Hello again – Early and short update today and I wanted to say that everyone is just AMAZING. You guys make bounces in my steps and smiles for when I scribble in my notebook for the plot line.
Want to know something funny? I was going to post it earlier this morning before class but decided not to leave you guys on a super messed up cliff hanger! So let's have some fun – here's my earlier text that you guys can chuckle at:
We're back with an especially short chapter –because I am so, so, so, so late - so here you go! Thank you for the reviews and favorite add and everything and I thank you so much and yeah – Yay Yay – Out the door I go! Don't kill me and Enjoy!
Shame on me! Oh man. I love laughing at myself sometimes. Anyways here's your chapter and have fun with it! It's got love written all over it. Well…It's got something! LOL
– To me by far one of the best songs ever done in history is Israel Kamakawiwo's version of, "Somewhere over the Rainbow," I cried when writing this. Such pretty music!
Anyways like I said before, have fun with it!
XXX
Chapter 10: His Will
Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan for the tenth time already!
XXX
The sounds of his heavy breathing would not go unheard as he pushed his shrunken body forward in order to catch up to her. Ran was just barely out of his range. Shinichi somehow could feel her presence a mile away. It was hard to explain why he could detect Ran's feelings. It easier to claim it as a mutual bond that held between them.
Shinichi wished he had his own body back. Perhaps darting in and out of the crowds wouldn't be nearly as hard. He was so close, yet so far. In his mind he could see her back facing him as she walked. Her shoulders were slumped and her right hand clenched the makeshift picnic basket tightly.
"Ran-neechan, wait!" He called hoping that through the buzzing mass that somehow Ran would hear his calls but she kept moving farther away and farther away from him.
It was a shame since at one point Shinichi had been so close to almost snatching a hold on her left hand. If only he hadn't been denied by the fact that the cross walk's signal turned green. This allowed Ran to slip away from him all together. Now he was back to chasing her down.
Luckily he had managed to catch back up to her but she still ways out of his reach.
However he wouldn't give up on her. Shinichi couldn't knowing well that he was bound to run into her at some point. The park was only a block away and much to his appreciation she was slowing down from her insanely fast power walking ability.
This gave him time, and that's all he needed. Shinichi paused and shut his eyes tightly to summon all the strength in his little body so that he could call out her name. No honorific included and sure enough when it happened, all his obstacles vanished as Ran turned around towards his voice.
Shinichi grinned, as she whispered his name, his real one at that. The very name he would never get tired of her calling out softly. There was no Conan to be perceived as he scampered over to her as it should naturally be.
Ran blinked tears as he smiled to greet her. She immediately tried to hide it but it had been far too late as he already seen it and there was no question that he would soon make her laugh to make up for it. There was so much to say, but he couldn't find the words – they were always so difficult whenever it was just the two of them like this.
"Shinichi," He heard her breathe out softly and he glanced back up at her in question. "Why did you come here? I figured you'd be with her?" Shinichi winced, so he had been right all along. Ran did know the truth and for some reason or another she was also jealous of Haibara's proximity range towards him. "I don't want your sympathy Shinichi."
She was putting on that tough act again. He could see that the spring blossom he had gazed upon earlier was now slowly wilting away. Even her eyes were puffy from crying. Heiji was right in the end, Shinichi should have told her to begin with. Maybe than this ache deep inside his heart could have been avoided as well as the void he created with Ran.
Haibara would have his neck if she saw him now. He was going to finally answer the questions that she so longed to hear from his own lips. Shinichi hoped in the end he would not come to regret it.
Her glare had not let up and even if he smiled, she only looked away.
"My place is with you Ran. It has always been you."
Silence followed after, and then finally a couple of sobs escaped her lips.
"Thank you Shinichi," She whispered finally glancing his way again causing his heart all the more to skip happily in delight. "I've waited so long to hear that." Ran was laughing with a grand smile spread across her lips. His heart was practically soaring. "You have no idea how—I am."
Shinichi tilted his head in confusion.
"What?" He asked loudly and she gave him a bewildered stare.
"I said that you have no idea how—"It was then Shinichi's eyes widened significantly.
For some odd reason he could see Ran's mouth moving but her voice was drawing away from him becoming mute to his ears until finally she stood in front of him ranting on and he couldn't hear a word she was saying.
