Fandom: Detective Conan
Title: Tadaima
Author: Jeva
Theme: #4 - Lost
Pairing: Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran
Rating: PG
Warnings: Fluff. ...yes, fluff requires a warning!
Disclaimer: All things Detective Conan belong to one, Aoyama Gosho. I don't claim to have created any of these characters...just the tormenting situations I put them in. :D
Summary: He was home.
He was home.
Funny how such a simple realization could make him smile so serenely. A simple thought that made him look to the one who'd been his Northern Star the whole time he was lost. She was resting comfortably on his pillow, having migrated to that side of the bed during the time he'd gotten up to watch the sun rise.
The first time he'd seen such a thing in his own body in years.
It was laughable, really. How wide-eyed he looked around the place since returning to his true age and size. The old Kudo Shinichi definitely wouldn't have behaved in such a way.
But...so many years as a child again...fighting for his and others' lives while keeping his identity a secret had done a lot to his present mind-set. He knew now the importance of each day...being able to spend them with the ones he loved.
Especially his one beacon of hope, who mumbled his name in her sleep.
He smiled down at her before bending down to kiss her on the forehead. Seeming content with that, she went quiet and slept on peacefully.
Shinichi knelt on the floor beside he bed, content himself to just watching her sleep. Yes, it truly was a miracle, really...able to come home--truly come home with no time limits and nothing to hold him back...
Except for Mouri Ran's temper, he recalled with a small, quiet laugh as he reached out to brush the hair from her closed eyes. That temper was going to get him in a lot of trouble in the future, he knew, but for now, it had helped to tired Ran out before they had started to really talk.
Withdrawing his hand again, Shinichi frowned as he remembered going over almost every detail of his double-life with Ran. He remembered her laughter, her anger, her frustration at being told things that she felt she should have realized. Not that it was her fault. Shinichi had just gotten lucky a few times.
But worst of all, he remembered her tears and how she'd started to cry near the end of his tale, clinging to him as if she thought he'd disappear before her very eyes--as he had done so many time before. Unable to simply reassure her, because he knew better than to say he'd always be there...things changed far too fast to keep that promise, he'd held her until her tears ran dry. And that was only just as she started to drift off to sleep.
He stayed with her the entire night. Just holding her in a way he'd longed to do for so long. In his own arms...in a way to let Ran know that he didn't want to leave...he held her as she slept.
Now it was well into late-morning, and Shinichi was starting to feel the effects of going without sleep when he'd just returned to normal. He stifled a yawn and stubbornly kept his eyes open and trained on Ran's face, waiting for her to wake up.
They still had a lot to talk about--dealing with the past, compromising issues in the present...planning for the future, maybe.
But right then, Shinichi just wanted to tell her one thing.
So he waited patiently, almost drifting off a couple of times before snapping awake again. It wasn't until around either that Ran started to shift around again, hr hands skimming across the bed's surface, searching, before her eyes popped open in a shocked and frightened manner--calming immediately when she saw his sleepily smiling face.
Her hand reached out for his, and he took it, his eyes not leaving hers.
"Shinichi..." she said quietly in a satisfied manner that made him smile more.
He squeezed her hand before whispering back softly, "I'm home."
She paused only for a moment as her eyes welled with tears--happy ones, this time. She took in a deep breath before scooting herself closer to him so that her other hand could brush against his cheek in a manner that showed she was still almost afraid it was all a dream.
But after that moment, her palm lay against his cheek, and as he closed his eyes to savor that touch, she responded, voice choked with those tears, "Welcome home, Shinichi..."
Author's Notes: ...I feel cheesy
...now I'll have to write another deathfic to get the cheese offa me!
...but yes...warm fuzzies ♥
Okay, anyway...blaming Candyland for getting me addicted to these LJ Theme Challenges...so yeah...yayness...I have yet another fic thing I may never finish. Ya'll love me for it, right? -awkward smile-
