Four points of the same star.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Detective Conan.

A.N: Well...what can I say.. It's been a long, long time.. and an apology isn't truly enough.

Let me explain shortly: author's block, laptop died and lost all the notes, all the snippets of written chapters and story line from here on, another massive author's block...and the waning of my fan-girl interest in Detective Conan (I've stopped reading the manga years ago and just check spoilers now).

The reason I wrote this, and will probably continue, are the readers and reviewers. There are people out there that want to read and know how this story, started as a game for me 9 years ago, will continue and, eventually, end.

This small update is for you.

This is not the final chapter but just a part of it.. People have asked for it so, since I actually got it written a couple of weeks ago, I decided to post it rather than letting it rot in my laptop.

I hope you guys like this and, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for the support.

I'll try my best to update as soon as possible.

FOUR POINTS OF THE SAME STAR

Chapter 30

Akemi

-:-

"Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world simply by being there for each other."

-Carol Saline

-:-

The room was completely silent, if not for the low buzzing sound of the television set. The two teens in the room were barely breathing: they were just watching the screen in numb surprise.

After the initial greeting, the video was silent. The dark haired woman looked in front of her as though she really was speaking to another person and was thoughtfully thinking of what to say and which words to choose.

After a minute, Akemi smiled and Shiho felt her eyes sting. She saw her face every morning thanks to the photograph that Shinichi had given her for Christmas but now it was so different..

How long had it been since she had seen her sister smile at her? How long since she had heard her voice? How long since she had heard her say her name?

"Hi, sis. If you're watching this video, then it means that that I have fooled the Organization hiding this disk very well... but it was not enough to fool you." Akemi smiled again. "As expected from my genius little sister.."

Akemi's tone was so fond that Shinichi smiled softly and approached the coach to look at Shiho. The girl was sitting rigidly, tear-filled eyes fixed on the screen. The detective sat down next to her and gently took her hand. Shiho didn't turn or move in any way but softly squeezed his hand back in response.

"Shiho, if you're watching this then.. I'm not there with you." Both Shinichi and Shiho started at Akemi's somber words. "I'm not there to explain you my involvement with the Organization, to tell you about our parents and..." The dark haired woman sighed. "..and so much more, Shiho. Just talking with you, knowing that the Organization won't be in our life, would be so important!

But if you're watching this tape, then something must have gone... wrong.

I thought of all the possibilities while I was planning how to take you out of the Organization and I soon realized that, in the worst of cases, I will be the first one to be killed...

This thought is the only one that's spurring me to go on.. even now. If I'm the first to risk, then you'll have time to escape, leave or be rescued..

As long as you will have a chance, I will do everything that I can to take you out of there..'

Akemi stopped talking and it seemed that she was steeling herself, restraining her voice from being too emotional.

Shiho, on the other hand, lost her composure; tears started to leak from her eyes and on her cheeks and she bit a lip in an attempt to muffle a sob.

So it was true.

Akemi did everything, knowing that she might have not been there at the end. She knew that at some point the Organization might have got her and killed her. But nevertheless...

'One-Chan..' Shiho thought, swallowing the lump that was threatening to come up her throat.

"Well...I have to be fast." Akemi continued, looking up with a resolute expression.

"The Organization has given me a mission and I'll have to be re-located for a couple of months: I will be picked up by the men with whom I have to work in a while.

This is my only chance to be alone here and to leave this message to you. I will tell you all that I can, all that you have to know and give you some explanations.

We never had a chance to speak of our parents. Our meetings have always been watched or too short to start such a conversation.

Tou-chan and Kaa-chan...they loved us. A lot. They were both brilliant scientists and famous for their projects and that attracted the Organization's attention. On the other hand, they got blinded by their own ambition and failed to see what the Organization really was.

When they realized the truth behind it, it was already too late to back off. Tou-chan tried his best to free us: he didn't want us to live under the Organization's clutches.

He managed to send me to study abroad, without being constantly watched but...he wasn't able to do the same for you. Unfortunately, the Organization noticed how bright you are, way before he could tell you anything and They decided that you would be useful.

When Tou-chan realized that you would be a BO operative as well, he almost got mad in grief and resentment. You were so small at the time; barely 4 years old and your future was already doomed and chained to the Organization.

