A/N: Hello everyone! It's been awhile. Life has been really tough for the past year so I haven't been updating this story. Work and school is really tough. I'll try to update as soon as I can but I cannot make promises. Thank you for those who follow and favorite-d my story. All reviews and comments are highly appreciated.

All characters are the sole property of the ever amazing Gosho Aoyama san

This has not be beta-ed to there are potential grammar errors.

ENJOY!

FAN FICTION

Into the Black Organization

Chapter 11

Tracing Home Part 1

"Oiy are you sure this guy can drive safely huh Kudo?" Hattori whispered to me. I only shrugged and watched amusingly as Hattori's face changed colors. It's not like Hattori was particularly scared of riding a car after all he himself rides his motorcycle and airplane regularly; but knowing that he is riding in a car of someone doesn't completely trust yet he just felt a little on the uncomfortable side. I understand Hattori considering he never really knew the truth behind Subaru san. As of now, I guess I'll hide that from Hattori. It is the least I can do for now for Subaru. I did owe him one before. "Oiy Kudo are you listening to me?" Hattori argued.

"Ah? Sorry. What was that you're saying?"

"I'm asking where we are headed and what is the plan?"

It was Subaru san who replied, "We are headed first to the original crime scene of Fujioka Asuma at the Tsukimi Avenue. The mansion has already been abandoned. We'll see if there are more that we can get apart from the ones in the police report."

"After that, we will go to the main event of the day…" I looked at Hattori and mirrored his smirk. And together we mentioned the name that will put the case to full throttle. "Hashimoto."

It took about two and a half hours of driving from my house to Tsukimi Avenue. Even after taking Yamago Highway, we still had a difficulty finding the old Fujioka Mansion. The mansion stands opposite the Touto Tower. Even in the populated place, the mansion looked like it was frozen in time. Its once majestic look had faded in time with overgrown grass everywhere and dirt-stained stone walls covered in molds and vines. The outside shows the loneliness of the place like it tells of the story of a tragic hero who was punished by the gods to fall and suffer. We were fortunate that because of its tragic history, there was no one who dared near the place. Also, because of time, the locks on the massive gate were so rusted that it took no effort at all to destroy it and enter that mansion grounds. It took another few minutes before we were able to park the car in front of the mansion. From a closer look the mansion look less haunted as I imagined it from afar. As a counter-measure, Subaru instructed us to put on gloves to avoid our prints on anything. He mentioned that these precautions were necessary especially since we were against the Black Organization. "Even the slightest mistake can be deadly and everything may be turned upside down once they gained a slight opportunity." Subaru added as he explained to the annoyed Hattori who wants no gloves or what not. But after a few more convincing, Hattori finally puts on his gloves. Now finally set up and ready to go, we entered the mansion. Truthfully, we needed keys for the door so the three of us looked for an opening that we can use. Unfortunately for me, there is one… one tiny opening in one of the windows in the rear of the mansion. Being the tiniest one, Hattori and Subaru, as if finally buddies, shared the same condescending look silently telling me to enter. I honestly hated that they had to look at me like that but I'll let it slide for now. The tiny opening seems to have come from a hit on the window glass causing it to break to pieces. All of us surmise that it might have been cause by a baseball or something like that. True enough after being hoisted up to reach the window and enter the mansion, a few steps was all it took to see an old baseball resting in the corner of the table directly opposite the window. The silence of the mansion caused an eerie feeling to creep up to my skin. After a few minutes, I was able to open the mansion door for Subaru and Hattori to enter. Because of the lack of time, we decided to take separate rooms to investigate according to the police reports. Subaru took the master's bedroom located on the first room on the right of the second floor hallway where Fujioka Ayaka, the second wife of Fujioka Asuma was found dead whilst lying on the bed and her face covered with a pillow. It was believed that she died suffocation before the trigger was pulled over the pillows supposedly ensuring death. On the other hand, Hattori took the children's room that was adjacent to the master's bedroom. It was there that Asuma's three children were found dead. The eldest Kenta was found beside the bodies of his siblings in the corner of the room. The police believed that he tried to protect his two siblings from Fujioka who cornered them in the room. The other two, Kiyoko and Misaki we found hugging each other beside their brother Kenta. The children were then very young at ten, five and three years old respectively. Finally, I took the home office located on the first floor where according to the police, Fujioka Asuma retreated after murdering his family to commit suicide.

The master's bedroom, like every crime scene, was left in its horrid state. Though the furniture and other necessities were left in its perfect position, the same could not be said for the bed. The blood-covered sheets had been taken for investigation but the once pristine white mattress and pillow were left. Subaru inspected the surrounding area of the bed to check for any distinct clue that will lead to the truth about the murder, but there was nothing.

