A/N: Well, here it is, the tenth chapter...I'm planning on having things pick up a bit from here on after slowly easing into them (the beginning of the story always felt a bit boring to me ,but it was necessary for what's to come).

There is a lot of interaction with Okiya Subaru in this chapter, and since he's so difficult to write I'm still not sure if I made him too OOC...*sighs*

I still hope you enjoy this chapter though!:)

Chapter 10: Fever Dreams

My body had gone completely slack amidst all the thoughts running around my always buzzing mind, that was somehow being instantly shut down on itself ,as if somebody had flicked an "off" switch somewhere in my brain.

As if I had dived into cold water, it suddenly got harder for me to breathe as every muscle in my body went slack and a familiar, numbing coldness spread throughout my frame.

It was as if I was floating in very deep and dark waters, trying to stare up at the world above.

A world outside of my conscious state of mind right now.

A world as unreachable to me as it was to someone drowning in the middle of the ocean.

The strangest thing was that this ocean, having been drenched in darkness, seemed to have a clear, pulsing heartbeat echoing through it, resonating within my ears.

Voices flashed through my mind, some clearer than others.

Most of them were like whispers, only slightly brushing against my conscious mind- making it impossible to grasp them, whilst others were more present, almost within reach, but at the same time still frustratingly far away.

Then I could feel one of them forcing its way through the walls that I had set up in my mind to prevent going insane by the onslaught of voices and disembodied conversations that I couldn't assert to any clear order.

But this one whispering voice ,that seemed to echo from all directions at once ,was strong enough to break through my mental defense system, slipping through the cracks that had appeared in the barricades.

And I could do nothing to stop it.

So I simply decided to open my eyes.

Only to be faced with complete and utter darkness surrounding me.

Why had I even been sleeping in the first place?

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, making wrinkles appear on my forehead as a thoroughly confused expression settled on my face.

*So this is the human that Tamiel told us about..*

I wanted to scream as the hushed, raspy voices echoed through my head, seemingly coming from all directions at once, but as soon as I tried to open my mouth it was as if my airways were instantly being filled with the strangely heavy darkness around me that painfully settled in my lungs, preventing any sound from ever building in the back of my throat.

Suffocating me just like thick, black water.

*It does not look like anything special to us...but it doesn't seem like we got the wrong one…*The strange voice wondered aloud, It's words flitting through the back of my head before disappearing instantly.

*We wouldn't do this for a puny human under normal circumstances...but since that Shinigami asked us to do so in exchange for what we seek...We'll do what we must*

A dreadful feeling settled in the pit of my stomach as I slowly started stirring, my body moving sluggishly as I tried to fight against whatever was holding me back...which wasn't an easy task if your breathing was as restricted as mine was at the moment.

*What's that...it can move? It shouldn't even be conscious right now...*

"Why? Who are you?!"

I figured that the darkness could hear my thoughts, observing that it seemed like it's only way of communication and it had heard me,even though I couldn't exactly talk normally right now, so I just gave it a shot.

*You can hear us?* The voices sounded surprised and the even heartbeat that had been pulsating through the inky darkness around me stopped for a second.

"Yes...Shouldn't I?" I asked in my still sleepy state of mind, clearly confused.

*Ah...So Tamiel really wasn't lying to us...The girl did already die…* the voices pondered.

"Tamiel...Do you know where Tamiel is?!" I asked as I finally caught up with the fact that the darkness seemed to know the little grim reaper personally.

"She left for where you physically are just a few minutes ago...We can only take visits of one person at a time or this niche dimension would collapse on itself...We wouldn't like it very much if that happened.*

The voices in the dark hummed, sounding slightly concerned about the last part.

"Who are you…?" I repeated my question from earlier in my sleep drunken mind.

"They call us the Augur, little human."

"The Augur? And why are you playing the pronoun game- who's "they"?" I inquired, slurring my words a bit inside of my head.

"They is they. They is us. They is you, we, them, everybody and nobody, curious child." the voices murmured cryptically.

"And you are vague." I almost snapped back, feeling annoyed by the complicated answer.

I didn't even attempt to understand the Auguries musings with my fatigued brain that didn't seem to be working all that flawlessly right now.

"Why am I here?" I asked after sorting through my subconscious and getting my priorities in line, starting with the most important question.

"Because Tamiel asked us to seal your essence away, little ghost-girl. She agreed to pay the price for it."

"What do you mean...my essence?" I asked ,more confused than ever.

