The Raven's Eclipse
by pikacutie25

Chapter 1: The Shadow Looms

In a hotel room somewhere in Tokyo, a woman with long blonde hair sat on her bed smoking a cigarette. She gazed out the window, ruminating about her recent activities and remembering two tiny figures who had left a deep impression on her. She thought about the possibilities and then smiled to herself.

The melody of her cell phone's ringtone then interrupted her thoughts. She glanced at the caller ID and, recognizing the number with a knowing smile, answered the call. They had a short discussion on a recent new member, and promptly ended the call with no extraneous words.

In the syndicate for only a month and already having almost the same privileges as members like Gin and me…this person must have some serious potential, she thought. I wonder how this rookie will fare against him…

Meanwhile, a certain little boy sat in the office of the Mouri Detective Agency with a look of extreme discontent visible on his face. Conan Edogawa usually kept up a good façade to mask his true identity, but today he was so completely dissatisfied with recent events that he couldn't keep it from showing on his face. He sat on the couch in the office and plopped his chin on the palm of his hand, thinking back over his recent reappearance.

This whole experience is just so frustrating! When I get my hands on the bastards who did this to me, I swear I'll make them wish they had never laid a hand on Shinichi Kudo! Conan sighed. I finally got to meet Ran again as myself, and I couldn't even enjoy it the way I wanted to. Some people just really disgust me. If those two people hadn't decided to murder someone, I would've been able to do exactly what I wanted to before I changed back! I came into Ran's play as the Black Knight, and I tried to take her out to that special place…both times, I was so close to…to… Conan blushed.

Just then, Ran walked in and, seeing how red Conan's face had gotten, worriedly inquired, "Oh no, Conan-kun! Do you have a fever? Are you sick?" She placed her hand on his forehead to measure his temperature, but this only served to make him blush an even deeper shade of red.

"Uh, n-no, Ran-neechan, I'm not sick…d-don't worry…" Conan stuttered.

"Hmm…well, you don't seem to have a temperature, so I guess you aren't sick after all. Thank goodness!" Ran remarked. Thus satisfied, she walked out of the room, allowing Conan to breathe a sigh of relief.

God, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up…

Mizuna Hamako plopped face-down on her bed and let out a long groan. "I knew I should've taken up the offer to play the part of the princess in that play, I just knew it!" she exclaimed, pounding her fist into her bed. "I should've seen it as a sign when they randomly chose me out of all the other girls at our school…and of course my all-important game just happened to fall on the same day as the play!" she grumbled, reluctantly sitting up.

"But…but if I had known that he would be there, and as the Black Knight no less…!" she sighed. Her eyes began to water against her will, which she promptly wiped with no little force. "I've liked him ever since I first met him at this school…not that he ever noticed me, even though I've been in his class the whole time," she closed her eyes to prevent more tears from coming.

"I would've g-given anything…to have been the one onstage, to be close to him like that…a-anything! Shinichi, why…? Why won't you choose me over that girl Ran!? Am I not…g-good enough for you?" she had started sobbing by now, cradling her face in her hands. "Shinichi Kudo…you showed up so suddenly, and now you're gone again…p-please…come back…I need to tell you how I f-feel…!" she said between sobs. With nothing else on her mind but her missed chance, she continued crying in silence.

From outside the bedroom, Mizuna's mother moved away from the door. Oh, my poor Mizu-chan, she thought. But…this phase of hers will pass. For now, I think something else she said caught my attention just a little more…

In another secret location, a man sat at his desk. It was covered in scattered newspapers, articles, and clippings, and on one corner of it sat a computer of a relatively new model. The man was currently amusing himself by reading over one of the less-popular newspapers, Beika Weekly, and enjoying the trite, pointless stories. He flipped the page, and a particular headline immediately caught his eye:

FAMOUS HIGH SCHOOL DETECTIVE MAKES REAPPEARANCE

Story by Chiyo Hamako

He quickly scanned through the story, then immediately started typing rapidly in his computer. His eyes darted back and forth, reading through all the information on his computer until they suddenly came to a halt, staring at a particularly interesting find. He smirked and, looking back at the newspaper, said to himself, "Well, this should be interesting…"

"Come on Conan-kun, it's time to go to school!" Ran called from the front door of the Mouri Detective Agency.

"Okaaay!" she heard a tiny voice call back. A couple of seconds later, a small child came running towards her, backpack fit loosely on his shoulders.

"Ready? Have you got everything?" she inquired.

"Yep! Let's go, Ran-neechan!" Conan exclaimed. Smiling, Ran led the way out the door and then they were on their way.

Ran always enjoyed walking with Conan on the way to school. He was a constant little ball of energy zooming around her, and he made her smile every time. Of course, there were a couple of rare moments when he seemed altogether too sad for a child, but his sad moments were almost always brought on by something that troubled Ran. She thought it was very sweet of him to worry about her like that, and his caring reminded her greatly of…

Shinichi…

She then found herself thinking about her absent friend…no, friend would be wrong. Ran liked to think of him as more than just a good friend, and she wished she could have told him how she really felt before he disappeared. Again. She was suddenly reminded of Shinichi's special "appearance" at her school play and their little "date" afterwards. What had he wanted to tell her? She had had a certain hunch at the time…but he couldn't possibly have wanted to confess to her something that she felt strongly for him. She was probably letting her own feelings obscure her vision of what was actually true. Besides, why would someone as talented and intelligent as Shinichi want someone like her…? She became depressed at the thought that he didn't feel anything for her…

"Ran-neechan?" Conan asked worriedly.

She realized that she had fallen silent in her own thoughts for a long time, and with the thoughts she had on her mind at that moment, she probably didn't have the most optimistic expression on her face either. She looked down at Conan and, with an attempt at a smile, said, "Yes, Conan-kun?"

