Summary: Mina Kurozawa... That wasn't even her real name. She had very little anymore, apart from her sister, as her family had been divided long ago. What happens when the world's greatest detective approaches Mina with an offer to start anew? Will Mina find a friend in this anti-social detective? LxOC

A/N: Meh... Sorry for both the suckish title AND summary. Titles and summaries are not my strong point. Anywho, this is my first story. I'd love you greatly for reviews, though I would rather there wouldn't be any flaming... Heh. Constructive criticism is better, I guess. There is always room for improvement!

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Death Note and its characters in any way, shape, or form. I only own my created characters, Mina and her family.

Also, obviously, the inspiration of the title came from the song, Life Starts Now, by Three Days Grace. I just thought the title fit with her new beginning and whatnot. Yeah. Lol.

There! Now don't let me keep you waiting! I hope you like it~!

Prologue of sorts:

The End?

Mina was frightened. She couldn't speak. She couldn't move. All she could do was hold on to the ledge of the building for headquarters tightly, for her dear life. Ever since she was a young child, she was deathly afraid of heights. Airplanes, after one or two flights, she'd somehow managed to get used to them. Still, being high above the ground in any other case terrified her, and caused her to lose her thought and her movement.

It was completely ironic. There was a man with a milk-chocolate sort of brown hair, and narrowed brown eyes, and he was the one trying to kill Mina. The irony was the fact that she'd be dying due to her own silly fear.

There was a name screaming in her head, and that one name was the only thing running through her mind as beads of sweat rolled down the girl's pale cheek. KIRA. Tears were brimming in the girl's dark blue eyes; never before had she felt this weak! It was disgusting and humiliating. She was pathetic. Mina shuddered violently, and clutched onto the edge of the roof tightly. "P-please... d-don't..." That was all she could utter out.

He didn't listen. The man was smirking, and Mina swore she had never seen such an evil expression on a normally handsome man. She could feel her grip slipping, and it didn't help that this man, Kira, was trying to loosen her grip even more so than her sweaty palms and fingers were.

Finally, he grew impatient. He dug his fingers into Mina's flesh, and forcefully pulled her hands away from the edge. Mina cried in pain, as she realized what was going on. She dropped with a scream, and she flung her arms out, only barely grabbing the metal gutter under the roof, her arms wrapping right into them for more support. She had just survived that potential fall. Mina let out a small sob, her breathing struggling to slow down as her heart pounded rapidly.

"Why!?" she cried, her tears threatening to spill over. "Why are you doing this!?" She didn't understand... Why was she getting the feeling that she knew this man? It was as though she'd considered him a friend... If that was the case, why would he want her dead?

Between the throbbing of her heartbeat and the failure of her brain, only being able to produce a bit of a blur out of her fear, Mina could barely comprehend what the man's response was. It took a moment for her to let it register her brain.

"Once you and L are out of my way, nothing will stop me from being the God of this world."

Mina's eyes widened slowly. A new... God? This was madness! She didn't understand any of it... Once more her small train of thought was interrupted by a searing pain going through her arms. It felt as though something was biting and tearing at her skin. She cried in pain once more, and she felt a warm sticky substance trailing down her arms. Blood. With a struggle, Mina used her arms to push herself up a little to try to see what was causing her so much pain. She stiffened when she saw rats biting at her skin. Her arms gave out and she nearly fell once again, the pain in her arms worsening. Her vision was, without a doubt, fading on her. Mina was sure she was going to die. If she didn't fall, she would bleed to death. And, once she went limp, she would fall anyway.

"Light! What's going on?" a new voice asked curiously. Mina could faintly hear footsteps coming her way. She glanced up, and there seemed to be an entirely different man staring down at her, trying to reach for her frantically. This different man was not the owner of the new voice, however. It was the same man who was trying to kill her. What the hell was going on?!

The man, Light, even sounded frantic. "Ryuzaki! Mina tripped on the roof and almost fell off the edge of the building! I tried to reach her, but then her grip slipped and now she's by the gutter! I need help!" Mina was sure he was cursing on the inside. Her arms was slipping again, though, and she whimpered again.

Everything was a blur. Mina was close to slipping away, when she heard a third voice.

"MIIIIINNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

Mina's eyes shot wide open as she bolted upright in her bed. She saw a young girl only three years younger than her standing at the doorway-- it was none other than her younger sister, Yuka. She was already dressed and ready to go out... wherever they were preparing to go to that day. Her long brown hair was in two ponytails, and her bright green eyes were glimmering with worry. It was seeing her worry when Mina remembered her dream. Her heart was still pounding furiously, and she knew she was sweating profusely. Mina inhaled deeply, and then exhaled, repeating her slow breathing a few more times to calm herself down.

