Death Note Fan Fiction ❯ The Secret Rule ❯ Resurrection and Redemption ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Strictly speaking, time had treated Taro well. Not only had not chasing Kira been rather relaxing, but it hadn't taken long for Kira to utterly disappear. Within about three months of Ryuk's last departure, the heart attack murders had all but stopped.

Kira really was in trouble, I guess, Taro thought.

Sayu had not fared quite so well. Kira had obviously not given up without a fight, and both Mr. Yagami and Light had given their lives to stop him. Both Sayu and Taro knew that it was a possibility, but it was still a shock nonetheless. Taro had spent most of his time with the surviving Yagamis, knowing that they would need all the support that they could get. On February 23, 2011, Taro decided to formalize his relationship with the Yagami family and proposed to Sayu. To his delight, she accepted, and they were married on July 15 of the same year.

Since Kira was no longer around, crime rates gradually began to go up. However, people were still fairly cautious, and crime never became as rampant as it had been before Kira's reign began. The way Taro saw, that was some small good that Kira had done, and once Ryuk returned, everything would be put right.

But it had been over a year since Kira's disappearance, and Ryuk hadn't shown up. Taro began to think that he had broken his promise.

Early in 2013, another string of heart attacks began, this time mostly among the sick and elderly. Rumors that Kira had returned began cropping up everywhere. But Taro didn't believe it. It was certainly clear that this was the work of a Death Note, but this "Kira" performed euthanasia, not capital punishment. The old Kira was long gone.

However, over the summer, the new Kira deaths continued to escalate, until a Kira debate being broadcast on Sakura TV got out of hand when several of the debaters claimed they wanted to die, and the killer obliged them. Yet another mass murder on TV.

The broadcast immediately ended, and the black L symbol once again appeared. L informed everyone who had been watching the broadcast that the person responsible was not Kira, and that L himself did not intend to get involved. He said that he had already deduced Kira's killing methods, and that the Japanese police already knew enough to take care of it themselves. However, before L ended his message, he did have something to say to the new "Kira":

"You abominable murderer." That was it. He didn't say it with any sense of fear or horror, but with the disgust and revulsion that one might have when stepping on a cockroach.

There were no more deaths after that. Whoever the killer was, he had obviously not been as elusive as the real Kira had been.

About a week after L's broadcast, however, Taro was reading in his living room, after Sayu had gone to bed. He heard a noise, turned around and saw the familiar black shinigami. He almost cried out, but remembered that his wife was asleep.

He glared at Ryuk. "Where have you been?" he growled. "You were supposed to come back so I could erase the names!"

"And I was going to," Ryuk assured him. "Unfortunately, all the notebooks Kira used were destroyed."

"What? How?"

Now that the case was over, Ryuk decided to go ahead and tell him the story. "When Kira and L finally met face to face, Kira had arranged a way to write his name down. But L had arranged for Kira to write in a fake notebook so nothing happened. Hahaha! You should have seen the look on Kira's face, it was priceless! Anyway, Kira tried to get away, but the police shot him. After that, L burned both Death Notes right then and there."

"Why didn't you tell L that we could have saved those people?"

"It all happened so fast I didn't have a chance to," Ryuk said. "You know, you really should meet L sometime. He's actually about your age. A guy by the name of Nate River."

"My age?" Taro gasped. "But, then, he would have only been 14 when he first began chasing Kira. And he won?"

"Yep," Ryuk said. "He's a prodigy. I've never seen anybody as smart as him."

"Well, since he stopped Kira, maybe I will go shake his hand someday." Then Taro slumped his shoulders. It had all been for nothing. After all that, Taro couldn't save anyone. What a waste.

Ryuk smiled. "I do have some good news."

Taro looked up.

"The new Kira, the one that killed all those old people? His house is nearby," Ryuk said. "If you want, we can at least go over there and bring those people back."

