Chapter 2
Whirling quickly around, Kaito managed to dodge yet another bullet, which hit the roof and bounced off, vanishing in the dark of the night. He knew that he had roughly two to three seconds before the sniper had reloaded, taken aim and shot again, so he used the time and dashed straight at the edge of the building, launching himself over it in one smooth motion. Knowing that it would be next to impossible for the sniper to hit him mid fall, Kaito continued his drop for a few seconds, before he used his glider to turn the fall into a fast flight.
As soon as possible he took a swift and sharp turn to the right which would bring him to the east side of the museum, where an open window would wait for him, at least if nobody spotted it since he opened it. To his luck, he could quickly pinpoint its location and steer his glider straight at it. However, he didn't intend to enter through the window at an angle or with his glider, two facts which made his landing a lot more dangerous than it should have been. But Kaito wouldn't be Kaitou Kid, when he wasn't ready to take such risk at a daily basis and so he didn't waver one bit in his flight. A fatal mistake as it will turn out, but Kaito only noticed when the bullet had already hit him.
If it was due to the wind or a miscalculation from the sniper Kaito didn't know, but the bullet only hit his leg. Still the pain and shock surprised him enough, so he lost some of the control over the glider. So instead of folding the glider in before he passed the window, the glider's wings crashed into the window frame, a fight which the sturdy metal of the window frame won. Thanks to his reflexes, Kaito managed to absorb most of the impact with a roll, but he still ended up crashing into the wall with his back, feet facing the ceiling.
"Shit", the young magician cursed under his breath, realizing now, that he had underestimated the attacker and didn't think of a possible second sniper, who was probably only a few floors above him, judging by the fact that the bullet hit the back of his leg. Now that his glider's frame was smashed to bits, he knew that the only ways to leave were by either going to one of the lower floors and jump out of the window or by walking through either the main- or one of the side doors, be that in disguise or cuffs.
Raising himself up with a pained groan, Kaito quickly estimated the damage to his leg, which seemed to be bad enough so that he wouldn't be able to run efficiently and even walking pained him heavily. But he had no time to lose right now, so he made his way over to where he knew the stairs must be, always listening for footsteps which would tell him where those murderers in black were. To his luck it didn't seem like anybody had the intention to come up or down the stairs and so Kaito started to descend the steps, an action which shot piercing flames of pain through his left leg.
"God damnit, why does it always have to be in high buildings, where Aoko is watching?", he cursed under his breath, slowly stepping down the stairs, thinking back on her surprised face when the little detective, shoved them down the stairs.
"At least, I can definitely count on him, when it comes to get the two girls out of danger", Kaito thought, a little less tense than before. But he was immediately brought back from his thoughts when he heard the faint slamming of a door somewhere higher up.
"Crap", he cursed out lowly, now hurrying down the stairs as fast as he could with his bad leg, "if that is one of them I'm so screwed."
O
Normally Conan would have made sure to check for attackers in the corridors, which lead to the stairs, but currently the trampling sounds of steps only a few floors above made this action not only pointless but gravely suicidal. When they were rushing down the stairs, they barely managed to avoid the gang of black-clothes guys, which were scattered one floor beneath the roof and who didn't waver a second to pursue them.
Feeling his lungs burn and his feet ache, Conan knew that it would be hard for his child body to make it down the remaining 9 floors without slowing down, which was something he didn't dare to do. Pushing his body further and further, the grade schooler almost felt like his feet were about to fall off, but despite the pain he strained his body even more. But all his conviction and all his willpower were not enough to power his muscles, not enough to keep him running at top speed. He could feel his feet getting heavier when they passed the 6th floor.
"Almost there!" he thought, making another turn to continue his run, which showed him now the 5th floor sign.
"Come on!", he mentally roared, trying to challenge his body to mobilize it's last resources.
"There is already the 4th!" and with that thought, he took another turn, following Ran's waving hair, but when he turned again, his feet were to slow and instead of taking another step, he stumbled and fell forward at full speed.
