It was a cold January night. The rain had been crashing and banging against the windows for what seemed like the whole night, and the winds blew at almost hurricane force. Inside of Gallow's Manor, it was dark and cold, and the Reaper sat against the wall, almost motionlessly rocking the cradle next to him, shivered. Even in his large, black, cloak-type attire, he could still feel the cold.
"Why is it so cold?" He asked himself, silently, briefly observing the world around him as he spoke. He had given up rocking the cradle now, and his pale hand had gently slipped down back to the floor. And all was silent, for a moment. However the silence stopped when, to the older Shinigami's surprise, he heard sobs coming from the cradle beside him. They seemed to almost echo, throughout the whole room, as if making him more aware of the child's cries. He hadn't even realised he'd woken up.
He sighed, and picked himself up off the wall hesitantly. It wasn't that he didn't want to take care of the child, of course not... But seeing as his wife had just passed away, suddenly, he hadn't the strongest will to do anything.
"There there." He whispered to the child, sheltering him in his arms, gazing once again into the ringed yellow irises, that now caused him slight pain to look into.
"He looks so much like his mother..." Death whispered to himself, watching the child as he rocked him in his arms. And, to his surprise, the cries came to an abrupt halt as he did. The child simply stopped, and stared up into his father's eyes with a slightly less agitated expression.
"He's stopped?" He questioned to himself, confused. Though he probably didn't know as much as he should about babies, he did know that they cried when they wanted something. But what had he wanted? Nurturing? Comforting?
He smiled, continuing to stare into his father's eyes, and outstretched his little hands somewhat longingly. He was only small, yet he already seemed to understand things so well... Even for a reaper, he seemed so much more mature than most babies of his age did. Shinigami-sama reached his hand out to stroke his head, and smiled proudly. He fixed a strand of hair back in place, and stroked his cheeks softly.
"It's going to be hard raising you all on my own..." The reaper sighed, a tear rolling down his cheek as the child held onto his fingers with tiny hands. "Death The Kid. That's what we agreed on calling you... But perhaps I could shorten it to simply Kid."
The baby seemed to like this idea, and laughed. And with the child's laughter, Shinigami-sama couldn't help but smile softly.
"I love you, Kiddo."
End of chapter one! (I know it's pretty short, but this was a sort of introduction- chapter lengths will vary). Please review if you liked and I will try to produce the next chapter more quickly :) This is pretty much a cute fanfic about Kid's childhood- I know, so original- I was feeling slightly temped to call this Death The Kid as an actual kid... XD. Side note: I do know Kid doesn't have a mother, although I sort of liked the idea so I included it in this. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review if you did. Awkward Neko out :3