Second Thoughts and New Ideas (Oana)

[Takitsu]

Takitsu sat on a bench outside the shopping mall, idly sucking on a cherry lollipop and watching the busy people. She had to find a way to protect herself from Kira; she needed some way to change her appearance, without her parents noticing. Her parents had gone to see an old friend, who had come to town today, and Takiyoshi had gone to the movies with his girlfriend. They didn’t know when they would be back, so it was too dangerous to talk to Oana there. Here, in the city, there was so much more going on, everyone seemed so busy; they wouldn’t notice the teenager in the corner. Though, she had brought a book with her, so it would seem she was just reading aloud.

Takitsu wasn’t wearing bunny ears today, or a skirt. She had decided to dig out her old jeans and sneakers, and had found a button-up black shirt, decorated with all sorts of paint splatters and random phrases, like ‘Anarchy!’ and ‘Punk isn’t dead’, and had thrown on a red tank top underneath. It felt strange, not having to move the bunny ears from her eyes. She felt more visible than she had ever before. Maybe… the style change wasn’t such a good idea Takitsu thought, picking at one of the small holes in her jeans.

Pulling out her book, she began to think. What can I do, how can I change myself enough to fool Kira, yet to slip by my parents? It was annoying, and was totally driving Takitsu insane. Is it even worth it? I have a Death Note, and the Shinigami Eyes… I could kill him, too… Though this was supposed to calm her down, this thought only made Takitsu’s heart race. She had the power to kill one of, if not the most wanted criminal. But he can still kill me she reminded herself. To truly have the upper hand, she needed to protect herself against the Death Note.

What if… she wondered, an idea finally coming to her. What if I dyed my hair a slightly different shade of brown? she raised an eyebrow. Oana had suggested something similar before, but it finally clicked that she didn’t need to dye her hair a totally different color, like red or black. Or, what if I got plain brown costume contacts, to take out the green in my eyes?

“Hmmm…” Takitsu thought a second more, before pulling out her sketch book and colored pencils. She drew her face, the real Takitsu; green flecked brown eyes, long brown hair with bangs in her eyes, the ponytail, even the few freckles she had. Flipping to a clean page, she made a new version of herself; plain brown eyes, made her hair just a bit lighter, and just a few inches shorter, and didn’t bother to add the freckles. Carefully ripping this one out, she placed it side-to-side with her first picture. Could this be enough? she wondered.

“Oana,” she whispered to her Shinigami companion. “Would a change like this be enough to save me from the Death Note?”

(( I based Takitsu's jean-and-tank top style off of myself. I really have a shirt like that =D ))

[Little One??Oana]

If there was one thing that could piss of the little shinigami, it was the lack of care for a few simple needs. All Oana ever asked for was for the kills to be creative, and for grapes every day. It was a basic need, all human children were forced to eat fruits and all they did was throw them away. Oana grumbled in pain, they could just give it to people like her who really needed it.

Having gone now for two weeks without a single grape, Oana was going into the first stages of her withdrawl. The playful act of hanging upside down was now prolonged, where no matter how hard the little shinigami swung her legs, she just couldn’t stand up straight. Her bat wings, which on her head usually only did casual calm flapping, were now frantic, keeping her up like the wings of a bee or a hummingbird, making a buzzing sound as she flew behind her new notebook owner. Oana held herself as if she were shivering, and her long nails were digging into her arms.

So maybe that was why the little shinigami appeared more than relieved when Taki told her they were going to a shopping mall. It had to be a place with grapes, if not, the shinigami would surely go insane. But instead, they had passed over the little food market in front of the mall and went off into her own little corner to draw. draw!!!! I need grapes! she thought outraged. Taki sat down as the little shinigami continued to shiver, hovering just above her looking down at the sketchbook, where she was doing drawings of herself.

When asked her opinion, Oana just added, “ I order to go unnoticed, you have to change….” She shivered, “ over h-h-half of your f-face.” Her voice, which was usually so light and playful, was now in gollum-like scratchy growls and staggered in between shivers. this has got to count as cruelty. “ s-so girl…. Ch-ch-change a bit.”

