Silent Dagger: Ok, this is way outside what I would normally do for a DN fic, but I just had the urge to write this so I'm going to see how it goes. COMPLETELY AU from the manga/anime, everyone is in High School, yep, all your favorite characters: Light, L, Misa, Mello, Near, Matt, B, Matsuda, and the rest of the cast are in this story. Ages have been altered for the sake of the story, as have some of the ties of the characters.

Summary: Light Yagami is the most brilliant student at the high school, until a transfer students comes in and proves to be his match in almost everything. An intense rivalry is born between the two as their loathing for one another creates an inseparable bond.

Rated: M – for violence, language, sexual content, abuse, bullying and adult themes

Chapter One: Rivalry Born

Light Yagami was the top student at the Kanto Regional High School and he looked the part too. His auburn hair was always combed to perfection, his silky bangs swept across his forehead and his amber eyes always alert and focused. It seemed the school uniform was made to fit him. The beige pants and jacket over the plain white button down with red tie did not look tacky on him as it did most of the other boys. It just gave him a refined look and most people could not ever picture him wearing anything different. Light Yagami in something so casual as jeans and a tee shirt? It just wasn't heard of. He was a Junior now, though everyone agreed that he was probably smart enough to simply jump right into the college level, Light, however, was in no rush and remained with the school.

He yawned slightly as he woke up that morning. Another Monday, definitely not his favorite day of the week. He followed his daily morning routine, showering, dressing, eating, then gathering his school supplies and throwing them into his backpack. He slung one strap over his shoulder and then headed out the door, saying a quick good bye to his parents who were still eating breakfast. Light wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. Soichiro Yagami was the Chief of the Japanese Police, a highly respected officer that Light looked up to immensely.

"Liiiight! Have a good day at school!" he heard a voice shout as soon as he stepped outside.

Light peered up at the second story window that opened to his little sister, Sayu's room and saw her standing there with a big grin on her face as she waved to him. Light smiled in return and waved back. "Thanks, Sayu, see you tonight."

The train station wasn't too far from his house, he didn't mind walking as it only took his about two minutes. He sighed inwardly as he walked. Today would be much the same as Friday, and the day before that and the day before that. Light would sit in class, everyone else would be raptly paying attention so they wouldn't be left behind, but Light already knew what the teachers were talking about. The teacher would ask a question, no one would be able to answer it and Light would stand up and give the answer. Simple as that. There was no reason to even hope for something new to happen during the day.

And in between classes? He would sit down to lunch with Misa, Matsuda, Mihael and Mail. Light hated Mihael, or as his friends called him Mello (where he got such a nickname Light wasn't even going to bother finding out) but he did not mind Mail, who went by Matt (and Light couldn't blame that because his real name was so weird), however, if he was going to sit with Matt he had to deal with Mello because the two of them were best friends. Mello's insufferable complaints about Nate River, however, drove Light to irritation faster than Misa's continual efforts to try and start a relationship.

Light didn't like Nate either. He was called Near by everyone because he was short so Mello thought it would be a good idea to call him Near since he was so close to the ground. Light thought the name was in bad taste simply because it was so bland and entirely not clever that it wasn't worth the effort trying to hassle Nate with it. Not that he could be hassled. The American transfer student who had come in a year ago, and who was a year younger than Light, didn't seem to be phased by anything. People made fun of him for being albino, but he never seemed to care, all he did was sit by himself and stack complicated towers with dice. He was right behind Light when it came to intelligence and if he hadn't been so socially awkward, Light might have actually tried to talk to him.

Yes, the days had become so predictable that Light hardly felt the need to even go to school anymore. He sighed as the train pulled in and he stepped on board, sitting down and taking out a notebook with his homework in it, checking it for mistakes he knew he hadn't made.

"Light!"

He looked up and saw Misa coming over to him with a big smile on her face. Misa was beautiful, there was no doubt about it, in fact, Light would even go so far as to say she was the best looking girl in the school. Her blond hair was held up in pig tails, though the back was hanging loosely about her shoulders. Her large brown eyes were sparkling with delight and her perfectly sculptured face had make up applied to it evenly, not too much to be gaudy and not too little to not be noticed. She was wearing the beige uniform, brown skirt falling to her knees, but that wasn't her style at all. Whenever Light hung out with her outside of school she was dressed in gothic and Lolita clothing. Miniskirts, chains, zippers, dark colors, these were the things Misa preferred.

"Hey, Misa, what are you doing on this train?" Light asked.

"Misa Misa's car broke down this morning," Misa sighed. She had a tendency to talk in the third person though Light had never discovered why. She probably thought it was cute, and it worked for most people. Matsuda was constantly drooling after her. "So, Misa got stuck taking the train and noticed you get on."

