Chapter XXII

-24hrs later-

It has already been one day, since the death of Medusa, and since the death of Sakura Kinomoto was prevented. It was strange though, for some reason it had seemed longer than that. A nightmare that they had thought would be endless is now gone. It was still strange to see the nightmare finally over.

After hours of washing the blood that was stained all over her, she put on a robe and went to cutting her hair, back to her usual short hair, and had already burned the dress she had worn.

"I don't why I bother burning it…" She thought to herself, "It just keeps coming back …"

She heard a knock on the door, she placed the scissors down and went over to chose clothing she would wear.

"Who is it?" Alice asked.

"It's Korra."

"Come in."

Korra went into the room and shut the door from behind her while Alice began to put her clothes on.

"You sure you're going to be okay?" Korra asked, "I mean, you did kill her last night."

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me." Alice replied, while she put on her shirt and jean pants.

"How are you going to explain this to Sherlock and the others?" Korra had asked, "Don't worry about that. I already thought of an explanation." Alice said.

Just than, another knock came upon the door.

"I'm coming in."

Envy came into the room. "Morning Envy." Alice said, "There something the matter?"

"No, it's just the hospital gave us a call." Envy said, "They did?" Alice asked, "What did they say?"

-Local Hospital-

Alice came in the building with a bouquet. She went over to the clerk, and got the room number. She went to the second floor in room 208. When she opened surprisingly enough, she found Sherlock and Shadow their both sleeping. Sherlock was sitting in a chair with a cast on the his right arm, while Shadow, with his hood over him, had his head on Sakura's bed, holding on her hand.

She placed the flowers in the vase, and proceeded to wake Sherlock up. She pinched his ear which got his attention. As he rubbed his ear with his good arm he turned only to find Alice standing over him.

"I could see you had a good night rest." Alice said with a smile. "Good morning to you too." He said with a yawn and rubbed his eyes with his good arm.

Alice took a chair and sat at the opposite side of Sherlock. "How was the operation?" Alice asked turning to Sakura who had a bandages and casts on her wounds, "It was successful." Sherlock said, "Her real memories will come back to her as she sleeps."

"Including the death of her parents?" She had asked. Sherlock nodded his head, "It will come back to her, unfortunately." Alice then turned to Shadow who was still asleep. "How long have the two of you been stuck here?" Alice asked, "The whole night actually." Sherlock said, "Since Mrs. Hudson is coming back today, I don't really want hear the questions let alone explaining the whole thing to her."

Alice chuckled, "I'm sure you wouldn't like that now wouldn't you?"

"Oh, believe me you have no idea, how much I hate explaining."

Sherlock saw the bouquet in the vase, "I see you bought a bouquet for her."

"I thought flowers would suit a pretty girl like her. They didn't cost much at all actually. Here I thought that the bouquets costs about-"

"How did you do it?" Sherlock asked cutting her off. "How did I what? Oh, right how I came back from the dead, right you are curious about that aren't you."

"Yes. Very curious. I saw you die right before my very eyes, we all did. So how are you still here than?"

Alice sighed as she said to him, "I was going to tell you anyway, so might as well tell you from the beginning."

Alice then started to explain.

"It seems like a long time ago, but before all this I used to be normal. I had a mother and a father, and a sister, and a great home. At a time I was actually happy, I had everything I could ever want. However that was until a fire had started suddenly, on that winter night. I was the only one who managed to escape from the fire, I watched as my parents burned like chestnuts over a fire. After their death, I lost my mind, and for almost my whole life, I was put in Rutledge Asylum. The one that burned down."

Sherlock was surprised to hear that from someone like Alice. He knew she was a mental patient from when he first met her (She still has mental issues from what Sherlock could tell), he didn't think it would be Rutledge Asylum. She continued with her story.

"After my childhood life slipped away from me, I was released in the hands of a doctor. He was a man named Bumby, he promised that he would help me. But then I overheard him talking to Medusa, of course at the time I didn't know who she. Little did I know that he made a deal with her involving human trafficking. She helped him sell children and woman like me for others filthy pleasures in exchange he gave Medusa equipment for her experiments."

"He really did that?"

"He did, I confronted him, and I told him that I would tell the police that way he could rot in prison, and he would be someone's bitch till they hanged him. But he told me that no one would believe me, and he was right. So I did the only thing I could do, I let the train hit him. But at that moment, I changed completely."

Alice stood up from her sit, walked over to the vase, and pulled off a leaf from one of the flowers. "My madness..." She said she closed her hand over the leaf, "Became real." She opened her hand and suddenly there was a butterfly in her hand. Sherlock had almost jumped after he saw the butterfly.

