"Rionas are all tricksters, my child. So unless you are a Riona, you cannot trust them...""those lies that they fabricated are so perfect that no one can see through them..."

"No one can tell when a Riona is lying, or when are they acting..."

"But... My child, remember..."

-Intermediary-

Eleven thirty. Laila sat in the living room wearing her pyjamas, quietly reading a book. The Kagehane couples are sitting together on the couch, watching the television as their adopted 'daughter' flipped through the high school levelled material in her hand.

One and a half more year until the timeline starts. Laila thought, a smirk rising on her lips, her blue contacts fading into a dark red colour under her will, glancing at the clock, she mentally smirked.

For the past years, she hadn't done much, except for, of course, planting her own spies into the organization. With Brandy and Cointarue, she made sure that her information is updated.

Of course, she approaches Kudo Yuusaku again as Femme Fatal again to gain trust. She often chats with him now, giving him pointers and inspiration for some of his novels. Laila might not be an expert at writing, but she is exceptionally good at psychology. Her life story was also quite interesting, and some of her trails during her time as a Riona in training was also a good plot.

She had gotten the mafia to send a message to the black organization, telling them that a possible asset is currently residing here, as the couple's daughter. She even made sure that Gin was the one to get this particular piece of news, so Yamiko, too, has the excuse to be connected to the organization.

Closing her eyes, Yamiko hopped off the chair and turned to her parents, "Kaa-san, when will—"

There was a knock at the door. Yamiko turned around, and her father stood up and walked over to it.

Upon opening the door, there were two men in their late thirties, dressed rather casually. He blinked at the unfamiliar faces but greeted them politely.

"Excuse me." He asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Laila smirked inwardly at where she was, those two are experienced actors... but they have such a low sense of danger and such little knowledge of the underground world, it's just perfect.

"May we come in?" The taller of the two asked, her 'father' froze for a second, but nodded and stepped aside to let them through.

The door closed, and the corner of Laila's lips lifted.

Then all hell broke loose.

-Intermediary-

Laila stood to the side, staring at the bodies of the Kagehane adults with inward boredom as she fringed terror on Yamiko's young face, trembling to perfect her act as blood was splashed onto her face. 'Yamiko' flinched and cried out as Laila rolled her eyes to herself, ugh.

The lifeless corpse of Kagehane Yamiko's parents laid on the floor, motionless. Kagehane Kaiji was sprawled out on the wooden boards, blood and intestines pouring from his stomach, his wife laid a few meters away from him, at least, the scattered pieces of flesh used to be Tamako was deposited there, staining the carpet with blood.

"Hey, didn't that Gin guy said to leave the girl alive?" the man dressed in a black hoodie asked, swishing the large cleaver knife in his hand, flinging the blood off it and splattering it on 'Yamiko''s torn pajamas, 'Yamiko' sobbed, but inwardly she was just bored.

"He did, didn't he?" the fat one replied, huffing as he slowly approached her, grinning as he eyed her, "But he didn't say we can't play with her~"

Ew. Just ew. Gin didn't only hire two sloppy murderers to get her. He hired two paedophile rapists. Laila inwardly snorted, she has nothing against paedophiles nor whatever-phile, a person can tell her they're a zoophile and she won't even bat an eyelash. But rapists? Nope. Just... nope.

Laila glanced at the gun in the man's hand, and the corners of her lips lifted into a cold smirk.

"Ah, I can't have that happening."

As soon as she spoke, the two men's heads whipped around to face her, who has stopped trembling. Yamiko's hair shielded her face, the raven locks making her seem more ominous.

The girl slowly stood, and before the elder of the two could react, his gun was gone. He yelped and stumbled back, and as he looked at where the little girl was standing, she was gone.

"I mean, you look like a wild boar, mister Daniel Mathews, and that's just not my type." Daniel whirled around, his brown eyes wide with shock as he saw that the young girl was now standing on the table, her fingers tracing the jawline of his partner, who seems to be frozen with fear, "Ahh... I suppose this one is quite good looking." she mused as she messed the blond's hair up, smirking as her hand stopped at the young man's neck, "too bad, too bad, Leo Carterson..."

