Time for the next chapter of this story! I saw Magic Kaito episode 6 yesterday, it was good!
So yeah, thanks for 4 reviews! This story is a re-write, it's gonna diverge considerably from both the canon series and the original story. The pairings are Shinran, Heikazu, and KaiAoko. :d
I will try to incorporate murders in here, but I am terrible at writing mysteries, so if anyone at all could help with that, it would be most appreciated!
Chapter Four Deductions and Experiments
Some days, Ran Mouri really thought her childhood friend overdid it with his mystery obsession. This was one of those times. Even though she loved him very, very much, there were times when he just went overboard.
"Shinichi, are you doing all right?" Ran asked Shinichi, who ignored her in favor of looking at a piece of paper and who was muttering to himself under his breath. What had his attention so much that he couldn't even pay attention to his own best friend?
Was it a murder case? It must be.
Didn't he know how much she worried about him and cared about him and how her heart always jumped in her throat every time Shinichi faced some ruthless criminal? Yet he still charged into the heart of battle over and over.
Ran sometimes had bizarre dreams of Shinichi disappearing and a little boy taking his place. She would wake from those dreams in a cold sweat, convinced that Shinichi was gone, however the relief she felt when he answered reassured her heart. However, it did tell her that if he focused onl on mysteries, the time might come when they really did get separated.
Ran loved him too much to ever lose him.
"Shinichi..." Ran repeated, but he didn't so much as look her way. Instead, he turned a page. He was mumbling to himself about something, his face stuck in a book. 'It's always those cases! He always cares about them more than me!'
No response.
Finally, she began to get very irritated, which resulted in her crying out, "Shinichi, what are you doing?"
He turned to face her, looking very annoyed. "What is it, Ran? I can hear you just fine, you know, baarou."
Ran frowned. "Honestly, Shinichi, do you have to read and walk at the same time? It's so annoying!"
'Oh crap, that came out too harsh!' Ran screamed in her mind. This was why she was taking her friend Shinichi to see Sonoko-despite the two having a mutual dislike of each other-to help him take some time off the spotlight. His ego was, while not arrogant, just a bit overblown now.
"Barou, you know I have to look over things for a case." Shinichi lied, trying to hide the KID note, but it slipped out of his hands. 'Ah, Kuso!'
"What's this?" Ran asked, picking up the Kaitou KID note that had fallen out of his notebook. Her eyes lit up. "Aha, it's a Kaitou KID note! Were you sent one, Shinichi?"
Shinichi nodded. "Yes. This note was aimed at me, after all. I have no idea why a thief like him is so interested in inviting a detective to his dumb show. Megure-keibu practically begged me to go to the heist, so they must be desperate."
Ran's eyes filled with annoyance,"Bakanichi, KID is not a bad person. Maybe you could find out who he is. Wouldn't that be exciting?"
"Barou. Since when did you start acting like Sonoko?" Shinichi asked before eying her closely.
"I was joking, Shinichi." Ran replied promptly.
"Are you sure...?" Shinichi asked, warily. "Because if I'm not mistaken...you acted just like her now."
"You're so paranoid, Shinichi! Like I said before, I was only joking." Ran said.
"It's natural for a detective such as myself to be paranoid! After all, I'm destined to make lots of deadly enemies, Ran. Detectives aren't always well-liked." He said sharply.
"Shinichi, everyone likes you. You're a good person." Ran reassured.
"Barou. Not everyone feels that way about me. Obviously, there are people who hate me, like your otousan, who can't even get a single job due to his inefficiency and arrogant nature, or the people I arrest, or your friend Sonoko, or even criminals I don't know about. Celebrities especially have lots of enemies, assassins..." He trailed off.
Ran frowned. "Are you talking about?"
He nodded. "Yeah, when my Ojisan died, I really was in shock. The truth is, he was murdered."
Ran gasped. "That's awful."
"That's why I'm a detective-to figure out who killed him and why." Shinichi said sharply.
In that moment, Ran's disapproval at his being a tantei nerd dropped completely.
Detective or not, he was still the same Shinichi she knew, always admiring the good guys and wanting to be a hero for people.
"What is it, Ran?" He asked, staring at her blankly.
"Nothing, let's go on our way to meet Sonoko-chan."
Shinichi grumbled as a response.
"Did you say something, Shinichi?" Ran asked cheerily.
Shinichi shuddered and shook his head. "Nope."
'Oi, oi, women and their wrath.' Shinichi thought in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Shinichi's irritation only grew as...it turned out...they had somehow gotten on the wrong train entirely to meet Sonoko.
