Facepalming!!!! And a lot of little balls of cotton that I shall decide to stuff here… =)
…
Conan woke up the next morning, and fumbled his way sleepily to the kitchen to make himself some breakfast.
"Oh yeah, breakfast," he thought, and went off to wake Ran up.
His hand turned the knob, and he was surprised to find the room empty.
Then, accounts of the previous night made their way into his mind, making him surge up at once.
"Ran is still missing then, or maybe Twin and Miranda have found her."
He searched around for a note left by the both of them, and found a slip of paper tied to the main door with a long, white hair. He opened it eagerly, and the bluish writing jumped out at him.
"We stayed up till eight, but there was no sign of Ran through the night. Sorry. From, Miranda and Twin"
Conan sighed in disappointment and put away the note. The time was eight thirty in the morning, and Ran was still not home.
"She has definitely gotten into trouble," he thought, while quickly changing into proper clothes.
"Kudo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He jumped at the shout, and found himself being picked up and shaken about.
"I'm dreadfully sorry, I just had to do it, sorry, sorry, sorry, but he made me to, I didn't have a choice…"
"Calm down, Hattori!" cried Conan, and the Osakan detective quickly put his friend down. "Don't rush, and tell me what's wrong."
"I…I…Hakuba found one of your feathers."
"What?"
"And he wanted to take it for testing! But I tried to make off with it before he could, and he caught me just as I was about to leave, and he made me spill everything, every single last thing! I'm so sorry, there was nothing I could do…" Heiji slurred through his words, his note of panic and terror rising rapidly.
"Whoa whoa whoa, tell me slowly this time. And every single detail."
Under that command, Heiji poured out the confrontation against Hakuba, his recount dotted and blotted with multiple apologies. Conan listened to it all with a blank look on his face, and when Heiji was done he flopped onto the couch.
"I'm really sorry, Kudo…"
"Enough. There was nothing else you could do. So what? Hakuba probably knows about this a long time ago, and was just finding proof. It's okay." He turned and looked up at his friend, and smiled. "Now you know how it felt like when you first found me out."
"I guess, but this is entirely different! What if Hakuba manages to piece together the fact that you are hiding Kid at your house? Wouldn't things get messy then? And what about the Black Organization?"
The men in black!! Conan jolted up, as if his ears were sparkplugs.
"Why didn't I think of that in the first place? They have a great chance of having taken Ran, especially if they have seen that stupid video that Hakuba took. They must have taken her, there's no other possible solution! Stupid men in black…if I ever get my hands on them I'll –" Conan was shaking so badly now, he had to stop talking or his jittering teeth would have chopped off his tongue.
"Kudo…you know better than that." Heiji placed his hand on the kid's quaking shoulders and patted them gently.
"You're right. I should probably save all those curses for the actual pummeling…"
"Kudo."
"Okay, okay."
Out of the blue, the cell phone that Conan had left on the table rang loudly, its shrill cry echoing across the stillness of the room. He picked it up, hoping that it would be Ran or at least, someone who knew where Ran was.
"Hello?" His voice carried over his overflowing anxiousness, and the caller grinned.
"Is this Edogawa Conan?"
"Y-Yeah?" He didn't recognize the voice…and the caller ID said it was a private phone. The voice was musty…cold…but definitely not Gin's. Wait…what if he was using a voice changer?
"I don't suppose you realized your guardian's missing, have you?"
He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "You. Have. Her."
"Yes," came the harsh reply, "I have her. But I am willing to give her back to you, of course…and I am sure that Kaito Kid would not want his friend to die as well."
Conan frowned. "Just how many hostages do you have?"
"Two. One is your beloved Ran, and the other would be a very good friend of Kaito Kid's."
"You've. Freaking. Got. Ran."
"I want you to be at the jetty tonight, at ten, together with the one called Kuroba Kaito. The both of you must come alone, or your friends will pay the price."
"What?"
"If you don't come, or get the police with you, you can say your last words to your friends. And you shall not bring any phones and such, nor tell anyone where you are going, if you want to see your guardian again. Understood?"
Conan nodded in silence, then remembered that the caller could not see him. "Okay."
"Good. I'll give you further instructions when we see you there tonight."
With that, the caller hung up. Conan put down the phone and turned to Heiji.
"So?"
"They've. Got. Ran."
"Chill it." To emphasize his point, he dumped a bucket of cold water on the shivering kid. "You've gotta think of a plan to save her, then, and not stand around fuming! You care about her, don't you?"
Conan shook off the water, sending drops flying onto his friend. "Okay."
