THANKS FOR YOUR REVIEWS!!! THEY WERE THE BEST X-MAS PRESENTS, EVA!!!!!!! HERE GOES ANOTHER CHAPIE AND R&R, ONEGAI^^ GIVE ME BIG ONES, BABY!!!


CHAPTER SEVEN

- The calm after the storm -

Shiratori opened his eyes and blinked several times until he realized what had been bothering his sleep most of the time.

His heart skipped a beat when he realized WHAT or WHO was lying against him. He lay on the length of the couch with his back leaning against the arm of the couch and lying between his thighs with its head against the crook of his neck was no other than Kate.

She lay snuggled against him breathing softly and peacefully. Her head rested against his chin, her fragrance tickling his senses and as he looked down he noticed her cleavage was exposing some skin which made Shiratori's insides squirm and his conscience hit the blaring alarm of "get away before you turn to an uncontrollable beast!!"

He stirred a bit, trying to get the stiffness out of his limbs and neck and when his foot accidently brushed her bare leg, he stifled a groan. My God! Her legs! Why were they so achingly and deliciously smooth! He grew ever so determined to get the hell out of here!

He moved her gently and carefully off of him and laid her out on the couch. She was literally sleeping like a stone; she didn't even stir the slightest when he moved her. The alcohol must have knocked her cold and so did her sadness. He brought a blanket and covered her up.

For a moment he stood beside her sleeping figure. His eyes lingered on her with his memory flashing back to the incident of last night. Without him thinking, his finger pushed a streak of her hair out of her face and lingered against her skin. A mysterious smile touched his lips, but it vanished as he pulled his fingers away as if he burned them.

He raised his hand that had touched her cheek, observed it with a blank expression which then grew to a resolute, guilty and then finally angry jaw-locked expression. His gaze wandered to the kitchen and that's where his jaw dropped.

"9 PM?!?! I'm late for work!?" he cursed with utter horror and then dashed to his room to get ready.


The car wheel of the black BMV screeched against the floor of the underground parking and it wheeled into a parking place and Shiratori locked his car and dashed into the elevator.

He arrived in the bureau, fuming that he was late.

"Hi Shira...Tori?"

Shiratori literally stormed passed Takagi who was kind enough to greet him and confused that Shiratori bluntly ignored him. Shiratori to his discomfort found a flock of men at his desk, chatting lively around Hirota. As Hirota noticed Shiratori's arrival so did the others.

"Hey sempai, why are you late?" asked keenly one of the younger male officers.

Shiratori stopped in front of him and glowered down on him, a terrifyingly black aura hung around him, his piercing eyes with visible black rings revealed no hint of warmth whatsoever.

"Do you want to know?" growled Shiratori abnormally quietly with his jaw locked, the younger officer shook his head fearfully and backed away to let Shiratori pass.

Right away the flock cleared as they witnessed Shiratori's stormy mood.

"Hey, what's wrong?" asked Hirota as they sat at their desks which faced each other.

"Something prevented me from getting an ear full of sleep."

"Oh, really?" inquired Hirota with a raised brow. "I never thought you'd go that far already."

Instead of pricking the right response, it pricked on the wrong one which caused Shiratori to stand up abruptly from his chair with his fists clenched with a fuming expression. He bit back from lashing out on his friend and turned around, stormed out of the room.


"Are you feeling better now, Shiratori?"

Shiratori looked over at his senior who stood beside him. Shiratori was leaning against the wall near to the entrance. He had been out for 30 minutes at least. He nodded at Hirota.

"Did you have another argument?"

Shiratori shook his head. He needed to release some steam because obviously his conscience had lashed out on him, scolding him bitterly over his lack of self-control of last night. It was difficult to hold back when a woman, a beautiful woman actually, threw herself in his arms and started making out with him.

"I managed to get more info about her relationship to her husband; we can conclude that's she clean."

"A happy couple were they?"

"Happy would be an understatement."

Hirota chuckled and nudged Shiratori.

"Do I sense jealousy?"

"No." Replied Shiratori bluntly without wavering.

Hirota kept a small smile on his face.

"You look thoroughly messed up this morning, something did happen between you two, right?"

Shiratori sighed. Despite that it was difficult to outsmart Hirota; it was for the better to keep his mouth shut on the matter.

