DISCLAIMER: I do not own Detective Conan and its characters.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi. I am originally a Gakuen Alice contributor, but then I thought to myself, while I was having this "Detective Conan fever", who's to stop me from writing for a different anime category, right? And thus, the birth of this one-shot fiction. Do enjoy! :)
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Oops
By Diane Satabi
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"What's wrong?"
No reply.
"Hey, I'm talking to you. What's the matter?"
"Nothing," she mutters.
With a grunt, I increase my pace to catch up to her—Dang, girls can be so fast in walking when something's wrong—and grab her by her wrist. She stops from her tracks. Using my other free hand, I gently lift her chin in order to see her face. Even in the darkness, there's no mistaking her chocolate-colored hair and her bright sapphire orbs, which quickly averts to a random direction, avoiding my gaze.
Clearly, this isn't close to "nothing."
I sigh and say, "I will ask you for the very last time"—a pause for effect—"What is wrong?"
Her lips trembles. After a while, she starts sobbing. Wearily, I let go of her hand, which is a mistake, for she starts striking my chest. It doesn't feel painful, though, coming from a karate master. Perhaps it was one of girl's futile attempts to let out their frustrations. Tch, girls...
Immediately, I rebuke myself for these random thoughts. This isn't the right time to be sarcastic. The only person in this world who understands and accepts me for who I am, who always comes to rescue me whenever I get into trouble and who I've been wanting to share my whole life to eternity is right here in front of me, acting out of ordinary. As her friend, her best friend, and soon to be husband, she needs me.
Finally, she stops and clutches my polo for support, still sobbing.
"You," she starts. "You don't get it, do you?"
I lift a brow. She raises her head and faces me, her eyes glistening with tears.
"We can't be together!"
I gasp a little. What?
She continues, with less conviction than the previous, "Not anymore."
Suddenly, a super vague thought passes and then I realize where this is all coming from.
But before this thought completely consumes me, she affirms it herself. "I can't... I CAN'T BEAR YOU A CHILD!"
Hearing it coming from her sends an unexpected force that freezes me from any movement. It's like in an instant, the whole weight of the world falls on my shoulders.
Seeing my reaction plastered on my face, she frowns and let more tears flow.
I want to take her in my arms, embrace her, comfort her, and tell her it's all good, but my body refuses to budge.
Finally, she turns and walks away. Again, I attempt to speak, to scream her name out, but nothing came. I reach out, but seeing how far she's covered in such a short time of walking horrifies me. Just then, I realize I'm finding it harder and harder to breathe. My lungs seem to forget its function and breath eludes my senses. Sweat beaded my forehead as I struggle.
And then I woke up.
Dang.
I listened to the sound of my breathing, waiting for it to normalize. Noticing that I still wore the same shirt as yesterday, I snorted. Who would have thought a detective like me could be caught up to such carelessness? When I thought I was ready to get up, I noticed the other side of my bed.
Empty. What was supposed to be there wasn't there.
Just then I realized, something in the air was different. With a long, hard sniff, I recognized the aroma.
Eggs?
As quickly as I jumped out of my bed and leaned on to the gaping door frame did I arrive on only one conclusion: She came back! She came back for me! And is now cooking breakfast!
As I was covering the stairs, I identified another aroma in the air. Bacons! She even cooked my favourite!
I let the thought slip as I finally arrived the kitchen. Before me, amidst the counters, sink, refrigerator and some kitchen tables and kitchen wares, stood that tall figure with her back on me. There's no mistaking that long dark hair cascading down her back.
Ran.
Engulfed with sheer happiness and with the aroma of bacons and eggs, I approached her. She hadn't noticed me yet. When I was only a fair distance from her, both my arms found its way around her waist and my body closed the distance from her, leaving no gap. She didn't seem to care, still continuing with her flipping of eggs and bacons. I rested my chin on her shoulder and sucked in her sent. Something at the back of my mind cringed, but I shrugged it off and turned to the issue at hand.
The issue that haunted me in my dreams.
"You don't get it, do you?"
"We can't be together!"
"I can't... I CAN'T BEAR YOU A CHILD!"
I carefully weighed my words, focusing on winning her heart back.
"Thank you for coming back."
She didn't give hints that she acknowledges my gratitude, so I pressed on to the issue.
"About... that," I started, but she remained silent. "Don't worry. I accept you for who you are."
I knew I finally caught her attention when I noticed she was starting to slow down with the flipping. I decided to press on. "For what you are. And what you will become. I accept all of you. Just as how you've accepted me through the years."