"You really do not know, ghost-girl?" the voices now sounded even louder inside of my head, almost deafening.

My sluggish body flinched violently at the sudden increase in noise.

"The essence of a being, my dead little child, is what you humans might call a soul...It is a part of your past as well as your future. We'll in turn get the spell that Tamiel promised us in exchange for our work…"

"Tamiel's request will be fulfilled when the sun settles beyond the horizon once more, that's when we'll receive what we sought... You won't remember our exchange until the deal is fulfilled, so sleep now little ghost-girl..."

"W-wait Augur-" I wanted to protest but my eyelids were slowly closing, feeling heavy ,oh so heavy…

And then it was over, just like that.

As if somebody had pulled my head out of a bathtub, filled with freezing water, after trying to drown me in it.

A huge pressure was lifted from my chest and I could breathe freely again as all of my senses and bodily functions finally kicked into motion again after having seemingly shut down as much as possible without killing me ,as if I had been in a state of deep sleep.

My brain felt slightly empty now, having had adjusted to the deafening buzz of the voices.

I took a deep, rattling breath as I pressed my hand against my chest, feeling how my heartbeat slowly picked up speed again, telling me that ,no, I hadn't died.

I was clearly back in the world I so wanted to escape from.

Physically.

Mentally.

My eyes slowly fluttered open but I hurriedly closed them again, blinded by the bright light that I was having problems adjusting to just yet.

"Where am I?"

I was still in a puzzled daze whilst I at the same time strangely felt as if all symptoms of my earlier sickness had vanished into thin air...all that remained was a puckering headache.

I could feel myself laying on a soft, cushioned couch with my feet propped up and some sort of cold towel pressed against my forehead, soothing the pain behind my temples somewhat.

My body felt too heavy to move at the moment, so I settled on slightly turning my head around instead to try and locate myself.

Which turned out to be easier than I'd expected.

I instantly spotted a group of four people standing opposite the couch in the eerily familiar setting of Professor Agasa's house.

"Oh so you're an engineering graduate student?" Agasa asked cheerfully, making me furrow my eyebrows and scrunch up my nose in displeasure at the sudden source of noise.

"So someday you'll earn your doctorate and become my rival, eh?" the old, balding man joked as Ai hid behind his back, grabbing onto his shirt with wide eyes.

I had an open view of her since the side of the Professor was facing the couch I was laying on.

"No, nothing like that." Okiya Subaru denied smoothly.

"But what a big house you have." he continued saying, moving his head to take in the grande interior of the Professors abode.

"Way to make yourself sound like the big bad wolf, Okiya-san.." I mused sluggishly ,before having a sudden epiphany.

"Ah,so this is what's going on...I kind of forgot about this part." I realised, grimacing.

"It's just the two of you here,you and the child?" the sandy brown haired man asked, mustering Ai and the professor questioningly.

"Yes." Agasa replied with a slight nod.

"Well it doesn't seem like there would be any problem with adding another."the man stated in an even manner, seemingly seeing nothing wrong with his statement- like I had when I'd first read it in the manga.

"Eh?!" Poor Ai looked shellshocked as Conan and the Professor simply wore surprised expressions on their faces.

I'd really felt bad for the shrunken scientist back then, and even felt the same way now since she really did think an enemy of hers would be intruding on her personal safe haven.

"The thing is...the apartment building where I lived was burned down." Okiya Subaru explained to the confounded Professor, scrunching his eyebrows together into a distressed look.

I had to give one thing to the man..he was an excellent actor.

"If it's alright with you,could you let me stay here until I find another place to live in?" said person probed, mustering the old man.

Ai was almost crouching behind the Professor now,her beautiful blue eyes as wide as saucers.

"Of course,when I have free time I'll help you with your research." the disguised FBI agent offered with a friendly smile.

"Ah well,I don't mind as long as it's okay with this kid." Agasa told him with a nod before looking down to Ai to get her opinion.

Said girl glanced up from behind him with a fearful expression before shaking her head violently, making her short, auburn strands of hair whip around her small face that had taken on a ghostly pale tone.

"Say ,how about using Shinichi nii-chan's house?" Conan asked suddenly, a small smile on his face.

"Shinichi nii- chan's house?" Subaru repeated, looking confused.

"Yes, there's nobody living there right now."

Conan walked towards one of the big windows and pointed at the house which was located directly by the Agasa residence...and sadly also precisely beside where I was living right now.

"Look it's that house next door!"the little detective informed the supposed graduate student, still pointing outside the window.

