Okay...for those who read this before, yeah, there was commentary here, but that commentary is lost thanks to a mess-up of mine. Then when I went to get the chapter only to find word screwed up and the ending was chopped off. (I know, everyone always says 'user error' but I did save it! Word just had an error within itself and lost that final save file, and I didn't know about that until all this happened.) If anyone remembers the chapter the way it was before and can tell me what I missed in re-writing my ending, please tell me! I know I missed something, and I'm very aware I changed the ending quite a bit because of this. I can't compare to the original, but this one feels better. Just a gut feeling, ya know? Aside from that, I went back and did an attempt at Heiji's accent. Mostly just turned 'you' into 'ou' and took away a lot of h's. I know next to nothing about Japanese, so figuring out what an English translation of his accent would sound like (other than 'southern' as I've heard is the closest we can come to it in America) isn't my forte. But I did try! Anyway, I really apologize to everyone. Please forgive!
and Enjoy!
In the Time that Followed
Shinichi
"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" Ran worried, her hand resting on his shoulder. "I mean, you just collapsed in there…What's wrong?"
"I haven't really been taking care of myself like I should," he told her, putting a smile on and scratching the back of his head. "Not getting enough sleep and not eating right. I guess it just caught up with me tonight." She frowned, moving her hand to his forehead.
"You're a little warm." He reached up and linked his gloved hand in hers.
"I'm fine. I promise." That look in his eyes flushed her cheeks.
"Really, Shinichi. You disappear all this time and only come back when you're sick. What are we going to do with you? Hmm…" She glanced over his costumed body. "I think I'll call your parents and they'll come flying home and lock you in the basement until you come to your senses."
"Please don't." There was a hint of panic in his face, and she laughed.
"I've really missed you." He smiled at her rather dumbly, letting out a small chuckle of his own. His cheeks were lightly red, and he wasn't sure why.
"Go for it!" someone whispered loudly, only to be shushed by someone else, equally loudly.
"Go for…" he stated, blinking, then realized that the room had gone silent. Her hand was in his, and her face was only a few inches away. He dropped her hand like a hot coal and turned away. She jumped away and started scolding her friends.
"It's not like that!"
"See what you did?" Sonoko hissed at Kazuha. "She was finally gonna kiss her husband!"
"It's not like that!" the two shouted together. Ran turned an even darker shade of red, and looked over at Shinichi. "Gee, I didn't know I was so undesirable," she hissed.
"What?" he yelped. "It's not like that either, Ran! I mean, if you wanted me to I guess I could but it's…" He cut himself off because this wasn't getting any better anytime soon.
"Of course not," she stated firmly. He had actually just offered to kiss her. But, if he did kiss me, I want it to be because he wanted to, not because I wanted him to. Shinichi, detective though he was, didn't read into her comment and kept his eyes focused on his hands.
"Man, why does everyone I know have to be murder-magnets?" Sonoko sighed. "If it weren't for that guy kicking it, the two of you would have shared the most romantic first kiss ever." She clasped her hands together and let herself get lost in thought.
"Sonoko!" they once again chimed together.
"You guys really are the perfect couple." Ran's dear friend let out a broken-hearted sigh. "Why I can't I have a perfect childhood soulmate…"
"You 'ave a boyfriend," Kazuha reminded her.
"It sure doesn't feel like it."
"'ey 'ou two!" Heiji cut in, back from his quick trip to the bathroom. "Leave 'em alone, will 'ou? They've both 'ad a rough time lately and the first thing 'ou do is make it harder on 'em."
"Sorry, Heiji-kun," Kazuha replied.
"You'd think he was Kudo-kun's big brother," Sonoko whispered.
"It's getting' late…we should probably 'ead 'ome."
"Why don' 'ou walk back with Ran?" Heiji stated. "I wan ta talk with Kudo 'bout all that detective stuff 'ou hate so much." There was a little bit of arguing in the group, but with the two boys insisting on Heiji's plan, it ended up going his way in the end.
"I'll see you tomorrow, right Shinichi?" Ran demanded of him as they exited the school.
"Probably," he replied, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Take care of that kid, alright?" Haibara was feigning sleep at the moment, back at the Mouris' household, pretending to be a recovering victim. Since his stitches had been taken out that morning, there was no need to worry about changing bandages or anything like that, so all Ran needed to do was make sure 'Conan' took his medicine and got to bed properly.