Daniel's eyes narrowed as the girl's left hand wrapped itself around his neck, she arent thinking about strangling a grown man, is she? He thought nervously.

'Squish'... ... 'Crack... Thud.'

Daniel's eyes widened in horror, bile rise up his throat as he stared down at the object which rolled to the side on the bloodstained floorboards.

Kagehane Yamiko hadn't strangled Leo. She crushed the man's neck.

The little girl's hand had torn through a grown adult's throat and snapped the spine and windpipe...

With a single clunch, Kagehane Yamiko had ripped a serial killer's head clean off.

Daniel stumbled backwards as the girl slowly turned to look at him, a cold, emotionless smile adorned the... the monster's face.

"Goodbye."

Daniel's world turned black.

'bang.'

-Intermediary-

Laila fired several more shots, then glanced at the bodies on the ground, and snorted.

So weak.

What defines the value of life? Nothing.

If so, then the life of any human and the life of any bug on this planet is the same.

Humans are merely ants... Such pitiful creatures, men are.

If you ask her how could she kill her own kind so mercilessly, how could she be so heartless, and she would tell you that Humans and cockroaches are both lives. If you can kill such an irritating bug, why can't she kill such puny creatures?

Yet within her heart, she would answer that:

What gives you the right to use this as an excuse, when none of your kind had called me your own?

For all twenty years of her life... Not once, not even once, was Laila Tanzanite Riona-Nightingale called a human.

-Intermediary-

Couples Brutally Murdered! Orphaned Child Traumatized?

by Kyose Mizuki

Yesterday morning in New York, Long Island the Kagehane Residence was found broken into by Carterson Leo and Mathews Daniel. According to the police, four bodies were discovered. The bodies of Kagehane Kaya and Yamika-san being two of them and the two break-iners are the other, while the only child of the residence, Yamiko, had luckily survived. From the evidence gathered, the two men had broken into the house under the guise of two delivery men and then proceeded to murder the Kagehane couple. Evidence showed that a fight had broken out between the two criminals and Carterson Leo was killed by Mathews Daniel, who had ripped the other's neck off. He then turned to young Yamiko-chan and attempted to rape the young girl. Yamiko fought back, and in a panic, she had grabbed the gun from her captor and had fired it. Three of the shots had hit the criminal, and he had bled out.

The police described the incident as horrible. "Yamiko-chan is now accepting psychological aid." Moore-Keiji, the detective in charge of the case said, "When we found her, she was half conscious, trembling in all the blood while still holding the gun. This incident has a tremendous impact on this ojou-chan, and we hope that she will recover from it soon."

Yamiko-chan is currently living with her cousin, Yatori Hiro, and had planned on moving to Japan next year. We give her our best wishes and let's hope that she will recover from this horrible episode of her life.

-Intermediary-

Kudo Shinichi stared at the piece of article on his phone, his face was passive, however, within his mind, he was so disgusted and so horrified.

This was the third article he had read about this case, and he felt so much revolt and hate towards the two murderers in this incident. Murdering a child's parents and ripping a person's head off in front of her? What kind of monsters are they? He shook his head. And according to the second article he read, the way Yamiko's parents had died wasn't pleasant. He couldn't even think about the psychological impact on the poor girl, killing a person at such a young age...

Shinichi knows. He's a detective, and death wasn't unfamiliar to him. However, he does not want such a fate to befall a child. Not even when the child is a pacific ocean away from him, not even if they have never met and possibly, never will meet.

Little did he know, Kagehane Yamiko has already taken her first step into his life. And miles away, across the ocean, a woman with heterochromatic eyes smirked to herself as she swirled her wine, staring at her tablet as she took a sip.

'mission accomplished.'

-Intermediary-

"Come on, Hiro-nii!"

Yatori Hiro couldn't help but chuckle as the little girl tugged on his sleeve. It's nice to see the little girl so cheerful.

A few months had passed since the brutal murder of Kagehane Kaya and Yamika. And little Yamiko-chan and her cousin are currently in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, namely, in Hawaii.