"He's left the keys with me." he told the man with a broad grin.

"Oh, what a splendid western style house... Is it really okay for me to stay there?" Subaru asked in reply ,walking towards window to look at the house.

"Yeah..and a pretty big update from a simple flat for hire like you were hiding out in before…" I thought ironically, sweat dropping.

"Yes." Conan nodded, confirming Subaru's question.

"Hold on!" I could see Ai whisper, dragging Conan away by his shoulder.

I couldn't hear them from where I was laying, now pretending to be asleep as I mustered them from under my eyelashes, my mouth moving slightly as I spoke their dialogue along with them, like muttering the lines of a theatre play that I'd seen thousands of times.

"What are you thinking?!" I mimed along as Ai murmured these words under her breath in an aggressive manner, slightly shaking the Conan by his shoulders.

"You're renting your house to a person whose background we don't know well!" I whispered, now fully closing my eyes as I recalled the scene from the anime.

"What will you do if he finds out your secret?" I mimicked the lip movements of the Ai I saw in my memories.

"It's all right." I remembered Conan's response to the auburn-haired girl's well grounded questions.

"There's no way a Holmes-fan could be a bad person!" I copied his completely ridiculous reply, not managing to hide the small smile that hushed over my features.

That was when I for the first time became completely aware of the calculating gaze that was directed at me, being too caught up in the moment to sense it earlier.

My eyes shot open and my body snapped upright into a sitting position as a strangled sound left the back of my throat -a shocked response to my realisation.

Everybody's eyes came to rest on me as the cold towel slid down from my forehead and landed on my skirt, wetting my thighs through the fabric...quite an uncomfortable feeling as I came to find out.

"Oh, you're up!" Conan stated, walking towards me after his initial surprise.

I mustered him ,openly curious, seeing as he'd always been a bit reserved and careful around me but right now seemed almost...dare I say, concerned?

"Y-yeah...looks like it…"I managed to mutter as I peeled the towel off my body and held it in my still shaky hands.

"You gave us quite the scare when you just collapsed like that nee-chan." the little detective chided me as he grabbed the towel from my hands and pushed it against my forehead again.

"Sorry...Didn't plan on that to happen…" I sighed deeply, continuing to press the source of the calming coldness against my head after Conan let go of it.

"Kids that age are always so reckless...wouldn't you agree Okiya-san?" Agasa chuckled as he addressed me.

"Certainly." came the man's reply, making me arch my eyebrow at him in a knowing manner.

"Me? Reckless? That's the last word that I'd use to describe myself...and look who's talking"

I seemed to clearly express that thought though seeing as Okiya Subaru's eyes narrowed at me.

I hurriedly looked away from him and turned towards the professor again with a sheepish smile on my face.

"You're Professor Agasa then? I'm Byakuya Rio, the one that moved into number 23 just a week ago with her little sister...We never did manage to get a hold of you to introduce ourselves...You seem like a busy man." I told him in a friendly manner, slightly bowing my head as a sign of respect.

"Ah no, It's quite alright- be sure to thank your parents for the cakes you gave to Ai-chan, they were much appreciated, even though she only let me eat one of them…" he assured me, mumbling the last part to himself as a gloomy aura surrounded him.

"Ah, My Imouto and I are living on our own right now...Mama and Papa are overseas working on expanding their business." I smoothly told the Professor with a closed eyed smile.

"On your own?"Conan questioned, clearly surprised.

"Well, If you two ever need anything, don't be shy and be sure to ask me." the old man laughed heartily, making me shoot a rare, genuine smile at him.

"Thanks. That's nice of you... I'm sure you'll also be meeting my Imouto Eri quite soon,she's seemed close with that skinny freckled kid...Mitsuhiko,was it?" I told him, trying to look like I was genuinely confused when trying to remember the name of someone that I'd figuratively "grown up" with.

"Yeah, that would be really did become close for only meeting three days ago." Conan confirmed with a nod and a small grin as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trousers in a relaxed manner.

"A pity that she already got sick after her first day…" I sighed deeply, shaking my head.

"Sick? What do you mean sick? She was at school every day,wasn't she?" the little detective stated as he and Ai looked, clearly perplexed.

I paled as I felt how my blood instantly drained from my face.

"A-ah...You're right,that happened last year... I must still be confused or something like that…"

I muttered, clenching the hand around the towel I was holding.

"It's not uncommon for people to experience a minor loss of memory or slight confusion after fainting, you should take it slow for the next few days."

