Stop struggling and die you bitch.

Fingers seemed to be moving on their own as they wrapped themselves in a woman's hair. Long, blond strands swirled in the water as she struggled. He was in someone's bathtub, he realized. A brightly lit place. There were a couple of little shampoo bottles on the side, identical to the ones found in his cabin's bathroom. Words. Colors. They all seemed weird to him now.

You're making it harder for both of us!

His mouth opened, and he felt his throat and chest rumble as he snarled in a voice that wasn't his. It was deeper and older. The arms that held the woman down weren't his either. Neither were the thoughts.

A cruel laugh resounded throughout the bathroom, and the body that wasn't his turned to look into the mirror. There was a face that wasn't his own looking back. The face of a murderer.

When Hattori returned to the deck, both Ran and Shinichi had gone from the chairs. Instead, he found them leaning against the railing and looking out at the sea. Well, Ran was looking, while Kudo just stood behind her, looking ready to throw up and faint. Knowing what he had been through though, he was probably ready to wring someone's neck too.

"Hey-" Shinichi flinched and turned towards him with frightening accuracy, his grip on his scarf tightening. Hattori was willing to bet that he had already thought of a way to kill with that thing. Constantly being in a kill or be killed situation must've taken its toll on his friend. Even if years went by, Hattori didn't think the effects would wear off easily. "I got your medicine. What's... going on?" People were crowding around the railing and looking down at the sea. Some people were making a big scene of something. As he scanned the deck, he found the business men he saw just minutes earlier. One of them, a big man in his forties, was sobbing dramatically as his companions comforted him. His ring finger held a thin, simple band of silver, but his other accessories were clearly expensive, as could be seen from the fancy looking suit and the golden tie clip with elaborate carvings on it.

Ran looked up and answered, "Shinichi sorta of... um... said there was a body? Well, not just him. A few other people said they saw someone falling into the water, and they've been making a big commotion." Hattori peered over the railing and watched as a couple of staff members trailed behind the cruise ship in a smaller boat. Some of them, equipped with diving gears, jumped into the water.

"But they haven't retrieved it yet, have they?" He glanced back to the group of men.

Ran shook her head, "No... But I heard someone say that someone went missing from the cruise… They're looking for the person that fell overboard right now, but all they've managed to find is a red scarf in the water." Kudo nervously played with a loose thread on his navy blue scarf, and she protectively pulled him close. Before Hattori left to do some more investigating, he glanced back at the two as Ran got a medical bag. She seemed to have everything under control. Now for the case… First, the people who mentioned someone going missing. A person goes missing right before someone falls off the ship? Quite a coincidence, if it was one at all.

He really wanted to confide his thoughts in Kudo, but he wasn't ready for a case yet… He seemed to know a little more than he let on, though. How did he find out about a person falling off the ship? Kudo was blind, there's no way he could've seen it happen. Even weirder, what made him think that they were dead? From what Hattori knew, the 'body' had only been in the water for about ten to fifteen minutes, in other words, the amount of time it had taken to run from this exact spot to his cabin, look for Kudo's medication, and then run back here again. An average person would've died in about seven minutes if they had been completely submerged, but whether it was an accidental or a plotted fall, even someone who couldn't swim would take longer than that to start drowning. They would've been able to keep their head above water for at least a couple of minutes. Of course, since no one's managed to get the person out of water or seen them surface to take a breath, chances were that they were already dead. But there were also many other possibilities that should've been taken into consideration.

Kudo looked like he wasn't paying attention to anything either, seemingly in a world of his own unless he felt like he was physically threatened. Even if he heard the splash when the body hit the water, why would he think that it would be a body of all things? Paranoia? He couldn't see, and there was no way Ran would've given him details on a potential death. She would've seen it as a trigger for him. If it was anyone else they would've been one of his top suspects, but this was Kudo, and he hadn't been alone for more than five minutes since the moment they stepped on this cruise ship. Hattori highly doubted that he would be the culprit.

Speaking of suspects...

