Chapter Twenty Five

Warning here. A little bit of blood and all that. I don't really know if it counts as torture.. but... just in case. Yeah. Warning. Don't read if easily grossed out or offended.

"Never was anything great achieved without danger."

-Niccolo Machiavelli

Ruri was quite exhausted after a long day at school where Kaito had somehow gotten the key to the broom closet... and proceeded to shut those without claustrophobia inside it and lock them in.

Thankfully, Ruri had slight claustrophobia, so she was spared from the magician's crazy rampage. How Kaito knew she had slight claustrophobia, she would never know.

She sighed and laughed as she remembered him locking Hakuba inside the aforementioned broom closet.

The girl had originally felt bad as she and Aoko tried to get the poor blond out. Unfortunately, Kaito had also done something to the lock, as they couldn't even budge the door. So they ended up giving up after about an hour of pulling and pushing..

This left the blond banging on the door for a good 15 minutes before stopping and just resigning to his broom-y fate.

Only until the last bell, did Hakuba finally manage to emerge from the closet.

Ruri laughed again, drawing the attention of some passer-byes who looked at her with a tilted head.

She murmured some apologies and hurried away.

Just as she was about to open the door to her house, Ruri heard her phone chime, alerting her to a new text.

The girl flicked her phone open and checked the new mail.

It was from Touma!

"Hey Ruri

I got an extra ticket from a friend to go to Tropical Land

I was wondering if you'd like to go with me"

Ruri smiled, remembering her friend.

It seemed he still had a crush on her.

"When?" she texted, opening the door and walking into the house.

"This Sunday" Touma texted back almost immediately.

"I think I have time" she replied.

"Then 9 am in front of the park?"

"Sure meet you then"

Ruri closed the phone and walked up into her room where her school bag was promptly deposited on her bed.

She went into the kitchen to make some cup ramen and sat in the living room, watching T.V.

As sad as it was, Ruri's home life had suddenly been transformed into the old life she had had as Janet.

"Is this really a blessing? Or is it a curse?" she mumbled, turning the channel to a drama.

Getting ready for dates were a lot harder when Ruri's fashion forward grandmother wasn't around to give advice.

Ruri had laid out several potential outfits on her bed and was staring at them with judging eyes.

She sighed and pulled out her phone.

It was 7... would Aoko be awake?

Taking a chance, Ruri dialed her friend's number.

It took maybe 3 rings when it was answered.

"Ruri-chan? What's wrong?"

"Ah... well..." Ruri hesitated.

She was starting to regret calling.

"Hold on, I'll be right over," Aoko told her before hanging up.

Sure enough, within the hour, Aoko was at Ruri's door.

"What's going on?" Aoko asked as Ruri took her to the conundrum.

"I'm going to Tropical Land with Touma-san," Ruri explained.

"Tropical Land? In Beika? That's quite a ways..."

Ruri nodded.

"But I thought you weren't interested in Touma?" Aoko inquired, grinning.

"I was invited. I didn't want to turn him down..." Ruri looked away. "I still don't have any romantic feelings for him."

"So you called because you didn't know what to wear?" Aoko looked over Ruri's displayed outfits.

Another nod.

"Then leave it to me!"

Ruri shuffled in slight awkwardness as Touma and her waited in line for the rollercoaster.

"Hey, I heard that there was a murder here just a while back," Touma whispered into her ear.

Ruri nodded. "I heard about that too."

"I think the guy who solved it was about your age, too. What was his name? Kaido? Kido?"

"Kudo," Ruri corrected.

"Yeah! That's it!"

"That name is actually super familiar..." Touma mumbled.

"His mother is the famous actress Kudo Yukiko. She's married to Kudo Yusaku, the famous Night Baron novelist."

"Wow... you sure know a lot, Ruri-chan..." Touma stared at the shorter girl in surprise.

"Well... I read the paper..." Ruri looked away, not sure if that little lie was going to work.

"So? Do you know anything else about this mystery solving rich teenager?" Touma asked.

"He's been missing ever since the murder that took place here," Ruri told him.

"You don't think... this place is haunted, do you?" Touma gave the girl a lop sided grin.

Ruri was VERY tempted to punch him in the arm.

"It's not."

Or at least... she hoped not.

Touma threw an arm around her shoulders and sighed, poking her cheek. "You're no fun."

Ruri giggled a little and shoved his arm off her. "C'mon, we're next."

The boarded the rollercoaster and listened to the voice tell them to keep all appendages inside the cart at all times. Lest they want a severed arm or leg.

"Thanks for coming, Ruri-chan," Touma hugged the girl.

"No problem. I had fun," she smiled.

"See you later," Touma said, walking to his own home.

