This chapter is a bit iffy, too. Updates won't be as fast in the future, will update as soon as possible though.
Thanks to Marie9 for Beta'ing.
First GAME
.: Adoption :.
To say there was a shocked silence was an understatement when it came to telling Kudo Yuusaku and his wife about their son's death. There were really no words powerful enough to describe the emotions between his parents, but the Black Organization operative was of course, unfazed, and it didn't make a difference whether or not he showed emotion. He was in the guise of a doctor, after all.
Another was posing as a policeman, filling in the details. Apparently, a silver Toyota had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, spinning out of control and crashing into the car their son was in then breaking the safety barrier at the edge of the cliff-side road before plummeting into the ocean, but not before travelling quite a long distance away. Chris Vineyard's Ferrari had also somehow caught onto the speeding car, and they also went down too.
Thus, the American actress, the reckless driver and Kudo Shinichi had been dubbed legally dead after a year had past.
Chris's daughter, Sharon, had been extremely upset that her mother had to share this fate, especially since her mother's best friend's son had also shared the same. The 'police' had contacted them to inform that the driver was indeed drunk, having passed through a checkpoint some time ago with the police giving chase. He did not have his license with him, but he seemed no older then nineteen.
The Vineyard successor apologized to Shinichi's mother over and over again on behalf of hers, but the Kudo had brushed it away and merely blamed the incident upon the speeding car's driver. She had not known at the moment that the driver was another member solely loyal to anokata's favourite, Vermouth.
Had Yukiko also known that it was her best friend who kept her still-alive son, she may have done something she in future would regret. As it was, she was oblivious to the fact that Shinichi was with some of Sharon's medical...contacts, one could say. She had given up most of her hope, especially because the vehicle they were in had been a convertible, and had sunken quite quickly after the water seeped past the window screen as it had pitched forward.
Shinichi, on the other hand, Vermouth had been informed a week after the incident, was recovering slowly from the shock of seeing all the blood. It was faked, of course, by spilling the blood their scientists drained off their test subjects, as animal blood could possibly be seen through as false. Besides, it was quite barbaric, bleeding animals to their deaths just for some lacking special effects. The test subjects were left feeling faint and light-headed, but they never died. Rest and Recuperation did the trick – the organization was indebted to them after all for placing their lives on the line – albeit sometimes unwillingly.
Hopefully, the entire act could help to erase the child's memory through post-traumatic amnesia. After all; there was no guarantee that he would suffer from childhood amnesia later on in life, and if he still kept his memories then either a lie could be fabricated or they would use drugs to do it forcefully.
Vermouth wasn't sure that anokata would approve of the drugs, though. She shrugged. With the Black Organization's influence, it would be easy to create the lie, but she needed to find the members which would help out with her task.
Her phone rang, and the difference in tune was recognisable only to those who were informed beforehand of the slight change in one of the notes. It was the one she set for their medics, and she answered by flicking the phone open and raising one eyebrow pointedly.
"Yes?"
"Ah, Belmont. This is Perroquet, informing you of your new charge's status."
"So?" She was impatient – the next stage in her newest game needed to be completed quite soon.
"He is awake..." Perroquet hesitated, trying to think of what she wanted to know and what she didn't. She could get quite snappy when impatient.
"And does he remember anything?"
"Not at all."
A smile crossed her face, her brows lowered and her eyes darkened. "Wait for me, gentlemen. You have done a fine job of this, and now I thank you considerably. Also, tell him that his mother will be there to see him soon."
"What are you planning, Belmont?" demanded Perroquet abruptly. "If you will harm him – you know that is against the Code."
"I know about the Code – haven't we all memorized it back-to-front? Don't worry." She had been exasperated, but now the sudden change in character gave him chills. "I will still follow on with my part of the agreement to forward you to anokata. They will decide whether or not you will gain a promotion, but then it would have been out of my hands."