People started saying that Tou-chan was crazy...but he was just guilty, mad with himself for having accepted to work for the Organization, for having forced his daughters to live a caged life. He started to work relentlessly from that moment. I think that he found a way to temporarily ease his mind when he concentrated on the projects he was given. He thought that he could find a way out but he never forgot his mistakes.

You probably don't remember this, Shiho -you were so small, at the time!- but when we all lived in the same house, Tou-chan would come every night and kiss us goodnight.. and apologize. I can still recall his face when he would gently embrace you while you were asleep and whisper 'Forgive me' countless time with a sorrowful voice.

Kaa-chan was more..unreadable but she was suffering from the same guilt as well. People called her 'Hell Angel' because she seemed so cold and devoted to her projects but they were wrong. She cared for us and for Tou-chan. She wanted to free us and let us all live as a family.

She started to work and finish all her projects because she thought that, once she had done everything the Organization asked her, they would let us go...But there's isn't any chance of leaving - I know that now- and I think that she must have realized it too at some point.

Kaa-chan left you some tapes. I don't know what's on them but she told me that it's all for you and for the moments together you have missed. I gave those tapes to one of Tou-chan's old friends. Well, to be honest, he doesn't know that he has them. I hid them in his house: I was always good in hiding things." Akemi winked and Shinichi failed to hide a smile. "Search for Tou-chan's friends: I'm pretty sure that you'll know which one is the right one and you'll find the tapes. Kaa-chan wanted you to have them so badly. She hated to be absent in your life and that you were far from us.

Being older, I got to live some years with them normally, as a family. You never had this chance and it's not fair.

Our parents died when you were already far away, sent to study in the United States. I know that you barely remember them but I do remember and would love to tell you more: I sincerely hope that I'll have the chance to do so...

Let me just tell you this.

You have a lot of both of them. You have Kaa-chan's reddish-blonde hair and light blue eyes, Tou-chan's wiry sense of humor and his smile. Kaa-chan's character that can be misjudged as cold but that hides the deep love for the ones she cares for, Tou-chan's insecurity to not deserve what he has because of past decisions. You have their strength and protectiveness, their intelligence and brightness.

They might not have been there with you and you might not remember them but they are part of what you are, Shiho. And they loved you"

Shinichi felt his hand go numb. He looked down and saw that Shiho was clutching it hard, fingers trembling slightly. He didn't say anything because he could barely imagine what the girl was going through, hearing about Atsushi and Elena Miyano from Akemi's point of view. He glanced at her and saw tears streaming down her face. He gently squeezed her fingers back in support, failing to find words to say.

"Our parents wanted us to be free. I was fairly lucky because the Organization didn't find me valuable: not as much as you. They were so upset when you were sent to study abroad and learned that you wound have to work on the Organization's scientific group as them.

They died when they were starting their final -or so it seemed- project. And they had made a deal that once the project was finished, they could leave with me and you.

I know that it's same project that you're working on now. And I know that you have made the same deal."

Shiho felt the air knocked out of her as soon as she heard these words and stared with wide, watery eyes at her sister's image.

'How..?'

"Did she know that?"

Shiho turned to her side. Shinichi's figure appeared distorted through her tears; disentangling their laced fingers, she wiped her eyes dry and looked at him. He looked just as in shock as she did.

"Did she know that you made the deal to leave the Organization with her once the APTX project was finished?" he asked, blue eyes wide in inquiry.

"No.." she whispered, "I never told anyone about it. Not even to her."

"Then..how...?"

"I don't know." Shiho was at loss for words. "The only ones that knew were Gin, Vodka -maybe.." Her eyes widened.

Shinichi caught right away.

"Shuichi Akai." he said but Shiho wasn't listening. She was suddenly recalling words that she had heard weeks before in the middle of a forest.

"She trusted me?" he repeated, "Who? Akemi? She trusted me as much as I trusted her." He smirked at her confused expression. "Your sister wasn't foolish as everyone thought. She hid her true intentions under a mask of naivety. If you want all the truth, Sherry, she gave me the idea of our -how did you call it? Oh, yes, plan. She tried to use me, so I used her."

His words, so mysterious then, now seemed to make sense.

"I know that you made this deal, Shiho." Akemi resumed to speak, "I made one with them myself: this mission that I have to do now is my deal."

Both teens knew of her deal..and it's tragic consequence. Shiho's hand searched Shinichi's again and the boy took it firmly in his grip.