The long ride from Beika to Ekoda had been quite tiring so Ruri really wanted to sleep.

But before she could walk into her house, a rag was placed over her mouth and she slipped into sleep.

Ruri opened her eyes and tried to blink out the grogginess that accompanied.

Where am I? she wondered, looking around.

She was gagged and bound to a pole with rope.

The girl wasn't able to make much of anything out, as the room was pitch black.

Only a small light fixture hung above her, creating a small circle of light around where she was tied up.

"Hello, little girl," a suave voice chuckled.

Black dress shoes clicked into the light, revealing a tall and dark man.

His hair and face was covered by his black hat. The only thing Ruri could tell, was that this man was either wearing platform shoes, or he was very tall.

"Call me Tubboocki. I'll be your host for this evening," the man grinned.

He took a few steps closer.

"Are you really such a threat that they needed to get rid of you?" he wondered aloud, frowning.

"You're nothing more than a little girl..." he circled around Ruri.

"Well, it's not really my job to question it. I just do the dirty work."

He pulled out a suitcase from underneath his cloak and opened it.

He took out a hypodermic needle and a vial filled with a dark green liquid.

He filled the needle with the liquid and flicked it once.

Tubboocki grinned and stepped closer to Ruri, brandishing the needle.

"Said your prayers yet? Because this is your last chance," he plunged the needle into her arm and injected the liquid.

Immediately, Ruri felt her body burn. It felt like fire in her veins.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she whimpered.

Am I dying? she wondered.

Tubboocki untied the gag and grinned.

Ruri wondered for a while, why, but soon she was coughing up blood.

"Lovely," Tubboocki shuddered.

Coughing up more blood, Ruri slumped forward and screamed as she felt her insides boiling.

The pain made those few minutes feel like an eternity as she continued to cough up more blood. Tubboocki watched her writhe in pain.

I don't want to die. I don't want to. I'm scared. I'm scared. I don't want to die. Please help. Help me. Someone...

Conan and Ai raced to the abandoned warehouse in a deserted part of Ekoda. Somehow, with an unusual stroke of luck, they had come across a rumor that told of men in black "taking care" of business in the warehouse.

They carefully picked their way through a smashed window and slipped inside. Conan was armed with his usual gadgets and unbeknownst to him, Ai was carrying a modified cap gun which fired small but deadly expanding bullets that exploded on contact.

The two teenagers turned children looked around the warehouse and stopped as the heard course breathing.

Conan held his hand up, signaling for them to stop. He put a finger to his lips and Ai nodded.

They very slowly stepped closer. The breathing didn't seem to be moving, and it seemed to be getting weaker and weaker.

Conan peaked over a few boxes and his eyes widened at the sight he saw.

Incessant beeping broke through Ruri's consciousness and she vaguely wondered if it was her alarm clock. Blinking her eyes open, she lifted her hand to smack the clock.

When she saw her outstretched arm, she screamed.

Ai and Conan ran into the room, followed closely by Agasa-hakase.

"WHY DO I HAVE NEEDLES IN MY ARM?!" Ruri screeched.

"We found you in an abandoned warehouse, dying," Ai explained, sighing and going to check a monitor.

Memories flooded back to Ruri, making her nauseous.

"Y- You mean... that wasn't a dream?" she choked and covered her mouth.

"You're lucky we found you," Ai told her, reaching for Ruri's arm.

"Thanks..."

Ai huffed and began to check Ruri's blood pressure.

"How are you feeling, Yukihisa-san?" the little girl asked.

"Not too bad, I suppose, considering I was just on the brink of death," Ruri replied.

Ai looked straight at her. "You've been unconscious for more than a week."

"A... week?" Ruri repeated.

Conan nodded for Ai.

"I- wow- ok..." Ruri held her head.

"Why were you there?" Conan asked.

"I had been... kidnapped and drugged."

"That much we can tell," Ai commented.

"I wasn't doing anything, I promise!" Ruri tried to explain. "I was about to-"

"Ruri. We need to talk about your appearance," Conan interrupted.

"What about it?" she asked.

Ai held out a mirror.

As Ruri looked at herself in the mirror, what she saw was enough to make her drop the mirror and make it shatter into a thousand pieces.

"What... happened to me?"

IT'S DONE~! OHMIGOSH, PEOPLE, THIS WAS A TRIAL! I cannot thank you all enough for the support you have given me. But I am back! Hopefully permanently. NO MORE ODD DEPRESSING BREAKS! Anyway, how was that chapter? Did you like it? Was it crappily made? Leave a review to tell me how it was!

NEXT CHAPTER: SOME "MINOR" CHANGES, THEY SAID

DFTBA EVERYONE! :)