"SHIT!" he cursed, readying himself for the impact with the stairs. He felt how his whole body smacked into something soft and warm, only to be pressed against what felt like a rapidly inflating and deflating pillow.
"What?! Where...?", confused, he opened his eyes and found himself looking up at a feminine chin, which lead up to a pair of flushed cheeks and blue eyes, over which a mop of wild brown hair jumped up and down with every step. He could swear it was Ran, but he knew exactly that it wasn't possible, because she still ran in front of him. Then his mind, clouded by pain and exhaustion finally managed to remember the other teen which accompanied them: Aoko Nakamori.
While he processed all the information, the two girls reached the bottom of the stairs and darted now through the empty entering hall straight at the main door. To their luck it was still open, but as soon as the crossed the threshold, they had to throw themselves to the right and the left to avoid the hail of bullets. Crouching behind two stone pillars, marble as Conan's brain provided uselessly, left and right from the glass door, they could hear the shouts of their pursuers and the occasional sound of a bullet ricocheting from the hard surface of the pillars and floor. They were trapped like rabbits in their holes!
In barely a second Conan's mind rifled through the options he had at his disposal, wagered them against each other to think off the best course of action, but regrettably he couldn't come up with anything useful in the end. The steps were now only a few meters away from them and every moment the black coats would pass the pillars to shoot them down mercilessly.
O
Aoko was remarkably calm for a 17-year-old girl which was about to die every second now. Her apparent last thoughts wandered to the grinning prankster and Aoko only wished for another chance to tell him everything she hasn't dared, but deeply wanted to tell. With a last smile she braced herself for the end, vowing to watch over Kaito from the heavens and then the guns were fired. However, Aoko was mildly disappointed when the pain from her sore muscles and aching joints didn't go away, but the fact that it didn't hurt more than before was a positive experience. She continued to wait with closed eyes, waiting for whatever happens when you die.
She had expected a lot, expected to feel really light or heavy, but when she suddenly felt like somebody shook her at her shoulder she was slightly irritated. Trying to ignore the annoying feeling, she readied herself to accept death's embrace, which only added to her confusion by not appearing. At last, it didn't end with the ruff shaking, when suddenly a voice seemed to scream at her and after a few seconds annoyed her enough, so that she opened her eyes to see what tried to disrupt her peaceful act of fading away. Confused she looked at the now with relief flushed face of her father who continued to call out her name and then proceeded to drag her to a nearby police car. Only when she was seated in the back of a patrol car together with Ran and Conan, who was taken from her at some point during her "death", her brain finally managed to grasp that she indeed did not die.
O
Similar to Aoko, Ran also had some trouble understanding what just happened.
One moment she saw the nuzzle of a gun pointed at her and the next, the gun's owner fell to the floor with a cry of pain and agony, while clutching a wound in his stomach. Then a trample of feet rushed to them and in the next moment the Kid task force was storming the entrance hall, effectively running down the completely surprised criminals, who stood with their small handguns no chance against the outnumbering Riot squad protected by huge, bullet proof shields and clad in protective vests. The struggle was short and only two, non-deadly shots had to be fired at the attackers in black before the police officers could cuff every single one of them.
While the criminals were taken to the prison car, who was originally reserved for Kaitou Kid alone, Inspector Nakamori and a pair of other policemen came to care for them, asking how they felt, searching for wounds and handing them blankets along with bottles of water. Gladly following the officers, who brought them to the nearby police cars, Ran was only worried about little Conan, who has strained his small body so much that he wasn't even able to walk by himself.
Trembling faintly, the little body lay stiff in her arms, his eyes nearly closed and breathing flatly, likely to avoid the pain of his aching muscles and lungs. Occasionally he would force a cracked smile to signal her that everything was fine and that he only needed a rest, but even though the paramedics have confirmed that he was only exhausted, Ran still wouldn't dare to take her eyes off him for just a second. She shifted his position slightly, when he fell asleep, so he could rest comfortably, till he woke up or at least till he stopped trembling. Only now, when the immediate danger was over, Ran could recall how Kid should still be in the building, which caused her to lean carefully, as to not wake the sleeping boy in her arms, over to the window, hoping to spot a white dot against the black sky. However, there was nothing, no glider, no smoke and no thief.
