Light walked the familiar streets of his home city. It was a beautiful warm day. Behind him a tall, dark winged shinigami flew softly, giggling the whole way. Light smiled as he saw stores that he had forgotten existed. He walked by the great flat screen television where he used to watch important news of Japan and the world. He continued walking. He had a T-shirt on with a black jacket and jeans. His head was half hidden under a cap. He walked relaxed, his eyes fixed on the street that would lead to his destiny. He was close and already could hear the cheering of many young girls and boys. He walked until he could see clearly the great wall of a school. Outside kids were having a break, some playing, others chatting. He looked and searched among the uniformed kids for the one and only person he most desired to see. And then his eyes caught her. Not so far from the gate, near a great tree, he saw in the company of friends, a brown-haired girl. His beloved sister. He had to compel himself not to cry out her name. He felt a pain in his chest and held his tears in. To see her there, so close and yet so far, unreachable, pained him deeply. But it had been his choice, a great sacrifice, one he never regretted. He remained there the whole break. He smiled as he saw his sister laugh with her friends, so lively, so happy in her simple life. But as the bell rang and everybody left, the courtyard was soon empty.

Light recommenced his walk. Ryuk continued laughing, something Light decided to ignore. He walked and fixed his eyes on the street that led to his next great aim. Not so far from his little sister's school he saw a great light yellow building with many, many windows in a row. The courtyard had a space with fresh green grass. He stopped next to the entrance and looked at his watch. Ryuk started laughing harder. A long moment of stillness. There was nobody to be seen, nothing to be heard besides the continuous laughter of a crazy shinigami. And then he saw it. A small object falling from the sky. A black notebook. Light knew that his 17 year old counterpart was watching the notebook fall down. He knew he was following it with his eyes and wondering what it was, how it fell from above. He knew that he was questioning himself as to whether someone had dropped it from the roof. And there below, at the entrance, Light waited anxiously for the sound of the bell. He had to be quick. He waited patiently while he watched Ryuk jump around like a fool, laughing madly. And then he heard the bell. Light waited not a second longer. He ran to the middle of the courtyard, grabbed the notebook, ran back outside and hid himself behind a wall. He hid the Death Note inside his jacket and watched the first students come outside. He saw many familiar faces, some with a name and some anonymous to him. He then saw himself. Tall and beautiful, walking slowly, ignoring two giggling girls nearby him. He stared a while at the spot where the black notebook had landed. He looked around to check if it had moved to somewhere else or if someone had it. But he didn't see it anymore. He turned around bored, looked at his watch and decided to go home. He didn't notice the man half hidden behind a wall, who had seen everything happen. The teenager simply walked back home, oblivious to what he had just lost, what he had just escaped from. Light breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Ryuk, who was thrilled by the whole scene.

Light started walking again, his Death Note well hidden under his jacket. He walked and walked until he reached a new complex of buildings. There too were many students, but they were older. Light had to smile a bit as he recognized the tennis field where he and L had had their first match. Some guys were playing tennis there, none of them comparable to Light or L. He walked and stopped at an empty bench under a tree. He grinned at the memory of L sitting here with a small book, acting silly as if he had come for an innocent visit. The day Kira thought he would kill L, the day Kira thought he would be defeated by L. He remained there a while in silence. Then he reached his hand inside his jacket and took out the Death Note. He looked at it, opened it, saw the rules, and saw the white unwritten pages. He closed it again and placed the notebook on the bench. He lifted himself and left, not looking back one single time, not wanting to know who would pick it up.

- --

"Hi Light" L said, not turning himself to face Light. He sat crouched in front of a computer and three televisions that were showing the same image, time after time. Next to him was a bowl that Light knew was originally filled with ice cream. "Managed to see your sister?"

"Yes, I did." Only then L turned around to face Light. He stared a while silently at Light, his long hair almost hanging in his big round eyes, his black bags that had been growing the past days giving him a somber look. He was pale but not as skinny as before. Light smiled as he realized that L must have put on two to four kilos during all the years they lived together.

"Are you ok?" The young detective asked.

"Yeah. Did you find anything new?" L stared a moment analyzing Light. He turned back to the computer again and pointed at the TVs.