"Sorry, about before." Apologized Shiratori. "The information she gave me last night, overworked me last night that I had little shut eye."

"Is it that troublesome?"

"I'll explain to you..." and that's where Shiratori told everything what he recalled about what Kate told him.

"Well, there is a lot more about this case, I fear." Analyzed Hirota as both men once again were seated in the cafeteria of the Police building.

"So do I, many more motives and ideas are popping up, which is muddling everything I've deducted so far."

"Did you ever consider the fact that she might be lying?"

"Lying?" Shiratori repeated, slowly realizing what Hirota's words meant. "She didn't lie last night, she was in part drunk, but the way she spoke, her body language and everything, it was proven to be genuine."

"Are you just saying that because you like her?"

It stunned Shiratori to a speechless state, but he cleared his throat.

"I've been living a month with her and Yosuke chan, we are friends." Spoke Shiratori with calm composure. "Anyhow there could be a possibility that she could be denying things."

Hirota had been grinning at the outcome of his blunt words, but resumed into his police-mode.

"Yea, there could, but you have to admit that the month you lived with her hasn't brought you close to her enough to make her entrust you things."

"That's correct but-

-You've gotta do something about it Shiratori." Interrupted Hirota, taking briskly a strict tone which surprised Shiratori. "We must see some results. At least we know some information about her relationship to her husband which could give her an alibi. However we must know WHO was after him and WHY."

"Hirota, it is not easy to crack her, she's stubborn as a donkey."

"Then befriend her or more."

"Or more?" Shiratori repeated with disbelief and putting doubt into his partner's words.

"Yea more. Maybe through more intimacy you might be able to get something out of her."

"But wouldn't I be using her?"

Hirota took a sip of his coffee then cleared his throat, his brown orbs observing intently Shiratori.

"Remember we are doing this for her sake and her safety. If you believe she is hiding an important hint, a key to this case, then try to unveil it."

Hirota let his words sink into Shiratori and he could tell his words affected his disciple greatly. Shiratori drove his hand through his hair and sighed.

"I can't be "more", she's married, has a son and loves her husband beyond the fact that he's dead!" he uttered in an exasperated tone.

"Then take the first step, become her close friend or something. You might be lucky, she might unintentionally slip out things, you aren't for now reason the superintendent and part time partner of Megure kebu."

Shiratori sighed. He really has no choice. If his senior instructed him to this then he has no choice but to obey and pray for a miracle to happen.

Shiratori's afternoon went smoothly. He was glad he could keep his mind off of Kate and Yosuke for a while since he was preoccupied by a case with Megure together. Even Mouri's presence in this case today did not irritate him, thank goodness, but that little boy with the oversized glasses and his know-it-all attitude, surprisingly didn't bother him the slightest either. It was probably due to his subdued attitude that he was less attentive and less perceptive that, which would explain how smoothly everything went.

However something that has been nagging the back of Shiratori's mind, even in his subdued attitude - the boy. The only person in the world that one needed to suspect was Conan. This little boy who pretended to be the innocent boy who suddenly lashes out a perfect but un-assumed deduction which the old man –Mouri- could eventually pick up then solve the case. Or Mouri would fall into his "sleeping Kogoro" modus and save the day...Yippee...

As one could detect, Shiratori was in no mood for real stuff, his mind always wandered back to the incident of last night, between him and Kate. He cursed himself for being so weak, but he couldn't help it. Her lips, her fragrance, her body, the way she clung to him and her sighs, all this drove his sanity to the very edge. He was in trouble and in deep trouble; he overestimated his task and most importantly overestimated himself.

"Shiratori... Shiratori?" called Megure's voice which interrupted harshly Shiratori's thoughts.

"Hmm, yes, Megure kebu?"

Since all were seated in the living room of the flat of the murdered victims, all suspects compromising of one man and two ladies, Megure, the sleeping Kogoro and the hidden Conan – all stared at Shiratori with an expectant expression.

"Can you get the objects which Mouri listed?"

"Which objects, sir?"

Megure stared at his colleague with disbelief; it was the first time that Shiratori - the one who is always wide awake and attentive to the smallest details – distracted in such an important case. Everybody in the room seemed appalled of Shiratori's inattentive attitude, but then Megure sighed and patiently reminded him of the objects.

