I must apologize once again. I know this took awhile, but as previously stated I have been extremely busy with this thing called school so please be patient with me. Also, if the chapter sucks I'm sorry. It has been a long month filled with essay writing and it has been stressful. Anyway, before I start rambling, here it is. PLEASE DON'T HATE ME FOR THE ABSOLUTE RUBBISH YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ! THIS CHAPTER IS NOT WELL ORGANIZED BUT I DON'T REALLY SEE ANY WAY TO FIX IT.

I do not own Detective Conan.

Chapter 11

"Shinichi?" her voice whispered in the darkness, and he felt her thumb stroking his cheek. "Shinichi please don't do this to me. Please don't leave me again." He could hear the despair in her voice, and within seconds he felt her tears dropping onto his cheeks and sliding away as if they were his own. "Please..." she begged desperately. Then the feeling of her fingertips on his cheeks faded away and he was dragged back into the dark.

"Shinichi." He tried to ignore the returning voice. The darkness suddenly felt comforting and warmer than the cold world beyond it. In the darkness he could hide forever, and no one could ever find him. There was a certain urgency in the way her hands gripped his arm though, and he suddenly feared for her safety. "Shinichi, wake up!" He sat up straight with a gasp as his eyes flew open.

The owner of the voice was nowhere in sight as he glanced at the bright white world surrounding him. He quickly got to his feet as his eyes adjusted to the light. The sky was pure white and the ground seemed to be an endless field of tall grass that went up to his knees. He discovered the grass was extremely soft though as he let his fingers skim over it. He pulled up a blade to further inspect it, but as soon as the blade of grass was plucked from its place it lost its soft touch and grew as rough and brown as a stick.

"Ran?" he called out, attempting to call her back to him. There was no way she could have vanished without a trace so quickly. She had been gripping his arm until the second he had opened his eyes. He waited and called out again, but no answer came.

He gazed around himself again and turned in a circle, wondering just where on Earth he was and how he got there. "Do you have any idea how many different ways I thought of to kill you?" Shinichi whirled around once more to face the familiar voice. Naoki smiled at him with a twisted, manic look in his eyes."There were so many choices...I lost count." He stepped closer, and Shinichi stepped back. He had a bad feeling about the whole situation, and he wasn't sure what the man before him was planning.

"What did you choose?" Shinichi asked in confusion; feeling as if he were missing something important. "Where are we?" Naoki simply laughed and walked away; fading into the endless field. Shinichi almost started to follow him when he suddenly felt a pain in his right shoulder.

Wincing, he pulled his sleeve down over his shoulder to reveal a nasty bruise. At the sight of it, a memory surfaced and he heard his own voice screaming out in pain all around him. He clamped his hands over his ears until the sound stopped, but the dull pain remained. Then there were faint whispers present in the wind, but as familiar as the voices sounded he couldn't make out what they were saying or give any of them names.

Shinichi decided to try to find a way out of...wherever he was, and he began to wander in the field. The sky began to darken as he went though, and soon all of the grass had grown the dull and rough brown that the blade he had picked up earlier had become. He shivered at how cold it suddenly was, and then immediately dropped to his knees. Everything had begun to tilt and shift before his eyes, and his head pounded so much that he thought he might be sick. He groaned softly at the sudden pain that had spread all over his body, and sat back on the ground as he tried to catch his breath against the intense pain in his right side.

"Kudou," a new voice murmured from close by. Shinichi lifted his head and spotted a somewhat blurry image of Hattori Heiji kneeling down before him.

"H-hattori..." he whispered in response; unable to say anymore. Heiji's eyes looked sad, and he looked down at the ground. Then he reached over and picked up Shinichi's right hand; revealing a bloody arrow on the ground beneath.

"All those complicated dying messages you decipher, and THIS is what you come up with?" Heiji commented; his voice nearly inaudible. Shinichi let his head drop forward; too relieved to see a friendly face to let Heiji's words sink in. Then, as if by magic, Heiji disappeared. Shinichi found the strength to lift his head again, and almost wished he hadn't.

Standing before him was Gin, and he was holding a gun to Ran's head. She didn't say anything, but there were tears coursing down her cheeks. She was scared. She didn't want to die. Gin flashed a wicked grin. "Looks like you couldn't protect her after all," he commented. "What a pity." The gunshot came like a thunderbolt.

Shinichi jolted forward as if he had been the one who had been shot. Then his hand moved immediately to his right side, which felt constricted and extremely sore, and he glanced over at the dented shield on the floor as he remembered how the pain in his ribcage had come to be. Shinichi leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes against the room that just couldn't seem to stay still. Not being able to breathe normally wasn't helping either.

