Hey there !
As promised, we begin a new story today : )
I'll be publishing two chapters today but will probably publish only once a week for the moment, with the end of the year celebration's incoming, I don't think I'll have enough time to publish twice now, but I'll be back at this rhythm as soon as possible ; )
So, after all that MK in 'moon', I felt the need to go back to DC's world, expect a bunch of mysteries : ) And, to change a bit, while our heroes may encounter the BO, it won't be their main enemy here !
Hope you'll enjoy this one too ! ^_^
SUMMARY : With their usual luck, when Heiji and Conan try to have fun in a ski resort with the girls, bodies can't stop from falling around them... But what if that case was just the beginning of something bigger ? And that it forces them to fight one of the most formidable enemy they ever met ?
CHARACTERS : Conan / Shinichi and Heiji as mains. We'll also see often the girls, Ran and Kazuha, and Kogoro. Some other known characters will also appear : )
SPOILERS : Let's say Vermouth arc, a bit here and there of the movies and just one mention of a case that was after Vermouth arc but, since Shin was in middle school back then, it doesn't really count, right ? ^^
PAIRINGS : Canon !
RATING : T for language and violence, as usual.
Chapter 1 : Encounter
« - Come on, weren' ya supposed ta have taken some lessons since that last skiin' resort we had in middle school ? » Heiji sighed as he saw his childhood friend clumsily zigzag on the slope. « We could have gotten ya lessons if ya needed ta…
- Maa, it's funnier together, ne ? » Ran smiled, covering for her friend when she saw her embarrassed face, clearly implying she didn't improve the slightest bit. «And since Conan-kun is here, we wouldn't have been able to go to too high levelled places anyway…
- He skies better than her…
- Heiji ! » Kazuha protested, upset from being compared to a seven year old. « I can ski and I'll prove it ta ya ! Let's head over there ! » She ordered, pointing with the hand the highest peak around them, the one with the most difficult slopes.
« - It's a bit late, Kazuha-chan, perhaps we should… » The brown haired girl tried to reason her friend as she eyed the sky, noticing the night, and along it a bunch of menacing clouds, weren't that far away.
« - Nah, I need ta show that Ahou I can do it ! » The Osakan girl concluded, pushing on her ski poles to head to the nearest ski lift.
« - Well done… » Conan muttered to Heiji with a bored face after Ran left to follow her friend. «I'll never be able to watch that ep' of detective Samonji…
- Come on, don' tell me ya invited us ta just stay alone in front o' the TV… » The detective of the West complained with a little nudge.
« - I didn't invite you, Ran did, since she's the one who won this contest at the mall…
- Yer girl really got luck.
- She's not my… » The small detective denied, blushing slightly as he saw the other teen's malicious grin.
« - Hai, hai… Let's go ? » The dark-skinned finally proposed, when he noticed Kazuha was already reaching the lift with a determined face.
"- Yea, better stay close, I have a bad feeling about that idea..." The boy sighed, eyeing the skies with a bored eye.
o.O.o
And indeed, one hour later, they were still at it and Kazuha's annoyance had rubbed on everyone. The girl was tired, cold from all her falls, irritated because she didn't want to admit she wasn't managing very well despite her bravado.
"- Sure ya don' want me ta piggy ride ya ?" Heiji finally dared to ask after the pony-tailed Osakan threw herself on her bottom in the snow, in need of another break.
"- I'm not some child ! I said I'll do it, I will !
- But ya act like one ! There is almost no light left when we're barely halfway an' Nee-chan an' the kiddo are clearly freezin', it's just that they are too polite ta admit it ... Stop with yer stubbornness, we all need ta get back ta the hotel..." He pointed out with a side look at the pair of Tokyoites, standing a bit below on the side of the slope with tired faces.
"- Ya jerk !" Kazuha spurted with a broken voice, getting on her feet and putting quickly her skis, to throw herself on the ski slope once again, but at high speed this time.
"- Ahou, don' go that fast !" The detective worried when he saw the girl accelerated to a speed that what beyond what she could control. "Kazuha !"