Just then, I felt her smile. Felt, of course. A side of my face was in contact with her cheek. Encouraged, I continued. "It's not a child that I want. I don't care about that. What I want is you, Ran. I could spend the rest of my eternity with you and be satisfied just as long as you are with me. I love you, Ran. And there's nothing that could shake that fact off. Please, marry me still."
I let the words hang in the air as I carefully watched how her hands, which was gracefully tossing and flipping the bacon on the pan, slow to a stop. Just then, as I continued to stare at her hands, something bothered me.
Well, apparently, a lot of things bothered me.
One, her scent. It's so familiar it's becoming so distracting.
Second would be the silence. I just poured my heart out here. Shouldn't I get a response, a kiss even? Or just a little acknowledgement for what I said? This silence was taking too long.
Next would be her hands, particularly the ring around the finger of the left one.
I was just about to reach my horrifying conclusion when she spoke.
"Shinichi," she said.
Hearing my name from her sent chills down my spine. Immediately, I was as hard as a rock. I was pinned from any movement. This voice.
Just then, everything was falling in its place. The familiar sent. The ring. And now this voice.
She turned and I swore that face was so horrifying at that moment it would haunt me on my dreams tonight.
"M-Mother... Why," I managed to mutter.
"I thought I could finally hear words of appreciation from you, Shinichi. You know, for carrying you inside my womb for months and raising you up into a fine, fine son. But what on earth are you talking about? What is this about marrying?" she continued.
I was still too shocked to respond.
She left her position, firmly gripping the handle of the pan, to start plating.
"Go, hurry up and clean yourself, Shinichi, or you'll be late," said Yukiko. As soon as she finished plating, she headed to the dining table to set the plates down. She chuckled. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Ran. Here, have breakfast with us."
Ran? Don't tell me...
"Oh, thank you, Mrs. Yukiko," replied Ran. "And sorry for the bother."
"Nah, no big deal. It's the only way I think I could repay you for taking care of my son."
They laughed. I didn't need to turn my head to confirm her attendance in this house, but... I did anyway. Before me, sitting on our dining table right across my grinning mother was Ran wearing that look.
It was a mixture of disgust, amusement, disbelief, contentment and distrust that I can't entirely name it in general.
Oh Maker, how long has she been sitting there?
...
"Come on," I said. "Stop with the giggling."
But she still giggled though, as we walked our way to school.
As it turned out, while I was pulling off that show, Ran had been sitting on that dining table, watching, hearing, beholding it all.
"I accept all of you. Just as how you've accepted me through the years." mocked Ran before she laughed out loud.
"Stop it. It's not cute," I said, although I know was futile.
Wiping a tear and suppressing another burst of laughter, she replied, "That was so uncool back there, Shinichi."
"Tch. Whatever." I shrugged it off as she started walking ahead of me.
There was never a day she didn't stop by our house to fetch me before heading to school. In fact, without our knowledge of it, it had become our little routine.
When she was about two meters away from me, she stopped and said, "Hey."
I stopped as well. "What?"
It took a while before she responded. "Did you really wanna marry me even if I can't bear you a child?"
I gaped. That caught me off guard.
She didn't take it all seriously, did she? But it's Ran we're talking about, a girl—prone to dreaming, hoping and, at the same time, hurting. She must have.
"Uh—Well..." I stuttered, unable to think clearly. Dang. How should I respond without giving a hint of my long-time affection for her, but at the same time without hurting her? Heck, for all we know she's just teasing me.
Brain, work!
But even before this rusty brain could even gather up something witty to reply, she said, "Oh well. It doesn't matter."
Huh?
She then turned to me and flashed a beaming smile.
I tell you, in that instant, she was sparkling... everything was sparkling! Her face, her eyes, her smile, her teeth, everything! And, as if on cue, a breeze brushed past the two of us. I saw how her hair and her clothes danced gracefully along the wind. And I promise you I wasn't dreaming or hallucinating when I saw petals of roses flying on her background.
I thought my heart just skipped a beat then.
She approached the gaping me, grabbed my hand and pulled me. "Hurry up, Shinichi! Or we'll be late!" she said. In between those lines, she giggled.
I don't know what's gotten into her, but this morning wasn't like any other mornings. In this certain morning, there's no denying that big smile and that pink flush on her face.
Well... I must admit. It looked good on her.
Deep inside, I knew something changed.
And then I knew, that longing of spending the rest of my life with this girl had always been there.
...
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope you liked it! Please do leave a review. I would love to hear from you. And yes, I am also open to suggestions, criticism, flames, violent reactions, etcetera, just as long as it would help me improve as a writer. Truly, I appreciate them. And oh, I would also like to promote my other one-shot fictions. Do visit my profile to see them.
Again, REVIEW, REVIEW!