"I was worried about Ran-neechan…you got all silent and looked sad so I thought something was wrong…" Conan had a look of genuine concern on his face, one that not many kids his age know.

Yet again, Ran was amazed and comforted by Conan's capacity for caring about her. "Oh, Conan-kun, nothing's wrong…thank you for thinking about me, though." Ran stated.

Conan gave her one last look of concern, then faced forward and concentrated on walking. Ran sighed internally and tried to find some happy thoughts in case Conan ventured to glance at her again. Soon, however, they came upon the corner where Sonoko and the Detective Boys were waiting.

"Conan-kun!" the young ones ecstatically called out, running to him. Haibara remained characteristically indifferent.

"Ayumi, Genta, Mitsuhiko!" Conan responded. They all converged around him, obscuring most of him from view.

"Ran! What's up?" Sonoko called. Her friendly words finally brought Ran back to reality.

"Oh, hi, Sonoko!" Ran cheerily responded, all previous negative thoughts wiped away for the moment. "Nothing much, just walking Conan-kun to school, as usual." The two teenage girls began walking towards their high school while the group of kids went the other way to the elementary school. She glanced back at Conan one more time before focusing on her conversation with Sonoko.

"So, how has your boyfriend been?" Sonoko sneered.

"How many times do I have to tell you? He's not my boyfriend!" Ran blushed.

"Right, right. Sure he isn't. So have you talked to him lately?"

"Oh, well, I…" Ran drifted off. She found herself thinking about the recent past again, but to avoid thinking negative thoughts again, she said, "Yeah, I did. And he's just as big of an idiot as always."

"Then why don't you move on from him?"

I don't move on because…I love him, she wanted to say. It was true, she loved him deeply, though she would never admit it to anyone. So instead she said, "Because that big idiot needs someone to look out for him."

Class was almost ready to begin at Beika High School, but there was a pair of girls in the corner of Class 2-B who were still talking quite noticeably.

"Have you talked to Mizuna-chan since then?" the first girl inquired.

"No, I haven't," the second girl replied. "In fact, she's not here yet, is she? Where could she be?"

"She was really upset when I talked to her. She probably doesn't feel like coming to school."

"Wow, I've never seen her miss even one day of school. She must be really down…"

"Yeah…I hope she feels better soon."

"Alright you two, enough talking," the teacher called them out. "It's time to start class now."

The two girls, slightly embarrassed, immediately took their seats and tried their hardest not to look too conspicuous with the entire class staring at them.

Ran, too, was looking at them, but empathized with them as she herself had been in the same position many times before. However, she did not think it was that odd that the girl mentioned was missing a day of school. After all, there was a certain detective in their class who had missed a lot more than a single day. When was the last time he was in class? As the teacher babbled on about history, Ran allowed herself to sink into a reverie again, staring at the vacant seat in the classroom.

"Wow, class was so much fun today! Right, Conan-kun?" Ayumi asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I had fun," Conan managed to say. Because making a game out of learning the multiplication table is just thrilling…

"Hey, you wanna come to the professor's with us?" Genta offered.

"No thanks, I really have to get home tonight," Conan answered. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

"Bye!" the three children said as Conan began to walk home.

Conan was worried about Ran. She hadn't looked her usual cheerful self earlier that day, and more than likely, it was probably his fault—either Conan's or Shinichi's. Most likely Shinichi. He was just as upset as she was that their dinner out got cut short by a stupid murder. Even though she seemed to have gotten her frustrations off her chest that night, she was probably still heartbroken, and she needed his support one way or another.

So, as he arrived back home, he called out, "I'm home!" He expected to see Ran immediately, but for some reason she wasn't there. "Ran-neechan?" he called out again.

"Stop making such a racket!" Kogoro yelled from the next room.

"Where's Ran-neechan?" Conan asked, walking into the room Kogoro was in. The old man was currently at his desk smoking a cigarette while reading a newspaper…the usual.

"She told me she was going out with a friend tonight and that she didn't know when she'd be back. And she didn't even leave me any dinner!" Kogoro complained with a depressed expression.

"We could always go for take-out, right Oji-san?"

"Take-out again?" Kogoro grumbled.

Conan decided to leave the conversation at that, as he didn't want to provoke him when he was hungry. Well, Conan thought, if she's going out to have fun with a friend, then she must have already cheered up since then. That's great! I'd hate for her to still be depressed.

Thus satisfied, he decided to be productive and get his easy homework out of the way. He got his books out of his backpack and climbed up on the chair to begin when suddenly he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He reached for Conan's phone but realized it wasn't the one vibrating; Shinichi's phone was.

What on Earth? It must be a message from Ran, Conan thought as he got out his other phone. However, as he flipped open his phone, he saw that it was instead from an unknown number. Curious, he opened up the message to find something stranger than he would have ever imagined receiving right then:

The precious orchid blooms beautifully in the daylight.

The jet-black raven watches jealously from out-of-sight.

The gentle whale returns home for the day,

Waiting until the next to again be on its way.

Come nighttime, the raven swoops down and plucks the flower,

Bringing it back to the whale's home before the midnight hour.

The raven challenges its rival to snatch away its prize,

And watches from its lair with unwavering eyes.

The raven, with its sharp intelligence, can plainly see

If there is more danger than there should be.

It would then promptly fly off past the shore,

And the beautiful flower will bloom…nevermore.

Conan stared at the message, perplexed. What the hell is this?

Author's Note: Wow, that poem was really difficult to write! Hopefully I can get the next chapter out before the end of winter break...anyways, what the heck just happened? What is this strange message he received? All the clues are within the chapter. See if you can figure out what happened!