Ran and Conan turned their heads as they heard the Osakan's yell, to see the green-eyed girl was passing in front of them, a panicked expression on the face.
"- Help me, I can't stop !
- Kazuha-chan, snowplough ! It'll slow you down !" The long-haired Tokyoite advised, pushing on her poles to go after the girl with a worried face.
"- I caaan't !"
When she saw Kazuha was heading straight at some trees, the detective's daughter didn't hesitate and schussed down to catch her at the last second, placing her body before the girl to protect her, but being herself slammed hardly against a tree in the manoeuvre.
"- Ran !" Conan spurted with concern when he saw the scene, having followed them from afar as he could with his little skis.
"- Kazuha !" Heiji was also yelling, schussing to join both girls and arriving just a bit before the boy near both girls. "Ya alright ?" He asked as he took his skis away to be able to come closer.
"- Yea, I think..." The ponytailed girl answered as she was shaking her head to remove the snow that had fallen on both of them when they touched the tree, her eyes a bit lost but conscious.
"- Ran ! " The small detective called with concern, kneeling near the girl and brushing the snow out of her face. "Hattori, help me !
- Oy, Nee-chan !" The Osakan called, kneeling also near the girl to take her out of the snow and removing his parka to roll it under her head before starting to check her.
Conan in the meanwhile was removing her skis and sticking them into the snow to form a cross to warn the other skiers from the danger.
The green-eyed girl finally noticed something was happening and rushed to the Tokyoite, gently removing her woolly hat as she saw there was a bit of blood, to check her wound.
"- Ran-chan ! Answer me..." Kazuha pledged with shiny eyes after she saw she indeed hurt her head. It didn't look that bad but...
"- Everything alright ?" A young man asked to Conan as he came close, seeing the boy was removing his gloves to get his phone out and very probably to call for medical help. "My name is Shibe Yamato, I'm a doctor, I may be able to help you ?"
The small detective eyed the newcomer who was removing his ski mask, a brown haired man in his thirties with a short beard, in a blue parka that matched the blue eyes which were hidden behind a pair of glasses. He seemed to be with two friends, he could see they stopped a bit further, two men around the same kind of age.
"- It's Ran-neechan... " He answered with his best childish voice, trying to stay into his role despite his worry. "She's hurt, she hit a tree..."
As they both approached, they saw the girl was starting to move again with a faint moan, bringing her hand to her head as she grimaced with pain.
"- Hello, I'm Shibe Yamato, I'm a...
- Doctor, I heard ya. Hattori Heiji.
- Can I have a look at your friend ?
-... Sure" The Osakan agreed after exchanging a look with Conan. "Name's Mouri Ran. She hit her back an' head against that tree. Got a slight wound on the temple, stayed unconscious about two minutes but she seems ta be wakin' up. Pulse is steady an' regular.
- You're familiar with medicine ? " The man wondered at the dark-skinned precise statements.
"- Ya could say that... Let's say I'm used ta check vitals..." The teen vaguely answered with a small ironic smile while the man started to look at the girl under Conan's worried look.
"- Need help, Yamato ? " One of the other men, the largest, asked as he came near after a little while, seeing his friend was examining the long-haired.
"- Nah, it seems it's nothing too serious, right Missy ?" The brown-haired concluded with a smile at the girl who was now fully back to consciousness. "Though I'd be more reassured if you accepted me to treat that wound at our lodge, it's pretty near from here, ten minutes walk maybe.
- But we need to go back to the hotel, it'll be too dark to go down if we lose any more time..." The girl objected with a worried look at Kazuha.
"- Don't mind me, I'll manage, that's totally my fault after all..." She answered with a low voice, bowing her head with guilt.
"- Haha, don't worry, we'll drive you back at your hotel, we have our car at the lodge." The second man answered with a little laugh.
"- Yea, I don't think it's a good idea to put those two girls on the slopes again so soon..." Yamato gently smiled. "And you both seem frozen..." He added with a critical look at both boys.
"- Wouldn' say no ta a hot drink... " Heiji shrugged, starting to feel really cold as he had been without his parka for a while already and some snowflakes were starting to fall now.