Hiro once doubted his ability to take care of the young, traumatized girl when he first took her in. However, he later found out that the little girl was quite independent. Yamiko-chan is a little prodigy, and she recovered quite quickly from her loss. Despite being so cheerful and childlike, the little girl was by no means nieve and has a great understanding of a lot of the more mature things, making her a good company. The only problem was her love for chocolate and cats. Last week, after a lot of begging a puppy eyes from the little angel, Hiro had finally given in and bought Yamiko a tiny little black kitten with heterochromatic eyes- one purple, the other red. Quite unusual, really, but the note from Femme Fatal confirmed that she had specially reserved it for Yamiko.

Hiro had no idea why the very Femme Fatal has such interest in the little girl, he had discreetly questioned the young child, and the girl had told him something quite disturbing.

Gin had been the one who sent those people after Yamiko. That's why The Femme Fatal chose to protect this girl.

He could see how useful this girl could be to them. Yamiko was exceptionally smart for her age, being able to understand high-school levelled material and use them flexibly. Hiro had taught her some self-defence for her safety, and within a few weeks, the girl could punch the lights out of a grown man. If the organization had gotten a hold of Yamiko, she would've been trained into a killing machine, and Hiro couldn't allow that. He wouldn't allow it.

This had made the man even more protective of the little girl, he taught her some martial arts and applied her to combat courses (which he stopped because Yamiko often accidentally knock out the couch after the first two weeks), he taught her how to pick locks and get away from kidnappers, he even taught her how to drive on a simulator. Yamiko had absorbed all these skills like a sponge, and Hiro couldn't be any prouder.

A few days ago, Yamiko had returned home from school- middle school, with reddish, puffy eyes, telling him that her classmates 'hadn't been nice' to her. Yamiko told him that she wanted to go back to elementary school, or even kindergarten, where she can have friends.

Hiro agreed. He had noticed that Yamiko seemed quite down these days, and proceed to get the paperwork done. Since Yamiko and him are planning to move to Japan soon anyway, he decided to move early so Yamiko can start her elementary school first year in Japan. He decided to get her a privet tutor, and with all that budget Femme Fatal had given him, it would be more than enough.

And due to a request from the hired gun, he had to take Yamiko to Hawaii, which takes them here.

Yamiko is now dressed in a cute cat-themed bathing suit with a mini skirt, with chocolate ice cream in one hand and waving vigorously at him with the other. She is smiling happily with joy lighting up her eyes like Christmas lights.

"Coming, coming." Hiro chuckled as he caught up with the enthusiastic girl, "You really are a little ball of energy, aren't you?"

"Am not!" Yamiko huffed, and Hiro smiled, then ruffled her hair.

"I'll have to meet with someone tonight," Hiro told her as he knelt down in front of the girl, "It's a very important meeting, so please stay in your room tonight. Okay?"

"...Okay." Yamiko nodded.

Hiro smiled softly as he noted the subtle changes in Yamiko's body language, telling him that the girl knows how important this meeting is.

"Good." Hiro stood up, "now, let's go swimming!"

"Yeah!"

-Intermediary-

Kudo Yuusaku sighed slightly as he corrected his son's stance. "hold the gun higher." he said, "and... yes. Shoot."

'bang. Bang bang bang... bang.'

The bullets had gotten closer to their target. However, Yuusaku can tell that there's still a long way to go.

'Bang. Bang, bang, bang.'

Someone else fired their gun. The bullet pierced through the air and all four stroke their respective targets dead in the bullseye. The display of skill had Yuusaku look up, and his eyes widened.

A young woman in her early twenties had her gun raised in one hand and was walking towards them. She wasn't even looking at the targets! When she finally glanced at the targets, she gave a satisfied smirk and lowered her still smoking gun.

"Yo, Yuukaku-san."

At the familiar voice, Yuusaku smiled at the 'brunette' before him.

"Nightingale-san." He greeted as he approached the woman, shaking hands with one another. Shinichi was blinking in shock as he stared at the woman's gun than at the targets repeatedly, dumbfounded by her skills.

"Otou-san," Shinichi slowly walked up towards him, "who is that?"