"At first I didn't know it was there, until I died for the first time in my life. I was as shocked as you are when I first witnessed it. I thought that by finally killing Medusa I would be rid of this wretched curse, but it looks like I was wrong. So, yes you did see me die and at the same time you didn't. It's a lot more complicated than it sounds."

Sherlock just sat there in silence before he said, "So you have talent to than?" Alice went over to the opened window and let the butterfly fly from her hand, "Believe me, I wish I didn't have madness still stuck to me like glue. So now you know my secret, don't worry, I won't get mad if you tell John about it."

Sherlock sat back in his chair, then Alice asked, "More importantly, what do you suppose they're going to do?"

"Sorry what?" Sherlock said as if being woken up from a trance, "Them." Alice said pointing to Shadow and Sakura who were still asleep, "We both know that they have no where else to go, and they can't exactly go back home, plus they don't have any money and they won't last ten minutes back out in the streets."

"Don't worry about that." Sherlock said, "I already thought of the best thing for them."

"What might that be?"

"Can't say, it's a surprise."

Before Alice could ask, she heard Shadow yawned; He began to stir up and rub his eyes to get himself to wake.

"Sherlock?" he said still a bit tired, "Did I fall asleep?"

"You did. With your mouth open and you did drool a bit." Sherlock said almost laughing.

Shadow groaned, "You know, you could've woken me up, or are you one of those people that wanted to have a good laugh for entertainment?"

He than noticed Alice was standing in the room, "Oh, it's you again." He said, still a bit shocked to see her, "Good morning."

"Good morning to you to." Alice said to him with a small smile.

"She's here to give her regards to Sakura's recovery." Sherlock said getting up from his seat, to stretch his legs.

"Oh, I see." Shadow said. He got up from his chair and walked over to Alice. "Look, I'm not sure how survived a sword through the chest, but I honestly I don't care. I just want to say, thank you for saving me last night."

"It was nothing really." Alice said, "Think nothing of it."

"No, really I appreciated what you did. If it hadn't been for you, well we most likely would be dead. So thanks… Sorry I don't think I got your name."

"Alice. Alice Liddell. Sorry we didn't have a proper introduction before."

"It's alight. My name is Shadow Fukushima by the way."

Like that they proceeded to shake hands after they had their introductions.

Sherlock then turned to Shadow and caught his attention. "Shadow, mind taking a walk with me?"

Shadow had at first hesitated before Alice had said, "Don't worry, I'll stay with her." "Alright, thanks." Shadow said to her.

A while later, both Sherlock & Shadow were outside, walking through the garden that resided outside of the hospital. "Are you feeling alright?" Sherlock asked as they walked. Shadow looked at him, a bit confused. Sherlock then pointed to his shoulder, "That bite you took from Medusa, you sure you're going to be alright?" "I'll be fine." Shadow said, "I did tell you before didn't I? I survived a lot worse, and not just from dog bites."

"I can't argue with you there."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't."

"What are you planning on doing now? Now that the case is over, and Medusa's gone, what are you going to do?"

"Well, it's funny, I've always had a plan, but this time I don't have one. I know I can't go back in the streets, it won't be healthy for her, we both have no one to turn to, and plus, I'm not sure how much more of this I can take."

"So in other words, you are just clueless of what to do now?"

"Yep. Why do you ask?"

"No reason, just curious."

"Oh, okay."

They both didn't say anything each other for a little while. They soon sat next to each other on a bench and bought themselves some coffee. "Is there something else you wanted to ask me?" Shadow said turning to him, "Yes." Sherlock said, "There is."

Sherlock took out Shadow's iPhone out of his coat pocket with his good arm. "You want the code?" Shadow asked, "You guessed right." Sherlock said, "Gibbs needs the information, so he can take it back to America and put it in a safe place."

"I… I can't." Shadow said, "I promised her father, that I wouldn't hand over the information."

"I know you did, but others like Medusa might be looking for the same information. If you really want to be safe, than you'll have to turn in the information."

"Even if it's for my own safety, I can't turn it over."

"Alright fine, don't do it for yourself."

"Deal."

"Do it for Sakura than."

Shadow pretty much froze after he heard the detective say that to him. "She has nothing to do wi-"

"She has everything to do with this." The detective said, cutting him off. "Need I remind you .she had almost died last night, and if hadn't been for my help she would've been dead. She'll be put through in even more danger, and the next time she is, I might or you might not be able to save her. I know for a fact that you don't want anything to happen to her. So if you really care about her, than you'll tell me the code for her sake."