Taro shook his head. "No, I'm sure the police already confiscated that Death Note when they captured him."

"Huh? No, no, the police didn't catch him," Ryuk explained. "After L's broadcast, the guy just got so scared that he wrote his own name in the Death Note and killed himself. Haha, what a loser!"

Remembering that he had once been too scared to write in the Death Note, a retort rose to Taro's lips, but he bit it back. "So where is his house?"

"I'll take you there right now, if you like," Ryuk offered. "Someone could come over to the house anytime and see the notebook. If you want to do this, it should be as soon as possible."

"Great," said Taro. "Just give me a second." He walked over to his desk, and wrote a note to his wife, just in case she got up and wondered where he was. Then he opened his safe and pulled out the magic eraser. The eraser that he had waited so long to use, but had never been able to.

Until now.

Soon, he thought, I'll be able to set things right.

It took about 30 minutes to walk to the new Kira's house. Deciding to be helpful for once, Ryuk passed through the front door, and unlocked it from the inside. Taro walked in, and ignoring everything else, immediately walked over to the dead man slumped on his desk. He was in his late thirties, with a formal business suit and thinning hair. But Taro paid no attention to the man; all he cared about was the open black notebook lying in front of him.

Hands trembling, Taro picked up the Death Note. This is it! He glanced at the names written on it. The last one...was Shigeki Kaga. Probably the new Kira. We'll just leave that one, Taro thought. No real sense in bringing a serial killer back to life. Besides, he chose his own fate.

Wait a minute, he realized. Wouldn't I have brought murderers back to life by erasing the names in the first place? I mean, not these people, but many of those that the original Kira punished were murderers, and I was still going to bring them back. More importantly, if I chose who gets to live and die, doesn't that make me no better than Kira?

Taro shook his head. No. Like it or not, these people are already dead. I don't have to bring any of them back, so I'm only going to resurrect the victims. That's fair. Still, he felt a few nagging doubts as he pulled out the eraser and turned the page to the first name.

Shunji Tsugawa

Taro erased his name.

Then he breathed a sigh of relief. Somewhere, Shunji Tsugawa was now alive, and could go back to his friends and loved ones. More confident now, Taro proceeded to erase the rest of the victims' names.

When he was done, Ryuk spoke up, "You know, a lot of those people were old, and some of them wanted to be killed. You might have just caused more problems."

Taro shook his head. "It doesn't matter. If they want to live or die...at least now they have a choice."

Ryuk shrugged. It's not like it mattered to him anyway. Then he noticed the smile on Taro's face. "Looks like finally being able to help those people has put you in a good mood." He squirmed. "I...actually wasn't telling the whole truth before. About L burning all the Death Notes. I actually was able to save a few pages."

Taro jumped up. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

Ryuk looked defensive. "L didn't know that I was still holding onto these sheets, so they weren't burned. It was just two people! I didn't think it would make a difference!"

"Every human life matters!" Taro said firmly.

Ryuk considered that. "Well, I guess you're right. Here you go." He pulled two loose sheets out of his own notebook. Taro snatched them up. The nerve of that shinigami! Trying to back out of their deal! Taro saw the first name and his jaw dropped.

Light Yagami

This...this is great! he thought. He was really lucky that Ryuk had been able to save this page. Light will be able to come back. Won't Sayu be so happy that she's going to see her brother again? No, I probably shouldn't tell her just yet; I'll just have him surprise her. No, but I probably should give her some warning; she might have a heart attack herself if she sees her dead brother ringing the doorbell.

Taro quickly erased Light's name. He was so excited that he barely even took notice of the other name (L Lawliet) as it, too, disappeared with the eraser's power.

He also didn't notice the chilling, demonic smile that came over Ryuk's face.

A/N: And with that, I have FINALLY uploaded all of my stories to this site. New chapters of this story will be added (roughly) once a week, and the South Park one-shot series (“Reflection”) is currently ongoing. Keep it up, you guys!