A/N: I'm seriously grasping for vocabs here. Sorry guys, It's probably obvious that English is not my mother tongue.

Disclaimer: Do not look at me. I do not own DC, Gosho Aoyama does. I'm merely a hopeless, overimaginative, probably alcoholic mundane. Go Ai Haibara/ Shiho Miyano!

Chapter 2: Sad, Beautiful, Tragic

Ai

It has been 3 weeks.

3 weeks since I gave Conan Edogawa the antidote and ceased to exist.

They conveniently told everybody that he moved back with his parents to the US.

3 weeks since the infamous Shinichi Kudo came back to Beika.

3 weeks since the last time I saw or heard from the self- imposed Modern Holmes.

I continued to be Ai Haibara and pretended to go on about as if nothing has happened.

I pretended as if the vacant seat and the absence of a sarcastic voice beside me which irked me enough to let my mask of indifference slip off once in while never bothered me.

As if I'm icy enough to miss him while our other friends never fail to remind me that he's indeed gone.

And Ai Haibara has never been so lonely.

The kids are playing their silly games which I refused to be a part of as I watch over them while sitting on the bench. Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta with their innocent grinning faces brought a tiny smile on my lips. 'they're growing up right before (our) my eyes and yet, even after all the dead bodies they have seen, they still maintained that youthful, innocent and optimistic view of a child' . I want to protect that, protect them from the harsh reality that I have met but I know that I can't put them in a bubble.

I put my hand on my pocket until I felt the familiar box in my hand.

I was afraid. I was scared to be Shiho Miyano. I don't know who she is anymore after Akemi died. I don't have any idea what she's supposed to do after she successfully developed the cure.

But Haibara Ai, she has friends. She still has friends and an adopted father to protect and take care of.

However, seeing how the kids have dealt with the loss of their friend, and how they are still able to smile and move on from it, she realized that she doesn't need to worry about them. And so, she can't help but wonder. Maybe it's time.

She gripped the box harder and smiled.

Maybe it's time for her to do the same.

The night was cold. She grabbed her coat and pulled it tighter around her. A year ago, she would have been absolutely terrified of walking alone in the dark—much more in the middle of the night. But things are different now, she is too. The black organization fell and all its members with it. She no longer has a target mark at the back of her head. She can go wherever she wants to, whenever she wants.

It's freeing.

Shino Miyano is indeed walking alone in the dark. No destination in mind.

She took the antidote tonight. She smiled to herself as she remembered running outside her lab to the shocked Professor Agasa in their living room.

She remembered his teary eyes as he welcomed me into his arms. " Welcome back. Shiho-chan"

She was walking listlessly and too deep in thought when she heard someone chuckled.

"A beautiful woman should not walk alone while spacing out at the same time in the middle of the night, you know"

I stopped and turned to the origin of the voice. And Glared.

" Well, seems like that glare never losses it's efficiency regardless if you are a little kid or a grown woman, Miyano-san"

"Bourbon" I said and glared some more.

"Oi, I never go with that name anymore" he put his hand on his chest to act as if he was offended but the smirk on his lips said otherwise.

And I can't help but roll my eyes and smirk " And what should I call you then? Tooroh Amuroh?perhaps another name?"

This guy wore many masks and bears many names. Maybe even more than herself.

Oh. And he tried to kill her once.

Well, before they knew that he is an undercover agent anyway. Him and Conan actually gets along well and collaborated a few times. He also helped them take down the organization yet he has never been more than an acquaintance for her or an unlikely ally. She pointed a gun to his temple the first time that they met in a meeting between the FBI and the Tokyo Police.

And as expected, he just leaned back on his white car, put his hands on his pockets and gave me a teasing smile.

" The same can be said about you"

I just sighed and started to walk again. " A girl can't just walk in peace"

I ignored him as I passed by him and his car, determined not to ruin my very first night as myself.

" It's Rei by the way! You can call me Rei!" he shouted on my back.

Rei. I mentally said the name and smiled. But I never looked back.

"Fancy meeting you again, Miyano-san" a cheerful voice said.

Shiho doesn't have to look up from the fashion magazine on her hand to recognize the owner of that awfully cheerful voice.

"Just leave the coffee, thanks" she said flatly. She's currently sitting in a café to relax and have coffee and has no desire for human interaction. She hasn't been good at it anyway.

But her magazine was suddenly grabbed out of her hands. She irately looked up and came face to face with a rather annoying smiling face of Tooru Amuro.

"Still icy as ever I see" he said as he leans closer to her face.

Her eyes turned to slits. "Have you ever heard of personal space?"

He annoyingly looked into her eyes with a hint of a mischievous glint on them and whispered "my my, and here I thought we are close friends Miyano-san"

'The nerve of this guy' she thought.

Her first impulse is to glare and roll her eyes. However, she suppressed herself in doing so and gave him a sweet smile as she inch herself closer and teasingly whispered to his ears " I can always throw a mean punch if you will not move away or maybe give Akai-san a call. I heard he can take a shot from 70 ft. away"

To which he just softly chucked before withdrawing his face. "Are you this morbid all the time?"

"It goes with my charm" she replied flatly.

He merely shook his head with a stupid grin on his face and stalked away.

'Good' I thought.

"Miyano-san!"

Shiho inwardly groaned. Seriously, why doesn't this guy leave her alone? She was actually glad that he stayed away for the remaining hour while she sat on the café and thought that he finally realized that she was not interested in talking with him or with any person at the moment.

Apparently she was wrong. She decided to ignore him and made her way out of the door.