"Mina! Are you okay?" Yuka asked with much concern, leaning over the end of her sister's bed. "You look like you had a bad dream!"

"I did," Mina replied simply with a small sigh, running a hand through her black bangs and pushing them off to the side, out of her eyes. "What time is it?" she grumbled, glancing at the clock to her side. Eleven o'clock in the morning. She'd slept late... Thank God it was a Saturday. Mina sighed again and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, standing up. "Alright, I'll be out in a minute, Yuka. Don't worry about me... I'm alright now..." There was nothing more annoying than having Yuka rush to her parents to reveal something as ridiculous as Mina's nightmare. It made them all worry, and it was the last thing she wanted. They'd repeatedly approach her to make sure she was alright, and then they'd continuously pry to find out what the nightmare was about. Annoying.

Yuka seemed to sense that sort of warning, the warning to not inform their parents about the nightmare. It was completely against all that she stood for, as she absolutely enjoyed annoying her sister, but she reluctantly decided to keep her mouth shut and stalked off, shutting the door.

Mina sighed heavily and walked over to her drawers, pulling out a purple sweatshirt, a purple t-shirt, and black jeans. Needless to say, Mitsuki's main wardrobe consisted of purple, crimson, green, navy, and black. In addition to that, all she owned were t-shirts, jeans, and sweatshirts. No more, no less. Constantly, Yuka complained about how her wardrobe was boring. Mina never listened to her, though. She dressed however she wanted to.

After changing into her clothing, Mina left her room, spotting her family down the stairs at the dining room as she made her way down the steps. "You slept late," snorted Mina's older brother, Neo. Neo was turning eighteen very soon, and this year would be his final year in high school. In response to her brother's remark, Mina rolled her eyes. "Must've been tired," she said simply, grabbing a box of cereal and a gallon of milk and sitting down at the table, where a bowl and spoon were already out for her. "So," she spoke as she poured cereal and milk into her bowl, "What's the agenda for today?"

To this, Mina's mother responded somewhat happily, "Nothing." Mina looked up and waited for clarification. "We're completely free today. Whatever you guys are in the mood for today, we can manage to work around it." That was new. Mina was sure they had never had a day with nothing to do in ages. There was always something that needed to be done. Mina was about to suggest grocery shopping when she remembered her mother had done so yesterday. With a sigh she fixed the headphones that she always wore around her neck, only because they were in a position where it was irritating her. Wearing her headphones helped Mina think, even if they weren't on. Mina had no clue why; it was as though they were lucky. She did very well in school, being top of the class, but she didn't think that was all because of luck.

The family had eaten cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Mina was the only one in the middle of eating, however, since she was the last one to wake up. Luckily for her, there were about four cinnamon rolls left rather than the normal two, and there was enough icing to spread over eight rolls. Yuka hated cream, milk, frosting, and icing. Any of those sweet things that gave one stomach aches, Yuka refused to eat. That meant that Mina got to eat what Yuka didn't want. Mina was the only one with the stomach to eat so much sweets, and she never gained a single pound from it. At least, she grew as normal. Everyone thought Mina was insane. The reason for the two extra rolls, Mina decided, was that her parents had bought another package of them.

As Mina spread double the icing on her cinnamon rolls, Neo went to the living room and turned on the TV. He was flipping through channels when he stopped on a newscast reporting breaking news. Mina took a bite out of one of her cinnamon buns when she heard the anchorwoman on TV mentioning something about a major shooting. She glanced toward the TV from the kitchen at this, interested. She never got to hear things like this on TV-- her father forbade them from listening to the news. He continuously drilled into their heads that nothing bad ever happened in the world. Mina was old enough to know it was a downright lie, but Yuka was still so gullible and naive that she believed the world was perfect. Besides, since their parents had excellent jobs, they were quite rich. This only further made Yuka believe in the world's perfection. Neo, however, had known since he was Yuka's age that the world was filled with injustice and evil. In all honesty, he got angry every time their father mentioned bull about the world's purity. It angered him greatly.

"Neo, turn off the TV," their father spoke nonchalantly, acting as though he just didn't want to listen to the news. Neo let out a low growl, mentioning something about his father's naivety, and reluctantly shut off the TV. Mina, however, was still interested. She stood, grabbing the plate with her cinnamon buns with double the icing spread on them, and walked into the living room, taking a seat next to Neo.

"What were they talking about?" she asked quietly, looking at Neo seriously. Neo looked a little relieved. At least somebody wasn't as naive as their father was. Their mother, of course, was in agreement with their father, and Yuka was just eleven years old.

