Hey guys, so the other day as I was rewatching Head-to-Head Match with the BO, I had this weird idea of making a pairing out of Vermouth and Shuichi. Shu was obviously impressed by her on that episode, so what the heck, here's a fanfiction about that.

Now the development of their relationship took me some time, seeing that they're enemies, dah! And they don't trust each other, but I'll make it work, I promise :p

but hold on, is it really love? or just a part of an act?

Anyhoo, here's the prologue, hope you enjoy.

He walked between the shelves casually pretending to look for some ingredients as his eyes kept peeking at the man in black who's been following him ever since he left the Kudos residence. Pretending he hadn't noticed him, Subaru paid for what he bought before leaving the store, he took a look around and there was the famous black Porsche parked across the street, he moved his eyes from it quickly and casually walked to his car, he started the engine and as he drove, it was confirmed that Gin was after him, the black Porsche kept riding right behind him openly.

This wasn't good, Gin was always the one responsible for assassinations so having him following you cannot lead to a good thing.

Subaru didn't want to lead them back to the Kudos residence, instead, he started driving fast and dodging through cars as he called James black informing him about what's happening. Could it be they found out about him? Or what else could it be! But how? How?

Once finished with the call, Subaru did what a normal person would do, he pulled over in a traffic-filled road followed by the Porsche that stopped right behind him, he stepped out of his car and walked to the car behind him, the tinted Porsche window opened slowly exposing Vodka.

"Is there something?" Subaru asked, creating an innocent look on his face "I noticed you've been following me"

The next thing he knew was his eyes slamming shut from intense burning, Vodka pepper-sprayed him and dragged him to the back seat placing something on his nose that soon enough sent him to sleep.

"Hold on!" Shuichi heard a voice say as he emerged back to consciousness "let me do this"

He finally opened his eyes only to find his body tied on the ground inside some abandoned warehouse, with his Subaru mask thrown next to him and Vodka pointing a gun at his head.

"Aniki" Vodka said lowering his gun as Gin approached raising his.

"Oh, you're awake, that's even better, now you can witness your own death" Gin said before putting on his usual victory smile, he pulled the trigger and started sending bullets inside Shuichi who laid on the ground helplessly, screaming from the first bullet but taking the rest with no sound but painting.

In that frozen second between life and death, his mind traveled to another place, he thought about his family and friends, Akemi and Jodie, even her parents crossed his mind, he found time to think about his entire life and what he made wrong and what he failed to accomplish, except that now, everything passed through his mind as a part of a movie, he didn't judge himself, he didn't feel anything, no anger, no guilt as he usually does, just nothing.

The popping of the bullets finally stopped and got replaced by clicks of an emptied gun.

"The cat with seven souls is finally dead" Gin smirked as he looked down at the corpse of Shuichi.

"You didn't shoot his head" Vodka pointed out knowing how Gin always finishes his victims with a shot to the head.

"The last time he got shot in the head he survived, I consider it bad luck" he turned to look at Vodka as he went on "besides, it would've shortened his suffering"

"Now that's an ugly scene" Vermouth said as she entered the warehouse causing Gin to turn and look at her.

"Well, too bad you're gonna have to clean it"

"Why am I the one to…"

"Because anokata said so, I'm going to meet him now so I can't be late. just burn the corpse and clean the blood"

The two men left the warehouse, Vermouth waited for them to leave as she scrolled through her phone. After years of working to the organization, a corpse was as casual as a sleeping person to her. Once they went out the door, she turned to look at the corpse and the lake of blood underneath it, she let out a long sigh before rolling her sleeves up.

Green eyes opened slowly, Shuichi's face looked so pale that even the dark circles underneath his eyes lost their color, his lips were white and chopped and he looked as if he'd lost ten pounds as he laid on a Queen size bed.

Turning his head to the right, he saw a beautiful view of Tokyo from a big window that covered the whole wall, so he's in a high rise apartment. Sophisticated, intimate and luxurious would be the least to describe the bedroom he was in, everything inside it was deluxe except for the IV stand near the bed where a bag of saline was hooked not fitting the rest of the furniture.

He looked at it following the track of the tube that came out of it to wind up penetrating his skin, his skin that had multiple blue stains on it, probably due to the insertion and removing of IV cannulas several times.

Slowly, he tried to get up when a sharp pain lanced through his body and spots flashed in front of his eyes, he felt searing bursts radiating from the wounds to reach his entire body, he winced in pain as he found himself groaning to keep himself from screaming.

He was supposed to be dead! The last thing he remembered was Gin pointing and shooting at him, now he's in a strange place, his muscles betraying him with a sudden weakness, he's in pain, he's breathing heavily, it was just too much for Shuichi to process, he was freaking out and what he saw next only helped to intensify that feeling.

Vermouth showed up from the door examining him with a confident gaze as Shuichi, who's usually calm and stoic sent her a look that translated what he honestly felt.

"Welcome to hell" the blonde smiled as she continued to approach him confidently "you died Akai Shuichi, but turns out you weren't as good of a person as you made us believe, you were sent to hell and I'm here with you as a part of your punishment"

Shuichi kept looking at her with the same look as he reached for the tube to get it out of his hand, the blonde moved her hand quickly resting it on his wrist and preventing him from continuing "calm down, you actually believed that!"

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Where is this place?" Shuichi asked with his hands reaching for the tube again.

"Look, I understand you're shocked but taking this off would be a bad idea" she poured him a cup of water from a bottle on the nightstand as she went on calmly "you were shot all over your shoulder and chest and abdomen, you've been in a coma since then and now… well, here you are"

"Where is this place?" he asked after a while trying to organize his thoughts.

"Oh, I would love to tell you, but then, I'd have to kill you" she said lowering her voice while looking down at her hands before turning her heels and aiming to the door.

"Wait!" Shuichi said. Vermouth stopped and waited for him to finish talking without looking back at him "why am I here?"

The blonde took in a deep breath before she retrieved walking, she left the room leaving Shuichi alone for the rest of the day with nothing he can do but to think, he couldn't make any move without having pain shooting through every part of the little holes inside his body. Time passed so slowly in the broad bedroom as he watched the sun go down and behind the high building, darkness enveloped Tokyo as he laid there watching and thinking.

The clock read 11 pm when Vermouth showed up again from the door holding a bag of saline in her hand, the room was dark and the only light it received was from the large window and the city lights outside.

She turned on the lights and approached the bed and started changing the empty bag with the new one, with the green eyes following her

"How long have I been here?"

"Eight days, you've been in a coma, it was a miracle that you survived"

"Why are you doing this Vermouth?" he asked without getting a response, and so he went on "why did you save me?"

"I didn't say I saved you"

"Gin wanted me dead, which means that anokata wanted the same, I know Gin wouldn't disobey him, same goes for Vodka but you… anyway, If you need some information from me then know that I'm not going to say anything"

"It's not like you have any information," she said as she hanged the new saline bag on the hook right after connecting it to the tube "I already know everything you know"

"Then why did you save me?"

"What's done is done, don't make me regret it" she snapped finally moving her eyes from the bag to meet his "it can be reversed you know"

Vermouth left the room again, leaving Shuichi to spend a long night sleepless before surrendering to the irresistible feeling near the morning, or collapsing to be more precise, and who would blame him for not being able to sleep as he laid in a room with one of the high ranking members of a universal criminal organization in the room next to him.