There are so many possibilities which can happen when the worlds of Death Note and Tokyo Ghoul mix- that's why I wonder why this archive has such a noticeable lack of crossovers. Oh well, if no one else is doing it, you might as well attempt it yourself, right? I'm a more or less average author, so try not to expect too much from me... I have this nasty habit or letting people down. Oh well, here we go.

Discliamer: I do not own Death Note. If I did, Light wouldn't have lost like that. Or Near wouldn't have won like that. I also do not own Tokyo Ghoul. If I did, the anime would have followed the manga.

November 14, 2007

Hide groaned in annoyance as his dream was interrupted by the rather infuriating sound of his alarm- which was strange, as he remembered he had set it to one of his favorite available alarm tones in hopes that listening to something good in the morning won't make him wake up all grumpy. Unfortunately, he hadn't considered the possibility of starting to gradually develop a hatred for the tone. Which was quite strange, considering he was in an orphanage for gifted children being raised to become the next L... It was kind of necessary to notice things like these. Especially for him- he had one of the top scores in observation and deduction.

Although he stood fourth in the orphanage/genius farm, thus eliminating him from the chances of taking up the title of L after they died, he was still pretty high in the rankings considering the pressure of the academics. He was far from the level of the top three students when it came to theoretical studying, but he still had an above average aptitude considering his exceptional observational skills. In the first few months of his arrival after his parents died, he always wondered why his best friend back home in Japan, Ken Kaneki, didn't get picked out to go with him and stay in Wammy's House. Of course, he hadn't needed to think long on the topic (the question itself arrived from his stubbornness), as while Kaneki might have been excellent in academics, he had been pretty oblivious. And way too kind for his own good. Also very passive and easy to read. Predictable. Not to mention he had still been rightfully taken in by his aunt.

Hide, on the other hand, had no family apart from his parents. Although that seemed kind of depressing seeing as though he had nowhere left to go, he knew he couldn't compare his situation with Kaneki's- living with his cruel aunt and being neglected from the only family he had left. That, and he had decided to survive by the same rule his mother lived by- 'It's better to be hurt than to hurt others'. Hide thinks his best friend might have forgotten the fact that it was the same rule she had died by. Or maybe he just overlooked it in grief. Meanwhile, they still had each other, and Hide was more than happy with that. Sure, he was still depressed (obviously), but he had practiced having an unbreakable facade which brought good to not only him, but to the others around him too. He wanted to be remembered as the person who always brought a smile to everyone's face, not a dull and depressing little emo kid. And in truth, he was fine living like that.

Perhaps he had been living like that for so long that he had forgotten that it was just a facade. Maybe... But it hardly mattered now.

What did matter right now, though, was the terribly loud sound reverberating in his ears. Hide reached out with one arm, still refusing to open his eyes, and blindly searched for the snooze button on his digital clock. It hadn't been the brightest idea, but he only realized that when he knocked the clock over, sending it crashing to the floor. He groaned again- he now needed a new clock. Lifting his eyelids open, he silently thanked himself for not leaving the curtains withdrawn before he went to sleep- he would have surely been blinded by the sunlight. His room was in the east wing, and, while the children in the west wing had the pleasure of enjoying sunsets, being woken up by light beams falling directly on your eyelids wasn't as pleasant as it sounded. It wasn't pleasant being woken up by annoying sounds, either, but at least he wouldn't have to wake up as early as six a.m.

Slipping out of bed and brushing away the sleep from his eyes, he slid into a pair of slip-ons lying conveniently beside his bed. He sometimes wished he could foretell about important things like morning alarms rather than trivial things such as curtains and footwear. Well, that was Hide for you, who refused to let society control his actions (and sometimes volume), which included not taking the big hints simply because he was stubborn. In all lack of pride, he only pretended he was stubborn. He had realized a long time ago that an attitude like this was endearing- and while he wasn't exactly a lying, cheating, psychopath who manipulated the people around him, he did like to make friends and be social. Which was one of the reasons he was stuck in the fourth rank. Somehow, friends and being social wasn't exactly an L-like quality and thus, even with his high scores, he was turned down from the position of L.

