Till Death Do I Part: Twenty Truths About Death the Kid

By aishuu

1. Death the Kid is already a shinigami. This is a really obvious statement, but it's not one any of his friends comprehend. He is shinigami, god of death, and it's more than just a word. It's a state of being, a unique point of view on the world. Kid is already Death, and he performs his role without conscious thought.

2. Death the Kid has never won a game of pool. No matter how he aims, the cue ball always arcs back for the eight ball, and he defaults automatically. The only time he ever wins is when someone's life is on the line, but that's not really playing pool.

3. Death the Kid makes excuses to avoid visiting Death City's Senior Living Site. It's not because he doesn't like old people, it's because they have extreme reactions to him: they're either fascinated and fall madly in love with him, or go running (or wheeling, in most cases) as quickly as they can in the opposite direction. Remember, Death the Kid is already a shinigami.

4. Death the Kid is nearly impossible for people who meet him to describe. No two people can describe his face the same way; most agree he is pale and has yellow eyes, and almost all are able to remember the asymmetrical stripes in his hair, but that's where it ends. Some use the words "beautiful," others "terrifying," but it's all a matter of perspective. For Kid, who likes to live in a very defined reality, it's infuriating.

5. Death the Kid never mentions it, but he's never lost a game of chance. Death leaves nothing to chance; in the end, Death is going to win.

6. Death the Kid finds cheaters amusing. Every human (and most creatures capable of intelligent thought) has thought to cheat death. None of them are smart enough to realize there really is a lot of truth to the saying, "The only sure thing is death and taxes."

7. Death the Kid finds it highly ironic that people haven't figured out that in Death City, taxes go to Shinigami-sama himself.

8. Death the Kid knows most people think his fixation with symmetry is weird, but that doesn't bother him. He is not human and isn't bound by their mortal perceptions on life. If they knew what he did, the world would be a lot more orderly.

9. Death the Kid knows Shinigami-sama is worried about his fixation with symmetry. He's tried to explain that symmetry is all about balance, which is the point of being a shinigami. His father (wiser, although Kid won't admit that), points out that anything taken to extremes upsets balance.

10. Death the Kid doesn't know how much Shinigami-sama fears his fixation with symmetry. There are so many ways things can go wrong if Death loses its compassion and looks at things from a strictly logical point of view.

11. Death the Kid really doesn't need to sit in Shibusen. It's not like the professors can teach him anything he needs to know, but he wants to embrace the other part of his name. He's not just "Death;" he's also "The Kid."

12. Death the Kid is really tired of jokes about his name. No matter what "little death" jokes you come up with, he's already heard it (and yet he will not admit he already lives up to that reputation... you'd have to ask Patti and Liz, and they're smart enough not to talk).

13. Death the Kid loves Patti. He loves her joie de vivre, her giggles, her never-ending optimism and curiosity. Patti is the sunlight in his life, the spark of chaos that keeps his word ever-changing.

14. Death the Kid loves Liz, too. Liz is the person who keeps him grounded, reminding him of practicality and common sense. She's the one who balances his obsession, rolling her eyes when she points out that it's time to stop already.

15. Death the Kid is glad he'll never have to choose between his girls. They may not be perfectly symmetrical standing side-by-side, but their hearts reflect each other's. Neither would seek to claim him as their own, since it would hurt the other two people in their triangular relationship.

16. Death the Kid knows Liz and Patti are not immortal. He is, but he doesn't fear their deaths, because he understands what will happen. They will enter his eternal embrace, and he will never have to let them go.

17. Death the Kid knows what it means to be a shinigami. He knows his father is not omnipotent, since his father is not the only shinigami out there. If all shinigami in all of time and space were put together, they would become omnipotent, but there's reasons why the universe doesn't work like that.

18. Death the Kid is the only one in Death City who doesn't revere Shinigami-sama. While he respects and loves his father, he looks at the older shinigami with a jaded eye. It'd be too close to narcissism to worship Shinigami-sama.

19. Death the Kid is already Shinigami. While most people look to his father as Shinigami-sama and the original Death, they do not understand what they're talking about. Death is greater than one incarnation, one being. Death is an eternal figure, but ever-evolving as society changes how it views dying. If Kid wanted to, he could shut his eyes and feel the the connection between himself and his father, and all the shinigami that have ever or will ever exist. Kid is merely part of the whole, and has always been present, although he may not have worn human form before.

20. Death the Kid will one day be the Shinigami. What that means has yet to be determined; while Death is inevitable, there are other, more powerful, gods controlling the threads of Fate.