***Chara deaths. This is a detective story with... Lots of deaths involved, but, I won't kill a big character without a reason. And, since this is a Len-Rin story (yes I'm talking to you Mitsu) I "have" to make them end up together. Things'll work out somehow, or maybe they won't. Either way, just a mini spoiler, one of the two'll make it out "alive". Hahah quotation marks. Don't you just "love" them? ***

Chapter 9: Revival

Kaito knocked on Mayu's door and waited for her answer. As he waited for her to answer he reviewed the papers he had on his hands, with the heading "List", he wrote the name of seventeen people on the paper along with photographs, alibis; in a distance it looked like any other documents a man of his age would carry. The truth was those three sheets of papers held the lives of many, their fate on the next two weeks. Or whenever Kaito felt like doing his job.

"Come in!" He heard Mayu say and he entered the room. There was a large box on Mayu's table, so large it nearly covered her whole face from Kaito's angle. "Could you please be a dear and pass me the scissor on the bookshelf there?" Kaito did as she said and went for the scissors, before he could though, he heard the box ripped open. When he turned around, Mayu already ripped open the box with her hands.

"Too slow!" She grinned. "Is that your list? Lemme see, lemme see!" She went over the list and peeked over to see what was inside the box. To his surprise, there was a box within the box.

"What's in the box?" From the grin on her face, Kaito knew Mayu was too happy to see his list so he was on the clear. She wouldn't like it Kaito had chosen too many easy targets since he'd slack off from it, and she wouldn't like it if Kaito had chosen many hard targets, since that way everyone else would slack off with "leftovers" of the easy targets.

"When I was still in France someone sent me a package from England, I hope it's what I think it is..." She put the list aside and with scissor on one hand, opened the box. A note with a messy cursive handwriting was at the top, below it was a dress, and they could see books in there as well. "I know I said I wanted evidence but I don't need this much. Ah, newbies."

"This is..." Kaito picked up the note and read it. "Rin's belongings."

"Who?"

"You know, that detective's assistant." Kaito looked over the items in the box, a part of him glad they didn't send any... Body parts or anything like that. "I can't believe you don't even know her name."

"Even the Intel doesn't have many information on her, it's kinda mysterious don't you think? It's like she didn't exist before meeting that lovely dying detective." She speed read some of the books inside, some still had bookmarks in them. Mayu took out a black dress, she smiled when she realized, it was around her size. "Maybe I should wear this dress and visit the detective's cell, just for the laughs. I've always considered black as my color, too."

"I'd go with the ribbon if I were you." There, at the bottom of the box was the one thing that made Rin stand out in a crowd. "It'd kill him in the inside for sure. Though he should be dying "right now", right? I'm not sure what type of shot you gave him yesterday."

"I'm not sure what it was either. I've never used it before." Mayu took Kaito's advice and put her hat down; it was hard tying the ribbon up her hair with no mirror. "But yes, he should be dying. No one has given him food; I keep forgetting to feed him."

"So the reason he's dying right now is because you haven't feed him? No side effects or anything? That's... Very merciful of you." She twitched upon hearing that, something Kaito wanted to see. With that cute pretty face of hers people underestimate her too many times, she uses that to her advantage but she still found it somewhat irritating.

"I'm killing him slowly with paranoia."

"He's not the type. I'm sure he's wondering why nothing's kicking in, though I think he still has someone else in mind." Kaito saw her struggling with the ribbon and decided to help her. He knew nothing of tying ribbons though he'd seen enough to know how to do it. "It's a shame you're going to kill him, he might actually be useful here."

"What? Do you still have feelings for him?"

"You make me sound like gay." He tied it up to how Rin usually would do it to her hair, he can't imagine how angry Len would be if Mayu waltz inside his cell in that attire. He'd probably kill her, or at least try to. "If you think I'm still friends with him I'm going to prove you wrong. I'm thinking of going down to the cell now to torment him myself. Though what should I do, I still have no idea."

"Well, you "used" to be his friend, what would he be angry about the most in this situation and time? Don't worry, I'll brainstorm with you." Mayu, along with many other psychopaths in the world stands by the fact that sometimes death is just not enough. In other words she'd prefer for someone to suffer than a quick death.

"Maybe if I talk about that "girl" How exactly did she die? If I tell him in a descriptive manner I'm sure he'd just commit suicide on the spot there."

Mayu used to tell stories, gruesome stories on how different cultures and groups used to kill, obtain information, etc. In fact she still does, just the other day while she was in Asia she told a story of how soldiers tried to "obtain information" by torture. In one country, they would make the victim bite their own tongue, choke on their own blood, until they die either by shock or blood loss because the victims wouldn't "speak up". Kaito wasn't sure how she knew those facts, maybe Mayu just happened to saw someone tortured in front of her eyes, he wasn't sure.