He had heard that the infamous detective had taken an interest in him, since he was one of the only ones apart from the top two students who hadn't asked him questions when the children got to hold a 'conversation' with L (or rather, his manipulated voice coming from a laptop). And somehow, he knew L had almost torn through his facade even though he was watching them via camera. It wasn't entirely true to say he hadn't participated in the conversation at all, though. He didn't exactly ask a question, but he did make a few jokes here and there and simply acted like he always did. And since he was informed that L had taken a slight interest in him even though he was hardly as distant as Near and Mello (the highest ranked orphans), he somehow concluded that L had seen through him. That didn't worry Hide too much, though. There wasn't a lot he masked over. It was just the negativity in him which he hid. He wasn't scared of it and tried to hide it for his life (unlike Kaneki had), simply because he hadn't needed to. It never really struck him all that much. He wasn't reluctant to give out his worries. He just hadn't needed to. It was unnecessary, so why should he even do it?

He changed into an orange t-shirt and a pair of dark green cargo pants. He put on a colorful jacket and grabbed his Walkman and earphones. He had lot of friends, but he never kept a best friend. It wasn't like he couldn't gain a close friendship because he had to leave Kaneki and was afraid or something (Hide was as far from an emotional person as you could get), he just preferred being friends with everyone rather than just keeping one really close friend. He was intelligent enough to know that everyone here was going to part ways one day, so close friendships would soon be broken. Besides, no one here really captivated him like Kaneki had.

It slightly upset him at how he now referred to his friendship with Kaneki in past tense.

The blonde trudged down the stairs of the orphanage. It was Thursday, but classes were only held ever so often. It was still time for breakfast, and he noted that he had apparently managed to sleep through the bell. The hallways were chilling and cold, yet somehow they felt safe- a little cramped, too, even though they were roughly two or three meters wide and currently he was the only one walking through them. Slowly, the sound of chattering became audible as he got closer to the cafeteria. Upon opening the doors, the muffled sounds became much more clearer and louder. The cafeteria was of average size, with around twelve tables arranged in rows of three and columns of four. Children, all from ages ranging from eight to sixteen, sat and were eating their meals. He noticed that today's breakfast was pancakes. Usually, there'd be two options- either choose the particular food cooked for that day, or stick with eating cereal. Personally, Hide could care less for what was available as long as he got his cappuccino which he couldn't get through the day without. Though he was fourteen, it hadn't taken much to get addicted to coffee, seeing as it was the only thing which could actually wake him up in the morning. Scientifically, it was a fact that apples were more helpful at waking you up than coffee or tea, but he cherished sipping the warm liquid down his throat.

Who even ate apples every morning these days? And who on Earth could get addicted to apples?

As he grabbed a plate and served himself a pile of pancakes drenched with syrup, he heard one name that always managed to catch his attention- "-Kira,".

Now, Hide had mixed opinions on the mass murderer who proclaimed to be justice by killing off criminals. He could definitely see Kira's motivation for doing what they were doing, but apparently Kira thought of themselves as God. While he wasn't exactly against the idea of killing bad people (he remembers how the world's crime rate was reduced by seventy percent), Kira was a little delusional. Which was dangerous, considering they had the power to give heart attacks or even other forms of death to people even if they weren't there themselves. They could easily kill of the people who got in their way of creating their ideal world, even if those people were completely innocent. That was where Kira went wrong. If they hadn't killed off Lind L. Tailor on a live television broadcast just because they had gotten offended, perhaps Hide would have considered fully supporting Kira. Perhaps he could have actually seen them as a God. But after that incident, it was pretty clear Kira was simply an average human who attained the power of a God. And this human was the form of justice for the entire world. The citizens depended on them to justify every act which had been done. People were technically handing off every dilemma to be taken care of by a human. It was their own sense of justice which they had been going by. If their morals had been wrong, the situation could have easily been reversed. No human could- no, scratch that, no human should have the right to declaring what was right and what was wrong on their own scale.

