Disclaimer: "Detective Conan" belongs to Gosho Aoyama, and "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" belongs to Naoko Takeuchi.

This is an alternative story to my other fanfic "Encounter in Venice" and one of the possibilities of what could have happened if Ai had taken the antidote before Shinichi brought down the Organization.

Thanks a lot to my friends and betas Rae (Astarael00) and SN1987a and the Aicoholics on LiveJournal, without whom I would never have started this fic.

FS

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Ghost at Twilight

(edited version)

g.

"If that's the case, I choose neither..."

"If that's the case, I choose neither of the two options. Trying to manipulate me won't get you anywhere. Step aside, please!"

The first frame of this old movie is a medium closed up shot of a cascade of long turquoise locks spilling in waves over the bare white shoulders of a very young woman. Her ethereal, unworldly beauty assaults the senses of the audience like a spectacular waterfall and, just like a waterfall, leaves them shiver from a cold, unpleasant aftereffect that can be attributed to awe, envy, or shame.

At this time of the story, sixteen-year-old Sherry is already in possession of dramatic dark-circled eyes, the same complexion as those of the white mice she regularly kills during her experiments, and the desperately optimistic air of a middle-aged woman who has just divorced her thirteenth husband and is now looking forward to marrying husband No. 14. She, or you (as you seem to exist twice again) are also one of the few girls who don't resent Kaioh-san's gorgeous looks or her perfectly happy relationship with her wildly popular ex-motocross-racer-turned-pianist. Nevertheless, you envy Kaioh-san her freedom to go anywhere she wants and to do whatever she pleases. And with a vague sense of dread, you realize in your most lucid moments that after the past three months of what should have been "marital bliss", the word "marriage" will never carry connotations of romance and love again.

In response to your reply, Kaioh Michiru obligingly moves away from the entrance of the aquarium while giving you a sympathetic smile. Her angelic gentleness contrasts so sharply with the suggestion she just made that you can feel your goosebumps raise at the thought that she would dispose of her enemies with the same imperturbable efficiency and grace with which she tunes her violin.

"I think you haven't really grasped the situation you're in," she quietly says as you pass her again at the shark tank. "The FBI is close on Gin's heels. It's only a matter of time until he drags you and your sister down with him."

"I think you haven't grasped the situation I'm in." You watch the whale shark gliding slowly through the opalescent water, whose pearly lustre gives the creepy sea creature an undeservingly majestic look. "The Organization feeds me, clothes me, and pays my rent. I've been raised and educated by them and am living with Gin. Accepting your offer would mean to betray all the people who've made me the person I am."

"Not accepting our offer would mean to stay in a burning house until the roof collapses. You're walking into your own downfall with your eyes wide open."

"Going down with my eyes wide open is still better than stabbing the people I owe everything in the back. I could never live with my conscience if I did that. Even sharks like us need to preserve their sense of dignity."

"It's easy to sacrifice oneself for one's sense of dignity, isn't it?" Kaioh-san's voice seems to drop a few degrees. "But can you do the same to your sister?"

"My sister will be fine." You take out your notebook to jot down a few observations you can use in your next experiments. "She has never done anything for the Organization, not even a small 'assignment'. The FBI will take care of her if the Organization falls." Even though you know Rye only used her to approach you at first, you still believe he cares enough about her to protect her from the law.

"I'm sure that's what the seven crows think as well." Kaioh-san tentatively points out, and you abruptly turn to look her in the eye as the pen drags a long ugly streak across the creamy paper.

"I'm their only scientist who can continue my parents' research at the moment," you declare without conviction, hating yourself when your voice quavers and your fingers tremble. Any attempt at dissimulation on your side is at once snuffed out by Kaioh-san's knowing gaze—the reason why you always dislike her a bit although you find her immensely imposing. "They know that I'd stop the research immediately if anything should happen to her."

"Right now," Kaioh says gently, in a low, pleasant drawl. "But how long, do you think, will you stay indispensable?"

As much as you would like to protest, you both know too well that she has a point.

"Let's go to the dolphins to continue our talk," you suggest in resignation. "I can't stand these sharks... They're too much like me."

"There are actually similarities between sharks and dolphins." Kaioh-san elegantly saunters along the tanks on her dancer's feet as if she could defy gravity whenever she pleases. "They are both trying to survive by adapting to the world they've been born into. Those who can't adjust always die out when the environment changes. You will perish in an environment you can't adapt to no matter whether you're a shark or a dolphin."

"No, they aren't the same." You give a wan laugh. "If I could choose, I'd rather be a dolphin."

