Disclaimer: I do not own Darker than Black or any affiliations. Characters belong to respective owners.

-sequel to Masked Memories-

CHAPTER ONE: DEAD OR ALIVE

Sora stood shivering anxiously at the shinkansen station, clutching onto her ticket. Her blue eyes, gentle like the sky, retained their tears, but it was difficult. She had been married to Hei for two years now. As he had warned her, the Syndicate often kept them away from each other, but they saw each other almost monthly and kept in regular contact by phone. Sora was simply happy knowing that she had such a strong, handsome, thrilling man to love her. That was until six months ago. Hei had left for another assignment, and never returned, never contacted her. He was constantly busy and swept up in his menacing dealings with the Syndicate, but he never forgot to call, and the very thought that he would let six months go by without wondering how she was proved nauseating.

The station intercom buzzed to life, announcing Sora's train arriving next, bound for Tokyo. It was enough that she had not seen Hei for six months, but now her father was pressuring her about Li's significant disappearance since the wedding brunch a week after their wedding two years ago. That was how long Kanbimura had gone without seeing this upstart with the mysterious occupation in the United States. Though Hei made it a point to come home to his wife, he pleaded with Sora not to visit Kanbimura or inform him of his return because the young couple hated trying to lie to Kanbimura about Li's responsibilities. Kanbimura would always wonder why Sora did not move to the United States with Li, to which Sora would reply that Japan was her home, and then he would pressure Sora to have Li take a job with Miyabita and work locally. Kanbimura had even gone so far as to accuse Sora of falsifying the marriage to avoid her then imminent one to Nekozawa Kawari. He retracted this statement after Sora called him a monster and broke down in tears, but never were his suspicions nullified.

For the same period of time, she had not seen or heard from Mao, Huang, or even Yin. Shizuoka was not very far from Tokyo, and they could have easily placed a phone call and let her know what was wrong because something must be wrong. At this point, Sora could not even hope that he was alive, but she wanted to find him, alive or otherwise. He was her husband after all, and she loved him. She needed closure, she needed to know whether to grieve or to search for him. However would she search for him anyway? That was why she had purchased a ticket for Tokyo, intent upon receiving answers from Huang.

Sora knew little about Syndicate operations, even though she was married to its most valuable assassin, the Black Reaper. The best lead she had in finding her husband was Yin's small tobacco stand in Tokyo, and she was not even sure if Yin was still using that pretense. She was refused contact with Yin or anyone else in the team for her safety; her strange life was exhausting.

The shinkansen pulled up to the station, and its current passengers began exiting the cars. Sora waited until she found a free door and started toward it when a man in a white, button-up shirt and jeans crossed by her. The young wife's breath hitched, and she pivoted sharply in her flats, darting after him.

"Li-kun!" she shouted, reaching out for him. The man didn't respond until she caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder fiercely. He turned to face Sora, and she sighed.

"Is something the matter?" he asked. Sora shook her head.

"I just... thought you were someone else." The man smiled, narrowing her eyes on her pretty face.

"I'm Tamaki," he said, extending his hand to her.

Sora did not return the shake, but politely introduced herself.

"We can certainly acquaint ourselves, can't we, Aozora?" Sora had heard this one more than enough times.

"I'm married, Tamaki," she said quickly, turning to board the train. "Sorry." Their conversation was far too brief for the man to feel much dejection, and he continued about his way peacefully, albeit slightly confused.

Sora found her seat quickly and huddled next to the window, growing more and more impatient as time wore on. Shizuoka was not terribly far from Tokyo, but the ride felt as though decades ensued before the shinkansen slowed to a stop at a Tokyo station. Spring had always been her favorite season because the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, but those cherry blossoms were forever linked to her father and the relationship she had with Hei, and of their first anniversary, when Hei had taken her to the hot springs. This particular bath house was surrounded in beautiful cherry blossoms, and Sora could still feel the warm of her husband wrapped tightly in her arms, and cherry blossom petals floating all around them. That's when I saw the scars, Sora thought, reminiscing. Fresh scars. So awful.

