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Here is the second part of Chapter 1.

Enjoy!

LAST TIME

We made it. However, his joy was short-lived when he felt the cold metal of a barrel pressed against his head.

"As to what you have heard today..." Rei could hear the cold-blooded Sherry in the child's voice. Of course, Shiho wouldn't let him off easily for uncovering her identity, especially if she thinks his loyalty lies with the BO.

"The least I would expect after saving someone is a "thank you"."

"Thank you. Now, we're even." Although the timing was wrong, Rei was still amused by Shiho's sarcasm. "To the left," Shiho ordered.

Rei obeyed and turned the steering wheel, not because of the gun pointing at his head. Being part of the reconnaissance party of the BO, he had learned various self-defense techniques through training and missions, enough to let him have the upper hand in his current situation. From the corner of his eye, he could distinguish the hint of fear in Shiho's eyes. Snatching the gun away from an opponent, especially one who was afraid, was a piece of cake. However, he would have to resort to violence, and the last thing he wanted was to hurt Shiho.

Rei's current plan was to stall time until he finds a non-violent way of evasion. He had considered coming clean, unveiling his secret identity as a police officer. He had always felt guilty that he had discovered Shiho's most important secrets, while she knew nothing about him. However, Rei knew that he would feel even more guilty when the knowledge of his secret identity would bring danger to Shiho.

They were then driving on a hill, away from the city lights.

"Stop the car," Shiho's cold voice resounded through the car after a couple of minutes on the hill.

The place was deserted, with thick forests on both sides of the small road. The absence of light mixed with the silence of the outskirts complemented the heavy darkness.

A pretty convenient place for a murder... He didn't have much time.

"Have you ever considered why I saved you?" he asked with a casual tone.

"To hand me in to the Organization and to get a promotion for your efforts," Shiho replied with a matter-of-fact tone.

"Seriously, I'm hurt." He actually was. Although he had expected Shiho to answer this way, a tiny part of him secretly wished that she would - one day - let down her guard around him.

An idea suddenly crossed his mind. He added, "I would never do any harm to Elena-san's daughter."

He saw the eyes wide in surprise.

"Mom... how... how do you her?"

"She saved my life," he began, nostalgia deep in his tone. Rei decided that Shiho had the right to know at least this. "I was nine, and my parents had just died in an accident. At that time, I couldn't understand. Why did my parents abandon me? I am just a child. Why did all these other children still have their parents? The world seemed to be mocking me. I hated everything and everyone. I tried my best to destroy myself, because I wanted so badly to get back at my parents, at the world. At around this time, Elena-san came into my life. She told me to stop fighting and to become a good boy."

He could see Elena-san and her sweet smile. Her voice was stern, but covered with her familiar sweetness that always soothed him. He continued dwelling deeper in his memories as the emotions resurfaced, "Elena-san taught me that the world wasn't bad, that I was the one making it seem bad. She taught me that hating was futile, that, if I wanted to find happiness, I needed to love first."

Shiho was silent, but Rei knew that she was not convinced. He could still identify a spark of doubt in her eyes.

"In my left pocket. There's photo in a wallet."

He could feel the gun against his head tilt as Shiho stretched in her child's body to reach the wallet. She skillfully opened the wallet and extracted the said photo.

"It's..." This time, the shock was greater.

"Your mother gave it to me." Rei was lying. The photo had been attached to the documents he received for his current mission from the Japanese Police. However, this lie was the best resort he could think of at the moment. Shiho was not one to trust easily, after all.

"Summer 2006. Elena-san invited me to spend summer break in England." The part about the invitation was true, but Rei never met the Miyanos during that summer. He did go to England, but for a different reason. However, Shiho wouldn't know.

That summer, the eight-year-old Shiho had been saved from a house fire. It was a miracle that she survived physically unscathed. However, as Rei remembered the doctors' diagnostic from his Police documents, Shiho had been suffering from amnesia. The cause of this loss of memory of a whole summer was thought to be the shock of her parents' death.