O
"Ok, now I'm really screwed", Kaito thought as he hid silent and unmoving like a stone inside the tent, which was erected to illustrate how the American Indians lived. He managed to get out of the working spaces of the upper and middle floor and dragged himself to the upper most floor of the museum. There the sounds of footsteps were so loud, that he decided it would be better to hide instead of running, so he limped into the huge dark hall on the 4th floor, only to find that he was now in the human history area of the museum.
The giant room was empty, safe for some benches and trashcans in the middle, but the walls were used to display human evolution. Starting on the right side of the entrance, the walls were lined with huge pedestals on which artificial human figures posed in front of what showed their culture and daily lives. Trying to find a good hiding spot, Kaito wobbled along the walls and barely managed to throw himself inside the tent on the pedestal, which was labelled as "North America 15th century."
Only moments after his more than unsightly disappearance, the lights flickered on and thanks to the darkness inside the tent, Kaito had an easy time seeing through the rather thin layer of clothes. Figures of dark brown moved on a beige background, acting out every move his pursuers made and were now scattering throughout the room.
"He has to be here, there were bloody prints on the door to this room" on bellowed out, conveniently explaining to Kaito how they had found him. Kaito mentally slapped himself for the grave mistake of not paying any mind to the blood from his wound, but luckily, he hadn't touched anything else with the blood smeared glove of his left hand. Carefully pulling both gloves off and turning their insides out, Kaito squeezed the ball of fabric inside his suit and pulled out another pair of gloves which he carried around just in case.
Now that his hands were clean once again, he looked after the wound of his leg, even though he could barely see anything thanks to its inconvenient position. Luckily and thanks to the special plaster, which Jii-san developed, the wound was covered and Kaito couldn't see any leaks where blood might pour out. Suddenly a loud noise could be heard from outside the tent and Kaito immediately prepared for what may come.
He released some of the tension when only angered shouts followed after the loud bang and judging from the fragmented conversation somebody has accidentally pushed over an armour set, over at the knight's pedestal. On his makeshift screen, the magician could observe the 6 henchmen of Snake were gathering nearby, were the loud crash occurred. But any fear that Kaito might feel from their proximate presence was quickly washed away by the maniac grin which sneaked itself on his face.
Quickly an utterly crazy and probably suicidal plan was formed in his mind and the magician had to prevent himself from chuckling. Rummaging in his pockets, he produced the remote control for the fuse-overloading which he had prepared beforehand and intended to use, in case the police wouldn't let him run off without a fight. Now that he had prepared his tool, the most dangerous part started. He carefully plopped his head out of the tent, gazing over to the door and memorizing everything between him and his path to freedom, but always ready to hide again in case somebody looked over in his direction. To his luck nobody seemed to have any interest in the boring display of human culture and after a few seconds he was ready to start the action.
Slipping quietly out into the open, Kaito pressed the button to kill the electricity and like planned the whole room went dark, when the lights went out. Now sprinting with light steps, Kaito hurried as fast as possible with his injured leg, to where he knew the group of henchmen stood. He stretched his arms out, guided by the shouting and his special googles, and, when he knew that his target was exactly in front of him, he pushed with all his might. The resulting scream and the loud clattering of metal were proof enough that his plan worked till now, but now he had to hurry even more. Quickly he took the coat and hat of the now unconscious guy on the floor and slipped them over his own attire, hiding the white Kid garment, while hurriedly dressing the other guy up too.
Just when he has positioned himself the lights went back on and showed how a dark clothed guy crouched over an armour suit on the ground, while a bunch of other dark figures stood around him. "Somebody pushed me and then ran to the door. It has to be Kid!", he shouted his voice low and commanding, while he prayed silently that they wouldn't notice the newly heard voice. But not noticing neither their unconscious comrade lying on the floor dressed in mail and plate nor the white pants of their new comrade, the group of henchmen stormed out of the door, splitting themselves up to go up and down the stairs and Kaito had, again thanks to his leg, huge difficulties to keep up with them.
