TK: BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
Blu: …you ruin all my fun. Anywho –clears throat- HOLY CRAP THAT'S A LOT OF REVIEWS! Twenty three from the last chapter! I'M SPEECHLESS!
TK: …I truly doubt that…
Blu: SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG, EVERYONE! Stupid site desided it wanted to freeze my account randomly XD I'll be good from now on! Promise!
Also, I've finally been able to watch a little of Case Closed, or should I say Detective Conan, in Japanese! My only comment: SHINICHI'S A FREAKIN FEMALE! -shudder- still hot once you get far enough into it...but...-twitch- MY BISHI'S A WOMAN! -twitch-
TK: ...just thank the stupid reviewers...
Blu: -smacks TK over the head with her sketchers-
Review Responses:
El Hustino- Who's being a little baka now? OF COURSE I WANT YOU AS MY BETA READER SILLY! Other then Kenny, you're the only person I'd trust my stories to –huggles- Thankies again for all your help! It really means so much!
PRIVATE- Tis great you think tis great because great is great and…now I'm all dizzy –falls over-
Firehedgehog- pressed and dried for your reading pleasure! Enjoy my friend
Mariko- …WHOO WHOO! Heehee! That's fun –nods-
Mandi-Solo- THANK YOU FOR BEING THE ONLY ONE TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS! –gives you a peanut butter cookie and some pocky- MY PRIZED READER! Give yourself a round of applause! You deserve it for ACTUALLY READING MY AUTHOR NOTES –glares at everyone else-
YumeTakato- Oh! That makes sense…in that case, I DON'T WANNA DIE! I WANT TO LIVE! THERE ARE YET SO MANY THINGS TO BE DONE! SO MANY FICS TO WRITE! SO MANY SUES TO BASH! SO MANY—yeah, I'm done now XD enjoy!
Shukuen- Tis not chat format, my friend. Tis just my author's note and Reviewer thanking section! I have to thank you guys for all of your wonderful reviews SOME HOW, AND I've found that if I do this, more people review! I just wanna give you something to laugh about if the chapter turns out to be something really dark or depressing. Plus it lets me get my silly out XD
Ewz- …what in the what now? I DON'T KNOW! God, I hope I didn't just screw up my whole story! …lets just go with…maybe?
Shadow Fox- -bows- tis a pleasure to please one of my own! I am glad I've done so well so far! …lets just hope I can keep it up…
StunGun Millie- hee, true, true. Sadly, I can not have pudding. Doesn't stop me for trying mind you, but I can never finish it XD –can't have too much milk or stoof happens to her throat- so yeah, here –hands you a half finished package of pudding- enjoy while you read
Kyllir- hee, I'm glad you liked the doc so much! He's going to be in thru out the fic so I hope you wont get bored of him
Silver Sky Magician- …I got an awesome…I GOT AN AWESOME! –does a little happy dance- I'm so happy! Thankies for reviewing!
Fireblazie- responses to your comments in order:
Glad you like it so far
I was hoping he would be
…okay as in 'cool' or okay as in 'uhh…yeah'?
No longer do you have to wait
And yes…no…possibly…maybe…I donno
JOSH- …do I know you? I think you might go to my school…JOSH! HI! How have you been?! Tis me! Remember?! I'm the freak with the sketch book? No? –shrugs- different Josh then XD
Song-Obsessed1- Umm…uh…deep breaths! That's it! Calm down! See? I posted the next chapter! No need to…erm…die eh heh….yeah…
InuBuggy- hee, glad you like it,
AbisainBlood- …Rachel's fault? What'd she do? …ah well, she's a anyhow…wait! I know you from somewhere! Didn't you review another one of my stories? Ack, I can't remember!
Enula- Rachel isn't all that hard to do. Now Richard on the other hand –looooooong sigh- EVIL
True-Slytherin-gurl- ...five words…wow. Sadly, the record so far is two words, set by Emily Alden herself, but here –hands you a peanut butter cookie- take this anyways
Kagome Fan1- hee, I'm sorry, but you're wrong about Shinichi's name XD Shinichi or Shin'ichi means 'son of Shin', but the Kudo part you might be right about. I donno so don't listen to me XD
Kitsune-firedragon- Welcome, fellow fox! You're in good hands! From what I've seen, the DC section is very caring towards their n00bs –is one herself XD-
Jet-1- hee. If I took a decade to write something, Hustino-kun would kick my sorry arse XD Umm...who's the one who talks with quoteation marks? A friend of your's? Your muse? I'm kinda confused here XD HELP A DEMON OUT HERE!
