DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DETECTIVE CONAN.
CHAPTER SEVEN: EVANESCENCE OF THE SMALL LIGHT
Note: Advanced apologies to the wrong Japanese terms I have or might have or will insert in the chapter. Also for the OOC's and other plot twists or character changes that you noticed or will notice.
And again, I'll continue with some flashbacks around. A little back story will explain why it happened.
WARNING! Rated T for violence, blood and sexual content! Please be advised that you can skip the chapter!
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"We searched for her sister in the factory. I had a hunch she wouldn't be far." Akai continued from where he left off. "And she was."
FLASHBACK:
They found Shiho at last. Lying down on the cold tiles of the floor without consciousness. Her hands were tied behind her back while her ankles had chains on them, which are connected to the wall.
"Shiho!" Akemi cried and immediately untied her unconscious sister lying down on the floor inside an old stock room. "Shiho? Shiho!" she shook her sister awake, Shiho's eyes slowly opened, she seemed wobbly. She's drugged. Akai thought. "Are you alright? Talk to me."
"Onee-san?" her sister replied weakly. But Akemi responded with big relief and hugged her sister tightly.
"I'm right here. I'm right here." she whispered.
While the two had their short reunion, Akai was peeking outside and somehow, he had this feeling that Gin... that Gin was coming. Akai closed the door silently and crouched beside Akemi's unsteady sister, putting his hands on her pockets, looking for a specific device. And he was right. Shiho was bugged. He destroyed it and lifted Akemi's chin so that they see each other with eye contact.
"We need to go." he said.
"I'm not leaving her." Akemi said as she protectively wrapped her arms around her younger sister.
"This is a trap. They used her to get to us." he explained.
"I can't leave her to a place like this. You have to save us both!" she urged.
"I can't. Not without any of you getting hurt. Not in this state." his eyes looked down on Shiho who was still unsteady. "I promise we'd come back for her. But Akemi, if we get caught, it's the end for all of us. They won't kill her and you know it."
Akai didn't want to rush. But in order for a quick escape, Akemi shouldn't be resisting. It took a few seconds before Akemi leaned her sister on the wall, a hand cupping her cheek.
"I promise we'd come back and save you, Shiho. Wait for us." She said with a tear falling from her eye. "I promise."
She was waiting for her younger sister to reply. Shiho tried she couldn't control her body, she felt so numb, her sister's voice echoed all over her head, saying goodbye and yet she couldn't do anything. Not even tell her sister she understood.
Akai placed his warm hand over Akemi's and slowly pulled it away from Shiho.
"Yuko (Lets go)." he whispered and slowly, Akemi let go of her sister and ran with Akai.
END
"It was the last time Akemi had seen her." Akai said. And Conan was suspecting something was off again.
"But it wasn't the last time YOU saw her." Akai smirked.
"I saw her again. A year after our escape. It wouldn't have happened if Bourbon didn't help us."
"Bourbon?"
"He helped us not because he wanted to join us. But because he wants to take Akemi. He misunderstood Akemi's rejection."
"Sou ka (I see). So what happened to your last encounter?"
"I was on my way home from work when I saw her. She was fine by then."
FLASHBACK:
"Shiho!" Akai called but the young scientist didn't turn. She was limping as she walked towards a van. No one was around her so he decided to take the chance and talk to her. "Shiho."
Shiho slowly lifted her face and saw the face of Akemi's boyfriend. Boy was she glad to see him for the first time. In shock, Akai found Shiho crying in his chest. She was trembling so hard, her hands dug on his jacket. He can feel how scared she was. He hesitated but he placed a gentle hand on her back before completely wrapping his arms around her.
"Let's get you home." he said softly.
"I- I can't. They'll kill her! They'll kill Onee-san!" she cried all the more.
Akai thought that it would be a long talk so he told Shiho to follow him, find a private place to talk, away from the van. Surely Shiho won't be walking around without any member of the organization. He led her to a hotel that he rented for his emergency hideout at work. Shiho stopped crying but she was still sobbing. This worried the FBI agent. What did they do to her?
END
"I couldn't take her home. She didn't want to endanger Akemi." Akai explained. "She said the organization sent her to take me and Akemi back to them. And she will be forgiven."
"So she was alone?"