After all, if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

The world runs of the common view of justice, something which the majority wants, something which seems like the right thing to do and benefits everyone except the person who had committed the wrongdoing- they get a punishment that is justified and suitable for what they have done. No matter how hard Hide thinks on the matter, death simply didn't suit his idea of justice for every crime committed. Law had a way for assigning crimes with suitable punishments- but Kira was killing off people even though there was a small possibility those criminals could change for the better. Hide knew what Kira's goal was: to create a world free of crime and bad people which was safe for the innocent. In order to achieve that, they had to first scare the bad people so that the good people will support them and cheer them on. The world lived in fear of Kira and their judgment. But apparently, as long as the ends justify the means was Kira's motto. And it was true, to say the least. To show people love and carefully guide them towards understanding was near impossible. It was easier and faster to scare people first and then achieve a peaceful world later.

That was one of the reasons why Kira was more of a dictator than a God or a form of justice in Hide's mind.

It was also why he had stepped out of trailing Kira- people thought it was because he didn't have the guts to challenge him, when in reality, he was simply a little on both Kira and L's side. He wasn't against the idea of a perfect utopia, and he wasn't fully supporting it either. He was fine if L caught Kira, and he was fine if Kira won. It wouldn't really matter to him.

He looked around for empty seats, when his eyes landed on a table that was almost completely empty, except for one person who was quietly sitting there, solving a blank puzzle instead of eating. Hide instantly recognized the child as Near. While Near was only about a year younger than him, he barely reached five feet tall and his skinniness was visible even through his baggy white pajamas which he always seemed to be wearing. Not to mention he was also first in line for becoming L's successor. The white-haired boy seemed to have an infatuation with toys, as he was rarely seen without robots, dice, dominoes or his blank puzzle with the letter 'L' on one corner. He also seemed to have a one-sided rivalry with Mello, the second-ranked student. Whereas Near could care less about staying on top of the scores, Mello was almost obsessed with beating Near, so much that it seemed that he some kind of inferiority complex.

Mello was always seen with a bar of chocolate in one hand and his best friend, Matt (who was ranked third highest) by his side. He often wore black, contrasting with the all-white clad Near, and had a blonde bob. Matt could be described as his faithful sidekick-friend who loved video games and could care less about being the next L. Kind of like Hide. It slightly bothered him that Near never opened up to anyone and hid behind a mask (just like someone else he knew). Hide was driven to think that the boy could be lonely, sitting all by himself all the time.

Which is exactly why Hide took it upon himself to make friends with him and got seated across Near at the deserted table.

After a few moments passed, with Hide pretending to focus of eating his pancakes while secretly observing Near, and the other boy just ignoring him. Ah, so he had to be the one to first speak up. Like always.

"Hello!" he piped up, in English (he had to learn it, he was in England, after all), and grinned a little. It took a moment for Near to respond. And when he did, he simply looked up and met his eyes, muttering a small, "Hello." and looking back to his puzzle. Well, at least he got somewhere, Unfortunately, the black-eyed boy did not catch the hint that Hide wanted to start a conversation, probably because of his lack in social skills. But then again, Hide was definitely not going to back down. It had started out the same with him and Kaneki, and he saw no reason why this would be more different. Apart from the fact that Near and Kaneki had completely different means of hiding emotion. Whereas Kaneki covered it up with a shy, awkward and nerdy facade, Near simply built up walls which he wasn't going to cross. "I'm Hide," he had decided to keep his nickname and simply change it into English pronunciation to make up his alias, "it's nice to meet you, Near!"

"Hello, Hide. I suppose it's nice meeting you too." Near's dialogue seemed forced. Like he had practiced it. Which brought Hide to the conclusion that Near was definitely not very social. He eyed his plate and then moved his vision back to Near. "Are you not going to eat? Or do you just not fancy pancakes?" he questioned.

