Hey there Death Note fans! MuseThalia here with my first ever fanfiction. I know I'm a little late to the party but after seeing this fantastic series, I just had to contribute to this wonderful fanbase. Now before we begin there are a few things I feel you should know: One, although it may not seem like it at first, this will be an LxOc story. Two, I'm not sure yet how high the rating on this story will go, but there will be swearing and violence (it is Death Note after all). Three, I love comments and constructive criticism and encourage both from my readers, weather they like my stories or not, so please let me know what you think :)

Enjoy!

July 9th, 1995

Eriko Yamazaki is six years old, sitting on the back porch of her small home in Kanto Japan. Her large periwinkle eyes are fixed on a pad of paper, her tongue stuck out in fierce concentration as she scribbles, wearing down the brown crayon in her hand to a stump. As she draws, her father emerges from the house and sits down beside her, peeking at the paper and smiling in bemusement.

"Whatcha drawing Eri? Some kind of monster?" He asks, voice tinged with amused affection, eyes passing over the crudely drawn spikes, and what looks to be some sort of pointed hat.

Eri glances up with him, looking as affronted as a six year old possibly can. "No, he's my new friend, Mr. Scarecrow. I met him yesterday."

Her father chuckles and ruffles her hair fondly. "Thats my girl, always making friends." He gestures around the empty backyard, "Is he here right now? Maybe he can stay for dinner."

His daughter looks up at him as if he is being intentionally dense, "No, he had to stay with Mr. Kurohara, those are the rules."

Her father frowns in confusion, "Mr Kurohara…? From my work?"

Eri nods sagely and returns to her scribbling, "Yes daddy, Mr. Kurohara is the only one who can see him so Mr. Scarecrow has to stay with him."

"Then how come you can see him?" He asks.

She shrugs and tosses aside the now worn down crayon in favor of an orange one, inspecting it closely before attacking the paper with it, "I just can. I was looking around for some candy and when I looked up he was right in front of me. He's really nice." She holds up the now finished drawing, which depicts a lanky brownish-greyish-orangish creature with spikes, wearing a tall hat. "This is him, see? Only he's waaaay bigger than that in real life, probably' even bigger than you!"

Her father chuckles and scoops her into his arms, making her shriek with laughter. "I'll just bet he is, you'll have to introduce us sometime." He turns and walks back towards the house, "But it's almost dinnertime and we'll both be in trouble if we make your mom wait. How about we go inside and show her your drawing?

Eri giggles and grabs him around the neck in a strangling hug " 'Kay Daddy!"

September 12th, 1997

The room is filled with smiling people and Eri stands clutching her mothers hand, feeling small and nervous around all these strangers. Her mother taps her shoulder to draw her attention to the people her father is talking to.

"Eri, that man over there is your father's boss, Mr. Yagami. You meet him once when you were little, do you remember that?"

Eri scrunches up her face in an effort to remember the tall dark-haired man and the cheerful looking woman beside him. "Mabye…"

Her mother smiles and points to a small boy Eri hadn't noticed standing at Mr. Yagami 's side. "That's his son, Light. He's the same age as you, you know. Do you want to go over and meet him?"

Eri's eyes sparkle with excitement at the thought of speaking to someone her own age, "Can I?"

Her mother nods, "Of course, I wanted to speak to Mrs. Yagami for a bit anyway. Just stay where I can see you ok?"

She smiles and nods excitedly, clearly paying only half attention to her mother's words. "Ok!" She turns and doges though the milling adults, nearly running into the boy upon reaching him, prodding him in the shoulder and grinning when he turns, confused, to look at her. "Hi! I'm Eriko, but you can call me Eri! Your hair is pretty by the way…"

The boy blinks and gives her a shy smile, "I'm Light, and thanks, I guess."

Eri giggles and grabs his hand, "D'you wanna go play detectives? My daddy's one and thats what I wanna be when I grow up."

"Me too." He says, smiling genuinely now, rather than to be polite.

Eri tugs on her bangs in concentration, "You know what that means right? Now we have to be best friends forever, so when we grow up we can be best-friend-detectives someday." She extends her pinky and looks at him expectantly, " Deal?"

Light smiles and reaches forward, hooking his pinky with hers, "Deal."

March 24th, 1999

Mr. and Mrs. Yamazaki stand in the kitchen with Mr. Yagami; Eri and Light can be seen through the open kitchen door, sitting of the living room floor and engrossed in a rather elaborate card house. Mr. Yamazaki's face is grim as he examines the file Mr. Yagami has given him.

