Damn it! Damn him! Stupid detective freak, getting involved where he shouldn't, breaking his promise, making me wait, making me worry! He has absolutely no right to just run out on me like that, no explanation or anything, just "I'll catch up with you later." How could he just leave me alone like that, especially after what happened…
Ran paused her pacing and tried desperately to think of something else. But it was no use. Damn her thoughts even, for not letting that stupid case go. And damn the thrice damned luck that had put the potential couple on the same jet coster as an ex-girlfriend turned murderer and a soon to be headless corpse. A shudder ran through her at the thought. She remembered all too clearly the complete black of the tunnel, a sickening crunching sound that she didn't so much hear as feel. The splash of warmth against her cheek, and worst of all, the coppery smell that was unmistakable.
It wasn't that she had never seen a crime scene before. She was best friends with the great high school detective Kudo Shinichi after all, and wherever he went, murder followed. Just by being close to him, she had accidently stumbled onto more dead bodies and twisted plots than she cared to remember. She had probably seen gorier scenes as well, but never before had she been so close. She had been sitting less than three feet away from a man whose life was violently stolen away from him. Ran found such proximity to death highly disturbing. But that wasn't the only thing about this particular case that disturbed her.
First, Shinichi's lack of reaction. She had only seen his startled and horrified expression for a second, maybe less before he locked down; Before he shut away his emotional mind in favor of observation, logic and reasoning. It was upsetting to Ran that Shinichi was able to do that at all, let alone so completely and with incredible speed. She supposed that's what kept him sane, separating himself from his cases, but she hated that he had to at all.
Second, the two men in black. She desperately and irrationally wanted them to go away, to go anywhere so long as it was far away from her and far away from Shinichi. Without having any idea why, she was very afraid of them, but she was also very angry. She wanted to run, to grab Shinichi's hand and get the hell out. She also wanted to turn and face them. To yell and scream and threaten all sorts of karate style pain if they didn't leave her and Shinichi alone, of they didn't take themselves straight to the police station and confess to whatever heinous crimes she was sure they had committed. The very air around them seemed contaminated with death, and ran was sure that Shinichi had noticed it too.
Then Shinichi just decided to run off, leaving her alone with her own thoughts of death and danger. He just forgot something, Ran told herself desperately, or he got caught up in a conversation with one of the officers. He'll be home in an hour or two. He probably just forgot all about me. He's just being and insensitive jerk. Why should I worry about that mystery freak? Ran started pacing again. Back and forth, glaring at the phone, mentally daring Shinichi to call so that she could give him a piece of her mind! How dare he leave me by myself only minutes after the police let us go! Especially with those scary men in black still around! Ran once again stopped pacing so abruptly, it seemed as if she had hit an invisible wall. All of her anger melted away in an instant, replaced by an overwhelming feeling of dread. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.
Suddenly Ran snatched up the phone and dialed a number so familiar her fingertips flew across the pad. She held her breath, waiting to hear Shinichi's voice tell her that she was just being silly, needing for him to be all right, while knowing somehow that he wouldn't, couldn't, answer. After an eternity, Shinichi's familiar voice gave a familiar notice, "Hello, this is Kudou Shinichi. I'm not home at the moment, please leave a message…"
"That's weird," Ran heard herself say, the feeling of dread and wrongness growing stronger, "he hasn't gone home yet?"
"He probably went out to eat with his famous novelist parents." Kogoros drunken statement only server to worry ran further. It reminded her that there was no one at Shinichi's home to notice if he didn't come back at all.
"What are you talking about? Shinichi's parents have been living in America for the past three years! He lives by himself!"
Caught up in her thoughts, Ran didn't hear her fathers mumbled reply. Something must have happened. Shinichi should definitely be home by now. Something must have happened after he left…"I'm going to Shinichi's house!" Rfan called as she grabbed her jacket and flew out the door, leaving her drunken father and his hasty demand for dinner behind.
"Hey come here! We've got a dead body!"
What happened?
"What!?"
Where am I?
"Get some light over here!"
Who am I?
"Call an ambulance and the police!"
Is that …me?
"…never mind the ambulance, this guy has been dead for a while."
Am I …Dead?
Officer Takagi Wataru was just about to leave when the phone rang. He stopped, a pile of folders under one arm and his hand hesitating over that doorknob. The office was almost completely empty, most of the investigators either out doing their jobs or resting at home after another long shift. Takagi was looking forward to joining the second group, right after he left the Tropical land case file with Megure, but something told him that this particular phone call was not to be missed.
Placing the files on the nearest corner of free space, Takagi walked quickly back to his desk to pick up the phone. "Hello, this is Takagi, homicide and violent crimes unit 3."
"Sorry to bother you so late Takagi-san, but you work with the Megure-keibu who was here earlier during the uh…incident with the jet coster, right?" the voice coming through the receiver sounded deep and calm, but their was an urgency to it that put the young officer on edge.
"That is correct. May I ask who's speaking?"
"I am Tanaka Hoshiro from Tropical Land security. I used to work with Megure-san on the police force many years back. There's been … an incident here not to long ago, and although the police have already been contacted, I thought Megure would want to know about this immediately, but I can't get through to his desk. Would you please relay a message?" politely and yet somewhat impatiently.
"I'm sorry sir, but if he isn't answering his phone than he probably doesn't want to be bothered. Why don't you try calling in the morning?"
"Trust me, he wants to know about this. Now."
Megure didn't want to be there anymore. It was late, he was tired, and his shift had technically ended hours ago. No doubt Kudo-kun was already at home, sleeping off the tension of today's case. But this was all part of a police detectives daily life. If only Takagi would hurry up with those damn files, he could finally put this day behind him.
The quiet knock at the door was barely distinguishable behind the rustle of paper and the scratch of the pen. Megure didn't even have to think about which of his officers could interrupting his well deserved bout of self pity. Takagi was a skilled officer and a good man, but he was FAR too timid for his own good. "Ahem…yes?"
"Megure keibu…" Takagi barley ventured past the door.
"Oh! Takagi kun, have you got those files from tropical land?"
"Ah, well yes sir, but there's something important you need to know sir. A mister Tanaka is on the phone for you. There's been an incident back at Tropical Land that he thinks you should know about right away."
Tanaka Hoshiro? I haven't heard from him in a while. He's not the type of man to bother me with trivialities. Meaning that watever he wants to say is important. I suppose it can't wait untill I get a few hours of sleep, hm?
"It's about Kudo Shinichi sir. You really want to hear this."
AN: I'm not completely pleased with how this turned out, but i've been sitting on it for a long time and I cant seem to fix it, so I decided to post it anyway. Please let me know what you think, if I should continue and how I could make it better.