"A pair of scissors, a rope, an elastic band, a stapler-

-Ah yes! Right, I remember, I will fetch these objects." Interrupted Shiratori Megure as he remembered hearing the listed items.

He got up and left the living room and out of the flat to fetch these items.

Within ten minutes he returned to the flat with the items and brought them to Megure. The case turned out to be that the victim's girlfriend had murdered him under the pretence that he threw himself out of the window.

The murderer had wrapped up her dead boyfriend in a white sheet, suspended the concealed form over the railings of the balcony and tied the rope from the body to the main entrance of the flat. Between the balcony and entrance made a perfectly direct line for the crime to take place. The rope was attached to the door handle and if little pressure was applied, the elastic band which was attached to the door and the victim would snap, let the body roll out of the sheet and crash to the ground down below. So when the victim, the neighbour and his girlfriend, tried entering the flat after receiving a phone call with his so-called wish to commit suicide – it actually was a tape recording of the victim who was auditioning for a role in an Animation - they opened the door while releasing the victim to crash down below. The couple in question were close friends to the victim and were naturally horrified of this happening. The girl friend of the victim, had admitted her evil deeds but her motives behind it was that she had discovered her boyfriend was having an affair with the neighbour's girlfriend and both had been deciding to leave their boyfriend/girlfriend to be together. How ironic is that?

Of course later Mouri wakes up with a yawn, uttering with oblivion "What have I missed?" but everybody else ignored him and simply gave him a proud pat on the back to congratulate on his "fabulous" deduction. Little Conan appeared too, grinning all over his face with that all-too-tricky-innocent-as-a-child face.


"Another ironic case that was." Mumbled Shiratori as he sat next to Megure in the driving police car.

"It's disappointing that such rational people are driven to commit such crimes, especially when love is involved in it." Sighed Megure as he looked out of the passing surroundings, reflective of the case.

A moment of silence settled down. It was common that after every single case, some words of empathy were exchanged. After all the police force are human. They are emphatic and appalled of the crimes, but they only show these vulnerable emotions after they solve the case.

"Shiratori..." began Megure with his eyes still transfixed on the passing surroundings. "You appeared very distracted today, did something happen?"

It startled Shiratori, but he quickly cleared his throat.

"I didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Ah so."

However Shiratori lowered his voice, his eyes glancing from time to time to the police driver.

"But I have found information about the relationship of Sasaki san and her husband."

"I know of that," responded Megure directly and looking back at Shiratori. "Hirota san reported to me about this and I must agree with what he instructed you to do."

"Are you talking about that I must become more intimate with her?" noted Shiratori his awareness on high alert about the topic and Megure nodded firmly.

"There are no alternatives, if everything is doubtful about her, even her words and if you feel that. This makes it ever more important to discover the reasons for her behaviour, her reasons for concealing things from us."

"I hope you are not assuming that she's her husband's murderer, kebu?"

Megure's eyes sharpened.

"Who knows, but the devil hides behind every guise, so I want you to keep two sharp eyes on her and report anything that is suspicious about her."

"Wakari machta, Megure kebu." Complied Shiratori automatically.

He had no choice really. If he wanted to solve the case, rules of sanity needed to be broken.


"Why in the hell did I get myself involved in this, again?" grumbled Shiratori with frown as he made photocopies of some documents. "I am not some CIA or FBI agent!"

He left the photocopying room and marched back into the bureau. It's been an hour since he was back from the case and he was exhausted out of his mind! Megure simply enjoyed the fact to throw more responsibilities which all pointed to one direction "TROUBLE!" for Shiratori. Shiratori dropped the photocopies with a loud "thud" which startled Hirota and made him hiss.

"Lately you are only bringing a storm with you wherever you go, can you stop that, PLEASE!" complained Hirota as he rubbed his forehead with his palm as he studied some reports which obviously was killing his brain cells.

"Well you don't know what I must endure in my life." Countered back Shiratori as he sunk in his chair.

"You don't know what I must daily endure and that is: YOU!" hissed Hirota back venomously, silencing Shiratori instantly.

Both men returned to their work, not once looking at each other or even acknowledging each other's presence.

A sudden ring startled both men and Shiratori fumbled for his jacket, feeling the awkward vibrating sensation against his pocket. Without looking at the display, he answered his phone.

"Who is it!" he grumbled.

"H-hi Shiratori I hope I am not disturbing you?"