I almost shrieked out loud in fear when Okiya Subaru crouched down in front of me with an unreadable expression on his face.

I flinched away from the man when his eyes became fixated on the scar running across my throat, making me raise my hand and cover it before realising my actions.

"S-sure" I was quite sure that my voice rose a few octaves higher than normal judging by the calculating gazes that Conan and ,especially, Ai cast at me.

"And even though your house seems to be just around the corner you shouldn't be walking home alone, especially if there are no adults to take care of you." he stated and my brown,doe eyes widened in fear when I finally grasped what he was about to "offer" me.

"I'll either not make it out of this alive or be put through some form of psychological torture to spit out some answers...NO THANKS!" I screamed inside of my head.

"I'll go with Haiba-!"

"It's okay, I'll accompany you since it looks like we'll be neighbours from now on anyways. Byakuya-san."

He cut off my protests, giving me a smile that could almost be mistaken for a friendly one if it weren't for the fact that I sensed the bad intentions behind it.

The way he dangerously stressed my last name made me fear for my just shortly acquired second life.

"That seems like a good idea. Here, these are the key to the house." Conan stated, holding out said item to Okiya Subaru, clearly oblivious to the distressed state I found myself in.

"Are you sure this is okay? That this "Shinichi-nii chan" won't mind?" Subaru asked before taking the offered keys, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I'll e-mail him later."the shrunken detective replied in an easy going tone of voice.

"Thank you. You really helped me." Subaru said, looking like a he'd just had all of his prayers answered by the little brunette boy.

I almost gagged in disgust.

"In exchange...guard the house while he's away." Conan asked of him before giving him one of his all-knowing smirks.

"Yes...of course." the sandy brown haired man promised, a small smile surfacing on his face.

I was seriously dreading whatever was to come.

_

"Thanks for carrying Byakuya-nee over here by the way."

Conan said with one of his sickeningly fake childish smiles as he waved us goodbye from the entrance to Agasa's house before wishing us a good night and turning around to shut close the door to the only route of escape that I could think of.

I was officially stuck.

With an FBI agent that would probably stop at nothing to get some answers from me.

An awkward silence settled as I slowly started walking behind the bespectacled man, keeping a distance of 2 meters ,which I'd deemed safe, between us all the while.

My thoughts came to rest on the vanished grim reaper again as I waked in tense silence, still confused about what the little detective had told me- that she'd been at school for the last three days, even though I was a hundred percent positive of the fact that I hadn't imagined talking to Kobayashi-sensei and excusing my pretend little sister from school for being sick with a stomach bug.

I was absolutely convinced that I hadn't just imagined that, otherwise I would've never set a foot outside the door on warm day like this if not to search for her.

That's the extent of my sluggishness and lazy habits...I'll even admit to being a little antisocial at times, especially weekends.

I also just happened to be incredible susceptible to warm weather, always feeling completely drained of energy after only just a few minutes if I wasn't walking in the shadows, a sentiment which Tamiel surprisingly seemed to share.

I'd even blacked out a few times before when either Satoru-nii,Mom,William, Kanon,Momiji or all of them together in a group effort had managed to drag me outside after much shouting and protests.

Staying inside my air conditioned room and writing my novels just seemed like the smarter choice with way less drama involved.

And Mom-kun was always over the moon when I managed to finish everything before my deadline, so he only ever complained about my bad habits when I was taking a break from "being" Ota Nao.

"Maybe Tamiel finally returned and just played some trick on their minds? I mean she already altered the memories of Dr. Clipboard and the Nurse at the hospital…"

I felt relief flood through me at that thought ,after sorting through all the different scenarios and theories I'd come up with over the time she'd been gone.

"Why do you seem to be afraid of me?" Okiya Subaru's voice ripped me from my thoughts as my jaw dropped ever so slightly and my mouth formed a surprised "o" shape.

I was mortified.

"Because I'm afraid that you might kill me?!" was the first response that came to my mind as I stared at the back of the disguised FBI agent walking in front of me.

Instead of voicing my thought though I just painfully clamped my mouth shut as a scared expression settled on my face.

I almost ran into Okiya Subaru when he suddenly stopped walking and turned around to meet my gaze.

My heart stopped beating for a few seconds from fear when I saw that he'd now fully opened his eyes to reveal them to be the same shade of startling jade green as the ones of Akai Shuichi.

"Crap."

"Aren't you going to answer me, Byakuya-san?"

