A/N: Yes. The story I have been dying to begin for quite some time now. Originally, this was planned to be released after I finished The Dark Hour, but since I'm incredibly impatient about such things, I'm going to go ahead and release this now. Because I might not finish the Dark Hour on time, I'm going to add small flashbacks and have characters explaining the events that took place in the Dark Hour. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Inamorata

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of its respective characters, nor do I own Erin Blogger who is the property of WhiteLadyDragon. However I do own the original characters seen here, and the writings of this story, please do not use them without my permission.

Prologue – The Last Time

November 1st 2004

The snow was piling on the grounds of Wammy's House for Gifted Orphans, making everything seem fresh and clean.

It seemed odd and Ryuzaki could not shake the feeling that he should treasure being there, in the very moment he was experiencing. He was not a sentimental kind of man, although the fact that he had deliberately snuck away from his precious Kira case to visit the orphanage would perhaps say differently.

Watari was watching carefully over Light Yagami for him, ready to alert him should the boy even breathe suspiciously.

It was foolish to walk away from Kira so nonchalantly, for something so...sentimental, but he would return to headquarters by nightfall. No one would realize his absence, and he would only be here for an hour.

It was odd that snow would fall on Halloween, a mere night ago. Mello, as usual, had been the first child to alert him to the strange weather, sending him cheery emails late in the hours of the night when he should be safely sleeping in bed.

He couldn't help but feel a bit of fondness for the child, no, that would be a lie. He felt...almost an odd sort of love for the little Russian boy, intelligent and full of emotions, things that Ryuzaki could sometimes only dream of feeling.

His fingers, pale and spidery tapped the window of his office, where he watched the blond teen toss snowballs at his redheaded shadow, Matt. Just a few feet away from Mello's legs was a young girl sitting on a snow covered bench. Her long brown hair was held up in a swan comb at the nape of her neck. She seemed disinterested in the snow however, and far more interested in her artwork.

Ryuzaki's mouth cricked in a smile when Mello stopped his friend from attacking her with snowballs. Mello gave Matt a look and then went to sit by the girl, peering nosily over her shoulder.

He could still remember the first time he ever laid eyes upon the girl, scarcely nine years old at the time.

Ryuzaki had just finished with a rather droll, boring case that had scarcely taken any time at all to solve, but it had simply been something to do, and boredom was sometimes his most challenging foe.

As it was customary, Watari sent him the files about every orphan they were sent to acquire. Watari usually did this himself, but something about this Estonian girl's file had piqued his interest.

Namely, she was a girl.

Wammy's House had only been filled with boys, and the mere fact that there was the possibility of a girl coming to stay among the ranks was intriguing.

The second thing that interested him was that her parent, her mother was alive, and had not wanted her. She was offering to give the girl away, because the girl talked to things that were not there, because the girl was crazy.

Ryuzaki himself had retrieved her, and had brought her back to Wammy's House. It had been disheartening to learn that her english was so poor. In customary tradition, he gave her the name Linda. However, she disliked the changing of her given name, which was Layla.

And Mello disliked the fact she had been given a name at all, or so it seemed.

So, despite Ryuzaki's protests, Linda's name remained Layla to those closest to her.

In an attempt to both teach, and protect her, Ryuzaki had paired her off with Mello, the most brash, insolent child of the House. At first, Ryuzaki had been displeased to find that Mello thoroughly disliked the little Estonian girl, and other than teaching her english as his superior had instructed, the boy did not pay any attention to Layla.

However, Mello was perhaps not as cold as he seemed, because soon after, the pair became inseparable. And like the red haired boy known as Matt, Layla too became another one of Mello's shadows.

But several years had passed since then, and now both Mello and Layla were teenagers. Their childish, supple bodies slowly becoming adult like.

The two teens now sat outside, Layla sketching and Mello simply, watching her. Ryuzaki could not help but notice the strange look in Mello's blue eyes as they shifted from Layla's sketch to her face.

He...wants something, that much is certain, he wants something more.

As if struck by something sudden, Layla's head turned, and for the most brief, bittersweet moment, their lips are close enough to kiss.

Ryuzaki's breath tightened, hitching slightly in his throat, while his nails nearly scraped uselessly against the glass.

Take the chance. He pleaded silently.

But, Mello seemed to realize what the act of kissing her might do, and he leaned away with a casual insult. Layla however looked quite disappointed as he walked away, her hand twitching uselessly on the snow covered bench.

Ryuzaki turned his his eyes away from the two of them and strode out of his office.

When he reached the play room, he could not help but notice Near, as usual, alone and playing with his puzzles.

How sad that loneliness came easy to the boy already.

How sad that such boys would choose to be lonely.

Almost on a whim, Ryuzaki strode to the boy's side, and very lightly, tousled the albino child's hair in his fingers.

But Near was not distracted, and merely went on solving his puzzle.

As Ryuzaki stepped outside of the orphanage, he couldn't help but have the slightest feeling that this was the last time he would feel, anything at all.