Light chuckled. Even if he didn't feel that he really fit into the school or with the other people of that school, he didn't mind the few people he spent time with. Misa's flirting drove him to the edge sometimes, but when she actually managed to control herself around him he didn't really mind her company all that much. "What are you going to do about your car?" he asked.

"Misa's father is going to bring it in to get checked," she replied.

"Well I wish your car luck then," Light said.

Misa giggled and stretched languidly. "Misa heard some gossip the other day," she said, eyes widening as she just realized this.

"Oh?" Light asked, not really interested.

"Yes, Matsu called her; Matsu told Misa that there was a transfer student coming in!" Misa exclaimed.

Light shrugged. "That's nice, Misa," he said. But it didn't matter to him. There had been talk when Near had been coming in as well and look where that got him. Although the younger boy was obviously very smart, he never participated in classes, he opted to sit in silence in the back of the room and the only reason anyone knew he was smart was his flawless test scores.

"You don't seem all that excited," Misa pouted, clearly thinking she had failed him in some way.

Light blinked and forced a smile. "No, no, I'm sure it will be something to talk about," he said for about a day he thought to himself wearily. Misa perked up with what he said though and then started talking about she really thought she might want to become a model. Her mother, a famous agent for the modeling world, had already talked to some potential covers, so long as they kept her daughter from doing anything considered inappropriate. Several photographers had already said Misa had what it took to rise to the top. Light always wished her the best of luck with it. He'd rather her put her mind to better use, but Misa wasn't the brightest of girls, though she showed enormous cleverness on rare occasions that always tended to surprise him, but if she really wanted to do this he would support her as her friend should.

They got to the school about half an hour later and walked through the gates together. Kanto Regional High was a well to-do school. It was for wealthier kids, a private school, in other words. The grounds were large considering its location and the building itself was styled in the traditional Japanese style for the most part, with great swooping roofs though the inside it was completely modern.

"Blargh, Misa has gym first…Misa hates gym, it makes her make up run sometimes," Misa complained as they walked through the doors.

"Maybe you should wait until after your gym class to put on your make up on then?" Light suggested.

Misa stared at him for a moment. "You want Misa to walk around without make up?" she asked in horror.

Sensing a Misa tantrum, Light held up his hands defensively. "It was just a suggestion," he said.

Misa took a few deep breaths and nodded. "Okay, well, Misa should be off to change into her cute gym shorts," she said, fluttering her eyelashes at him. "Come find me later, ne?"

"Sure Misa," Light said, turning his back on her and heading towards his first class. He had history first. One of his classes that he literally felt was a waste of time. He already knew everything they were going over and the class was just so boring to him. Today they were going over European History. He was just going to make sure he didn't yawn at any point during the class.

He settled into his usual seat next to Matt and the redhead glanced up from the PSP he was hiding in his lap to grin at him. "Hey there, Light," he said. "Anything new?"

Light rolled his eyes. "Is there ever?" he asked.

Matt shrugged. "I got to a new level in my game," he offered.

"Congratulations."

"Thanks, I need to beat this boss before class starts though, so consider me no longer here for the time being," Matt said.

Light shrugged as Matt got focused on his game again. Honestly, the kid was more concerned about those than people. There were plenty of girls trying to catch Matt's eye. The redhead was good looking and his style definitely appealed to a lot of the girls here as when he was out of his uniform he wore a stripped white and black shirt, jeans, boots and a white vest, custom made. The goggles that were usually perched on his head were now hanging around his neck as he poked his tongue between his teeth, completely engrossed in whatever game he was playing.

The teacher walked in with his usual notes tucked under his arm and greeted them all with his usual opening that Light had learned to tune out of his mind now. He did notice it took him a bit longer to get started this time and that he was gesturing towards something in the back, but Light was too uninterested to care. He rested his chin on his hand, amber eyes staring ahead of him, almost looking dead as the teacher's voice filled the room in a dangerously slow monotone.

He heard when a question was asked and as usual the awkward silence of students pointedly looking anywhere but at the front of the room filled the room. Light sighed and was about to stand up to answer and end the ridiculous quiet, when a voice beat him to it. He had never heard this voice before. It was smooth, but it didn't seem to like speaking in front of all these people, but it was confident in the answer being given.