"- If that's a yes... Ryo, come help us !" The second man called his friend to help Conan's group with their material. "I'm Akiyama Taichi, by the way, and the gruff guy here is Yoshida Ryo.
- Hey..." The man soberly saluted with a little sign of the head.
"- Ya can walk, Nee-chan ?" The Osakan asked as he helped the girl on her feet, noticing she was swinging a bit on her legs.
"- I'd take that as a no..." The medic concluded as he saw her. "One of us will carry you.
- But I..." Ran blushed, a bit embarrassed to be carried by some stranger.
"- I'm not letting you walk on a slippery slope like this, that was quite a big blow, Missy, better be cautious at the beginning..." He frowned.
"- I'll carry ya." Heiji volunteered while having a bored look at the ponytailed girl. "That's the least I can do fer not havin' be able ta convince Kazuha ta give up on that stupid idea...
- Don't blame her, Hattori-kun, it wasn't her fault..." Ran scolded him when she saw her friend's face, with her eyes starting to shine again, only to get a shrug from the Osakan as an answer.
"- But you should still accept Heiji-niichan's help, it'll be safer..." Conan advised, glad his friend had volunteered as he was starting to frown with annoyance at the idea of one of those guys carrying the one that was not his girl.
"- That's so embarrassing..." The girl mumbled as the detective of the West bent for her to settle on his back. "Just promise me you'll never talk about that to Shinichi...
- Haha..." The Osakan nervously laughed with a side look at a certain grumpy bespectacled boy.
o.O.o
After a bit more than ten minutes, as the medic announced, they were facing a large lodge brightly lightened, looking pretty welcoming and, above all, warm, which was clearly what they were looking for, since the snow was starting to pile up.
"- Hey girls, we're back !" Taichi announced as he opened the door to let Heiji in so Ran could be the first in. "And we're not alone...
- Ah ? " said a female voice with surprise before appearing in the entrance an eyeing the newcomers. "Indeed... Yamato-kun I bet ?" The girl, a tiny blond-haired, asked with a little smile when she saw the blue-eyed was helping a girl down another teenager's back.
"- Yup, you know him, each time he sees a kitty on the side of a road, he stops...
- Drop it..." The said kitten-rescuer grunted with embarrassment at his large friend's ironic comment.
"- Maa, well, come in ! I'm Takeno Nanako, nice to meet you ! Meiko-chan, we got some additional guests !" She cheerfully announced, turning her head to the hallway. "Better bring towels, some of them look drenched..." The blond-haired added with a critical look at Heiji.
After the group introduced themselves to the two girls – the last one being Oikawa Meiko, a small brown-haired woman with a gentle face, they finally went into the lodge. Ran - and Conan on her heels - stepped in first so the girl could be treated, Kazuha volunteered to help preparing some hot drinks and the detective of the West, a towel still on his head, finally settled near a big fireplace, trying to warm his frozen fingers.
He was looking at the window, lost in his thoughts noticing the snow was falling even harder now, recovering everything in white, muffling every sound, reinforcing that impression the lodge was lost in the middle of nowhere.
"- Ya're not with yer Nee-chan ?" The Osakan asked with a smile as he heard some small steps behind him.
"- She sent me off... " He grumpily retorted when he took a seat near Heiji.
"- Or she wanted ta be alone with that Yamato-sensei..." His friend pointed out with a smile of irony.
"- Too good to be honest, that one...
- Haha, are ya jealous ?
- I'm not..." The boy denied, though his face was saying enough to the other detective.
"- Good ta know... I wouldn' have wanted ya ta hurt me fer carryin' yer girl...
- You Baka..." Conan retorted with a bored glare.
The dark-skinned softly laughed and turned his head once again to the window. "All that snow reminds me o' that case in middle-school..." He observed after a little while, his eyes dreamy.
"- Ah, the one you talked about once ? The very first case I proved I was a better detective than you ?
- W... What ?!" The Osakan turned his head at light speed to see the boy was looking at him with a malicious smile.
"- Haha, your face is priceless..." He finally laughed, unable to stop himself once he saw his friend's face.
"- The hell, Kudô ?!"