"Yes. I told her I could protect both of them. But I was selfish back there. I... I only thought of Akemi's safety when I realized the organization is hunting us." the tone of Akai's regret worried Conan.
"Oi, oi, don't tell me you..." he didn't want to say it but no matter.
"Yes I did. I sent her back. I told her to do it for Akemi. Go back and be my eyes and ears. To help me bring the organization down." Akai started revealing his secret. A secret that not even Akemi knows.
"She couldn't have possibly return. If you saw her broke down that way." Conan tried to pry him even more. If Shiho hated him this much today, then what Akai did to her was something that resulted to suffering and the promise broke.
"That's when I dirtied my hands."
FLASHBACK:
"All you have to do is get back there, tell them we died." Akai suggested again.
"I told you. It's not that simple. They're not stupid." Shiho rejected again.
"This isn't just about about you, me or Akemi, Shiho. This is about everyone else that the organization is hurting. Do you want to see more people suffer like this?" Deep inside, Akai cared more for Akemi than those people. A side of him that came up out of desperation to free Akemi from the organization.
"No of course not!" he was surprised that Shiho actually cared for once. About others. "But there's no way I could fool any of them. Gin. Vermouth. Not the slightest!"
"If you really loved Akemi, if you really cared, then we both know what you'd do."
"I don't want to go back there, please Akai-san!" she begged. "I love my sister and I want her to be happy, but I can't."
"Then you'd rather see both of you die than one to live?"
"Can't you protect us both?" Akai could see the fear in her eyes. She was desperate to escape the organization as well. He could only guess that she's been punished since their escape. It took a while for him to answer. He wanted Akemi to be happy. But he also wanted her to be safe. It's only a matter of sacrifice.
"Ie (No)." he answered. "But I can try. If you want to expose Akemi's whereabouts. After all, you're still under their leash. Akemi's not safe around you." Akai regretted his words. But he made his choice. There is one sacrifice he was willing to do to free Akemi.
END
"Oi, oi. You were pretty hard there. You crossed the line." Conan said, finally understanding the tension between him and Shiho.
"I know. That's why... even if I was with Akemi for four years, even without the organization, I couldn't think straight. The guilt was eating me up." Akai confessed. Conan could only guess that Shiho was tortured once on their escape. And another punishment for her failure to capture them.
Then they heard the door creaked open. Akemi came out, her eyes full of tears.
"Akemi-" Akai stood up, attempting to comfort her but Akemi walked passed him and ran. It was only a matter of time until she knew the truth. I guess this was it. He thought and watched Akemi go further and further away from him.
FLASHBACK (no one narrated this flashback, just wanted to show you):
After Akemi and Akai's escape. Shiho was under interrogation.
"Where did they go? Did you know anything about their escape? Since when did you know?" Gin started asking, walking around the metallic chair where Shiho was tied up. "What about that FBI agent, did you know about him? Akemi's relationship with him? Did you let that happen?"
Shiho wasn't responding. She can't lie to Gin. Gin will know. She won't give up her sister's safety either.
Gin wasn't pissed but amused. He finds her resisting him, giving him a challenge of some sort. He chuckled playfully as he pulled out a gun from his jacket and without warning shot Shiho by the shoulder, making her scream in pain at the sudden shot.
"How's that to convince you?" he said with an evil grin. But Shiho only groaned in pain, closing her eyes, not wanting to see Gin. "That's why you're my favorite, Sherry. You always give me the fun I want." he said as another bullet came flying to the same wound and Shiho cried in pain. It hurts. A lot. She couldn't think of anything else but the pain.
Gin pushed the chair until it hits the wall. With a thud, Shiho grunts. Her shoulder was aching more than she could bear.
"Tell me Sherry. How could you protect someone who abandoned you? Eh?" Gin leaned closer, hearing her silent whimpers. She was shaking in fear. She definitely was. Gin loved seeing her that way. "How could you protect someone who betrayed you?" he inserted a finger in her wound and she couldn't help but scream again. It wasn't for long before Gin inserted the end of the gun in her mouth. "If you won't tell me, you might as well end up dead." he threatened at the trembling young scientist.
He pushed his finger inside her wound, penetrating further in her flesh, resulting for Shiho to release muffled screams. She was in panic. She wanted him to get away from her, to stop the pain he's causing. But she was tied up, she was powerless against him. Gin continued the same action until a certain someone disturbed his little fun.