"I am not hungry presently. Thank you for asking." There was absolutely no emotion whatsoever in his voice, which made it seem even more like he was reading off a script. Not to mention his childish voice was low, making it seem dangerous yet prepubescent at the same time. Somehow, Hide had expected this. He knew of Near's lack of actual friends or even any social relationships, so it was probable that the the smaller boy was simply not used to this. Well at least he hadn't plainly ignored him. Hide would have been a little upset he would have.

"You're welcome!" Hide smiled. "I happened to notice that you always sit by yourself. I'm kind of new around here, I arrived just a few weeks ago. I was wondering if you'd like to be my friend," In truth, Hide had noticed Near the first day he got here. Although, Mello and Matt had surrounded him and were speaking to him about something, so he thought he did have friends. It was only later that he had found out of Mello's hatred for Near. So he concluded that they hadn't been having a friendly conversation at that time.

"Interesting. I have never had a friend." The blonde felt a sting at his heart. The way Near had put it all so bluntly, you'd think he was talking about not having a cellphone, or something. He couldn't stop himself from pitying the the boy in front of him. "Well, we certainly have to change that, don't we?" he grinned. He was getting somewhere now. Near's onyx, dead-looking eyes met Hide's joyful, shining ones. It all contrasted brilliantly.

"Alright, Hide. I will be your friend."

Hide hadn't missed the slight shift in the other boy's leg. Emotionless mask or not, he definitely wasn't perfect at hiding things. Or perhaps Hide was just very good observation.

Hide had to resist the urge of banging his head on the nearest wall. Apparently, Near had no clue of what a friend was. Nothing much had really changed, apart from the fact that the blonde and the albino sat together in the cafeteria. Apart from that, Near had managed to end every conversation but simply a sentence, or sometimes even a single word. Hide understood that he wasn't very talkative and basically lived in a world of his own with his toys, but perhaps he could at least carry on a conversation.

Oh well, Hide thought, maybe I should just give it some time.

It had only been a few hours after dinner, and his room's door had been knocked upon. His brown eyes turned to glance at his clock, then he remembered he had broken it, and estimated it must be some time around eleven. Considering everyone's curfew was an hour ago, his curiosity had been driven. Almost immediately, the guess of the person at the other end of the door being a member of staff was turned down. There was no way Roger or any other staff member would knock on a kid's door at this time of night. Which probably meant it was a child.

What a child had to meet him for at this time was a question Hide couldn't find a suitable answer to. It could be Near, wanting to have a sleepover.

There it was- his late night logic bringing up impossible shit into his mind.

"Come in!" he called out. Since the kid had the politeness to knock, he couldn't be that bothered by whoever it was, could he?

The door opened with a slight creak, and there stood, quite unexpectedly, the albino(?) himself. Hide had found himself wondering for quite a while if Near was albino or not. For one, the kid didn't have light eyes. In fact, they were incredibly dark for an albino. His skin tone was paler than normal, but not incredibly pale. Perhaps he was a a really, really light platinum blonde. Ha, Hide mused, a smart blonde. His eye twitched in realization and he mentally face palmed. The two top students at Wammy's House were blondes, and so was he. As he tried to clear up the awkwardness in his mind, his expression became comical as he realized Near was still standing in the threshold which separated his room from from the hallway.

"Hey, wasn't expecting you to be here. Take a seat wherever!" he grinned. His grin faltered slightly when the younger boy closed the door behind him and sat on the floor, when there were plenty of seating options available in the room. He had noticed the fact that Near always sat in a quite uncomfortable-looking position. He never did bother to ever question it, though. A lot of people preferred sitting in weird positions. Besides, Near was far from ordinary; his sitting position was the least on the list of things that were questionable about him. A normal person would more likely notice his pure white hair, white pajamas which he never seemed to change out of, and his addiction of playing with toys. Well, Hide wasn't sure if it was an 'addiction', or whatever. A more suitable example for an 'addiction' was Mello's relationship with chocolate, or even Matt's incessant habit of playing video games. Could one even be addicted to toys? Hide smirked to himself. Well, maybe not in Near's way, but in other ways, I suppose... Getting a little disturbed himself, he blocked off that line of thought.

