...I'm very conflicted now. I will tell you that Shino will end up with someone...I'm just not sure who yet. She'll meet more guy characters later...but I don't know what'll happen with that yet. This story is basically all thought out, but it is a little rough around the edges as you can see. Don't worry though. I'll figure it out. Thank you for your input.

Chapter 9

"Three years and you still haven't managed to learn to act like a man," Vermouth scolded as she skillfully cut Shino's hair up to her shoulders again. They had been doing so ever since Vermouth had begun to train her because it was easier to put wigs on with short hair than with long.

"I can sound like one," Shino tried to protest, earning a tug on her hair from her teacher.

"Yes, but only in voice. You always do fine with imitating voices and your poker face rivals even mine. You need to practice your mannerisms though. Disguising as someone is not enough. You have to become that person; convince yourself that you are that person. Do you understand, Martini?" Shino winced at the code name she still wasn't used to hearing even after having it for two months. All the trainees got their code names at thirteen years old, and Vermouth had personally chosen hers as a joke because martinis were made from Gin and Vermouth. Shino found it disturbing, but it was no surprise to her to see Vermouth laughing to herself after Gin shot her a dirty look for the name. What's the point of telling me to be careful around Gin when you're always getting on his nerves?

"Vermouth?" The woman snipped off another piece of her hair and made a humming sound of acknowledgement. "...Do you...do you think I'll ever see them again?" Vermouth's hands stilled for a second, but then she just kept on cutting her hair.

"Yes," she finally whispered in her ear after a few minutes. "...but they won't see you." She brushed through Shino's shortened hair once more. Then she stood up and came around in front of her, taking her hands from her lap. "You might run into one of them. You might bump into your parents or your friends in the street. They won't know it's you though. To them, you will just be another face in the crowd; just someone passing by; no one of any consequence." Vermouth cupped the sides of her face in her hands and stared directly into her eyes, her expression not revealing any of her emotions. "That is the way things have to stay, and that is why you have to perfect your mannerisms. You have to be able to play any part. If even one person recognizes you-"

"I know. I know what's at stake," Shino cut her off quietly, echoing the words Gin said to her constantly. Remember what's at stake... Vermouth leaned forward and kissed her forehead, something she did on rare occasions. Vermouth was a hard teacher, but Shino knew she was the closest thing she had to a friend in the organization. Whether the woman's secret tenderness towards her was real or not she couldn't decide, but sometimes she could close her eyes and imagine that she was being held or spoken to by her mother. Perhaps this is an act too...or maybe she just feels guilty... "Why did you choose me? I know you had something to do with it, and Shinichi wouldn't have been taken in the first place if some decision didn't have to be made." Vermouth took her hands away.

"You've changed," the woman murmured, her signature smile appearing on her face. Then she stood up and went over to Shino's small closet to grab a mirror. "Originally you and your brother seemed very different to me. Now I see you're becoming more like him." Shino frowned in confusion at her words, wondering what she meant. Kaa-san said I'd only met her once or twice when we were very little...how would she know how different we are? "Your okaa-san always told me how afraid and shy you were; as opposed to your brother." Vermouth picked up a hand mirror and carried it over to Shino. "When you first got here, I saw that fear in your eyes every moment I came across you." She handed the mirror to the girl, gesturing for her to look at her reflection. "When you look now though, there is nothing. You show no fear, and you ask more questions. You talk more, and you notice more small details than you did before."

"But what does that have to do with you choosing me over him to train? Did you think because I was so fearful I'd be easier to control?"

"Perhaps," Vermouth answered, looking thoughtful. "If I did so it was unconsciously. What I really mean is that I wouldn't be able to teach him. If he already was the way you are now, he could never learn anything from me and would probably never listen to me out of anger." She shrugged and took the mirror back to the closet. Then she headed for the door to Shino's room. "Work on your expression and mannerisms," she told her.

"I won't be asked to play a man now, you know," Shino remarked dryly. "I'm too short." The woman chuckled from the doorway.

"One day you will be, and you'll have to be prepared. Get some sleep. You're going back to the firing range tomorrow." Then she was gone, and Shino got up and walked over to her closet as she heard the door lock. She moved some clothing off one of the shelves in the closet and pulled out a small box, sitting on the floor with it in her lap. Inside the box were photos. They were all different, and they were all pictures of Shinichi. She had dated each one with a pen on the back because she received two pictures a month. It was her promised proof that he was not dead, and if it hadn't been for Vermouth telling the boss of the organization the idea, she would have stopped letting them train her long ago.

The photos gave her comfort. They let her know that he was still not just alive, but living. There were multiple soccer pictures to attest to that. She only wished there was one of him smiling though; because he always looked so serious. She didn't blame him though. It wasn't like he knew his picture was being taken from a distance. Gin always ruins them by being the one to deliver them though. Shino smirked to herself. It's probably because he can't find any other way to bother me anymore.

She picked up the latest picture and her smile disappeared. Shinichi was standing beside their mother in the picture with a bag of groceries, but as with every other picture, whoever else ended up in the frame was never facing the camera. She could only see the back of her mother's head as she was unlocking the front door of the house. Shino ran her thumb over her mother's hair in the photo, her other hand straying to the locket she had given her. I hope I never forget your face. She put the box away and went to bed, falling asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow.

Shinichi bounced a soccer ball on his knee absentmindedly as he walked home from school with Ran. She glanced over at him periodically, noting the hint of sadness he was never quite able to hide in his eyes on that particular day of the year. Has it really been three years? Ran frowned, not sure if she felt too much or too little time had passed since she had last seen her best friend. The police had searched and searched, but every trail turned cold. Any evidence they thought they'd found turned out to be worthless or unrelated. Police all over Japan had been given Shino's photo, but no one could find her. Ran remembered hearing that Shinichi's father had even gotten some of his friends in Interpol to look into the case, but even they couldn't find anything. It was as if she'd vanished off the face of the earth, and life was going on as it always had without her.

