Because today was a good day. When I was awake, anyway.
(7)
Sun
Shinichi sighed, extremely annoyed with his life in general and his propensity to trip over murders in specific. The only upside to his week was the fact that Kaito was using his new state of 'vampirism' as a reason to hang out, though he hadn't shown up just yet that day.
It was amusing to watch Nakamori and the Taskforce squirm, but he hadn't seen Hakuba since the day after the heist. Haibara, of course, had heard about the new theory and saw no reason not to play along. He was kind of afraid to find out what she'd end up doing with that supplement she was working on for him—she'd been grumping about iron and electrolyte levels since the last time she'd vampired herself a new blood sample. (No matter what the police thought, she was closer to a bloodsucking creature of the night than he was.)
Still, he was waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. Sooner or later, someone outside of Division Two was going to hear about it, and then the entire force would 'know' in hours, though he rather expected most of Division One to laugh it off—at least until something 'proved' it—and, though this case was solved almost as soon as it happened (crime of passion, and even as he'd picked out the evidence the murderer was confessing - apologizing, saying he hadn't meant to - leaving Shinichi only needing to confirm), the police would show up soon and… well, it had been half a week.
He had kind-of expected things to get around faster.
And—Sato's car, followed by two standard police vehicles, and if anyone would bring it up, it would be her.
Two uniforms cordoning off the scene, two more cuffing the culprit—whom Shinichi confirmed as telling the truth—and Sato leading a reluctant Takagi in his direction with a broad grin.
Shinichi sighed. He was exhausted, and he could probably even spin that as 'evidence' towards his state as a vampire, seeing as how it was almost noon and they were outside in bright sunlight.
Sato wasn't unobservant, really, and Takagi was good, if sometimes a bit less than confident. Halfway to him, Takagi's reluctant expression melted into a mildly concerned frown, and Sato blinked as Takagi said something to her before glancing more sharply at Shinichi.
"Kudo-san," Takagi greeted, "Are you all right? You don't look so well."
Shinichi sighed, casting a half-glance upwards. "Just tired, Takagi-keiji. Moderate headache. It would help to get out of the sun, but…" he gestured vaguely to the scene.
Takagi twitched, just a bit. So Division One had heard the rumors, but of course Takagi knew that bright light made headaches worse and would dismiss his words despite the 'ack—they were saying' impulse.
Sato blinked, then grinned, "Did you know they're saying you're a vampire over in Division Two?"
Shinichi sighed again, "Yes, I know that very well. Nakamori-keibu and I had a bit of a discussion on the matter."
"Who won?" Sato asked.
"Sato-san, I said 'discussion', not 'argument'. It was about clearing things up; I'm not angry—the rumors are mostly my own fault, anyway."
"'Your own fault'?" Takagi blinked at him, "They're saying you got shot in front of Nakamori and the Taskforce at the last Kid heist!"
Shinichi frowned, "They are? Hm. I may have to have a talk with the ones who were there that night. I don't want that to get confirmed."
A long pause, "Ano, Kudo-kun?" Sato said slowly, "That… didn't sound like a denial."
Shinichi blinked, but was 'saved' having to respond by his phone buzzing. A glance at the screen had him flipping it open, "Kaito?"
"Shin-shin! Where are you? Your little chemist has finished up your supplements and is demanding I deliver!"
"Right now? Crime scene, park on twenty-fifth in Beika. But I'll probably be filling out paperwork at the Division One headquarters in another ten minutes." A quick glance confirmed that both Sato and Takagi weren't able to hear what was being said on Kaito's end of the line, so… "If you could bring it, it would… help."
"Division One officers in hearing range, or actually feeling bad?"
Shinichi let a grimace cross his face, "A bit of both, actually."
"I see," the tone went considering, "Meet you at the precinct, then. Do you need me to bring anything else? —and I should warn you, the stuff looks and smells like blood. Something about iron levels?"
Shinichi let out breath, "Thanks. See you then."
Takagi hesitated, "Kudo-san?"
Shinichi shook his head, "Nothing. It's just—everything here is settled, or as much as I can get it. I'd like to get the paperwork out of the way as soon as possible—home sounds like a great idea right about now."
Sato opened her mouth, paused, and visibly switched what she was going to say, "We can give you a ride, Kudo-kun. I'll go tell the other officers what's going on and get whoever's bringing our perp to follow us to the precinct. Takagi-kun, get him in the car, will you?"
xxxx
Kaito was going to have so much fun. Precinct meant 'free reign to imply all he wanted', as while police gossip spread worse than wildfire inside police ranks, it tended not to get out of those ranks nearly as easily, and they actually did want people believing the whole 'creature of the night' thing.
Haibara had even been nice enough to explain why. And mean enough to put the 'supplement' (which sounded like a liquid meal upon description, but considering Shinichi's propensity to skip meals it was probably a good idea) in all it's fake-bloody glory in a wide-mouth thermos.
The color was going to be very obvious on Shinichi's lips, and that was probably the point. So.
Kaito walked into the Beika precinct building and up to the reception desk, "Hey, looking for Kudo Shinichi?"
A blink from the uniformed man behind the counter, "Kudo-san… if he's here, he'll be the third hall that way, all the way at the end. Division One."
"Thanks," Kaito headed off in the indicated direction, deciding to get the building layout some other time. He hadn't needed to go to the Beika building before, and Division One wasn't usually something he bothered with, but if he was going to be hanging out with Shinichi, he should probably start getting used to it.
