~~ "Love that is not madness is not love" ~~ "You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it." ~~
Chapter 1: The escaping murderer
[Ai]
"Nooo! It wasn't my fault! I won't go to prison for that!"
The tall man in the old, grey suit was screaming at them.
Ai doesn't felt very well.
One reason for that was, because she could feel the pain in the voice of the man in front of them, a second one was that she and Conan were standing in an old house, all alone with a man who had just killed his best friend. And there was a third reason, she knew, but she just couldn't figure it out.
"But Kato-san" Conan tried to calm him "If you tell the police that you killed your wife in an accident, they'll maybe…"
"No!" Kato scream "it wasn't an accident, he was jealous, because she didn't want to leave me for him. He is a murderer, not me!"
Before Conan or Ai could say anything else, Kato was heading for the door, running away.
"Damn it!" Conan cursed.
"Where's my silly watch when we need it!"
"I told you I don't know, just let's go and call the police, at least…"
But before Ai could finish her sentence Conan smirked and head for the door, too.
"Don't worry Haibara" he shouted "I still got my shoes!"
"Don't be silly!" she shouted back, but she knew he couldn't hear her, not when he looked so 'detectivy'. The only thing he'd hear would be the steps of the criminal that he's following.
Sometimes she hated him for that, he left her here in this damn old room together with a dead body and a huge Iron rod which was the weapon Kato used to kill his friend.
"…where's the iron rod?" she suddenly thought.
She started looking around the room, a chair, a book shelf, a window, a dead guy lying on the floor, a TV… but no rod.
"Shit!"
He must have grabbed it while they talked and Conan and she didn't recognize… or did he?
For a little moment she tried to calm herself "of course he saw it. It's him… but if not?"
She really didn't want to follow them, but did she have a choice? What if he would attack Conan while she was waiting down here?
Hesitantly she went over to the door, then she swallowed all this thoughts of getting killed with a huge iron rod and ran up the fire ladder of the house which Kato must have used for his escape.
"Why do all criminals try to escape through a roof?" she gasped when she suddenly heard Kato's mad screams again.
"Get lost boy, or I will kill you, you know I would do that!"
"Oh no!" Ai's heart suddenly felt like it was about to break through her chest "so Kato-san really has the rod".
She just reached the corner from where she'd be able to see Kato and Conan, when she suddenly heard some horrible sounds.
Conan was trying to calm Kato; Kato screaming at him; some police sirens down on the street and then a dull smash followed by something hitting the floor.
[Ai]
Ai could barely remember the last hour, no matter how strong she tried, throughout all the years she just can't figure it out. Neither where the ambulance came from, nor where Kato got to, nor how she managed it to reach the hospital, while Conan lied bleeding beneath her in the ambulance.
Everything she remembered was herself ignoring all the sounds around her, repeating this one sentence in her mind again and again "Conan-kun, please don't die…"
The first thing, she could remember of that was when Ran and Kogoro reached the hospital. Ran pulled her away from the doctors and the mass of blood.
It all felt so similar to the day when Conan got shot, well except the fact that this accident today was her fault.
"He will be fine, he always is" Ran kept repeating and with every time she said it sounded even more implausible.
After some hours, Conan got out of the surgery room and everyone calmed down.
Kogoro, Ran and Ai where sitting down in a room they brought Conan to and Ai did her best not to look at him.
The hours past and no one seems to talk or move. Of course they all did. Agasa and the Detective Boys, they all visited the hospital while Ran, Kogoro went home and freshen up, but still, Ai felt like sitting in the chair near Conan's bed all day.
The 4th day after the "accident" (that's how they called it), another doctor visited the room, he checked Conan's condition, and told the others that he will be fine and his condition is really normal.
But how could that be true?
How could someone loose that much blood and be fine? How could not moving through 4 days be normal?
Ai really felt like giving the doctor a fine and normal slap in his face when Conan suddenly woke up.
Just like that, opening his eyes and looking around.
Everyone surrounded him immediately, staring at him while asking questions, trying to find out if he's really fine, but Ai stood aside.
The day passed. More doctors came and went, checking up on Conan, while Agasa and the Detective Boys came and went and then even Ran and Kogoro went out to catch their breath, leaving only Ai and Conan in that room that became some sort of a repellent home for both of them.
For a moment both just looked at each other, not knowing what to say, then Ai asked
"Are you really fine?"… "how stupid" she though the first thing he hears from her, who left him alone, is the question he must have hear a dozen times today, but he smiled though.
"Yeah I'm fine, what about you? I mean did you…"
She interrupted him by turning around to hide her tears, of course he saw them.
She could feel astonishment suddenly fulfilling the room.
"Uhm… don't worry…?" he slowly said.
She just shook her head and then she turned slowly around to him.
She really wanted to say sorry, she really did, but he just smiled at her and mumbled...
"Gosh, why is everyone crying, I'm not dead, yet"