[Takitsu]

Takitsu raised an eyebrow at the shivering death god. “What’s wrong?” she asked. It was nice outside, though Oana seemed to be freezing. Putting both sketches in her bag, she decided to pick up hair dye and contacts while she was here. However, Oana was her first concern. Not only did she think of the shinigami as good company, Takitsu didn’t fancy the idea of being killed. She needed to keep Oana entertained. But, in order to do that, she needed Oana to tell her what was going on.

Something hit her, and suddenly, Takitsu felt incredibly stupid. Everyone had needs, even gods of death, and killing humans for their remaining years couldn’t be they’re only need. Do Shinigami need to eat? Takitsu wondered. Do they need sleep? Or is it something more complicated than that? It was almost like caring for an exotic pet; you knew almost nothing about it.

Maybe Oana was upset that Takitsu hadn’t made many kills. She had killed about ten people in the last two weeks. Two had drowned, one had gotten run over, three had died in a fire, one (who worked as maintenance for an apartment complex) had gotten electrocuted, and the last two died of alcohol poisoning. Was this too little? Maybe I should start killing more often… Takitsu thought.

Takitsu counted her money. Good she thought. I’ve got enough to buy the hair dye, some makeup, and contacts, and I’ll have enough leftover to get something for Oana, whatever it is she needs

[Little One??Oana]

Under the black bangs Oana’s eyes flickered. Did she SERIOUSLY have no idea what was wrong with her?! But she had to figure through her anger that most humans knew nothing about death gods, it made her think twice about havoc’s statement on them. Her fingers jutted up and down as if they were jackhammering into her arm, and the buzzing from her wings became louder as she looked at Taki upside down, her fangs gleaming as she opened her mouth to force out one word

“Grapes.”

That was all Taki needed to know, it was all the little shinigami could say in her weakened state. There was the only thing she was deprived of. Takitsu had done the kills in ample time and had done them effectively, something that Oana was proud of, but the second simple need Oana had not mentioned. Maybe she thought she knew, like A and Takai, or maybe she had only forgotten to tell her, either way, she was telling her now, meaning it must have meant something.

[Takitsu]

Grapes, huh? Sounds like Shinigami do need to eat.

Takitsu looked around. She knew there was a smoothie shop in the food court, but the food court was near the center of the mall, and she didn’t want to make Oana wait that long. She had passed a food market on her way here, but the food court would be a shorter walk than that. “Hmmm…”

Takitsu’s eyes caught a glimpse of a bright red cart, almost completely hidden behind a small crowd. She stood up, trying to read the sign on top of it. She grinned; the sign read “Fresh Fruit” in bright yellow letters. Throwing her bag across her shoulders, Takitsu walked over to the tiny cart, relieved to find that there was no line. She smiled sweetly at the owner. “Grapes, please,” she asked, using the sweet voice she used on her father when she wanted something. Being Daddy’s Little Princess wasn’t all bad.

“Red or green?” the man asked, grabbing a bag and pulling on a glove.

Takitsu thought for a quick second. Oana didn’t specify… I guess either will be ok. “Both, please.”

The man gave a hearty laugh, and grabbed a large handful of green grapes, carefully placing them in the bag, before setting another handful of red grapes on top. He tied it closed, and Takitsu took it from him, giving him his money and another sweet smile, before walking back to Oana.

“Come on, there’s no way you can eat these in front of everyone. We’ll go over there,” Takitsu said, nodding at a few trees. Hopefully, Oana wouldn’t be mad at her. Takitsu didn’t know that Oana needed grapes, but she had never asked, either.

[Little One??Oana]

Oana didn’t bother to move when taki had found a cart of fruit. But she seemed a bit more relieved that Taki had taken the time to look. She tried to crack a smile through her shivers as she watched Taki give the person shoveling out this wonderful substance a cute look, and he seemed to fall for it every step of the way. Oana eyes them hungrily, she could tell she was trying to restrain herself, if not, she would have flown over there and devoured every grape the man had in his basket.