She released the hem of her floral-printed summer dress, which she had been gripping tensely all the way from Shizuoka, and adjusted her purse on her shoulder. She climbed out of the train with the first big swarm and hurried from the station as fast as she could.

Her stomach rumbled, but she ignored it. She had not been to Tokyo in a little while, not on foot, and not for anything other than gallery showings for her paintings and Miyabita business with her father. All of the familiar smells and sights completely flooded her conscious, and she had to stop a moment to compose herself. So suddenly, she felt like crying. Though tempted to take the bus or fetch a cab, she settled on walking the long distance from the station to Yin's tobacco stand.

Sora passed by the plot where the Saito Apartment Complex used to sit, her former residence before moving in with her father and then into her own home, and discovered that the complex had been torn down and replaced with luxury condominiums. She couldn't help but smile. Miyabita. Her father was close to owning all of corporate Tokyo.

After a few more blocks she could even pick out the rooftop of the building where she and the Black Reaper had shared their first intimate moment. And lastly, before reaching Yin's tobacco stand, she found Li's old apartment resting as bare and obsolete as always. Though it had never occurred to Sora to ask, it made sense to her that Li might still have been operating out of there to keep her safe, and thinking that way, she mustered the courage to climb the stairs.

Before she could reach the door however, a black cat appeared on the banister of the front porch looking pointedly at her. Recognizing the silver bell and purple eyes, Sora's soft face contorted with anger and confusion.

"Where is he, Mao?" Sora demanded. Mao sighed, leaping down from the banister and marching past her back down the stairs. Exhausted, she quickly followed suit, and he led her the short walk from the apartment to Yin's tobacco stand. Sora was relieved to discover that Yin was still operating there, and that she would see her friend at long last, and when Yin let Mao and Sora in through the back door, the two girls tenderly embraced each other.

Everything about Yin was the same, from her gorgeous, pale complexion to her otherworldly eyes and hair. The sleek silver was still up in a ponytail, as usual, and though her stare remained blank, Sora could feel her affection.

"I've missed you!" Sora exclaimed as an impatient customer got to tapping his foot outside, eager for his cigarettes. Yin said nothing, but turned to help her customer. When he left, Mao cleared his throat.

"Hei's busy."

"That's your answer?" Sora snarled. And quickly, she began to cry. Mao looked to Yin helplessly, confused.

"I... I didn't mean to- Why are you crying exactly?"

"He's dead, isn't he?" poor Sora wailed. "That's why nobody has called me, and why you won't say anything!"

"In all fairness, you haven't pushed very hard," Mao said defensively, creeping into a corner. "Look, the truth is that Hei is on an important assignment, and you really shouldn't be here."

"Do not tell me where I should and should not be!" Sora vigorously wiped the tears from her cheeks, leaving her makeup runny but otherwise decent. "Hei is my husband, remember? We are one now, everything that I do is his concern, and everything had he does is mine. If... if my husband is missing, then a piece of me is missing too."

"Sora, please understand," Mao tried. "You knew who Hei was when you met him. Or... that's not true." He fumbled, remembering how Hei and Sora had met those years ago.

Hei had been on assignment, woven into an elaborate trap by Sora's incestuous brother, Ichiro. He had lied to Sora multiple times about his identity, and Sora had known nothing of Contractors or the Syndicate or of Hei's team until much later. She had fallen in love with Hei as Li, then as the Black Reaper, and eventually has himself, as Hei, but the beginning of their relationship contained nothing but pretenses and facades.

"But you knew who he was when you married him!" Mao argued after thinking in through. "There will always be things that he can't tell you." And it was selfish of him to marry you in the first place, he thought sadly.

"He's been gone for six months, Mao," Sora argued. "And you guys don't seem to be particularly busy as of late. What is so important that Hei would be gone for six months while the rest of you are sitting around here?" Mao grew incredibly silent.

