Author's Note: And Chapter 3 is here! Most of Chapter 4 is written but needs to be edited and whatnot - so hopefully it'll be out in a few days. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter :)
Haibara was standing in the middle of a lingerie store. It'd been so long since she had gone shopping for some that she almost felt like she was a young boy scared of getting caught in the women's undergarments section.
As she wandered through the aisles, she had a constant frown on her face. Even though she had the woman's sizes, she had no idea what type of undergarments the woman would want. It probably wouldn't be practical to find something super lacy and sexy, but buying granny panties wasn't exactly normal for a woman in her 20's, as Haibara guessed Curacao was in.
She felt that no matter what aisle she went down, things were either too lacy or too skimpy. She'd been in there for a solid fifteen minutes before a store employee saw her and came over.
"Young miss, I think you might be in the wrong section."
Haibara shook her head quickly. "I'm buying a present for my mom," she said as childishly as possible. "My dad was supposed to get it but he has to work late. Mom's birthday is tonight and so I have to pick it up and wrap it before dinner." She widened her eyes as much as possible to seem helpless and innocent.
The clerk smiled at her and asked, "Do you know what you're looking for?"
Haibara held out the folded piece of paper with the sizes. The woman took it and looked it over. "Do you know what color or possibly a design?"
The first thing Haibara could think of was Curacao's eye, and of the popular Blue Curacao alcohol. "Blue. No pattern."
"What about lace? Do you know if she wants that?"
Haibara pretended to think deeply, "Maybe a little?"
The woman steered her over to a few different places to look at undergarments, and finally Haibara found a pair that looked relatively decent but still comfortable. "That one." The bottom had lace around the top band, and the bra had small pieces of lace on the front of the cups, but the thicker padding kept it from being see-through.
"Is there anything else I can help you find?"
"I think my dad mentioned something about a matching sports bra. He said something about comfort for sure," Haibara was doing her best to make things up as she went. She knew that she had sometimes hated wearing wired bras, so something a bit softer and more flexible would most likely be appreciated.
Once again, the clerk was able to show her a few different sports bras, and Haibara picked out one that didn't need to be hooked. The clerk then suggested an extra pair of panties to go with the sports bra, and Haibara nodded. It would probably be a good idea to have at least two pairs. She went to the checkout and pulled out the professor's credit card.
After paying she thanked them and quickly left the store. She felt like she'd lost a few years of her life trying to act like a child. Shopping for undergarments had never been such a hassle before.
When she returned to the professor's, the Detective Boys were over. She was greeted by the kids happily, but Conan felt the need to inquire as to her absence. "What were you doing?" He was eyeing her bag. She tended to like more expensive products and he felt a twang of pain for the professor's wallet.
"Shopping," she said plainly. She started up the steps toward her room.
"For what?" he followed her, acting like a curious child. The other kids were confused by his sudden lack of maturity. Then again, it could be due to his detective's nature.
She paused on the steps and looked him dead in the eye. She smirked as she said, "Underwear."
His face heated up and he froze as she walked up the rest of the steps and placed the bag in her room.
Bourbon took a seat at the folding chair across from Curacao's bed.
"So, you've had your visit. Now then, what can you give us?"
Curacao crossed her legs and pressed her back against the wall, facing her interrogator. "Buildings. I know a few places that the Organization has made deals or carried out operations. You might be able to connect them to a crime or maybe even find evidence of their existence. They may be very careful, but as you know, they aren't perfect. I mean, they haven't found you out."
Bourbon tossed her a notebook and a pen.
She wrote down one address for an abandoned warehouse in the middle of Tokyo and then paused. "Before I can give you more, you have to remember to let me have my little visitor. She already promised me she would come back."
He slowly nodded his head.
She wrote down one more address and then tossed him the notepad and pen.
It was another several days before Amuro was once again outside the professor's door knocking. It had been a little under a week since her first visit. He could hear a voice call out, "Just a minute!"
And after what sounded like heavy footsteps down stairs, the professor pulled open the door. "Ah, Amuro-san, how can I help you?"
"Is Haibara Ai in?" He had his server's smile plastered on his face.
The professor furrowed his brow, "Ai-kun? What do you need her for?" He was doing his best to pretend he didn't know and wasn't worried.
"I promised to take her to visit a friend," he replied with the same easy smile.
The professor opened the door, "Come in and have a seat." He gestured towards the couch while he made his way to the basement, calling down. "Ai-kun, Amuro-san said he is here to take you to visit a friend."
"Be up in a second Professor!" she called back. He could hear here clicking away at the keys of her computer. She had told the professor about what was happening, and her suspicions, but she had him keep it to himself. It wouldn't do to have Conan looking into things, not when it had to do with the Organization. If there was someone else trying to take them down, Haibara felt she could encourage it while also keeping the mini detective from getting himself, or the rest of them, killed.
A minute later she was up the steps, removing her lab coat and hanging it on a coat rack. "One moment," she said as she went up the steps.
She came back down with a shopping bag, the logo one that Amuro didn't recognize.
"I'll be back for dinner, Professor. Keep the pot simmering for the next 20 minutes and then you can turn the fire off. When I get back we can boil it back and eat."
