A/N: Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own DeathNote, or its characters.

Warning: Contains L's real name.

Rating will go up in later chapters.

Italics – Memories/Dreams

"Light-kun?"

I glanced over at the older boy. After I walked home from school I would meet him at the park next to our apartment. The walk home from school was usually long and lonely, since Sayu wasn't old enough to go to school yet. The boy looked so odd, almost inhuman, with his jet black hair and equally black eyes. But I could tell how intelligent he was. He was probably even smarter than I was, and even at the age of seven that was no small feat. His family didn't have much money, he didn't attend school, and he seemed to wear the same dirty clothes every day, hell, he didn't even wear shoes. But that was more of a personal preference. He didn't have any friends, I don't think he left his apartment very often. But I still visited him as often as I could, because he was my first real friend. Sure, I got along fine with kids at school, and got invited to birthday parties and such, but that wasn't really important. I could actually have an intelligent conversation with him. I enjoyed his company.

"Hey, Lawliet." I gave him a small smile.

He barely nodded his head. I'd noticed that Lawliet didn't smile. At all. But I'm not sure if the expression would suit him anyway. When I asked him about it, he told me that he wasn't going to smile just to please people that didn't matter to him. I guess I could understand what he meant, but I still smiled at others, even if it wasn't sincere. Maybe it was because I was raised to be very polite. Or maybe I was just a manipulative bastard. Perhaps both.

"How was your schooling today?" Lawliet tilted his head slightly as he asked the question.

Like the answer was going to change. School always bored me.

"Fine I guess. I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know." I sighed.

"Hmmm…" He shoved his pale hands in his pockets, and brought the other to his mouth to nibble on his thumb. He turned his back to me and walked to the bench that sat under a tree, where we usually sat.

He sat down, bringing his knees up to his chest, in an awkward crouching position. I sat down opposite him, properly, with my legs crossed and my hands folded in my lap.

"Hey, Light-kun?"

"Yes?"

"I- BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"

"What?"

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"

I blinked open my sleepy eyes and rubbed them drowsily, and turned off my alarm clock. Then I just stared at my ceiling for awhile, thinking. Why did I dream about Lawliet? I hadn't seen the kid in years. Well, by know he wouldn't be a kid. He'd be about seventeen, only a year older than myself. Time sure does fly by. Sometimes I miss Lawliet, he was my first and only real friend. In high school I am pretty popular, but I still haven't met anyone like him. Funny, he probably doesn't even remember my name. I sighed. Well, whatever, I'd better get ready for another extremely boring day of school. Slipping out from under the blankets, I stepped out of my bed and headed towards the bathroom, grabbing some clothes that I had laid out the night before on the way. I opened the bathroom door and closed it behind me. I placed my clean clothes on the toilet seat and stripped out of my t-shirt and boxers, tossing them in the clothes bin. Drawing the curtain back slightly, I stepped into the shower. Adjusting the water temperature until it was absolutely perfect, I relaxed into the comfortable heat. Just as I was grabbed the bottle of shampoo, I heard a very loud and obnoxious voice call just outside my door.

"Liiiiiiiiiight! Brother-dearest!"

You know that bottle of shampoo that I mentioned earlier? Well, when I jumped at the screeching outside my door, it slipped out of my hand and landed on my poor perfect pinkie toe. Oh god. It was too early for me to handle the obnoxious and loud little bundle of energy that was Sayu Yagami.

Sigh. "Sayu-"

Just then my bathroom door swung open and in strutted my little sister, like she had any right to be in my bathroom.

"SAYU!" I may have screeched, in what may have been a slightly unmanly manner.

"GET OUT!"

"Oh Light, you are such a girl."

"I am not!" I shouted indignantly.

"Are too."

"Shut up Sayu! And get out!"

"I just have to brush my teeth. Mom's using the other bathroom. It's so stupid that you got the bedroom with a bathroom. I should have gotten this one."

"Ugh." I groaned, knowing that she wouldn't leave. "Fine. Hurry up."

I reached down and grabbed the shampoo, and proceeded with my shower. Once I was nice and clean and ready for my day, I swung open the shower curtain to grab my towel, thinking that Sayu was finished with brushing her teeth by now. She was finished with her teeth, but now she was using my hair products.

"SAYU!"

Her head whipped around to find me standing butt-naked in the shower, looking like someone had used my hair products. Because someone had used my hair products, and I had half the mind not to chase her around the house. But I was naked. I just realized this and quickly grabbed my towel, trying to cover myself. But I don't really think that helped. Sayu was now traumatized. Serves her right.

"Sorry Oni-chan!" She shouted as she fled through the bathroom door.

I sighed for the umpteenth time that day.

After I completed my morning ritual and my hair was the most glamorous thing on this planet, I made my way downstairs.

"Light, your sister just left. Here's your lunch-" my mom handed me a bento, "And eat something for breakfast before you leave."

I opened the cupboard and grabbed a bag of potato chips.

"Light. That is not a very healthy breakfast."

"It's fine mom."

"Here, this too." She handed me an apple. "Love you honey. Have a good day at school." She waved as I exited the door and walked to school. I could still barely see Sayu ahead of me.

By the time I got to school, I had finished my apple and most of my potato chips, and I wasn't supposed to eat them in class. Food was too distracting, and heaven forbid that I miss some lesson that I already knew because I was too focused on my potato chips. I stuffed them in my pocket so I could finish them during class.

I spent most of my day half listening to what the teachers were saying, acing all of my quizzes and doing my homework before class ended. Playing the golden boy act and smiling insincerely. The usual.