His gaze was as intense as my urge of running away at that moment was.

"I-" my voice was sounding a lot less stable and confident than I'd hoped for.

"I'm just a person that knows a lot about things that they shouldn't know anything about."

I formulated my reply as vaguely as possible, sensing that I wouldn't be able to pass any sort of lie by him without it being instantly noticed.

"And also someone who doesn't want to know anything about them." I added after a suspiciously quiet moment, turning my head so I wouldn't have to meet his eyes anymore.

"I see." he drawled, pushing his glasses further up his nose bridge as his eyes returned to normal.

I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"How about telling me a little more? I simply insist." his fake polite manner made a ghosting of goosebumps appear over my whole body.

I could tell that he was incredibly irritated.

Indignant about not being able to find the answer to some big question ,even though it seemed to be right in front of him at this very moment.

He wasn't able to figure me out and it displeased him.

It displeased him a lot.

"Then again...who really would be able to figure you out...people would believe that you were crazy if you even attempted to tell them about what really happened. Sadly ,lies often times sound more believable than the actual truth…"

"All that I can tell you right now is that I know who you really are, who you really work for and why you're pretending to be Okiya Subaru." I told him with a defiant expression that spoke volumes.

His face remained a stony mask as I cursed the fact that it was way too hard to get a read on that man's emotions.

"Let's go inside for a bit, Byakuya-san. You shouldn't overexert yourself after fainting."

He motioned towards the Kudo's residence with his hand, a silent order to follow him and to stop discussing this matter in the open.

He opened the big iron gate to the house before casting a look over his shoulder when I stayed glued to the spot that I was standing in, gripping the sides of my skirt tightly in my tightly clenched hands, my lower lip trembling in fear.

Dread had settled in the pit of my stomach in a strangely familiar way, slowing down my body and mind to the point of infuriation.

My head was a desert right now whilst at the same time sprawling over with random ideas of escape and deception that sadly never lasted longer than the time that I needed to get a grip on them.

I'd never felt fear like this...at least in my life in this world.

"You have to promise that not a single word of what I tell you leaves this house until there's no other choice...and I also won't be able to tell you a lot."I gave him a thoughtful look, chewing on my lower lip- a habit that my mother always had scolded me for since it would rupture the skin and draw blood sometimes.

"You might not get the answers that you want to hear."

I told him, nervously tilting my head to the right in a pondering motion, making my dark brown looks fall over my shoulder as the light of the setting,orange glowing sun was caught in the caramel highlights of my hair,making them give off a mysterious golden sheen whilst casting a macabre shadow over my scarred throat.

"I'll have to take that risk." Okiya Subaru replied as the rays of light were also being cast off his glasses, obscuring his eyes from my view, which made it even harder to read him...something which seemed almost entirely impossible to me now.

I nodded shakily before wiping off my clammy hands on my skirt and stepping through the gate, which was instantly closed behind me with a final sounding clicking noise.

"Now I get what Anna from "Frozen" felt like with all these doors always being shut on her…Elsa was a bitch." I thought bitterly.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you." Okiya Subaru told me as if looking right through my facade, his voice carrying a hint of amusement in it ,if I wasn't imagining things at the moment

Which was way more likely than I'd like to admit.

"Well if that isn't calming I don't know what is." I snapped back in a sarcastic manner, my defense mechanisms kicking in.

My ears turned their usual shade of embarrassed cherry red when the man simply raised on of his eyebrows at me in a smug manner.

I decided to save my wounded pride by simply marching ahead without paying our little exchange any further heed.

I actually was kind of secretly excited to take a look inside the Kudo's residence, since it was such a crucial place in both the manga and anime...and then there was also a certain library full of crime novels from all around the world.

But rummaging through this book-paradise on earth sadly wasn't my main concern right now.

I kept curiously glancing at the interior of the house as soon as Subaru had ushered me inside, trying to compare it to the manga and anime counterparts I'd already seen so many times before.

It appeared to be a perfect match.

At least I'd know the layout if I just so happened to need an escape plan for when Okiya Subaru ,aka Akai Shuichi, would actually try and off me.

"The living room seems like a good place to have this conversation.." the sandy brown haired man behind me suddenly spoke up, clearly thinking out loud, almost making me leap into the air in fright.

Another smug smile flitted over his his face as I gave him a death glare, tightly clutching the fabric over my heart that was now beating dangerously fast, fluttering against my ribcage like an imprisoned bird that was desperately trying to escape.

But just like me, the bird remained caged.