A/N: New update! I'm having a ridiculous amount of fun messing around with the characters... it can't be good for my sanity. I'm regularly going back to my earlier chapters and fixing little tiny things that don't make much of a difference to anyone except me. Anyway, melodrama ahead!

Chapter 2: They Need to Fix Up the School System

Shuko Gindan barely heard her new teacher introducing her---- or rather, him.

Besides having the most idiotic, cut-and-paste name ever (He was forced to use the personal information on Vermouth's forged documents, as it would've taken a ridiculous amount of time for his contacts to stop laughing hysterically and start doing their jobs. Ditto for his coworkers.), which, to add insult to injury, probably was created by Vermouth the Sadist to imply something he didn't really want to know, there was also the matter of the school uniform. Akai was very much grateful that a), he went to a non-uniform school the first time around, and b), he went that time as a guy. Whoever decreed that girl's uniforms would be so short deserved to be handed to the Black Organization lab---- after The Sadist (his new, highly descriptive name for her) had a turn with them.

His hair was still fairly short for a girl, but the hairclips solved that problem. Akemi had let him borrow hers once, to keep his then-long hair away from his face, and he never had a chance to give them back. Silver, with a pattern of snowdrops (the flower, fittingly, symbolized hope, he remembered ), they made his hair seem more feminine. It also reminded him of his debt, the one he was willing to throw away both his pride and his life for.

Akemi had taught him to enjoy life to the fullest (Admittedly, he hadn't exactly been following that rule lately).

He had taught her to die in her twenties.

.o.

Despite his misgivings,at first things could've been described as going...well. Conan... no, Shinichi Kudo, had finally told him about Shiho, but even that turned out fine. He had given her an edited version of the truth, telling that she had been one of their strategists, got guilty,tried to commit suicide, and ended up where she (He had to be careful with the gender-specific words. The problem was probably one that only mainly applied to Japan, just like the school uniforms) was currently.

He, only then, realized how his story was closer to real life than even he had thought.

That night, when a bullet had pierced his lung, when he went to save Kir,

Had he been trying to get rid of his sins that way? Had he unconsciously thought, a life for a life? He didn't feel like he was the type to commit suicide, but ever since his life was turned upside down, he couldn't truly put his trust in anything.

A life for a life. He supposed it was his destiny to at least try to save the fates of the others.

Rain that will wash the guilt away.

.o.

Anyway, Haibara (the sexist!), despite doubting him in the beginning, had her suspicions quickly disproved when she saw how good he was at cooking (See, not all things a bachelor learns are either inappropriate or useless!)

Classes weren't half bad. He remembered an astounding amount from back then, and FBI training had made him good at sports (they didn't have to wear skirts for that, thank God). There was, however, one class that he had dreaded.

Jodie had stayed on as an English teacher at Teitan to stay on hand for Kir's reports.

The Sadist had taken pleasure in telling Akai of her grief. But how could he tell her? His turning into a teenager was already unbelievable, without the factor of wearing... what he was wearing, and the reason behind his decision. Even if she listened, she wouldn't see why he had to do this, why he had to redeem himself in such an impractical way. She would complicate things, he told himself.

As he walked into class, he was even more careful than before in maintaining his guise. Jodie was always better than anyone else (except Akemi) in seeing through his masks. Take a single step the wrong way and she would notice.

He sat in the front row, close to the teacher's desk. It was a risk, but she didn't seem to notice him. Taking the cellphone Vermouth had given him (that, too, hadn't been left untouched by the Sadist. It was pink, with a gothic pattern in silver embossed over it. If it were in a different color, he might have actually halfway liked it), he dialed Jodie's phone number from memory.

Excusing herself from the classroom to answer her cell, she gave Shuko a chance to slip a scrap of paper onto the desk. On it were two words: I'm sorry.

After class ended, he watched Jodie pick up the piece of paper, looking at it in a stunned sort of way as she recognized the handwriting. In the bustle of the hallways, only he was motionless, weighed down with guilt.

Why was everything he had tried making the pain worse?

He noticed Ran (not Akemi, Ran) looking at him in an odd way.

.o.

A/N: Sadly, I couldn't fit Kogoro or Agasa in this chapter. I tried, though! *awkward chuckle*

This one was pretty angsty, I guess. To make up for that, I'll have a quick, related drabble to go along with it!

.o.

As she made her way to her next class, Shuko noticed a tugging at her hair as a group of boys stole her hairclip.

Without thinking, she slammed her fist into the face of the boy holding it, barely remembering to check her strength to prevent a decidedly messy ending. As a result, his nose was only slightly spurting blood instead of squirting all over the place like a B-rate horror movie. Smiling kindly, she took the clip, carefully wiping the blood off on his shirt.

As she pinned it back into her short hair, she noticed Ran running to the scene, her face a mask of surprise.

"You know karate?"

"Hell yeah!"

Real A/N: Yay for pissed off Akai! I seriously have to do a fanart of that!

I hope I'm not making the characters too OOC. If it is, just click that button and tell me (shameless review plug!)

Next chapter's going to involve clothes, babysitting, and a healthy helping off oddballness (like everything else in this story!)