Chapter 2 - Wake of the Phoenix - Part 3

"Shiho-chan, you see that door, right there? Go through it and follow the arrows to the tunnel. Once you'll be there, run to the end."

"What about you?"

"I'll be right behind you."

"As if."

"Smart girl... you saw right through me. Don't worry. I'll catch up as soon as possible."

"Don't..."

"Shiho-chan, you are a bright, charming and very brave lady. Thanks to you, I had so much fun for the first time. I want to protect you and all the wonderful memories from this summer."

"You can't win against them... We'll fight together."

"No, that's not your mission. You need to be safe, for your parents... and for the world."

Heavy footsteps resounded from far away.

"They're coming. Now, go."

He expected her to protest more, but only noticed tears streaming down her cheeks and an understanding nod. He could imagine her pain, the sorrow that pulled on the heart and suffocated its victim. And she was there, nodding, determination gleaming in her eyes, despite the pain, despite this desperation that even adults could hardly fight.

She'll become someone great. He shone his cheerful smile to her. He'll protect her; he'll fight for her. It was the right thing to do.

Rei lifted his eyelids and glanced at the clock.

2:54 pm.

He had fallen asleep after vomiting during the whole morning. His whole body, especially his head, had been invaded by waves of pain. He couldn't recall the exact time, but he fell asleep on his couch due to the subsequent dizziness.

He had to see a doctor soon.

I better get going.

Before the party, Rei had to buy some grocery to fill his empty fridge and cupboards, just in case his stomach felt better. He also had promised to help prepare dinner for the party.

As he walked outside - after covering himself with enough cologne to cover the obnoxious smell of decay, Rei remembered fragments of his dream. He was walking quickly, almost jogging toward somewhere... or rather from someone. A girl was with him. She had strawberry blonde hair and had the height of an eight-year-old.

Shiho...

The little girl in his dream had a more innocent gaze, although it possessed such a hint of maturity that is uncommon in children of her age. Nevertheless, Rei was sure that the girl was Shiho, perhaps her real eight-year-old-self.

Why did I dream of her?

Rei had heard that dreams often reflect one's inner desire.

The tanned man blushed. No, he wasn't thinking of Shiho 'that way'...

Although Shiho had often crossed his mind since a week ago, since he had discovered - or rather, confirmed - that the little Haibara was Shiho, Rei was intrigued by the past he supposedly shared with her, but could not remember, and was not satisfying some fantasies of his... at least, not substantially. The way Shiho had been following - or 'investigating' - him made it impossible for him to forget about her intense gaze and adorable attitude.

Coming back to the dream, Rei had a strange feeling of déjà vu, although he did not recall at all the fragments of his supposed shared past with Shiho. No, amnesia was not the only problem. 'Facts' contradicted the possible existence of that past. The Japanese Police and anyone else who could have been witnesses all denied his meeting with Shiho during that 2006 summer.

The headache came back. Rei didn't know what to believe anymore.

Grocery store, Beika

Rei had just filled his cart with canned food and cupped ramen - having decided that he wouldn't be eating much and shouldn't buy fresh food that would quickly go to waste - when he noticed a certain strawberry blonde on her toes, her hand extending toward a merchandise on a shelf above her head. The tip of her fingers was still a few inches away from the small spice mix bag.

Rei smiled. He walked toward the girl who didn't seem to have noticed him and fetched the bag from behind her.

"Let me get that for you."

She jumped and turned around. Her unexpected reaction made Rei want to chuckle.

"R-Armuro-san?"

"Curry powder..." Rei noticed as he read the title on the bag.

"We're having curry tonight," Shiho explained as she received the bag from Rei.

"Nice." Rei glanced at the content of Shiho's cart, ranging from vegetables to beef, and guessed that she had just finished her hunt for ingredients. "Ready to pay?"

"Yes. Let's go there." She walked toward the line with the least clients, and Rei stood behind her, in line. They didn't have much time to discuss about their diets, with Shiho expressing a few ironic remarks about Rei's "healthy diet of bunker food", before the clerk - a familiar lady who had attempted, but failed to beautify her average appearance through an excess of makeup - took care of Shiho's grocery.

"Hey, Tooru-kun! Nice to see you here," she chirped, displaying a smile she probably thought was seductive.

"Nice to see you, too, Yuki-chan."

"Is this your sister? You two look so different." Rei noticed Shiho's annoyance at the clerk's remark.

"No, she's actually a far relative of mine, whom I'm babysitting."

"She looks so cute." The clerk then spoke to Shiho with the patronizing tone of a good sister, "Hey there! I'm Yuki. What's your name?"

