Chapter 2: Water Bottle

Without warning, their unknown rescuer took the half-unconscious girl out of her arms and quickly ran to the grass covered ground and laid Yoshida-san on it.

All four of them were covered with soot, but there were relieved smiles on their face when the boy offered his water bottle for them to drink. Kojima-kun took it and passed the bottle to Tsuburaya-kun after he drank a small amount of it.

Incredibly grateful that she didn't need to drink the temporary antidote, Shiho gazed at their rescuer and said, "Thank you." Although looking back on it, the boy didn't have anything with him that could destroy the door; so she asked, "How did you break the door?"

"Simple," the boy looked at her and shrugged with a lopsided smile, "I kicked it."

Shiho responded with a disbelief stare that made the boy tugged his lips into a wider, sheepish smile that made her felt like an ignorant child. She ducked her head low, eyebrows twitched.

Impossible. The boy in front of her obviously didn't have the shoes that Edogawa-kun almost always wore. If only she wasn't a slouch at detecting lies, she would have accused him of lying. She briefly trained in psychology when she was in the Organization, and she had honed the skill of detecting lies by simply hearing what Kudo-kun's spew from his mouth whenever he denied that Ran-san wasn't his girlfriend. Because of that, she knew the boy wasn't lying and was simply amused by her disbelief.

"Really?" At the boy's smile, Kojima-kun loudly announced, "You're so cool, Nii-chan!" he grinned at the older-looking boy.

Although Kojima-kun was standing, the boy was taller than him. Now that Shiho looked at him closely, she could tell that the boy was about two or three years older than them. Maybe in third or fourth grade? Yet, how could she feel like she was younger just by looking at his eyes?

"Ng... everyone?" Yoshida-san rubbed her eyes as she slowly sat up. Tsuburaya-kun and Kojima-kun were circling her with big smiles on their faces.

"Ayumi-chan, you're awake!"

"Ayumi!"

Shiho helped her to get up and offering her Uchiha-san's water bottle, "Are you okay, Yoshida-san?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Yoshida-san's half-lidded eyes soon grew wide as she exclaimed, "Conan-kun!"

Annoyed for being ignored, Shiho glanced at where Yoshida-san was looking. There he was, the tardy Detective with someone she didn't want to face.

"You guys!" Kudō-kun ran to them. "How?" he asked, out of breath.

"Onii-san saved us!" Tsuburaya-kun exclaimed happily.

Kudō-kun's eyes flickered to each of them, probably looking for injuries. He inquired, "Who?"

"This Nii-chan over here." Kojima-kun gestured to the boy behind him.

"Who are you?" Kudō-kun glancing at the unknown older boy beside Tsuburaya-kun.

"We don't know your name yet," Shiho uttered, eyeing the boy.

The boy sheepishly introduced himself, "Ah, right. My name is Uchiha Shisui."

Tsuburaya-kun perked up and introduced himself, "I'm Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko," Tsuburaya-kun gestured to himself, "this is Haibara Ai-san," he gestured to his right, where Shiho was, and then to Yoshida-san who was in front of him, "this is Yoshida Ayumi-chan," he pointed to Kojima-kun who was on his left, "this is Kojima Genta-kun," he finally pointed to Kudō-kun who was farther away from him, "and that is Edogawa Conan-kun!"

"Your name is as weird as Conan," Kojima-kun remarked to the older boy.

Uchiha-san laughed at that, even holding his side with his left eye closed. He looked so carefree that Shiho was taken aback by the cheerful aura he was emanating. "Is that so?" he said to Kojima-kun who was now dubiously staring at him, bewildered by the reaction he got from Uchiha-san.

"No, Onii-san, Genta-kun doesn't mean it." Yoshida-san stood up. "And Conan-kun's name isn't weird either!"

Oh, joy, they were going to argue. Shiho advised sternly as she lightly gripped Yoshida-san's shoulder, "Yoshida-san, please rest. You almost fainted back then in the cottage."

"But, Ai-chan, I feel okay after drinking this," Yoshida-san held up the water bottle Uchiha-san offered earlier.

Shiho could only sigh at that. Kids these days didn't take advise better as she was when she was a kid.

"Oi, are you the one who saved them?"

Shiho stood up and took a step back. She hid behind Kojima-kun's back as soon as she heard that voice.

The short, messy haired girl, who had arrived with the boy named Conan, narrowed her eyes at them. Her eyes examined the burning cottage and the fallen door. After she seemingly reached a conclusion she walked to the kids and questioned him, "Oi, are you the one who saved them?" Her eyes intently looked at the boy.

Shisui nodded, eyes locked with the teenage girl's foreign green eyes that were eerily similar to the little girl with the reddish brown hair's eyes.

The teenage girl tilted her head and said, "Interesting," she smirked, "I'm Sera Masumi, by the way."

He inclined his head, "I'm Uchiha Shisui. It's a pleasure." He could feel that the girl was only curious. As curious as the boy with the glasses was.

"Are you doing any kind of martial art?" Masumi prodded.

"Karate," he informed without a second thought.

"Onii-san, what kind?" asked an excited Ayumi.

"Kyōkushin," Shisui elaborated, grinning after witnessing the kids and Masumi's surprised expressions.

Kyōkushin Karate, or full body contact Karate, is almost like Shinobi Kumite he mastered back when he was in Konoha. So when his new family asked him what martial art he had trained in, he answered with 'Karate, Kyōkushin style'. It was an extreme style, so few people ever practiced it, let alone a little kid like himself.

"Ah! That's the same as Ran-oneesan," Ayumi cheerfully informed, "Where are you from, Onii-san?" she inquired, eyes trained on the older boy.

Shisui tilted his head to the side, "Hmm? It's Tōkyō."

"Whoa! What a coincidence," Mitsuhiko beamed and added, "We're from Tōkyō, too! Beika city."

"Wow, am I to assume you five are the famous Shounen Tantei-dan from Beika City?" At their nods, he asked, "So how did you guys get trapped inside of that?" Shisui pointed his thumb over his shoulder to the direction of the still burning cottage.

Mitsuhiko grimaced, "Well, that's..."

Author's Note: I hope this chapter isn't disappointing.