All anger flushed out of his system and he was filled with guilt as he heard Kate's insecure and concerned voice.

"Otherwise I can call back la-

"No don't!" interrupted Shiratori to his dislike a bit too desperate and pleading and with a sigh, he rubbed his temples, his gaze fixed on his desk. "Sorry I just had a really rough day today. You need anything?"

"Not exactly, I was just checking on you, wondering if you were okay since you left in such a rush this morning."

Kate's concern always startled him and he didn't understand why. She always inquired about his health when she called, but maybe what surprised him was that it's been a month since she called while he worked. However Shiratori didn't understand how the hell this was possible, but she always could pacify him, soothe him and get rid of his daily frustration that he confronts in his job.

"Shiratori, are you okay?" she inquired with evident concern as Shiratori was keeping quiet for a long moment.

"Sorry, I was just busy thinking about a case." He responded absentmindedly rubbing his exhausted eyes with his fingers tips. "Uhm, I'm actually doing better now since you called me."

Shiratori hadn't meant to say this to her and quickly recapitulated.

"Uhm, what I meant, is you seem to magically soothe me whenever I am in some trouble." Stammered Shiratori but was horrified to realize that it wasn't exactly what he wanted to say either and he groaned to himself.

Curse you, you damn sleepy head! Kate chuckled at the other end, obviously amused of his nervous reaction.

"It's a pleasure to hear that I have such an effect on you."

Shiratori stifled a groan, she had no idea what kind of REAL effect she had on him, and no way would she know! A thought crossed his mind.

"Good that you called; I actually have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

"My superior has granted you more freedom and so I thought to celebrate this occasion I will invite you two for dinner."

Kate chuckled with pleasure as she heard the splendid news.

"I'd love to! Yosuke will be thrilled to hear this!"

Shiratori was pleased to hear her being so delighted and a fuzzy feeling spread all over his body

"When will you be back?"

Shiratori looked at his watch; it was 5 PM now, so in two hours he would leave the bureau.

"I'm leaving the office at seven, so maybe by eight o'clock we can leave."

"That's great, we are really looking forward to it!" she giggled at the other end, sounding excited about the upcoming evening. "I'll see you later, bye!"

"Bye." With this Shiratori hung up and heaved a breath of relief.

Things were going Shiratori's way.

"I've never seen you smile like that." Noted Hirota as he skimmed through his reports again without looking at Shiratori. "You must really like her and I can't escape the feeling that you made your first move on her."

Hirota's orbs finally looked at Shiratori with curiosity twinkling in them and growing interest.

"It was only an accident." Mumbled Shiratori but Hirota laughed and exclaimed.

"I knew it! I knew you wouldn't hold out one second!"

Shiratori was gripped by anxiety and glanced around him with high alert.

"Will you keep it down please? I don't need the world to know!" hushed Shiratori nervously.

"How is she in bed?" asked Hirota casually and Shiratori stared in utter appal at his partner.

"What in the hell are you talking about?!" hissed Shiratori with discomfort while loosening up his tie feeling the heat of embarrassment in his cheeks. "I am not like my brother!"

"Okay, okay! Cool it. I was just kidding anyway - did you kiss at least?"

Shiratori glanced around him, some of his colleagues had noticed their loudness and the conspiring atmosphere around them, so Shiratori leaned over and more lower to his partner.

"After I had spoken to her about her husband, at 3AM she got up and was crying. I went to check on her in the living room and for some reason she had mistaken me for her husband and started, well, uhm, kissing me."

"And you couldn't resist now could you?" winked Hirota and Shiratori rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. She was probably sleepwalking."

"Sleepwalking?"

Shiratori nodded.

"The emotions must have gone through her completely." Explained Shiratori and Hirota didn't show any objections to his assumption.

"And tonight you are inviting her for dinner?" inquired Hirota with piqued interest.

"Yes." Grumbled Shiratori as he found Hirota's behaviour increasingly annoying.

"You are so losing it, man." Chuckled Hirota as he leaned back into his chair, skimming his notes again. "You'll bed her in no time, I am sure of it."

"For goodness sake, Hirota, shut up! I will certainly not do that! She's a widow and has a child!" he hissed back to his partner who kept his wide grin plastered all over his face.

It would be miracle that Hirota's prediction remains unfulfilled, because the struggle had already begun.