Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ôba. I do not own it.


The Letters

Chapter 1: R

A firm knock on the door caused the nine-year-old boy to raise his head from his pumpkin soup, eyes narrowing at the front door.

"Who might that be at this hour?" His foster mother growled under her breath, before throwing her napkin on the table, standing up to answer the door.

His foster father did not even flinch and kept eating in silence, without sparing a glance to his wife nor his adoptive son. Light Yagami paid it no mind. His foster father was not the type to speak uselessly, to be quite honest, he did not talk much at all. Instead, he followed the incredibly tall and skinny blonde woman that was his mother for five months now with focused eyes as she walked to the door, opening the door carefully.

"What is it?" She snapped through the gap. Light did not react at his mother's roughness. She was the kind of woman to always be unpleasant whether there was a reason or not, though she was not as cold-hearted as she looked.

"Good evening, Madam." Said a warm, gentle voice. "Are you Mrs Darwin?"

"Yes, I am. What is it you want?"

"Ah, I'm sorry to disturb you at this late hour, but I am here for you son. He is here, I believe?"

His mother shot him a glance above her shoulder, then reported her attention to the intruder.

"What do you want?" She repeated stubbornly, her voice more and more chilly.

"Pardon me, I forgot my manners." The man said cheerfully. His voice sounded old and yet so very steady. "My name is Watari. I am here for your adoptive son, Raito. He has been accepted into our noble institution, the Wammy's House, School for the Gifted and Talented."

Eventually, Mrs Darwin opened the door more widely, stepping aside to let an old man enter, allowing Light to sneak a peek at the new comer. The man had white hair and moustache, he wore a black trench coat and a very formal bowler hat which he instantly removed as he got inside, closing his umbrella in the process. When he raised his head, blue half-closed eyes behind rectangular spectacles laid on him.

"Hello, Raito."

"My son is called Light." Mrs Darwin spat.

"Since you and your husband brought him to England and gave this new name to him, certainly," Watari stated softly, "but he was born in Japan and his birth name is Raito Yagami." He then walked forward to the dinning table, then bowed respectively at his foster father, who barely nodded in acknowledgment, before he turned to Light, a brilliant smile tugging at his pale lips.

"It is nice to meet you, Raito. As you must remember, you did pass a test at school yesterday morning, and the results prove that you are indeed part of a very narrow elite population that we call geniuses. The school which sends me is meant to educate and teach extraordinary children who has lost their parents, just like you. Now dear child, you must come with me. I will escort you to your new home."

Light Yagami frowned ever so slightly as he put his spoon down. "Am I going to an orphanage?" He asked, extremely calm. "Even though I am in a foster family?"

Watari bent downwards to level himself with Light's straight face. "Yes, the Wammy's House is an orphanage. It will replace the foster care that is not the appropriate place for you to grow up."

The young boy glowered at the old man for several seconds, then propping himself up, he stood up from his chair. "Okay." He said neutrally. "I'll go pack my things, then."

And the child exited the dining room without further ado, leaving his foster parents to deal with the mysterious old man. Surely enough, as soon as Light had disappeared in the staircase, Mrs Darwin turned her cold blue eyes to Watari.

"What's the meaning of this? I thought we had been chosen to raise this child?" She asked haughtily.

"Indeed, you have." Watari answered evenly. "However, one of our pupils left the orphanage recently and so we had a vacant place that we ought to fill. That is why tests had been submitted to all the orphans in the world. Your son obtained the greatest results by far. A very intelligent child you have here, Mrs Darwin."

"Fine. Admitting what you are saying is true, what if we weren't willing to let the child go with you?"

"Ah, but I am afraid you have no choice, Mrs Darwin." The white-haired man chuckled smoothly as he reached down to his suitcase, rummaging into it before he pulled out a fair piece of paper, extending it to the woman. "There you are, the court order awarding the child custody to our establishment."

"W-What?" The foster mother stuttered as she gripped the sheet into her slightly trembling hands. "But there hasn't been any judgment! The test was barely yesterday, how can a judge pronounce on the custody so quickly?"

"Judges can be very farsighted when dealing with children's best interests, Mrs Darwin."

"But we didn't even know there was a hearing taking place!"

"Leave it be, Katherine." A raspy, cracked voice imposed silence on the two protagonists. For the first time since Watari's arrival, the father had spoken, his elbows resting on each side of his empty soup plate, the tips of his finger touching. "It seems obvious that this institution disposes of powers that are beyond us. Its fonder must have connections we cannot even imagine. Now let's face it: we always knew that child was no ordinary child. He doesn't belong with us."

Katherine's piercing eyes met her husband's brown ones, and there was no trace of tenderness nor love in those icy, cutting orbs. The Darwins must have given up on love a long time ago.

As if on cue, Light appeared at the foot of the stairs, a huge luggage hanging on his frail arms, though his blank features showed nothing of the effort he was providing to bear its weight. He walked towards Watari and let the bag fall at the old man's feet.

"Very well." Watari said in his usual false innocent tone. "Are you ready, Raito?"

"Yes." The brown-haired boy answered without a single hesitation.

"Very well. Then shall we?" He gestured towards the door, before picking up the trunk. Without another word, the old man and the nine-year-old child headed towards the front door under Mrs Darwin's puzzled look.

As Watari pushed the handle, a harsh voice stopped him.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Light?" Katherine called, and for the first time, her voice carried an ounce of uncertainty.

Ever so slowly, Light whirled around to look at his mother with empty eyes.

