Chapter Text
It all started so fast. And a simple coffee run turned into a babysitting session.
Light sat on the couch in his apartment with a three year old boy next to him looking withdrawn. His mother was currently in a coma after a terrible car accident that he witnessed.
The boy and his mother were just walking on the sidewalk when suddenly a loud BOOM was heard and then a car jumped the curb and struck his mother. She rolled over the hood and hit her head on the payment. This was according to eye-witnesses.
Light had been there to see it for the most part. He and Matsuda were coming back with coffees and teas and heard the crash, then saw the aftermath. They instantly went to help. Luckily, a police cruiser was driving by and took over the scene. Emergency services were quickly called and arrived. They took the boy's mother to a near-by hospital.
Light had been the first one on the scene after the accident with Matsuda and the boy stuck to him like clue for some reason. The boy was obviously in shock with what happened to his mother and needed someone to cling to and chose Light. The boy took to him like he was his father or an older brother and would not go with the police or with child services.
The boy would not leave his side. Light saw it as a form of Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder, a term he learned during one of his university Sociology classes, where a child clings to a complete stranger for support. The boy hid behind him and held on to him irrationally, Light thought, and Light was forced to become a temporary caregiver for the boy until his father could be contacted.
The boy did not have any contact information to give, however.
Light gave his contact information to the police and where the boy would be staying with him.
"So that's the story," Matsuda said, after reciting events, "but the boy won't speak."
"Poor kid, probably traumatized," Ide said, he stood next a wall.
"Any information on him or his mother?" Aizawa asked.
"No," Light said. "And we don't know why she and the boy were going especially without identification. His mother didn't even have a purse with her."
"I did find that weird," Matsuda said. "But the police are surveying cameras in the area in case someone saw an opportunity to snatch it if she did have one. In a large crowd that might be the case."
Light agreed. It was a good theory. "Light," his father said, getting off his cell phone. He had been away from the others as they comforted the boy. He cocked his head. "Can I speak to you for a moment?"
"Sure," Light said. "Matsuda, can you take care of him? I'll be right back." Matsuda sat down next to the boy as Light stood up and joined his father. The boy turned his head as if to follow him, watching him. Light gave the boy a thin smile, and said, "I'll return shortly, okay?" speaking softly.
The boy nodded slowly, but wouldn't take his eyes off him. It was like he was worried Light wouldn't come back, like he had some sort of separation anxiety.
"I just got off the phone with the hospital," Soichiro said quietly. "The boy's mother is surgery with head trauma. It's not looking good. There is severe swelling of the brain. They'll try to relieve some of the pressure. Child Services asked about the boy and wondered if it would be okay for the boy to remain with you for the time being since he doesn't want to leave your side."
Light nodded. He had other things to do as Kira, but for the time being he would leave that to Misa. Protecting the innocent was Kira's job and he wasn't going to renege on that. The boy needed him at the moment. When Sayu, his sister, was his age, he helped his parents with her care. This was no different. And as a cop, it was sworn duty, as well.
"Sure, no problem," he said. "Any word on relatives?"
"No, and at the moment, she is categorized as an Unknown Person. She had no personal effects on her at all, like a cell phone or wallet. She may have been victim to a pick pocket after she was hit and a crowd surrounded her. Until the boy talks, we won't know anything."
"Thanks Dad, keep me informed with any new developments. But I will say, calling him 'boy' or 'kid' is kind of impersonal. I would like him to start to feel more at ease with us, so he'll speak to us. If I could, I would like to give him a temporary name. When Kiyomi Takada and I were dating in university, she had a favourite cousin she admired for entering into the media business and is now a famous television broadcaster. She wanted to enter the same business. Anyway, his name was Minoru."
Just then, the boy perked up, and said, "Yes?"
Light and father turned. "Is Minoru your name, son?" Soichiro asked.
The boy nodded. "Minoru Tanaka," he said.
Light smiled, and went over to him. "Do you have any relatives near by we can call, Minoru?"
The boy shook his head. "My foster-father is out of town for a business trip. I don't know his cell phone number. Is my foster mother going to be okay?"
"Foster mother? You're adopted?" Matsuda voiced.
Minoru Takada nodded. "My foster parents can't have children," he said. "I was found on the door step of an orphanage when I was only three weeks old, I was told," he added. "I was adopted by my foster parents from an orphanage for gifted children. I don't know my parents real name. My name is Minoru Takada now."
"Sounds like a smart kid," Aizawa remarked, "and very respectful to others. He communicates well."
