Angel Of Mercy (WIP - On Hiatus)

Death Note Appendix III - The Shinigami Rules

I.   The human owner of a Death Note is possessed by its original Shinigami owner until he or she dies.

II.   If a human uses a Death Note, its Shinigami owner must appear in front of the human within 39 days after he or she uses the note.

III.   The original Shinigami owners of Death Notes don't, in principle, do anything to help or prevent the deaths brought about by the notes.

IV.   A Shinigami has no obligation to completely explain how to use the note or the rules that apply to the human who owns it.

V.   The Shinigami must not tell humans the names or life spans of individuals he sees. This is to avoid confusion in the human world.

VI.   A Shinigami bringing a Death Note into the human world must make sure that a human uses it. Although it is unlikely that a Shinigami who has possessed a human would die, if it does happen, the Death Note brought into the human world will not lose its power.

VII.   Shinigami must not stay in the human world without a particular reason. Acceptable reasons to stay in the human world are as follows:
- When the Shinigami's Death Note is handed to a human.
- Finding a human to take possession of a Death Note should be done from the Shinigami realm, but if it is within 82 hours, this may also be done in the human world.
- When a Shinigami stalks an individual with the intention to kill them, as long as it is within 82 hours of possessing them, the Shinigami may stay in the human world.

VIII.   The Shinigami must not hand the Death Note directly to a child under six years of age (based on the human calendar). But Death Notes that have been dropped into the human world, and are part of the human world, can be used upon humans of almost any age with the same effect.

IX.   The owner of a Death Note cannot be killed by a Shinigami who is in the Shinigami realm. Also, a Shinigami who comes to the human world with the objective of killing the owner of a Death Note will not be able to do so. Only a Shinigami that has passed on its Death Note to a human is able to kill the owner of the Death Note.

X.   If a Death Note is owned in the human world against a Shinigami's will, that Shinigami is permitted to stay in the human world in order to retrieve it. In that case, if there are other Death Notes in the human world, the Shinigami are not allowed to reveal to the humans the Death Note owner's identity or its location.

XI.   If a Shinigami's Death Note is taken away for whatever reason, it can only be retrieved from the Shinigami who possesses it at the time. If there is no Shinigami but a human, the only way the Shinigami can get it back is to first touch the Death Note and become the one who haunts that particular human. Then they have to wait until that person dies to take it away. And they have to do it before any other human touches it.

XII.   After a Shinigami brings a Death Note to the human world and gives its ownership to a human, the Shinigami has the right to kill the human using its own Death Note for any reason, such as disliking the owner.

XIII.   The following are cases in which a Shinigami that has brought the Death Note into the human world is allowed to return to the Shinigami realm:
- When the Shinigami has seen the end of the first owner of the Death Note brought into the human world and has written that human's name into his or her own Death Note.
- When the Death Note is destroyed and cannot be used by humans anymore.
- If nobody claims ownership of the Death Note, it is unnecessary to possess anyone.
- If, for any reason, the Shinigami possessing the Death Note is replaced by another Shinigami.
- When a Shinigami loses track of the Death Note that he or she possesses, or cannot identify which human owns the Death Note, or cannot locate where the owner is, and therefore needs to find such information using the observation holes in the Shinigami realm.
- Even in cases II, III, and IV, Shinigami are obliged to confirm the death of the first owner and write down that human's name in his or her Death Note even when he or she is in the Shinigami realm.

XIV.   In the Shinigami realm, there are a few copies of what humans might call a 'user handbook' for the Death Notes in the human world. Although Shinigami may not give the handbook to humans, it is perfectly okay for them to teach humans about its contents, no matter what that may be.

XV.   A Shinigami can extend its life by writing human names in a Death Note, but a human cannot. A person can only shorten his or her life by using the note.

XVI.   Even the original Shinigami owners of Death Notes do not know much about them.

XVII.   Shinigami must own at least one personal Death Note, which must never be lent to or written on by a human.

XVIII.   Shinigami may exchange and write in each others' Death Notes.

XIX.   If a Shinigami decides to use a Death Note to end the life of the killer of an individual it favors, that individual's life will be extended, but the Shinigami will die. The Shinigami will disappear, but the Death Note will remain. The ownership of this Death Note is usually carried over to the next Shinigami that touches it, but it is common sense that it be returned to the Shinigami King.

XX.   By manipulating the death of a human who has influence over another human's life, that human's original life span can sometimes be lengthened. If a Shinigami intentionally does this, that Shinigami will die, but even if a human does the same, the human will not die.

XXI.   A Shinigami cannot be killed even if stabbed or shot. However, there are ways to kill them, which are not generally known even to the Shinigami themselves.

XXII.   There are male and female Shinigami, but it is neither permitted nor possible for them to have sexual relations with humans. They also cannot have sex with each other.

XXIII.   As long as a Shinigami has at least once seen a human and knows his or her name and life span, the Shinigami is capable of finding that human by looking down from an observation hole in their realm.

XXIV.   The Shinigami realm has laws that govern it. If a Shinigami should break a law, there are nine levels of punishment, which the severity starting at Level Eight and going up to Level One, plus an Extreme Level. At severity levels above Three, the Shinigami will be punished and killed. Killing a human without using the Death Note merits punishment at the Extreme Level.

XXV.   Shinigami will not die from lack of sleep. They do not need sleep, so to them, it is merely laziness. Shinigami in the human world shouldn't act lazy merely because they are required to possess a human.