Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan.
Nexus
Chapter One: The Girl and the Ghost
Kazuha crossed through the park, tote bag loaded with groceries hoisted over a shoulder and her hair – held back into its usual ponytail today by a blue ribbon – swinging in tune to her jaunty steps. It was a lovely day, unseasonable this late in autumn, and it marked an entire week that she wasn't on the scene of or dragged to (by Heiji, of course) a murder! They were becoming worryingly common as of late, almost as bad as infamous Beika had been.
Not that she liked thinking about it; it made it seem like the police, such as her father and Heiji's, weren't doing their work properly. But really, even though a high percentage of the culprits were caught, there was little consolation in that fact – it didn't do any good for the victims, after all.
Realizing the path her thoughts were going down, Kazuha scowled.
"Dat ahou! He has ta ruin a perfectly fine day even when he ain't here!" She paused, stamping a foot on the ground and not even paying any heed to the looks she was drawing. A chuckle not far behind and to the left of Kazuha drew her attention, and she whirled around to glare at the source: a teenage boy with bright blue eyes and a stupid cowlick who was seated on a nearby bench.
The guy just calmly raised an eyebrow in response to the look Kazuha sent him, an infuriatingly amused smirk at her expense still plastered over his face. Kazuha felt one of her eyes twitch, nostrils flaring to draw in a deep breath that only calmed her a little. It wouldn't do to lash out at another teen (unless he was Heiji) just because he found her outburst humorous, even if she really wanted to wipe that look off his face.
"What're ya starin' at?" she demanded instead with an underlining tone of warning like storm clouds congregating on the horizon.
The boy went wide-eyed, lower jaw slackening to hang down and complete the expression of perfect shock.
"What am I staring at? What are you staring at?" he said in bewilderment after finding his tongue. Kazuha took note of his dialect, which sounded like it was from somewhere around Tokyo. At any rate, it certainly wasn't from Osaka.
Setting her groceries down, Kazuha took a couple of steps closer to the bewildered teen and set her arms akimbo.
"What are ya, slow? Obviously I'm starin' at ya! Do ya see anyone else I could possibly be talkin' ta?" she gestured with a sweep of her arm to indicate that, save for some people that were off some distance away, they were the only two individuals present in the immediate area.
The stranger was silent for several moments, with a gawking expression that left Kazuha wondering if she had broken his brain.
"You can actually see me? Hear me, even?" he finally replied incredulously.
"Uh, yeah. What're ya supposed ta be; a ghost?"
"Actually, yes." And with that the boy that Kazuha had directed her ire at rose up from the bench and floated towards her. So, of course, the taken aback girl did what any sensible person would; that is, shriek loudly and stumble back with her arms flung over her head. Not that doing so would do any good against a ghost, as she found out when the specter attempted grabbing her wrists in response, only for his hands to pass through and leave a sensation akin to cool vapor licking her skin. Goose bumps rose into existence on the spot and quickly spread over her entire body.
"Alright, maybe I was a little too forward, but could you please just calm down! I'm not going to harm you, and in any case you're going to cause a scene."
Kazuha hesitantly opened an eye at the entreaty. She peeked through the gap between her still-raised arms and saw that the ghost had retreated to maintain some distance from her. He didn't look too concerned by that last part, though. If anything he seemed frustrated and he glanced back and forth between his hands and the frightened girl.
Caught by his expression, Kazuha lowered her arms until she was tightly holding her hands nervously at stomach-level without realizing it. Come to think of it, he had seemed so surprised that she knew he was there. Could he not . . .
"So, yer really a ghost?"
Kazuha was not a fan of anything preternatural, but there was something, dare she say it, human about this specter other than just his shape. It was hard feeling afraid of him when he seemed more like a guy her age than anything else.
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Was his grudging response, as if he was reluctant to admit in his own existence. Kazuha considered this, wondering whether it was the verity of ghosts or that he still continued to exist in such a state.
She shoved the thought out of mind not a moment later, refusing to ponder such a morose topic.
"Wait a moment; dat sounds like somethin' Heiji's said before. Dat's from some sort a' detective books, right?" she mused aloud as the thought occurred to her, unaware of the effect that her words were having on her companion. Returning her attention to him, she then saw how the ghost's demeanor had visibly brightened, and upon seeing his beaming face Kazuha wondered how she could have possibly been scared of him. Although she also noticed now for the first time that his coloring was faded and that a hint of the background could be seen through his incorporeal form.
"Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of course! You're familiar with it?" he inquired.
"Passingly. Heiji's more a fan a' Ellery Queen," here the otherworldly entity scoffed, "but he's prattled on about Sherlock Holmes more dan enough."
"First-name basis?" he teased, grinning widely and not dropping it even when Kazuha gave him a withering look.
"If ya must know, he's my childhood friend, nothin' more!" she denied the unspoken accusations, watching curiously as the spirit's face contorted with different emotions, too rapidly to place a name to any, before shortly settling into a bored visage. Despite this, she could discern a far-off look in his eyes. Kazuha fell silent, trying to figure out why such a simple thing to say got such a reaction of nostalgia. In the end, Kazuha decided that it was easier to pretend she never saw, just as she ignored the many other disturbing implications about her new . . . acquaintance? . . . whatever he was, that she didn't want to confront. After all, a ghost . . . that was enough said right there.