"Our suspicions were correct. Here you can see Hang Li pass a suitcase to this guy. I already tracked the identity of this man. His name is Phillip Woods, also known as the Underdog. He always seems to know how to trick his enemies with his insecure looks and behavior, but he is actually very clever and is known to be dangerous. It seems that the FBI has been trying to track him down for illegal traffic of drugs and false money between Japan, Korea and China, for five years already." He handed a pile of papers to Light. "You were right about your father. He's demonstrated to be a very reliable help in this case. I need you to go tomorrow as Watari to the police station to make contact. Will it be a problem?"

"It will be strange, but I don't think it will be a problem." Light then saw another pile of paper next to his seat. "I see the boys have been writing their own theories about the case."

"Yes" L spoke while his eyes were on fixed the computer screen. "They are getting better. I'm thinking to engage them in the next case. What do you think?"

"You know very well that I believe in their capacities, especially Near. He's the one that thinks along the same lines as us."

"I agree completely. Yet Matt is much better in observation and Mello is very creative and flexible in finding solutions." Light nodded in agreement. "Isn't that Kira person supposed to appear soon?"

"Yes, I do remember the killings started happening in this month or the next one." L turned again to face Light.

"I fear for our lives, still I want to catch this person. I will not let myself be killed this time." Light smiled. They had the advantage that they knew all the rules of the Death Note. And this time there were no fake rules. And there was no possible way in this world that Light would let L introduce himself personally to Kira. He doubted too that Kira would be as intelligent as himself; still he had to be careful. He looked at Ryuk who smiled back. Let the fun begin.

A/N

A short last chapter. Actually it gives a small glimpse of how things went after Light "confessed" himself to L and L, in his turn accepted Light as who he truly was.

I must say I didn't really think about writing a sequel following this story, but after reading the last very enthusiastic and (almost) imploring reviews, I thought "Why not? It's quite an interesting idea, actually." So I've decided to indeed make a sequel to follow up this story. But attention, before you start screaming out of joy, or whatever you are doing right now, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while. I'm going in holidays and that means I'm taking a break of Fanfiction too. Of course as soon as I'm back I will start my new story.

Anyway, I already have some ideas that do correspond to the suggestions of some of you. Well done, you have not only convinced me to write a sequel but also gave me some inspiration. Thank you all very much!

I have no title yet, so I guess you will have to check out my profile in…let's see… at least a month from now (I'm sorry, I am going in holidays!)

Now, about this last chapter… This is of course a kind of conclusion of this story and you could call it a prologue for the next one.

As you probably already understood, Light and L team up and work both as L. Watari is sort of out of the story (I'll write more about this in the next sequel) and Light takes over his part. The three successors of L: Near, Mello and Matt are still living in Wammy's House but have regular contact with L and Light. They all receive homework that's both given by L and Light. As you probably already understood, L and Light work as equals, at least that's what I'm figuring now…I guess I'll have to think more about this all during my holidays…

Just to clarify one thing: Light cannot really go home to his time…well he could, but as Ryuk already explained, he cannot travel to the future. This means Light, who is now in 2003 and is 28 years old would return to the exact moment he departed. It's possible, but really weird. And L, well, he definitely cannot go to Light's time, since it's for him the future. Quite tricky this time travel thing.

I want to thank everybody for reading my story and reviewing it. I realize now that you are a major source of inspiration. This was, after all, my very first ever written story. It's funny, now that I have Beta, I've been rereading the first chapters and noticed how short they were. I clearly can follow a development in my style. First short stories, maybe I was being cautious. As the story developed, the length of the chapter grew too (with the exception of one of two). And the subjects were becoming deeper, less easy going than in the beginning. Quite curious.

I'm also surprised that many of you thought I was going to give a sad ending. Its fun seeing things from the other side.

Hey, don't see this chapter as the end, but more as a beginning. I promise I will start the new story, but only after (did I already mention?) I come back from my holidays XD

Love to you all.

Yours forever,

Appeltonic

PS: if there are questions about this story, please email me. I might just add an A/Q section to this story.

Keep in touch!