Author's Note: Hey guys! This is a trial run for a Death Note fanfic I'm working on. Let me know what you think and if you'd like to see it continue.

Chapter 1

Light Yagami sighed, propping his head up with his hand and absentmindedly staring at the chalkboard. He already knew this. There was no test, no review, nothing that kept him from drifting off into a world of his own thoughts. He glanced at the empty seat next to him. Day two of the third cycle. Time always dragged without her. He smiled when he thought about his bad habit of passing notes to her in class. She was always so hyper focused. She took things way too seriously. Guilt oozed off of her as she would unfold his notes. Her face would scrunch up in concentration as she read them. It was cute. She was cute. Especially when she would look around like a criminal before scribbling a reply and passing it back to him. She couldn't draw more suspicion to herself if she tried. He turned his attention to the window and stared off into the distance. I wonder how she's doing.

"Good morning." the teacher said, speed walking into the classroom and hurrying to get situated before the bell. "Come in, Eva." Light glanced up, wondering who he was speaking to. His attention was immediately drawn to the small girl standing nervously in the doorway. She walked toward the teacher's outstretched arm, and he placed his hand on her shoulder. "This is Eva Reyes. She's just transferred from—" He paused and looked at her. She glanced between the class and him, suddenly realizing what he wanted.

"Y-yes! Um…from United States. Washington, DC." Her Japanese was…bad. There was no way around that. But her accent was cute. She clumsily stumbled through the rest of her introduction. Her father was a prominent intelligence and defense contractor. Her mother was a retired FBI lawyer, and now a legal consultant. Eva glanced at the teacher every time a word that she didn't know came up. She said it in English, he would repeat it in Japanese, and she would butcher it in replication. It was criminal, really, but it made Light smile. Maybe it was just the introduction of something new and exotic in such a homogeneous setting, but something drew him to her. He watched her scurry to a seat at the other end of the classroom. Her skin had an almost golden hue to it. He wasn't sure if it glittered, but it definitely glowed. He wondered if this is what it felt like to be a moth—instantly drawn to her flame. He watched her run a hand through her long, black hair. She flipped it over to one side, but it began to slide back to its original position like silk. Her loose waves ended at her mid back, and he suddenly found himself wondering what she smelled like.

"Light!" The teacher's voice broke through his daydream and he stood quickly. "Are you ready to present your comparative research project on economic systems?"

"Yes, sir." Light shuffled a few papers from his desk and grabbed a USB drive. He made his way to the front of the class and began his presentation, though, admittedly with some distraction. He moved his eyes from person to person within the class to showcase strong interactions and engagement with the audience. His eyes lingered longer on Eva. She seemed transfixed by him. Her tiny frame leaned over the desk and watched him carefully with her face cupped in her hands. Her pale green eyes were wide—following his every movement. He wondered if she was enjoying the speech, or if she was just listening for words that she knew and trying to piece together the content. He finished to thunderous applause and took his seat.

"Excellent work, as always, Light. Next victim." The teacher glanced around the room, no doubt looking for the most terrified student in the crowd. Light looked over at Eva again. She was busy furiously scribbling in her notebook. He had to admit it upset him. Not even a glance in his direction afterward? He endured the rest of the class, trying to gauge her reaction to the other presenters. She watched them just as carefully, and took some notes after they were done, but not nearly as many as after his presentation. Wait…was he just looking for any reason to justify his obsession? He was being irrational. This was stupid. He turned away from the girl and began collecting his things, anticipating the bell. The students filtered out once it rang. "Light, Eva." Light looked up at the teacher and slowly walked to his desk.

"Yes, sir?" He glanced over at the nervous girl.

"Eva, Light has excellent English skills. If you need help translating anything, please look to him. Light, please show her around. Let's make the next four years bearable for her, shall we?" It wasn't a request. Not that Light minded. He smiled at her and held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Eva, was it?"

"Wow! Your English is so good!" she replied, gratefully taking his hand. She quickly flipped open the notebook in her arms and Light smiled. The name of each presenter, along with notes about their presentations filled the page. Light's section was the largest. He felt good about that. "I had some questions about your presentation. Do you think you can help me through them?"

"Sure, no problem."

Three years. It had been three years since Eva came crashing into his life like a tornado. She had completely overwhelmed him with her optimism.

