Hi there !

Ok, last calm chapter before loads of action : )

Sorry for non-Heiji fans, there's once again a lil scene with him but since we won't see him before a few chapters... I wanted to have him there a last moment ; )

Have fun reading, thanks for coming ^_^

o.O.o

Blossom : Hmm the review was for chapter 3 so if you read more you probably saw there was some AoKai in chapter 9 and far more to go : ). Keep reading ; )

ForgetfulDaffodil : As regular as a clockwork, on Wednesdays ! Glad to know you're expecting them ^_^

Great : uh you do sound like an regular reader... I guess Shinshinjane maybe ?^^;; Sorry for the confusion if you're not. Well, more chapters incoming, just as planned :D


Chapter 11 : Declaration of Love


In a silent dark room, somewhere, a shadowy silhouette was bent on his phone, apparently texting. The faint light of the screen showed a face with a large scar over the left eye. Only one thing could be heard : the phone, and his beeping was strangely sounding like "nanatsu no ko", the old children song...

Friday, 11:22 pm

"Couldn't retrieve Kudô Shinichi. He and his family are being protected, probably by the FBI."

RUM

Friday, 11:25 pm

"Noted. Our scientists are disappointed by your fault. You may want look for him again. What about the Kid?"

BOSS

Friday, 11:34 pm

"Challenged me next Wednesday evening, in MPD headquarters. Apparently was able to retrieve some data from the chip."

RUM

Friday, 11:41 pm

"Permission granted to use all ravens available in the building for the mission. He must be neutralized at all cost."

BOSS

Friday, 11:43 pm

"Catch or kill?"

RUM

Friday, 11:46 pm

"KILL"

BOSS


Conan used his old good "must go to the toilet" trick to send a text to the Osakan so he could mentally prepare himself to Kazuha's arrival. The girl was half walking, half running in the entrance of the hospital and was heading toward the reception's desk when she received a call.

"... Hattori-san ? Yes, I'm here, where is he ?"

"... Ok, we wait fer ya at the entrance, then."

She turned to the 2 other girls just behind her.

"- Heiji's mum is comin' ta fetch us here. But still, I don' get how ya met him, Kanako-chan ?

- He helped me... It's a bit complicated but he..." Aoko began, a bit embarrassed. " I think it's better he tells you himself, I'm not sure already I should have told you he was here...

- I'm glad ya did, even if it was a mistake" Kazuha pointed with a faint smile.

"- Kazuha-chan ?" Heiji's mother called for her as she arrived.

"- Hattori-san ! Tell me just what happe...

- We'll speak later, in a quiet place." She advised softly with a suspicious look at the couple on her left." Please follow me."

She lead the four of them towards an isolated elevator and nodded to the 2 guards each side of it.

"- Guards ? " Ran noted, a bit startled to see they were barely hiding the weapons on their belts.

"- When Toyama-han explained Kazuha-chan it was dangerous, it wasn' a joke. Ya should have listened to yar father, Kazuha-chan" She scoled the girl with a serious face.

The woman had a small laugh at the girl's guilty attitude.

"- But well, bein' stubborn isn' necessarily a fault, above all fer a young woman," she finally winked. "As a mother, I'm glad ta see ya're so attached ta my son.

- I'm not... " Kazuha tried to hide her blush behind both her hands but it was clearly visible.

The elevator stopped, opening on a bright corridor, with once again 2 guards.

"- What is that place ? " the Osakan girl wondered at such an heavy security.

"- High security aisle o' the hospital" the woman answered as she led them in the hallways. "The FBI uses it ta protect the important witnesses or agents who need ta be hospitalized.

- The FBI ? " Ran asked with surprise in her voice.

"- Yes" Hattori's mother confirmed. After a few more meters, she stopped in front of a door. "Ok, here we are. First thing, I don' want anyone of ya to say ya've seen Heiji today. It's fer his safety." She then took one of the Osakan girl's arm in her hand and gently pulled it so the girl would face her. " Kazuha-chan, I agree with ya goin' there but I want ya ta promise me ta refrain from touchin' him and ta get him worked up. Try ta keep the scoldin' fer later.

- … Was it that bad?" Kazuha asked, her eyes widened in fear while Aoko had a guilty look, feeling it was partly her fault.