"Uh... excuse me. What's going on? Why are you crying?" There were around 20 people. Suits and ties for the men and fancy dresses for the women. He walked right into the center of the crowd where the crying person stood. "Excuse me , I just got here, and I'm a little confused… Would you happen to know something I don't?"

"Why you...! Rude little brat! Who do you think you are?" someone snarled and he turned to see a woman in a grey dress. "You don't just walk up to someone and ask whatever you want! Especially if they're in the middle of a breakdown. Our CEO's wife just committed suicide and he's in a lot of shock right now, so would you please just kindly back off?" There was an expectant look on her face, as if she he would feel guilty and scamper away immediately. She's was gonna be disappointed.

"A-le-le? How did you know it was your wife? Did they find the body already?" a childish voice piped up.

"Oh hi, Conan!" Hattori was grinning now.

"Not yet! But a suicide note and the scarf Mizuki-san gave her for their anniversary was found in their room. No mistaking it because her name was sewn on it. Yui Mizuki," the woman continued, glaring at them. "What do you want? Who gives you the right to question us?!"

A smirk played on his lips. "My name is Heiji Hattori and this is my assistant, Edogawa Conan. We're detectives." He could feel the glare from the younger boy burning into his skin. "I believe it's my job to look into these kind of things when the police aren't around."

"W-well... this is clearly a suicide... why is there a need to investigate?" Another person spoke, a thin young man who was much more timid. "I also believe we should be allowed to recover from the shock."

"I can't imagine her doing such a thing though," other young man spoke up, with dark wavy hair obscuring the left side of his face. His visible eye looked slightly haunted, with a dark bag underneath it. The young man reminded him of Kudo, who had probably been dragged back to his room, judging by the empty seats and railings. "She had always been so full of life and had a strong will to live."

"Yeah, just the opposite of you," the woman in grey retorted, rolling her eyes. Hattori decided that he didn't like her.

In the meantime, Mr. Mizuki seemed to have calmed down and looked at them. Honestly, he resembled Santa Claus, with his big, chubby teddy bear build and warm eyes, just minus the white beard, white hair and red clothing of course. His hair was dark brown and he wore a dark maroon suit. He was an inch or two taller than Hattori.

"Well, I'm sorry you had to see me like that," he said sheepishly, wiping at his eyes. "So, Tantei-san, I understand that you'd like to do some investigating to report to the police yes? You're welcome to ask questions and look around." He then proceeded to squat down to Conan's eye level, smiling warmly. "Even this little guy can join in!"

"I'm glad you've cheered up so quickly!" Conan chirped.

They started with the basic introductions, and apparently aside from these four, the rest of these people who crowded around them had no personal relationship with the missing person. They seemed to be just co-workers of a couple of large companies on a business trip.

"We've held a few meetings here with a few VIPs of different companies and such," the woman, Naomi Kazumo, said. She was the secretary of Mr. Mizuki and she and Mrs. Mizuki mutually hated each other with a passion; to the point where they refused to even be near each other. This was the result of something from the past that she refused to share. Even with Conan's innocent prompting, she was stubborn and harsh.

The thin young man was Mamoru Ao, the younger brother of Mrs. Mizuki, and the depressing person was Kuro Watanabe, his boyfriend. They were the only one who weren't working yet, seeing as they were university students. According to Ao-san, his older sister greatly disapproved their relationship and their plan to move overseas to get married after they had finished studying. Watanabe-san was not discouraged though, and had tried numerous attempts to get on her good side, which usually ended horribly.

So all of them had a motive except for Mr. Mizuki, who was said to be having a great relationship with his wife. The scarf and suicide letter was taken into custody before they were released. And just as Hattori and Conan returned to the room, news arrived that the body had finally been found. They rushed to the back of the ship where the small boat had been trailing behind the ship. Of course Shinichi tried to come along. It turns out that ever since he was dragged back to his room by Ran and Kazuha, he hadn't been very cooperative and refused to do anything but curl up in a corner until Hattori and Conan came back.