Shadow hated to admit it, but Sherlock was right, Sakura was put in danger and she will be put in danger in the future. He had caved, and said, "Fine I'll tell you the code, but I'll only tell the code to you and only you."

"Why just me?" Sherlock asked.

"Just to show you proof." Shadow had replied, "Proof that you're the only person I could trust."

"How do you know you can trust me?"

"If Sakura trusts you, than I'm willing to trust you as well. So that's why I'll trust you with the code. But you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone else the code. It's okay for you to tell John but no one else."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, I don't plan on telling anyone else. Now if you don't mind, the code."

Shadow motioned the detective to come closer; Sherlock had done just that, and he told him the code.

-Later that Evening-

Sakura had finally awoken from her slumber, to find Alice, John, Sherlock & Shadow their, glad to see her alive and well. She was happy to see them as well, but at the same time she was sad, after she had gotten back what she had forgotten.

Sherlock had told her the truth about her parents and about the chip that was embedded in her head.

"So than…" Sakura said, "Mom and dad, they're really dead?"

"I'm afraid so." Sherlock said, "I'm sorry."

Sakura looked down at her hands. "I can't believe it. How could I forget something like that?"

Shadow placed his hand over hers, "It's not your fault that you forgot something like that. It was the scientists dumb project, there the ones that made you forget."

"What happened to Medusa?" Sakura asked, "Is she still…?"

"No, she's gone now." John said, "Medusa won't bother you anymore."

"Yeah, I made sure of it." Alice said.

"Oh…" Sakura said, "I see." She took her locket that sat on the dresser, and looked at the picture within.

"What are we going to do now?" Sakura asked, turning to Shadow, "Everyone's gone now, so what are we going to do?"

All Shadow could say was, "I… I don't know Sakura… I just don't know."

"But you always have some kind of plan don't you?"

"I'm sorry sweet heart. I know I do, but this time I don't."

It wasn't long until they heard John ask Sherlock, "Do you want to tell them?"

Shadow and Sakura both turned to John, confused to what he was saying.

"No, John I prefer you do it." Sherlock said to the doctor

"Are you sure? It was your idea in the first place." John said.

Shadow, Sakura even Alice, turned to each other all confused. "Tell us what?" Sakura had asked.

"Sherlock, you tell them." John said, "Or do you want me to call your-"

"Alright fine! I'll tell them!" Sherlock yelled finally cave in.

"Seriously, what do you want to tell them?" Alice had asked.

Sherlock took a deep breath and finally said, "Well, John and I both plan to talk about this with Mrs. Hudson, and we... Well I have decided that as soon as Sakura's made her full recovery, the two of you will be put as my next of kin if something were to happen to me, but it would be kind of pointless since I would probably be alive for the next few years."

Shadow and Sakura both sat there dumbfounded to what Sherlock was saying. "Wait a second... Are you trying to say that...?"

John then said, "Oh yeah, it's exactly what his saying. Sherlock's adopting you the two of you."

The both of them were in awe. The young hedgehog turned to Sakura and he took both of her hands, "Sakura, did you hear that? We got ourselves a home!"

Sakura looked like she was about cry, "I... I don't believe of this! We're actually going to-"

She had caved; she started to cry.

"And there she goes." Alice said.

Sherlock walked over to her, and wiped away her tears, "Oh come now. There's no need to shed tears. After all, I heard ladies are much prettier when they smile."

Sakura picked up her head, "You... Think I'm pretty?"

"Not just pretty." Sherlock said, with his charming smile, "You're adorable, now come on, let's see that smile."

Sakura blushed at his complainant, and just like that, she smiled, with her tears. Than with her one good arm, she wrapped it around his neck and pulled herself closer to him. "Thank you, Sherlock. Thank you so much." She said through her tears.

Sherlock then smiled and kissed her cheek, "Think nothing of it." He said, as he placed his arm around her, "But you know the dogs are going to have to go."

"Really? Why?" Shadow asked, "You're not a dog person?"

"No it's nothing like that." Sherlock said to him, "It's just that, they've caused a bloody mess with many of my experiments."

"Experiments?" They both said.

"Yes, most of them involve tobacco." He said to them.

"Tobacco? Why would you wanna know that?" Shadow asked.

"I've discovered many types of it actually, in fact I've already discovered thirty eight of them."

"They're seriously that many types?"

"Indeed there are."

"Um…" Sakura said, "I'm sorry for asking, but what's a tobacco?" John just sighed and patted her on the head, "Trust me, you're better off not knowing."

The code is:

My little flower.