Rei had always felt that a detail about this incident was strange, perhaps it was the fact that the Miyanos had died after the apparition of their daughter's amnesia... No, it wasn't. It was something closer to him... Rei couldn't pinpoint the cause of his uneasiness and decided not to for the time being.

He had more important matter to focus on, namely fabricating his story. Rei felt guilty about taking advantage of Shiho's amnesia - which still didn't recovered as he had observed. Again, he had no other choice, apart from unveiling his identity.

"You probably don't remember, but you used to like me really much. You followed me around and called me "Rei-nii"." He shut his mouth, biting hard on his tongue. How did these words come out of his mouth? He hadn't planned at all to say them, but they just came out of his mouth naturally.

This lie was too much. The worst was that he didn't feel as guilty as he expected. Strangely enough, the lie felt more like a truth. Have I become such a compulsive liar who begins to believe in his own lies?

He suddenly remembered a more worrisome matter. This lie... I am sure she will see right through it. She'll probably shoot me now for the quality of lie and for hurting her pride... Oh dear, why did I have to add this last sentence? He glanced at Shiho, but was astounded when he realized that, instead of a deadly glare, Shiho had a reminiscent gaze, as if she had just remembered a long forgotten cherished memory.

My plan worked? Rei could feel Shiho's right hand, which was holding the gun, relax, then slowly lower. Rei let out a sigh of relief.

"Rei... nii..." The voice and especially the choice of words were absolutely adorable. There was something else. The voice sounded... familiar? It was impossible. Rei had never met the 'real' younger version of Shiho and, surely, Sherry did never call him this. Perhaps she met someone similar or her memory was playing tricks to her, for the moment being, he should just play along.

As if realizing the title she used to call Rei, Shiho blushed in a deep shade of red. Rei could never have predicted that the usually cold-blooded and sardonic Sherry could show so many hints of embarrassment in a single day (or night). He smirked with amusement.

"What did you just call me?"

"Nothing."

"I sure did hear something."

"I didn't say anything! Where have you been, anyways? You just vanished one day, like a ghost, and no one ever heard about you." Shiho tried to change the topic.

Rei was dumbfounded by the familiarity in Shiho's tone. He could hardly believe that Shiho's memory was playing tricks to her, anymore. She acted as if she remembered clearly every detail of their fictional past encounters and friendship. Perhaps she is pretending? No, it doesn't seem like it... An unsettling thought occurred to him. Does she remember something that I don't? After all, Rei had also lost his memory of the whole 2006 summer.

That's not likely either... He had witnesses, and they had told him about his every action during that summer in England. Rei knew he had never met the eight-year-old Shiho. Yet...

He glanced at the younger version of Shiho in the photo. She was identical to Haibara, apart from her childish taste of fashion and the innocent, joyful gaze in her eyes, all reflecting her true age. No, he had never seen this child before... or perhaps, he did?

Rei felt a sudden throb of pain in his heart. What was this mixture of emotions that suddenly rushed to him? Despair, anger... guilt. Where did these come from? Most importantly, he felt like he had forgotten something... something so significant to him...

"Rei, watch out!" Shiho's scream about the imminent danger shattered his thoughts.

However, even with his reflexes, he was too late. He could not avoid the truck, so huge compared to their two-passengers car that it seemed like a mutant monster attempting to swallow them. Instead, the metallic monster pushed its prey with such a force that it toppled over the road and rolled down the hill, crashing into a tree and deforming like an empty aluminum can.

All this time, Rei held on to Shiho, hugging her close. The only thought in his mind was to protect her from the most damages possible. A sharp pain tore through his body as his mind fades into darkness.

TBC

Next part: the third and last part of Chapter 1

Will Rei and Shiho survive?

Who tried to kill them?

What is the part of Rei's memory that has been forgotten?

Thanks for your review :)