"I found out of your project, and then learned your intentions, through Dai Moroboshi but I think you know him as Shuichi Akai. I met him accidentally, almost a year ago, and learned that he was a member of the Organization. He seemed different to me, different from the other operatives, and I started to talk to him but I slowly realized that he wasn't telling the truth. After a while, I found out that he was an FBI agent, infiltrated in the Organization.

I started to trust him -actually, I dated him. I talked to you about him, didn't I? And I talked about you to him. He seemed very keen to know you and see what your work was about.

That's when I realized that something was off.. He seemed to want to know things about you..and me but I had the feeling that he already knew most of the things I told him.

He told me to freely ask for information that could help me and you to leave the Organization, information that he could get from FBI but the information was always generic.

I came to the conclusion that he is a double agent not for FBI but for the Organization. He must be trying to get information from me to get to you: he talked to me, vaguely, about your project. The Organization wants to find something to chain you to them forever. And..I am that something, right?" Akemi's smile was sad and Shiho felt tears prickle her eyes again. "You would do anything to save me; even accept to work in the Organization forever if it meant my safety.

I would do the same for you.

But it's not fair. Life hasn't been fair to you, Shiho. I'm not going to let you ruin it for my sake.

I think that I have been able to trick Shuichi and he doesn't know what I know about him. I got as much information that I could about the Organization through him and the FBI files he brought me.

The operation I'm going to do now is my plan to take you out of the Organization. I've been promised that if it goes well, we will both be free.

I..I don't know how truthful that is. It's more probable that at the end of the mission, they'll just laugh me off..or kill me. Who knows..

But if there's one chance for me to free you, I'm willing to take the risk. I'm the elder sister: I've got to protect you, sis.."

Shinichi swallowed a lump in his throat, realizing the extent of Akemi's plan and her love for Shiho. The chemist bit her lip in an attempt to bite back another sob.

"I thought of this thoroughly...and decided that I needed a backup plan. If I'm gone, who will save you, Shiho?

I've decided to ask for help, sis. If I can't take you out of the Organization on my own, I'll find someone else that can. Searching through the files that Shuichi has given me and doing some researches on my own, I found a boy that could help you.

He lost his entire family because of the Organization and is now living with an FBI inspector and his family as an adoptive son. His father was a prominent scientist, just like our parents. However, he refused the Organization's offer and his family murdered save for his son.

I talked with this boy when I came to visit you months ago in the US. I gave him information and he promised to start an investigation: he's in FBI now.

The boy's Ryuji Kazama. He will surely contact you.

After learning his story, I came to understand Tou-chan's grief: either way, whether we left or stayed in the Organization, we were lost. He tried his best to find another solution."

Akemi's gaze shifted sideways and she frowned.

"I've got to go now. They'll be here shortly and I have to hide this record.

Shiho... I hope that you won't have to see this because it would mean that, in some way, I'm alive and with you. If it was the other case, then...it would mean that you're safe." Akemi's eyes glazed with tears. "It doesn't matter if I'm gone as long as you're safe from the Organization.

It's my only wish. It was our parents' only wish.

I know that you will feel lonely, guilty even..but don't be. It was my choice, our choice.

Live your life, Shiho. You deserve it after all that you've gone through.

Make friends. Find someone to love. Create a family in absence to the one that the Organization has taken away from you.

I will always be there for you: in your mind, in your heart, whenever you need me. I will never leave you, sis..

I love you, Shiho. I love you so much that I'm afraid I'd never been able to show it to you.

Be happy, all right? For my sake..

Bye, sis."

Akemi got up from the couch, tears streaming down her face. She walked forward and put out a hand to stop the camera, mumbling something between the tears. The image on screen froze on her tearful face.

Shinichi stopped the disk with the remote and wiped his eyes with his hand to dry the unshed tears in them. He hoped he was wrong but he seemed to decipher Akemi's muttered whispers as: 'She might not see it..It's just for the worst..."

The only sounds in the room were Shiho's muffled sobs. The girl had her free hand on her mouth but the grief was too much and tears streamed down her face. Shinichi turned towards her and gently pulled her in an embrace, allowing her face to rest on his chest.

Without saying a word, he held her, one hand softly caressing her hair and Shiho slowly gave in and cried her heart out for her lost family; especially, for her lost sister who had sacrificed everything for her.

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