"Hey, what's that scar from?" Light asked, running his fingers down Eva's side. She shuddered in response. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine. I'm just ticklish." She laid back down on the beach towel and brought her arms across her stomach. It was cute. She was so shy about her body, even on a beach. "It was from a long time ago. My dad isn't exactly in the most beloved line of work. He made all of his money from defense and intelligence contracts—so, basically, he created technology that made mass data collection, warrant-less wiretapping, and war a lot easier. After the Iraqi No-Fly Zone Enforcement Operations, there were a lot of people protesting the U.S. government's foreign intervention and involvement. My dad got caught up in one of the protests when he was picking me up from school. I think I was only five. I was so little, and when the crowd rushed him, I lost my grip on his hand and fell trying to keep hold. A man stumbled over me, and accidentally stepped on my stomach really hard. I was rushed to the emergency room, and it turned out that my kidney ruptured from the impact." She paused and scrunched up her face in concern. "My…father did something that I don't necessarily agree with. He paid to get me to the top of every organ donor transplant list in our area. I was only on dialysis for a few months before I got a match." Light frowned. Eva was such a kind person. She went out of her way for everyone. A world that could let someone like her suffer was…rotten.

"What scumbags." Eva sat up and looked at Light. "Those protesters, not your father." he clarified. She smiled and turned toward the ocean.

"I don't think so. They were worried. It was a horrifying conflict that killed so many civilians on the ground in Iraq. It eventually escalated into the Iraq War and, well…it seems like one damaged kidney in the grand scheme of things isn't that important. They were right for protesting. It was just an accident." Light was amazed by the smile on her face. How could she find so much forgiveness and optimism? Would he have done the same thing?

"I don't know. This world seems rotten."

"Huh?" Their eyes met. She laughed. The wind carried the scent of her perfume to him. "I think it's beautiful." No, she was beautiful, and she deserved so much more.

A sudden flash of black brought Light out of his thoughts. He watched it fall and land on the ground—a book from the skies. He eyed it, completely captivated. A notebook? He patiently waited for the class to end and made his way down to the quad. Students chatted, gossiped, and he made a beeline for the book. He looked around before picking it up. Death Note. He flipped it open and snickered. This is a Shinigami notebook. Ridiculous. Worse than those chain letters. He held it out to drop it, but something kept him from following through.

"This is stupid." he mumbled, tucking it into his bag and heading home. Why was he holding onto this thing? It was just some stupid prank. Why did it bother him so much? He opened up his front door and stepped into the house. "I'm home." He ran up the stairs and dropped his bag. He opened up his curtains and lifted the closed window, pulling his upper body through it. He reached across the small back alley and tapped on the window of the next house over. The curtains shuffled and he smiled when he saw Eva. She lifted her window, too. "Hey."

"Hey! How was class?" she asked, leaning forward to try and reach for his sill. Light gave her a hand. It wasn't a long distance by any means, but Eva was such a small girl. She hadn't grown at all since their freshman year. It made him nervous as she clumsily groped for questionable support. He pulled her through his window and she dusted off her knees and adjusted her shorts.

"The same as it always is. How was chemo?"

"Two cycles down, the rest of my life to go." Eva responded with a halfhearted smile. "Hey, if I lose my hair, can I have some of yours?" she asked, tugging at his brown locks.

"Sure." Light made his way over to his bag and pulled out his books—stopping for a moment to chuckle at the Death Note. "Hey, check this out."

"What?" she asked, playing with a small figurine on his desk. He thought about it for a moment. What was stopping him from telling her?

"Um…o, shoot. I thought I had it. Never mind."

"What?" Eva asked again, staring at him now. He quickly zipped up his bag.

"It was a stupid flyer for a school dance. I thought it was funny, but I guess I forgot to grab it." Why was he lying? It was just a stupid prank. "Anyways, we worked on Riemann integration today."

"Ahh, calculus!" she took the sheets from his hands and hugged them to her chest. "You're the same in every language. Fucking terrible."

"Yea, there's a test on it the week you get back."

"Ugh. But that's not even my good week. I'm still going to be nauseous from chemo!"