"That's the way I was brought up," Minoru said. "I'm may only by three years old, but I have already taken an IQ test. I scored very high for my age group."
"He reminds me of you, Light," Soichiro said smiling. "You were exceptionally bright at this age too."
That night, the Kira Task Force left for the evening. Soichiro wondered if Light was going to be okay looking after Minoru alone, but Light said he would manage. He said he would just fall back on his training when he was a kid taking care of Sayu when everyone was working.
"What about Misa?" his father asked.
"She won't be coming home tonight," Light replied. "Mogi called and said he and Misa will be staying overnight at a hotel because she has to get up very early in the morning for an early morning shoot. Travelling back here would not be inconvenient. She's a movie actress and it comes with the territory."
"So does being a proper girlfriend," Soichiro remarked. "I know Misa loves you, but you haven't been spending a lot of time together. Her career and all the time you spend with your task force duties have kept you apart. There may come a time when you wondering if it still works?"
"Are you saying I should break it off with Misa?"
"That's up to you, Light. But I can see it in your face. She doesn't…how can I say this gently? Misa Amane is no Kiyomi Takada. I know you liked Kiyami a lot when you were in university. Come to think about, young Minoru looks a lot like her. But she's too young to have kids." Soichiro smirked.
Light nodded. "You never know, maybe Misa and I won't be a comparable match, and her career may start to interfere too much in our relationship? I may start things back up with Kiyomi?" Light put a finger to his lips. "But don't repeat that to Misa. You know how jealous she can get."
"Right. But in all truth, Light," Soichiro began, "you and Kiyomi make a better match. She's smart and I know you still like her, but I'll keep that hush-hush. I wouldn't want you to me knifed in your sleep."
"Thanks for the image, Dad," Light said facetiously. Although, I wouldn't put it pass her to do something like that, he thought.
Soichiro smiled. "Good-night, son," he then said. "But if you need anything, call me."
"'Night," Light said, and closed the door to his apartment, locking it.
He went to his bedroom and saw Minoru fast asleep in bed. The boy was probably exhausted and the shock of the day probably made him just want to drift off, hoping it was all just a dream?
Light smiled thinly, then shut the door gently. He settled in at his computer station and began to work on a few files regarding the task force. He needed to stay ahead of the task force and make them believe Kira's acumen was absolute. He would falsify information and then secretly leak it to the internet, so it would spread, and the task force would stumble upon it. The fake news about Kira would act as bread crumbs for the task force to follow, distracting them, which would make them waste their time, and then lead to a dead end, as usual. All the while he, Kira, would continue his reign and cleanse the world of evil.
Ryuk manifested through the wall, coming out from the bedroom. Light had not seen him in there when he checked on Minoru, so he must have just arrived back from wherever he had come from. He had asked him to find clues to the whereabouts of Demetre Draycott, his friend. Hopefully, he found something. His friend has become aloft since their stand off on the roof of the old Kira Task Force building.
Light's nose still ached whenever the temperature dropped low enough after Demetre head-butt him in the nose just before he left him taking Dana Chika with him.
"Cute kid," Ryuk remarked. "Out like, well, a you…" The Shinigami chuckled.
"Ha, ha! Very funny," Light rebuked. "Any news on finding Demmy? I want to know where he ran off to? You said he was no longer with the Savant Society."
“Nope, no one as seen him,” Ryuk reported. “Something strange about that kid, Light,” the Shinigami then said ambiguously.
Light turned in his chair at his computer station. "What do you mean?"
"The kid…He's probably not even aware of it—his real name, that is," the Shinigami said.
"Yes, he told me. He said he was adopted, left on the front step of an orphanage when he was a child." Then Light face palmed himself. "Of course, how stupid of me. You can see his real name above his head and his lifespan. You're not very forthcoming with information, but I want to know. I want to help the kid find his real parents. I don't know why. I felt something about him, as well. My Dad said he kind of looks like Kiyomi Takada, but that's impossible."
"It might just be more plausible than you think," Ryuk said cryptically.
"What is?"
"His first name is correct, but that's it. His surname is different. His real birth name. Remember when I said when a person is born and a human is christened with a name, the Universal Construct remembers? Once a human is birthed, their surname is automatically given to them derived by their parents. If they marry, and the woman takes the husband's name, then a child's name is the father's. If two people have a child, and they are not married, then the two surnames are hyphened. Sometimes this confuses the Death Note. Just a little information for you to know. But that's all you'll get. If you try to use the Death Note on a person with a fake name, it won't work. When you killed Naomi Misora, she originally gave you a fake name to protect herself from Kira; the Death Note didn't work."