He didn't open them again until he finally felt like the world had stopped moving. As the movement stopped though, the pain set in and he moaned softly as he rubbed his aching forehead with bloody fingertips. He winced as he realized more blood had begun to stream slowly down the left side of his face. I must look like I've been hit by a truck. That was when he heard them. Several familiar voices echoed through the hallway, and he suddenly recalled all that had happened. He glanced down to the arrow on the floor, which had been smeared by his movements. Maybe that wasn't part of my dream. That's probably why no one's in here.

Shinichi sighed and clenched his teeth at the pain it brought. I just can't catch a break, can I? He slowly moved until he was on his knees; gasping heavily as he supported himself with his right hand. His left wrist was swollen, and he was glad he had noticed before trying to put any weight on it. The voices in the hallway got quieter, and he got the feeling that things were calming down. Glancing back at the wall he had been leaning against, he allowed himself to smile as he finally put together how he was supposed to die. So that was your choice...sorry to disappoint you.

He slowly crawled back over to the wall, and used it to lean on as he shakily got to his feet. He stood still for a moment; his brain trying to convince his legs to stop shaking so much. They still felt somewhat numb, but he had a feeling that if he didn't get to the hallway soon his potential murderer would come back and finish the job. He tried to call out, but his throat stubbornly refused to make any sound loud enough for anyone to hear. Of course he wouldn't want me to be able to call for help. Using the wall for support, he made his way to the door. He may not have been able to say anything, but just showing that he was alive would be enough. Once he was closer to the door, he could identify the voices of Heiji and Inspector Megure.

As he inched closer, he swallowed hard; relieved to feel his throat starting to obey him again. He couldn't make out what they were saying until he was directly beside the doorway, and he laughed inwardly as he got ready to interrupt their conversation. I've got to have a little bit of fun with them. Shinichi quietly cleared his throat.

"Hattori," the inspector started. "Are you saying that Kudou-kun's killer is-"

"The 'killer,' as you so delicately put it Inspector," Shinichi interjected. "is still in the room." As he spoke he stepped into the doorway, and then leaned on it for support as he caught his breath. He briefly closed his eyes, but he could feel the shocked looks and hear the gasps of the policemen standing around as they saw who was in the doorway. When he opened his eyes again, Heiji was standing right in front of him; looking shocked and a little angry.

"Y-y-you...you were..." Pausing, Heiji took a deep breath to calm himself, which of course, didn't work. "WHAT THE HELL KUDOU? YOU JUST SCARED EVERYONE OUT OF TEN YEARS OF THEIR LIVES!"

"It's ...not my fault that...you guys all ...thought I was dead," Shinichi quietly gasped out; no longer using the cocky, slightly amused voice he had just used to scare the inspector. Heiji's face immediately changed from anger to concern as he looked Shinichi over. The teen was leaning heavily on the doorframe on his left shoulder; letting the rest of that arm fall limp at his side to avoid putting pressure on his swollen wrist. The left side of his shirt was basically dyed red, and there was blood running down his face and neck. His breathing was quick and shallow and his good hand was clutching his right side. He looks like he's been hit by a truck.

"But Kudou-kun, how-" Inspector Megure started to ask before both he and Heiji were shoved aside by Ran.

"Shinichi?" she murmured tentatively; her eyes brimming with new tears. He gave her the best crooked grin he could manage.

"Hey Ran..." he breathed; forgetting the rest of the somewhat sarcastic remark he had been planning to make. What was I going to say? Crap...I can't think straight.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" she suddenly demanded; keeping as tight a reign on her emotions as she could.

"Ran, if this were a joke...the inspector...would be...arresting me...Besides I...I would never..." Shinichi trailed off as dark spots suddenly clouded his vision, and he sunk down to his knees.

"Shinichi?...Shinichi!" He couldn't see her, but the closeness of her voice told him she had joined him on the floor. Other voices seemed to fade in and out, but only hers could be heard clearly. He felt himself falling but her warm arms wouldn't let him. As the feeling of security from her embrace washed over him, he finally let go of consciousness; allowing the darkness to take him back once again.

I'm so sorry this chapter was so LAME! I have been insanely busy, and I was experiencing the inability to articulate what I had planned out for this chapter in my mind. Also, sorry to the few people who actually did say they wanted Shinichi dead. I knew where this story was going from the start though, so this scene was sort of already planned out. Sorry. Please don't hate me.