Death: I really didn't want to do this. I already have enough stories that are unfinished, and I really want to get back to work on them. But this idea couldn't leave me alone, and so I wrote it out. This is strange for me, the first chapters are usually short. Yet for some reason I couldn't stop writing it out until I knew it was right to end it at where it is now. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 1 The Butler Man

=3=

Screams echoed in his head, never giving him a moment of peace. He'd never be able to forget the screams. The thick scent of blood from those screams would always stick to his body no matter how many times he washed. The last words his father had spoken to him were to take his sister and hide. The guilt of doing what he was told while their parents were slain would forever come back and haunt him, robbing him of what little sleep his body managed.

And yet somehow, through all of this, they were going to make him take a test from some old man with the simple appearance of a butler. The boy sat in the given chair with distant eyes.

"Excuse me, Light-kun, you understand English don't you?" The butler man sat opposite of him.

The boy simply shrugged.

"You can understand me, right?" Butler Man pressed again.

He hesitated for a moment, but nodded.

"Good. I'm going to hand you a series of tests of different subjects. A lot of the questions are more advanced for an eight year old, but I want you to answer as many as you can. The first test I'll be giving is math." Butler Man handed over the test packet.

"Here is your scratch paper and pencil. If you want another piece of scratch paper then raise your hand. You can circle your answers in the test booklet but you can't show your work on the test. Obviously there are no calculators allowed. You have two hours to complete the test." The old man instructed.

Light took hold of the pencil and opened the test to the first page. First look at the first few questions almost made him snort. But he restrained not because he wanted to, it was natural for Light to be polite until he was given a reason not to. Not to mention Butler Man was several years older, so he didn't have a choice in the matter.

'Always respect your elders.' His mother always reminded him.

Eyes narrowed at the thought. His mother wasn't here anymore. Light quickly shoved the thought and emotions aside. He was supposed to be taking a test. And so the boy began to circle the answers, quickly moving through the first grader questions.

As he progressed, not once did Light reach for the scratch paper. He circled his answers with quick precision. A few times the boy paused to think over the answers. But overall Light didn't doubt himself. And he still didn't reach for the scratch paper.

Unbeknownst to the old man, Light had gone to the library in his community whenever he could and checked out advanced school subjects. The boy had grown tired of the boring subjects at school, and secretly advanced himself through self learning to cure his boredom. His parents never knew for Light kept the books hidden and never turned them in late so that a notice wouldn't come into their mail.

Before either of them knew it, Light was done. The boy quietly set the pencil down neatly and closed the test booklet and politely handed it back. Butler Man took it, glancing at an expensive watch on his wrist.

'Amazing…he finished the test within an hour and ten minutes. That's fairly close to his time, an hour and eight minutes.' But the elder man still had some doubts. This boy could still be guessing the answers out of pride. After all some of the math questions went as far as trigonometry.

"Good work, son. The next test is science. Would you like to take a break before continuing?" Butler Man gathered the next test booklet and a new pencil.

Light shook his head.

"All right, you have the same amount of time. Two hours." The elder handed the test booklet and pencil over.

Light picked up the pencil and opened the booklet. To his surprise, the first page was in the subject of biology. The boy looked up at the man he dubbed Butler Man in surprise. It was the first emotion that had slipped through. Even then the shock of given a test better suited for him was shown only for a few moments. The moment the surprise had shown itself, it was gone.

The distant look appeared once more. Light glanced back down at the test. With more determination the boy breezed through the questions. He didn't know what these tests were for, however Butler Man wanted something. It probably would have been best if Light listened to him at the beginning.

It was too late for questions now. He was in the middle of taking a science test. And once again Light never reached for the scratch paper just a few inches away. Once again there were a few times he paused to think over the answers. The highest Light managed to reach in the science department was chemistry. At one point he looked up some terms of physics, just enough for a basic understanding.

However even with this kind of information stored in Light's head, it didn't do much help as the questions advanced further and further into physics. Light had struggled a bit through the chemistry section, but he was able to pull through. But physics was a whole new different level.

So from there Light did what he could with his deduction abilities from what little understanding he had of physics. He thought he was doing fine, if not a little slower than usual. Then he came to a question that he did not know the answer to.

No matter how many times he read the question or the answers, Light had absolutely no idea how to answer it. To mock him further it so happened to be the very last question in the booklet. Light wanted to scream in frustration. His hand began to shake as he did his best to control himself.

Then the screams and smell of blood invaded his senses. In a panic Light flipped the test closed and shoved it away. Butler Man did tell him to answer as many as he could. It hurt him not being able to answer the last question, but since it was only one question maybe he could let this one go.

