One Shot Two:
Note: To inaugurate the translations, I chose one of my shortest (ever!) One Shots.
It's a Shinichi-Ran pairing I wrote for a French friend of mine. I can tell you, when I realised I'd actually written something short, I would have glomped her!
And then I managed a drabble. Oops!
Genre: Romance(?)
Characters: Detective Conan Lead Characters (Shinichi, Ran, and a third.)
Rating: K


The Novel Heroine.

Ran Mouri is very similar to a number of girls her own age.

She goes to High School, chats about their lessons with her tutors and classmates, dreams of romance and takes part in after school activities, such as Karate. She's interested in the latest movies her friends talk about, goes shopping with her best friend, and reads novels with heroines who care.

…But, unlike most seventeen year old teenagers, Ran really is like the heroines from those novels.

Ran the brave, who worries for her close ones.
Even when she is sad and lonely without reason, she continues to smile, warming the hearts of those around her.
Ran the sensitive, whose heart of gold is well known to all whom she has comforted, supported, or simply loved.
Intelligent, she knows to make good decisions, and understands probably much more about life than most girls her age.
Her generosity, of course, is only equalled by her devotion. There is a reason so many compare her to an angel.

And, just as it is the case for these novel heroines, Ran Mouri's life is not without trouble…
Only daughter of a rather hectic father, she must withstand the absurd separation of her parents, and take care of the household chores.
Her father's occupation isn't easy on her either. The murder investigations, stakeouts and other cases brought to her father's attention don't make for a very peaceful routine… Especially for such a sensitive and caring young woman such as Ran.
Ran's toughest challenge, however, is facing the uncertainty. Where can he be, this childhood friend, whom she probably cherishes as much as her own heart? What if she never gets the opportunity to ask him that one question, or never gets to know of his true feelings, what would she do?

Indeed, it is hard to love a noble knight, gone to war, investigating some mysterious crime, never knowing when or how he will return.

But, like any true heroine, Ran bravely faces as best she can the different challenges her destiny creates, one after the other.

Maybe it's time she reached the "Happy Ending" she so deserves.
After all, we may not be in a novel, but what prevents me from wishing her sadness to be followed by joy? From wishing Fiction to become a reality?

From my hiding place, behind the glazed door, I watch as she enters his hospital room.
Tears of relief and emotion cascade from her eyes, but the joy I read in them are sufficient to warm my heart, and reassure me on the goodness of my decision.

He smiles upon seeing her, and weakly waves his hand. He is still weary from the treatments he was given, and also the fatigue that results both from the antidote's action and his final battle against those dreadful black crows.

Those two have no place in their lives for a shadow, no need for a figure who is only too aware of the black tragedies of reality.

I move away before he can start to wonder how this reunion came to be…
Before she asks herself who that woman on the phone had been.

This is how I wish to thank them, and say farewell.

He no longer needs me. She doesn't need to know who I am.

And who am I?
Ha, an idiot.
A young woman, just like Ran.
But unlike her, I don't believe in happiness, nor do I believe in fictional heroines.
I have lived for too long in the dark side of reality.

Yet, despite all this, I too loved that knight. I too was attracted by this morsel of fairy tale.

But it is not for me…

I ignore my selfishness, these foreign feelings, and, just this once, I let the small part of light in me take over.

Be happy, Ran Mouri.

As happy as my sister once wished me to be…
You deserve it more than I do.

Be happy, Shinichi Kudo.

And may you never have to fight such terrible battles ever again.

As for me, I depart to discover this new freedom you both gave me without realising, to try and fly with these grey wings.

Thank you for this precious gift named hope.

FIN

Dedicated to Samiha, for her sixteenth birthday!

(And in case you can't guess, third character is Shiho Miyano.)