Disclaimer: Once again, I am sad to say that nothing but the story belongs to me...

Masked Memories

By: t0ky0-chan

Chapter 8: The Final Match

"Hello again," Vermouth said into her cell phone.

"What do you want?" the person on the other line growled.

"Now, now, no need to get so worked up."

"Shut up and tell me why you want to call me at three in the morning!"

"Okay, okay. It's just that I'm a bit tired of all this running, chasing and escaping thing...."

There was silence on the other line. "Go on."

Vermouth chuckled. "You are interested in my arrest, aren't you?"

"Not as much as someone else is..." Shinichi yawned.

"So I think we should have a full on match. Not physical, but with the brain. I want to see how tough and smart you really are."

"Doesn't that also work in your favor?"

"Not quite. This time, it's you versus me, Cool Guy. None of my friends and none of yours. Whoever wins either kills the other or turns them in."

"Isn't that kind of dramatic?"

"No. I'm tired of listening to orders and all this business. If I go to jail, I'll wait it out and start over."

"And since when did you become so....righteous?"

Vermouth laughed. "I don't plan on using ATPX4869, even in its future state, to live forever. You would know, wouldn't you?"

"You mean, watching others grow older and you just moving against the stream of time?"

"Exactly. We are..." she began.

"The devil. You move against the stream of time, bringing alive dead souls," Shinichi finished. "You said that to that computer engineer guy, who was killed."

"Right. You do have good memory."

"Can I go to sleep now?"

"Not yet. We haven't outlined our match yet."

"What if I decline?"

"You won't. This is your chance."

".........."

"So. Here goes....."

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The following week, Shinichi didn't tell anyone of his plan to go out and face Vermouth alone. He knew he may not come back alive, but this was his last chance to put her behind bars, where she belonged.

As Shinichi was walking home from work, he was thinking about Vermouth so hard, he almost walked right past his house. As he turned back to his house, he saw someone leaning against the brick gate of his house.

"Hello, Kudo."

"Kuroba."

The boys stood face to face, the same lopsided grin on their faces, almost exactly mirror images of each other.

"What brings you here?"

"Dropping in to talk to you."

"About what?"

"About tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Don't act innocent. You're going out alone aren't you?"

Shinichi blinked, his hand froze just above the latch of the gate into his house. "What?"

Kaito smiled. "Hey, I know lots of things. I won't stop you on this, but if you don't come back alive, or at least in living shape, I will and I repeat, I will kill that woman."

"Kuroba, listen, you don't have to avenge me, you-"

Kaito cut Shinichi of with a wave of his hand. "No. It's not just for you. It's for my father, my mother, Mouri-san, that little girl at Hagase's, and anyone else whose life has been destroyed because of her."

Shinichi was silent as his front gate creaked open. He sighed. "This is my last chance, Kuroba; you know what I have to do."

"I know, Kudo, which is why I'm not stopping you, but for everyone who loves you and care about you, just come back alive. That includes me." Kaito looked at Shinichi. The blue eyes stared right into each other. It was Kaito who finally broke the moment. "Take care. I'll be rooting for you," he said with a wave and then disappeared around the corner.

Shinichi stared after Kaito's retreating figure until the last shadows of Kaito disappeared around the corner of the street. "I wish myself luck too, Kuroba."

And with that, he shut the creaky gate and walked up to the front door, unlocked it and let himself into the warmth of his home.

----Late that night-----

The doorbell echoed in the Kudo house. Shinichi struggled to get out of bed and down the stairs in one piece. Rubbing his eye with one hand, he opened the door. There wasn't anyone there for him to yell at, but on the porch steps lay a single piece of paper. Shinichi suddenly became wide awake. Glancing around the dark yard for the glimpse of any life, he picked up the sheet of paper and shut the door. Squinting in the dim hall light, he read the riddle on the sheet out loud.

"By day I roam, by night I prowl, by daylight I kill, and by moonlight I chuckle, find me where I hide in the night's darkest hours."

Shinichi wrinkled his nose. "She didn't tell me where she was. She just told me she knows where I live and she's beginning the match...." As Shinichi pondered a hidden meaning in the short poem, there was knock on the door and Shinichi whirled around. He threw open the door, but all that was there was another piece of paper. Again Shinichi looked out into his yard, but there was no one there. Shinichi picked up the sheet of paper and shut the door again.

"Combat and brains don't go together, but for a detective, it's the most useful tool. I am here, waiting for you, at the smallest but biggest park in the country."

Shinichi put his fingers to his chin and thought. "The smallest but biggest park in the country? The country?? Japan's pretty big, I hope she's not going to make me run all over the country!" As Shinichi pondered the clue, he mind kept slipping back to Beika Central Park. "No, no it's not that one.....Beika Central's too small......."

