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Chapter 1 - The Return

I do not own Death Note or any of the characters created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. I'm just a huge fan. The million other original characters in this story however belong to me.

"He's here! The car's just pulled up the drive!"

"Ooh, let me see! It's been ages since he's been back!"                                                                      I stalked down the cavernous hallway as the younger ones ran ahead of me whooping and hollering and scrambling to peer out of the tall windows on the left hand side. "Jinya! Beto! Quit running! I won't tell you again!" I scolded in English, since it usually made everyone perk up and listen. Especially those who still didn't have its full grasp. They had to listen extra hard.

"Do you think he's brought back presents again?" A gleeful voice peeped from my side, our youngest child, Ella.

I shrugged. "Probably just candy, like you lot don't have enough of that." My foot tripped over a toy robot left carelessly in the hallway and I staggered to regain my balance. "Near! Get your robots, spacemen and aliens out of the hallway this instant! I almost broke my neck!"

"Yeah, Near, pick up your space rubbish!" A voice sneered from one of the bedrooms, and a second later I heard a "whoomf" as Matt got walloped by likely another plastic robot. Near seemed to have an arsenal of them.

I shut my eyes for a second and took a deep breath in an attempt to meditate in the midst of chaos. I wasn't a nanny, governess or anything of the sort. I was just unfortunately, one of the oldest residents of Wammy's House and therefore a full-time guardian to the brood that occupied its walls. None of the kids here were typical, each had amazing gifts that had been detectable when they had been plucked out of orphanages and foster homes around the world when they were barely out of diapers, but all of them knew how to act like normal kids when they were excited. The "hero" coming home was one such occasion.

My eyes opened to see another one of the older ones, Fritz, striding down the hall dressed like the Red Baron in aviator glasses, a thick scarf and riding boots. Not again. I stepped in his way and gave him a stern look. "And just where are you off to?"

Fritz turned sheepish as he grinned down at me, trying to win me over with his Teutonic charm. "Oh Grace, just one quick flight. I've got to test the wind resistance on the new wings! I'll be back before you know it!"

Fritz had matured into quite the handsome chap, but I wasn't swayed. I gestured toward the windows where heavy rain pelted the glass. "If you think I'm going to let you up in the air in these conditions, again, after what happened last time, you're simply mad!"

Fritz sighed and pushed the goggles up onto his forehead. "No one was harmed, G. I don't see why everyone makes such a fuss still about it!"

Yes, perhaps Fritz had had the gods on his side when he plummeted into the stable's hayloft in a crash landing months back, but that didn't make it okay that he had nearly burnt it down and almost gave Clark, the stable master, apoplexy, after he had to rescue him.

"Clark's eyebrows haven't even grown back yet, and you still don't see why everyone is concerned." I threw my hands up in exasperation. "How many ways do I have to say it? No! Non! Nein! You're lucky Wammy allows you to fly when it's sunny!"

Clark had complained to our founder more than once after the "Fritz on Fire" incident that we, the residents of the house, shouldn't be allowed to indulge in any whim we desired, especially since such whims were usually dangerous. Fritz was more an amazing flight engineer than a reckless daredevil most of the time so Wammy had allowed him to keep building his odd plane experiments and turned a blind eye when they subsequently failed. He always encouraged every one of us to keep trying at something if it really caught our fancy, despite any risks involved. He was in charge of a home for gifted children after all, the good man was probably just thankful we weren't always bored.