Light blinked and looked towards the back of the room and saw the strangest boy he had ever seen standing there answering the question with as much detail as Light would have given. The boy was awkward…very, very awkward. Whereas Light fit into the uniform, this guy seemed to repel it. His tie hung in a loose mess; it didn't even look like it was on right. His button down shirt wasn't tucked in all the way and hung in a wrinkled tail at the back. The pants were too baggy; the jacket was worn lopsided and also looked too big. But it was just ill fitting clothing that made him weird. Unless he was mistaken, the kid had slipped his shoes off and was standing on them instead of in them, his black hair spiked out and was a wild mess and his eyes were large round black orbs. Under them were dark lines that made him look as though he hadn't slept in months and his skin was so pale it was a wonder he wasn't shielding himself from the light of the classroom. And yet, despite his appearance, unless he had misheard him, this weirdo was giving even more details than Light would have if he had answered the question. He felt floored.

"Wooo competition," Matt snickered under his breath as the freak sat down.

Light threw him an exasperated glare and Matt just chuckled. Light had every intention of stealing his PSP and throwing it out the window for that comment. Suddenly Light wished that he had been paying slightly more attention earlier so he could at least know what this freak's name was. He blinked when he realized those dark eyes were focused on his face now and that weirdo was tilting his head to the side, most likely curious as to why he was being stared at.

Light turned his face away and focused back on the teacher who was complimenting the answer he received. The rest of the class Light was just waiting for a chance to prove that he was still the smartest student in the school and when the teacher asked the next question, he stood quickly to his feet, ignoring Matt's quiet chuckles as he answered it perfectly. As he resumed his seat he chanced a glance at the new kid, but he was busy…eating sugar cubes? That was disgusting.

The bell rang; signaling the end of the class and Light couldn't be more relieved. He wondered whether he should talk to the freak, or avoid him at all costs. Matt was nudging him, saying all sorts of taunting remarks and Light gave him such a glare that Matt probably felt like Mello as he got those glares all the time. He laughed and shook his head. "Sorry, sorry," he said. "…Have fun," he added, glancing over to the side.

Light paused and hardly noticed Matt walk past because the odd ball was approaching him. He wasn't sure whether it was to talk though, because he was currently pulling at his tie with thumb and forefinger as if unsure of what it was around his neck. Light frowned and waited for him. He noticed that the other boy's shoes were untied. What a mess.

"Oy," Light said.

Apparently, the boy didn't think he was talking to him for he kept walking which led him to walk right into Light. Frowning at the collision Light took a step back from the weirdo, who blinked slowly and looked up. Light bet he was as tall as him, but he was slouched over so he had to tilt his head up to meet Light's gaze.

"Yagami should not stand in doorways."

His blunt tone was a shock to Light, almost as much as hearing him use his name. "How do you know my name?" he demanded.

"Hijime-san said it at the start of class when he introduced me to the class," the other student explained.

"Oh," Light said.

He began to walk away and Light couldn't believe this was happening. Everyone at this school sought to spend time with him. Girls wanted to be with him, boys wanted to be him, and both genders felt immensely lucky if he spared them even a minute for conversation. And yet here was this little freak walking away from him as if he were nothing. Light felt very annoyed, he was not used to being ignored.

"Hey, wait a minute," Light said.

The other stopped in his tracks and turned to look at him, wide eyes puzzled. Light strode over to him.

"So, are you always so bright or was that just a fluke?" he asked.

Those black eyes narrowed some. "I am always like that," he replied. "Does Yagami feel threatened?"

Slightly

"Of course not," Light scoffed. "I was just wondering if there was finally someone else in this school with intelligence…what's your name anyway? I'm afraid I didn't catch it."

"L."

Light stared at him for a moment. "What?" he asked.

"L, it is not that complicated, Yagami."

"You're name is L? Just L? No last name? No real first name?" Light demanded.

L sighed and shrugged his slender shoulders. "L is my real first name, my last name is Lawliet."

L Lawliet? What kind of a name is that?

Light frowned. "All right then, good to know," he said before walking past L and heading towards his next class which he had with Misa and Matsuda. He wondered if they had met L yet. He shook his head. Why was he thinking about that guy so much anyway? It didn't really matter now did it? So he was smart, Near was smart too and he hadn't given him much thought. He was weird, but that was more of a reason not to associate with him. No, Light knew why he couldn't drive the other from his mind. Because he had challenged him, and Light hated to lose so he was determined to beat L no matter what the competition was.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Neither Matsuda nor Misa had had a class with the mysterious L and so Light was left to brood on the meeting alone. When lunch finally came about his took his customary seat with his usual group. Misa once again tried to steal Matt's goggles to see if they went with her style, but Matt, possessive of his items, refused her again and what proceeded was a long drawn out argument which ended with Misa pouting and Mello laughing at them both.