What he's sure of though, was that her death penalty was worse than any countries'.

Day 2, 8:15 PM

The cell was relatively small, you can barely force ten people in the cell, it's something the people in the ship never use. Mayu wasn't kidding when she said she was trying to torture him with paranoia, the cell was pitch black; a single sound could lead the imagination off to the worst. Kaito turned on the lights, revealing Len sitting down at the corner of the room his chin on his knees. Len's soulless eyes hinted him he wasn't so happy to see him there.

"Hey there. I brought you some bread." Kaito stepped in closer to the wooden cell and threw the bread at his direction, though he didn't bother move or catch it, he ignored the bread.

"So, how're you feeling? Come on... Tell you what, if you talk, I'll talk." He opened the cell doors and crouched right in front of him.

"By any chance, does this look familiar?" Kaito waved Rin's ribbon in front of him. Finally showing a hint of interest Len tried to reach it, but Kaito took it away from him. "No, no, you have to talk first. Come on, it's not that hard. So, how're you feeling?"

"Whatever was injected in me wasn't poison, I feel fine, but think I may have a cold."

"I'm sure there's some medicine here somewhere. I'll sneak one in for you later." Kaito gave him the ribbon; he treated it much more carefully than the loaf of bread right next to him. "Fourteen days, huh... Knowing just when you're about to die is a bit scary, huh? Then again, you've been through this already so you should know better. She told me you're the first person to have been injected with that thing."

"It's possible that it just hasn't reacted yet, it's only been two days." Kaito watched as Len wrapped the ribbon like a Band-Aid on his left palm.

"I'll try and see if I can find an antidote, but don't get your hopes up; I don't even know what it'll do. Or what will kill you twelve days from now." There was a brief pause where the two just looked at each other; in the end it was Len who broke the pause.

"Whose side are you on, exactly? You do what your boss been telling you, but you've been helping me too. Which side of you is the real one and which one is the acting one?"

"I have no obligation to tell you."

Hearing that, Len growled under his breath.

"Oh you poor thing." There was no sympathy in that tone; in fact there was a hint of mockery there. "If she's still alive right now would you still be as lost as you are right now? I had a talk with Mayu earlier, and she told me in full details what happened to her. Do you want me to tell the story?"

"Are you here just to mock me with that?"

"Rin and her friend the inn keeper, Miku, were taken to one of our base. Knowing how Rin is, I'm sure she's shocked with prisoners, corpses, and murderers all in one place; it's not a pleasant place to be. Because a part of me still has a human heart I'll skip the part where... They were treated badly. Heads up though, Mayu might come down here and tell you what happened herself. Miku died first. Everyone there told Rin she committed suicide just to make her feel guilty." Kaito left the wooden cell and locked it again; he left the lights on not caring what Mayu would say later. "And that's the end of the story."

"... What happened then to Rin?" Not that Len wanted to know, but a story couldn't just end like that.

"I don't know."

"… You don't know. I found that hard to believe. Your boss seems like the type of person who enjoys details."

"Well, I can't help it. What I just told you hadn't happened yet." (Beta's wish, Author questions why this line is here. Stop staring at this line, move on.)

"Well, I can't help it. Chances are she's still held captive now."

Day 3, 4:15 AM

Sneaking inside your boss' office is never a walk in the park; if things come to the worst for Kaito he'll face something worse than death. The room was never locked; it's always been like that in any of Mayu's rooms, even her bedroom right that second. Maybe she knew no one would be stupid enough to risk their lives on coming inside in the first place.

'Where did she put that... Substance?' Kaito went to her desk and searched through the drawers. He remembered the color of the liquid was crystal blue, he found it a bit shocking how there were a number of test tubes in the upper drawer, all different in colors. 'What is she, a chemist? I never knew she was obsessed she is with poisons and compounds, and I've only be gone from this place for less than a year.' Kaito wondered what'd happen if all the test tubes inside that drawer break would it cause a big acidic explosion? Why would she put them in there in the first place? It'd be an amusing sight, but maybe not so for everyone in the ship, since they're in the middle of the ocean.

'...Is it this one?' For once in his life, Kaito didn't think through things, through his plan. The plan was, he'd take the substance with him and "experiment" with it, surely Mayu would realize it if the substance was missing, right? She'd suspect something is wrong, and of all people, since he, and Len were the first few people who'd seen the substance, he'd be the prime suspect. Unless he established an alibi and blame another sailor...

He had around four hours until Mayu wakes up, that was her daily routine. Kaito slipped the substance to his pocket, along with the syringe in, and left the room. First things first, he needed someone to take the blame for him, say it's an "accident", and he'd be on the clear.