Oana thought that if she didn’t specify, she might not get any grapes at all, this made her whimper painfully a little bit. It wasn’t long until she was about to twist herself into a useless lumpy ball hungry and cold. She continued to shiver, looking at the ground instead of the sky and getting a bit annoyed with her wings continuous buzzing, it just meant she was exhausting herself.

Her smile grew wider as she came back with two bags of grapes, delicious GRAPES! she reached for them at first, but taki told her they had to go into a clump of trees so she can eat. She gave a groan of frustration, but she flew over there anyway, backwards so her upside down flying didn’t lead her into anything.

When the two of them made it to the clump of trees she looked aroud, “ alr-r-r-right! There is NO ONE here,” she pulled her shaking hands away from one another. “ grapes…p-p-pretty please.”

[Takitsu]

Takitsu smiled as she followed Oana to the trees. She knew that Oana was exhausted, but how weird would it be to see a bunch of grapes floating in midair, before disappearing? It would draw too much attention. “Oana, this is the kinda thing you gotta tell me about. I didn’t know you needed grapes,” Takitsu said, handing the bag of green grapes to the shivering shinigami. Sitting down near the base of one tree, she took out her MP3 player, only listening through one earphone. Placing the red grapes inside her bag, she glanced at Oana.

“You can have the red ones when you finish the green grapes?” Takitsu winked, and then went to her music. The mall didn’t close anytime soon, so Takitsu would let Oana take as much time with the grapes as she needed. Though, based on the shinigami’s shivers, Takitsu had a feeling the small fruits would be gone in a matter of minutes. Smiling a little, she looked at the mall entrance; she half wished a thief would rush out the front doors, so she could kill them. Hmm… how would I kill them, though? she wondered. Maybe… have them run into the fruit cart, and have them suffer some horrible, apple-related death? Hahaha… She had fun, coming up with new ways to kill.

“Still, Oana,” Takitsu looked back at her MP3 player. “Would the hair dye and contacts count for half of my face?” she asked, casually scrolling through her songs. She hadn’t gotten a real answer the last time, and Takitsu was anxious to change herself. Kira could be anywhere, could be anyone.

[Little One??Oana]

It frustrated Oana to hear her thoughts come out of her wielders own mouth, the frustrated shivering was a bit stronger, “ I didn’t k-k-know it would take you to w-w-wait until I was in w-w-withd-drawl to ask!” most people asked on the first day they saw the shinigami as some kind of offering, “ the minute the grapes reached her quivering hands, she dropped to the ground still in the upside down position. She picked off a green grape from the vine and plopped it into her mouth, overjoyed at the taste of the fresh juicy fruit.

That seemed to change everything, the little shinigami gave a squeal of delight and she finally flipped onto the ground, sitting there as she continued to pull out grapes and plopping them into her mouth with a satisfied look. She munched on the green grapes looking dissapointetly at the bag of red ones as she did so, “ fine…”

Taki was now looking for something, all oana could do was smile. Taki was a lot more willing to kill people than Oana had ever expected. She kept her eye out constantly for someone to kill and had done ten in two weeks, more than anybody she had had the courage to do, but now she asked about her appearance. The little shinigami tipped her head to the side. Oana herself never had to worry about what she looked like when she killed someone, but maybe this was to keep that Kira kid from killing her. She pulled out another grape before giving an answer.

“ under precautions, changing half of your face would probably mean eye change and a bit of a change in your facial features, like put more of those little dot thingy’s on your cheeks and maybe put some hair over your eye…like that sexy look you human girls seem to like, and bangs on the other side, it should qualify as changing more than half of your face.”

[Takitsu]

Takitsu opened her mouth, as if to answer Oana, but giggled a little instead. It was pretty stupid to wait until the last minute to ask. And she needed to stay on Oana’s good side, needed to keep the shinigami interested. Takitsu wasn’t ready to die yet; she wanted to know who Kira was. She had been thinking about it, and she wasn’t sure if she would join him, or turn him in. It would be a good idea to join him; it would help her protect Takiyoshi. But, if he was caught, she would also be punished. And she knew that Kira was headed for the death sentence. She shook her head a little.