"- Yes. But he's out o' danger now. Well, go in." She turned to both other girls and Conan."As ta us, I think it's better if we wait outside fer the time bein'."


"- Heiji ?" Kazuha called softly, closing the door behind her, a bit afraid to enter further into the room.

"- Hi, Kazuha !" he greeted with a smile. "Well, don' be shy, since ya forced yer way here... come an' grab a seat."

The girl came to his bed and sat on the nearby chair, looking at his friend sitting on the bed in a light green hospital gown, finding him a bit pale.

"It was bad, his mother said" the Osakan girl remembered, impressed by the many devices around Heiji's bed. The dark-skinned detective seemed disconnected from all those, only one IV was remaining. But she still couldn't stop her eyes from getting watery, a mix of joy and sadness, feeling both relieved to see him at last and concerned about what he's been through and probably still was.

"- Hey, don' cry !" Heiji asked, noticing her shaking shoulders.

"- I was so worried" she sobbed, burying her face in her hands." They told me somethin' happened an' you wouldn' be comin' back fer a while ... I couldn' get anythin' more out of my father but it seemed serious... An' I find ya here, in an hospital room so, yes, there was somethin' ta worry about after all !" She raised her head and looked at him with anger, forgetting everything his mother asked. "What happened ? Why didn' ya tell me ?

- Kazuha, it was for yer own safety... I didn' want ta take the risk ya bein' seen here..." Heiji felt a bit guilty, seeing her crying her eyes out. "I know I should have called... I wanted ta but I knew ya'll just rush here an' I didn' want ya ta worry any more... than ya already were ... It seems that part o' the plan failed" he added with a faint embarrassed smile.

"- Not ta worry ?" she looked into his eyes. " Yer mother just told me yar injuries were so bad I shouldn' even touch ya!

- Ya know Kaa-san loves ta overact things...' " he sighed, taking Kazuha's hand in his. "See? No harm done. Just avoid hugs fer a while, will ya ?

- As if I'd like ta hug an ahou like ya" she denied, a small smile to him on her face.

"- That's better, that's the Kazuha I know" Heiji pointed when he saw she was lighting up a bit."Yea, ya don' need ta get that upset fer an ahou like me...

- Ya don' understand..." her face darkened as she lowered her head once again, looking at her knees. "When I left ya, ya were already hurt so, when ya stopped givin' news, I was imaginin' the worse... An' today I discover by accident I wasn' that far o' the truth...

- I'm sorry... " He excused himself, squeezing her hand to make her look at him. "I won' do it again, ok ?"

She nodded at him and looked thoughtfully at her hand in his, her expression changing from concerned to determined.

"- Heiji... Goin' through all this these last days made me realize... It's been a while I want ya ta know an' if ya really had disappeared, I wouldn' have been able ta forgive myself... "

"Crap, no way out" the west detective thought, seeing he was trapped to hear what she had to say and he knew where she was going...

"-... I love ya ! " She finished, scarlet faced, looking at his green eyes for a reaction. "Romantic way" she felt the need to clarify.

Heiji froze, mouth half-opened. Expecting those words and receiving them live wasn't exactly the same thing and he was sure he was as red as she was. But that really wasn't like this he wanted it to happen...

"- Come on, don' let me wait like that, gimme an answer, I start ta feel stupid !" Kazuha ordered after a few minutes of what was an unbearable silence for her.

"- I...

- Ya ... ? " She kept staring at him with an interrogative look, her face at a few centimetres of his.

"- Rahh, stop pushin' me... !" he grumbled loudly, letting go of her hand." As if I'll tell ya... I love ya from an hospital bed, AHOU !"

He started having a coughing fit, his body contesting the effort of quarrelling with Kazuha.

"- Heiji ?! Are ya alright ?" she worried, as the door behind her opened on Mrs. Hattori.

"- Calm down, children, this is an hospital, I heard that last "ahou" even from the hallway..."

She saw her son visibly in pain and rushed to lower the bed's head so it would allow him to breath more easily.

"-Thanks..." he coughed with a hoarse voice, his fit calming down.

Kazuha filled a glass of water to give it to the teen.

"- I'm sorry... I know ya told me not ta get him worked up and that's exactly what I did...