Following the group downwards they quickly arrived on the second floor and Kaito could already smell the air of freedom, when the whole group came to a sudden stop. From one moment to the other, a bright light flooded the entrance hall and blinded Kaito and his group of temporary friends. But Kaito instantly knew what was about to happen, when the booming voice of Nakamori roared, "THIS IS THE POLICE. YOU ARE SURROUNDED! THROW AWAY YOUR WEAPONS AND COME OUT WITH RAISED HANDS!"
Now that their eyes had adjusted to the bright light, the group of criminals could see the overwhelming police force and were quick to throw their weapons away.
"Oh, crap! I can't let myself get caught as Kid, but running away would only kill me. Using smoke or flash bombs isn't an option either, that would let those criminals get away too. What to do? What to do?" Kaito's mind raced and just when the police started to move forward he had an idea. When only about 5 meters (16 feet) separated the police and the group of killers, Kaito pushed through them, throwing himself in front of the police officers who looked visibly confused upon seeing a tied up high school student.
"Nakamori-san! Help me! I'm here!", Kaito screamed, his voice filled with relief and fright at the same time, playing the part of a hostage. And it worked indeed, soon two police officers helped him up and untied him, while their colleges cuffed the criminals, which were visibly puzzled by the sudden appearance of the teen.
"Kaito-kun?! What are you doing here?", the running police inspector questioned, hurrying over to the rather miserably looking boy, who had seemed to be in a lot of pain. The boy mustered a last toothy grin, before his mind was pulled into darkness and his body went limp.
O
"What a day!" Nakamori thought, seating himself exhausted on the bonnet of a police car. It was supposed to be a completely normal heist, with the usual insults, nasty tricks and stupid traps Nakamori and his man would always face when they went up against Kid. But today Kid seemed to have pissed off the wrong people and not only brought danger to himself, but to everybody else too. Nakamori clenched his fists as the picture of his daughter, leaning against a stone pillar with her eyes closes surfaced again in front of his eyes. At that moment, he truly believed he had lost her. Lost her like he had lost her mother. Till this day, Nakamori hasn't forgiven himself fully for what has happened that night. This gruesome night 9 years ago.
"No point in bringing up the past.", he mumbled to himself, turning his mind back on the task at hand, which meant he would have to inform Aoko about what has happened to Kaito. Sighting audibly, he strolled over to his car, so he could bring Aoko, Ran and Conan to the hospital. Conan didn't want to go there, stuttering some nonsense about fear of hospitals, but Nakamori would make damn sure he would undergo a check-up and since Ran was his guardian's daughter he had to bring her along. As for Aoko, he thought that it would be the best if Kaito told her his story himself. The two of them had been strangely on edge towards each other as of late, despite the more than 10 years of friendship that bound them. He just hoped the two teens could bury their small quarrel, so that those little problems wouldn't grow to an unbreakable wall between the two. "Just do it better than your fathers.", the police officer sighted, his eyes clearly showing the exhaustion and pain of a life time in the frays.
The door slammed open and the young girl rushed through the white corridors, seemingly not sensing her own exhaustion from the day, since she heard from her father who lies in this building, waiting for her. Okay, he wasn't waiting for her since he didn't even know that she was coming, but deep down in heart she knew, that those were the times in which he needed her. He was always like this, doing something incredibly stupid for the silliest reason, only to end up bruised and beaten. But even when they were kids his poker face didn't let any of the pain show on his grinning face, when he told her it was nothing.
But she knew him for years and as the time went by, she understood him better. Oh, not that she was able to see through his poker face, that was something she wouldn't even try. No, she just learned who he was, how he would see things and what he would feel. Whenever somebody was in danger Kaito would go and help them as best as he could, even when that person didn't want his help. When something went wrong, Kaito would proudly take the blame and shield his friends, no matter what punishment he had to take upon himself. This habit of his wasn't as prominent as when they were kids, but it was still one of the main reasons why he had such a bad reputation in the ranks of their teachers.