"Ai Haibara," Shiho replied in the monotonous tone that was atypical of eight-year-olds. Rei could feel that Shiho was hiding the urge to punch someone for the humiliation.

The clerk seemed shocked by the answer, but quickly found her smile and directed it at Rei.

"She's such a shy one, but she's so cute," she repeated the cliched compliment. Her voice then suddenly turned husky, perhaps for another attempt at being seductive. "By the way, are you free tonight, Tooru-kun? There a new bar that opened near here."

For some reasons, Rei could feel that Shiho's annoyance - or rather, anger - was growing. Not humiliation? Rei suddenly realized the reason and smirked mentally.

"Oh, sorry. I don't think I can. I have to babysit her tonight." At the mention of Shiho, Rei put a hand on her shoulder, like a good brother. He could feel Shiho flinch slightly and imagine her cheeks turning red. Cute...

"Oh, I see." The lady seemed upset, but, as always, quickly returned to her excited expression. "How about tomorrow?"

"I'll need to see with my schedule. I'll call."

"Sure," the lady answered excitedly. "Together?" She was asking about the bill.

"Yes," Rei answered before Shiho could.

As Shiho and he exited the store, the girl took out a few bills from her wallet and handed it to Rei, "Here."

"Oh, don't bother. I won't be a good cousin if I let my eight-year-old little cousin pay for the grocery," Rei replied without accepting the bills.

"Fine, I owe you one."

"Really, don't worry about it. Just consider it as a gift to my little princess."

"I thought you already have a princess. "Yuki-chan", is it?" She quoted him with little emotion, but Rei could feel the hint of annoyance.

"Are you jealous?" he replied with an amused smile.

"Now, why would I grow jealous for a philanderer?" she rebuked coldly.

So, she really is jealous... Rei had confirmed his previous guess at the grocery store. Shiho being jealous... Rei could feel his smile growing at the thought.

Agasa-hakase's mansion

"Nice place you've got here," Rei complimented as he entered Agasa-hakase's spacious mansion, adorned by high-quality modern furniture. When he noticed the absence of human sounds, apart from Shiho's and his, Rei asked, "Where's Agasa-hakase?"

"He's out."

"A science conference?"

"Something like this," Shiho replied as she entered the kitchen and emptied her grocery bags. After washing the vegetables, she took out a knife a chopped the carrots.

"Here, I'll help," Rei announced as he took out another knife and peeled the potatoes' skin.

As they worked in silence, Rei suddenly remembered his encounter with Vermouth. So, the BO is a also after the Phoenix... Should he warn Shiho? She had been through so much...

"Is something the matter?"

As perceptive as Conan-kun...

"Not at all. Why?" he lied. He decided that assessing more the situation alone was better than worrying unnecessarily Shiho. As he noticed the girl's suspicious gaze, he added with a smirk, "Oh... are you worried about your Prince Charming, Shiho-chan?"

"Don't you dare call me that!" She blushed, and Rei chuckled.

Yes, it was best that he acted alone, for now.

The bell rang. Agasa-hakase? However, when Rei opened the door, his surprise was written all across his face, "You..."

"Hello, Armuro-kun."

"Subaru Okiya..." or should I say "Akai Shuichi". He was sure of the man's identity.

Of course, Akai was a good actor, pretending to be an awkward engineering student living at the famous Kudou Shinichi's house. This Subaru had perhaps even fooled the FBI. However, since his first meeting with Subaru, Rei detected this feeling of familiarity between Subaru and Rei's former university best friend. No, Rei couldn't be fooled. Thanks to all the time they spent together, Rei knew Akai like his own self, which was also the reason for his accurate performance as Scar Akai. Rei had since then searched for all types of clues to prove that Akai was alive and had gone undercover as Subaru.

Rei had found all the clues necessary to prove his theory and even confronted Subaru at his house (A/N: Refer to the Scarlet Return (and sorry for the spoilers).). However, Rei had been fooled. He didn't know exactly how Akai had managed to be at two places at the time. Perhaps, Akai had a helper who disguised as him. Nevertheless, Rei was sure that the Subaru standing and smiling modestly in front of him was Akai Shuichi.

Akai Shuichi... They had been friends, but became archenemies... when he killed Scotch, and later, even let Shiho's sister die... For the latter, Rei knew that he was as guilty as Akai, but Rei could never forgive Akai for his dear friend Scotch's murder, for the way Akai was holding the smoking gun, for his indifferent attitude after killing a fellow policeman...

To think that he even dared to acknowledge his involvement in this murder...

