(A/N) Second set.

Disclaimer: see File 1

1sentence Drabbles

#16 – Cover

He'd been trying to get her to read something other than magazines and science texts lately. Neither of them knew why, but it made for good argument material, so neither was complaining. Of course, there was the minor problem that their arguments often went on in the presence of the other Detective Boys…who were insatiably curious about every tidbit of information the two dropped. And since one or both of them occasionally became so involved that they didn't pay enough attention to what they were saying…

"Haibara! You can't be serious! All you read are magazines about the type of fashion that no longer applies to you, and thick, complicated books that're supposed to help you make the anti-mmph!"

"Baka."

#17 – Promise

Kaito Kid had been teaching her a few tricks lately, as requested - she'd thought something like this might happen. After all, Kudo could hardly demand that she stay behind, since she had more of a stake in this raid than anyone. So it was natural that he'd want to leave it to chance in the hopes of making her agree that way. Shiho kept promises, after all. And a small chance of her staying behind (and safe) was better than no chance at all.

She knew he'd think that way, because she knew him - and because she'd do the same thing, in his shoes. Accordingly she'd come prepared, with the help of a certain young magician. A two-headed coin, a stacked deck, janken mind tricks…she was ready.

And yes, she was that determined. This was just like the Haido City Hotel case: it was her fault anyway, and she was not letting him go alone.

#18 – Dream

It seemed that by telling him about the dream, she had passed it on like a virus. Now it had begun to haunt him, as well. The first casualty of this unfortunate circumstance was his health, of course. The next was far worse: his confidence.

He had always believed that they would make it through. The Black Organization would be brought down, an antidote would be made, and he could go back to his old life…and to Ran.

However, one can only live through absolute failure once or twice before one begins to doubt. So many times had he seen them kill Ran, Agasa, the three kids, and everyone else that he had begun to wake up in the morning believing that it was all over: they were dead.

"Kudo?" asked someone on the other end who was very much alive, "Why are you calling at the crack of dawn?"

#19 – Candle

"Who taught you how to do all this?" he asked suddenly. They had never talked about such personal matters before, and certainly never about her past. But there was something intimate about the light of a single candle, and watching her move expertly around the lab had made him curious in spite of himself.

Apparently she was in a good mood, for instead of blowing him off, Haibara replied civilly enough, "My parents, until they were killed. Then I taught myself."

"For the sake of your sister?" He didn't sound pitying, or melodramatically sympathetic. It was just a question, and the answer…

"Yes."

…was just an answer.

#20 – Talent

Sometimes she was grateful for the skill which had kept her (and her sister) alive. Sometimes she loathed it for what it had done to her life. And sometimes, as she worked tirelessly in the lab to create an antidote for the only person she'd ever met who had a shot at finally bringing down the Black Organization, sometimes she wondered what she would do with it after everything was over.

And then she laughed at her momentary lapse of sense – for her talent was in the lab, not in being an agent, and there was no guarantee that there would be an "after," especially if she went to stop them. But she would go to stop the syndicate regardless, because she wanted to see it fall with her own eyes; because she wanted to make it fall with her own hands. Yes, she would be there. So would they. None of them would leave alive.

Why should Sherry worry about what to do with the rest of her life, if the only "rest" she would get was eternal?

#21 – Silence

"So, what are you doing?"

"Nothing much."

"You have a magazine in front of you, a TV on behind the magazine, and yet you are neither reading nor watching."

"The TV is muted."

"And that's important because…?"

"I was enjoying the sound of silence."

"…"

#22 – Journey

If she didn't begin, she'd never finish. Still, it was hard to take the first step, given that either or both of them might never come out of that distinctly average building. Shinichi was in charge of his own life, she knew, and she had no qualms about death. After all, she had lived with it for her entire life, and had lived with the threat of it for her entire second life.

And yet…

She was never to finish that thought, because at that moment Kudo pushed her gently toward the building. Not hard enough to make her move, but enough to remind her…Well, enough to remind her why she was going along with this insanity. So she moved to start down the path towards the beginning of the end, and he joined her.