Blu: Two whole pages! WOW! YOU GUYS TOTALLY ROCK MY SOCKS!
Chapter Two: Warm Welcome
Five fifty-nine AM.
One minute and his shift would be over, then it would be time for a nice little nap. The kid had fallen asleep not too long ago, so he wouldn't be needing anything for another couple hours, and him being called to watch over another patient in the next…fifty two seconds was highly improbable.
He was basically in the clear.
He glanced at his watch, silently cursing it for being so slow. He just wanted his work day to be over and done with, not that he didn't like his job of course. He just hadn't had any sleep in…forever, and his body was having a hissy-fit over it. The millisecond his shift was over, he'd lean back and get some well needed shut eye.
He let out a sigh.
What a boring day. Just one minor case after another. The normal broken bones, a few surgeries; nothing special, besides of course his newest patient.
When was the last time he had dealt with an amnesia patient, anyways? He had heard very little about them in medical school, seeing as they weren't as common as one would think. He was taught, of course, the basics (how to treat it, the signs of such a case, the cause, what to do and not to do, blahity blah blah), but that was about it. He had only had, what? Two, including this kid?
Why'd those stupid sitcoms have to make it look like amnesia was such a common thing?
…twenty-two seconds and counting.
He glanced at the boy in the bed out of the corner of his eye. A strange case indeed. He knew so little about this kid. He had, of course, seen the file on him, but it was so incomplete the only information listed was the trivial things such as name, height, weight, so on and so forth.
It bugged him that he knew so little about him. Even his guardians admitted to not knowing much about the boy's past.
So he did some digging.
A little snooping never did anyone any harm. Besides, he had nothing better to do.
The only problem was Conan Edogawa didn't seem to frickin exist! He checked high and low through the hospital records for some medical records on him, even his parents, but came up empty every time.
Nothing whatsoever. Not even the hospital databanks had him listed.
Getting desperate, he had even looked up the boy's uncle in hopes in finding something, but the man was no better! Only a few minor heart complications, normal for a man Agasa's height and weight, and that was it.
He was starting to believe maybe this kid really didn't exist…that his lack of sleep was making him go bonkers.
His wrist-watch beeped, signaling the end of is shift. He let out a long yawn, stretching his arms stiffly before slumping lazily in his chair.
"Nappy-time!"
Too early.
He bit back a yawn. Way too early, he thought sleepily to himself as he pulled into the hospital parking lot.
Lord knows neither of them got any sleep last night. Well, he got a little bit, but Rachel…
Rachel had stayed up all night camped out next to the phone waiting for that no good Jimmy Kudo to call. God, he hated that kid. Kudo reminded him way too much of himself at that age. Always off looking for an adventure, leaving the person he loved cooped up at home.
Worst of all, the brat had to pick his daughter's heart to break.
When he got his hands on that kid…
It didn't matter how many times he had told Rach to give up on that kid. She'd just turn those heart filled blue eyes she could have only gotten from her mother on him, and he'd melt.
Damn Eva. Damn her to hell and back.
And damn those karate lessons too.
If he hadn't passed that onto her, maybe he'd get a word in edgewise for once.
Like this morning, for instance. He had been pretty sure he'd get to sleep at least to noon, seeing as it was Sunday, but his daughter had a different plan completely.
Check up on Conan.
He had argued that the kid would be fine. He had walked away from a car wreck for Pete's sake.
But nooooo.
Rachel had insisted. He hated how she insisted. Third desk she had insistedthat month.
And so here he was now, seven something in the morning after about three hours of sleep and no coffee. Damn, he wished they hadn't been out of coffee.
He put the car into park and turned to look at his daughter. She was staring straight out ahead of her, her eyes infixed on something he couldn't see. "He'll be alright, Rach," he said as he placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to sound reassuring. She nodded and unhooked her seat belt. Removing the keys from the ignitions, he did the same.
