Suddenly, a long-haired woman, dressed in a red raincoat emerged from the hallway, sneaking up on Ran. 'The Woman in Red!' It shot through Conan's mind.

"Ran! Behind you!" Conan exclaimed.
"Tsk, I'm not falling for that!"
"No, really, turn around, there is the-"
"I told you, I won't fall for that trick!" Ran hissed at him, when the Woman in Red behind her raised her arm and stabbed Ran through the chest with her knife. Ran's body stiffened in pain, blood starting to drip out of her mouth. "Shin...ichi..."

Chapter 10 - The Two Lovers In One Room

"RAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

Shinichi jolted up and extended his arms to catch Ran, but there was nothing to catch in front of him. He stared at a wall, panting heavily. It wasn't until then, that he noticed, that his arms weren't short and his hands weren't tiny. Shinichi hastily felt over his upper body and his face with his hands; everything was teenager sized. Still a bit dumbstruck, he clenched fist before his eyes and relaxed them again, just to make sure they were really his own hands.

"Shinichi?!" Suddenly, Ran barged in through the door. She carried a damp towel with her and still looked extremely terrified. When she saw Shinichi sitting upright and relatively well, Ran closed the door again and went over to the bed he now sat on. "You're awake, that's good." She sat down on a chair besides the bed and put one hand on his forehand. "Wow, you're temperature is normal again already!"

"Ran..." Shinichi said, trying to calm his breathing. "What happened? I just remember my vision suddenly getting blurry, after you declared to stay with me no matter what..."

"Well..." Ran said, with a slight blush on her face. "You passed out, so I rested you down onto the bed. You were tossing and turning a bit while you were unconscious. After a while, you stopped that, but still sweated heavily and when I felt your temperature, you were burning up! So..." She held up the towel in her hands "...I went to fetch you a cold towel from the bathroom. I was there when I heard you screaming my name, after which I came running here. Take this..." She handed him the towel. "...even though you feel normal again, it won't hurt to calm yourself with this."

Shinichi took the damp towel out of her hands, wiping some of his sweat away, before resting it on his forehead, enjoying the coolness it provided. "How long was I out?"

Ran looked onto her phone. "I don't quite know...twenty minutes, I guess? Maybe half an hour, tops."

"I see." Shinichi ran his hands over his face.

"Why...?"

"Huh?" Shinichi looked back to Ran.

"Why were you screaming my name...? It doesn't look like you're in pain...or like you really needed something." She said.

"Oh..." Shinichi hesitated. Her words from his dream came back to his mind. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT, I HATE YOU!
He inwardly shuddered. Shinichi couldn't quite tell her the truth, but he didn't want to give her a standard Ah, no, it was nothing, haha...

"Come over here, please." Shinichi patted on a spot on the bed beside him. Ran looked a bit confused, but did as he said when she looked him in the eyes again. He put his hand on the one she rested on the bed besides him, slowing entwining their fingers and getting a firm grasp on it.

"It may seem a bit...childish, sappy, I don't know...so please, don't laugh about it..." He started.

Ran frowned. "I wouldn't laugh about your feelings, you know that..."

"Yes, yes, sure I do, but even I realize that...that this may seem a bit out of character for me, so, somehow, I want to laugh at myself for it..."

"What are you saying...?"

"The reason, I cried out your name, Ran, is because of the dream I had. In my dream you...you were killed...stabbed by the Woman in Red..." Ran gasped and covered her mouth with one hand, while he continued. "And I just couldn't do anything about it...I couldn't save you, couldn't prevent your death...only thing I really could do was cry out your name...and that's when I woke up..." So far, he had stared ahead, not facing Ran. Now, he turned his gaze over to her; his eyes were surprisingly gleamy. This didn't just surprise him, Shinichi himself also didn't expect to get so emotional over that dream all of a sudden. "You could say, that...that this was probably my worst nightmare and still is when I think about it..."

"Shinichi-..."

"But it's silly, I know! The woman isn't really out there, there is no ghost out there roaming the forest, looking for victims...I don't know why I let myself get so influenced by all the stuff I heard today..."

"Don't say stuff like that..."

"Huh?"

"Shinichi. I already told you earlier, that your words weren't stupid; the same is true for feelings and dreams like this, they aren't silly. Just because you usually don't get this emotional, and even if you do, you don't show it to other people, that...that doesn't mean that it isn't, or rather shouldn't be, a part of you. And don't think for a second, that I would think any less of you or laugh at you because of it...I love you for everything that you are; you don't always have to be the cool, tough and aloof detective for me; from time to time, it's okay to let your other emotions run free. Your more sensitive side, that fears that you'll lose me and that made you say these words to me in London, that side is not a weakness or a flaw. Don't ever think that, please..."

