Rukia Kurosaki

Eh, I've seen it written too many ways, so I just did it the popular way xD Thanks. Finally got up to chapter 11 done~~ 2 More to go. ^^

I really have no clue as to a team, and this round has really lost my interest. If there's anyone who'd like to play but couldn't get in, Lovestruck, you may offer them my space in the rp. If not, I assume I'm working with Mohorovicic and his group.

Yeah, it'll be explained in the next chapter in detail. The hint I'll give is 4869~

Conan smiled. Agasa had finished the update he'd requested and brought him a change of clothes for when he'd shrunk. He regretted that he couldn't visit Ran, but given the circumstances he knew much more was at stake. "Thanks." Agasa nodded, replying, "It's no problem, Shinichi. All I had to do was adjust them and the frequency will trace that button anywhere." The professor sighed, "I have to go back home. Ai-chan and the Detective Boys are helping me do some tinkering with old inventions, and if I leave for too long, I'm afraid my house will be gone when I return." Conan laughed. "I understand... You haven't told her where I'm going, have you?" "Who, Ai-chan?" With a nod, Conan added, "Don't let her know. I don't want her involved. She'll do something dangerous." Agasa frowned, watching him as he exited the yellow beetle. "Be careful Shinichi," he called. With a smile and a wave the shrunken detective turned and raced down the sidewalk, following the signal from his modified tracking glasses that led to the tracer he'd planted on Amontillado. "This is my thanks to you, Subaru-san... I won't let anything happen to her." Ten miles away, Amontillado entered her boss' favorite hideout, a second floor apartment with a front office he used to hold meetings. She took a deep breath, gripping the spare button on her jacket. Erru attributed it to nerves that she didn't remember having the spare before and left it at that. "Boss... You said this morning that you needed to see me?" From the shadows a figure appeared, striding to a chair and sitting grandly. Tall and lean, the boss towered over her even from his seat, beckoning for her to sit. Of course he's wearing his stupid mask, Amontillado thought, rolling her eyes as she took a seat parallel to his. Every time they'd met, he was wearing his childish mask and using a voice-changer, making Amontillado believe he was afraid to have his identity known, scared that someone would find out. "Amontillado, you've been in my employ for about three years, and now that you have your codename, are you content?" "What?" She tried to keep her voice level and blank, hoping she wouldn't betray her confusion. The boss' ever present smile remained frozen in place on the mask that had become his face as he responded to her inquiry. "Is this what you wanted when you joined us? Are you happy with things as they are, with you as a full member, with everything as it is?" How much did he know? This time, she couldn't keep her voice from cracking. "Why do you ask?" The boss shrugged, the shadows over his mask warping the plastered smile into a malicious grin. "I just thought," he began, taking something from his pocket, "That you might want to be yourself, if only for a short while, Erru." Between his thumb and forefinger he held a red and white capsule. "You..." "Of course I know who you are. I figured it out quite some time ago, when I learned of that detective brat's condition. You were so familiar, it didn't take me long to realize that you were that brat from ten years ago, Kinzie's precious daughter... When I remembered that Sherry's mother was the one Gin asked to dispose of you that day, everything became clear. You were given the second prototype of Apotoxin 4869. That's why you appear to be the same as you were then. You spent another childhood observing us and joined when you were once again of age to infiltrate our little syndicate, Erru." His free hand went to his chin in an attempt at appearing thoughtful, but rather than childish, he now looked sinister. "What a scenario... I may have to use it in a story," he mumbled with a laugh. She glanced back at the door, where Gin was now standing, blocking her way and glaring coldly in her direction. "Now, I'm going to tell you exactly the circumstances before you make your decision. I am going to kill you. There's no way around that. But here's the catch: I'll let you decide how." Erru clenched her fists at her sides, watching the unmoving, mocking grin as one undoubtedly appeared behind it. "Option one," he began, holding up a finger, "You give in right now and take this capsule. It contains an antidote that will return you to yourself, as well as a time-released portion of potassium cyanide. You will become your true age within minutes and die soon after. Of course, we'll also have you bound, so you can't try anything" At Erru's icy stare he chuckled, "You were never one for surrender... no, I don't think you'll go for that option..." She fiddled with the tassle on her jacket, working over escape plans in her mind. There's no way to get out now, she thought as panic rose in her like bile from her core. Gin's armed, and there's no