"And you must be Kudo Shinichi." The woman's smirk widened, " As for who I am... Why don't you try and guess? Aspiring Tantei-kun?"

Her eyes flashed their real colours for a second; however, Shinichi didn't recognize the shades. The Femme Fatal might be famous among the law enforcement and within the underworld, but among the general public, she is a complete mystery and not even the colours of her eyes- which is how she is usually identified- are known.

Yuusaku blinked a little as he saw Nightingale smile a little at the lack of recognition, and he himself started smiling as the woman offered to teach his son how to shoot, and began correcting Shinichi's stance.

-Intermediary-

Hiro sat in the VIP room of high-ended restaurant nervously, fidgeting as he glanced at the door repeatedly, waiting for the arrival of Femme Fatal.

The door opened. Hiro stood up, ready to greet the disguised woman, only to widen his eyes in shock as he saw that the person who entered was not the woman he was waiting for; instead, it was Rye.

He had already forgotten the FBI's name, but his face was something quite recognizable- no one has bags like that under their eyes. He stared as the FBI closed the door behind him, only to freeze as he spotted him.

The two gazed at each other for a moment, and quickly composed themselves. The long-haired man made his way to the table and took a seat, as Hiro himself sat back down.

"So...em." Hiro cleared his throat, "Femme Fatal called you here?"

"That's correct."

"To think that this woman got us to fly to the middle of the Pacific for her..." Hiro shook his head, "she is quite something, isn't she? "

The FBI blinked a little and laughed. "I guess," He answered, and reached a hand out for a handshake, "Akai Shuuichi."

Hiro took his hand and smiled. "Morofushi Hiromitsu. But it's Yatori Hiro now."

"Yatori... Fitting. With a last name like that the underworld wouldn't dare mess with you." Akai mused. "She practically claimed you."

Hiro frowned, tilting his head slightly in confusion "... Mind to elaborate?"

"Don't you know? The Femme Fatal is also known as the Nightingale in the criminal underworld. By giving you a last name like that she practically placed a sign on you saying: whoever messes with him, messes with me." Akai explained, "And unless someone is seriously that much of an idiot, they wouldn't mess with the extended family of a Riona."

"That's correct."

Hiro whirled around, and stated at the door frame, wide-eyed. Akai turned and smiled slightly at the figure leaning against the doorframe with their arms crossed.

The figure was dressed in The Femme Fatal's trademark one-buttoned, long-tailed, fitted velvet black suit jacket, the hem swaying behind her. She also wore black dress pants and beneath the coat, a dark violet silk blouse. Her hair was down, swaying past her hips as she tilted her head and smiled in amusement.

Yamiko.

Little Yamiko-chan stood leaning against the doorway of the room, heterochromatic eyes gleaming as she smirked up at them.

"Yamiko?" Hiro stood up, eyes wide. "What are you—"

"I see you are still using that disguise, Miss Femme Fatal."

Hiro's head whirled around to look at Akai. "What—" he then turned back to look at the 'little girl' in disbelief. "You were... You were the Nightingale all along?"

"bingo." she snapped her finger, straightening up and closing the door behind her, "I had an... acquaintance of mine to get me a copy of the APTX4869 in the making, and altered the formula slightly. As you see," She gestured at herself, "the results are quite satisfying."

"Yamiko..." Hiro stared at the girl... no, woman, suddenly feeling betrayed. Was it all an act? Why lie to him? The past few months, was it all just a show? He stared at her, unable to speak before turning away, no longer able to face her.

Akai glanced at the crestfallen man to his side and looked back towards the shrunken girl. Who had taken out a pill box and picked out a small pill, popping it in her mouth and gulped it down.

Just barky moments later, she fell to her knees. Akai stood up in alarm as her face twisted with pain, grunts and cries escaping her as steam of all things began rising off her skin. Hiro's head had snapped up at the sound, and the two stared with barely masked horror as she unclipped something along the seams of her clothes and the zipper of her heeled boots, making them pool around her, now seemingly adult sized. The girl let out one last, short but pain-filled scream and the steam consumed her.

As the steam faded, the two men found themselves facing a young woman, panting slightly on the ground, face stilled twisted slightly in pain.