The blonde's attention traveled to the small box the thirteen-year old in front of him had brought in. Near took off the lid to present a completely blank (and solved) puzzle, with an 'L' in one of the corners. Hide remembered that the boy was almost always seen putting the pieces of the puzzle together and then messing it all up again. Only to start all over. And that's just what he proceeded with- turning over the base of the box, he let the pieces fall. He then started putting it all together. The strange thing about it was that instead of starting with the corners, then edges and finally putting together the middle, like an ordinary person would, Near started at a corner and placed the pieces together in a line. Almost as if he'd done it so many times that he recognized each piece. Line after line, his hands didn't stop. Finally, the last piece had been placed, and Near observed the work for a few seconds before turning it over again.

Hide couldn't hold it in any longer. "Why do you do that?"

Near didn't pause rearranging the puzzle. "Are you referring to my method of solving a puzzle? Or why I keep ruining it after I finish it?"

"Both, I suppose,"

"It's simple." the smaller boy started. "Other people may start off with the corners, moving on to the sides and finally the middle. That's how other people solve problems- they start at the very edges of a problem. Why it was caused, where it was caused, who caused it- those questions make the base of a problem. Slowly, they start putting together the sides- the relations between the suspects, the methods used to cause the problem, and the possible reasons as to why they had caused it. Once the relations have been set, the pieces in the middle start connecting themselves. Those who weren't involved are thrown away. Those who don't fit are kept for a later time. And finally, a single piece is missing. Obviously, the last piece that is left out belongs to the empty space. The whole puzzle is solved, and there is no more room for questioning. The problem has gotten a solution, the pieces fall in perfectly. And no one in their right mind would want to ruin that." The last piece was fit in, but Near didn't move his gaze from the finished puzzle. Hide recovered shortly from his slight shock from hearing Near speak so much for the first time.

"So how exactly do you explain why you put together puzzles so differently?"

"I find it less tedious."

Hide blinked. First the unexpected arrival, now the horribly vague answer- Near could be unpredictable when he wanted to be. Although, Hide wasn't qualified to be in Wammy's for nothing- he could solve a puzzle on his own too. He understood that Near preferred going through which each step rather than just connecting dots. No one could simply guess where each and every puzzle piece fit into- you had first look at the last piece placed and observe the shape of it, then find a piece which could perfectly fill the gaps in it. True, there weren't many people who could solve a puzzle as fast as precisely in this method, but Near wasn't first in line for being L's successor for nothing. His observation powers were above that of Hide's- the blonde could accept that. But his true talent lay in finding the exact piece of information which slid perfectly into place with the problem. It wasn't just luck. It was logic and tactfulness combined in one, which seemed to be accepted as the act of guessing and getting lucky. But Hide knew it was far more than that.

"Do you want to be L's successor, Hide?" It had taken a little time getting used to people referring to him through the English pronunciation of his name, but he realized he would probably be musing over how weird it sounds when he hears it in the monotonous, arrhythmic tone which was Near's voice.

"Not really. Even if I did, I'd have three places to beat, and that's just a little too tedious." Hide smirked at his repetition of Near's words.

"Why do you want to be friends with me?" Hide gave the boy a warm smile. There were many possibilities to what the question had meant, but he'd give the same answer anyway.

"Because it feels like I'm starting the whole series of events all over again." he brought his knees to his chest, "Call me naive if you want, but I'd repeat these situations a thousand times even if they all end in a tragedy."

November 15th, 2007

Hide headed towards the common room. Although all the other children were playing outside, he knew for a fact that Near rarely left the confines of the orphanage to go out in the sun. He knew without a doubt he'd find him in there.

He looked down at the tiny chip he was clutching in his fingers and let out a sigh. It was just a simple prototype for a simple experiment, he definitely wasn't going to treat Near as a lab rat or something. The truth was, Hide, who lacked quite a bit of friends, had recently divulged himself into the art of tracking. It had started out amateurishly- following footprints, dusting fingerprints, light spying- but soon, he couldn't remember when a childish game had turned into a skillful hobby. It interested him enough to create a tracking chip of his own, and he was rather proud of it. A few brief tests later, he wanted to try it out. Of course, if you actually told someone you were going to be secretly tracking them, it wouldn't be professional, nor as fun. Wammy's House was fairly large, and it didn't really have a lot of interesting or questionable places to visit, but it was just an experiment.