Ran paused. "Shinichi are you listening?" She questioned as he let out a sharp breath, Shinichi blinked, well he heard that at least. Shinichi rubbed his forehead.
"I think I have a headache." He groaned out with irritation ringing in his voice, "At the worst possible time." Ran chuckled, and she crouched down to his level placing her freed left hand on his forehead head. Shinichi blushed, her hands were so warm that he couldn't help but relax into her touch while closing his eyes all the more. The things Ran did to him…
"I really am thankful you know." She started again, and he hummed in response. "It's a shame though that we just weren't meant to be."
Shinichi's eyes snapped open at her words. His mouth hung open ready to question but the words never came. They were stuck in his throat when he witnessed the person before him was no longer Ran but rather Vermouth in her stead. "Hello cool guy. How's it been?"
Shinichi looked to his left and his right, the walkway that had been filled with people was completely deserted. No cars, no sounds, just the two of them to face off in a tempered spar.
"V-Vermouth, w-what—" Vermouth chuckled darkly as she pulled a pistol from the basket that she had been carrying along with a silencer to go with it. She aimed it directly at his forehead and smiled. Besides her lay a realistic mask of Ran's face taunting him silently.
"Expecting someone else cool guy?" Shinichi's eyes narrowed instantly.
"Where is Ran? What have you done to her?" He shouted and Vermouth simply smirked in response.
"Don't worry," The actress cooed as she loaded the weapon. "You will be joining her soon enough." He paled, no, not Ran! Anyone but Ran! "You should have seen the look on her face when the man she had been waiting for all this time only greeted her with a final goodbye." Shinichi closed his eyes than as his heart wrenched inside his chest painfully. "Hey cheer up cool guy, after all she did say on her dying breath that she still loved you. It was so sweet. Truly an Angel in the end, don't you agree?"
It was a terrible feeling that ripped through him and sadly, Shinichi had never been one to cry. Even for her, he could not bring himself to tears only let out a frustrated cry that the world around could hear. Shinichi was in pain. Every part of the reality he once knew was shattered and nothing else seemed to matter anymore. It was pointless to continue this little charade especially if Ran wasn't going to be the light at the end of his tunnel. The day she died, was the day Kudo Shinichi would die as well.
.
.
.
XXX
"Kudo—Kudo-kun—Wake up…"
Shinichi stirred and while he could hear someone calling him – he wished to be left alone. He did not wish to be awakened as Shinichi knew he would be than forced to remember the great loss he had suffered from. The void in his heart would never be mended and he would not be the same ever again without Ran to cheer him on.
Yet the voice did not give up, it continued to demand for his attention. To move, to say something, anything at all but his body would not respond to the calls. It felt so numb, so broken…
"Kudo-kun I swear that if you don't wake up, I'll be forced to take immediate action. Do you understand?"
Shinichi tried to laugh off such a threat but he couldn't even crack the smile to do such a task.
Ran…She was supposed to wait for him…
It was then that despite Agasa's voice trying to calm down a certain someone that grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, bringing his sorrowful gaze toward what he learned to be Haibara. Haibara lifted her right hand up and then proceeded to slap him across the face.
The thing was Shinichi hadn't even felt the impact of the blow. It was so strange and rather depressing at the same time.
"Snap out of it you idiot!" Haibara yelled earning a groggy stare. He realized at least that he was laying flat on a couch now rather than before when he was pressed back against the wall. Haibara was standing on a chair to the right of him, still hovering over him, and looking less than pleased.
One question flew into his mind at that point – just how was it he was still alive?
Slowly his lips parted and his voice finally appeared,
"W-Where—"A strong whack greeted him this time around and he felt that one to the point he winced and complained. Haibara's facial expression relaxed then and she let out a sigh in relief.
"Agasa's," Haibara explained briefly as she released her hold on him and crawled down from her post. "You should know that you were still standing there after an hour had passed Kudo, staring into the abyss as if you were waiting for her to reappear." Haibara closed her eyes, thinking back on the moment. "I tried to urgently snap you out of it but you still wouldn't respond. "
"We were worried." Agasa added, causing Shinichi to shift his gaze on his elder friend. "But then suddenly you broke out of it on your own Shinichi. We felt relieved when you apologized and simply headed toward the couch saying that you needed to think this through."