"I dont know about this cheif… I have a family and the Hansuda case is basically a suicide mission. I dont know if I feel comfortable risking my family's security like that, and Eri's so young…"

Mr Yagami rubs his eyes and sighs, " I understand how you feel Hirayo, I have young children as well and share many of the same concerns. But think about this rationally, you're one of the best undercover agents we have, and after losing Kurohara the way we did…. if you can get enough information on the gang to convict even a few of its members it would be a tremendous help."

Eri's father raises a skeptical eyebrow, "And if they figure out I'm a cop and come after my family? What then?"

Mr. Yagami places a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I can assure you, the NPA will do everything in its power to ensure your family's safety. If you'd like, Eriko can even stay with us until you feel it's safe."

Mrs. Yamazaki smiles weakly, "She and Light are such good friends she'll probably be excited."

Apparently tiring of cardhouses, Eri and Light pick that exact moment to dash into the kitchen, the former dragging the latter behind her. She stops beside her mother and tugs on her sweater sleeve, "Excited about what mom?"

Her father affixes a strained smile to his face and kneels down beside her, taking her small hands in his much larger ones. "Eri, how would you like to go stay with Light's family for a few weeks? Just untill I finish an important job."

Eri does not reply right away, looking from her mother, to her father, to Mr. Yagami, and to Light, who smiles reassuringly at her. Finally, she looks back to her father and speaks with a seriousness far beyond her ten years.

"It's a really dangerous job, isn't it? You could get really hurt."

At first, her father seems surprised by the question. But he recovers quickly and adopts a look of resignation and affection. "Nothing gets passed you, does it angel?" He reaches out and ruffles her ebony hair, "All my jobs are dangerous, you know that, this one's just a little more so. But that doesn't mean it's not important. I need to know you're safe so I can catch the bad guys and get back home to you and mommy, so can you do this for me? Please?"

Eri frowns, her lip trembling slightly. But she takes a deep breath and nods, a new conviction in her eyes. "Ok daddy. As long as you promise me you'll be careful."

"I promise."

April 17th, 1999

Eri is stone faced, staring at at the rain slicked headstones in front of glazed eyes attempt to burn a hole through the cold stone by sheer willpower. The rest of the funeral guests have long since left but Mr. Yagami and Light stand behind her, unsure if they should speak. Finally, Mr. Yagami breaks the silence.

"Eriko, I cannot express how sorry I am for what happened, but you'll get sick if we stay out here in the rain. Please come inside so we can talk about this."

Eri does not look at him.

Light tentatively steps forward and places a hand on her shoulder "Dad's right Eri, your- they wouldn't want you to get sick, and neither do I. Please come inside."

She still doesn't reply, staring at the stone, unblinking. Mr. Yagami reaches out to pull her away, but she whips around, eyes blazing. "I don't care! It's all your fault anyway! You said you'd keep them safe and you LIED!"

"Eriko-"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

She doesn't know how far she runs after that, just that the rain doesn't stop and it seems as if she never will either. She thinks she hears Light chase after her, but she's quickly lost in the swiftly increasing torrent of rain. She runs, dodging through alleyways and slipping on wet concrete as she tries to get away, get anywhere but that place, with them and her parents names etched in cold stone. When she finally stops in an alley somewhere in the city, she falls to the ground and covers her head with her arms, the sound of the rain muffling her sobs.

She doesn't see the figure that approaches her, taller than any man, spiked, and wearing a three-cornered pointed hat until it stands directly in front of her. It leans down and speaks in a voice like trees breaking under a storm; "I can help you little one, if you'd like."

Eri gasps and stares up at the monstrous creature standing over her. It stands at least 8 feet tall, with leathery-brown patchwork skin that appears held together with fraying thread and yellowing bandages that swath the creature's face and torso. Its single orange eye glows dimly in the darkness of the alley.

Eri doesn't bother to scream, she doesn't have the energy.

"W-who are you?"

The monsters twisted black lips part slightly, tugging at their sewn corners. "I would not expect you to remember, when last we met, you were even smaller then you are now."

She stares at the creature, her eyes going wide with sudden realization and shock. "Mr. Scarecrow?"

The creature's broad, twisted back bends until its bandaged face is level with her own.

"Not exactly, I am the Shinigami Uller, and if you'll pick up that notebook in front of you, I have a deal that just might interest you."

