[Greetings reader, the name is Kitsune, welcome to the wonderful little fan fiction, Chocolat Blond. I came up with this idea after watching the movie Chocolat one night, so I decided to write about it. It's a tragic little story cast with a few characters from the manga/anime Death Note. It is an A/U fic, set in 1956 France. Anywho, I've rambled enough.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Death Note. This work is a work of pure fiction, blah blah blah copyright whatever. Basically, I don't own anything about this besides the basic story.

He was old now, well past his prime, his hair bleached white with age, the wrinkles creased his weary skin. He looked just too weathered, even at his age. His dark eyes stared towards the floor, heavy in thought as his knobby hands tightened around his cane. He could barely even hear that woman's voice calling out to him his mind was racing so fast. All he could think of was that place, the memories making him cringe from just the thought of them. That fire, oh God that fire, all those screams, the tears than ran down his face that night.

"Mr. River? Are you alright?"

Instantly he was pulled from the Hellish nightmare the moment a slim hand was placed on his shoulder, causing him to let out a surprised noise and look up. The woman in question, a young Japanese thing of twenty-something, stared at him with a worried expression in her eyes. Even if this was the first and perhaps only time she'd meet this man, there was still a genuine concerned look in her eyes.

"Y-yes, yes I'm fine. Just...thinking, that's all, Miss Takada."

"Are you sure, Mr. River?"

Their eyes met for a split second before the old man nodded, turning to look down at the cane in his hands, sighing heavily as he nestled back into the comfortable recliner. Wrapping the small shrug further around his shoulders, the man shut his eyes as he nodded once more.

The woman, Takada, blinked a few times before she reached down for the bag lying next to the legs of her own chair, pulling the brown leather thing onto her lap as she began to thumb through the contents. "Well, then, I'd like to personally thank you, sir, for inviting me for this interview," she said as she pulled out a small audio recorder, setting a clean tape inside of it, "it's and honor to be talking to founder of Schokolade Chocolates, ever since I was a little girl I always used to ea-"

"I'm not the founder, miss," interrupted the man, "Mihael was."

The woman was taken back a bit by the elderly man's words; it was almost common knowledge that Mr. Nate River was the creator of one of the most popular chocolate companies in the world and to hear him say otherwise was a bit of a shock for the young interviewer. "What do you mean, sir? Are you saying someone else started this business?"

Wetting his lips, Mr. River nodded to the woman, turning his weathered head up to stared directly at her. He had never told anyone this little piece of information before, no one had ever heard the name Mihael in relation to the company. "Yes, I'm not the original creator. I just continued the business in his place. As for the true founder, like I've said his name was Mihael. Mihael Keehl." The man let out a great and heavy sigh before he continued on.

"Back when I was a boy, I lived in this tiny French village in the back hills a hundred miles from Paris. The town was small, only a good handful of people lived there. It was only ten years after World War II when Mihael came to our town. He wasn't welcomed with open arms, mind you, all because he was a German." He paused to give a sad chuckle, "I believe he was even called Hitler's Favorite once on account of his pure Aryan looks. He tried hard to befriend the people of the town, yet, it was a difficult task. Anti-German sentiments blossomed throughout the town, many people thinking he was some sort of spy or what-have-you. But no, he was merely a poor chocolatier and owed no allegiance to Germany whatsoever. After a while, though, everyone seemed to warm up to him." And then, the man went quiet, wiping his brow with a shaky hand.

The interviewer noticed this heavy silence, biting her bottom lip as she looked down at the recording device in her hands.

"What...What happened to him, Mr. River?"

[ Well, well, did you enjoy that? I sure did, (kinda). Ha, anyway, we get to meet an older version of Nate River, (a.k.a Near) in this prologue and a quick cameo with Kiyomi Takada, ha ha. Anyway, this is just the set up for next chapter, which will be pretty interesting if I do say so myself, yeah? Be sure to review/favorite/whatever, I like it when people talk about my works, yah know? Til next time, this is Kitsune, out.