All of a sudden, he heard footsteps nearing one of the turns of the hallway. Two- no, three! Three people. He peeked around the corner to see who was approaching, and was a little surprised to see Roger, Near and Mello. He quickly estimated the place where Near's foot would land, and placed the chip there. Even if the boy didn't step on it, it wouldn't be impossible to casually arrive in front of them and give a friendly pat on Near's back. Actually, that could be a better option. Hastily picking the chip up again, he tried his best to casually lean on the wall as if he hadn't been secretly placing a chip to track someone around.

When the three people appeared in the hallway, Hide grinned and waved, walking up to them.

"'Sup, Near!" he beamed. "Roger, Mello." he gave a polite nod towards the orphanage caretaker and the second-ranked boy.

"Greetings, Hide." Near replied. Mello simply nodded back.

"Good morning, Hide. I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait a little if you wanted to talk to Near. We have a rather important discussion to have currently," Roger stated.

"That's fine. I can wait." Hide flashed another grin. He loosened his grip on the tracking a chip a little before patting the white-haired boy's back, secretly attaching the chip on the collar of Near's shirt, where it was unnoticeable due to his hair.

As the group of three went on their way to Roger's office, the brown-eyed teen waited till they disappeared into the office before dashing off to his room. Switching on his laptop (it was his parents', so he had been allowed to keep it), he opened a file where he had coded a program for tracking the chip. A world map appeared, and a tiny red blinking dot was visible in the UK part. He zoomed in more and more before a map of the neighborhood Wammy's House was located in had occupied the screen. He had made two files, one especially for Wammy's and one for a world-wide view. Although he had to illegally hack into a satellite, it was definitely worth it. He probably won't be getting caught any time soon, he had had covered up all his traces. He had made sure that if the satellite traced the signal, it would be coming from China instead of the UK. In truth, he had taken a little bit of Matt's help with it- all he had to do was bribe him with the DS he had found in Roger's confiscation drawer. In return, Matt would do a little programming for him and ask no questions. It wasn't like it was a difficult task for the gamer boy- after all, his specialty was technology.

Clicking on the red dot, he labelled it "Near" and saved it. Opening the Wammy's map, he linked the tracking signals and located the dot to Roger's office. After a while, the red dot exited the room and Hide left his after shutting down the laptop. His experiment had been a success, and now he couldn't wipe the grin off his face. Not that he wanted to, anyway.

He found Near heading out of the office clutching the puzzle box under his arm, but Mello was nowhere to be found. Running up his friend(?), he started questioning him. "What happened? What did you all talk about? Where's Mello?" Near hesitated. Hide immediately noticed that. Near never hesitated.

"Mello has left the orphanage."

"...What?"

"Hide, are you my friend?" The fourteen-year old was a little taken aback by the sudden question.

"Yes, of course I am!"

"So that means I can trust you, right?" Hide's expression grew serious.

"What's up, Near?'

"L has died. He was killed by Kira."

"...What?"

Near let out a slight grumble in annoyance. Hide wasn't that surprised, since the only emotions Near ever seems to show are negative ones. He was fine with that. Near was a lot different from Kaneki, but the similarities were undeniable at the same time.

"Would you like to assist me in researching the Kira case?" Hide gaped.

"Near, we have no information! Where are we going to get our leads? Head to the Japanese police or something?"

"I am going to start from scratch. Time is currently being wasted. Whether it takes weeks or years, I have to perform my duties as L's successor. So, are you going to join me? I think we'd make much more progress together. Mello was offered to work with me, but he let his emotions get the best of him. So he left. It is most probable that Matt will follow him, too. Since you are my first and only friend, I am inviting you to join me in pursuing Kira. Do you accept?"