"Yes, Belmont." The tone which he used was meek, knowing he was quite a few ranks below her.
"Expect me in one and a half hours. I have preparations to make."
And with that, she hung up.
-1-
Anokata had agreed to this new...idea of Vermouth's, but the only main point they made was for Shinichi to be taken care of properly, and not to be put into such a great danger until he had proved capable of achieving so. She had not minded this, and had already placed that into deep consideration. Anyway, she had known them for years.
Vermouth spent her hour preparing herself to meet this Kudo Shinichi. If he had indeed forgotten everything, then her appearance (namely, her hair colour) may spark some memories. So, she disguised herself as someone who could have possibly been his mother, turned on her motorbike and set out to meet him.
The person who sped down the streets of New York now looked nothing like the one known as Sharon Vineyard. Her platinum blonde hair had morphed itself into a sleek black to match her charge's, falling perfectly straight to her chest, and what hair was in front of her face was now a fringe past her eyebrows.
She was still about the same height, of course. It was quite irritating after a while if you had to pretend to be taller or shorter then you actually were for quite a long time. The guise was overall, approximately the same as her one as the actress' daughter.
A few minutes later, a discreet blue motorbike was parked behind an apartment block. It looked quite new, but it too was quite inconspicuous as the colours were quite rusty but not so much as to seem ancient. Some windows were exposed or ajar with the rest having their (what seemed like) dull grey-blue curtains hanging closed, but the little that was visible through the open ones did not give much clues to whoever owned the residence or had hired it for the time being.
Vermouth had entered that building and visited the third apartment, pulling out a common-looking key and granting herself access. The window to her left had been closed earlier, most likely by either Perroquet or some other working for him who may have been looking after the minor. Checking for fingerprints would have been futile - as low as rank as he was, he still had some common sense.
Disguise had never been his forte, even though he was now a thin but stocky brunette with slim rectangular glasses and bangs long enough to tuck behind his ears. Not only that, but he enjoyed and actively wore the coat for his profession whenever he could, very different from Vermouth's V-neck jackets and common, sometimes bell-bottomed trousers.
Besides that, the only other reason that prevented him from rising within their Organisation's ranks was that he was tactless. She really wanted to know whether it was inherent or passed on by his mentor or teacher, but the only one who knew was anokata so it was a little bit hard to find out the answer. Anyway, the Code prevented her from doing so if the person insisted no one search for his or her true name.
Perroquet, though, was skilled and extremely dedicated to his work, nonetheless, and clearly had done a good job of looking after Shinichi as she saw after entering one of the tucked-away bedrooms. The décor in the room had an unremarkably bland colour scheme, and was very simplistic and uncluttered simply with a bed, a side table, shelves and a closet. Most likely, the closet was for medication or some such, the shelves clearly had some spare bedspreads and a futon just in case the bed was not available for sleeping on and the side table for whatever the injured member was doing at the time.
The younger one stared at the newest person to enter the room and his eyes were quite questioning. His eyes...every time she looked at them a long-forgotten part of her would be entranced by their colour and innocent sparkle. It was just too bad that that innocence needed to be gone if you were to be in their Organisation, but what guilt she once may have felt had not re-emerged since she shielded herself from that part of her forty to fifty years ago.
His age must have been no younger than one and a half, but no older than three and a half. Who knew - after all, Vermouth had seen some children looking in the way he did at the age of four, only that she could see the slight lump under the blankets which notified her how tall he was. Even if he was short for his age, four-year-olds were rarely that short. She noticed that she had chosen correctly when it came to hair colour with his dark brown, scruffy from tossing and turning over the pillow. The hand that was visible quivered slightly and she noticed how nimble it was even at that age, and this time Vermouth knew that she had chosen correctly for her task.
Vermouth leaned closer and kneeled so her softened eyes were in line with his, and spoke her next words quite sincerely compared to her usual manner of communication.
"Hello there, my little Sabra."