"There is nothing wrong about being a shark," interjects Tenoh Haruka, who, after shaking off the man she addressed as "Jean", has just returned to join Kaioh-san and you. "They're sensitive and independent creatures, who die in confinement."

Giving you a suggestive wink, she wraps her arm around her girlfriend's bare shoulders and publicly pecks her on her temple. "Sorry for taking so long, Michiru."

"But there is a huge difference in how they're treated by humans," you counter while inwardly congratulating yourself for your recovered mental balance. "Sharks are feared and hated while dolphins are loved."

"So, do you prefer to be feared and hated and be free or to stay in confinement, be other people's pretty little puppet, and be 'loved'?" Tenoh-san asks, letting go of Kaioh-san to usher you away from the shark hall towards the dark tunnel tank.

Notwithstanding Tenoh-san's harsh and obnoxious manner, resisting Tenoh-san has always been harder for you than resisting Kaioh-san, a fact which you don't ascribe to Tenoh-san's attractiveness but to your secret admiration of her unconquerable spirit and her tremendous courage. Always the one who leads and never the one who follows no matter whether she is on the track or in the concert hall, Tenoh-san possesses the type of charm which makes it hard for other people to dislike her even when her will to exert influence on others regularly crosses the border between goodwill and presumptuousness.

Have you ever thought of the possibility that it's less dangerous to leave than to stay, she continues as you remain silent. Gin already had to defend himself at Pandora's Box once because he went overboard in giving a fellow crow a red card. Apart from that, Gin has also been targeted by the FBI owing to his connection to you. "I wonder what will happen when your boyfriend finally makes a serious mistake and the Seven Crows need to get rid of him. As his live-in girlfriend, you know too much. You'll be the first one they go for after finishing Gin."

Smiling away a tug of guilt at the thought that Gin would never have been officially rebuked if it hadn't been for your clumsy attempt to help the red-haired girl, you resume walking while returning your pen and your notebook back to your handbag.

"So you want to say you're interested in my safety?" You sling your bag over your shoulder with studied nonchalance. "Assuming that I can give you the key to Pandora's Box—what I can't!—what, do you propose, shall we do next to die as heroes without digging the grave for everyone near us? Getting blown up with the files after scattering the information all over the internet?"

No, she says. We're going to sail the ship away from the isle, deactivate Pandora's Box using a scapegoat—for example the brainless secretary of your boyfriend is the perfect choice for the part!—and escape on a boat with the backup of the files, leaving the dope behind in the middle of the sea with the time bombs and a bit of alcohol to drink his worries away.

"Before that, we naturally need to eliminate the Boss and the Seven Crows with the help of your undetectable poison," she adds as an afterthought. Seeing your reaction, she smiles. "I admit it sounds radical but I think it's the only option. Drastic times call for drastic measures. We're dealing with extreme circumstances. And that's what we do to fanatics because it's no use trying to talk sense into them."

"In other words, you suggest that I let you 'eliminate' my boyfriend and the people who raised me in exchange for my freedom."

"For your freedom and your sister's freedom," she corrects you. "I'm sure Gin and all the other 'people who raised you' wouldn't hesitate to burn you alive for the sake of the Organization." Exchanging a glance with Kaioh-san, who has just clasped her proprietorial hands around her upper arm, she adds, "Have you already forgotten what Gin did to you last month in the lab just because he found out about your date with your sister's boyfriend?"

"We only talked." You wearily cross to the dolphin pool in search of your seat for the show. "Rye only tried to get information on my research." A quick glance at your watch shows you that Gin, being the paragon of punctuality he is, will join you in exactly twelve minutes.

"Which was enough for Gin to 'punish' you in those handcuffs," Tenoh-san follows you with Kaioh-san in tow, talking to you with such intensity that a bystander would have misinterpreted the dynamic between you three if someone had cut the sound out. "And you'd have stayed in the basement over the weekend, drinking sherry, singing drunken songs, and wetting your pants if I hadn't found you."

"Listen, I really appreciate that you picked that lock for me, but I'm not going to help anyone 'eliminate' the man I spend all my nights with no matter how nasty he can be at times. Even if he were always such a monster—which he isn't—I would never do it. There is something like loyalty."

"'Loyalty'?" Tenoh-san narrows her eyes. "Koneko-chan, you're kidding me!"

"Yes, loyalty. Or maybe it's love." You try a laugh. "Hasn't it ever occurred to you that I actually love Gin?"

"What people call 'love' is in most cases only a lucky combination of lust and narcissism. You don't look as if you're very much in love with him."

"You don't need to believe me but I do care about him."