The older boy's eyes twinkled. This might get a little difficult, but it won't be impossible. Besides, what else did he have to do here? He wasn't truly interested in catching Kira, but he hoped that this might lead to Near opening up a little. Besides, it was obvious that they may have to go to Japan one day- even if the chances were low, he really hoped on meeting Kaneki again. This was better than lying around and doing nothing. After all, how many people inside of Wammy's could he possibly track? He was bound to step out of that hobby one day or another. Pursuing a mass murderer seemed much more exciting. So, after a brief pause, Hide spoke up.

"I accept."

November 20th, 2007

Light Yagami took more frequent breaks every now and then. L was dead, Kira was at large, and more than a few countries had started accepting the mass murderer. As the new L, he held the responsibility for being in charge of the moves made by the Kira Investigation Team. Light was more than burdened and stressed, but Kira was joyous and determined.

The weather was rather nice, with the late afternoon sun hanging quite low in the sky and a chilly yet pleasant breeze blowing through the city. Everyone had accepted his wish to go out for a walk, as they knew he was pretty stressed since 'Ryuzaki' had recently died and they knew of the friendship the two had shared. In reality, Light was relaxed as his only big threat had been wiped out and there was nothing standing in between him and the creation of a perfect world any more. It was now all simply a matter of convincing the entire world that Kira was justice and nothing could stop him. Those who didn't accept him would be regarded as close-minded or simply afraid as they were in line to be killed next, and because of the pressure and power of society, he wouldn't even have to take care of opposition. Yes, everything was going rather smoothly.

Feeling kind of tired, he decided to get some coffee. Fortunately, he saw a coffee shop just at the end of the street. As he got closer, he got a better look at the name.

'Anteiku... As in the English word "Antique"?'

Somehow, it managed to catch his attention just enough for him to go inside. Once he opened the door, he was pleasantly surprised by the peaceful aura of the shop. It relaxed his tense muscles and got him into a calmer mood, making him feel less tired and stressed already. It was neatly decorated, with potted plants here and there, and the tables were clean and spot-free. There were only a few customers inside and a light buzz of conversation floated around. The tranquil environment Light had found himself in felt completely detached from the rush of the outside world, and he liked that.

"Welcome to Anteiku!" A server greeted him. He had black hair, which Light noticed was most definitely a wig judging by how it had an unnatural texture, and he was wearing a medical eyepatch on his left eye. His other eye was grey, and by how observant Light was, he could clearly see that they were glossed over by a fake joy. Underneath it looked just plain tragic. He briefly wondered why, but the concern he developed was quickly erased.

Light sat down at one of the empty tables and smiled the server. "A cup of black coffee, please," The server nodded and walked off to prepare his order. The brunette noticed how he only looked to be about fourteen... Surely he wasn't working instead of getting an education, right?

When the server came back with his order and set it atop the table, Light asked, "Do you go to school? You seem pretty young to be working," and he made sure to add a charming smile, just to look like he didn't mean to seem too intrusive.

"Ah, yes, I do got to school. This is actually like a family shop for me. I work here part-time." The young server replied.

"Like a family shop?"

"Mm. The manager and the other staff, including me, are sort of like a family, since we don't have anyone else- I'm sorry, I'm getting too deep," he smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"No, no- it's fine. My name's Light Yagami, and you are?"

"Ken Kaneki. It's a pleasure to meet you," Ken bowed. Light grinned.

"It's nice to meet you too."

Now, Light Yagami had no time for making friends. He was now the second L, and he was Kira at the same time. Which meant he had to pretend to be hunting down Kira to fool the rest of the investigation team. To keep up that act, he needed to act like he was working endlessly- making friends could leave a very bad impact. Besides, it's not like Light even wanted to make friends. At least, not any who held no usefulness towards him. It wasn't like he was playing with people- well, maybe he was, but it was to advance towards making a the world a better place to be in. Perhaps what Ryuk had said was true, he would be the only bastard left in this world. Maybe he had developed a God complex of some kind. But if only people could see he wasn't as selfish as he seemed- killing a criminal so that it could prevent other lives being damaged was justice. Keeping criminals locked up was a waste of resources. Once a criminal, always a criminal. People who caused direct harm towards the lives of others deserved to die. Perhaps that wasn't the right thing to do, but he did it in the name of justice. Society agreed with him, it was only those stubborn authoritative figures who knelt down to their stupid morals.