Finally arriving in front of the operation room, Aoko could only wait for the red light to finally stop blinking. She heard from her father that it wasn't anything life threatening, but it still pained Aoko to know her best friend was just behind that doors, gravely hurt and she couldn't even spend him some comfort. Settling herself in one of the many empty chairs, Aoko could soon hear how the room echoed the sound of her sobs.
O
At first there was nothing but darkness.
Then there came the feeling of numbness.
Then his mind resumed to work and like a robot, who was turned on, Kaito seemed to awake from a dreamless sleep.
He tried to move, do anything besides thinking, but his body didn't even respond to him. It felt like he was just floating in the air, not feeling, not sensing anything at all and even his mind was slowly lulled back to sleep by a feeling of soothing heaviness. He tried to stay awake, didn't want to go back to sleep, but he was just too tired to not drift away.
The next time his brain awoke again, not much had changed, he still felt tired and heavy, but this time he barely managed to open his eyes just for a tiny bit. Immediately his sight was invaded by bright light, trying to burn away his sense of seeing or at least that was his first impression, but when he blinked slowly, the light faded slightly and instead of an ocean of white, he could make out faint silhouettes of grey.
He needed a few minutes to let his eyes adjust to the brightness of his surroundings, but when they finally could see properly, he was also able to feel the rest of his body. Failing at raising his torso, he could just slowly turn his head to look around, recognizing that he was in a hospital room. The whitewashed wall with the bright yellow curtains and the a bit miserable looking room plant, could not be mistaken for anything else than a lonely single room, somewhere in a quiet corner of a hospital.
Assuming it was the same where he always ended up, his attention was quickly drawn to other matters, manly the heaviness of his left arm, which puzzled him. Looking to his left, he had expected to see his arm in cast, because he had seriously injured it at some point of the heist, but the mop of dark, tousled hair quickly disproved his assumption. Of course, Kaito recognized the tangled mess some would call a bird's nest immediately, since he saw it nearly on a daily basis. Finally, able to control his body's movements, he managed to shift his head, so he could look at the messy mane from another perspective, an effort rewarded with the sight of a sleeping Aoko. An extremely adorable and funny looking Aoko.
Her squished cheek rested on her arm, while her mouth was slightly open, and a drop of drool slowly creeped down to her chin. Kaito couldn't help but smile over the innocent and childish girl who he considered his best friend, imagining how she had vowed to herself last night, to stay awake until Kaito would wake up only to doze of a few minutes later. But that was, who Aoko was and Kaito wouldn't want it any other way.
By the time Aoko finally began to stir, a sign that she would wake up shortly, the birds had already begun to whistle outside of the hospital room's window, through which the first rays of golden light shone. It had been nearly two hours since Kaito awoke from his slumber and despite the now painful numbness in his arm, he patiently waited for the girl to awake on her own accord.
He knew that she had to be very exhausted, because despite the fuzziness in his head, caused by the pain medications, he noticed the band aids and the a little bit pestering smell she gave off, obviously steaming from sweat. She likely run down those stairs and maybe hurt herself when crashing in a door or tripping, but at least she had no grave injuries, so the little Detective did a fine job. Thinking of the small sleuth, Kaito wondered if he and his "Nee-chan" were also okay. He didn't question the wits of his rival and despite his size, his small body was in remarkable shape, however he was still a child and a child's body would break down sooner than any teenager.
But his train of thoughts was bluntly interrupted, when the dark, tousled mob of hair finally was lifted from his arm, accompanied by a groggy grunt.
"Kaito?", the girl, now sitting upright beside his bed, rubbed her sleepy eyes, looking like a kitten which just awoke.
"KAITO!?" she cried, louder this time, her face now obviously displaying recognition upon seeing the boy, clad in a hospital pyjama. Moments later she flung herself into his arms, tightly embracing him, while sobbing, "Bakaito! Did you know how worried I was? When I heard from dad, that you were injured by those criminals, I feared the worst. What if you died? Who would I chase with my mop, after he flipped my skirt? Who would tease me for not getting a perfect score but only 98%?"