"Well, power through it." Light said with a laugh, flipping open his book. "Alright, question three-eighty-five." He watched her solve equations, stopping once in a while when her hands would seize and her writing would start to get sloppy. He would get her a warm cup of water to hold so the feeling would return to her fingers, and write for her while her neuropathy settled. He only had to rush her to the bathroom once to throw up. It was better. The previous cycle, she had spent nearly the entire night clinging to the sink until all that left her body was stomach bile. It broke his heart. She was such a good person. She didn't deserve it. He thought back on their friendship. He had been so excited to learn that her parents had bought the house behind his. He had been even more excited to learn that their windows faced each other. They would sneak over the sills and…study. Just study. It was innocent and sweet—just like her. As the years passed, their friendship grew. They shared their love of politics and law. They would call out sick from school during election seasons, or during times of great political unrest, and stay in bed, watching press conferences, hearings, and debates. They would yell and scream at the TV, sometimes throwing the occasional piece of food at a particularly distasteful politician. It was so refreshing. She was his best friend…which made that day all the more devastating.

Light watched Eva nervously push around food on her plate as her father yelled.

"That bastard had the nerve to tell me that it was an 'extraordinarily rare case.' I swear, he's lucky he was on the phone with me. There was nothing stopping me from blowing his head off."

"I can only imagine." Soichiro Yagami agreed.

"Didn't they test the transplant for malignancy beforehand?" Sachiko Yagami asked. Eva looked up at Light. It looked like her eyes were screaming 'kill me.'

"They said they did, but who knows. I never saw any records of tests. They could just be lying to save themselves from a malpractice lawsuit at this point." Eva's mom responded. "They fired the transplant immunologist. That tells me someone did something wrong."

"That whole damn hospital should be shut down!" Eva flinched at her father's loud voice.

"It was just an accident…." she squeaked out. "They're not bad people."

"No, that's no damn accident. You don't give someone a cancerous transplant and get to call it an accident. Who knows how long you'll have to stay on chemotherapy?! Who knows when they'll develop a cure for renal cancer!?" Eva set down her chopsticks and grabbed her head.

"Are you okay?" Light asked.

"Just…a little lightheaded." she replied.

"Light, take her up to your room. Let her lie down." Sachiko said, nudging him.

"Yea, c'mon." Light helped Eva up and led her up the stairs at his mother's advice. He exchanged a nervous look with his father. He wasn't supposed to have girls in his room, but Eva seemed to be the one exception for his parents. Eva peeked over the banister as they made their way up the stairs and turned toward him.

"Sorry, I just had to get out of there. If I have cancer, I get to use it to get out of uncomfortable conversations, right?" she whispered. Light laughed.

"Yea, I think that's your right, like according to the law. Don't they have to give you an official card?"

"I think so." They entered his room and she flopped down onto his bed. "It just pisses me off. I mean, my dad was rushing that doctor to clear the transplant the whole time, and now that he finds out that there might have been more advanced testing they could have done to check for cancer, he wants to throw the whole hospital under the bus?" She threw her arms up over her head and groaned. "That poor doctor just lost his job! All he did was miss one diagnosis. That could happen to anyone! What about the hundreds of thousands of people my dad's company has helped murder? I don't see him taking any responsibility for that!" Light sat in his chair and watched her as she continued her rant. It was naïve. It made sense that her father wanted to protect her. It made sense that he wanted to hold those who hurt her to account. Light wanted the same thing. He scowled. He was going to lose his best friend…all because of some violent protester and an incompetent doctor. Eva was sweet, but she couldn't see the world for what it was. He had been right all along. This world was rotten, and there were people that it would be better off without.

"I don't know how you do it." Light finally admitted when she pumped her fists in joy at the end of the chapter.

"What do you mean?" Eva asked. "O, it's actually pretty easy. See, I let you attend the classes, and then I just have you teach it to me. Don't tell anyone though, it's kind of a scam." She leaned close to him and whispered the last part. Light smiled and pulled on her ear. "Ow…."

"I don't know how you remain so optimistic about everything. I mean, half the time, I want to give up on law school."

"That's crazy!" Eva looked down her hands and smiled. "Actually, the truth is. I don't know how much time I have left. While I'm still around…I want to make a difference in the world. I know law school will help me do that. I want to fight for people's civil rights and justice everywhere, not just here or in the U.S." She picked up a pen and flipped open the study guide for their entrance exams. "I have in my hands the means and in my heart the will!" It was poetic. "Quiz me!"