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry,” Takitsu giggled a little, as Oana squealed. Smirking, she took the red bags out of her purse and laughed a little, before setting them down near Oana.

Turning back to the mall entrance, her hand went to her bag as she saw someone running out, with something in his hand. But then he stopped in front of a girl, and handed whatever the thing was to her, before kissing her cheek. Takitsu wasn’t great at reading lips, but he said something that looked like ‘Happy Birthday’. Scowling, Takitsu removed her hand. Doesn’t anyone rob malls anymore? She thought grouchily. She was bored, nothing really interesting was happening. She sighed again, before putting on the second earphone.

An eye change and some more freckles… So, I need more hair over my eye? Takitsu started to twirl the long lock of hair covering her eye. I’ll mess around with hairstyles when I get home. And, I’m still getting hair dye, just in case She’d need to touch it up often, but she was sure she’d be able to afford it. Hair dye wasn’t terribly expensive.

“Mkay, well, once you’re finished, we’ll go in. And, I’ll make sure Mom buys grapes when she goes shopping.” That should please Oana. And Takitsu could cover for the missing grapes. Her mom would be overjoyed that Takitsu was snacking on something other than candy.

[Little One??Oana]

As the little shinigami continued to eat her grapes, she had to wonder what went through her wielders mind at this moment. She caught the drift as quickly as the other two. If she didn’t want to die by the hands of the little shinigami, she had to do everything she could to keep her entertained. It was a terrifying deal she made with her wielders but it was also a simple one. Most people would die sooner and sooner with the notebook in their hands so to entertain someone like her was not a difficult task to some, but hard for others since as easily as she could be entertained she also got bored very easily, meaning there was no way to tell whether she was satisfied.

Oana watched smiling as Takitsu continued to look for people to kill while Oana sat back and ate her fill of grapes. The eagerness to kill was very fascinating for the little shinigami, for she was so used to watching people try hard to resist the tempting powers of the Death Note. Oana continued plopping grapes into her mouth, savoring each one for it was unpredictable how long it would be until she got more. To see Takitsu hating every moment of boredom was ironically entertainment for the shinigami, watching closely as she continued to fiddle with her hair and think.

When Taki agreed to buy more grapes, Oana cheered, throwing her hands into the air in excitement. And endless supply of grapes, what fun! She grinned, “ Much love Taki, that is a great idea!” she handed her the secod bag, “I’ll save these for more cravings later. I wanna see inside! ”

[Takitsu]

Yes! FINALLY! Takitsu thought triumphantly. She could hear a police siren coming up behind her. Not long after, she saw someone running away from the police car, running towards the crowd in front of the mall. Takitsu grinned maliciously when the criminal grabbed a hostage; a little girl, who looked around seven or eight. Immediately, the small child started to cry, while her parents begged the man to give her back. The criminal only took out a knife and put it to the young girl’s neck, which only made her start screaming.

“Come any closer and I’ll kill the girl!” By now, the police had pulled up in front of the mall, and had their guns out, but reluctantly, they lowered them. The criminal gave a loud, crazy cackle, before walking backwards to the mall, dragging the terrified little girl with him.

Takitsu clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Not so fast, you’re in trouble.” She already had his name, Osako Raiden; she had seen it just before he grabbed the girl, who was named Hoshi. Takitsu carefully took out her Death Note, and set it beside her, opening to a page. Osako Raiden... How should I kill you? Takitsu thought for a moment. She hadn’t thought of a way to kill a criminal yet, even though she’d wanted to kill all afternoon. She couldn’t have him be shot by a gun, as she couldn’t have someone else kill him. Suicide, maybe? I’ve never tried that one... She didn’t have very much to work with right now, and since she was curious to see how Raiden would kill himself, she wrote ‘Osako Raiden; Suicide’ before slipping the black notebook back into her bag. Raiden stopped backing up to the mall all of a sudden, and looked down at Hoshi, who had stopped screaming, probably due to a sore throat. For a moment, it looked like her parents thought Raiden was going to kill their baby, but instead, he let her go, almost shoving her towards her parents. Hoshi’s mother picked her up, while her dad rubbed her back, and looked at Raiden, confused. Raiden stood there for a second, staring at his knife.

