A/N: Well. Another stupidly short chapter. I suppose you are all used to it by now. I'm just not a "long chapter" sort of girl. I've always been a bit too concise for my own taste (be frightened, I can't imagine how long this story would be if I wasn't, as it is we've only gotten through one of my three or four major plot events).
Anyway, to loose any sense of dignity for a moment: Please review! There are 76 of you with this story on alert! I would really like more reviews than the six I got for last chapter! (huge thanks to those who did review, by the way). This is going to sound so stereotypical, but reviews really do help me write faster. (Come on guys!!!)
Ahem. Bringing back my dignity (if that is possible). You guys are going to kill me for this chapter. You really, really are.
Chapter 10: Something To It . . .
It was early Saturday morning and Haibara Ai was angry. It was easy for Shinichi to realize this, based on her rigid posture and the way her eyes were narrowed. His biggest clue, however, was the glare she was sending his way.
Being on the receiving end of Haibara's anger was extremely uncomfortable.
The scientist had predictably chosen to stay a child and grow up alongside Ayumi and the rest. Their height difference wasn't helping Shinichi in the least. Haibara was a force to be reckoned with.
"I warned you before, Kudo," she ground out, ire making her voice tight. "You cannot keep up this pace. You are destroying your body by trying." Haibara gestured to a stack of paper that contained the latest test results.
Shinichi winced, knowing that the results were bad, but his resolve only hardened, "What do you expect me to do? Lie at home doing nothing?"
"I expect you to do what you need to in order to stay alive!" she exploded. "What the hell are you thinking? Solving murder cases, tracking down syndicate members," she picked up a newspaper letting him see the front page, "running down Kaitou Kid! The only thing you should be doing is living your everyday life!"
"This is my everyday life," Shinichi replied calmly.
A beat of silence.
"Then you might want to rethink your priorities," Ai answered quietly. "I do not want to attend your funeral any time soon. Not after all the work I've put in for you."
Shinichi blinked, taken aback. That was probably as close as Haibara would ever get to admitting she cared about him. "I'll be more careful," he promised seriously, before grabbing his coat, "anyway, I have to go."
The detective paused in the doorway to glance back at the young scientist, "Relax. It's not like I'm about to drop dead in the middle of the street." With that last comment he was gone.
Ai stared at the door he had left through, "That's exactly what I'm worried will happened."
The first thing that occurred to Kaito was that Shinichi looked pensive tonight. No, pensive isn't quite the right word. Brooding is better.
The second thing that occurred to Kaito was that he was stupidly happy to see the detective, brooding or not.
The third thing that occurred to Kaito was that he had to be completely brain dead to go out of his way to see a detective. Again. Not that this stopped him.
Shinichi appeared to be doing homework again, though Kaito found the idea of doing homework on a Saturday evening reprehensible. Not that Shinichi seemed to be really working. His books were open, he had a pen in his hand, and he was dutifully staring at a page in his math textbook, but Kaito doubted that the detective was debating mathematics behind that intense expression.
"Pondering the nature of existence, tantei-kun? Or is it just a really hard problem?"
Shinichi jerked, his pen clattering to the floor, and his body tensing. A split-second later he seemed to realize who it was and relaxed, "Don't you have anything better to do?"
Kaito stared at him in surprise. Shinichi always knew when someone was watching him. For him to react that way just now . . . "What can I say? There was a hole in my social calendar."
"And you thought a visit to me would fill it in nicely," Shinichi muttered dryly, but Kaito was pleased to notice that there was no real malice in his tone. Just a sort of tired amusement. "You do realize that this is my room, yes?"
Kaito make a show of looking around, "I had gathered something of the sort."
Shinichi opened his mouth to say something further, then closed it again with a rueful shake of his head. Leaning over he picked up his pen and brought his attention back to the math questions.
Kaito stood in the doorway for a moment before shrugging and settling himself on the other side of the low table Shinichi was working on (a slightly tricky venture due to his cape, but he managed anyway).
Some slight of hand produced a couple of pieces of lined paper and a pen directly in front of Kaito. Humming tunelessly Kaito began to write.
"English homework?" Shinichi ventured a few minutes later, doing his best to read the foreign language upside down.
The phantom thief nodded, "I'll transfer it to my notebook later, but I've got nothing else to do. Could plan my next heist but that might be counter-productive with a detective sitting across from me." To Kaito's delight Shinichi chuckled.
"Might be the case. By the way, in your third sentence you want the T - O - O version of too instead of T - O. Use the extra 'o' when the meaning is basically 'also.'"
Kaito glanced at the sentence and grimaced, "Dumb mistake. I'm pretty good at it, but English is not my best subject."
"What is?" Shinichi asked.
Eyeing Shinichi's expression, Kaito realized that for once the detective wasn't fishing for information, he was just asking out of interest. "Math," he replied, knowing that he shouldn't. This is stupid, Kaito. The more information you give him, the more dangerous this becomes. And it's already dangerous. "What about you?"
"Japanese language. I'm fairly good with languages in general, and I am basically fluent in English, but my top marks are in Japanese. It comes in handy. You wouldn't believe how often people leave clues connected to written language. Besides," Shinichi laid down his pen, "I read a lot when I was younger. Still do."
Kaito laughed, "Maybe we should switch homework then." He swiped Shinichi's math workbook before the other teen could say a word.
Flipping through, Kaito gave an appreciative whistle, "Man. And I thought Hakuba was anal retentive. Do you ever skip steps?" Looking at the meticulous work Kaito marveled at how different it was from his own hasty scrawl.
"Sometimes, but only with little things. It's bad practice to skip steps."
Kaito idly began doodling in the margins of Shinichi's notebook, "I skip steps all the time."
"I doubt it," Shinichi replied with a smirk, forgoing any attempt to retrieve his work in favor of inspecting his companion. Kaito gave him a curious look.
The young detective waved off the look, "I'm sure you don't write everything down. But I doubt you actually skip doing any steps. Someone like you would think through everything, probably so quickly you don't even realize you are doing it."
Suddenly it dawned on Kaito that they were no longer talking about math. "Not everything. Too many factors to think through everything, tantei-kun. That's where impulse, instinct and creativity come in. Even for you."
"Impulse, instinct and creativity . . ." Shinichi repeated to himself, his expression revealing that his thoughts were far away. "What about emotions?"
"Well those," Kaito finished his doodle with a small flourish, "are in play long before reasoning steps in."
"So tell me, Kaitou Kid-san, was it emotion, reason, impulse, instinct or creativity that caused you to kiss me?"
Had it come from any other source, Dimitri would have been impressed with the work. As it was he carefully fingered the cloth wondering just how she knew his measurements. It was . . . uniquely disturbing . . .
At least it was relatively unlikely that the box contained any unpleasant surprises. Regardless, Dimitri was extremely careful in removing and examining the contents. Everything was there, and everything was perfectly done down to minute detail. Dimitri shook his head, An awful lot of trouble for a simple job. Wonder who she's sending a message to? He quickly dismissed the thought. Questions like that could get him killed.
Now that everything was laid out, Dimitri took a second look at each piece and noticed something he had missed the first time.
He slipped the piece of paper out of the pocket it had been placed in and unfolded it. A quick message had been typed on it.
You will see it next Friday.
Things were starting to move.
Which meant he needed more target practice.