"Ran..." Shinichi flung his arms around his girlfriend and hugged her as tightly as he could. He was a bit overzealous and his whole body was still tense; he gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, being probably the closest to crying because of emotional reasons he's ever been.

"Shinichi..." Ran felt that his hug was too tight for comfort, but she didn't waggle out of it or tried to push him away. Instead, she gently stroked his back, until she felt his body relax. With the tension slowly leaving his body, the hug became much more comfortable and she wrapped her arms around his back.

"Ran...I love you so much, you probably can't imagine how much...because I haven't been able to show you..." He said, while they were still embracing each other.

"I don't have to imagine it, Shinichi. Like I said, you don't have always have to show it that much, because I feel it, because I know how much you do...because it's the same for me..." She softly whispered into his ear. They enjoyed their closeness for another moment, before they parted. "That's not the only thing, in which I feel the same as you though..."

The towel had fallen off from his forehead during their hug, so Ran picked it up and gently swiped away the last bit of sweat from his nightmare and pain attack away from his face. "You had that nightmare, because you worry about me...and it's not the first time that your worry shows. During the case with the missing company owner, you yelled at the emergency service all the time until they got to me...you were also worried back then, right?"

Shinchi slightly blushed. "Yeah...to be honest, I can't even remember what I said to the man on the other side of the emergency hotline anymore, because I was so completely in panic that you might get hurt or...worse, that I just ranted on and on and...ah, everything was such a rush during that situation..."

"Then you understand, that I'm also worrying about you. Quite a bit, actually. You're always away on that-..."

Shinichi bit his lip. "Ran...I can't..."

Ran interrupted him. "It's fine, you don't have to tell me, if the case is too dangerous for me to know, about the details or where you're staying all the time..." Shinichi swallowed hard. Did she even know how close to the truth she came with her thoughts? "...I understand that. But...everytime I see you, you're not well...you keep having these heart attack like seizures...during that case with the diplomat, in that village, on the highway shortly afterwards...and you fainted after our school play too. And now today, another one. Shinichi, I can understand you being away so much because of that case; really, I do, but...I can't understand that you're neglecting your health so much. Have you even seen a doctor about this?"

"Y-yes..." Shinichi said. Time for another cursed game of telling half-truths. "I've consulted an expert about it..." Alright, not a complete lie, Haibara really was an expert for his condition. "It's...not something that has a simple cure...it's just a temporary problem with my circulatory system, which occurs...very irregularly. Most of the time, it doesn't even have a trigger, like dehydration or something, although that could play a role..."

"Oh, Shinichi..."

Argh, this wasn't going well. Shinichi gently put his hands on her cheeks and leaned in until their foreheads touched; their faces were now very close to each other - causing them both to blush - and Shinichi looked Ran straight in the eyes.
"Listen, it's not as bad as it sounds...it may seem worse to you, because it's just my bad luck, that it almost always happens when I get the rare chance to be with you...normally, I'm fine; this is not something that happens to me twice a day or something, alright? I'll continue to see that expert for a solution, but still, it's really nothing that deserves a higher amount of concern by you...I'm fine now, am I not?"

"Yes...but you really have to promise me, that you look after your health. You tend to forget that when you're engulfed in cases. So, please, promise me that, not only with your...special condition, but in regards to your health in general!"

Shinichi smiled. "Yes, I promise."

They remained in that pose for some moments, before both of them realized, just how close their faces were. All Shinichi would have to do to reach her lips, would be to slightly tilt his head and lean in just a little bit further.

"Ran..."
"Shinichi..."

Shinichi slightly tilted his head and leaned in a little bit further. Reaching her lips, they both fluttered their eyes shut and kissed. Both for the first time and both with the only one they ever dreamed of kissing. Naturally, it was a very shy and almost amateurish kiss, but for them, it was simply perfect. After a while they parted, giving in to the need of air. Shinichi still had his hands on her cheeks, while Ran rested her hands on his chest. Utmost gaudy smiles were plastered on both of their faces and it didn't seem like those were coming off any time soon.

"I love you..."
"I love you too..."

Just as they wanted to lean in for their second kiss, they heard a knock the door. "Shinichi-kun? Ran?" It was Sonoko's voice. Of course.

As they heard that Sonoko was about to open the door to their room, they instinctively distanced from each other; although, it wasn't quite as rapid as usual, almost as if their bodies didn't really want to put distance in between them. Sonoko entered their room, with Sera in tow. A smug grin made its way to the heiress' face. Shinichi and Ran were just sitting on the bed together; that alone would've been enough reason for Sonoko to tease away, but they were also blushing even more than usual and looked somewhat enchanted and happy.