A few moments later, she turned to see him catching his breath beside her. He changed into a simple white shirt and a faded blue jeans which contrasted with his slightly tanned skin. His blonde fringe is peeking below the cap he is wearing.

'He doesn't look bad' she thought. Actually, she noticed some girls looking at him as they walked by.

"Like what you see?" he said with a knowing smile as he caught her staring. She felt some warmth rise on her cheeks. Damn it.

"What is there to like?"

"I don't know, you tell me"

This guy is a flirt. She can't help but sigh. She doesn't have time for these types

"Why do you keep on following me?" she said, exasperated.

"I am not following you. Not anymore, anyway"

Right. Glad he could joke about his stalking of me before when he was tasked to find and kill me by the organization.

"Whatever"

"Why are you alone? Where's your partner?"

And she suddenly stiffened. She pressed her lips in a thin line before flatly answering his question.

"He's busy"

Maybe he noticed the change in the tone of my voice and the tension in the atmosphere. I don't know but it seemed enough to silence him for a while. Unused to his loss of words, I turned to look at him.

Only to see that he's looking at me too with a hint of sadness behind his blue eyes.

A small genuine smile formed on his lips. "Do you wanna go somewhere?"

"Thanks but I didn't order for your pity" I said, quickly brushing off his invitation that came out of nowhere.

"Who ever said that I pity you? Strength does not warrant pity but applause"

"I don't need your applause either. I hate drawing attention"

He merely chuckled.

Then he looked serious all of a sudden—contemplating.

"Maybe..Maybe this is just me needing not to be alone" he said to no one in particular. He looked like he is still lost in his thoughts. Somewhere. Most likely in the past.

Seeing his face like that tugged a sudden sense of familiarity in me. What do I know about this guy walking beside me? Not much. No, I don't know him at all and I'm not really sure that I want to.

Once you get to know a person, you might start to hate or care. Can I afford to?

Sherry will seize the opportunity. Find a person's weakness and manipulate it.

Ai Haibara might not care at all.

Shiho Miyano is curious though.

And lonely.

"Maybe fucked up people find solace in each other" I said.

He turned to me and grinned.

"Driving skills don't impress me much" I said as we pass four cars all at once. The maniac sitting on the driver's seat beside me seem so lost in the exhilaration of driving with a smug look on his face.

"When I said yes, I never knew you were planning on killing me in a more grotesque manner than just by means of a gunshot" I continued. "You know I didn't dodge the organization's countless attempts to my life in order to just die from a car accident."

"Come on, live a little. And you can complain all you want but I know you like it." he said with a smile on his face but not turning to me.

I do like it. I actually like it a lot but I'm not admitting that to him anytime soon to stroke his ego. I suppose I had this annoying tendency to come across such egotistical men in this lifetime.

After some time, I noticed that we are quite on the outskirts of the city. The road became less crowded and less refined. I still don't have any idea where we are going. I'm beginning to question the sanity of my decision to let this man take and drive me "somewhere".

It was when we suddenly stopped and parked by the road that I turned to him, wondering if we have reached our destination.

"Are we here?"

He must have seen the puzzled look on my face as we are just by a normal insignificant road somewhere outside the city.

He pointed to the nearby convenient store. I raised my eyebrow.

"So we drove outside the city to go to a store?"

"Ha ha. You're so funny" he answered sarcastically, catching my tone.

"Wait here." He added as he climbed out of the car.

I sighed. Alright then.

He came back with two brown paper bags and put them behind our seat.

'It must be food' I thought.

Then we resumed driving.

It was already late in the afternoon when we reached "somewhere".

A rather unused dilapidated concrete road has led us to this secluded spot. It's a fenced higher ground overlooking the city and at this very moment, it's exquisitely beautiful. With its altitude, you can actually feel the breeze caress your skin as some overgrown grass moves, directed by the wind, in a classically captivating dance piece.

I automatically focused on the view outside the window and was awed by the scenery.

The sun is beginning to set and the sky is tinged with a red orange hue. It was not unfamiliar to me. I'm actually fascinated by sunset that I usually go and watch it in the nearest park to Agasa's house. Watching it reminds me that

"Endings can also be beautiful. Tragic, sad, and stunning" I voice out softly.

But I knew he heard it. He did as I felt his fingers gently brush a few tendrils of my hair away from my face which made me tentatively turn to him.

Only to find his eyes on me with a small smile on his face. "Just like you" he said without taking his eyes off me.

I do not want to be touched and I would normally slap his hand away.

But I didn't.

A smile tugged on my lips. "Sweet-talker. Sadly, flattery would get you nowhere."

He laughed and shrugged it off like it was nothing. I, on the other hand, is very sure to be blushing although it was well hidden by the reddish reflection of the setting sun.

"Alright. How do feel about a few drinks?" he said as he reached for the paper bags behind his seat.

I shrugged, "Might as well. What are our options?"

I gave him a suspicious look when an ear-splitting grin tore on his face as he pulled out the contents of the bag.

He pulled two bottles out and a loud unbashful laugh escaped me.

The first real laugh I had in a long long while.

He seems pleased. "So, Bourbon or sherry?"

-End of Chapter-

A/N: So what do you think? ShinShi or ReiShi? This chapter and probably the next one will be focused on ReiShi as I see the need to build a foundation on their relationship (Have they met yet after the Train Episode?Man, I need to catch up soon) as compared to ShinShi. We CoAi and ShinShi shippers already how perfect they are together but sadly, Gosho Aoyama does not.