"He's gone," Yin said solemnly. Mao hissed at her, irritated. "Missing." Sora spun around so sharply that her dress lifted, and Mao, settled so close to the ground, got a quick look at her blue panties.

"Pardon?"

"Hei is missing," Yin repeated. "I cannot find him." Sora's tears immediately resumed flowing down her face.

"You... you don't know... where he is?" she asked, gasping. Sora felt as though the walls were closing in on her, and everything felt immensely dark. "All of this time?" She backed up against the wall and slid down, clutching the bosom of her dress in a fist so tight that her knuckles turned white. Her purse slid down her shoulder and hit the floor, and looking up at the ceiling, she wailed. Mao didn't say anything, and Yin came to sit beside her, resting her hand on Sora's knee.

"Mao?" Sora begged, her face flushed. "Tell me he's not dead." Mao grew very stoic.

"We don't know for sure," he replied truthfully. "We just... we've lost track of him. But we've been doing everything we can to reconnect. Right now the whole operation is at a standstill." After a few sputters and hiccups, Sora looked to Mao.

"So there may be hope?"

"Hei is... he's certainly not immortal, but he's a strong Contractor, and highly skilled," Mao offered kindly, daring to come closer. "I don't think he'd go down easily. N-not while he has you waiting for him at home."

Many minutes passed in silence as Sora tried to collect herself. She thought about every precious memory she had with Hei, and how much she loved him. He had never given up on anything so long as she had known him, and he did things that seemed impossible if necessary. The more she thought about it, the more Sora came to realize that she could not yet give up on him, not until she clutched his cold corpse in her arms.

"I have to find him, Mao," she whispered softly. "I'll do anything."

"How do you intend to achieve something that a highly trained team of-"

"I am a woman," Sora said firmly. "There isn't a thing that I cannot do, especially for those that I love. Or if that isn't true, I'm stubborn enough to die trying." She wiped her tears away with a firmness of purpose and managed to stand.

"But Sora, you don't-"

"I'll need all the details regarding the case he was working on," Sora said. She turned her back to Mao and faced Yin, who was standing. "You can get that for me, can't you?" Yin remained still for a long time, then nodded.

"Yin, you can't!" Mao snapped.

"Mao," Sora said, turning back to him. The poor feline gulped, growing nervous. "I need to return to Shizuoka first and make some preliminary plans. Tomorrow morning around 9am, I'll expect you, Yin, and Huang to meet me at my father's main estate. Please be prompt; we are a family of businessmen."

"You're not in a position to give orders, Sora," Mao said, exasperatedly. "I admire your determination, but we take our orders from the Syndicate."

"And right now their best assassin is missing," Sora said. "Is your precious Syndicate one to cast off valuable assets?"

"They will if necessary," Mao replied coldly. Sora narrowed her eyes on Mao as she retrieved her purse. She reached inside for something, but did not draw it out right away.

"Say that you'll be there tomorrow, Mao."

"I can't make any promises to you-" Sora revealed a bottle of potent pepper spray.

"What about now?" Mao didn't say anything, and Sora took aim.

"Do whatever you- Ahh!" Mao hissed and meowed angrily as his eyes began to burn and water. He wanted so badly to tear them from their sockets in utter agony that he started rolling around on the floor hissing, meowing, cursing, and bawling.

"Yin, please make the necessary arrangements," Sora said, kissing her on the cheek. Then she stalked out of the tobacco stand without giving Mao another thought.

Once she was free of the tobacco stand, she could drop her act. Even with her determination, the fear that Hei might be dead was overwhelming. She hailed a cab to the shinkansen station, too devastated to walk anymore.

Hei... no matter what it takes, no matter the results, I have to find you. My lover, my hero, my husband...

Notes:

*shinkansen: Japanese for "bullet train".

*aozora: Japanese for "blue sky". The man uses it flirtatiously referring to the color of Sora's eyes, while playing off of her name, which simply means "sky".

Please visit my LJ later for some brief notes on the chapter/story~