Her shift was over.
OVER DAMMIT!
She should be home sleeping right now, not waiting on someone else's patients, let alone that bum's, Onistu's.
Why'd she always let him talk her into doing things like this, anyways? He was just too lazy to wait for his own damn patients to come. She should've just made him get off his lazy butt for once.
Lazy, lazy, lazy.
She flipped through a few of the papers on the clipboard she had stolen from Onistu when he wasn't looking. Hey, it wasn't like he was going to use them!
Name, Edogawa, Conan… she thought as she read. Who names their kid 'Conan'? She shrugged it off. Must be from over seas or something. Her eyes darted down the page, skimming over the few lines actually filled in.
An incomplete record, as usual.
Yup, she thought, shaking her head. This has to be one of Onistu's files.
"Umm, excuse me?"
She looked up to see a young woman, around seventeen or so, staring down at her. The young woman glanced at the name tag pinned near her collar before reading it out loud in a low, "Toki Aneki?" She nodded. "Do you know a doctor by the name of Teibo-"
"You're Rachel, am I right?" she asked, interrupting the visitor mid sentence. Some what surprised, the teenager nodded. Smiling, she stood. "Yeah, Onistu has been waiting for you and your father." The young woman's face brightened slightly. "If you follow me, I'll lead you to the ward." The teenager, Rachel, nodded quickly before calling an older man, around his early forties, over. The man, whom she was pretty sure was the great Richard Moore, towered above her. Stupid height, she thought grimly to herself as she bowed slightly to the man. He did the same before she began to lead the pair down the hallways.
The three of them were silent as they walked down the corridors. Still early in the morning, the hospital was bare other then for a hand full of doctors and nurses and their patients. She had become used to the quiet morning hours, although she preferred the night shift herself. It had always been an uncomfortable silence to her even after years and years of it.
"So, you're the Great Detective Richard Moore, are you?" she asked the man walking behind her, her gaze infixed on where she was going instead of the two she was leading.
"You've heard of me, have you?" Moore asked her, sounding quite full of himself. She rolled her eyes.
"My husband's a fan," she replied boredly, "but I personally think you're just a fraud." The detective's head deflated while his daughter let out a small giggle. "Now, that Jimmy Kudo-"
"-Was nothing but a kid on a lucky streak." Moore interrupted. "He could never hold a candle to the Great Detective Richard Moore."
"And that's why you didn't get a case for months, right dad?" Rachel asked, her tone a mix of embarrassment and irritation.
"You hush."
She smiled. Silence gone.
"We're here," she announced. The pair stopped their bickering. "Keep your voices down," she instructed, "he's no doubt asleep." Opening one of the double doors, she ushered the two in before entering herself. "Dr. Teiboku will be with you-" she looked towards the boy's bed and her face fell, "-shortly."
Teiboku Onistu, supposedly a renowned doctor around the hospital, laid sprawled out in his chair, his feet propped up on another chair across from him. A beat up looking old manga, which she had seen him with on many occasions, sat balanced on his nose, shielding his eyes from the overhead florescent lights.
She let a groan and stormed over to the other doctor. "Get up!" she barked, ripping the manga off his face. He stirred slightly, but didn't get up. "Get up!!" she repeated sharply, yanking the chair out from under him. He awoke completely mid fall and uttered a startled yelp before hitting the ground.
"Whoa! What?! What happened?! What's going on?!" Onistu demanded, staring around in shock. His eyes landed on her feet, one of which was tapping impatiently on the floor, before moving up to her face. "Oh," he said shyly as he stared up at her, "it's only you, Aki(1)."
"Don't you 'Aki' me! What the Hell is wrong with you, Onistu?!" she demanded, yanking him up by the collar of his shirt. "You're in all but empty ward room, beds lining every wall, and you," she smacked him over the head with the manga, "take your nap in a chair." She let go of him. "And you wonder why your back hurts in the morning."
"Ow," Onistu whined, rubbing his head. "You'll give me a concussion, Aneki!"