Light gave Ryuk a narrow stare. "I didn't know about the hyphenation rule, Ryuk. That may be the reason some people whose names I've written down don't die. I wish you wouldn't keep valuable information like this to yourself. It makes my job as Kira harder."
"Do you have any relatives living in Japan on your father's side?"
"Not that I'm aware of. A long time ago, one of my ancestors by the name of Joseph Savant started the Savant Society, but our ancestry is pretty scarce after that. But Minoru is Japanese and that is a fact. You have me curious, Ryuk."
"The kid's last name is Yagami."
"What?" Light said, a little too loud for comfort. He cleared his throat. "How the hell can that be?"
Ryuk shrugged his shoulders. "But he may not related to you?" he said. "I don't need to remind you that there are tons of humans with the same names in the Human World. I can't even count how many have the last name Tanaka in Japan. However, Yagami is rare."
Light stood shocked. He mused, quickly thinking about other relatives that may explain for this. However, the boy did say he was orphaned. But even if he learned which orphanage he was left at, who left him would still be a mystery. There would be no way to know.
"It has to be a coincidence," Light said, "nothing more. But once everything is settled and his father finally comes to collect him, I want you to keep a close eye on him. If something untold happens to me, who knows, some time in the future, if I fail in my plight, let's say—I certainly hope not—give Minoru a Death Note. A Yagami must continue Kira's work, much like dynasty. But don't tell him about me—at least, not at first. Give him sometime to settle in with the Death Note."
"What if he chooses to, say, give it up—that he doesn't want it?"
"Insist on it. Besides, anyone who knows about the power of the Death Note will want to use it. You never know, Minoru may even want to do something noble with it? Say use it against some ugly tyrant? Or, he may want to use it more ambitiously? Who knows?"
"Not sure I would put much faith in that. Anyone who uses a Death Note can't go to Heaven or Hell. You didn't care about that, but he might?"
"Maybe he'll find a way to use it without actually using it? If that's even possible? Unless there's rule about that? Right now, you have to use it to make a contract with a Shinigami."
"True, but a human can touch a Death Note and doesn't have to use it. They cam simply give it back and their memories are erased. It's been known to happen. But then some other Shinigami may come along and kill that person. The 'Hole' or Probable Orb I have allows any Shinigami to view the Human World. They instantly become aware of anyone who has touched a Death Note and it basically makes them a target, a beacon for their own demise—if a Shinigami wants to increase their own lifespan."
"That's unfair," Light said. "What if someone does something wonderful for humanity with it that not only brings prosperity to humans, but even makes the Shinigami Realm better for it?"
"The Shinigami King hates happiness. He would probably just slam that happiness down."
"I better not piss him off then," Light said.
"Yeah, that wouldn't be a very good idea," Ryuk said back.
The very next day, the NPA were able to get a hold of Minoru Tanaka's foster-father and surgery on his foster-mother was a success. She would make a full recovery.
Light kept it to himself what could be very potentially important information to his own family lineage and his own future. After the whole incident, and Minoru went home, he found himself very interested in his own ancestry. Not revealing why, but he asked his father about their family.
Unfortunately, his father knew little. But he did offer to bring over some old scrap books.
The very next evening, Light sat in the living room of his apartment alone and spent the time reminiscing and looking through the scrap books his father brought over.
They were just pictures and revealed little.
He leaned back and sipped his wine. He wasn't much of drinker, he felt it dimmed the senses, but tonight he felt the need for some relaxation. He needed to unwind.
And he suddenly had a crazy thought. Or maybe it was alcohol playing with his brain, but since Shinigami existed, and dimension travel was a reality, could time travel? Was Albert Einstein right about his theories? Was Minoru Tanaka from the future? That would mean a time traveller would have to have dropped him off at the orphanage from the future for some hidden purpose?
It was such a wild thought. That would mean at some point in the future he and Kiyomi would get together and have a child together—causing some sort of paradox junction to happen for them to seek each other out after he met Minoru? Minoru did look a lot like Kiyomi, he had to admit.
He chuckled at it as he took another sip. It was his second glass of the night. Maybe he was too drunk to think clearly? It was so ludicrous that he laughed out loud.
Regardless, he wondered what Kiyomi Takada was doing right now?
End...
Author's Note: The Savant Society and the concept of the 'Universal Construct' was first mentioned in my story 'The Draycott Factor'