Fortunately, the ghost was the one who deemed it fit to navigate their conversation back to safer waters.
"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is way better." Kazuha sighed heavily in response to his childish response and rubbed her temples in circular motions to stave off a developing headache. Was it her fate that all the boys her age – even dead ones – were to be mystery-obsessed geeks with little to no social skills?
A low murmuring caught her attention, and looking around she saw that a few people had stopped and were staring at her. Although it was difficult to tell since, though the ghost kept a respectful distance from her, they weren't that far apart, Kazuha was sure she was the only one drawing attention; further evidence of her earlier suspicions that she alone was aware of the ghost.
Blushing from the awkward situation, Kazuha abruptly picked up her abandoned groceries, mumbling irately to herself when she realized that the milk might not be good anymore considering how long she had dawdled.
"Come with me, dis is embarrassin'," Kazuha paused, "you can leave here, right? I mean, yer not bound here or anythin'?"
"No, I'll come! Trust me, Osaka is actually pretty far from where I died, but I've been considerably further, thankfully," the ghost was quick to reassure as he floated up to Kazuha's side. It made Kazuha wonder how long he had been like this. It couldn't have been that long, as a cursory glance revealed his fashion sense to be fairly recent, but then again, maybe ghosts could change into different outfits.
He didn't seem accustomed to people knowing he was there, at any rate. It hit her that being a ghost must have been lonely. And to think, she would have never known he wasn't anything other than another ordinary human if not for pure chance.
The walk back to Kazuha's home was pretty silent, both due to her epiphany and seeing as they were still in public. As she walked thoughts tripped over one another as they ran through her mind, and were centered around such things as: I hope dad isn't upset about my being late or the milk; is it really that smart to show the ghost of a teenage boy that I've just met my house; and, most importantly, where and how would one obtain ghost clothing?
Line Break
Kazuha arrived home to the sight of her father heading out.
"Dad, are ya goin' somewhere?"
"Yeah, one a' my old friends from outta town is here and we decided ta have a couple a' beers together like we used ta. You sure took yer time gettin' home; Heiji drag ya off somewhere?" he asked, pausing in his departure to talk to his daughter.
"No, I got distracted. Sorry," Kazuha explained sheepishly, deciding that the cause of her distraction – the ghost currently watching their interaction from the side – was better left unsaid.
"Just remember ta stay safe." With that, Kazuha's father left.
"Your father works in law enforcement. He practices judo and is skilled at it, am I right?" the ghost spoke up suddenly, nearly making Kazuha jump out of her skin.
"Waaah! Don't do dat! And for dat matter, how da heck did ya know? Are ya usin' some sorta freaky ghost powers? Or maybe you've secretly been stalkin' me," the girl accused him, eyes narrowed with suspicion. To this the response was a derisive snort.
"Really? I have better things to do than stalk typical teenage girls, though I suppose that's different now that I know you're capable of seeing and hearing me. Nor did I use any 'freaky ghost powers,'" and here he looked offended, "especially when my talents extend beyond being dead."
Kazuha flushed, not having meant to imply that at all. Not sure what to say to such an accusation, she settled for whipping around and entering the house. Her undead guest followed after, taking in the house, which was strongly modeled after a more traditional fashion, though it was clearly modern.
"So den, how did ya know?" Kazuha asked curiously as she sat down in the sitting room, making a gesture to invite the specter to do the same. He took the seat opposite from her, though she could see that instead of sitting he was actually levitating above the cushioned surface nearly imperceptibly.
"By looking at him. He holds himself strictly as if it were second-nature, suggesting some job with a lot of authority and regulation to it, while at the same time he interacts familiarly enough with you that it indicates he's not gone from home for frequent extended lengths of time. This means he is probably in law enforcement. As for judo, it was clear he had an athletic build despite his age, and being in the Japanese police he would probably know either judo or kendo. Since I didn't notice any callouses where I would expect some to be on his hands from practicing kendo, this left judo." he explained, smirking at the girl's look of awe as he explained his deduction.
"You got all dat just by lookin' at him? Heiji would love ta meet ya!" Kazuha exclaimed, before she shivered. She could already imagine the ghost and her ahou detective friend becoming acquainted. They would probably rave about murders and fictional detectives and act all creepy by narrating the entire lives of passing strangers.
"Who would I love ta meet? Were ya talkin' ta somebody?" a voice laced with curiosity spoke up, and Kazuha turned around to see Heiji striding into the room, coming to stand beside his seated friend with an eyebrow raised in inquiry.
She gulped, lips parting but words abandoning her. What was she supposed to say? That she had found a lighter-skinned, ghost version of him?
A slapping sound drew her attention to the specter, who had just facepalmed and was now giving her an unimpressed, 'you are an idiot' expression. Glancing away from him and back to Heiji, Kazuha realized in mortified horror that yes, she had just said that aloud.
A/N: Yes, another AU (I'm much too fond of them; in my defense, this was started before A Familiar Situation). If I get any details wrong then please correct me, especially in regards to anything Japanese. This chapter was originally meant to be longer, but . . . meh. Didn't feel like it. Besides, this has been sitting in my computer for months, so might as well upload it while debating with myself whether or not I should upload the second (and completed) chapter of A Familiar Situation.