"Okay, Ai-kun, have fun."
She had just made it out the door when she decided to poke her head back inside. "Don't start eating without me. And no liberal taste tests."
His slight whine was cut off as she closed the door and then trotted down the steps to the open car door.
As they buckled and started the drive, Amuro asked, "What's in the bag?"
Haibara replied, "A present."
"Since we'll be going to a hospital, your bag will need to be searched before we can visit her."
Haibara nodded her head, "Will a lady be the one searching the bag?"
"It can be arranged," he said with a furrowed brow.
"Good." She stared out the window and held the bag to her chest.
When they arrived, Amuro had to ask one of the security guards to go find one of their female personnel. After a few minutes of waiting a woman arrived to search the bag. She did a cursory check through it and seemed at a loss for words. She okayed the bag and Amuro let Haibara into Curacao's room after a quick knock.
Once the girl was inside, he turned to the female guard. "What was in there?"
The woman almost felt embarrassed to say, "Underwear." Amuro froze. He had no idea that they hadn't even provided such basic amenities for their captive. He wasn't the one in charge of her wardrobe.
Inside the cell, Curacao saw the bag and smiled. "Is… that what I think it is?"
Haibara nodded and handed her the bag, "Of course. And I don't think you understand how hard it was for me to get that."
Curacao started to rummage through it, pulling out the four articles of clothing. "How so?" She was a bit excited to see that not only had she received two sets of underwear, but one looked very comfortable.
"It's been so long since I bought underwear from a lingerie store I didn't even know where to start," Haibara sighed. "I've been buying mine in bulk from cheap stores because there's really no purpose to cute looking undies at my age."
Curacao was nodding along to what Haibara was saying, but her focus seemed to be on deciding which set she wanted to wear first.
"One of the clerks then found me and I had to try to explain to her what I was looking for while trying to act like a child. I had to concoct a story as to why I was buying it too. It was exha-" Haibara cut herself off as she snapped her head towards a wall. "Oh for the love of - go into your bathroom to change!" Curacao had pulled her shirt over her head and was starting to pull on her sports bra.
"It's not like it's something you haven't seen before," Curacao said with a shrug. "Besides, you're just a child."
Haibara snorted, "At least have some common decency to not suddenly strip in front of your guests. I'm not here to see that."
"Right right, you're here to visit your dear new friend." The older woman finished pulling her pants back up and sighed with relief. "I don't think you understand how happy I feel right now."
"Are you done?"
"Yep." Curacao took a seat back down on her bed. She was finding that she had more and more energy to move about, but the energy was easily expended by small activities. "Now then, what were you saying before?" She smiled.
Haibara just shook her head. "Never mind that. So how have you been this past week?"
"I've been alright. Surprisingly, Bourbon took me out for a walk twice. It's more than what I'd gotten for two weeks prior. I think the information I gave them must have paid off." She leaned back a bit and stretched out her legs, holding them above the ground for a few seconds before letting them touch the cool tile.
"What information?" she asked cautiously. There was always a chance that Curacao would spill the beans about her being Sherry.
"Just the address to a few buildings that the Organization has done previous dealings in. For the next few weeks, I'll probably keep feeding them addresses. Once they've gathered information from these places, they might come to me with questions. At that point, I might be able to give them a little bit more of what they need."
"Couldn't you give them information now that would allow them to take down the whole operation?" Haibara was sitting in the chair that Bourbon frequently placed himself in.
"No. I don't have that sort of information, sadly. I can give them leads and help them get closer, but I don't have what they need. Now that I'm no longer an active member, things could have easily changed." She shrugged and ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know if you remember, but after your escape, they burned down the building you had worked and lived in." Curacao pulled her knees up to her chest. "And after Vermouth reported that you had died on some train or other, they still changed a few of their buildings around to make sure they could not be traced back to the explosion aboard the train. With me supposedly dead, they'll most likely do another cleanse of things I was affiliated with. They won't be able to clear everything since I had my hand in a lot of things, but they've probably done a good job extinguishing my existence."
"Are you even going to be that much help to them then?"
"Who knows? For now, I'm doing what I can to stay relatively comfortable. I mean, I get to have a little friend come visit, and they still have doctors checking up on me."
Haibara nodded her head slowly, "Good. If they care for your health, you still hold value to them." Then her brow furrowed slightly, "Did they… not try to draw the information out of you using… rough methods?"
Curacao snorted slightly, "They tried, but, when Rum takes you in as their right-hand agent, they make sure that you can't spill anything, that you won't spill anything, no matter what you're physically and mentally put through."
"I see. I'm glad they seem to have decided those methods are no longer suitable." Haibara glanced down at her phone. "I'm sorry to have to end this so abruptly again, but-"
"Your outside life awaits," Curacao finished with a small smile.
Standing up, Haibara nodded her head. "Yeah. I'll see you again soon." She knocked on the door to be let out.
"See you soon, and thank you for the clothes."
A/N: Let me know what you all think! Leave a comment or shoot me a message :) They help encourage me to write more - so if you want more please do let me know