They fell silent for a few minutes, then suddenly Conan spoke up.
"Wait…they said they had a friend of Kuroba's… I think we should go tell him."
"Good then."
…
The sweet cool air breezed around him, the intriguing scent of adventure and risk tickling his nose. He raised his arms up, and felt the cape behind him flap, as he gazed at the city lights sprawled out before him. He was set to go, with his poker face on and his tricks up his sleeve.
He was about to shoot off into the night sky on his hang-glider when…
"Kuroba! Wake up!"
Kaito rolled over with a jerk, and bonked his head onto the floor. He sat up grumpily, annoyed that someone busted into his dream.
"Tantei-kun you little brat!" he snarled, and picked up the kid standing in front of him by the collar. Conan was shaken around again, while Kaito yelled at him endlessly, until Heiji split them both apart.
"Seriously, how hard can telling him about it be?" he wondered.
Conan rubbed his dizzy head, and quickly pushed Kaito up against the bed. "Kuroba, you've got to listen to me. The Black Organization's taken Ran, and probably someone you know too. We've got to find them; they said that they want us alone at the jetty, and that they would blow the both of them up if we don't listen to their commands! What are we gonna do, Kuroba?"
Kaito stuck his finger into his sore ears and spun it around. When he pulled out his finger again, a large ball of cotton wool popped out. He did the same for the other ear, before turning back to the kid. "What did you say again?"
Conan slapped his palm onto his face.
Heiji explained the situation to the groggy teenager, who scratched his head in confusion as he listened. When he was done, Kaito leaned back and looked up at the ceiling.
"So…I wonder who got kidnapped. Ran and someone else close to me? I wonder who it is..."
They all sat down and thought about it for a few seconds, but then a sudden loud yell that shook the house told them the answer very clearly. Kaito stifled his laugh, knowing that the circumstances were serious, but he saw that the others were having trouble trying not to burst out laughing as well.
…
"YOU NITWITS!!!! MY DAUGHTER HAS GONE MISSING AGAIN!!! I WANT HER TO BE FOUND THIS INSTANT!!!"
The officers jumped, and quickly scurried off, pulling out balls of cotton wool hastily stuffed into their ears and throwing them out of sight. Inspector Nakamori swiveled around in his chair, and turned to Hakuba.
"WELL?!"
Hakuba wished that he was a cat and could flatten his ears, but no. "I think that your daughter may have something to do with the disappearance of Kaito Kid, Inspector."
"THAT BLASTED THIEF AGAIN?! I'M TELLING YOU, IF I DON'T GET MY DAUGHTER BACK BY TONIGHT I'M GONNA –"
"Fine, fine! I promise, you will have your daughter back, and a bonus if we catch Kid again as well, but you'll just have to help me."
Inspector Nakamori seemed to calm down a little, and he narrowed his beady eyes at the detective. "You want me to do what?"
"Well…"
…
She was running. Running from what, she did not know. Running where, she did not care. She was just…running.
The path before her was pitch black, and it was hard to see, not even the floor she was stepping on. She bet that if she stepped into a hole, she would not have even known it was there.
A sudden sweep of paper-thin objects grazed past her cheek, arms and legs, and the moon behind her parted to reveal a cacophony of ravens, all flying past her, towards something in front. She followed them, and found them gathering around a clearing.
She squeezed into the ring, and found that a huge black raven, with void black wings, was jabbing at a pair of birds with his dark beak. Another bird, a white pigeon maybe, was huddled in a corner of the circle, its wings wrapped tightly around another pigeon. The pair of birds fighting the raven was scratching at its face, pecking its back, but it was useless; the raven did not seem to have taken any damage. One snow white dove suddenly darted out from the pair, while the other rose up high, aiming for the raven's head. The first dove jabbed its short beak repeatedly into the raven's neck, while the other zoomed down and clawed at its head. Just then, the huge raven uttered a low screech and reared up, its coal black wings enveloping the two doves like the living tendrils of darkness, pulled them in, and closed its wings again.
The doves were gone.
The pigeons huddled together more closely now, fright and terror etched onto their pale faces. The ravens descended on them as a bunch, and they did not even have time to squeak, until the evil, ruthless darkness swallowed them up too. Then, the largest raven turned to face her, its glittering eyes rife with malice. She backed away, into more ravens, who all started crowding around her, until she could see… no more.
She screamed with all her might, hoping that someone would find her, rescue her.
But the growing dreadful darkness smothered her body, her soul, her entire being, and she was plunged into the dizzying, endless black.
...
For you readers, you can take the girl referred to above as Ran or Aoko, I don't mind.