Her rambling was slowly getting faster and more slurred, until Kaito couldn't understand her babbling at all anymore, save for the reoccurring whimpered "Kaito".
"Hey, Aoko. Come on. I'm fine! It was nothing serious, only a scratch.", he tried to comfort her, patting her back with one hand, while the other was stroking her hair gently.
"A SCRATCH?! Kaito, you fainted! How can somebody faint because of a scratch?!" the girl interjected, her face dripping with tears, which cracked Kaito's heart, like drops of water slowly crack a smouldering stone. The guilt for making her cry again, be it as Kid or as Kaito, pierced his heart like a thin needle would pierce a tomato. But he could not allow himself to let his feelings take over, could not allow her to get hurt even more. So, he shoved it aside, all of it and his poker face fell over his face, like a second skin.
"I inhaled some smoke and was a bit weak because I had no launch or dinner. So, my body kinda gave in. Trust me, I'll never leave you.", he proclaimed, his voice soothing an comforting. It horrified him how easily a lie slipped from his tongue. Not a fluke or a half-truth like magician often used to further confuse their audience, but a purely made up lie, only fabricated to trick the one person he loved the most. But when her sobbing finally stopped, and her teary eyes didn't leak anymore, when she starred at him.
"Really? You promise?", the police daughter sniffled, her blue eyes shining in the light of the morning sun and from all the tears. The sight was simply breath-taking and, despite all the guilt he felt, despite the next lie he told, he couldn't help but let a smile bloom on his face, when he gently wished away the remaining droplets from her cheeks, "When did I ever leave you?"
O
His breathing was even and steady, his eyes closed, giving him the face of a normal sleeping child and all in all, he looked like the adorable little brother she knew and adored. But Ran knew that, neither his sleep nor today's situation were as peaceful as they looked.
The fact that Conan fainted from exhaustion, when they finally escaped the grasp of their pursuers, was prove enough of how dire the day truly has been. At the time of the incident, Ran did not really grasp, what it meant that the attackers were armed. One heard news of armed robbers and shootings on a nearly daily basis, in a city as large as Tokyo, but despite the constant threat Ran never felt intimidated by the existence of such horrible tools. Not horrible in the sense of cruel or inhuman, in fact these machines depicted their creator so accurately that it was mindboggling, but horrible in how efficient they were at doing what they were supposed to do.
As a material artist, Ran knew the concept of efficient killing better than most others, but even her, over years of continuous training, sharpened and trained moves, paled in comparison to the uncompromising power a gun had over somebodies life. If one were not familiar with the concepts of modern war and conflict, the mere thought of killing somebody by curling one's finger must seem like utter and complete madness to them and Ran could perfectly understand why.
"If anybody of them would have aimed correctly, if we were just a second slower, we would be dead, all of us!", she shuddered at that thought, because it once again caused the huge fear deep in her heart to stir in its sleep, threatening to awake and render all her efforts useless. This feeling of inferiority and helplessness had finally driven her to pick up karate. Years ago, just when Shinichi was starting his career as a detective, they often faced murderers and wicked criminals, who could kill them in a matter of seconds. But all those times, Shinichi has fended them of with his confidence and reasoning alone. All of them declared defeat and turned themselves in without resisting, all expect for one.
It had been a quite evening and they've just returned from watching a movie, which Ran could not remember, but knew had been horrible, because Shinichi was ranting about it. Suddenly, they heard a shrieking scream from a nearby alley and true to his detective nature, Shinichi immediately rushed to its source, eager to prove his unmatched intellect once again. Ran had followed him obviously, feeling much more scared by the thought of being left alone than face a criminal. What a foolish girl she had been at that time. Because once they reached the abandoned crossing the sight of a towering man before a dead woman greeted them.
Till today the gory details of that evening were engraved in Ran's memory and just revisiting them caused a sickening feeling to flood her stomach. The man was just buckling his belt back, when he heard the two teens approach and turned away from the woman lying on the bare street. Her shirt was torn and if not for the deep shadows of the early night, one could have seen her exposed breasts, swollen from the grave mishandling and nearly the same could be observed between the area of her tights, as the police later discovered. Casting a surprised glance, which turned into a burning stare upon seeing the young witnesses, the man faced them fully and slowly approach them, reminding Ran of a lurking hyena, ready to tear his next victim apart.
