Escape
by: Kaiyrah

Perhaps Gin is human after all. Gin/Shiho.
Disclaimers apply.

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The first shot rang out at around two in the morning.

Miyano Shiho didn't bat an eye as her hand migrated to her left shoulder, pressing her fingers into the wound. She continued to stare point-blank in front of her, where a man donning a black trenchcoat stood, staring at her with equal force. The swirls of smoke from his cigarette comforted her in an odd way – they always had.

His cruel eyes gleamed with morbid delight as a cold smile etched itself on his face. He raised the handgun. "We meet again, Sherry."

The scientist pulled her hand away from her shoulder and straightened her lab coat. A similar smirk stretched her lips. "Indeed."

"You're awfully confident," he noted, circling her, the gun pointed at her the whole while. "Confident for a woman who's going to die."

Shiho's eyes narrowed, the smirk wiped away from her face. But she was not afraid. "Somehow I always knew that it would be you who killed me, Gin."

His grip tightened around the gun, but he didn't shoot. His hand shook. Why? He had nothing to be afraid of. "You're going to die, painfully and slowly."

She let her typical cool expression take over, and placed her hand atop his that held the gun. "Then kill me."

Gin's eyes widened considerably. Yes, she was serious, wasn't she? Her eyes bore into his, partially obscured by the brim of his hat. The cigarette dropped from his mouth. No, she shouldn't have been staring at him like that, no, stop –

But she continued to stare. Gin snarled. "Dammit, Sherry. I'm going to shoot you. Run away. Try to escape."

Shiho took her hand away from his and crossed her arms. "Thank you for the offer, but I'd rather die like a stubborn fool than a coward."

His mask was slipping. Slowly but surely, the face of the cold-blooded killer began to slide away. "Run," he rasped, "Run while you can."

"I refuse."

Two more shots rang out, and Shiho glanced at the two holes in the wall, alarmed. The clatter of metal to concrete sounded in the dark alleyway. Gin looked at his hand with an inexplicable expression on his face. "Go treat that shoulder wound, Sherry," he said quietly, his voice hoarse.

When she didn't move, Gin moved instead and made a quick exit out of the alley. Mustn't let her – mustn't let her see –

He glanced back at her, and she had taken to staring after him. The bloodstain that trailed from her shoulder, Gin thought, resembled a rose.

End.