"My, my, did we disturb you two?" Sonoko chirped.

Shinichi and Ran narrowed their eyes on her.

"Yes." Shinichi said.
"Yes." Ran said.

That took Sonoko by surprise; a confirmation, spoken in almost perfect unison no less, was the last thing she expected. She recovered quickly however. "Well, sorry for that then, Ran. We just heard Shinichi-kun yell really loud for you, his girlfriend by own admission, and so we wanted to check if he feels any better." Another smirk came to her face. "Looks like you recovered rather quickly."

"Yeah, thanks...I'm a lot better now, no need to worry anymore..."

Sera wasn't convinced. "But you seemed to be in a lot of pain, how did that go away so quickly?"

"Ah, well...you see..." Shinichi stuttered.
"He was just being careless again." Ran filled in for him.

"Huh? How so?" Sera wondered; and Shinichi too, silently.
"Simple: he forget to take care of his health. Dehydration and exhaustion caused this, because he couldn't take his mind of this case."

Sera did a small head tilt, still mustering Shinichi. "Huh, is that so...but still, the pain seemed to be much bigger than a simple-"
"It's not the first time either." Ran interrupted her. "This happened to him before; it's almost like his body was satisfied with the small hints that he should take a break and instead brought out the big guns."

Shinichi shrugged and pouted a little bit. "It's not completely my fault! These case don't solve themselves, you know?" But he was quite thankful that she helped him out with this one, as the girls were more likely to believe her, especially when she also gave him some criticism. That this also gave Ran the opportunity to repeat her previous concerns, was something Shinichi could get over.

Sonoko clapped her hands. "Anyway, now that you're better, we should all get some rest. Sera-san and I also wanted to fetch our backpacks from here." Sonoko proceeded to hand Sera her backpack and picked up her own. "Well, seeing as this room only has space for two people at best, Sera-san and I will leave you two alone now."

"Ehh?!" Shinichi and Ran exclaimed, provoking another grin from Sonoko.
"What did you expect? This mansion doesn't have enough rooms for everyone to get their own. Sumika-san, Yui-san and her colleagues occupy one room, packed like sardines mind you, Jinsuke-san and Tamami-san share another room, which leaves us four with two rooms for two persons each. So, you two take this one, while Sera-san and I will take the other. Any objections?"

Shinichi and Ran were left speechless, as they both were taken aback by the thought of sleeping next to each other, after, well...kissing, confessing and other love stuff. Sera, who apparently also didn't learn of that room distribution until now, had some words however. "W-wait, Sonoko-chan, is that really alright?! Pairing up a boy and girl like that? I don't think our school would allow that on a field trip..."

"Nonsense!" Sonoko hissed at the tomboyish girl. "We're not on a school trip, so there's no need to follow their outdated rules. Besides, these two have already been sleeping close to each other in preschool, I doubt anything could go wrong." Sonoko added a mischievious wink to the last sentence. She absolutely expected something to happen between them; not that something went wrong, but rather that something, well...happened between them. And in Sonoko's mind that something, whatever that might be, would be positve.

Sera looked like she desperately searched for another argument against that. Why was she so passionate about preventing Shinichi and Ran spending a night together in one bedroom, in the same bed, to be more precise? "B-but..."

"No buts! We have to get going now." Sonoko declared and grabbed Sera's wrist. She basically dragged the poor, female detective out of the room. "Nighty night, you two." Sonoko chirped at Ran and Shinichi, waving one of her hands, before closing the door.

"Wa-wait, Sonoko-chan..." They could hear Sera protest through the closed door, but she was out of hearing range very fast, indicating that Sonoko was very adamant about dragging her friend to their own room.

Meanwhile, Shinichi and Ran were still kinda trapped inside their imagination; that they both got a good impression of each others upper body earlier, didn't really help. Shinichi decided to break the silence, by clearing his throat and speaking up.

"Well, I mean...Sonoko is not wrong, it wouldn't be the first time we slept next to each other..."

"Y-yeah...we slept pretty closely on the flights to Los Angeles, New York and the flight back to Tokyo...that was fine..."

'If by fine you mean that I couldn't sleep for a long time, because you resting your head on my shoulder made my heart flutter so much, then this is going to be a loooong night...' Shinichi thought. 'Ah, and that time in the mountain villa as Conan wasn't much better...'

Ran interrupted his thoughts. "So...should we just get ready to go to sleep?"

"Ah...yeah, sure." Shinichi answered. Considering that the candle stand that Yui brought to this room earlier and the occasional lightnings were the only source of light, Shinichi suggested that they should just blow out the candles and change into their pyjamas in the dark, with their backs turned to each other. Ran agreed, blushing just as much as he did when he described the details of how they should position themselves while changing.