"How did we wind up on the wrong train, Shinichi?" Ran cried.
However, Shinichi was not in the mood to hear it, so he walked away from her to clear his thoughts.
What he wasn't expecting was for a person to angrily run up to him from behind.
"Bakaito, how dare you not show up! I got so worried while waiting here for you! I was afraid you were hurt!"
Shinichi jumped back in time to see a girl who looked like Ran, only she had...purple eyes?
"Bakaito?" He muttered. 'This girl can't be...maybe she's Kaito's friend?'
"I'm sorry, Miss, but I'm not Kaito. I'm his cousin, Kudo Shinichi."
"Hm, your eyes are a different shade...and your hair's less messy." She said, looking him up and down. "Oh, all right then. Sorry, I mistook you for Kaito. He hasn't shown up."
"Kaito's here?" Shinichi said excitedly. "What's his phone number?"
"I'll give it to you," Aoko said.
"Shinichi, what are you doing?" The voice of an angry Ran cried.
"She's Kaito's friend! It's not what it looks like! This is my friend, Ran Mouri."
"I'm Aoko Nakamori, nice to meet you, Ran-san. Kudo-kun here introduced himself to me. My father's a good man who's going to take down Kaitou Kid." She said happily.
So Aoko and Ran wound up chatting for a while while Shinichi threw in some polite conversation until Aoko had to get off at her stop and then they met with Sonoko.
Aoko found herself flushing, remembering her encounter with the Great Detective of the East. It was amazing how different he was compared to Kaito. He was so calm and composed and serious. Yet she could definitely see how the two were related.
A part of her wondered why Kaito hadn't bothered to keep in touch with his cousin if he mattered that much to him. Where was he?
"Bakoko!" A voice shouted.
She turned to see Kaito behind her.
"Where were you, Bakaito? I got lost and you didn't show up!"
"I was out getting some pranks and lost track of time." He said, "Did something happen?"
"Well, I met your cousin."
"You what?" Kaito said, looking surprised but scared at the same time.
"I gave him your number, too."
Kaito sighed. "Was he insistent? I bet he was."
'Well, looks like maybe I'll be meeting you sooner than I intended, Shinichi.'
"Kaitou Kid, huh? Maybe I should try to take him down." A smirk crawled up his face.
"Hey, Heiji, what are ya watchin'?" A brunette called, flopping down onto the couch beside her childhood friend, who flushed slightly.
"Kaitou Kid. Do you think I could catch him? Come to think of it, I could always go there...to Tokyo," He replied, the Osakan's eyes gleaming with a fire Kazuha knew shone only for mysteries.
"Don't tell me..."
"Yes, I want to be able to meet Kudou Shinichi face to face and see how good he is with my own hands." Heiji replied, looking very confident.
"I bet he'll knock you off your feet, Heiji."
"Oi, Kazuha, whose side are you on?" Heiji yelped, very offended.
'Just you wait, Kudou. I want to face off against you, one on one.'
Shinichi dialed his cousin's number and waited.
The phone rang and someone answered.
"Hello? Kuroba residence."
"Kaito, it's me." He spoke, feeling his heart pound in his chest.
"Well, well, Shinichi, how long has it been? Centuries? Do you have a beard yet?" A familiar taunting, yet gentle voice, came over the other line.
"Kaito! It's good to hear your annoying voice again. Still being a prankster?" Shinichi said, laughing despite his worries about dealing with the Nightmare Inspector.
"I heard you signed up to go after KID. That Inspector's crazy." Kaito muttered.
"Yeah, he blew my eardrums out." Shinichi replied, shuddering at the memory.
"Hey, I heard you're a real meitantei now. You'll have to show me how good you are when I come see you. I'm a little busy now, so not now."
"Kaito, wait," He said, "Are you going to the KID heist?"
"Of course! I wanna see KID up close and personal." Kaito chirped. "See you later, itoko."
Shinichi stared at the phone. "Why did he hang up so fast? Stupid Kaito...he's the same as ever."
He smiled to himself. At least Kaito hadn't forgotten about him.
Maybe Kaito wasn't the Kaitou KID after all. His suspicions about his identity were quietly pushed to the back of his mind.
Pain. Pain. He felt like he was on fire and then covered in ice. His bones were melting.
Then he looked like a child.
"Ran, I'm sorry." He muttered, his whole body on fire.
"Cool Guy." A familiar blond woman muttered.
Shinichi awoke in a cold sweat.
"What an odd dream." He said. "Could I have normal dreams for once?"