Butler Man, who was almost done going over the math test, stared at him with surprise. For whatever reason the boy had a bad reaction to not figuring out the answer to the last question, and it surprised him that the boy let out a strangled whimper as he shoved the test away.

'If he's this upset over the science test, I'd hate to see his reaction to the English test… However his time was still almost matching his.' And so to allow the boy to calm down he decided to choose a different test next.

"Good work, Light-kun. The next test is history. Do you want to take a break or shall we continue?"

The boy hesitated. Then he extended a hand towards Butler Man.

The old man understood that the boy wished to continue on to the next test and handed it over with a new pencil.

"Once again you have two hours." Butler Man told the boy.

The boy silently took hold of the new pencil and opened the new test booklet.

=3=

Watari observed the boy with new found interest. From the beginning Light was distant and remained quiet, never responding. He had been worried that the boy was still in shock. In a way Light still was, but Watari concluded that the moment the boy set eyes on the questions a small part of his normal self returned.

What really caught Watari's attention was the boy's ability to finish the tests in a pace that rivaled L's. Thus far Watari had only see one other person who could come close to L's timing, but Light's time had only been a minute or two off while the other was merely five to seven minutes off of L's record.

The difference from five to seven to a minute or two was staggering. And Light had trouble with a few questions, Watari knew. Light was still a young boy, not even ten years old, so it came to no surprise that the boy would pause and think over his answers.

If Light were to have no difficulties, then surely his timing would either match or beat L's. There was no doubt in Watari's mind that this boy would have a bright future in Whammy's House. However, there were a few setbacks.

One, Light has been closing himself from the rest of the world. It was evident from his behavior that the murder of his parents left a horrible emotional scar. Watari knew the reason why, he had read the file before he entered the police station where the boy's father once worked.

Two, Watari feared what would happen if he took Light to Whammy's. The boy would either come out of his shell, or clam himself up even more.

According to Matsuda, who had worked with Light's and Sayu's father, Light had been a bright child. He had no trouble getting along with others. He got good grades and always looked out for his little sister.

However, there were a few exceptions to Light's politeness to strangers. It was Aizawa, another detective who worked with Chief Yagami who gave Watari the warning.

Aizawa was also a father, so he noticed things that the others who worked with the chief didn't. The few times that the children needed a ride home Aizawa was always the one who volunteered, his daughter was around Sayu's age so he wasn't bothered by the fact he could pick both of the chief's kids and his daughter. It helped that his daughter and Sayu went to the same preschool.

So he developed a routine. Pick up Light from his school first, and then pick up the girls. But on one peculiar occasion Aizawa had to wait. Raito would usually stand at the front of the school waiting for his ride. However on that day, he wasn't there. So, Aizawa figured Light was running a little late.

Ten minutes later, Aizawa grew frustrated. He flicked the keys and killed the engine and got out. Aizawa began wandering around the school calling out for Light. In the middle of it he heard shouting, and what sounded like a fight.

Aizawa ran towards the shouts and came upon a crowd of boys surrounding the two who were fighting. One of the boys was Light who leapt at his opponent with a yell. Aizawa gathered his wits and pulled the boys apart and brought both of them to the nurse's office.

Later it was learned that the boy Light had fought with made an attempt to bully him that day. Light took it the wrong way and instead of telling a teacher he decided to handle the bully himself. In the end the boy had a broken nose, a black eye and a limp while Light walked away with nothing but scratches and a couple of bruises.

From that day onward the boy who had fallen victim to Light's attack always had a limp as he walked. And the boy will probably have a limp for the rest of his life. The boy had been showing promise to become an athlete in soccer; it had been that boy's dream. But now he may never get that chance because of his own choice to try and bully the 'smart boy'.

Yet Light didn't apologize, and never did.

Now that the boy was clamming up, Watari had a few good ideas who would be possible roommates with Light that will ease him out of his shell, but to the rest of the orphanage Light might have a bad reaction. It wasn't like Watari couldn't trust Light, but for the fact he couldn't trust some of the other children at Whammy's.

Children are children, always making jokes of others. But Light certainly didn't think himself as one, and it didn't help that he always took everything too seriously. If anyone rubbed him the wrong way the boy will see that person as an enemy. That is something that will have to be taken care of.

How to take care of Light's behavior would be a problem. The boy is too smart for his own good, so setting up this boy's behavioral problems and fixing them will be tricky. Oh well, some other day Watari will have to figure it out.

They were almost done with the testing. Light had passed the math and history tests with flying colors. The grade on the science test had been a little off, but still high up there. However, on the English test Light was slipping.

About halfway through the boy threw it to the floor.

Watari had silently collected it and returned to his seat. Boys will be boys, the elder reminded himself as he restrained a chuckle from making itself known.