- I should have known a calm chat was impossible between ya an' Heiji..." The mother scolded, though her eyes were smiling.

"- Nah... That's also my fault..." Heiji admitted. He then turned to her "want-to-be girlfriend" . "Sorry, Kazuha... I'll answer ya properly... but it'll have ta wait... til I'm better, ok?"

She nodded to him.

"- If ya're done, let's get out, we need ta let him rest." the Osakan woman ordered.

"- Take care, Heiji !" The girl waved the detective good bye, trying to put a smile on her face, in spite of the feelings twirling in her chest.

"- Ya too... Say hi ta Nee-chan an'... K..Conan-kun fer me."


"- RAN!"

Panting, Conan woke up on his futon, a chill running along his spine at the reminiscence of the nightmare he just had.

Definitively, the incoming heist and the associated battle against RUM were getting on his nerves and feeding the wildest fears of his unconscious. He rubbed his eyes, as to get rid of the last images from his bad dream, a Ran killed by the Organization, nothing really new among his usual nightmares, and checked the alarm clock. 5 AM.

He crossed his arms behind his head, looking at the ceiling, the silence of the night only being disturbed by the snoring coming from Kogoro's bed. The boy knew he wouldn't be able to find any more sleep : he had been really tired after last case but he managed to get back the sleeping hours he needed on the previous weekend so, without the tiredness, the events planned for the next day were keeping him wide awake.

He thought once again of the previous days, and the plan the teens and he were setting up. Since he got out of the hospital, he had exchanged a few more times with the other detectives, even met with Kaito once, when he came to get back his glider by Agasa, as the inventor repaired it for him.

Saguru implied his father in their project, so they would have all the necessary accesses to the MPD's headquarters. It hadn't been easy to convince him as they had only indirect proofs but, even if they weren't really alike, Saguru's father knew his son wasn't a liar. And he didn't really appreciated to see his son coming back injured from his last case. James Black, who already exchanged with the Superintendent General, came as a Saguru's support to finish to convince him, briefing him with the most information about the Organization possible.

The officer was also the one who would ask Takagi, Sato and Megure to act as witnesses, on the advices of Conan. If everything went well, all the infiltrated agents would be lured in there, Matsumoto included, and they would all be stopped that night.

"If everything went well..."


The MPD headquarters were fully lighted and an heavy crowd was already waiting outside. The police had several choppers browsing the sky, circling around the building, their strong spots directed to the roof.

"- Look at that, They even have choppers ! " Aoko pointed as she lifted her head to the sky.

"- And there are so many lights, it looks like the night never fell..." Ran observed, impressive at the significant resources deployed to catch the Thief.

"- Ahh, but isn't it perfect ? Kid-sama will be shining in his white suit in the spotlight tonight !" Sonoko was already rejoicing in advance.

The Suzuki's daughter had invited Ran to come to the Kid's heist with her, hoping, as always, to be able to spot her favorite thief. Since Kazuha came back to Osaka, following for once Heiji's requests, Ran was a bit bored so she gladly accepted and decided to ask Kanako if she wanted to join. The girl also joined, looking quite thrilled to go to the Kid's performance.

"- Ran-neechan, could you please let go of my hand ? " Conan asked, a bit blushing.

"- It's not really safe, Conan-kun" she pointed with a motherly look. " There are really a lot of people, I don't want you to get lost.

- But I thought I could go and say hello to Hakuba-niichan. I promised I would ! "

Ran rolled her eyes but didn't insist, knowing the boy's attachment to his various detectives and policemen "nii-chans".

"- Ok... But promise me you won't annoy anyone or end up in anything dangerous, ok ? I know you're Kaitou Kid's nemesis but tonight is different. He's attacking the police, so there will be many people to chase him without you meddling, right ?

- Haaaai" the boy childishly answered, happy to be allowed to go so easliy.

"- And keep your phone close.

- Yes! Can I leave now ?" He gave her his best begging look.

On her nod, he sneaked through the crowd and headed towards the building entrance, looking for Saguru. He spotted him actively speaking with a policeman, a high ranked one probably as he had many decorations on his vest, near a police truck.

"- Hakuba-niichan !" he called, from behind the police's security cordon.

"- Oh, Conan-kun ! " the teen recognized the kid after turning his head. "Let him in ! "

The policemen obeyed his order and let the small detective ran to the blond-haired.