Light barely took notice of it and glanced around slightly to see where L was, but the new student was no where in the lunch room. He chanced a look at the table that Near inhabited solely, but it seemed that L wasn't attracted to other peculiar students and Near was once again by himself, setting up a house of cards. He sighed and continued eating his lunch and Matsuda seemed to sense his foul mood and looked at him.

Matsuda was another person Light couldn't really relate to. The dark haired male was slightly older than him, about a year or so, and had been held back in school. He wasn't stupid, he was just careless and lazy and had therefore not noticed that he was failing most of his classes last year. Bumbling and clueless, Matsuda was everything Light was not, but when it came to picking up emotions, he was pretty sharp.

"What's troubling you, Light?" he asked.

Tact was another thing he was lacking. He could have at least lowered his voice, but had neglected to do so. Now the others were looking at him, the silence only being broken by loud crunches as Mello consumed a chocolate bar.

"Nothing," Light lied.

"Thinking about your rival?" Matt asked slyly.

Light frowned at him and Mello leaned back in his chair. "Oh yeah, Matt was saying something about that earlier. Light Yagami was finally outshone today."

"Shut up, Mello," Light snapped, he had no patience for the blond. "I was not outshone at all, it's just that someone finally decided not to leave the entire class to me."

"Misa knows that Light is still number one!" Misa exclaimed, holding up one finger to emphasis her point. Light spared her a quick smile.

"Of course you do, you're in love with him," Mello muttered, earning a snort from Matt and a glare from Misa.

"I still want to meet this guy," Matsuda said. "See how smart he really is."

"I don't see why it matters that much," Light replied with a shrug. "It wasn't even that hard of a question, right Matt?"

"No, not really. I could have answered it, I just didn't feel like it," Matt agreed. "But it was like listening to you, Light, that guy knows what he's talking about. Definitely didn't just get the answer out of the book."

"Where is he anyway?" Mello interrupted, craning his neck to see the entire cafeteria. "Matt said he's as weird as that stupid albino in the corner."

Light sighed. "Honestly, do you all thrive off of gossip? He's just a new student, what's so weird about it?" he asked.

They all looked at him and he just shook his head. There was an awkward silence that was eventually broken by Matsuda. "Hey, that new movie came out; you know the one…that horror movie? We should all go see it," he suggested.

"Why? You'll just be scared shitless for the next few days," Mello smirked. "Remember after we went to see Saw? Matt asked if you wanted to play Mario and you thought he was going to hack you into little pieces."

Matsuda's face turned crimson. "So? I could handle this!"

Light was relieved that the subject had been changed and now they were all talking about horror movies and making plans to see this one. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. "Excuse me," he said, standing up and walking out of the cafeteria to take the call. It was his father. "Hello, father," he said politely.

"Hello, Light, sorry to say this, but I won't be home until late again, so let your mother and sister know, all right?" Soichiro asked.

"Yes, it's no problem, dad, we all know how busy you are with your job," Light assured him.

His father thanked him and hung up. Light put the phone back in his pocket and was preparing to go back into the cafeteria when he saw L coming inside. Students weren't really supposed to go outside during lunch, but apparently L was above the rules already. His arrogance was irritating, mainly because it matched his own, but Light was wise enough to at least follow the rules. He rolled his eyes and was about to ignore him until he saw the look on L's face. The other student looked distraught. Light cleared his throat to announce his presence.

L looked up and his expression immediately went back to its stoic mask. "Hello again, Yagami," he said simply.

Light was about to ask if everything was all right, but he felt that L didn't deserve that privilege. "You know you're not really supposed to just wander out of the school."

L shrugged. "I saw no problem with it," he said. "If you have one then I shall remember not let you catch me doing it."

Light took in a slow and even breath. "I don't really care what you do, Lawliet," he said. "I was just letting you know."

"Ah, thank you for the reminder of the rules I already know then, Yagami," L replied.

"What were you doing anyway?" Light asked, grinding his teeth together in order not to start shouting at this irritating student.

"I had a phone call," L replied.

Without another word he walked off, away from the cafeteria, but Light didn't care. He already knew that he really didn't like L Lawliet. He was rude and conceited and what was worse everything he said seemed to try and undermine Light. He shook his head and walked back into the cafeteria and to his table, though there was only about five more minutes for lunch in the first place.

"Is everything all right, Light?" Misa asked.

"Yeah, just my father letting me know he's going to be home late," Light replied.

"I bet your old man is having an affair," Mello grinned. "He always says he's going to be home late."

"Mello, unless you want to lose your teeth I suggest you don't say anything like that again," Light said, clearly not amused.

"Yagami-san is a highly respected man, he's to be admired, not slandered," Matsuda agreed.