"Goodbye Katherine, goodbye Klaus." He said emotionlessly, his amber eyes boring into his mother's, then lingering on his father for a flittering instant.

And the young genius along with the old man stepped out of his childhood house, leaving his past behind with the strong intention of never going back.


In the black limousine, conflicting feelings were running through Light's mind as he stared at the green, peaceful landscape that spread behind the tinted glass. On one hand, he was soothed to have left his former life which was nothing but boring, on the other hand, he was slightly excited to begin this new one, which promised to be mysterious and challenging.

He spent the first hour of travelling in complete silence, which didn't bother him in the slightest, but this was not meant to last for Watari was glaring at him with half-lidded eyes, before he spoke in a stiff tone.

"We shall arrive at the Wammy's House in two hours approximately," he said matter-of-factly, "but before we arrive, there are a few things that you must know about your new home."

Light shifted his interrogating gaze to the old man sitting in front of him, his hands folded on the dark briefcase lying on his lap.

"First of all, this is a very selected house. There are only a total of twenty-six children, girls and boys from four to sixteen years old, including you. You are all sharing the same classes and courses." Light frowned slightly at this, and Watari smiled faintly. "Your age doesn't matter, for your intelligence is of the same standard."

The child nodded in understanding, waiting patiently for the man to continue.

"All these children have no name. To address them, we have assigned them a letter." Watari plunged a large hand into his suitcase, pulling out a white sheet of paper which he held out to the nine-year-old kid.

"From now on," he stated solemnly, as if he was about to christen him, "you will not be Light anymore, nor will you be Raito Yagami." He paused, his half-closed eyes lowering to the sheet in Light's hands.

Brows furrowed, Light glanced down at the paper where three short black lines were carved, like a sentence.

R

Room 18

Seat 18

The child raised his head to peer at the old man who was looking back at him through thin glasses with severe blue eyes.

"You will be R."


The Wammy's House.

There it stood, behind that dark wrought iron gate with its name carved on it, old, classic, white stone, as proud and as pure as a church.

R — for that was his name from now on — followed Watari in the empty courtyard and into the remarkable building, through the hall with its black and white tiling, through the marble stairs, through a blinding white corridor with windows every three meters apart, and finally, to a dark wooden door which the man pushed open. He stepped aside, smiling down at the child and motioning for him to get inside.

R entered a large, wooden-floored room. The opposite wall consisted of giant bookshelves in front of which lay a fair wooden desk and a black wheel chair.

R took a few steps forward, looking around curiously. Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to the wheeled chair which spun around abruptly, revealing a crouched silhouette sitting on it, its head tilted to the side, covered with dark disheveled hair like a thousand wires. This figure was as appealing as a ghost. Pale skin, skinny limbs, black circles under bottomless eyes, white shirt and blue jeans. Its legs were bent to its chest, livid hands resting on its knees.

"Ah, L." Watari spoke behind him. He seemed rather unfazed by this odd appearance. "There you are. Well," he placed a warm hand on R's shoulder, "please meet our new student, R."

The dark orbs fell upon the nine-year-old kid and R was crossed by an icy shudder.

"Hello, R." A deep, low voice said. It sounded like a machine. Cold, mechanical, emotionless. Then, the mysterious white and blue silhouette stood up, or rather jumped from the chair. Rounding the desk, the ageless man came to stand right in front of the child, hands in its jeans pockets, shoulders hunched.

Suddenly, a spider-like hand emerged from the jean pocket and raised towards the new student.

"I am L."

R eyed the lean, pallid hand suspiciously, then looked up at L's face. He was surprised to meet hypnotizing onyx eyes. All of a sudden, he felt like he could not tear his gaze off these two twinkling orbs. He reached up ever so slowly and shook L's hand. The older's hand was just like the rest of his body. Chilling, inhuman.

"Very well." Watari broke the unbearable silence, but his authoritative voice did not manage to separate the two hands still intertwined. "L, please go back to your room. If I recall well, you have class very early tomorrow morning." Then, turning to the small new student. "It seems the deputy director has already retired for the night. I will introduce you to him first thing tomorrow morning. Come with me, R. I shall lead you to your room."

At the sound of his new name, R was pulled out of his trance, as if struck by lightning, and he withdrew his hand from L's, nodding slightly. As if automatically, L's hand returned to its original place, his jeans pocket, but his dark penetrating eyes remained fixed on R, as if dissecting him.

The white-haired man frowned, shooting a quizzical glance at his older pupil who did not bother to acknowledge him, his attention still focused on the child. Shrugging, Watari took hold of R's shoulder once again and lead him towards the exit.

R, on the other hand, was walking at Watari's side, letting the caretaker bring him wherever he wished, for his mind was elsewhere.

These eyes... Why couldn't I look away? It was like being eaten alive. It was... intoxicating.


Author's Note:

Here is the first chapter of my new story. It's a little short I know, but it's meant to set the scene. The next chapters will be longer.

In this story, Light is an orphan raised by foster parents until he is admitted into the Wammy's House. There he will meet all the famous geniuses we cherish so much. More importantly, he meets the oldest student, L, and soon finds himself fascinated by him. For an unknown reason, the feeling seems mutual. How will their relationship evolve over the time they'll spend together? Who are the other child prodigies? That's what I'll be telling you in this fanfiction.

I hope you liked the first chapter and the general idea of this fanfiction.
Please share your thoughts and leave a review, that would mean a lot!

Bye bye, humans!

C.