Of course, Akai and Rei had temporarily formed an alliance, but Rei knew that, as soon as the BO would be brought down, he would avenge Scotch. He also knew he was the only who could do so, because he knew the top FBI agent Akai's greatest weakness.

"May I come in?" Subaru asked after Rei had been blocking for too long the doorway.

"Sure, make yourself comfortable." Rei knew that his cheerful smile couldn't hide the dark aura he was emitting.

"Who is it?" Shiho asked as she walked out of the kitchen to meet the visitor. "Subaru-san!"

"Hello, Princess! I thought you guys would like some homemade pickled radish."

Rei's jaw hardened. How dare he address her this way? He is a murderer.

"Yes, thank you. Just leave it on the counter," Shiho replied as she went back to cooking her curry sauce.

Rei was about to help her when he felt his stomach churn again and ran to the bathroom. He emptied his already-empty-stomach. He had been fighting the dizziness and numbness all day, but, then, the feelings were unbearable. He suddenly shivered. When had the room become so cold? He tried to stand up, but the heaviness in his head made him stumble. The world seemed to be spinning around him, and the buzzing in his ears grew louder.

What's happening?

He felt the pressure in his stomach again and directed his mouth toward the toilet bowl. He vomited. The smell of decay, of death, was stronger than ever.

"Armuro-san? You don't seem alright." Shiho had probably grown suspicious about his long absence and was standing at the doorway of the bathroom.

"It's fine. I just need to lie down. Just a bit sick. Probably indigestion." No need to worry her.

All the subsequent events occurred like a blur as he fought his dizziness. As soon as he noticed, Rei was lying alone on the bed of one of the many guest rooms. The room was furnished with modesty, with only a bed, a closet, a nightstand and a lamp and without any decoration. Rei glanced tiredly at the floor. It was clean. Shiho probably cleaned every room frequently, just like how she took care of all the chores in the mansion. Sometimes, Rei wondered whether it was Agasa-hakase who took care of Shiho or the contrary. Suddenly, Rei noticed the tiny, elongated object on the floor.

A pencil? Perhaps the previous visitor had left it. He was about to go pick it up when he heard a knock at the opened door.

Shiho entered with a tray containing a glass of water and a bottle of pills. As she opened the bottle and took out two pills, Shiho explained that they will temporarily help Rei with his nausea, but he should still visit a doctor as soon as possible.

"I doubt it is a simple case of indigestion," she continued as she gave the pills and the glass to Rei, who lifted slightly his head, since he still didn't feel well enough to sit up.

Suddenly, Shiho covered part of his forehead with her hand.

"You don't seem to have a fever."

A gush of strong, sweet vanilla shampoo perfume invaded Rei's nose. He realized that it had been a long time he could detect so clearly a smell, apart from his own scent of decay. The numbness in his whole body had caused all his senses to deteriorate constantly.

The perfume was not necessarily sweet, but had an indescribable characteristic, one that stimulated his nose and made him hungry. No, it isn't the shampoo, he suddenly realized. He couldn't pinpoint the origin of the scent, but knew that it had a more natural origin than the vanilla scent, that the scent he wanted to inhale as much as he could was part of a living being... part of Shiho.

This doesn't sound right... He gave little thought to the definitions of "right" and "wrong", because, at that moment, the attraction of the perfume was above all other thoughts in his usually rational mind. He also felt this irresistible warmth emanating from Shiho. It wasn't the ordinary body warmth; it was more, like the comforting heat of a blazing fire in a cold, snowy winter.

All Rei desired at the moment was to be closer to this source of warmth and divine attraction. Thus, he impulsively pulled on Shiho's thin forearm - an act he would never perform for the sake of dignity and long-lasting friendship - with his other arm surrounding her. Of course, Shiho fell on the bed. They ended up in a position where Rei was hugging Shiho from the behind, his arms tightly surrounding her.

"What do you think you're...?" Rei felt that Shiho was ready to slay him. He had no idea what caused his body to react in such way.

In any normal situations, he would have felt ashamed, but, at that moment, with his mind clouded by a growing numbness and every inch of his body desiring the incomparably godly warmth and presence, he let himself satisfy his dark desire. He was breathing in the strawberry blonde hair and inhaling and devouring the unique and tempting scent that was even stronger than his excess of cologne. He could feel the warmth surrounding him, isolating him from the cold world. The heat then permeated through his skin and body, and he wanted to be even closer. Rei hugged Shiho more tightly.

"Your body is cold," Shiho suddenly realized, her voice betraying her concern. Perhaps he was cold, colder than a corpse. Or else, why would a living body feel so warm?

"Perhaps, but you are so warm," he whispered in her ear, without considering much the words that came out of his mouth, perhaps due to his dizziness. "Let's stay like this, little princess."