Killing a human wasn't good. Neither was killing a bad human. But it was justified. Did he really have the right to decide who died and who lived? No. Yet, he certainly could decide who deserved to lead a peaceful life and who deserved to die for rotting this world.

Light wasn't sure what he saw in that hidden tragic eye- but it sure seemed close enough to something that wanted others to understand, if not the want to murder. Somehow, he could tell that Ken had the same desires as he did, but the only thing holding him back was his hatred of becoming a murderer.

He could see it, in the way it was so painfully obvious how Ken Kaneki had lived a tragic life, yet he tried his best to mask all of that. It definitely didn't work very well, though. His smiles were sad, his eyes were sad- yet he wanted to be happy to make others happy. His politeness, his kindness, added with whatever horror he had faced had distanced him even more from taking lives. The hunger was still there, though. Just well hidden, unlike his sadness.

Light wondered if Ken had read him just as easily as he did him. Because right now, he could see suspicion in the eye-patched boy's eye.

"Y'know, Light..." Ryuk, who'd been quiet up till now, started, "I'm guessing you still remember how I told you I was on nobody's side." Light shifted a little, as if to signal that he heard the shinigami. "The shinigami rules state that I'm not allowed to tell you the lifespan or the real names of other humans, or point out the people who own a Death Note."

By now, Ken had walked away to attend another customer. A girl with short, dark, almost purple hair came up to him and started chiding at him to quit conversing with customers, before leaving with a huff. It was rather weird, because she could have been no older than twelve, which meant she was younger than him. Strange, The people who 'work' here are rather young...

"I have to say, though. I cannot see the names or lifespans of any of the staff members here..."

Light froze.

Ryuk started to howl with laughter.

I checked the timeline, so it should be accurate. I'm going with the anime timeline, so I can match up with Tokyo Ghoul at the same time.

NOTES (IMPORTANT):

1. Ghouls are rare. They are not known about most humans. They are an endangered species, but humans don't know that. There are certain rules for ghouls, and they have to live by them or risk being caught. Although more powerful than humans, they'd rather live a peaceful life as a normal human being. Like the ghouls at Anteiku. It is very much possible for them to survive on only already-dead people, especially since they are very low in number. So no, no one will really know what ghouls are, except think they're simply a myth like vampires and stuff.

2. I'm well aware that many of you will doubt whether if Hide is acceptable enough to go to Wammy's. For that purpose, I have increased his IQ in academics. Let's say he specializes in tracking, shall we?

3. Hide's past will be explained in depth, as will Kaneki's.

4. It's true that Near seemed OOC, but honestly, he's just socially awkward, there's no saying that he completely rejects friendship. If anything, he'd rather have people support him, because he's sensitive.

5. Hide's friendship pairing is Near, because he's drawn towards people who wear masks. Take that in any way you want. Kaneki's friendship pairing is Light, because Kaneki wants to pick out all the rotten beans from the world and Light wants to rid the world of criminals.

6. Since this is an ENGLISH fanfiction, ENGLISH words, mannerisms and honorifics will be used. Which means Kaneki will be referred to as Ken by Light because he's younger than him, and Light will be Light. No Raito (honestly, if you're doing that, you might as well change Mello to Mero, Near to Nia and L to Eru), no '-kun', no '-san', and no '-chan'.

7. Kaneki's personality will be like the one he acquired while he was with his little group after being tortured by Yamori- kind and peaceful, yet can turn like a switch when needed.

I suppose that's all. Updates will be slow, though. It's my first time writing a story with so many words, not to mention I have a life outside of fanfiction. Sorry, that's just the way it is.

I'll try to update within 15-20 days, as I'm also trying to quit procrastinating for all my other stories. Anyway, see you all next time.