"I will. See you in the morning." Kazuha linked arms with her and they headed on their way. Heiji reached out to offer a little bit of support to his swaying friend.
"I'm glad…it wasn't because of the antidote wearing off," he whispered.
"I think I'da preferred that," Heiji hissed back. "'ou're still recovering 'ou know."
"I know."
"C'mon. Let's get 'ou 'ome before 'ou pass out agin. 'ou're not as easy ta carry as 'ou might think."
"So you were the one that carried me to the nurse's office? Thank you."
"Friends 'ave ta look out for each other. 'ou'd do the same for me." Shinichi started walking towards his house. His house. He was almost afraid to stay there, after what Haibara had told him about the Organization searching the place. But as long as he didn't mess with too much – just went to bed, got dressed in the morning, stuff like that – things were likely to work out. He would have to make sure to put everything back in its place, or at least make it look like it was someone else that had been in there.
That wasn't implausible. The mansion technically belonged to his parents, even though his name was on the front gate. And Agasa had a key, Ran had a key, and there was always the possibility of an attempted robbery, though that would be a last resort sort of thing. He felt Heiji's arm latch onto him as his body swayed once again.
"I told Kazuha not ta come. If she 'adn't shown up, I could have pretended ta be 'ou, then 'ou wouldn't have 'ad ta take that antidote and mess 'ourself up until 'ou were healed…"
"Thanks for the sentiment, but you could only pull of being me if you didn't open your mouth."
"What's that supposed ta mean?"
"Your voice, your accent. It gives you away every time."
"No way! I 'as doin' so well!" Shinichi couldn't help but snort.
"You need a bit more practice with your dialects."
"Gaaaaah!" They made their way through the half-lit streets, right up to the mansion. Shinichi blinked at the sight of his neighbor, waiting for him.
"Agasa?"
"Haibara traded some of your medicine for sugar pills. She wanted me to make sure I got the real thing to you." He blinked a few times, frozen for a moment. When did he get so lucky to have so many good friends?
Heiji dragged him through his front gate and right up to his front door. Shinichi got it open and walked inside, taking a deep breath as he looked around his house. It was so much nicer to see the world without glasses on his face.
"'ou should probably get right ta bed," Heiji suggested. "'ou know, before 'ou pass out agin. You're looking rather pale."
"We can't all be as dark-skinned as you."
"No, I mean paler than usual."
"Thank you for your help, Hattori, but shouldn't you be getting home? You have school tomorrow."
"Right. Well, I'll see 'ou next time!" The Osakan boy waved as he headed out, almost knocking down the Professor as he went.
"I'll get you some water," Agasa offered.
"I'll get my own water," Shinichi replied. "I really miss all of this." He waved his hand around, guiding his neighbor's eyes through the room.
"You may miss this, but you're still not 100%. If you don't get your rest, you could give yourself away at school tomorrow."
"School…" A grin passed over his face. "I can finally go back to high school!"
"Hey, there's no guarantee that…"
"I know. The antidote might not be permanent, but I'm going to enjoy the time I have." The two headed into the kitchen, and Shinichi pulled two glasses out of the cabinet and filled it up with ice cold water. The sound of his own faucet running…life's little moments that he never would have treasured before because they were so mundane. So common. So missed.
Agasa pulled some food from the refrigerator and popped it into the microwave.
"I thought you cleaned out all the old food?"
"I did. But I figured you needed to eat so I brought some leftovers over earlier. There's some bread, fruit, and some other things to get you by for a few days, until we know if the change is permanent or not."
"Thanks!" He watched the microwave's numbers tick down as he thought about how many thank-you's had spouted from his mouth in the last few hours.
"Now, you have to take this one before you eat, and these three after you eat…"
"Man, what's with all this medicine anyway?" He made a face at his night pills. Morning tacked on an additional pill to the collection.
"One's for pain, the others are for everything else. Shinichi-kun, you were really hurt back there."
"I know. I know. I should be extremely grateful just to be alive, I'm so lucky that I survived, I worried everyone, and living wasn't something anyone expected me to do…" He sighed. "Sorry. I'm just really sick of hearing it. I didn't choose to get shot, to go down there…I don't blame the kids, really, but…It was all just a freak accident. Everyone needs to let it go."
