A Year of Jubilee [The Death Note Fanfic]

Chapter 29

Misa stood before a bathroom mirror, small and pale. Behind her loomed a demon; tall, gray, and with purple, serpentine coils hanging off of its head. In its outstretched hand it held a small scrap of paper, the tip of which was touching Misa by the skin of her elbow.

Misa's eyes were wide with surprise, but not fear. Turning, she tilted her head back to gaze up at the demon, awed. The demon was speaking to her. Cocking her head to the side, Misa opened her mouth to reply...

And then Misa was in a red sports car, next to a familiar looking man. Kyosuke Higuchi. He had a mad gleam in his eye as he parked the car and turned to face Misa.

"I am Kira!" he declared. "And if you are truly the second Kira...then you shall be my wife. And we will rule this world together."

"Fine with me," said Misa. A line over her head snapped in two, but then reformed itself and straightened when she said, "I am the second Kira."

Higuchi was on top of her an instant, leaning the passenger seat back all the way with a swift motion and a click. "Prove it," he whispered into her face.

Behind them in the rear seat, the demon from before sat, its large frame hunched over in the small quarters. It narrowed its eyes with a look of fierce, protective anger.

"Ginzo Kanabochi is the president of one our business rivals," continued Higuchi. "He also happens to bribe his employees. Kill him for me...and I'll know that you really are the second Kira."

Misa, startled but once again showing no fear, leaned up on one elbow and retrieved a pen and scrap of paper from her purse...the same one that had touched her elbow earlier. She scribbled something onto it, then held it in front of Higuchi's face.

"There," she said. "In forty seconds, he will die." The line over her head wavered for a second, and started to snap.

Higuchi's eyes widened, as did the demon's in the back seat. Time seemed to slow, and in that moment the demon's thoughts became audible and clear.

Misa doesn't have her memories back yet, thought the demon. Its voice sounded feminine. Until then, she cannot kill using paper from the Death Note. Then, as though in sudden realization, So she's expecting me to do it for her.

In a quick but discreet motion, the demon produced a pen and a black book, flipping it open and giving the scrap in Misa's hands a cursory glance before copying down the name that was written on it—Ginzo Kanabochi—with perfunctory precision.

The broken line over Misa's head mended itself and became straight once more. Time sped back up. Forty seconds passed in an instant, as well as a phone call made by Higuchi. He turned to Misa with a look of awe and pure delight. A small, black shard had lodged itself in Misa's heart, but neither she nor Higuchi seemed to notice.

"Now your turn," said Misa, the corner of her lips turning upward. "Prove that you're Kira."

In a swirl of motion and color, time sped up again. Hours passed, or maybe days. Higuchi's face appeared, mad with a desperate hunger for power.

"I'll make the deal!" he cried. "Give me the shinigami eyes!"

His eyes began to gleam red, though the color was invisible to those around him. He gasped, and what could only be seen through his eyes suddenly appeared in the air—words and numbers floating over the heads of all the people around him. They were names and life spans.