Matsuda's dream was to become a police officer and he both respected and admired Light's father as an idol. He once admitted to Light that it was his father who had inspired him to pick this path.

"Hey, hey, look what's on the move," Mello said, probably to get the glares sent his way focused on something else. Everyone followed his gaze and saw Near making his way out of the cafeteria. "Watch this," he grinned mischievously. He took out a sling shot he'd made in his spare time and loaded it with a small piece of popcorn chicken. Light sighed at the childish antics about to take place, but Mello ignored him and took aim and fired.

The piece of chicken hit Near right between the eyes and he stopped in his tracks as laughter rang out in the room. His dark gaze landed on Mello and he narrowed his eyes slightly before continuing on his way.

"Wow, that little wimp won't ever fight back," Mello smirked.

"Maybe because he doesn't care," Light said waspishly.

Mello made a face at him and Misa promptly smacked him in the head. Mello rounded on her angrily and yet another argument broke out but thankfully the bell rang again and Light was glad to be leaving them behind for his next class. English was something he wasn't really interested so he zoned out for the most of it and passed on to his next and last class, math.

He was in this class with Near, Matsuda and Mello. Which meant that he would have to listen to Mello hissing things to Near and Matsuda telling him to lighten up. He went to sit in his seat, but saw it was being occupied by none other than L. The raven-haired boy was currently mulling over a sheet of paper in front of him that seemed to have very complicated math problems on them. Light sighed and sat in the seat next to him, but L didn't even look up at him. Light let his eyes gaze at the paper and realized that it was a practice exam for To-ou University and that so far, L had gotten ever single one right.

"Hey, you didn't eat the piece of chicken I sent your way, Near," Mello whispered.

In classic Nate River style, Near didn't even look at him, he was just sitting there twirling a strand of white hair between pale fingers.

"I was aiming for your mouth, guess your big forehead got in the way," Mello continued.

"Mello," Matsuda whimpered, clearly not comfortable that his friend was being so malicious towards another person.

Mello trained green eyes on Matsuda's face. "What do you want?" he snapped. "I wasn't even talking to you, Matsu."

"Your friends are rather irritating, Yagami."

Light blinked when he heard that voice and looked over at L, who was watching the scene between Mello, Near and Matsuda. "You don't have to tell me," Light sighed.

"I guess you just hang out with them for appearance's sake? So you are not like the one they call Near?" L asked.

Light frowned. "Why I hang out with them is none of your business, Lawliet."

"Just like the reasons why I am outside are none of yours," L said and Light swore he saw a bit of a smirk lift those pale lips.

So then, L hadn't been concerned about a fellow student being bullied, he just wanted to make sure Light never questioned what he was doing again. Light smirked and shook his head. "Whatever, Lawliet," he said. "Like I said, I don't really care what you do."

"So then you won't care from this moment on if I choose to ignore you?" L asked.

Light blinked in surprise and just stared at L for a moment before a smile crossed his lips. "Why would I care if you ignore me?" Light asked. "I hardly need you to entertain me or to talk to."

"Good, that is that then," L said, turning back to his papers.

It was weird that someone would say that to anyone. Weirder that someone would say that to Light, but he really didn't have to care. True he might regret losing another intellectual mind, someone who might be able to understand him without him having to tone down his way of thinking, but Light never pursued friendships with people, he just let people come to him and put up with them.

He turned his attention to the front of the room as the teacher began to talk, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he was a bit upset at how things had turned out. Oh well, he would get over it in a heartbeat and indeed, by the end of the class, he didn't even look at L as he gathered his books and left the classroom.

When Light got home he went immediately up to his room. Sayu was not home yet, she got home about an hour after him, for which he was thankful, he was brooding over the day's events in his mind and he wanted to be left alone. Misa insisted that they hang out earlier, so he wanted to get it out of the way before that happened. He lay down on his bed and just stared at his ceiling.

Something new had happened. Although he rather despised L Lawliet, he had to admit that the thought of a rival was invigorating. He actually had a reason to go to school if he had proper competition. But then L had gone and said he was going to ignore him. For how long? The rest of the year? Why did Light care? Well, one couldn't really have a good competition if the other side refused to acknowledge that he existed. He frowned to himself. Whatever, he didn't need to talk to L to beat him. He was just going to prove that he was smarter and that he was going to remain the top student.

He sighed and decided he would shower and get cleaned up before heading out to meet Misa.

Silent Dagger: Yes there is a reason for everything mwahaha! Anyway, like I said, very different from my other DN stories, but I felt like writing something a bit more real but was too lazy to make up characters and then I figured that Death Note characters and all their pasts and whatnot would actually fit what I was trying to do really well anyway.