"Dude, I'm sorry but you look like shit right now, and I don't think a case would do you any good. For God's sake, just stay here and take your medicine okay?" Shinichi's heart was still pounding and he was still trembling. He barely registered Hattori's hands on his shoulders, but he was aware that he was stumbling back (being pushed back) onto the bed, and it burned. It hurt. He had never been excluded from a case before, and this was his best friend, rival and partner in crime (or investigation) who was telling him to sit there and do nothing.

"Hattori I gotta go I gotta-"

"Ran can you help me please? Get him to take his medicine. Kazuha, you too please." Hattori sounded scared, but Shinichi continued rambling on and struggled against his hold. He knew he was a lot stronger than what he looked and he wouldn't fucking break the moment they mentioned a dead body goddammit-

-he wouldn't.

Not again.

"LISTEN TO ME!" His voice cracked and his throat burned and he was wheezing and pleading through all the other voices because he had to go, he just had to. "I know who the murderer is I saw-" He somehow managed to flip Hattori over and kept him under him, pinned against the bed and completely at his mercy.

"Shinichi please-" The Kansai accent thickened and his voice shook, but Shinichi wasn't done.

"The victim is a blond woman wearing red from head to toe. She was drowned in a bathtub of a cabin," he croaked, shaking with tears rolling down his cheeks as if he was the murderer confessing the crime. "I saw it, I swear I did. The m-murderer probably threw her into the sea to dispose of any evidence left on the body a-and they're... h-he..." The image in the mirror was hazy in his mind yet it was flashing over and over in his head and it hurt it hurt ithurtithurtithurt.

Someone was touching him, holding him and pulling him away to gently hold him to their chest, and he felt bad. Really bad. He had made all of them worried.

"I'm... sorry." The haze in his mind was slowly fading away, and he could hear the shaky breathing from Hattori, Ran's sobs from behind and the strange noises she made when she tried to stifle her tears. It took him a while too to realize that he had been crying too, cheeks wet and eyes stinging. He sniffled and wiped at them a little. Ran pulled his hands away from his eyes and held them gently in hers.

Strange- he felt so numb, now that everything had died down.

"L-look, Shinichi." It was really weird to hear Hattori was use his first name. "Let's make a deal, ok?" The bed creaked as his friend crawled towards him, barely speaking above a whisper that somehow deafened the room.

"Take your medicine and get some rest, alright? Do that, and I'll come get you when you're calm and feeling okay again."

For some reason Shinichi believed him and nodded mutely, desperate to make sense of the pounding in his head and the strange visions. Maybe he was hallucinating or something because he refused to take his medication? But it was all so strange and felt so so so real. Judging by the silence he heard after he told them about what he saw, he knew he had gotten the victim's description right. That didn't help at all and only served to confused him more. How?

So he quietly took the handful of pills, downed them with a cup of water, and went to freshen up. As soon as the drugs kicked in, the visions and voices seemed to fade and the bad feelings went away. But the side effects appeared and drowsiness overcame him. He ended up sleeping for a while again.

The bastard never planned to come back to get him.

Which was, well, upsetting.

Soon enough his insecurities began to creep back into his mind, and they taunted him. Naturally this resulted in him becoming grumpy and negative. It had been thirty minutes since he woke up from his three hour nap, and Hattori still hadn't returned. The nagging feeling that told him he needed to investigate this case slowly made itself known again. This time it was more persistent and clear, like background noise that didn't necessarily interfere with what he was doing but was annoying nonetheless. So he sat on the bed, eyes screwed shut and knees to his chest, trying to make sense of his vision. He felt like he knew what the murderer looked like and would be able to recognize him if he were to see him, but he couldn't see and suddenly the process was a lot more complicated. He couldn't seem to comprehend the face or describe it. But thinking more reasonably, scientifically and professionally as a detective, none of it made sense. The only answer that came to his mind was:

"You're finally breaking. You're going mad thinking that all these hallucinations are actually related to the case. You can't seriously think that a blind person's vision would count as sufficient evidence, or even as a clue, to finding the culprit."