She began standing up, and Hiro hurried over to help the woman as she stumbled, tripping over her boots, falling right into the man's chest.

"...Thanks." The woman nodded slightly and straightened herself properly, before taking a seat at the table, fixing her raven locks and once again looking graceful, she looked up towards them, the hair that shielded her face finally gone.

Akai can see that the Femme Fatal is no doubt a very beautiful woman. She has albino pale skin, as fair and spotless as it was rumoured to be, she has an oval face and a sharp chin, along with tall cheekbones. Her eyes are upturned and like that of a feline's, and they are naturally heterochromatic and slightly luminous. She has a curvy, streamlined body and long, slim limbs, and she is quite young, she couldn't be anywhere over twenty... Akai frowned, does that mean she was fifteen when she approached him? That was... Disturbing.

"As you know, I'm currently going after the Black Organisation." She said, picking up the menu before her, reading through the selections with a nonchalant look on her face." oh, feel free to order anything." She gave them a small smile, "I own this line of restaurant, so you won't need to pay."

She owns this line?... Seriously, this girl is rich.

A knock sounded at the door, and the girl turned slightly.

"You may come in."

A young looking butler entered, dressed in a male version of the outfit of the woman before the two, and pinned at his chest, was a crest that both had only ever heard of, but never seen.

The Riona's Family Crest. Hiro stared at the silver badge formed of fine and high-classed silver wire, twisting into vintage patterns and sceneries of the wild and urban, and braiding together into the cursive alphabet R.

"Lady Nightingale." the butler gave the girl a nod of the head, smiling cheekily.

"Oh, shut up." Nightingale rolled her eyes, "Hey, get me a Champagne, would you? Best that you've got."

"Sure thing." the butler nodded, "for food?"

"...Surprise me." The girl smirked, then turned to them. "You two?"

"...An Ardbeg 10-Year-Old Scotch." Hiro ordered.

"Fercullen 14 Year bourbon, please "

Hiro raised an eyebrow, "Bourbon?"

Akai shrugged in reply as the butler exited the room. Nightingale placed the menu in her hand down and glanced at them.

"Akai-san, I'm sure you know that in about a year, Kudo Shinichi will be shrunken by the prototype of the very same poison I stole to shrink, and he, too, along with Miyano Shiho and your mother, will be one of the few that survives the poison and shrinks." She propped her head up and pulled out an e-cigarette, starting it up she took a drag of the vapour and stared at them with half-lidded eyes through her long, black lashes. "And when Miyano Akemi is sent on a mission to rob a bank, she will be killed."

Akai stiffened. Hiro frowned as he remembered Zero telling him about the girl who always took him to her mum's clinic after his fights. From the sound of it, she was a kind person, he wasn't sure about now, though.

"Akemi will be killed?" Akai spoke up quietly from beside him. Hiro glanced at the man, and had to suppress a shiver. His face was darkened with anger and some other unidentible emotions, and he was giving 'Yamiko' a glare so cold it would make a Russian shiver. However, the young woman just stared back with an equally cold and blank expression.

"I have already created a body double for Miyano Akemi, Miyano Shiho, you and several others." She replied, emotionlessly. "I do not intend to let any possiblly useful assets or blackmail to die."

Blackmail?

"Blackmail?" Akai's eyes narrowed.

"Why do you think I saved Scotch?" The assassin jabbed a thumb at him, "So I can keep Bourbon in check in the future. And Akemi? So I can establish an allience with Miyano Shiho and you. Irish? He is useful for future reference and to piss Gin off." She spat the silver haired man's code name out like it's some kind of filth. "I can save everyone I can, stop every illeagle trading, or I can steal, kill, bomb a city or even a capital, to destroy this damned organization." Fury and... pain? was written across the woman's face, " I have three agents within the organization right now. They are under the names Applejack, Syrah and Grappa. Applejack is currently working under Curasçao, who I will also save after her betrayal." She paused as someone knocked on the door, "Come in."

The butler from before entered with their drinks and three plates of what looks like chocolate cake. He glanced at the Riona, and served their drinks and dessert quickly befor exiting.