"I thought you care about your sister." Tenoh-san eagerly bends over your seat as if the two of you were about to kiss, unknowingly drawing the attention of other people in the vicinity with her gesture. "Setsuna-san told me you meet up with your sister once a month at Tsukino-san's café and that you two absolutely adore each other."

"You out of all people should know that it's possible to care about more than one person at the same time," you remark with deliberate viciousness, as you don't like the way Tenoh-san and Kaioh-san drag your sister into the discussion.

"You can't love two people at the same time if those feelings are mutually exclusive," Tenoh-san retorts without batting an eyelid. "Are you really aware of what you're doing? You're choosing him over her."

"I'm not choosing anyone!" You defiantly fold your arms. "As I already told your girlfriend, I absolutely object to emotional blackmail."

"I see you're choosing the easy way out!" Tenoh-san coolly straightens herself. "One day, you'll live to regret that you haven't grabbed the chance to make your choice instead of letting life decide over the outcome for you."

"Why are you so sure—"

"I know the type!" She grips hard at the back of your seat while Kaioh-san seizes her free hand as though she is about to draw her away. "If your sister and you threaten to harm the Organization, Gin won't hesitate to execute you both. Even if nothing happens, I can't see a future for you two." The more clingy he gets, the more you're likely to flirt with danger, as evidenced by what happened last month, she asserts. "You can't live with a husband who brings out the worst in you!"

Gin will appear in a few minutes, you distractedly think, fighting your growing sense of panic. You need to get rid of the fairytale couple before he notices their interest in you, misinterprets it (or worse: correctly interprets it) and handcuffs you to the heater again.

"You know I could tell Gin about our conversation, right?" you ask Tenoh-san in a dismissive voice and turn your attention to the pool. "Without Pandora's Box, you can't do anything to the Organization. It would take them only a few days to eliminate your whole group."

"Maybe." Tenoh-san chuckles, giving you an unexpected warm smile, which reaches her eyes. "But you've probably noticed that I know about your sister although you've never introduced her to me... And I can assure you that I'm not the forgiving type."

"I see you're not that different from the crows you despise." You return her smile and behold her fine features with a deep sense of sadness, lingering for a moment on her perfectly shaped ear and her simple gold earring. You've learned the hard way that roses usually have thorns and that beauty cannot be trusted. Apart from a few rare exceptions like Akemi-nee-san, all the beautiful people you know are essentially cruel and selfish, willing to swim through a sea of blood to reach their ultimate goal.

"Really?" Tenoh-san's smile doesn't waver although a wistful expression has stolen into her eyes. "If I were like them, I wouldn't ask you at all but simply make you give us the key in exchange for your sister's life. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed how easy it is to use her to approach you after the disaster with Rye! Please think about my offer again and consider the consequences before you pass up the chance of a lifetime."

The scene fades out as the couple slides out of your view while the hall is rapidly filled with anonymous faces of strangers—men, women, children, toddlers, babies—who have come to watch the ever-smiling dolphins perform the same tricks as yesterday and the day before yesterday. Taking a few deep breaths and straightening your dress, you anticipate Gin's arrival in five minutes with renewed optimism. Neither Tenoh-san nor Kaioh-san has guessed the second reason why you insist on staying with a man you can no longer love. And before you've accumulated at least one billion yen on your private saving account, you're not going to tell anyone.

It may be a slow, tedious, and painful way to freedom but the only one which feels perfectly right. In only four or five years at the latest, you will be able to buy Akemi-nee-san out of the Organization. As you've made your bed and have to lie in it now, you don't feel much pity for yourself although you sometimes wonder in morbid amusement whether you will end your so-called "marriage" by giving your "husband" your undetectable drug. Many a night you've stayed awake and listened to the sound of his breath, wondering how pleasant the silence would be if the hated sound would magically stop before your dreaded eighteenth birthday. Sometimes you still have muddled feelings for him when you remember his irresistible perfume of last autumn or the childish joy you once felt when his long hair spilled over your hand. But such a phase usually lasts only one or two hours until he pouts about your neglect, complains about your cooking, or rants about the Organization's bureaucrats and you're deadly tired of him again…

This, you surmise, is the "love" most people experience. A slow and gradual suffocation after the first phase of infatuation when lovers can no longer maintain the illusions they've had of each other. And yet, when he appears on the dot in his ridiculous coat and his even more ridiculous hat, reeking of the hated cigarettes he chain-smokes and a new overpriced eau de cologne which can't hold a candle to the scent he once used to seduce you, you habitually take his elbow and habitually enjoy the familiar sensation of his kiss. Without a strong incentive, you can't free yourself of this twisted attachment, and you are certainly not going to betray him for something as elusive as freedom.