"I think you're the only person involved in this that can accept what happened so easily." Agasa handed one of the pills to his friend, who dutifully took it. "You're a lot stronger than most of us."
"Nah. In the cave, I accepted that I might not survive, but I wasn't about to accept that those kids weren't going to make it. I was scared, but I know I wasn't as scared as they were. To watch their friend slowly fade before their eyes, to have cold-blooded killers chasing them…I don't know if it's because I'm older, or because I've seen so much cruelty in this world that I handle it better, but they didn't deserve that. I know that I have to be strong, for them. And Ran."
"You're the one that should be supported right now, and you're focused on supporting everyone else."
"Of course." He pulled the food from the microwave and dug into it. Agasa watched him for a few moments, sizing up the next course of action.
"Not to sound like an annoying parent, but right after this you need to get to bed and get your rest. I'll handle the dishes and lock up when I leave."
"Thank you."
…X…X…
As strong as he acted, everyone that was close to him knew the truth. If Ran had been standing in Agasa's shoes, she would have put him to bed as soon as he'd gotten home and brought him dinner in bed. Heiji would have knocked him out with his own watch, without a doubt. His parents…Agasa didn't even want to contemplate the approach they would take. He put the cleaned dishes away in the cabinet, shaking out the drying towel and hanging it on its rack.
Shinichi was still awake. Nothing could put him to sleep right now. But at least he was in bed, resting. Well, presumably. There was the sound of a ball hitting the floor above and rolling away, until the sound faded completely away. After hearing the floorboards stop creaking, Agasa grabbed a dry cloth and pulled an ice pack from the freezer, then climbed the stairs to the teen's room. He glanced through the crack in the door to see the young man checking out his new scar.
"You're going to have to keep that hidden until we're sure about this," he said. Shinichi nodded in agreement, without a hint of surprise that the near-silent old man was there. There was no sneaking up on that boy unless he was on a case and so wrapped up in his clues that the whole world fell away.
"So basically, no swimming and no gym class," he sighed. "Well, I already have a note made up for tomorrow anyway. Since I made that little scene this afternoon, I'm sure things will be alright. I just hope she doesn't try to take Haibara's shirt off tonight. That would ruin this whole plan." Agasa slipped into the room, pressing the ice pack against Shinichi's stomach. "Right…that's supposed to help with the swelling, isn't it? You'd figure it'd be all better by now…"
"It was all better, until you jumped up everything inside yourself by changing sizes." Shinichi sighed and laid back on his bed. "Doesn't Conan have a check-up later this week?"
"Friday."
"How are you planning to cover that up?"
"If I'm still me by Wednesday, I'm going to call in a favor from my parents. I'm sure they can pull a few of those strings of theirs to get me a trustworthy doctor. Then I'll take Haibara with me, have my little check-up, and give Ran the results. It'll have Conan's name on it, so she shouldn't suspect a thing. But…It'd really be easier if…" Agasa could almost laugh at that look in his young friend's eyes.
"You miss being Conan?"
"No!" Shinichi shot up, only to sink back down. "It would just be easier to be in that body until this is completely healed." His hand clenched itself around the ice pack. "That plan will cover this week, but 'Conan' can't have a cold forever, even if his immune system is a little weakened. I know Haibara would prefer that things remain secret, but if her little prototype lasts, then we'll have to come up with something else until we're sure."
"His parents could always come pick him up for a while. Until we're sure. Then his parents can permanently take him home, and maybe Ran will never know he never existed."
"She'll know, someday. It's only fair to tell her." His eyes had a slightly dreamy look about them. "I wonder how long until we can say 'we're sure' that it worked. A few weeks? A month? A year?"
"Who knows? Make the most of the time you're given, that's what we're always told."
"Make the most, eh?" A smirk spread across his face. "Didn't Dad leave his credit card here?"
"I believe so. Why?"
"I'm going to take Ran somewhere special tomorrow night, but I hear the prices there are a little over-the-top."
"Shinichi…"
"Don't worry. I won't reveal that. But there's something I really do need to tell her, and she's definitely had to wait far too long to hear it."