"A robbery, technically. Though it ended up turning into a major shooting," Neo responded, equally quiet. "A man robbed a bank. I guess it was busy there, and the place was loaded with security guards. He managed to get away with the money, but the security guards had tried to capture him. The robber shot them all down as well as most of the people inside the bank, including the tellers and the other employees."

"And the robber got away with it?" Mina asked, somewhat amazed. How was that even possible?

"These days criminals can be smart. Especially if they were once police officers or something, they have the mind of a detective and can get away with any crime with little evidence. The robber was obviously seen, but most of the witnesses were shot. The robber also had a mask and I wouldn't doubt he had layers of clothing to prevent them from getting a good description on him," Neo explained to the girl. Although he did not want to frighten his sister, he felt she should know the truth about today's society. There were criminals at every corner these days. If they weren't ever aware of them, something may happen and they wouldn't be ready for it. Keeping them locked away from the real world was a terrible idea on their father's part.

Mina nodded in understanding. So some criminals were actually smart. She didn't doubt there were others who were extremely idiotic, but there were criminals who were smart enough to keep them away from the police. She bit into her cinnamon bun as the siblings grew silent.

Yuka, from the kitchen, crossed her arms. There was a pout on her face, though she didn't seem to be upset about anything. She was just being childish. "Mina! It's almost lunch time! Why are you still eating breakfast?!"

Mina rolled her eyes and stared at her younger sister blankly. She bit into her cinnamon bun slowly, showing her that she was certainly not going to waste such a delicious treat. "I'm hungry," she replied flatly. That was the only response she was going to give her sister. Yuka pouted again, crossing her arms.

"You're such a pig!" she sneered, sticking out her tongue with a satisfied look on her face. Unfortunately, the satisfaction lasted a mere second, when Mina rolled her eyes again and responded with a bored, "Whatever." Yuka whined, not very happy that she had failed to annoy her sister. Still, the subject changed almost immediately. "I'm so bored!" This was directed towards her parents this time. "Leah and Maggie are going to the movies today to see New Moon and they invited me to come. Can I go?" she asked, and Mina blinked.

"Since when did they ask you, and since when have you been a fan of Twilight?" she demanded with cinnamon bun in her mouth, making her voice muffled.*

"Since yesterday afternoon, and since I saw the movie!" Yuka responded, a childish edge in her voice like always. Yes, Yuka was too lazy to actually READ the books.

"Face it, Mina. Yuka is a girl. We can't make that change no matter how hard we try." Neo was smirking as he spoke, and this comment infuriated Yuka.

"What is that supposed to mean!?" she shouted loudly, offended.

Mina grumbled under her breath as she swallowed down her breakfast. "How are you angry? You're either denying the fact you are a girl or you're just plan weird." Mina sighed, as she realized she had phrased her words wrong. "My bad, I forgot. You already are weird..."

Yuka made some sort of whining noise once more and stomped up to her room. "I'm going to call Leah so she can pick me up!" she informed her parents, shutting the door to her room.

Mina grunted. "She's eleven fricking years old. How does she act like some girly teenager already?" she wondered quietly, biting into her final cinnamon bun. Neo rolled his eyes.

"You're taking that age for granted, Mina," Neo commented, amused. "She's in fifth grade. Remember how your friends acted when they were in fifth grade? Yuka is older than she acts."

"Eleven sounds like a small number to me," Mina retorted, standing up and tossing her plate in the trash can. She swallowed the rest of her cinnamon bun and sighed, wishing she had more. "She acts like a younger version of Rachel who doesn't spend their live bullying people she hates."

Rachel was a 'friend' of Mina's. She spends much of her time worrying about her looks and clothes that match, while juggling her horrific math grade, karate, and hating people all at once. She was not a person to mess with, and she has most of the grade against her because she was such a bully. To the teachers, she was a smart-ass yet nice girl. Though, the vice principal of their school knew something was wrong with the girl.

Neo snorted, amused. He'd prevented Rachel from punching his eye out countless times. It was a shame she had no chance when fighting a senior.

Their mother stood. "Well, if Yuka is going to see a movie, I think I ought to go to the bank and make sure I can get her money for the ticket and snacks..." she decided, grabbing her purse. Mina snorted. The irony. Maybe if her mother had watched the news about the bank, she would have known that one of them had been robbed. Still, either way, her mother would most likely end up at an ATM machine. It didn't really matter. Within a matter of moments her mother had left, and Neo went out to the kitchen to grab a drink.

