Warnings: parents as people, Kogoro and his unknown past, trauma, past divorce
III.
Her father isn't happy.
But then, he wouldn't be. There was a new mouth to feed, a new person to look after, and she was unhappy. For all his faults, her father was a good father in the end. Kudo Shinichi had never been someone he particularly liked, felt too rich and big for his breeches. And there was the fact that he was a better detective, something her father could never have admitted out loud if he tried. But Kudo Shinichi had still been a kid to him, some little punk who meant well and was too big.
He can see that brat in Edogawa Conan with the look in his eyes, all blue and contemplating, but that's where the similarities end. Edogawa Conan is much quieter, bows his head more, buries his hands in his pockets and shrinks to be unseen. His eyes twitch about the room more than once and he thanks them too much, too politely. Like he's fitting the clothes he wears.
At the very least, he does have a child's appetite and a child's way to crash. He's asleep on the couch before Kogoro even leaves the privacy of the bathroom with Ran. He still has a case to go on after all. And there's no benefit to bringing them, even though he'd feel better if he did.
A guy who hit kids with bats and poisoned them? For being curious? Beika is a bad enough place. Crime congregates here, deep down in between tv shows and horse races he truly wants to figure out why. It's a cesspool of shit, if he's honest and if it were any less expensive to move he'd do it as soon as Ran graduates.
"You'll have to tell your mother," he says, and he's reluctant, splashing his face with more water and running to check for stubble. It's a rich client, a good case. He needs to look his best. He needs to present competency.
He really doesn't want to go.
Not with Ran's hands shaking so bad with the knife that they order takeout. Not with her eyes puffy and this kid having to be convinced repeatedly that it's fine if he stays, even before Kogoro can even refuse or consider refusing.
"I'll call her," she agrees and her voice is absent for a moment, like she's all over the floor instead of right in front of him. And he does get it, he does understand, her best friend is dead, gone, finite. For no reason. Because of pride. Because of some asshole. Because of things they don't know. How many times did that happen with the police? How many times does he sometimes go to bed dreaming of that with the people he loved in the place of strangers with degrees and specialties and all the preparation in the world? "What's the client, Dad?"
"Guy says his daughter is missing. He'll pay well. We'll be good until next month if I find her." His voice turns clipped and quick, eager and hungry. He can't help it, he really can't. This is something he does love. Even without Eri, even without the immediate materialism he loves his job and he knows how to do it. He just… hasn't wanted to in so long. There's no benefit for most people. There's no reason to take it seriously in a city like this. And yet… here he is, doing it anyway. "The butler reported it," he continues, because it seems to be helping. Her eyes are opening a little wider, the concern physically visible in her face. "The guard dogs didn't cause any fuss at all either."
"Maybe it's someone they know then." Ran looks at her hands, solemn eyed. "Dogs are terrifyingly loyal. If they trust everything is fine, it probably means the person who did it was well known and didn't mean any harm. They're trained so well, like in the force, right? It'd be hard to drug that many dogs all at once and not get spotted."
His first instinct is to roll his eyes, but Kogoro pauses instead and thinks it over. Firstly because he's got her looking less like she wants to pass out and hit the floor the second he goes to the door, but because that's true. Even if it was just someone they knew, they'd find it weird to find their charge being taken where they weren't supposed to be. A fuss would be kicked up… surely. That happened at elementary schools, it'd just be like that but with lots of sharp teeth.
"It's not a kidnapping?" he says out loud. And as he says it, something fills his gut. "But it could become one. A small child left by themselves somewhere could become one just as easily." He glances at his phone in the cradle. He could call the inspector. He could, he should. But this may just be paranoia. And old friends or not, Megure is not as fond of him anymore.
And maybe he's right to be.
But that's for later. He has to go, now.
"I'll be back. Call your mother, all right?"
Ran nods. There's more color in her cheeks, she almost looks happier. "I will dad. Be careful."
He laughs, like there's any way he could be anything else. He was the devil of the judo team after all.
And Kogoro leaves, though he doesn't want to.
(In the end it's good that he does. There is one less victim that day.)