"You're a glutton for punishment."

"That doesn't sound like test material." Eva responded, tapping the page. "C'mon, Yagami. You keep slacking and I'll knock you off your throne."

"You wish." They spent another few hours studying before he helped Eva back through the window. He closed it, pulled the curtains shut and turned back to his bag. Death Note. "Stupid." he mumbled again. He pulled out the book and set it on his desk, reading the rules. The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his or her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected. If the cause of death is written within forty seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next six minutes and forty seconds. "Heh…so you can make the person die peacefully or make them suffer. Impressive that someone would put so much effort into a prank like this." Light pushed a pen to the paper, but pulled it away. Hold on…if it actually does work, am I a murderer? …someone whose death doesn't matter, and it should be someone not connected to me. Also, I need to be able to know if they immediately died. Light snickered. Too bad that ruled out Eva's doctor. It was stupid. He was taking this too seriously. Perhaps Eva was rubbing off on him too much. He turned on his TV to drown out the noise of his own brain.

"The killer who indiscriminately killed six people yesterday in Shinjuku's Hanka district is still locked up in the preschool with the teacher and seven children as hostages. The police suspect Otoharada Kurou, forty-two, unemployed." the anchor reported. What the hell. Light looked at the suspect's photograph and scribbled down his name. Heart attack in forty seconds, right? He watched the clock and scoffed at himself. Nothing. Thought so. He reached to turn off the television when the anchor spoke up again. "O! The hostages are coming out! Seems like everyone is fine. And now the police are storming the school. Have they made the arrest!?" Light gripped the edge of his seat and kept his eyes locked on the screen. "O! They're coming back out. I don't see the suspect. What's going on? We just got word that the suspect has died! They are saying the suspect is dead!" Dead?! He spun to the notebook, eyeing it like it was something evil. "The police are saying they did not fire any shots. Could it be a suicide? According to the hostages, the suspect just collapsed." Coincidence. One time isn't enough. This has to be a coincidence.

"Light!" His mother's voice made him jump. He quickly opened the door and looked down the stairway. She stood there at the bottom, smiling up at him. "It's six-twenty-five! Time for cram school!"

"Y-yea. I'm getting ready." he replied, rushing back into his room and jamming the notebook into his bag. Someone…someone it doesn't matter to kill. No…someone that deserves to die. Light dragged his feet through the class, suddenly realizing how many useless people surrounded him. There were a few guys in his class that the world could certainly do without. He quickly discarded the idea. No, it shouldn't be someone connected to me. Then again— He flinched when a piece of chalk bounced off his head. The rest of the class snickered.

"Hey, nationally top ranked Yagami. Don't space out. We're counting on you to make us look good." the professor said.

"Yes…sorry." Light quickly replied. He readjusted his focus for the time being. His mind drifted back to the Death Note on his walk home. Every person he passed drew him deeper into apathy. Truthfully…the world would be better off without all of them. Something caught his eye: men on motorcycles harassing a young woman. Light passed by them, stepping into a store with full view of the scene once he heard the man's name. Shibuimaru Takuo. He positioned himself in the window of the store and opened up a magazine, pretending to read. He watched the girl reject him. He watched Shibuimaru handle it poorly, to say the least. He spelled out his name in all of the different ways that he could. Accident. He crossed the final t. Every tick of his watch lasted a lifetime. His eyes shot up just in time to see the girl run across the street. Shibuimaru chased her and a truck collided with him. The bike shattered into a million pieces. There was no surviving that. Light's hands shook. That's it…the Death Note…is real. He stumbled out of the store as a crowd began to form. He ducked into an alley and suddenly felt sick. I've killed two people. I killed two people. I did… What should I do? A terrifying notebook like this…. No. Who cares if they died? It's what I'm always thinking. Light pictured Eva. He thought about how frightened she must have been when that mob formed around her. This world is rotten. He thought about how carelessly that man had stomped on that tiny girl. The rotten should die. Someone has to do it. Things can't remain as they are! No, I can't quit. Even if it costs me my mind and life. I can do it. No, only I can do it. I'll use the Death Note and change the world. He pictured Eva's smiling face and heard her melodic voice. I think it's beautiful. He would make it beautiful for her.