"However you ended up falling asleep and instead of relaxing inside the dream like we hoped …You only got worse."
Hope sparked through Shinichi after hearing the word dream. It allowed him to rise up from his laying position into an Indian style one.
"R-Ran is she—?" His heart clenched tightly and Vermouth's wicked laughed replayed in his mind, but he found the courage to continue, "S-Still—still—?"
"Yes Kudo as far as we know Mouri-san is still very much alive." Haibara answered as she had heard his anguished cries in his slumber.
He laughed joyfully suddenly feeling renewed.
Ran was still with him and Kudo Shinichi gladly grasped life once more.
"What time is it?" He questioned quickly preparing to swing his legs off the couch.
"It's already nearing 8:00 pm and it's also raining outside Kudo..." Haibara stated.
"Good," Shinichi replied, earning surprised expression from both Haibara and Agasa. "I still have time."
"Time for what Shinichi? Where are you going?" Agasa wondered curiously watching Shinichi head for the door.
"To catch up to Ran." He heard Haibara groan.
"Kudo did you not hear what I've just said?" Haibara questioned as she rubbed the bridge of her nose where her glasses usually lay.
"It's late and raining outside." He echoed almost perfectly and the petite woman sighed tiredly. "Believe me, I know Ran, she's still out there—"Shinichi let out a gentle laugh, "Waiting."
"At least take something with you Shinichi." Agasa muttered and Shinichi nodded. He had already planned to strip the nearest closet of its umbrella.
"Do you really plan on doing this Kudo?" Haibara asked, "I thought we established why we couldn't let Mouri-san know about the situation you were in?" Shinichi chuckled – a smirk now forming on his lips.
"There's no need for me to tell her the truth because she already knows. I am certain of it."
"Then why go?" Haibara pressed, and his smile only increased tenfold.
"Ran needs me there Haibara, if I'm not there, who will be?" Haibara let out a low curse under her breath earning another snicker from the pint-sized detective. Shinichi couldn't help but to anyways. He knew Haibara had a low tolerance for this kind of talk – it wasn't her sort of thing. In fact if anything Haibara was more suited off talking about the Organization than dealing with his relationship drama with Ran.
"Do what you'd like." Haibara replied knowing well that even if she did deny him, he'd still find a way to go – one way or another. "However at least have the common courteously that if you're going to do something, do it right Kudo-kun."
Haibara and headed toward her room. Shinichi looked to Agasa for answers but even he disappeared from his sight as well. Shinichi began to worry if this scenario was just another badly thought out dream yet thankfully Haibara returned rather quickly.
In her right hand she held a plastic cup filled with water and in her left there laid a tiny white pill. Shinichi froze at the sight.
"Is this what I think it is?" Shinichi asked curiously, dropping the umbrella and approaching Haibara slowly.
She nodded and the idea became clearer when Agasa also reappeared with a cleaned bundle of clothing that belonged to a certain guy named Kudo Shinichi. Shinichi took the pill carefully from Haibara's hand and readied it. "How long do I have?"
Haibara glanced down at her watch, than looked up at him.
"Twenty minutes, or less –you had better act quickly if you plan on doing something Kudo-kun." Shinichi sighed, it had become one of those now or never moments for sure. He hoped that Ran would be cooperative once he stepped back into her life but knowing her stubbornness, it might prove rather difficult.
Shinichi popped the pill in his mouth and then grabbed the water from Haibara to swallow it down. Once the job was finished, he waited and sure enough his heart pulsed tightly through his chest. He was sweating moments later and the burning heat from his body began to cloud his vision.
Haibara turned her back on him then and headed back to her studies.
Shinichi swore he heard her mumble something on the lines of, "Best wishes Kudo-kun," before finally darkness overtook him.
Ran.
Wait for me.
I'll be there sooner than you think.
XXX
To be continued!
XXX
Next time for sure the reunion of a lifetime! Bring your tissues – It's going to be an awe moment for sure!
Review please – I think when I'm happy I think I write better.
LOL – though I'm sure that works that way for everyone but common throw me a bone here people! I like hearing what you have to say!
Anyways I'll see you guys next time around next time! Thanks for all the support!