Tsk, don't you think it is too cruel Asuma san? Subaru thought as he examined the bed. With the average height 5'0" feet, Fujioka Ayaka never had a chance to win a fight against Asuma, who stands around 5'9" feet especially with a body comparable to Camel of the FBI. Of course that is assuming it was Asuma himself who killed his family. He went around to check the pillow where Ayaka was supposed to have lain the night she died. The dried bloodstain on the base of the pillow show massive bleeding as it flowed beyond the pillow to the mattress. This greatly puzzled Subaru since the police report indicated that Ayaka died of suffocation and not of the gunshot. Further, the report showed that there was no exit wound found at the back of the skull which seemed the only plausible exit of the bullet after it was fired on another pillow that covered the face of the victim that caused suffocation. What caused even further confusion was the strange location of the bloodstain. Subaru took a look at the police report and examined the photos. The police report contained photos of the victim in different angles that allowed Subaru to calculate the position of the body and the possible position of the murderer. Still, even with the picture in his mind, the massive bloodstain cannot be explained. He read again the report, trying to decipher if there was anything he had missed. The report declared that the gunshot wound was penetrating. From his experience, Subaru deduced that the wound would have been perforating or both penetrating and perforating causing a massive bleed out pooling around the head. Subaru double checked the initial photos taken as soon as the police arrived and some that were taken while the body was moved and after the body was moved for investigation. Realizing that the crime scene was practically left as it was ten years ago made Subaru question whether he was simply thinking too much of the bloodstain. He let out a sigh thinking back on what Kudo said to Hattori of not jumping to conclusions. He smirked upon realizing the effect of a child's voice to him. He again examined the bed this time with a more critical eye than before. Judging from the state of the bed from the photos taken, Subaru clearly see retaliation. But what he did not understand is, if Asuma was the murderer, why would, his wife, Ayaka who was described by many close friends of the couple to be very much in love and supportive of his husband fight his husband. Assuming that as a murderer Asuma may have hidden his gun, why would he need to suffocate his wife using a pillow. Another point is that even if, Asuma did not hide his gun he could just simply shoot his wife. There was truly no need to suffocate the wife with a pillow then shoot her afterwards considering that according to the report the crime was committed around three in the morning. His wife and children would definitely be already asleep by then or assuming again that his wife was asleep then he can simply suffocate his wife and need not to shoot her in the head. There was simply no need to do both. And going back to the bloodstain, there was no way any police officer and especially Kudo Yusaku would accept that this is merely a penetrating wound with the bullet shrapnel trapped in the skull. There was no way that a penetrating shrapnel that stayed in the victim's head could cause a bleeding of this magnitude. Besides, after being shot in the head, all forms of fight will immediately cease for it was an instant death and vice versa. Thinking along those lines, Subaru thought that a fight should not have ensued because of the possibility of an instant death. Therefore, the messy state of the bed should not have happened. Subaru stared at the crime scene photos and saw that truly, before the body was taken for autopsy, the bed is already in a mess. He inhaled and tried to calm his confused mind. He pondered on the information from the police report and the ones he had seen from the crime scene itself and thought hard for a few minutes, 'til something in his mind clicked.

"…shrapnel…" Subaru thought for a second. "If it was a shrapnel then definitely the bullet would have passed through somewhere, right? There should be an exit wound if the only thing found was a shrapnel." Subaru chuckled as he felt his stupidity for believing everything in the report. He had momentarily forgotten the fact that this police report was taken by the Black Organization meaning that this led to them and that they were clearly involved in this case. Also considering the fact that this was ten years ago when the Japanese police wasn't as sophisticated as today, it was a matter to reflect upon. Subaru started to look at the bed for nth time and finally found something worth scrutinizing. It was tiny, minute even, but not invisible. There at the edge of the pillow was a puncture with its edges seemingly burnt. He took out his pen and started probing the puncture. He discovered that tiny puncture went through the pillow sheet to the mattress. He decided to poke his pen in the hole and surely it was stopped by something that doesn't seem to be the cushion in the mattress. Subaru quickly pulled his phone and took pictures of his pen to measure the depth of the hole that was about three inches deep. Once satisfied, he pulled from the hole a part of the bullet casing/shell that he assumed to be part of the shrapnel recovered from the victim. He placed the bullet beside his pen then took another set of pictures for documentation. Once satisfied, he took the bullet and placed it inside a prepared resealable plastic pouch. After that, he once again analyzed the crime scene photos and the newly discovered evidence, and the victim's autopsy report. He had tentatively concluded that considering the police never found the bullet shell, that the victim sustained penetrating and perforating wounds from the bullet. He needed more time to completely come to a conclusion. He did not want this to end in another mistake as previous missions had regarding the Black organization. So he will really take his time to understand what truly happened ten years ago. As he get ready to rejoin the others, he felt an unsettling feeling creep up to his spine. The case was truly puzzling especially since Kudo Yusaku was part of the team that investigated the case. He had heard of Kudo Yusaku before; so he understands his caliber though he is not a full-pledged police or detective. Subaru could simply not understand how someone of his caliber missed out something like this that even he had seen after spending time in the crime scene for less than an hour. And if what Vermouth said was true, according to Conan, then this may not be the only mistake he had made in this case.