"Neo, a moment, please?" Mina heard her father say. She heard Neo groan, and then there came the sound of footsteps moving into her father's office. Mina sighed and sat patiently for a moment, waiting, knowing her father was going to scold Neo about turning on the news in front of Mina and Yuka. Her father was unaware that Neo had been telling Mina loads about the real world, that and the fact that Mina already knew about the real world without Neo's information.

It seemed to take forever for the two to finish talking. But, Mina knew the conversation/argument was coming to an end when Neo raised his voice. Mina sighed. Father pissed him off again.

She had been correct, as she saw Neo storming out of the office and up the stairs. Mina quickly jumped off the couch and ran up the stairs after her brother, who was about to slam the door to his room when Mina quickly caught the door with her hand. "Neo." She gave him a concerned look, and Neo knew she wanted to comfort him, as well as find out what's wrong. Neo sighed and allowed Mina to enter, shutting the door and locking it so their father wouldn't burst in. Mina sat in Neo's computer chair, waiting for Neo to sit down himself. She took on a look of surprise when Neo seemed to be sound-proofing the doors. Since when was he able to do that?

After Neo was finished and had calmed down, he walked over to another chair and sat down, head in his hands. "Dad's such an idiot!" he growled angrily, clenching and unclenching his fists. His knuckles went from white, to red, to white, to red again, repeatedly. "He scolded me about turning on the damn TV. How the hell was I supposed to know there was some big news story on there about a robbery?" Mina didn't speak. With Neo, she found it best to just let him vent out first. Then she would speak. Mina knew he wasn't done. "I just don't get him. He doesn't want to have anything to do with criminals and injustice in this world, and he wants us to assume this world is pure. But he refuses to let us keep our own names! I can't even remember my real name! Dad worked oh-so-hard to change our names just in case anything were to happen. The only thing that has our true names on them are our birth certificates, and Dad won't even allow the real certificates to be in the computers in the town hall. Everyone thinks my name is Neo, your name is Mina. Those aren't our names. If Dad is under the impression that this world is so pure, why did he go through all the trouble to change our names, when I doubt it will ever be necessary?"

Mina could tell he was pausing to think and calm himself again. She gathered her thoughts for a short moment, and then spoke softly, "I think Dad is in denial. I think he doesn't want to believe the truth, because he is so afraid something will happen to us, that he tells himself lies to make him feel better."

Neo huffed, though it was easy to see he was considering this notion. "I know... But he still is an idiot. Everyone else has come to accept the truth... He should too. ...Mina, I don't think I can handle him much longer. This is getting out of hand. I think I'm going to move out, get an apartment, and live by myself for a bit."

Mina sighed. Neo was just as much of a really good friend as he was a brother. He was far more tolerable than Yuka was. She wasn't sure how she'd possibly cope without him. But, she had to stay strong about it. It was coming sooner or later. "Do what you need to do," she told Neo firmly, nodding. She stood, and continued, "Start packing. You'll need this more than anyone."

Neo looked at the ground for a moment, but was glad Mina was taking this well. He stood as well and gave Mina a big hug. She was probably the only one who understood his anger. It may be irrational, but he really couldn't stand living in a house filled with naivety for much longer. Mina walked towards the door and unlocked it, making her way towards her own room. She shut her own door and walked over toward the window, feeling a little queasy as she looked down. Mina never was a fan of heights. Still, she was willing to bet her brother would be climbing out the window so their father wouldn't catch him leaving out the front. Neo wasn't afraid of heights, so climbing out would be very easy for him.

Mina's attention turned from the ground to the sky. It was chilly this time of year, but the sky was very pretty and calm today. New England was often like this. Mina lived in New England, or, more specifically, in a small town in Rhode Island. Not that Rhode Island itself wasn't small-- it was the smallest state, after all. Out of all of the towns and cities in the small state of Rhode Island, Mina lived in quite a small town. She lived on the border of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, too.

A pebble was thrown at the window. Mina looked back down and saw Neo below the window, waving to her. Mina smiled softly and waved to his brother. She hoped she'd see him again soon. Mina watched as Neo turned around, and ran off in a bit of a jog down the street, one bag in his hand with his things in it. She wasn't at all worried for her brother. She knew he was tough enough to face the real world, and she never doubted it for a second.

The main question was... would she be able to toughen it out?

*No offense intended toward all Twilight fans. I just am not among them. Hehe.

That's the first chapter for you. It would possibly have been longer, but I felt I had to stop it before it got TOO long and drawn out. Most likely, since this isn't the end of this 'the end' prologue of sorts, there will be a part two... in fact, I think that's exactly the direction this will go. Okay then. Read and review please~!