It happened later that night. Akihito doesn't scream. He never really has, some would call him emotionless but he doesn't really care - perhaps he has aspergers. He should have had a reason to scream but his only reaction was to ask why it was there. 

“You’ve taken a liking to it… human boy.” The being before him hovered above the ground. It's skeletal arms and legs hung off of its suspended body long and lanky, they grazed the floor as she moved about his apartment. By this time of night Akihito had moved to his kitchen to eat his dinner, baked chicken with rice.

“And why are you here? For this?” He picked up the Death Note from his table to point it out. “Watashi wa shinigami anata o yobidasu hitsuyō ga arimasu ka?”

“A clever one… Yes you can call me a shinigami. A reaper is what you may call me in English. But if you.prefer Japanese then Shinigami works as well.” She paused. “Yes, I am here because of the Death Note. That book was mine.”

“Was..? So… Since it came into the possession of a human you lost custody of it? Is that how it works?”

“Clever, but no. Not quite. Once the notebook touches the Earth, or anything on the Earth, it becomes a part of this realm and no longer belongs to me.” 

“I see… So what is your purpose here then? Will you be leaving with my soul? Or perhaps my head? I could do nothing to stop you. I don't even know your name and, even if I did, writing it in the Death Note would do me no good. The rules clearly state that the name must be that of a human. You are, clearly, not human. “

“An astute observation, I like you human. What is your name?” She seemed to have ignored the question.

“I am Osamu Akihito” He bowed as he said it, putting his two hands together and bringing his back down to a sixty degree angle, roughly. “And you are?” He lifted his back until it was straight again.

“Clever and polite. You will be much nicer to deal with than my last human. I am the Shinigami Midora and I have come here to observe as you use this Death Note. I am not here to help, I am a spectator and nothing more… But there is one thing I can help with, if you're willing to pay the price.”

Akihito realized what this must've looked like, this skeletal reaper in his kitchen, his food getting colder and him having a tense conversation with it. Now it offered him assistance with a price, even though he had no idea, yet, what the assistance was. “What do you offer and what would be the price.”

“I offer you eyes.”

“Hmm? I have my own set… Unless you mean the eyes of a shinigami. How are they special? What would I be able to see?”

“A perceptive one. Yes, I would give you the eyes of a shinigami. With your eyes you can only see faces and other physical objects. With eyes of a shinigami you can see a person’s name and lifespan just by looking at them… There would be no need to attempt to find out someone’s name. Just take a glance and you would know.” 

Akihito didn't speak. So she continued, “I can see your name and lifespan floating above your head right now. For you, it appears in hiragana because where you're from. For others it appears in whatever language their name is in. I would never tell you your lifespan, it appears in my language so you couldn't tell either, but the names would be useful to you.” She took a breath, “All I would need from you is a deal. Just half of your remaining lifespan. Nothing more or less.”

Half of his life… So if he was suppose to live another fifty years then he would live twenty-five instead...


[i]Japanese translation: "Can I call you a shinigami?"[/i]