The woman poured herself a flute of the sparkling alchol, then took an elegent sip.

"... " Hiro glanced at the woman, before he, too, poured himself a glass of the drink he was named after in the criminal organization, "Why did you call us here, actually?"

"Originally, I called you two here so that I can inform you of my plans and the situation you two will face next year." She sighed slightly, "And I suppose that since taking down this organization will be a team effort, it wouldn't hurt to understand eachother better." She took anither sip of her drink, her face passive. "My name is Laila Tanzanite Riona-Nightingale. I just turned twenty, and was adopted into the Riona family when I was three hours old, snatched right out of the hospital by my mentor." She introduced, " This is my real face, and please call me Laila."

Both men in the room had immeadeatly looked uptowards the woman, clearly startled by the sudden inteoduction.

"...Did you just..." Akai stared at the woman before him, disbelief showing in his eyes.

The Femme Fatal's name and face was a secret to the world, she didn't even trust the government with it, and here she is casually sitting there with her legs crossed as she handed them the information.

"What?" The woman snorted, " It's not like it's a secret or anything, nor can you do anything with it. People just never asked."

...That's kinda true. Hiro deadpanned to himself, feeling a little stupid, but then again, most people who get to meet her face to face usually doesn't live long, considering that she is an assassin.

"You said you wanted to discuss plans." Akai, having finally regained his ability to talk, spoke up.

"Ah, yes." Nightingale... no, Laila offered him a smile, " Hiro-nii and I are planning on moving to Tokyo, well, me as Yamiko, and I want to enroll in Teitan Elementary School." She turned to look at Hiro, "It's where Kudo Shinichi is going to go after he got himself shrunk, as well as Shiho. Although Kudo will be going as Edogawa Conan and Miyano as Haibara Ai."

"Teitan..." Hiro mused, It's not exactly a public school, is it?"

"Nope. It's a private school. But I'll cover the exspenses." Laila confirmed, "Hiro-nii, I want you to go and ask if Agasa Hiroshi needs an assistant. No matter what, get him to accept you as an assistant for his experiments. This man is one of Kudo Shinichi's family friends, and he will play a great part in taking down the organisation."

Hiro nodded slowly, taking in the information.

"Akai, you have already been discovered as a NOC, correct?" Laila turned to face the FBI, who nodded. "Good. I don't really need you to do anything special yet, your part comes in later. Right now I need you to secqure my connections with the FBI. Get me some information if you can, just those we discussed in the deal, and I can help you to get your rifle and guns into Japan, and also get you a safe house."

"These are those things I have planned at the moment." Laila leaned back in her chair, "Feel free to do anything you wish outside of those I told you."

"I can get you the information." Akai said slowly, frowning. "but I need to know what you are going to do with it. And you are not exactly known for running around and taking down sydicates."

"I plan on creating another alter ego, a long termed one, as... The Raven Huntress." She smirked, "I'll hunt them down, one by one, and leave them for the police to find. Of course, not without killing some." She lowered her head, "As for that other question," her eyes softened slightly, a glimmer of emotion leaking through, "Let's say they killed the last person on Earth who would call me... Human."

Hiro's eyes widened. It was like a gate had opened, Laila's heterochromatic eyes suddenly seemed so much warmer, emotions filling those exotic orbs as they glimmered. It was just a short moment, but he was sure that Akai had seen it too. And suddenly he realised another horrible truth.

No matter how strong she is, no matter how intaligent, how heartless and otherworldly this woman before them seem, no matter what she does and what she says...

She is still only a 20 year old human.

-Intermediary-

"But... My child, remember... No matter what, you can always reconize it when they speaks the truth."

"Because when they do,"

"You may never be fooled by them again."

-Intermediary-

Ahh! Finally!

I really wanted to finish this part, since I cant wait to get to the main plot! And believe me when I say it's going to be sooooo awesome! I hope Laila didn't turn out too Mary-Sue like, though. But I can assure you that not everyone likes her and she is by no means perfect, you will see more of her, well, imperfect side later into the story.

Ja-ne!

Bubblebellarina~