Eventually, the anxiety dissipates and you successfully reconcile yourself to the future you've conjured up for yourself and for the two people close to you. You're going to buy Akemi-nee-san a normal life, contribute to humankind's eternal fight against Time by continuing your parents' research, and turn your grumpy, jealous, controlling, and abusive assassin-husband into someone moderately pleasant you can share your life with...

g.

"She thought she could buy your freedom, the credulous little fool!"

The little parting remark, whose deeper implication you only grasped after Tenoh-san's information on why your sister was executed, was also the proverbial last straw that broke the camel's back. In this case, to know or not to know makes all the difference—and it's fascinating how one seemingly unimportant small detail can turn a dead puppy love and fear into implacable hatred...

You're taking this way too personally, says the voice of reason in your head. But when it comes to Gin, you've never felt such overwhelming and urgent desire for love as for revenge.

Six votes for Akemi-nee-san's execution and only one against it, Tenoh-san's informant has said. The seventh crow or "blue-clad biker", as you've dubbed him, was the only one who didn't see any sense in executing an insignificant member like her.

The first time a gun feels disturbingly right in your hand is just as unforgettable as the very first kiss, you think with a smile as you pull the trigger and the bullet once again hits the target with impressive accuracy. Kudo, or Edogawa-kun, is on a trip to Hitachi seaside park with his wife- and in-laws-to-be (the eternal optimist is once again trying to reunite her quarreling parents) and thus won't be back before the week after next. The Professor is away as well, visiting an old friend he has met again somewhere on the internet. Grabbing the chance with both hands, you've asked him to tell the Detective Boys that you're going with him because you "need some alone time to work". Of course it was a whopping great lie because the antidote is long finished and you're here at Tenoh-san's place again, brushing up on your terrific shooting skills, as you seriously lack practice although you are, to quote Gin, "exceptionally gifted".

"I suppose I don't need to tell you the basics like 'don't shoot only once'," Tenoh-san comments, visibly impressed by your prowess. "I dare say you're a much better shooter than me!"

"I had the best of mentor!" You smirk as the bullet once again hits the tiny red dot.

"And the best of mentor-student relationship if one can believe the Classical Greek," she jokes, raising her hands apologetically when you—after missing the target in a wave of nausea—groan in exasperation.

"But I see your skills aren't very reliable. Have you ever had a living target?"

"I once shot a dove under instruction before I decided that it was arbitrary killing, and I shot the hat off a woman's head once. I haven't shot anything or anyone since then." You intentionally leave out the bunch of red roses you shot at Kudo with the Professor's toy gun because it's completely irrelevant.

"Then I'll repeat to you again what I've been preaching for the whole week," Tenoh-san sighs, carrying Kaioh-san's easel back to the porch before she returns to join you on the beach with her Beretta. "You don't stand a chance against one crow, let alone six of them with their secretaries and, in a few cases, their sniper-spouses. If they all decide to use the occasion to visit Pandora's Box for a reunion, it's game over for Kudo and you before you can even draw your weapon."

"Of course I don't plan to shoot them if I can help it. Kudo would never let me use a weapon in that way." You hand her the empty Browning in exchange for the loaded Beretta. "This is just for self-defense in case something happens." Turning to her after another good hit, you sigh. "Don't refuse my offer when what I propose is exactly what you've dreamed of all these years. I know right now you have too much to lose. But I'll take the blame if anything goes wrong. You can step back whenever you want. No one will ever learn that you've assisted me unless you can't keep your mouth shut."

She doesn't know whether she should be glad or regret that she has told you the truth about your sister's death, Tenoh-san regards you with a slight, nostalgic smile. "You see, koneko-chan... You've changed more in the last years than I expected. But I doubt you have the right nervous disposition for your grand plans. I fear that, if you pull this off, you will bitterly regret it because no one can assure you that the blackmailed people won't come for Kudo and your Professor after eliminating you." With a gentle pressure on your wrist, she pushes down your hand holding the Beretta. "If something should happen to you—or if you commit suicide all of a sudden—Kudo will investigate. He will get into trouble sooner or later because he'll never stop! Offering yourself as the scapegoat won't really solve the problem."

"So, what do you suggest, should I do instead?" You glare at Tenoh-san, as she has taken the Beretta out of your hand and casually hit the target at lightning speed over and over again without missing it even once.

"I'm not such an accurate shooter but I make up for it with consistency and speed." She gives you a rare boyish smile and motions you to follow her into the house. "If you can let go of your heroic self-sacrifice and turn your attention to the goal of staying alive, I think I have a much better plan."

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