"I wish," she spat back. "Your head is as hard as concrete and three times as thick! You could get run over by a semi and live to complain about how reckless they were driving!" Rolling her eyes, she roughly threw the comic book into Onistu's gut and stormed over to where the Moores stood staring on with huge sweat drops dripping from their foreheads. "I'm guessing you two could use some coffee, am I right?" she asked them in a sweet tone. They nodded quickly. "Thought so." She bowed. "I'll go get us all some; my shifts over anyways."
"So, you two are married?"
The two doctors before her nodded. "Only a few months, so they haven't gotten a new tag made for me," Aneki explained after sipping her coffee. "Besides, who would want to walk around with this block head's name pinned to their chest?" The female doctor smacked her husband's shoulder playfully, laughing to herself. Teiboku glared. "Cool it, I'm kidding."
She smiled. It was nice to have such friendly people to talk to right now. She needed the humor.
"So…how's he doing?" she asked after a moment of silence had passed.
"He woke up around five-twenty this morning and I filled him in a little on where he was and what had happened," Teiboku answered. "He'll probably wake up in another couple of hours. Then, after a few more tests, you can take him home." She let out a sigh of relief. "I'll need him to come back here for a check-up at least once a week or so, just for paperwork and such. You're, of course, welcome to stay here until he wakes up."
"Well, I've had my coffee, so I really don't care," her dad said cheerfully. Everyone chuckled lightly.
"Are you sure they don't mind us just hanging around in the ward room?" she asked.
"Naw," Aneki replied, waving the idea off. "Ward seven is only used if all the other wards are packed. Besides, it's perfectly normal for family members to hang around during visiting hours."
"And what about Dr. Agasa?" she asked. Once again, Teiboku produced his overflowing clip board.
"He's in a coma," the doctor explained, scanning some of his papers. "Serious head trauma, including the damaging of the frontal lobe and minor damage to the temporal lobe. He has a broken arm as well and slight burns on the legs." He looked up from his papers. "Most of that will be healed before he regains consciousness."
"So, he'll wake up?"
"Despite what it may seem, this Agasa guy got off pretty easy," Dr. Aneki cut in, looking over her husband's notes. "He'll be in the coma for most of the healing process and after recovering, he should have no further complications."
"Besides," Teiboku finished. "Most people suffering from comas end up with much more damage done to the brain. He'll probably be out of the coma in a few weeks to a month, tops."
Setting her purse on the floor, she made herself comfy in the chair near Conan's hospital bed. She was probably in for a long wait, but she didn't mind. Digging in her purse from where she sat, she pulled out a pocket-sized booklet and a pencil and flipped to the last page.
Crosswords, her favorite.
"One down…two words…" she mumbled while reading the clue. Her eyebrows drooped in concentration as she worked down the page. It was a somewhat challenging crossword, but it took her less than twenty minutes to finish. She checked her answers before putting the booklet away with a long sigh. Now she had nothing to do. "Why didn't I bring something else to work on?" she asked the almost empty ward room. "Lord knows I could do my homework for once!" She waited a moment for an answer before picking up her purse and starting to dig through it.
Gum, some crumpled bills, loose change, gum, broken key chain, gum, ballpoint pen, more gum…
Why did she have so much gum, anyways?
She doesn't even chew gum all that often.
She shrugged it off before unwrapping a piece and popping it into her mouth. It was probably the closest thing she'd be getting to breakfast anyways.
Besides the coffee of course.
"Knock, knock."
She jumped. Looking up, she saw the smiling face of Dr. Teiboku Aneki leaning on the doorframe of the ward room, an apple bouncing up and down in her hands. "I brought you some breakfast," the doctor called, moving from the doorway over to her. "Here, catch." Tossing the fruit to her, Aneki pulled up a chair and sat next to her. "Thought you might be hungry," she explained, pulling her own apple out of her pocket and taking a bite out of it. Fishing the wrapper back out of her purse, she placed her gum back onto it and wadded it up before chucking it into the trash can between the beds.
"Thanks," she said sheepishly. Such kind people… "Are you this nice to all of your patients?"
"Depends if I like 'em or not," Aneki replied, chewing on her bite of apple. "And whether Onistu likes 'em." The doctor swallowed and smiled at her. "He seemed to think it was really sweet how much you cared for that kid," Aneki jabbed a thumb at Conan, "and not too many people can do that."
