolved cases. Markov believed that there was little chance that the info wold be accurate, but there was even smaller chance that it was a prank considering he received the message on the phone he'd received back when he was in Dublin. He had a gut feeling about this. A feeling he didn't follow unless there were no other leads. Which there weren't. He was going to ignore it, but he didn't for the simple fact that 5 was his break time. He'd take the break at the Coffee shop and just keep an eye out.

Around 5:10 he found himself sitting at a table alone sipping a cup of coffee, black. he wore sunglasses to hide his reddened eyes. All the other tables were empty. At some point he'd decided he wasted enough of his time and was preparing to leave, when the manager tried to urge him on. Markov simply pretended that he didn't know any Japanese so that he was left alone. Mintes later a fellow he recognized from the police department sauntered to the back alone.

Maybe there was something to following this gut feeling after all.

Hands in his pockets and a childish grin on his face, Zak skipped into the cafe. Unknown to the customers, his Shinigami Shidou was right behind him, levitating just a few feet off the ground with its huge wings. He stopped near the front counter, where a portly woman poked her head out from a fashion magazine. Her narrow eyes cut out towards the patio; where he and Logan normally did business. The broker tipped his fedora to the woman and skipped on out to the patio.

"Logan~" He yelled melodically, as he pulled up a chair right across from the cop. Zak genuinely liked Logan, at least, more than other cops. Their arrangement gave him much more room to move within the area, not only that, but he had a direct line to the police force-it was a symbiotic relationship at its finest. He even got to get rid of his competition indirectly by tipping Logan and his boys off to them. "I'm glad you're here!" He clapped his hands together, slowly leaning over the table and drawing ever closer to the cop.

"Tell me. Has the force dealt with any particularly...strange cases of death lately?"

Shidou watched as the humans talked about the heart attacks. The ones that Zak killed. He wished for another chocolate bar. "You know, Zak, I heard that humans who get involved too much with their murders end up getting caught. I remember the shinigami overlord telling me about Ryuk, who had one hell of a time down here. He and his human had lots of fun, but then Ryuk ended up killing his human when it was time. You do know that I'm also going to end up writing your own name down, right?"

Zak, of course, ignored him, but then it was expected, only the people who touched the death note could here him. He only helped Zak with gathering information, because he wanted more action. Hoping for something new and interesting. He hovered next to Zak listening to the conversation. He better get me a chocolate bar after this, Shidou thought.

"Tell me. Has the force dealt with any particularly...strange cases of death lately?" Zak said, his face looking seriously mysterious. Shidou sighed, knowing as always, Zak hadn't bothered to listen to him, but boy, was it going to get interesting.

"So this book is real?" Ray asked as he sat in his room with the book. He was wondering what would happen if people started to notice these mysterious deaths. He then looked over at the mask he had stole which was sitting on his bed. "I stole that... I wonder if that's enough evidence? No. The only evidence they could have is the fact that I wore it and killed someone in public... but it was for justice... no one else was going to save him." he then stood up and looked out his window. "It's settled... I have to save everyone..." he then walked over and taped the mask and the notebook underneath his bed so that only he could find it.