Ran missed her friends. She missed Shino, who had been like a sister to her and Sonoko, but she also missed Shinichi. He had changed since his twin was taken. He had been a little arrogant before because he simply thought he was smarter than everyone else, but his arrogance had doubled over three years of searching. He had become more reclusive, taking a lot of time to sit alone in his library and trying to learn everything he possibly could about being a detective. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but Ran could see how much it frustrated him that no one could locate Shino. She knew he had interests in becoming a detective before, but she hadn't seen him actually taking steps to gain enough knowledge to be one until the search had gone on for over a year.

"Ran..." Shinichi suddenly spoke up, pulling her away from her thoughts as they walked up to his house. She turned to look at him, and was met with a serious stare. "I think you should go home." Ran studied him for a moment, wondering what had made him decide that she had to leave all of a sudden.

"I thought we were going to-"

"Ran please," he insisted quietly, stealing a glance at the house. His expression had gone from serious to desperate and sad in the blink of an eye, and she looked over at the house too, having no idea what he had seen that made him tell her to go.

"I can see Kaa-san pacing through the window," he told her, as if he had read her thoughts. "That means she has something she wants to talk about and she's waiting for me to come home. She'll just make you leave soon anyway, so you might as well go home." His voice was unnaturally quiet, and he wouldn't meet her eyes. He obviously knew something was very wrong, besides his obviously missing sister, and he didn't want her to know. I wish he would tell me...Maybe I could help.

"Alright," she murmured, slowly backing away. "I'll see you tomorrow then." Shinichi watched her leave, knowing that she understood that he didn't want her involved. He had been listening to his parents' hushed conversations for weeks. They had never known he could hear them. He entered the house slowly, dreading to hear his mother tell him what he already knew.

"Oh there you are Shinichi," she began, sounding flustered as her pacing ceased. This must be it...she called me by my full name. She beckoned him into the sitting room. "Come sit down." He obeyed, and she sat down beside him on the sofa. "There's...there's something I need to talk to you about." Shinichi sighed, deciding to let her believe he didn't know what she was going to say.

"Shoot."

"Well...you see...Tou-san and I have been thinking that maybe it's time for a change of scenery for a while." Yukiko paused, waiting for her son to react. He stared straight ahead of him in silence, so she continued. "He has research work he wants to get done in America, and I think it would be nice if we both went with him and stayed for a little while...It would be a great opportunity for you to meet new people and improve your Eng-"

"I can already speak English fluently, Kaa-san," Shinichi interrupted, his voice quiet and devoid of emotion. His mother stuttered for a second, but then she cleared her throat so she could continue.

"I know Shin-chan," she admitted, reaching over and letting her hand roam through his hair. "Think of it as a vacation...but a little longer...you'll make new friends and-"

"I'm not going." Yukiko looked stunned, but she quickly shook it off. Shinichi almost slapped himself. He hadn't meant to be so blunt, but he had heard enough of his parents' conversations to know they were planning to live in America for more than just "a little while."

"What do you mean you're not going?" His mother stood up and put her hands on her hips. "We are doing this as a family."

"Well that's where you're wrong Kaa-san." Suddenly, Shinichi was on his feet beside his mother, glaring at her. "We're not doing this as a family, and unless Shino somehow came home and I haven't noticed, we haven't done anything as a family in three years." Yukiko's shoulders sagged a little, but she shook her head at him sternly.

"Shinichi. You're not staying here by yourself."

"Don't pretend you didn't hear what I said," Shinichi accused, his eyes filled with an anger she'd never seen before.

"I know what you said, but-"

"Then why did you ignore it?" Yukiko sighed and massaged her temples with her fingertips.

"Shinichi please. Shino wouldn't have wanted us to fight." Shinichi's whole world seemed to freeze. His mother was talking about his sister in the past tense, and that only served to fuel his fury.

"How can you say that?" he exploded. "How can you talk about her as if she's dead?" She met his burning gaze with tear-filled eyes.

"Shinichi, I-"

"No," he insisted, not giving the chance to defend herself. "She's not dead."

"And how would you know?" his mother finally shouted at him. "No one could know that!"

"I would know if she were gone," Shinichi answered in a much quieter voice, ignoring the fact that he felt tears welling up in his own eyes: tears he had managed to keep at bay for three years. The fight seemed to go out of Yukiko when she saw this. Her son hadn't cried since he was five years old. "You weren't there, Kaa-san," he continued in a broken whisper. "You didn't hear her scream and cry...You didn't see the terror in her eyes..." Suddenly, his gaze seemed to drift, and it seemed more like he was looking through her than at her. He quickly shook his head to clear it from his memories though, and locked eyes with his mother again. "I'm not leaving her..." he murmured as he started to turn and walk away. "I'm not giving up." Yukiko stood staring at the place he had just been in shock for a moment. Finally she understood. Her son blamed himself, and the reason he was so determined to stay and become a detective was to find his sister. She tried to follow him, only to have the front door slam before she could reach him.

It took Yukiko another moment to realize she was shaking. She turned to the wall nearby that was home to pictures of both her children. She went to the one of Shino, taken when she had been nine, and she ran her fingers across the little girl's hair in the picture. Barely comprehending what was happening, she found herself curled up on the floor and sobbing, the frame with her daughter's picture tucked into her arms. "I hope I never forget your face," she whispered, wanting with all her heart for her son to be right.

I'm so sorry this took so long. Life randomly decided to get busy again. I'm also sorry for the time jump. I know you might not like it, but this story would be WAY too long without time jumps. (In other words, brace yourself because there will be more time jumps.) Thanks for reading.