way I'd get past him and the boss without being shot or taken down... I'll have to play his game. At least until I figure out a plan. As her heart raced, her expression retained its neutrality, and she managed to enunciate properly in her reply. "So what's option two?" The boss' right hand disappeared into his pocket as he dropped the poison capsule back into it. "It's quite simple," he explained, "You lead that detective brat here by any means you wish. Once we have him, you will be bound and left here with him to rot. That is the only painless death I can offer an FBI rat like yourself, no matter how loyal you have pretended to be." Erru shook her head, snapping, "I would never bring you another victim. Kudou Shinichi is under my protection as of today!" The boss laughed, "His little guardian angel? A fallen angel with broken wings. Fitting, Amontillado. Just like your mother. Would you like me to tell you what she told me just before I killed her, Erru? "She said that she would never give up the targets we were after, because she wanted her daughter to believe in justice at all self-cost." Erru's eyes teared up, and her fists shook. "Of course, I told her that nonsense would be the end of both of you, but she didn't believe me. And what do you know? My pistol went off, right in my hands. The bullet pierced her heart, Erru. That heart that bled with pity for every poor lost soul, bleeding out because of the one she pitied most." "Shut up!" Erru bolted up, grabbing her boss' shoulders, and glared straight through his mask. "Don't you DARE talk about my mother!" A ceaseless laugh picked up, and she released him as he shook with laughter, a hand over the false mouth that still grinned at her. "You really don't know, do you, Erru? After I left your mother, I found someone much more suitable, continuing to do my true work in secret. "My wife never questions me, never wonders why I spend so long away, alone on business, because she does the same. Kinzie knew too much from the day we married, and I've regretted it every day since." "My mother would NEVER marry someone like you!" Erru shouted, shaking her head. "She wouldn't! Besides, my dad was the only man in mom's life, and he died a star detective, not a murderous bastard who hid behind a mask!" "Oh, can't I be both? Besides, what I really regretted was the birth of our daughter. A son to take my place, that's what I wanted from my relationship with Kinzie, but no, we had you instead... You, with your attachment to 'justice' and your useless emotions! The day you were born I refused to name you, and when you joined us I knew the name you'd choose regardless. Poe's alcohol, and Poe's detective?! Your mother brandished his works like a .357, always asking whether I'd encountered a case similar... Needless to say I'd initiated a few myself!" "You're not my father," Erru insisted. "You're insane! My father was famous detective Natake Yu-" "Wrong, Erru! Natake was your mother's maiden name. Because of my high profile work, I asked that she not change her name. She thought I was being chivalrous..." He spat the word chivalrous as though it left a bad taste in his mouth, then grabbed Erru by the collar of her jacket, bringing his mask close to her face in a threatening gesture of control. "No more distractions, Erru... Option three," he hissed, "Is my favorite." He took a small firearm from his pocket, handling it surprisingly safely as he showed it off to her. "If you do not bring Shinichi here, I take the pistol that ended your mother's life." He snapped his wrist toward her. "Press it against your fragile little heart." Anokata tapped his index finger against the trigger guard. "And pull the trigger." Erru was frozen. There was no way the boss was-! If he wasn't, how did he know so much?! She sighed in regretful resignation, knowing there was no way out. "My mother died staring into your eyes. I think I deserve the same right... otou-san." The boss, her father, let go of her collar and took a step back. "So it's option three, then? How fitting... Like mother, like daughter." He clicked off the safety on his pistol, leveling the firearm at her chest. "You're forgetting something..." Erru crossed her arms, and Anokata sighed in annoyance. "Now I have to readjust my aim..." Amontillado frowned, spitting, "Take off the mask, dad!" The man who called himself her father obliged, grabbing the bottom of the mask and pulling it away from his face just as the door caved in. A soccer ball rolled in to land harmlessly beside Erru's feet, and she turned to see Gin lying stunned on the floor, the dented door having hit him from behind. In the doorway stood a child's silhouette, stepping forward from the shadows. "Hello again, Erru." "Kudou-kun?!" Dropping his mask, Anokata wrapped his arm around Erru, pressing his forearm against her throat as she struggled against him. The cold barrel of his pistol resting against her temple, he snapped, "Don't take another step, Shinichi!" The shrunken detective in the doorway stood frozen. He couldn't have moved to react if Erru wasn't Anokata's hostage. His body shaking, he rasped, "Otou-san?"

Forgiven- Within Temptation