Together they stepped off a sidewalk which had never before been quite as symbolic.

#23 – Fire

He needed, he wanted, he must, he could, he would…she was tired of hearing it. He did not need to see Ran, he should not want anything except to live, the only thing he must do was not die, he could not hide from the Organization forever, and he would ignore all of those 'rules' and get himself killed if she didn't keep him from doing so.

She sighed quietly into the silence that had finally fallen, and the fire died from his eyes at the sound.

Why do we do this to ourselves? they wondered suddenly, each holding in tears of pain and frustration. And then they looked at the glass of water on the table, where they found their answer.

The antidote, after all, could not be swallowed alone.

#24 – Strength

She had gotten her body back. He had gotten his body back. She had lost her life again. He was about to lose his for the first time. He had taken the lives of people who took lives by putting them in jail. She would to take his in a far more permanent manner.

She would go unpunished except by his death.

Convoluted and senseless, yet straightforward and reasonable - just like the rest of our relationship. How ironic.

And a small smile went invisible in the darkness of the back seat. A small, humorless smile. The smile of a murderer; the smile of the weak.

#25 – Mask

It was interesting that those closest to someone should be able to see behind the person's mask – and that "those closest" would want to. After all, were not pain and sorrow hidden behind that mask; and secreted there did not silent tears fall?

They were; they did.

And yet she had forgotten something, or rather never learned it. She was learning now, belatedly, as Kudo truly smiled at her for the first time. It was a real smile: the fragile kind which can only exist behind a mask.

#26 – Ice

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

At the sound, every student and teacher in a hundred-meter radius jerked to attention, only to stare in mixed shock and bemusement at the sight that greeted them.

Conan, the most mature and distinguished boy in the school, running away from a girl while screaming at the top of his lungs. Not only that, said girl was Haibara.

"IF I HAD A GUN RIGHT NOW...!"

"AT LEAST YOU CAN'T KILL ME BARE-HANDED!"

"OH, YES I CAN!"

"EEP!"

Despite the commotion, none of the students intervened or joined, and none of the teachers tried to stop the two. Both parties were rewarded by waiting: somewhere along the line, Conan began to laugh, and a small but brilliant smile appeared on Haibara's face.

#27 – Fall

He had asked her to meet him somewhere: a date in honor of their "triumphant return." She replied that she had nowhere to return to; how could she do so triumphantly? And then to her shock he had actually laughed, and told her that there was plenty of space at his house, if she was interested.

Naturally she asked of both propositions the obligatory, "What would Ran punch you through?"; but his reply further startled the usually unshakable gi- no, woman: "She has a boyfriend, and he's not such a bad guy."

#28 – Forgotten

He didn't remember.

Of course he doesn't, you idiot; you made sure of that much, at least.

And yet…he didn't remember.

The sheer enormity of the concept had yet to fully sink in; but the thought was beginning to suffocate her, so it had definitely started to do so.

He no longer knew her name, her face, her age, her voice, her personality, her thought process, her quirks, her preferences, her hopes, her dreams, her fears…

Her identities.

#29 – Dance

"No," she said flatly. It was the try-to-force-me-and-someone-will-get-hurt tone of voice she rarely used. Unfortunately for her, it only worked on three of them. The fourth merely grinned at the (carefully hidden, but he had known her for quite a while now) look on her face, and grabbed her hand.

Even though she didn't look particularly happy about it, she wasn't actively resisting - in other words, he was still alive. That had to mean something, right? He hoped so.

"C'mon, Shiho, it's not that bad."

The whisper, of course, prompted an incredulous what-are-you-high-on-this-time look, which he carefully ignored (it was sherry).

Then the music started, and they danced.

#30 – Body

No connections, no regrets …

When her sister had died, they hadn't let her attend the funeral. In fact, she wasn't sure there had been a funeral. It was a cold, heartless thing to do, not letting her say goodbye. But for the first time in her life, she was grateful to them for it.

After all, in their heartlessness they had spared her the pain she was experiencing now.