'We'll have to squeeze in some anger management classes in his schedule.' Watari concluded.

=3=

"It's decided. This boy will come with me to my orphanage. We will be leaving tomorrow." Watari announced a few hours later.

"But…Light-kun should stay here! I know this was a favor for the chief, but to move now is too soon for the boy!" Matsuda objected.

"I am sorry, but he has to come with me. For several reasons I cannot tell you where we'll be going. And I have more grave news. Sayu-chan will have to stay here. I do not see potential in her as I do with Light-kun." Watari glanced briefly at the siblings.

Sayu was sleeping on her brother's shoulder while Light stared at him blankly. For a brief moment there was a hint of anger in those eyes.

"What? You're separating them? Sayu needs her brother!" Aizawa argued.

"Light will be in good hands. From what I can see Sayu-chan is too young to realize what had happened. She will be better off here than with us. However, Light-kun has a very advanced mind and he knows every detail in the murder of his parents. I can assure you, our orphanage can offer everything he will need to recover. He barely shows any signs of trauma, and that is what disturbs me. So if you will please, allow him to come with me, for his own sake." Watari pleaded with sincere worry.

At the mention of every detail, the others tensed. They had no idea that Light knew what had happened. The boy never said a word when they found him in the closet holding his dear little sister. A few of the men glanced at Light.

Out of curiosity Watari followed their gazes. And for the third time this day, the old man was shocked.

In Light's eyes was a deep heated hatred. The warm honey color had darkened to an almost red, nearly giving Light the appearance of a cursed doll with his pale skin and soft hair.

'This boy will be trouble.' Watari thought. 'However, if we do this correctly, then we can turn this boy around. He has incredible potential.'

When the detectives looked away from the boy, his eyes dulled into the distant mask he wore since the day his world was turned upside down.

=3=

The next morning Watari was helping the boy pack. The children had been staying with Aizawa as a temporary foster home. The fate of Sayu was still going to be decided, but for now she will remain within Aizawa's house. It will probably be for the best for the next few months.

Sayu knew Aizawa and his daughter. Although she couldn't say their names right she recognized them through the times Aizawa picked them up from preschool. A sudden change in a young girl's life such as the death of her parents, and now being separate from her brother, Sayu will need the comfort from people she knew.

Light, however, will have to learn how to open up once he arrives at Whammy's. Watari knew it will be difficult, but nothing is ever impossible.

"You can bring a few of your clothes. But you can't bring any pictures or anything that will trace you to Japan. I will allow you to bring one personal item, but I will have to approve it first." Watari told the boy.

Light was neat as he folded his chosen clothes. He was careful to put them into the suitcase, making sure they wouldn't be wrinkled. When the boy was done Light sat on the bed as he held a framed photograph.

Watari knew what the photograph was. It was a photograph of the Yagami family. The time frame was fairly recent, perhaps a few months before everything changed. The elder man showed some sympathy.

"It will take some time, but you will get used to Whammy's House. For safety purposes you cannot bring that picture with you. However it would be for the best to leave it with Sayu-chan, don't you think?" Watari tilted his head.

As usual Light remained silent. For a few moments they remained still. With no more hesitation the boy nodded. Watari smiled kindly.

"Is there anything personal you would like to take with you? A stuffed animal or a book, as long as it's in English, perhaps?"

For another moment Light stared at the photograph. Then gently the boy set the frame beside him on the bed and stood up. Light glanced around the guest room, which had most of the stuffed toys and books he had brought with him.

Watari observed the boy with slight curiosity. There were cute stuffed plushies around the room. It wouldn't surprise the elder man that some of them were Sayu's.

Light reached for a small plushie of a panda. Around its neck was a red scarf, and a cute pink tongue was sticking out of its mouth. Light came back to the bed with the panda on his lap, and the photograph in hand.

"Well, let's go. I believe it's about time we leave." Watari announced.

=3=

They had finished a silent good bye breakfast. It would be the last meal Light will have in his home country for a long time. And, it will probably be the very last meal he'll ever have with his little sister, the last remaining family he had.

Through the meal, Sayu was happy. And because of her care free nature, Light too cracked a smile now and then. But they all knew that the smiles were forced. It was the boy's way of showing his little sister a memory that she should cherish. The final moments with her brother.

Once they were done, Watari carried Light's suitcase into the trunk of the rented car. As he closed the trunk, Light stood by the passenger doors, holding the panda and the photograph.

"Nii-san, where you going?" Sayu asked, sensing something was wrong.

Light stared at his sister. And for the first time warmth of a normal boy seeped through his honey colored eyes. This was his goodbye.

"Sayu." Light whispered.