"- Let me introduce you to my father" he said, presenting with sign of the hand the nearby plump brown-haired man with a moustache. "Father, here's Edogawa Conan, the boy who has been in touch with the Kid for us.

- Oh, you're that brave child who dares to defy the Kid ? It looks like he recognized you as well as his nemesis, asking you to be his privilege interlocutor! " The high graded officer stated with a warm smile."You're starting becoming famous here, you know ? Being Mouri's assistant and all.

- I am ? " Conan gave him his favorite childish smile, shyly blushing a bit. "it's all thanks to Kogoro-ojisan, you know, he's so good to solve the cases !

- Yes, I guess his career wasn't with us the police but as a detective... He's grown quite nicely since he left us. You also want to be a metantei later I bet, Conan-kun ?

- Yes !" the boy answered enthusiastically, hiding the dull look he had on his face a second ago as he had to present himself as Kogoro's apprentice.

"- Ahh youth " he laughed. "Well, my dear Saguru was as excited as you when he was your age... Though maybe not as brilliant or famous as you already are...

- Stop it, Father... " Saguru interrupted while Conan tried quite poorly to hold a smirk. "Come on, Conan-kun, we should take our leave, my father still has many things to organize. We won't be far away, please call us when the time comes, Father.

- Sure thing, son."


Both boys isolated themselves , out of reach of any unwanted ears.

"- Nice father you have, Hakuba" Conan pointed with a giggle. "Though it's quite hard to picture you're blood related.

- Physically and mentally, I've taken more from my mother's side. For the best." He added with a slightly disgusted look when he saw his father laughing wholeheartedly with the inspector Megure. "Doesn't he have any decency ? He's the Superintendent General , for Kami's sake..."

The small boy smiled at the scene, hardly picturing Saguru laughing like that one day. Definitively mother-sided, that one.

"- So, Hakuba, anything new ?' He asked, after checking no one was around.

"- Well, as we planned, Matsumoto has been pretty active on the preparation of the heist, saying he had to look after it himself as he had been personally defied. Among the things he required, you will note the presence of a single team whose members he chose being allowed to go into the building during the heist to "avoid giving too many targets to disguise in for the Kid" he said. It sounds more like a firing squad to me.

- I agree" Conan nodded. "Let me guess, the team has 12 members, Matsumoto included, and I know their police files by heart since Kid put them on my hospital bed last week ?

- Exactly. All are our infiltrated agents.

- It's half good news, half bad news" the small detective pointed with a thoughtful face."Good for us to be able to catch everyone at the same time but 6 against 12 might be too much for us to handle...

- Yes" Saguru's eyes darkened. "But, Kudô-kun, that's not everything : Matsumoto also forbid any radio contact to avoid fake orders from the Kid and the panic it could provoke as he has the ability to change voices. I think it could be a problem if we need reinforcements... Someone will have to come back here to ask for help personally.

- And still all these requests make sense in a fight against Kaitou Kid... We can't oppose to those. Well, it's too late to go back now but we'll have to be extremely cautious. I don't want anyone to end like Hattori after our last fight against the guy...

- We should start crossing our fingers then..." Saguru stopped as he saw someone approaching them.

"- If it's not Conan-kun ! " Sato greeted, walking towards the detectives, Takagi on her heels. " Oh and Hakuba-kun also !

- Sato-keiji, Takagi-keiji, how are you since last time ?" the boy smiled at them.

"- Fine, we should be the ones asking" Takagi pointed with a serious face. "Sorry once again for our lack of attention... Is Hattori-kun alright ? He didn't seem at his top that day.

- He was alright... Don't know any much more, I haven't heard from him since " Conan stated with a shrug.

"Sorry guys, but as long as we don't know what Matsumoto told the Organization, we can't take the risk anyone to know he's alive..." Conan thought, giving a connivance look at the half British who was also aware of this policy.

"- He must be working on an important case, he is a detective after all" Saguru added. He then had a glimpse at his pocket watch. "07:44:56 pm, we should be going by now, Superintendent Matsumoto and his team will soon put themselves in their positions, what is Father waiting for ?."

Conan gave him a dull glance before rising his eyes to the sky.

"Who the hell tells the time to the second ?" he wondered.