"I have to convene with Conan and Hattori about this new discovery soon." He said then proceeded to exit the room to join Conan downstairs.

Meanwhile, Hattori has been standing outside the room assigned to him. Honestly, he would have wanted to take Subaru's room instead but everything kind of fell in its place and suddenly he was left with the children's room. Hattori was not scared. Of course he wasn't, because he could not be a well-known high school detective if he was. He had seen dead people in the flesh and still continue his work of unravelling the truth behind every case. But the thing is, children has always been his weakness. It probably was one of the many reasons why he never had any qualms of following Kudo since he is in his kid form. Well, that and his unusual charisma that Hattori would never admit to anyone. Going back to the matter at hand, Hattori reviewed that case file again and saw the details of what happened. Three kids were supposedly sleeping in the room that fateful night: Fujioka Kenta- ten years old, Fujioka Kiyoko- five years old, and Misaki- three years old before they were cruelly murderer by their own father, Fujioka Asuma. He reminded himself that nothing in the report should be treated as the one and only truth. He vowed to help Kudo and he will do it right. Upon forming his resolve, he clenched the report then opened the door.

As he stepped inside the room, he noticed the once bright colors of the wallpaper and the painted galaxy on the ceiling. It has already been covered with dust and a few cobwebs. Hattori proceeded to enter the room and saw to his right was a small dresser and a small full body mirror. Beside it, he saw three small tables and three cute legless chairs with stacks of learning books arranged in a semi-circle facing another legless chair. He looked to his left and saw a faded pink curtain by the window and next to it were measuring tapes tacked on the wall that indicated the children's height at that time. So far, the entry to the room has been kept clean just like the night before the kids went to bed, but the same thing could not be said for the next half of the room. As Hattori walked further he saw scattered toys around the carpeted floor. It was a distinct difference to the clean and spotless area he had just inspected. Several toys were left lying on the floor from trucks, small cars, dolls and other random kid toys. His gaze turned to the beds that were arranged on both ends of the room forming two beds on the left and one bed on the right. The beds were also a mess. The sheets were tossed aside and the pillows and mattress in a state of disarray. In between the three beds was a chest with some leftover toys and a picture frame; beside it were three taped figures of the children. Their blood had soiled the once cream colored carpet. He turned around to face the door that was directly opposite the chest and realized that if the attacker, Asuma had entered the room to kill his children, truly there was no way for the children to leave the room. Once the attacker entered the room, the dresser which could have been a good hiding place would have been behind the attacker. It would have also been impossible to hide behind the curtain because that would have been to the left of the attacker. The moment the attacker entered, they would have been caught running behind the curtain or the dresser. Their only chance of hiding was under their beds. There was simply to object apart from their beds where they can hide. The chest was not even big enough to fit even the three year old Misaki.

'They were trapped' he thought. As the chest was placed by the wall, and so as for the beds, there were simply no escape route for the children. Hattori once again stared at the state of the room. It was an utter chaos with the toys lying around. 'Could they have been playing when Asuma came inside the room to kill them?' he thought. However something was amiss. Just like Subaru, he returned to the police report to see what the police ten years ago thought of the crime.

The crime was done around 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. The police suspected that after killing his wife, Ayaka, Asuma went to the children's room to kill the children. But, what puzzled Hattori was that assuming that the kids were playing before Asuma entered their room - much like what the police thought-, shouldn't they have heard at least something from the master bedroom? The report did not say if the murderer used a silencer. So he assumed, that there was none. After all, the murder weapon was ten years old and, though not an expert on guns, Hattori can very well deduce that the gun cannot be attached to any silencer. Having said that, the kids should have heard something muffled by a pillow or not, a gunshot should warrant to get the kids attention.

"Where they too afraid to go out? Well that was natural they were kids after all. Now, if they were afraid, why didn't they lock the door?" Hattori questioned himself. It was just too absurd. Also, knowing that the eldest was Kenta, a boy who was described to be adventurous, brave and protective of his younger siblings who were both girls, did he not investigate? And if he thought, it was too dangerous, why did he not hide with his siblings under the bed, in the dresser? Why leave themselves out in the open? These thoughts went on and on inside his mind. He looked back at the report and read that the children were found with Kenta in front of Kiyoko and Misaki who were slumped to the wall. Kenta was covered with bruises on his face and body - a clear indication of struggle and a bullet to his head. There were burnt marks of his forehead indicating that the gun was fired whilst Kenta was staring at his attacker.