"Hey, can you do me a favor?" Kaito grabbed a sailor who passed by him. "I want you to close your eyes and count to ten. No questions, let's just pretend we're playing a game of hide and seek."

"Wh-"

"I have a higher rank than yours; you should be quiet, close your eyes and count to ten." Technically there were no ranks in that mini guild; they only had one boss to organize the whole thing. Even so, everyone knew who Kaito was, and how in a way, he was in a level far higher than them.

The sailor had no other choice and did what he said. Kaito swiftly prepared the syringe and tried to remember how much dose did Mayu gave Len, it shouldn't be over ten millimeters. He had to speed up the reaction, he couldn't wait for fourteen days! He needed to know the result within hours, better yet minutes! Kaito filled in the syringe full, leaving no drop left from the test tube and inject the "innocent" sailor the needle in.

"Sorry. Someone has to take the blame and I don't want to die today."

Day 4, 01:55 AM

Len couldn't remember the last time he had a cold; the headache was really getting to him. Though the memory was blurry, he remembered he had a cold when he was just a child. His father told him thousands of people had died every year thanks to a mere cold, and his mother yelled at him for not being the best comforter in the world. It was possible for him to die before his fourteen days were up, his clothes were still soaking wet, and even though sleep is one of the best medicine there is to most sickness, he couldn't bring himself to sleep. Laughter is the second best medicine out there; unfortunately he couldn't bring himself to smile in his current condition.

When he heard Kaito say Rin was still out there, alive, he felt happy and relieved... Though it only lasted for a few moments. Just the thought of her being cold and alone, much like the situation he was in right now, he couldn't be happy about that fact. Not to mention someone who treated her as a sister passed away, it's too much for her to bear alone. Amidst everything that happened to her, was she still expecting him to save her from everything?

The door creaked open and Kaito went inside, he brought another loaf of bread with him and a drink as well. He was surprised to see him awake and Len could see that, but he didn't say a word to it.

"Eat up, I brought medicine with me." He unlocked the door to the cell, and realized something about the cell was off. He looked down to see scratches at the bottom, and a hole on the lock. Without the keys he could enter and leave the cell, and in other words, Len had somehow managed to pick the lock to the wooden door. Something he wouldn't have bothered doing if Kaito hadn't told him Rin was still alive.

"Would a change of clothes be too obvious? I won't recover if I keep wearing this." Len gladly accepted the loaf of bread and began eating it. "If we arrive in six days, it means I still have four days left to free Rin, right?"

"Not exactly, we'll make a few stops here and there, you'l- we'll, have two days left to do something about it. Right now the only thing keeping her alive is Mayu's order, and she's only doing that because our Intel doesn't have information about her." Kaito leaned to the cell's wall, and eventually slid down and sat right next to him. "We should come up with a plan or something."

"I don't have much time left, you know that. And even if we made a plan to get her out..."

"Let me guess. 'Even if Rin's free, you wouldn't be there with her', is that what you're thinking?" It was just a guess, Kaito knew Len wasn't that selfish. "I'm not a chemist, an alchemist, or a miracle worker, I don't think I can come up with an antidote. And earlier today... Let's just say I tried out the 'poison' to someone, and the effects were..."

"I can't believe you used someone else's lif-"

"Well I don't want to tell you what'll happen on the fourteenth day. That person died, but the main reason wasn't because of the drugs, Mayu threw him off board since he was 'caught' in her office stealing some things." And that person could've been him if he hadn't framed someone else. "Whatever happens later, I'll watch over Rin for you. You can watch Rin and me... From "up there", if you'd like."

"Then, promise me." Len held out his hand. Kaito was slightly surprised Len wanted him anywhere near Rin. He had no other choice, Rin technically would have no one else to take care of her, to protect her. Would Mayu just let go of Rin like that and let her waltz into the police station and report everything that had happened?

"Let me repeat myself." Kaito sighed, Len was really serious on accepting the fourteenth day. "Whatever happens to you after the next ten days, I'll tr-, I'll make sure Rin's safe and sound."

"Oh, and, I don't know how to say this to you, Len..." Kaito continued. "The truth is, Rin is your sister." Len's eyes widened in horror, however it soon faded because he knew the chapter ended a few sentences ago and it was just the author's way of saying happy twins day.

Notes: The torture thing about... Making people choke on their own blood? It happened on Korea, to be exact when the Japanese invaded Korea a long, long time ago. My friends and I were talking about dreams, and somehow the conversation turned to... Torture, for some reason. And one of my friends mentioned those soldiers would make them bite their tongue. My response was, "WHAT?! So, the soldiers BITE their tongue? Isn't that KISSING?! What if they're both GUYS?!" and he was like, "No, they make them bite their OWN tongue!"

...

So, why didn't Mayu just "say" Korea and Japan? Because she feels like it pfffft.