Chapter four
Pleased to meet you
ooOO-OOoo

'Shit – how could I slip up so badly?'

Shinichi cursed while putting on the clean shirt, Ran had left on the nightstand.

'This damn racket must have hit me pretty hard for me to be so off my game. I was even too dizzy to talk her out of it. Think I have to deal with it now. If just my head wouldn't hurt so much and the room would stop spinning...'

Waiting for Ran and the hopefully strongest painkillers she could find, he was left with his thoughts. And knowing what kind of conversation was coming up, that meant his mind was in a big uproar.

How should he start this?

To understand him fully, he would have to tell her everything from the beginning and give her some detailed information. But the story was long and he was afraid that patience was nothing Ran had to offer right now. Maybe he should lock the door when she was back, so she could not run away madly...

On second thought – a furious Ran in a locked room? Bad idea. Just the thought of it was terrifying.

Using his tranquilizer-gun-watch when she would try to leave? He cringed - that would be even worse.

'She would kill me the moment she wakes up. I'm afraid all I can do is to pray that she is willing to hear me out.'

He let out a very heavy breath, as the door opened again. 'Here we go.'

Looking at the entering person, he was surprised – it wasn't Ran. Pushing the door open with his back, Amuro Touru turned around with a tray in his hands. He had changed out of his tennis-outfit into blue-jeans and a black polo-shirt.

"Good to see you're awake again, Conan-kun. Momozono-san is sending water and tea. Do you like some?"

Conan needed a second to process that he was given a respite until he would have to face his likely doom, but then he slipped into his child-role without even thinking about it.

"Uhm, thank you very much, Niisan! Some water would be great!" '

I hope this niisan/neechan habit will not stick when I'm my old self again. Would be very embarrassing,' he thought, wincing inwardly.

Amuro placed the tray on the nightstand and filled a glass with water. Handing it to Conan, he smiled. "You really scared your Neechan, but I assume that you are better now, since she did not call for the doctor again."

Knowing to whom he was speaking, Conan was uncomfortable being alone with this guy, and he felt much too vulnerable for his liking in his current position, but he held up his cheery childish tone.

"Yes! My head still hurts a bit, but Ran-neechan gets me some medicine, so it will go away."

"I see! Your Neechan is very kind, isn't she?" Amuro asked while taking Conan's glasses that still lay on the nightstand beside the tray, and turned them in his hands.

'Shit! Ran took them off to change me and I was so focused on what I should tell her that I completely forgot about them!'

He held the glasses up at eye-level, blinked through them and sweat broke out on Conan's palms. This guy was too observant at times and he hoped he wouldn't notice that the lenses were just plain glass.

"Since Momozono-san ran out of painkillers suitable for kids, Ran-san went out to buy some for you," Amuro said pensively, taking the glasses back down again.

'No need for the trouble. I would have preferred the adult-stuff anyway,' Conan thought with a cringe, thinking of the sickly sweet taste most kids-medication held. 'Well, too bad this kiddy body wouldn't be able to handle it.'

"I think she will be away a bit longer, so the two of us can have a little chat. What do you think about it, Conan-kun?"

'Was it my imagination or did he intonate my name in a dangerous tone? He cannot know – how should he? I think I'm still a bit dazed.'

"Sure, Niisan! Do you have something in mind? I've seen you like tennis. I prefer soccer, but tennis is also fun!"

"Oh, yes! I've played tennis as a semi-professional. I've done pretty well, but I had to slow it down because of an injury. Nowadays, I play just for fun. So, you like soccer. Is Mouri-san playing with you often then?"

"No, Ojisan is not good at soccer at all. Also, he has no time to play around, because he has to solve so many cases."

Amuro tapped at his chin in thought. "Hmm… yes, his cases. Don't you think that he is clueless very often? I know – I am still just his apprentice, but he seems – yes, let's call it dense to me most of the time."

'Not good! No way would he speak like that with a child. I have to be careful.'

"You think so, Niisan? But he solves all of his cases! So how can you call him with such a mean word? Ran-neechan told me not to use such words, because they are hurting people," Conan frowned.

"She is a very polite and clever girl," Amuro nodded. "Oh, by the way: You should tell her not to use such a predictable password for her computer like her birthday, because that is not clever. And tell Mouri-san that 5563 for 'Go-Go-Ro-San' is creative and funny, but not very safe. In particular if you tell it to whoever is asking for it."

Conan's face went pale. Kogoro gave his password to this guy of all people?

Amuro leaned closer to Conan.

"Yes, he told me – just like that!" He snapped his fingers. "Do you still think that he is not dense?"

The blond smirked and standing straight again, he continued turning Conan's glasses. "You know – I think it's kind of funny. You are wearing these glasses all the time, pretending that you need them, but right now you don't seem to have any difficulties seeing me. And on top…," he put the glasses on "…they don't have any optical power. Why could that be?"

Now Conan was definitely alerted. This was a member of the Black Organization and he was more than suspicious of his alias 'Edogawa Conan'. Trying not to draw the attention of the man, he reached for his tranquilizer-gun-watch.

'Maybe I'm a little bit at a disadvantage at the moment, but I will NOT sit here and wait for him to…'

"I would stop that if I were you," Amuro spoke calmly and pointed a gun with a silencer attached to it at Conan's head. "You already have a headache and we don't want it to get worse, right?"

Conan growled slightly, but stopped his movement, while Amuro reached out for the watch and took a close look at it.

"What an interesting design. I don't think you can buy this sort of watch at your average convenient-store." He put the watch into his trouser pocket without lowering the gun.

"I thought you were fascinating since we first met. You are way too observant and smart for a child your age. Not afraid of dead bodies and always so helpful with your little hints. And you own so useful gadgets," he said with an impressed face and patted on his pocket. "But I was just a little intrigued… up to the phone call from my… colleague."

Conan searched feverishly for a way to escape the situation, but there was no chance he could dodge a bullet with the gun so near to him. With his tranquilizer-gun-watch gone and of course not wearing his power-kick-boots in bed, he was left with… nothing.

All he could hope for was that Ran would return and look after him, but at the same time he wished that she wouldn't come back into the room and might end up as a target herself. She was the type to throw herself into danger without thinking twice about it. Not that he himself had much room to talk.

Amuro seemed to enjoy his role as the movie-bad-guy, explaining everything to his captive.

"She told me that I should stay away from you and took my promise not to hurt a special person. As well, she advised me to watch my steps when you are around, because you know about… us and may expose me."

'A female colleague who knows so much about me? It must be Vermouth. Damn! Just how much did she tell him?'

"After the panic-stricken look you gave me on the tennis-court, I am sure you already know who I am, but I would like to introduce myself properly. My codename is Bourbon and I am in charge of gathering information for my boss.

Pleased to meet you... Kudou Shinichi."

A/N I hope you like my interpretation of Amuro since we haven't seen very much of him until now. But to me, he is a very cool/collected character with a tendency to be arrogant but still a gentleman. I luv him ^_^ (And isn't he well prepared having a gun AND a silencer at hand? *g*)

Reference chapter:
817 - Kogoro and Ran are telling Amuro about their passwords
800 - Vermouth reminds Bourbon of the promise he gave her (although it is not clarified what kind of promise he gave to her in the manga)