'Good thing we were prepared for a longer trip already, otherwise we would have to sleep in our street clothes or worse...just underwear...' Shinichi shook his head, trying to get these thoughts out of his mind (for now) by concentrating very hard on putting on his pyjama top; then, he remembered another thing.

"Hey, Ran?"
"Yes?"
"Are you...still uncomfortable with sleeping during thunderstorms?"
"What? I-I'm uncomfortable with-..."
"Thirteen years, Ran, thirteen."
"Well, I might...still get a bit jumpy now and then...so, it could happen that I...come closer to you, just out of reflex..."
"T-that's fine...do that if you like...no need to hold back..."
"O-okay...that's...good to know..."
"Yeah..."
"Yeah..."

"..."
"Are finished with changing, Ran?"
"Yeah, you?"

"Yep. Alright..." Shinichi turned around and headed for the bed, deciding that they should just get this over with and go to sleep. He went ahead and crawled under the blanket, robbing over to the left side of the bed, leaving enough space on the bed for Ran. She stood before the bed, still a bit hesitant. Some might call it cute, how shy they still were about this kind of thing, even after the aforementioned thirteen years of knowing each other AND finally admitting their feelings AND getting a bit physical already.

"Come on, Ran, I don't bite...we should get some sleep after this exhausting day..."

Ran nodded. "Yeah..." She agreed and shyly crawled under the blanket as well. The rain was still pouring and the wind still wailed. Ran and Shinichi closed their eyes and wanted to drift off to sleep. However, after a short while, a particular loud clap of thunder and a lightning really did make Ran jump; she instinctively edged closer to Shinichi and grabbed his arm.

"Ah...sorry..."
Shinichi sighed. "I told you, it's fine. Just don't worry and get some rest."
"Yeah, yeah...I know..."
He spoke relatively easy, but inside, Shinichi's heart was throbbing like crazy.

"Good night, Ran."
"Good night, Shinichi."

About an hour later, both Ran and Shinichi were looking like they were asleep. However, only one of them actually was, because Ran was just pretending. When she was really sure, that Shinichi was completely asleep, she opened her eyes again.

"Shinichi?" Ran softly called out, loud enough for him to notice if he were awake, but not loud enough to wake him up if he was really asleep. When he didn't react, she gently poked his side, but Shinichi still didn't show any sign of being awake.

Ran carefully lifted up his pyjama top, exposing his abdomen and showing off a relatively small scar; the result of being shot as Conan.

Her lips curled up to a small smile. 'I knew it.' Ran thought. She gently traced over the scar; her touch caused Shinichi to let out a small moan of pleasure. Ran giggled and pulled his top back down; after that, she softly tugged his arm, which made Shinichi instinctively put his arm around her. Ran rested her head on his chest and looked up to his face; she smiled again and placed a small kiss on his cheek, before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep, trying very hard to do so, even though her heart was fluttering like crazy.

A/N: Yeah, yeah, it was a dream. Of course it was dream, I don't I could seriously kill of Ran in this kind of way. So yeah, as many reviewers expected and hoped it was a dream. Or, in the case of 908-03, sadly it wasn't reality. Yeah, sorry for that, I hope you're not too disappointed with how it turned out. But you also pointed out that that situation didn't make too much sense; that everything was happening so fast, so negatively for Shinichi and so out of his control, was a good indication for that scene being a nightmare. Also, another hint was, that they all suddenly had service again, which I didn't mention to be back before that. You guys probably assumed, that I just forgot to mention that they had coverage again, but no, that was intentional.

Anyway, enough about the last chapter and more about this. Like the last one, not everything went as I originally planned; I didn't plan for this chapter to be completely about Shinichi and Ran, it just happened during the writing process. The plan was, to have all of the contents of the next chapter (that will be coming soon) already happening in this one and then only having the epilogue after that. But, when I wrote out all this stuff and came to the point, where the ShinRan stuff ended and the other events planned for this chapter happened, it just didn't feel right to mix and this felt like a good point to end it. I was a bit bummed, that with my previous planning, the Ran scar scene would take place in the middle of a chapter, rather than at the end of one, but with how it turned out in the end, it all went for the best.

Whew, lots of rambling about my writing process in this one. Anyway, bottom line: I ended up writing so much ShinRan stuff, that I gave it its own chapter, making this fic last just a little bit longer. Next chapter: less fluff, more stuff! Don't forget that there really is a Woman in Red lurking out there...
And as always, remember to leave a review to tell me what. The last chapter did very well in terms of views and reviews, which was probably part of the reason why I managed to finish this chapter so quickly, hehe. Alright, stay tuned, more chapters coming your way soon!
~29.06.2015