January 2nd, 2004

Eri Is sitting at her desk, absently balancing a pencil on her nose. Uller stands behind her, his single orange eye passing over the pages of the blank notebook left open in front of her.

"I thought you accepted the notebook in order to avenge your parents deaths." He says, voice tinged with confusion.

Eri grins at him and taps her pencil against the brim of his hat, "I told you already, I want this to be perfect before I make my move. I can't afford any mistakes." She turns back to the notebook and flips through the pages, "Besides, I've only got 10 of their names so far. There's twenty-one of them all together. Light helped me get what I could but I need to do the rest on my own, the less he's involved in this, the better."

"I offered you the shinigami eyes."

Eri scoffs, "And I told you, its not enough. I dont need to be able to see peoples names, I know who I want to kill and its only a matter of time before I can. What I need is something that can keep me alive so I can make sure that happens. Either come up with a better deal or stop bothering me about it."

The shinigami looks confused, "I… Do not understand."

"Of course you don't, I didn't expect you to." She places a hand on his skeletal forearm, "Uller, do you know why shinigami can't be killed by a Deathnote? Or by anything else?"

"I am- not certain."

"Well I've been studying the notebook, and i've come up with a theory." She smirks, "I think it has something to do with your hearts."

"Our… hearts?"

Eri smiles at him, genuinely now. "Exactly. A shinigami's heart can't be stopped by a Death Note, can It? Thats what protects you, makes you immortal to everything but old age."

She takes his strange, misshapen hands in hers.

"Uller, if you truly care about me as much as you say you do, you do what I ask. Make a deal with me; Half my remaining lifespan, for a shinigami's heart."

February 30th, 2005

Eri sits across from Light in a small, mostly empty cafe, two mostly untouched cups of coffee steaming on the table between them. Uller stands, unseen, behind her like some kind of grotesque guardian angel.

"I have to admit Eri, I'm glad you called. I was beginning to think you were avoiding me." Light said, smiling sadly.

Eri tugs at her bangs sheepishly, " Yeah well I became sort of a recluse there for a while, for obvious reasons. But I have missed hanging out with my best friend, and with everything that's happened lately I think I might be ready to rejoin the real world, you know?"

Light's eyes widen in realization, "Thats right! That huge fire at the Hansuda warehouse, everyone inside was killed." He grinned at her, "I told you, the universes sense of justice always wins out in the end."

Eri can't help but smile back. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer group of guys, that's for sure."

"You're not upset they weren't arrested?" He asks.

Eri's smile fades slightly, "The way I see it, you're absolutely right. They got theirs either way right? What's it matter how it happens."

She twists the tarnished pendant at her neck and stands, grabbing Light's hand and grinning,

" But I didn't come here to talk about that. It feels like I haven't seen you in years Light, and I booked us a court at the gym. I haven't played tennis in a while but I bet you can't kick my ass as badly as you did last time."

Light Yagami sits at his computer, typing away and occasionally glancing at the open chemistry textbook beside the keyboard. He jumps in surprise at a tap on the window. Crossing to it, he sighs in exasperation and opens it, allowing an unapologetic Eri to clamber through.

"You can't keep showing up in the middle of the night like this you know, I have cram school and if my parents find out we'll both be in trouble."

Eri ignores him and flops across the foot of his bed, "Chill out Light, I just need to get away from the house for a bit."

"Your aunt again?"

Eri cracked one eye open, "Yep, tonight I was treated to a 20 minute ramble about the 'evil spirits' I'm apparently bringing into the house."

"I thought she was getting better?" He asks.

Eri sits up and laugh bitterly, "That's what the Doctor said, but HE doesn't have to go home with her every night, so what does he know…" She casts an almost pleading look at her friend, "Please Light, can I crash here for the night? I promise I'll get out before morning so your parents don't freak out. I don't wanna be there when she's like this"

Light hesitates but eventually caves under her pleading stare. "Fine, just let me make up a bed on the floor. "

She hugs him around the neck, as if trying to squeeze her gratitude into him. "You're the best, you know that?"

She falls asleep quickly after that, Thoughts swirling in her head and lulling her to sleep as effectively as any lullaby.

'People don't really change, Light. People like you, me, and aunt Isuzu especially. It would take nothing short of a miracle, or a catastrophe, to change us. But who knows? I could be wrong, if anyone has time to change, I do.'

Hope you enjoyed the prologue, I don't own death note.