Her thoughts drifted towards her Jimmy as the doctor when on and on about her husband. Jimmy could be sensitive…when he wanted to be. When he wasn't goggling over his fan letters or ranting about Sherlock Holmes, he was sweet and kind and would help anyone in the world if given the chance…
"…Yeah, Onistu's a real softy for sentimental crap like that," Aneki went on, pulling her hair out of its loose bun. "You say the right words and the guy will bawl, swear to God."
Who was Jimmy helping now, she wondered. Was it some random teenager? Did he fall in love with someone else and leave her?
Wait, what was she thinking? They weren't even an item to begin with! That stupid detective geek could go off and find whomever he wanted. GOOD RIDDANCE!
"…oh, and, to top it off, the man's obsessed with anything mystery! He's a detective geek, I swear!"
Those two words brought her back to reality. "Detective…geek?" she asked slowly.
"Oh God yes!" Aneki sighed. "He never shuts up about Arthur whatever Doyle too! I even tried reading that, but I didn't get it whatsoever. English is just too complicated." She couldn't help but laugh.
"He sounds so much like Jimmy!" she exclaimed. The doctor stopped her ramble.
"Jimmy?" Aneki asked, intrigued. "You wouldn't mean Jimmy Kudo, would you?" She nodded slowly. "Wow! Cool! What, are you two like boyfriend/girlfriend or something?"
"Umm…we…"
"I knew it!" the doctor exclaimed excitedly. "You two ARE a couple! What's it like dating the Jimmy Kudo."
"From what I've heard, its no different then being married to Teiboku Onistu," she replied bluntly. Aneki's shoulders sagged.
"Oh…damn, I'm sorry," the doctor said in fake pity. "Is he really that bad?"
Her face fell and she felt herself glaring off into space, "He can be stupid and self-absorbed and—"
"—mule headed—" Aneki cut in, finishing her sentence for her. She smiled.
"—and a conceded jerk and—"
"—and just too cute when he's embarrassed."
She sighed. "Yeah…" Taking out their apples, the two women leaned on each other's shoulders before biting into their breakfast.
"Men really suck some times."
"Amen to that."
The dull pain was back.
This time he knew better then to move. Instead, he listened to the conversation going on somewhere around him. Two low voices, women voices, were talking somewhere next to him. One, which he was more then sure he had heard somewhere before, was chatting happily while the other one mostly listened. He didn't try to pick out words. He was still too tired.
A strong scent suddenly filled his nostrils. Iodine…he thought weakly. That's iodine…
His eyes fluttered before slowly opening. The females' conversation came to a screeching halt.
"You're up!" the familiar voice exclaimed. Suddenly two beautiful blue eyes were looking down at him in great concern. "Oh thank God, Conan!" the face connected to the eyes said as two arms wrapped around his body. His heart did a summersault with joy.
Why the heck was it so happy?
Strong strawberry perfume flooded his senses. Well, she didn't have the iodine on her. It must be…
"You're finally up, are you?" the other voice asked. It was lower, older. A woman in her late twenties came into his view and stared down at him, an apple in her hand. The arm, exposed from the way the sleeve loosely fit around it, was discolored in places.
He knew it! Iodine.
"You have…iodine on your arm," he pointed out weakly. The woman, a doctor he guessed, glanced at her arm and swore.
"And so I do," she said grimly. "Damn Onistu and his terrible habit of surprising me when I'm putting breakable things away! …wait," the doctor turned back down to him, "how did you know it was iodine and not something else?"
"The smell," he replied plainly as the other woman released him from her grip and sat on the side of his bed. "And your arm is discolored from the chemicals." The familiar one's smile widened.
"You are Conan!"
Blu: Holy…ELEVEN PAGES! ELEVEN! JEEZ-UM CROW!
TK: calm down
Blu: ...fine, ruin my fun as always
TK: -sweat drop-
Blu: Umm...I kinda need your guy's help, mainly the peeps who have seen the whole show in japanese. What is Conan's teacher's name? I kinda need to know for...reasons. If you know, paleeeeeeeeeeeease include it in either your review (hint hint) or in an email to BluFox848 -insert at symbol thingy- aol . com. Danke much!
(1)Aki: Japanese for autumn