Now and then my thoughts would trail back to my dream last night. I was thinking about him a lot today. Usually I just forgot about him, but occasionally I would be reminded of him. Today he was on my mind a lot. I still felt guilty about how I left things. I used to live in the same apartment as him, until my Dad got a job with the police force and we moved. We didn't move very far, but far enough that I didn't see him anymore. When I first heard the news that we were moving, I decided not to tell Lawliet. I couldn't. I just avoided it until the day we moved. Now that I look back on it, I should have told him. But I was a stupid kid, thinking that I could just ignore the inevitable.

"Light. School's out." A blonde girl waved her hand in front of my eyes, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Yeah. Thanks Misa." I flashed her a smile and got out of my seat, collecting my things and followed her through the door.

The walk home was boring, too, filled with memories of Lawliet.

One day I rode my bike to school, because it was colder outside and it would be faster to just ride my bike. On the way back from school, I stopped at the park and leaned my bike up against the tree as I waited for Lawliet. He walked up to me seconds later, in a dirty white coat that was three sizes too big for him. His face was flushed from the cold, and he had an old scarf wrapped around his neck.

He glanced with his owlish eyes over at the bike I had ridden on.

"You can ride a bike?"

"Of course. Can't you?"

He stared blankly at me for a moment, and shook his head.

"Oh. Do you want to learn? I can teach you."

He stared for another moment, contemplating his response.

"Yes."

It was quite the sight, seeing Lawliet try to sit correctly on the bike. He always sat in a crouch, so he was sitting in an awkward parody of normal sitting.

Eventually, I taught him how to ride a bike. He was a fast learner, and got the hang of it pretty quickly, but he preferred walking. He said that riding a bike was uncomfortable.

Not too long after that, during the winter, nearing Christmas time, I had saved up my lunch money for a few days so I could buy Lawliet some peppermint hot chocolate at the sweets store around the block.

I didn't fancy sweets, but Lawliet had once mentioned that he loved them. He rarely got any though, because his family barely had the money for clothes and food. I knew it wasn't much, as I couldn't afford to buy him a cake. I would've, but I couldn't. So I guessed a hot chocolate would have to do. It was perfect weather for hot chocolate anyway.

I finally got to our meeting place at the park, and handed him the hot chocolate.

"What is this, Light-kun?"

"It's hot chocolate."

"Don't you want it?"

"I got it for you."

"…Thank you."

And Lawliet smiled. It was the smallest upwards turn of his lips, but it was indeed a genuine smile.

I smiled the truest, biggest smile I had ever shown.

It was the first day of spring, and though it was still cold, it was beautiful outside. I had walked to our meeting place and sat down on the bench, waiting for Lawliet. He didn't come out in a matter of seconds like he usually did, which was odd.

"Light-kun." I heard above me. I snapped my head upwards, and sure enough, there was Lawliet, on one of the bigger branches of the tree.

"Lawliet? What are you doing up there?" I stared, trying not to laugh. He looked like a little black bird perched in his tree.

"Come up here." Lawliet looked down at me.

"What? No way. I'll fall and die."

"Don't be unreasonable Light-kun. If you were to fall, there is only a five point forty-three percent chance that you would actually die. You would most likely just suffer from minor injuries such as cuts and bruises, and possibly a broken leg or arm."

I just stared at him.

"Light-kun, it's perfectly safe. I'll show you how I did it. Just grab onto that branch and then work your way up. I'll help you, okay?"

"Fine." I sighed and reached up for the lowest branch, grabbing onto it and somehow managing to pull myself up.

After a few minutes of painfully slow climbing, and coaching from Lawliet, I made my way to the branch right next to him. We sat side by side, and quietly enjoyed the view for a moment.

It was amazing. You could pretty much see the whole city from there. The sun was beginning to set, and it was breathtaking.

"What is public school like?" Lawliet glanced at me.

"Hmm? Well, it's boring. For me, anyway. There's lots of kids, and I get along okay with them, but I can't talk to them like I do with you."

"Oh. Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

That question shocked me. Was Lawliet lonely? Sure, he practically lived alone, but I visited, didn't I? Did he already want a girlfriend? He was older than me, so maybe he was 'at that age.' But I couldn't really imagine him with a girlfriend. He wasn't very sociable to begin with. And if he never smiled at her, she would probably think he didn't like her. It would take a really special and smart girl to be with him.

"Well…I have had one kind of girlfriend I guess…" I said awkwardly.

"Really? What is it like?"

"Well, um…It was, okay I guess. We held hands a couple times, and she was nice, but I didn't like her a lot."

"Have you ever…" He trailed off and looked down, "Kissed someone?"

He was really good at shocking me today.

I could feel my cheeks heat up at the question.

"…No."

"Oh."

"Why?"

"I was wondering what it was like. I've heard that it's nice." Lawliet sighed and looked back at the scenery.

"W-Well…we could…you know…just to find out." I blushed again at the idea of kissing Lawliet.

He looked at me in slight surprise.

"Really?"

"Y-Yeah…" I mumbled.

"O-Okay." He shifted a little closer to me, and turned to face me. Both of our cheeks were flushed and I squeezed my eyes shut and he leaned in close. I could feel his breath tickle my face, and his lips were right above mine. We both leaned in a little more and our lips touched, for a brief second before we both pulled back quickly.

"D-Did I do that right?" Lawliet asked me, his cheeks still tinted red.

"Yeah. I think so." I smiled. We sat there for awhile afterwards, talking quietly and watching the sunset.

A/N: Thank you! Please review.