"Gin. The Boss wants to talk to you." said Bourbon from behind.
"Aww. Just when the fun was just beginning." Gin said as he leaned closer to her face. He pulled his gun out of her mouth and Shiho was gasping for air. "I'll be back for you." he said walked passed Bourbon. Bourbon just stood there knowing Gin would stop and say "Try anything funny and I'll kill you myself."
When Gin was gone, Bourbon walked towards the panting young woman with an angry look on his face.
"I guess Akemi betrayed you too." he said.
"Sh- She didn't." Shiho defended weakly as she felt blood flowing out of her wound.
"Then why are you here? Still in a place like this while she ran off somewhere with that FBI agent." Bourbon said with an obvious tone of jealousy.
"She's coming back for me. She promised." again, she defended. Bourbon smirked. Did she now?
"When? When will she be back? Today? Tomorrow? When?" he asked, trying to know when he will see Akemi again. But this time he'll be ready.
"Shiranai (I don't know)."
It's a shame. I really wanted to get back to that FBI agent. Show Akemi she deserves me not him. But then it struck him. An evil thought how to get back at Akemi. To let Akemi know how much he was in pain. How he felt betrayed. Slowly, he formed an evil grin in his face and stared at the harmless young scientist in front of him.
"How about we make a deal?"he began his evil plot of revenge. "I will loosen the strings on you if you do everything I tell you."
"Ie (No). Onee-san will come and save me. I just have to wait." Wow you're stubborn. Thought Bourbon.
"Did you really think they'd come now? How long do you think you have to suffer like this?"
"Stop it! Stop! My sister will come back and I know it!"
"Suit yourself."
But days have gone, weeks had passed. She's been inside Gin's torture room for four months. She screamed and cried all he wanted. Yet still Akemi and Akai didn't return. Even if Gin was patching up her wounds, he'd still torture her other body parts. It was until then that Bourbon paid her another visit, seeing Shiho's ankles bound by chains in the wall as her hands are tied behind her back.
"Had enough?" he said but she didn't respond. She looked broken. No one as stubborn as you would break that easily. He thought and cut her hands free from the ropes. "My offer still stands."
"Watashi (I)-" Bourbon cuts her off with a finger in her lips. I knew you'd give in.
"Don't worry. Whatever I want you to do for him. It won't be that hard. Are you accepting it now?" Shiho hesitantly nodded and Bourbon knew he won. Akemi, just you wait. I will make you feel that betrayal. "Kiss me."
"Nani (What)?" Shiho was taken by surprise and she backed away, her back landing on the wall behind her.
"I only ask for one thing. A kiss. A kiss of my satisfaction." he said, leaning closer to her. "Would you rather be tortured for months?"
Shiho wanted to hit him. Her fists balling for a punch but she knew it would be pointless. She hated him for what he's making her do. Her first kiss to someone like him? Well that's sad. When Bourbon saw her pause, he smirked and leaned closer to capture her mouth with his. His hands crawling from her ankle up her thighs. Shiho cuts the kiss and pushed him away immediately.
"What's wrong? Don't you like it?" he said playfully.
"That's not part of the deal."
"So if I add that to our deal, you'll let me?" he said.
"No!"
"Come on. Don't be such a wuss. I promise not to touch delicate parts of your body."
Curse you! She wanted to shout at him, curse him. But she was in no position. It was him or Gin. Her body couldn't move despite the rising rage inside her. Bourbon saw through her hesitant attempt to fight back and pulled her closer to him. Only to slam her back again in the cold concrete wall to kiss her. Shiho releases a loud groan instead of a moan.
After about a minute of kissing her, he pulled away and licked her lips. She panted and watched him stand up.
"I got what I wanted. So just wait for my rescue." he said with a grin and walked away.
Shiho could only feel how much she's lost her dignity after what had happened. Onee-san... where are you?
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For those who are wondering why Shiho said that Bourbon only flirts with her and never kiss her (on Phantom Thief Saves The Day chapter). That will be explained by another back story.
Sorry if you guys are stuck in flashbacks. And for the content I had to put there. Anyway, I'll update later. I need to study for exams.
