A/N CoAi Week Day 5!
Secret could have been a hard prompt for me! It was good that a lot of reviews in a fic I wrote (One Starry Night) were about being confused about what was happening in it, so I decided to rewrite that fic, which is basically "telling a secret", in a clearer style!
What did you say? This is a total cop-out? What, no! XD
Don't worry, I'll write a mini continuation for this not to feel like I just reposted my other fic. XD
I'll make a new fic for the last two prompts, for sure!
Day 5. Secret : One Rainy Afternoon
There are secrets that need to be revealed to move forward. [CoAi] [ShinShi]
Part 1. One Starry Night (Rewritten)
Do you know how much I..?
The sky is clear, the moon's reflection sparkling in the beautiful lake.
Miyano Shiho looks up at the night sky. Her hands unconsciously find themselves together. She closes her eyes. She wraps her body in her arms. They've just brought down the organization. It's over. It's over.
It's over.
She hears his steps over the commotion. As Kudo Shinichi approaches, she takes one last glance at the sky.
The stars seemingly twinkle for her. It gives her comfort. And courage.
She knows he's near. Without looking away from the sky, she asks him, in a volume she knows is just enough for him, and only him, to hear, "You're a detective, right?"
She doesn't need to look at him to know he's confused, and in five, no, four seconds from now his bewilderment will change to familiar exasperation. At her. Since she does love making him confused, after all.
She continues, this time turning to face him, "Can you deduce what I'm about to do now?"
The expected look of exasperation on his face quickly changes into that of understanding, and mounting panic. He says, carefully, "Haibara, you are not just Sherry."
She can almost laugh, if she wasn't so offended. His eyes betray his calm. He's staring at the gun in her hand, and she can see him think of hundreds of ways to disarm her. They just brought down the organization, and he thinks she'll kill herself? "Kudo-kun, I thought you trusted me?" It's just a bit, but she couldn't keep the hurt in her voice.
Of course he notices. Immediately, he calms down. He affirms her, "I trust you."
"Then you don't need to remind me; I'm not running." She hands him the gun.
He doesn't take it. He smiles instead.
They're okay.
"So, what is it?"
She smirks, and jabs, "Would you like a clue, then, detective?"
He raises his eyebrow. "Can't you just tell me?"
"You seem to have trouble deducing something so simple."
"This hardly qualifies for a deduction!"
"Can't you at least guess?"
He crosses his arms. In a beat he answers, smugly even, "It's 'Thank you,' is it?"
She chuckles, and it annoys him. She says, "You clearly have not watched enough drama."
His face contorted in irritation, he retorts, "As if—" But, suddenly, it clicks into place. Cut off by the realization—a man, a woman, words at the end of a long, long journey—his cheeks heat up, his heart suddenly picking up pace. "...Haibara, is this—"
She doesn't let him finish. "I loved you."
Shinichi is frozen. He doesn't know if he did hear her say it, or did he just imagine it? Her lips clearly formed the words, but is it—is it possible? Her eyes, bright, resolute, unwavering, looking straight into his. Her cheeks dusted with pink—or is this him making up evidence? Is this fatigue? Is this—
"And I think I still do," she continues.
She would have laughed at how completely perplexed he was if she weren't so embarrassed herself. While she did expect his shock, she didn't imagine to this degree. Was she that good of an actress that he wasn't able to pick anything up from her?
No, no. He's just a stupid detective.
But, if she doesn't say anything soon, the tension is just going to get worse. Argh, stupid detective!
In the end, she chuckles. And he loosens up a bit, though still confused. She tells him, "Stop trying to think, Kudo-kun. It was not a question,"
He's relaxed. She thinks he must have concluded she was just playing a joke. So she clarifies, "And this time I won't say it's a joke either."
His eyes bug out again, his face in a shade of red she'd only seen tonight, and he squeaks, "I—"
Again, she doesn't let him finish. "I am not asking for a reply. I already know after all."
She knows. That with the end of the organization, comes the end of them, their journey. And, in his story, she is the partner, not the heroine. He, the hero, is going back to where he's supposed to be. As it's supposed to be. "It's time to close this chapter," she says.
It's funny. He's right, in a way. As always. She' really is about to thank him. "Thank you, and see you, detective."
"Don't worry," she continues, "I remain, dear Heisei Holmes, very truly yours, Haibara Ai."
Maybe she'll look back someday and cringe at how melodramatic she's being. But this is the only way she can say goodbye to the her that loved the him that saved her and gave her so much more than just a name. She wonders if he had even heard her say anything past I lo—past her confession, since he's still frozen in place. It doesn't look like it even registered on a Holmes-freak like him that she just freaking quoted A Scandal in Bohemia for him.
He shakes himself out of his daze. He starts, "Hai—"
Looks like he did register what she had been saying. The color in her cheeks deepen, and she gazes at him dangerously. "Tease me and I'll slip in APTX in your coffee."
She turns around and walks away, not looking back even once, and slips into the black FBI car.
The night is clear, and the stars shine.