He shook his head and followed the two officers and the teen to Hakuba's father.


The Superintendent General got them in without any comment from the guards though there may have been one or 2 raised brows at the strange team he had with him - three officers were alright but a teen and a boy, that was surprising. But he was the supreme authority here, so it came to the mind of no one to try to stop them, even with Matsumoto's orders. After taking the elevator to the last floor without a word, he walked them towards the media room. There were several rooms in the building they could have used but they chose that one as it was the closest to the roof, which would allow to intervene quickly if Kaito had any problem up there.

Saguru's father closed the door behind them and unexpectedly lost his usual smile.

"- Please take a sit" he proposed with a gesture at the chairs around the table in the middle of the room. He himself sat to front the 3 officers "I know my request probably surprised you, even if you were polite enough not to mention it. Let me explain in one word. Mole."

The three officers looked at him with bewilderment.

"- Here ? In the MPD headquarters ?" Takagi asked, still trying to clarify what he heard, unable to believe his ears.

"- Exactly. High ranked ones" the old man answered with a serious look.

"-Does it have anything to do with the strange note from the Kid for tonight's heist ?" Sato observed after a short pause.

"- It has all to do" the chief nodded, giving her an encouraging smile.

"- Did you identify who was the mole, sir ?" Megure enquired with concern.

"- MoleS, as there are several of them. I've been recently informed by a trustable source ... " he gave his son a glimpse "... that we probably had been infiltrated by an international criminal Organization and that the MPD was not to be trusted any more. This fact has been confirmed to me by our FBI's counterparts. We discovered, thanks to information the Kaitou Kid gave us through Conan-kun" the old man gave him a nod " those agents' names. There are twelve here, in Tôkyô. Eight in Osaka.

- You're saying we have 12 moles here?! And how are the Kid and Conan-kun implied ? " the female officer wondered, astonished by the important number he announced. "How is it even possible ?

- You just have to place an high ranked officer and have him support the others' applications " Saguru explained to her.

Megure's face enlightened as he understood and darkened again at the thought, measuring the consequences if his revelation was right.

"Looks like we have a winner" Conan grinned to himself, after seeing the inspector's reaction.

"- As to the Kid" the teen added, "apparently some of the victims were related to him in an unknown way so he agreed to help us. But he asked to deal only with Conan-kun there.

- For once he's on our side, he's not as bad as he seems finally ! " Conan said with a proud smile.

Then everyone turned silent as they were lost in their thoughts when Megure lifted his head again.

"-Are you implying the high ranked we are speaking about is Superintendent Matsumoto ?" he dared to ask, with a slightly shaking voice.

"- Yes, Megure-dôno... As impossible as it may seem, there isn't any doubt on his affiliation to that Orgainsation. He personally attacked my son who was working on this case and almost killed two of his friends. " Saguru rubbed his neck with a grimace at the memory. "He also has been implied in kidnapping and blackmail cases. Those accusations are serious and we unfortunately have only teenagers' witnesses, which is clearly not enough to support our file on him. That's why we're here tonight.

"- I can't believe it... " Sato shook her head incredulously.

"- It was also hard for me but that's the truth. To catch him red-handed, we imagined that operation with the Kid's help, whose goal was for once similar to ours. As you probably guessed, this whole operation is clearly tip toeing the line so I needed it to stay extremely secretive about it until the last minute. You will be asked by the internal affairs to repeat and describe everything you'll be witnessing tonight, is it alright to you ?"

As all three nodded their agreement, the old man got up to switch on the 6 screens on the wall and they showed different view of the roof.

"- We will receive the image through the choppers' cameras and will record it here. As to the sound, well, if you don't mind, Conan-kun.

- Yes ! " the boy also got up and put one of Agasa's adhesive speaker near the control panel of the screens and added a voice recorder close by . " The Kid has a mike on him so we'll be able to listen and record what he says and hears. Just one thing : he asked to switch off your phones as it could trigger some interferences in his device and it could get him to be spotted..."

Everyone did as asked.

"- Please also consider anyone outside this room to be a potential enemy" Hakuba's father stated. "Only Matsumoto's team should be in the building and you know what to expect from them.

- 07:59:32 pm" Saguru announced.

"Let the show begin" Conan thought, switching the recorder on.