It hadn't been long since Shiho left his room. Shuichi surveilled the area around the apartment building with the aid of his sniper rifle. He'd started surveilling her just like this, staring at her through his rifle from the window of Shinichi's house. He'd never expected that things would lead to a day when he craved to make love to her. Sure, Shiho was beautiful, he'd started to notice how she turned heads way back when he first approached Akemi, especially since his and Akemi's relationship was one born out of strategic necessity and not love. But Shiho wasn't just beautiful, she was also intelligent, smart and oddly unpredictable. In a weird way, to him Shiho was like a test where he never knew the next question but he was excited about it nonetheless. However, he had always treated her like forbidden material before the recent developments and it had worked fine until this point. He probably wasn't counting much on her liking him back. But she did, and he had broken the number one rule of his job for good now. Never establish a personal connection with the protected. He should have left when Akemi died, after then the mission had already become somewhat personal, but he manage to stay, he focused on the revenge, on the pain. He had lost countless of brothers in arms but with Akemi's assassination they had become one too many. Shiho had temporarily become a child and had gone missing. Scotch had shot himself in a fit of fear not long before. The organization was dealing one blow after the other at the FBI, he guessed the state of dire emergency was what kept him sane and going. But then he had found her again, Shiho, disguised as an elementary kid, and she became his protegee. And then became an adult again. How could he protect her against the organization if he was distracted? When they were kissing all his mind thought about was to lift her up against the wall, press her body harder against his chest, and for a moment, a single split second, it slipped past him that the transceiver was buzzing. Split seconds could make the difference between life and death, he knew that very well from his experience as a soldier at war. Maybe it had been a mistake to agree to their potential love-making date tomorrow night. In this situation Shuichi should have resigned from his position and asked to be assigned to a different mission, it was the logical decision since he'd lost his capability to protect her. But at the same time he couldn't trust anyone else to be with her. How could he forgive himself if something happened to her and he was somewhere else, unable to try and save her? "Fuck," he breathed. Shuichi groaned and swung his rifle around, wishing he could shoot down his feelings one by one and make things easier. But what a cold world would that be? He hadn't felt his heart so light ever since the Alpha Squad times, and he was dangerously becoming addicted to this sensation.

Shiho stared at Shuichi a bit surprised, he'd come knocking at her door the next morning. A part of her wondered if he'd changed his mind about tonight. "Did you forget I'm teaching you how to shoot?" He nodded in the direction of the living room, "Right now is a good time."

Shiho nodded, still worried about how she was going to deal with his touch but also relieved that he didn't come to tell her off. "Sure." She let him lead her to the living room, where he handed her the gun. Shiho held it up in front of her, while Shuichi circled around her to fix her limbs into the right position. His touch was achingly distracting. Every subtle caress made her think of what the night had in store for her, but it also brought back the memories of the day before, when the transceiver buzzed and Shuichi had told her to lock herself in the bathroom. Even though she was safe now, even though her life in that apartment with Shuichi seemed almost normal aside from the rifle at the window, Gin was out there. And he was looking for her. She'd never forget about that night on the rooftop of the hotel, when the fever temporarily reverted her back to an adult and Gin pointed the gun in her direction and shot her multiple times. She'd never forget about that day in the forest, when she shot the ground twice to scare Gin and his buddies away from Edogawa and the kids. If only back then she'd aimed a little higher…

"That's good."

Shiho blinked, barely registering the voice, she relaxed her arms and turned her face to the left. Shuichi was standing a few feet away, nodding in approval. "That's a good stance," he repeated. He picked the gun from her hands, "Now go sit on the couch." Shiho obeyed, Shuichi threw the gun on the coffee table, then stepped back. "Pretend I'm one of them. Get the gun and shoot me before I catch you. Ready?"

Shiho took a good glance at the coffee table, the gun was within her reach. Shuichi was roughly ten feet away. "I'm ready," she said and immediately launched herself off the couch. She was sure she could reach it, but her fingers didn't even brush the coffee table. Instead the wind was knocked out of her chest, her back plunged into the cushions of the sofa and she saw only black. The black shirt that Shuichi was wearing was in her face, he was straddling her, one hand had seized both of hers and held them above her head, the other pinched the side of her waist. She yelped, it tickled.

"Dead," he said softly. Shiho yanked her arms in an attempt to free herself, only to find herself even more securely locked. She swallowed, her breathing quickened and she found that having Shuichi sat on top of her made her lower abdomen tremble with anticipation. She was appalled to be aroused at such a time, she looked down, bidding herself to take this training more seriously. Shuichi let go of her arms, his fingers lifted her chin towards him, "Don't be so sad, this is a difficult exercise. You won't be able to master it today. Not even tomorrow," his thumb ran across her cheekbone, "But we'll keep practicing until you're able to get the gun and pull the trigger before I get you."

She thought of Gin again, what if Gin was in Shuichi's place right now? "Shuichi."

"Mmm."

"I won't really need this, right? We're practicing just in case. Right?"

Shuichi leaned forward until their foreheads touched, "I hope so. I really do." Then he stood and helped her on her feet, "Now let's practice some more. Should worse come to worse, I want you to be able to put up the best fight possible."

They've been going at it for over an hour when Shuichi excused himself to take the routine round of coms. Shiho was exhausted, they'd tried a number of different scenarios in which Shiho had to reach the gun and shoot, all of which she miserably failed. She tried not to feel too discouraged, after all, Shuichi was a specialized soldier, he was trained to charge a weapon. But Gin was a cold blood assassin, depending on what when on in his perverted mind, he might shoot her on sight. She laid back on the couch and closed her eyes, catching her breath. The sounds from the transceiver only faintly reaching her.

"All clear," she heard the soldier say from over the radio. His voice was slightly different, he must have been new because Shiho didn't recognize him. "Hold on," he went on suddenly, "There's movement at the neighbor's. The husband is coming back with a golf bag".

"He left with a suitcase, does he have it with him?" Shuichi moved toward his rifle, and Shiho did not miss the worry in his voice, she immediately sat up.

"Negative on the suitcase," the soldier said over the radio.

"I'm going to get a visual -" before Shuichi could finish the sentence something exploded and the glass window near his rifle completely shattered.

Shiho let out a muffled cry. She jumped on her feet as the room started filling with some king of foggy gas. Shuichi was in front of her in a flash, he'd loaded the gun and thrusted it back in her hands. "What's happening?" Had the organization found her? Was Gin on the other building shooting gas at them?

Shuichi did not respond to her, his arms had encompassed her whole body, gently and yet demanding as he pulled her towards the door of the apartment. He shouted through the radio, "All units, code red! The safehouse is compromised, we're being shot from the East building. We're evacuating through route one." While he was looking out of the peephole to secure their exit, Shisho's knees trembled and she fell on the floor. She realized her sight was getting blurred, probably an effect of the gas they inhaled. Her head fell forward and she only then noticed the streaks of blood on her legs, where the shards of glass must have scratched her bare skin.

"..-ho"

Her head was starting to feel incredibly heavy.

"..-iho!"

Was Shuichi feeling this way too? Shuichi! Right! The thought of him brought clarity to her mind for a second and her eyes looked up where he must have been. She could only see the contours of him bending over her, he was...saying something but she couldn't hear. It was as if she'd put her face underwater. She was only barely aware when the door next to them was forced open, Gin's silver hair dangled in her peripheral vision before he used the butt of his rifle to hit Shuichi's head. Shuichi collapsed on top of her and all she saw after was deep, utter blackness.