Shinichi leaned against the door. "Does it have to be a park? No, I guess not....what represents a park? Or looks like one.......Ahhhhh! Why do I keep thinking of Beika Central Park???"

Shinichi's eye widened. "That's it! Beika Central Park is the smallest park in size, but it's always said to be the 'biggest' because of all the people and attractions!" Shinichi threw open the door and was off to the park in seconds.

Upon reaching the park, Shinichi glanced around for any sign of movement, but there was none. Shinichi turned around and spotted and piece of white paper on the park bench. Cautiously, Shinichi approached the bench. He grabbed the paper, looking for booby traps that Vermouth may have set. There wasn't any.

Shinichi unfolded the sheet of paper. Written in bold, uppercase letters, was the word, "Home."

"Home. Does she mean her home? Has she been home all this time?" Shinichi began walking out of the park, then he stopped. "I don't know where she lives." Shinichi flipped over the paper in hand, looking for any clues to lead him to her, but there wasn't any sign of a clue, not even a smudge on the paper. Then Shinichi saw something he would never have noticed if hadn't been looking for it. There was something underneath the letters of 'Home'.

"Dang, I'll need a magnifying glass!" Shinichi turned and ran down the street, past Ran's house, past the professor's house and into his own house. Closing the front door behind himself, he was startled when he found someone in his living room.

"It took you quite a while to get back."

"What....what are you doing here??" Shinichi dropped the paper he was holding in surprise.

"Well, it does say 'home', doesn't it? And I even drew a line of scribbles lightly under the letters so you'd come home for a magnifying glass in case you didn't realize that Home meant your home," the blonde woman replied, standing up from the couch she had been sitting on.

"But why? Why are you giving yourself up like this?"

"Look, I said I would give up Sherry and I did. After that incident, we've still been playing 'catch me if you can' for 3 years. I've had enough of it. And I just want to live as a normal person. You..."

"No, you're lying. You would never give yourself up like this. You have pride, and if you really wanted to, you would have just vanished as Chris Vineyard and picked up a new identity, and lived the rest of your life as someone else. You don't need anyone to do that. What are you really planning?"

"Look, listen to me, Cool Guy, will you?" Chris rubbed her temples. "You might want to turn off a few lights, it's pretty late and I don't want the neighbors to hear us arguing."

Shinichi glared at her, but obediently turned off the porch light, the hall light and all the other lights except the one that lit the living room, then returned to his spot by the hallway.

"Good. Now, would you like to sit or stand for the rest of my explanation?"

Shinichi remained standing.

"Alright, I guess not." Chris smiled. "You still think I'm going to rush at you with a knife or something right? Fine..... just don't glare so hard...." Chris sighed. "I'm not as hard-core as you and Sherry think. I'm pretty soft if you can't tell. I never actually meant to kill Sherry, it's just orders, which is why I was almost relieved when Shuichi shot me, so that I could plan an excuse to get away...and I've thought of leaving, leaving this country entirely and starting over, but I realized, that because I joined the B.O, I've been depending on them too much. I depend on them for a place to hide, backup, and just who to live as."

Shinichi's glare didn't waver.

"I wanted to be rid of everything. I've had of enough of turning from Sharon Vineyard to Chris Vineyard and who knows someday to Amy Vineyard or something. It's awfully surprising for me to say, but I hate ATPX4869 almost as much as you do, Cool Guy. Sherry's been pretty at finding the antidote and I've been keeping my distance so I don't get my hands on it." Chris reached into her pocket and pulled out a gun. "I need you kill me, Cool Guy."

Now, Shinichi's glare disappeared altogether. "What?"

Chris Vineyard's expression didn't change to a joking one when she held out the gun, the handle pointed to Shinichi. "Shoot me, let your anger out."

Shinichi took a step back. What is she thinking?? "What..."

Vermouth's lips stretched into a sad smile, "I want to meet my parents for the first time."

Shinichi took another step back. "This isn't you...."

Vermouth smiled, still the sad and faraway look in her eyes. "I know you don't want the murder blamed on you, so I'm going to knock you out and then shoot myself, is that okay?"

Shinichi took two steps back and turned to run but he felt a sharp pain jolt through him and then everything went dark.

-to be continued-

This is really lame....I know it.....but I want to just FINISH this story....so I'm going with whatever's coming first. Sorry.....I have summary test in Math coming up and I'm totally going to fail. There's only one more chapter for this one, so don't worry, it's not going to continue to drag. And yes, I changed my name to 't0ky0-chan'. See you in the next chapter!