Where Mouri Kogoro is skeptical and bitter and tired, Kisaki Eri is sick and terrified and furious. And she barrels over even though it's so far away, she breaks probably a dozen laws she's bound to uphold and if the city was any less of the hellhole it was, people would notice. But tonight they don't and tonight she is glad. And tonight she will not fight with her ex husband.
She comes in with warmer food and old clothes from the times the two children had shared homes and a set of toiletries and a list of paperwork for Kogoro to deal with in the morning. She won't get a hold of Yukiko and Yusaku this late, she assumes, but she tries anyway, in between holding Ran's hand and watching the now named Conan sleeping in light fits, tossing and turning and crying out like he's in pain. ANd he very well might be. The boy needs a god damn doctor not a crackpot professor.
"They poisoned a child." Her voice is steady, of course, she's a lawyer, you learn to produce bullshit no matter what side of the coin you fall at.
"We're sixteen mom," Ran says, voice stuffy from having sobbed as quietly as possible again.
"Children," Eri says without pause. "Just because you got taller and bleed between your legs doesn't make you an adult anymore. You're just older and so was he." Ran flinches and Eri doesn't quake against it. Ran can make her father bend and fold like wet paper but Eri is sterner, stubborn in the same way. "Just because he can solve murder cases and keep cool under pressure doesn't make him an adult, Ran. That's the mistake everyone else has made. Don't you do it now, you'll blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault."
Ran freezes. And she shakes. But she nods, looks her mother right in the eye and nods.
"We'll find who did this," Eri says, steady and not real, like she isn't shaken to her heart. Because this world is awful, and her daughter feels it close to her now. Like it didn't happen before of course, but the cruelty of the world, the inevitable cruelty that came from some people, is laid bare.
And Eri is not a detective. Eri is not a hero with a cape nor a paragon of justice. But she is a lawyer mother, and hell truly hath no fury.
And the heavens help those who think Kudo Yukiko won't be the same.
"We'll find them," Eri continues. "And we will put an end to them. Not you. This is not revenge. Okay, Ran?"
Ran does not nod or agree. She only stares with the normal spike of her hair starting to droop.
"You need to keep him safe," Eri says instead of what she wants to say, what is buried in her heart to say. "And you can't do that if they kill you too." And we can't avenge you, without you we have nothing.
The fight leaves her eyes. Ran nods.
Conan stirs, but this time it's with open eyes and curled fists. "Ran-nee-chan…?"
Eri watches her daughter's demeanor soften, watches the love and joy and bitterness well up like water in her being as she turns away. "Conan-kun! Did we wake you up?"
"I'm sorry Ran-nee-chan."
Eri watches her daughter age and deage in her face. "Don't apologize Conan-kun. Nothing's your fault."
"It is," the boy says and she can see Kudo Shinichi even if Ran can't. "It's Shinichi-nii-san's fault and I'm not him. But you're still sad. And that's my fault cause I can't help."
Ran doesn't answer. Can't answer. There are tears streaming down her face. Eri remembers her running home yelling about not being a crybaby and that the boy who said it being a meanie.
Eri lifts herself up from the floor and moves over to sit by Conan. She introduces herself and he bows his head in a precocious little way. And when Ran has moved away to clean her face, Eri leans over and whispers.
"If you want to make her happy, Conan-kun, do your best to smile. Then she won't be able to help herself."
"Really?" And she's treated to that child look of "adults know everything" that she can't help but grin.
"Yes. Live and smile and work hard. Be a good example for my Ran, okay?"
He nods as she pulls away. It looks very serious, but the Kudo boy had always been in part.
"I'll do my best, Miss Kisaki," he whispers back and he smiles. He smiles a small thing that's genuinely sweet.
And even if Ran is still walking on shaky legs and a puffy face, Eri can breathe a little easier.
A/N: And thus ends a thimble's worth of blood! This was supposed to end with Conan's first murder but I think it's better that I hold off on that. Please let me know what you think of Eri and Kogoro as I'll probably be featuring more of them soon enough. So what happens next? Next is child's first (?) murder in the first crow, followed by a short mc titled twigs and kids, aka The Detective Boys. From there? Well, we'll see. Please leave a review down below, they really help me out and I hope you enjoyed this!