So now he was back to square one. Why was he so insistent in joining the investigation, despite having told himself to take a break from all the murders and mayhem? Because he believed that by doing so, he could somehow come to understand how and why he was seeing those strange images and hearing those strange voices. Was this what his weird inner voice was nagging him to do? He believed so.

But the thing was, he highly doubted that going to the crime scene and finding the culprit would explain what happened, and the annoying feeling didn't seem to want him to find the culprit necessarily, but rather it just wanted him to be there. At the crime scene.

He hated how vague everything was.

What was he supposed to do now? Everyone seemed to have left the room and Hattori and Conan had probably solved the case while he was asleep. The feeling was still there, prompting him to get up and find them, but as much as he hated to admit it, he knew he couldn't.

Then there was a soft click from the general direction of the door, and he instantly went on hyper-alert. A soft mechanical beep indicated that the card key inserted was authorized and the door was unlocked. A louder click and a whoosh followed.

"Shinichi?"

He relaxed, his tense form loosening, and he sighed as the gentle female voice registered in in his mind. Ran Mouri, with her sweet and gentle aura. It was calming, albeit timid. God he loved her so much.

"U-umm..." He wobbled out of his bed and clung onto her within seconds, face buried in in her hair as the familiar scent of her shampoo soothed him. He didn't like being alone at all, and was never happier to have his one-and-only Ran by his side when he tried to work things out in his muddled brain. She was being an absolutely amazing and supportive girlfriend by tolerating his constant clinginess, but at the same time, she kept him in in check. Also she helped him with smuggling the muffins.

He was slowly and carefully guided back to the bed and seated, leaning against the headboard with Ran directly in front of him. Her hands were gently massaging some warmth back into his, and only then did he realize that they were trembling and frigid.

"So," her voice sounded so angelic to his ears right now. He totally forgot about everything else for a moment and just leaned forward, settling into the crook of her neck. She had pretty broad shoulders for a girl; probably because of all those martial arts and sports she did. "How are you feeling? "

"Better..." he practically crooned as her hands moved up to his back and shoulder, rubbing out the knots in his muscles. She giggled softly and patted his head.

"Good to hear."

They stayed that way for a while, holding onto each other in a calming silence. So far they had been nothing more than a softcore couple. Their relationship was nice and slow, and they were both content enough with that to have never even thought about "the next stages of a relationship". At this point, he was already so satisfied with just being beside her, holding her and kissing her and being next to her, basking in her love. She was safe and she was healthy and they were happily in love.

Shinichi thought that was all he would ever need.

But, there was a feeling inside him, whispering to him.

"It won't last."

"You know, the case won't be solved if you just stay here and sulk about it," Ran spoke up after a while, tentatively. She could feel him tensing up a little, but luckily he didn't freak out like earlier. Still, she would tread this ground very carefully and hope to prevent any distress.

"Huh?"

"I'm not saying that Hattori isn't capable or anything, but two brains would still be better than one. And I know you're dying to join in." So far so good. Shinichi had only sat up straight and faced her with a slightly confused expression as his brain slowly processed what she said. Would that be a problem later on during the investigation? She knew the side effects of the medicine tended to make him drowsy and dazed. It had also been quite a while since the last time he did a case. His mind wouldn't be as sharp.

"... I thought you were against me doing these kinds of things after... what happened..." And he might end up feeling unwell again, like earlier on the deck. Why did that happen though? He seemed fine now, even though a dead body had just been found. But earlier he it seemed he had been scared of a splash. Weird.

"I'm against you getting yourself into unnecessary danger, you stupid nerd! I'm not against you doing what you're meant to do and love..."

"But Hattori and Conan left-"

"This is where Ran Mouri comes in!"

A/N: there's a lot more things that needs to be italicized but my tablet won't fucking comply and I'm too fucking pissed to try anymore so

Apologies for being three weeks late and special thanks to my beta reader/editor assasin8