Shiho's silence made him question whether he slipped. He thought that she would definitely punch him this time, but heard a tiny voice, "Lolicon."

Surprisingly, he didn't feel ashamed or offended. Perhaps, it was due to the embarrassment in her tone or the fact that she didn't struggle and stayed peacefully in her current state.

Rei didn't know how much time they had been in their current position. He had never felt so - simply said - comfortable. The divine warmth and perfume surrounded and tempted him. Although his nausea and numbness didn't seem to alleviate, the presence next to him was a nourishment to his own existence, a unique source of power for which he yearned more and more intensely. He wanted to move closer to this power to the extent of devouring it with his own presence.

Rei knew that, if anyone could read his mind, he or she would never understand and would probably believe he had an erotic penchant. He couldn't describe to them the truth that was different, either, because he, himself, couldn't comprehend it at the moment.

He only knew that the physical proximity was tempting and even crucial to his existence. He wanted so much to literally bit into the smooth skin and the soft flesh. Wait a second... Rei realized with horror the place where his thoughts had gone to.

"Ai-kun! Come down for dinner!" Thankfully, Agasa-hakase interrupted his train of thoughts. Shiho moaned sleepily and rubbed her eyes, like a tiny kitten. She had probably fallen asleep and was languidly lifting herself up.

"Erm... I'll get going." Her cheeks were bright red as she pick up the tray. Rei decided that, probably, she wouldn't murder him for what he had done that day.

However, another growing pain was about to kill him. The warmth was gone, just like the perfume, and he craved intensely for them. Oh, how he wanted to attach himself to that divine source of power and life.

"Yikes!" His thoughts were interrupted again, but, this time, by Shiho, who had walked and slipped on the pencil. Perhaps she wasn't paying much attention due to her sleepiness.

The glass had shattered on the hard floor, and Shiho, cheeks redder than ever, was going to pick them up.

"Don't...!" Don't pick up glass shard with your bare hands! However, Rei didn't have the time to finish when Shiho slit open a small part of her hand with a glass shard. Rei noticed that sleepy and embarrassed Shiho was a clumsy one. He wondered if all her BO reflexes were slowly disappearing due to their lack of use in her significantly peaceful life.

Ignoring his nausea and numbness, Rei left the bed.

"Let me see," he said as he took her hand and examined the wound. It was a small one; no need to sew it. However, a few drops of blood was oozing out.

Rei suddenly noticed that the divine perfume was stronger than ever and seemed to pull him closer. Before he realized, Rei lifted Shiho's hand to her mouth and - as strangely as it sounded - instinctively licked off the blood. He could hear, but ignored Shiho's surprised gasp. The blood tasted like iron. Rei understood soon that the attraction didn't come from the taste, but from the sublime sensation of the contact of that red elixir with his skin, with his body.

Without much thought, he placed his mouth around the wound and literally drank - or rather, sucked - from it. Each drop of blood seemed to cure a bit of his dizziness and pain. He could feel each particle of his body being refilled with life, and he wanted more of that godly elixir.

Shiho seemed dazed about his behavior for a while, before she realized what he was actually doing and ordered with the coldest tone she had, "Let go."

He couldn't. He needed that iron-scented red wine.

"Let go, Rei." The although calm voice betrayed her horror.

He didn't. At that moment, she hit him, not with a slap, but with a punch so hard that, if she had been in Shiho's real adult body, Rei's jaw would have broke. The painful blow temporarily woke Rei from his dark desire.

"What was that?" Her voice showed a mixture of emotions, from mortification to a feeling of betrayal. Rei couldn't answer her, because he didn't know what happened either.

"I didn't know you have this kind of fetish. Do you think that you are a vampire?" Her voice had grown darker after she calmed down. Rei had the scary impression that she hated him.

"Oh... sorry... I didn't know what happened... maybe I was just tired? I'll go get the bandages..." he stuttered.

"I'll go get them." Shiho's tone felt like a knife that had just cut the thread of friendship they shared.

"Alright. I'll clean up, here." Rei wasn't sure if Shiho had heard him, since she furiously walked straight out of the room, not throwing him a single glance.

Rei had never felt so - simply said - bad. Physically, his body felt slightly better, the nausea having disappeared. However, mentally, he knew he had committed an unforgivable crime, its motive still a mystery for him.

TBC

End of Chapter 2 - Wake of the Phoenix (hint: and this may mean that the Phoenix has awoken)

Chapter 3: What do you think is happening to Rei? Why is the FBI there? What about Rei's mission?

Thanks for sharing your opinions!