'struggle…'Hattori thought "Why would Kenta struggle?" Hattori said aloud. "If I was Kenta and I needed to protect someone… like Kazuha, - blushing at his passing thought- and my father entered the room why would I struggle? Wouldn't I ask for questions? Wouldn't I be glad that my father came to our room right after hearing a gunshot? Why would I get beaten up seeing as I was trying to protect my siblings?" he continued.

Hattori paced around the room lost in his thoughts when something caught his attention. He once again looked at the room… the bed… the toys… No matter how much he thinks that the kids were playing there was no way the kids would messed up the room this much. Checking the police report, he concluded that the room was left as is. At least the police ten years ago were meticulous enough to not destroy the crime scene. He thought that if these were kids playing games, the pillows can be thrown anywhere so it's possible for the pillows to be elsewhere but for the mattress to be moved or lifted; Hattori thought that kids of ten, five and three years old cannot lift the mattress. He also thought of the absurdity that kids would try to lift the mattress. He thought the there was simply no kind of game that needed for the mattress to be lifted. Likewise, if they were playing, the toys would not have been scattered randomly from dolls to trucks and more. If they were playing, the trucks should have been on a side where Kenta was playing and the dolls on another side since, these are two girls and boys. And at the young age of ten, five and three, even if they were siblings, there has bound to be issues on toy ownership, they wouldn't just place toys randomly on the floor where their siblings can simply take their toys and play with it. To Hattori, the toys seemed to have been thrown and not randomly scattered to be played with. Also, according to the autopsy, three year old Misaki had what seemed to be strangle marks on her neck but died from bleeding after she was shot on her stomach. Five year old Kiyoko, on the other hand, suffered from a few bruises on her knees and toes, as well as strangulation marks, a gunshot wound on her heart and she lost a part of hair.

"Wait… what? She lost her hair? What the hell are these police writing here?" Hattori complained. "Damn it! This is getting more confusing by the minute." he continued. Hattori continued reading the report to get as many clues as he can. He spotted another inconsistency in the report. The report stated that of the three children, Kenta seemed to be the last to have been killed.

"Now that is odd. If he was protecting his siblings, shouldn't he be the first to have been shot then his siblings who were behind him? How can he have died last and Misaki and Kiyoko first." He said to himself.

Hattori walked towards the door and sat on the floor that had no toys and stared at the room once again. He was so frustrated for getting nothing but the same conclusions from the police report. As he was about to throw in the towel, he realized something. The toys scattered on the room are too many for just one night play. It's like the kids threw out all their toys and wage war on each other. He also thought the absurd placement of the toys and smirked.

'So it was not play or to wage war on each other' he thought. The kids were really throwing their toys to their attacker [Asuma] who came in the room. 'But why would they throw their toys to their father?' he sighed 'back to square one… wait a minute.' He paused. Hattori read the report again and chuckled at what he thought was pure stupidity. He then recalled an item he saw at the chest and stood up to get it. It might just be the key he needed to explain the odd police report.

"This is it!" he exclaimed. 'Kudo needs to see this.' he added.

Standing by the door while peeking at the small opening Subaru smiled as he observed Hattori, "There really wasn't a need to worry. He truly is good. A few more polishing and he will be a very skilled detective." he thought. He pushed himself from the wall he was leaning on and proceeded to walk to the stairs. It was at that moment that the door to the children's room opened and Hattori came out. Subaru looked behind his shoulders and asked, "…just finished?" Hattori gave him but a cocky smile that says he had solved the mystery. Together they went down the stairs both lost in their own thoughts. They head to the office to convene with Conan who was at that time standing with his back on the door staring at the desolate garden through the massive glass panel behind Fujioka Asuma's desk. Immediately Conan slipped the phone he was holding in his pockets as he heard the doorknob clicked open.

"This means that you guys had finally finished your investigations?" Conan said without turning to face Hattori and Subaru. Silence was the only answer he received and he turned to see the smirk on both his partners' faces. 'I couldn't have taken better partners for this.' Conan thought.

A/N:

Massive thanks again to the reviews.

To the Guest, Kogoro's mystery is yet to be revealed in the upcoming chapters.

To ScarletShad0w, thank you very much for the interest in the story. I honestly wanted to create a different kind of Conan and Black Organization encounter. But, let's see if the story progress to that (*wink)