Watari, Aizawa and his wife stared at the boy with wide eyes. It was the first time Light had spoken in a week, since that fateful day.

The girl tilted her head and blinked.

"Here..." The boy handed her the photograph.

Sayu took it, staring at the figures in the photograph.

"Mama…Papa…" Sayu whimpered, tears forming on the corner of her eyes. "Where's Mama and Papa?"

"They won't come back." Light answered.

"Then…Nii-san will stay, right?" Tears were falling now. Sayu then tried to reach out to the panda, but her brother stepped away.

"Nii-san! That's Sayu's panda! Nii-san will stay with Sayu! And Sayu wants panda!"

Light shook his head. He was now holding the panda close to his chest, as if it was the most precious thing he had. Watari came closer and put his hand on Sayu's tiny shoulder.

"Sayu-chan. Your brother has no choice but to leave. His last wish is a trade. He wants you to have this photograph, to remember him and your parents by. In return, he wishes to keep something that will remind him of you. So that when he feels lonely, he'll have something that once belonged to someone from his family. Please, allow him to keep the panda." Watari said in a gentle voice.

Sayu stared at Butler Man with wide eyes. She wiped away her tears and lowered her gaze to her older brother, who still clutching and squeezing the panda into his chest as if his life depended on it. Sayu sniffed, and reached forward. Light closed his eyes as the screams and smell of blood haunted him once more.

Then just as it came, the screams and scent of blood vanished. Light warily opened his eyes to the sight of Sayu's bright smile and her small hand on top of his head. She was petting his hair, just like their father used to do.

And for the first time since that day their parents died, Light cried.

=3=

Light woke up to Watari gently shaking his shoulder. They had to travel in multiple of planes to reach London. Through most of it Light either slept or remained awake during the whole flight. Because of the difference in time zones his body had yet to adjust, therefore he fell asleep the moment he sat in the car.

Holding the panda bear close, Light stepped out of the strange vehicle. He stared up at the eerie black gates and the large estate that will be his home for the next ten years. Light understood that he was put into this orphanage because of his high intellect, and his ability to absorb information and store it into his head like a filing cabinet. He was to become a member of Whammy's House, and if possible become a letter.

To graduate as a letter, meant that Light will be free. And he will be granted the opportunity to fight crime, and to use his intellect to help the mastermind, the greatest among them.

L.

Light had no idea what to think of that person. He'd never met L, after all he'd just arrived at Whammy's. However, Light wasn't so sure if he could ever work in groups. The boy had learned early on in school that he did best working alone. And thus Light never made any friends. He saw no reason to, but according to Butler Man he'd have to make at least one friend at the orphanage if he didn't want to be picked on.

'Let's see them try.' Light narrowed his eyes.

"From now on, you have to abandon the name your parents have given you. I know this will be hard. But your identity has to be kept a secret in this place. Do not worry, I won't tell a soul of your true name. And in return of abandoning your name, I will give you a new one. A name that you will call yourself in Whammy's and it will be a name that shields your true name from the rest of the world." Watari told the boy.

"What's my name now, Butler Man?" Light snorted after a moment of silence.

Startled, Watari gaped at the boy. After a moment the elder smiled, letting out a soft chuckle. He had to say, this boy was very bold. It could have been because of the effects of little sleep that Light wasn't so afraid to let his guard down. He was too tired to hold up the mask. And for just a little while he wasn't afraid to show his true self. A normal eight year old boy, meeting the world head on as if it was another test he had to complete. This was an interesting boy indeed. Watari smiled.

"Your new name shall be Kinship."

=3=

Death: I know, not a great title. After all, the title of this story is named after a song by Backstreet Boys. But it was all that I could think of that will fit this story's plotline the best. And I couldn't help but nickname Watari "Butler Man", Watson was already taken.

1) In this story's timeline, Light was born in the year 2000. Therefore he's growing up with a very modern era in a very early age compared to the storyline in Death Note. With this in mind, I think that Light would be able to read and understand advanced subjects even at the age of eight. He is a prodigy after all, and developed a good sense of the world around him.

2) For a long while, because of the trauma of the murder of his parents, Light will be out of character compared to what he is in Death Note. How effected his behavior and mind will be, is going to be shown in each chapter and how he progresses. This is only the start of everything, but later on he'll be older. The next chapter will be more about Light's experience in Whammy's House, and who his roommate will be. I'm sorry to say this, but L won't make an appearance til probably chapter 3 or 4.

3) Why was Light renamed Kinship? It's because of the panda bear that he exchanged for the Yagami family picture. Watari thought that he should honor Light's strong love for his little sister, and to his parents even though they're dead, therefore naming him Kinship.

Anyway, I'm done explaining things. Please click the review button below!