Takitsu pouted. He’s going to stab himself, how boring Takitsu had been hoping for something a little more exciting. She stood up, and brushed herself off. She bent down for her bag, but her head snapped up when she heard a long yell. Raiden had started to run towards the police, who were too dumbstruck to do anything but stand there. Raiden yanked a gun from one of them, and Takitsu raised an eyebrow. Raiden nodded at the officer, as if thanking him, before taking a few steps away, and pointed the gun to his head. He took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger.

The crowd was silent, though a few started to whisper. Takitsu stood up, smirking. Didn’t see that coming... Maybe I should suicide more often she thought, grinning, though her grin faded when she heard someone say ‘Kira’. She was not Kira, thank you very much. If only I knew who said that... I’d kill them she thought angrily. Though, as there was not much she could do right now, she picked up her purse, and looked at Oana. “Let’s go, we can head in without looking suspicious.” It was true; the crowd had already started to move, going back to their cars, and going inside.

[Little One??Oana]

Oana was almost ready to float inside, but the sounds of terrified screams stopped the little shinigami in her tracks, allowing her to wheel around and watch the scene from an amazingly good view. Though she seemed interested, Taki looked downright excited to see the man come out and threaten to kill the girl, though for the life of her Oana knew no other reason why, without the DeathNote Takitsu would probably be looking on evilly or terrified for the little girl as she screamed and cried feeling cold metal on her temple.

Oana had always felt the human way of killing was so primal and....so primitive to watch. Of course, the old man forbade them from any kind of killing in the human fashion. They could not stab anybody, they could not shoot them, Oana could not lay a finger on them with her sickle, though she carried it around. To her dismay and to the dissapointment of her peers, the sickle was strictly for show, her real weapon was protected by a blanket of her hair and a holder she worked hard on to keep it in. Even then, sometimes she wondered what it would feel like to kill someone personally just for the thrill of it, when you kill with the DeathNote it isnt as much fun, Oana looked back down to Taki. Maybe that was why humans liked killing with the Deathnote so much. They do not kill with their own hands, thus they lose that feeling of...guilt? Responsibility? maybe it was more complicated than she thought with humans.

So Oana leaned in, about to ask if she planned to kill that man, but she was already on it. Scribbling the name into her deathnote and then writing the death. Oana looked over her shoulder to see the death, suicide? oh come on Taki by what? she knew how unpredictable a suicide can be. But it would have been better if she had specified what kind.

The man gave the little girl back more than willingly under Taki's control and Oana could recognize the pensive look on his face as he gazed at the knife. Oana groaned openly, sharing Taki's dissapointment. " oh come on! That's it?" she knew only Taki could hear her, but Oana still directed the comment at the man. Oana gave a sharp frustrated exhale and sat back to glare. But the prolonged yell made her jump in surprise. He was charging towards the cops and hd stolen one of the guns, shooting himself in the head. "well...that's new." While everyone broke into whispers, Oana held her sides in shaking laughter " that was so much fun!" She followed Taki inside with a gangly grin. She was in a good mood.

Going into the human mall was a new experience for her, amazingly she watched people walking up and down the wide walkway and the feel of a cool breeze overcame her. Oana was glad she had wings, then she didnt have to look as cramped as Taki did entering. Oana had noticed the square of red carpet where all of the young humans sat together and Oana made an interested noise. She floated to what they were all gethered around for. A man was talking to them, but he was tiny, and attached to him were strings that flew up into the curtain. she grazed her hand against him. He wasnt a real human, by the texture he was made of a solid wood. She blinked a couple of times before looking back to taki, " I didnt know you humans controlled other humans too, it looks like fun." she floated above it and saw the man who was controlling the human, then looked back down at the little wooden human, " what is it? I had never met a human made of wood before."