Door at the end of the hall and—yep, Shinichi, having taken over an otherwise unoccupied desk and very obviously filling out paperwork. He looked a little flushed, and Kaito could work with that.
Besides which, Haibara had said that it wouldn't be surprising if he was running a light fever, and the nutrient-mix had a very mild antipyretic in it this time. Liquid would absorb quickly and he'd probably lose the flush in minutes. Faster if his weird healing factor latched on to the proteins and stopped giving his system trouble.
"Shin-shin!" Kaito called, bouncing across the room before any of the officers could do more than look up at the opening door.
Shinichi paused and very deliberately set his pen down before raising his head, "Kaito," he greeted dryly, but not without a hint of relief.
"You shouldn't leave your lunch at home," Kaito scolded, handing him the thermos.
Shinichi raised an eyebrow at him, "This is not 'lunch'. I'm perfectly capable of eating like a normal person."
"Supplement, then, and you're looking a little singed. How long were you outside?"
"An hour, give or take," Shinichi shook his head, "Not overly pleasant, I'll admit."
Kaito paused, blinked, and turned to examine the room of officers suddenly trying to pretend interest in other things. "Not very subtle," he decided, "but you should drink that, anyway."
He glanced back just in time to see Shinichi roll his eyes, but his favorite detective unscrewed the lid and took a deep draw of the liquid therein.
Kaito kept his expression smooth as Shinichi leaned back to make drinking easier, a clearly pleased cast to his features. Which meant either he was a better actor than Kaito gave him credit for or the little scientist had managed to make it taste differently than it smelled.
Shinichi lowered the thermos—which Kaito could see was already half-emptied—and licked bloody red from his lips before raising the plastic cylinder in a saluting gesture, "Thanks for this, by the way."
Kaito grinned at him, hopping up to sit on the corner of the desk, "And you're looking better already!"
It was true, too—the mild pain-lines around the edges of his eyes were easing out and the redness of fever-flush was fading into a healthier pale.
Hm. The rest of the room was awfully quiet… Kaito looked around again, "I guess it was too much to hope that little tidbit had stayed in the Taskforce, huh?"
Shinichi shrugged one shoulder, "Sato-san said they know about the whole 'shot' thing."
Kaito snorted, "Yeah, well, don't catch bullets with your lungs next time."
"You say that like I did it on purpose."
"Hey, so long as I don't have to find you with a hole in your chest again. That was terrifying. And creepy."
"I'm fine."
Kaito glowered, "Finish your lunch."
Shinichi rolled his eyes, "Yes, mother."
Someone cleared their throat hesitantly, and Kaito twisted to see Takagi-keiji, whom he knew only by sight through Conan's frequent contact with the man.
"Ano, Kudo-kun? Are you really…?"
Kaito smiled brightly as Shinichi tipped back the thermos again, "Oh, don't worry, he doesn't bite without invitation."
Shinichi snorted, the noise sounding like it was startled out of him, and set down the thermos to glower, a red streak on his cheek to match the color on his lips. He licked said lips clean and glared, "That was really more coercion, thanks."
"Hey, you needed the boost, and it's not like there was anyone else on hand! Also, you have a little…" Kaito gestured to his own cheek.
Shinichi threw the pen at him and pulled out his handkerchief to scrub his cheek clean. "You suck."
"I'm pretty sure that's you, actually," Kaito returned cheekily.
"I'm going to kick you," Shinichi informed, hand dropping briefly out of sight.
Seeing as how he was sitting on top of the steel desk, Kaito only grinned.
Shinichi kicked the inside of the desk and suddenly the side dented outwards, whacking Kaito in the back of the knees.
He jerked, yelped, and hit the floor in a sprawl, then sat up and pouted. "Shinichi! That was mean."
"Just be glad I only kicked the side," Shinichi snarked back, picking up the thermos to toss back the rest of the contents before screwing the lid on and pulling out a new pen. "I have paperwork to finish; stay out of trouble for a few minutes, would you?"
Kaito continued to pout up at Shinichi for several more seconds before he considered the new shape of the side of the desk, "Also, you just damaged police property."
Shinichi gave him an unimpressed glance, "If you hadn't noticed, this desk is a different design than the others in this room. I actually paid for it myself, just so I would have a reliable place to fill out paperwork."
Kaito hummed, then hopped to his feet and back onto the corner of the desk, settling in quietly—for him, anyway. Shinichi ignored him as he started flashing through card tricks, then coin tricks, then juggling. He only got a single quirked eyebrow from the detective when he switched to fire, aside from a very subtle shift backwards, but Shinichi had never been afraid of fire so—ah, right. That was pretty common with vampire myths, wasn't it?
Kaito snuffed the flame hurriedly, wincing, "Sorry, Shin-shin. I forgot."
"So long as you don't light me on fire, I don't mind," Shinichi signed his name on the last line of what looked like the last page of his paperwork. "Okay, I'm finished—let's go give it to Megure-keibu. And if you cause any trouble, I'm dropping you back off with Haibara."
"Shinichi! That's mean. Couldn't you at least have it be Nakamori-keibu?" Kaito kept an eye on the reactions of the nervous police, seeing confusion, consternation, and more than a little worry.
"No," Shinichi informed blandly, gathering the paperwork and thermos. "You'd enjoy being able to harass the Taskforce, and Nakamori-keibu is currently too busy to deal with your ridiculousness."
"Fine. I'll behave. But only for a while!"
xxxx
Next up: Police reactions! (Among other things).