He had said something, but Ran could not remember what it had been, only the answer of Shinichi remained in her mind. "The police will be hear soon, so you better give up right away, before this turns ugly.", but the strong words were betrayed by the shaking body of the young detective, who could only stare at the approaching man, unable to do anything to stop him. For Ran, this was when her "magical glasses" shattered and she could see for the first time, how dangerous and unforgiving the world could be. Till now, Shinichi was her knight, warding of all evil and keeping her save, but right then, she recognized his own weakness, and, despite its obviousness, this discovery struck her as being incomprehensible.
Even back in the current time, next to Conan's hospital bed, her body started to shiver, when she remembered how the hulking beast of a human closed in on them, liking his lips while the smile on them broadened. Closer and closer he came, slowly raising his hand, directing it straight at her face. It seemed like he would touch her in mere seconds and all Ran could do was stare. But before he actually touched her, his hand was slapped away and in the next moment Ran's view was blocked by the back of Shinichi's head, who had jumped between them. She could clearly see, how his legs were shacking and how his mind was drowned in fear, but despite all the odds, he still stood up to face the criminal and to protect her.
But as beautiful of a fairy tale as this would have been, reality was hardly that kind and so, the man just huffed out irritated and in the next moment his fist connected with Shinichi's jaw. The young boy, taken aback by the punch as much as Ran, flew a few feet, before he crashed into the wall of the alley, sinking down to the ground. He tried to struggle back to his feet, but the shock was too much for his body to take and even Shinichi's iron will was unable to convince his body to get back up. The man only laughed at this, sounding like a mix of a rusty joint and the howling of the wind, and quickly turned his gaze back to girl in front of him, his eyes now gliming with insatiable lust.
He raised his hand again, his finger hovering only centimetres before Ran's face. He raised his foot, intending to take another step toward his victim, but his foot never came back down. With a howling cry, a young woman has suddenly appeared before him and planted her foot right into his stomach, sending him flying backwards where he crashed on the bare concrete. He yelled out in pain and his haunting stare turned back to his attacker, but before he had time to react, the woman stood over him and slammed her foot down. Ran didn't know where exactly the woman had hit, neither did she know where their saviour came from.
"Ran-neechan?", a small voice brought her back from one of her worst memories, only to remind her of the rather depressing reality.
"I'm fine." the little boy in the bed now assured, bringing his hand up to whip a few tears from her cheek, "You don't have to worry over me, I was just a little tired." He seemed to want to continue, but whatever Conan meant to say was cut off, when Ran suddenly trapped him in a tight hug, squeezing his tiny body tightly yet gently.
"How can you say I shouldn't worry? Conan-kun, we nearly died!", she breathed out, her voice interrupted by sobs and whimpers, clearly conveying how miserable she felt.
O
Not failing to read the mood of his Nee-chan, all Conan could do was to bring his hands up and hug her back, whispering soothing tones and trying to comfort her as well as he could. He knew, how much such things worked up the gentle girl in his arms, who only had become a fearsome karate practitioner thanks to his own arrogance.
Gritting his teeth at the thought, Conan could once again add this day to his list of painful lessons, which reminded him of when he failed in his task. It was exactly like it had been back then, in that deserted alley and the criminal. For Shinichi too, this was a painful memory, carved into his brain for all eternity, reminding him of his own weakness.
That day, the person he cared for more than anything else got nearly killed in the most gruesome way imaginable and all he could do was just lean against a wall, not able to move, not able to think. If not for that woman, Shinichi had no doubt that not only would they have lost their lives but would have been broken before that. For that reason, he had always supported Ran in her karate, not because it would protect her, but because it reminded them both of their saviour, who brought them hope in this dark world. Hope that, even after they've parted ways, would shine bright, manifested in the karate this woman had taught Ran. Hope that gave them another chance.
All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment.
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Hope you liked the chapter and till next time.
Farewell
