Hikari to Kage...Light and Shadow. How fitting. =)
Gin watched as the warehouse tumbled down like a stack of unstable bricks, and smiled to himself. He had not seen any of them escape yet; they were most probably trapped in there, and very likely dead already.
Until he saw the white kite zoom out the door and land in front of a yellow Beetle.
He swore, and cocked his gun again.
...
"Kudo, you idiot! Kudo!!!!"
"It's no use calling for him now, Haibara! They've been blown to pieces!"
She sobbed a little more, while screaming his name out loud, the cold hard mask that shielded her inner self finally breaking apart, allowing the tide of tears to cascade down. After a while, she calmed down, while Heiji patted her on the shoulder comfortingly.
"We've got to go back and get Kudo and Ran," decided Ai.
"But we can't go now! There's a risk of getting shot, be it by that idiot Hakuba or that guy with the long hair!" retorted Heiji.
"I just wanna go home…" wailed Aoko, sobbing into Kaito's shoulder. He sat there on the chair, staring at his shoes through a pair of glassy eyes.
"What makes you want to go back for them now? You like him or something?!"
Ai shot back her answer to Heiji's question heatedly. "Fine! So what if I like him?! It's still human lives that we are going to lose here, you know!" They continued on their argument, much to the annoyance of the rest of the passengers.
"Can't you two break it up already?" said Professor Agasa, reaching over and pushing them apart. They both huffed, and pouted in opposite directions.
Just then, something struck the glass window of the car, shattering it into a million pieces. The shards of glass rained down on them, and they crammed to the other side of the car, trying not to get cut. Kaito heard a menacing laugh echoing from outside, and peeped around the broken window to see who it was.
Gin stood there, the lone raven in the night, his pistol cocked and aimed at Kaito's head, the beady eyes under the brim of his black hat glinting with malevolence. A wisp of smoke trailed from the barrel of the gun, and Kaito found the bullet lodged in the leather covers of the seat. He opened the door and slipped out of the car, and faced his predator like a hero who was not afraid of death.
"You've already did Kudo in. I guess you can do me in too."
Gin smirked at his gallantness, and pulled the trigger.
…
Her head hurt. It was as if it had been cracked open. She could still taste the warm blood trickling down her forehead, where the cement had smashed her skull. Her eyes registered darkness all around her, maybe she had gone blind, or she was already dead.
Nothingness, she felt.
The ground was soft, yet firm at the same time, and vaguely warm too. Almost as if…she was on a warm fluffy cloud, basking in the golden rays of the sun. Then again, that could not be true, for it was pitch black.
Her consciousness registered a series of faint puffs of air popping on top of her right arm. Maybe it was a little draft from somewhere, she thought. The light puffs tickled her skin, warming it up where they touched. It was a little comforting, the feeling.
Her senses were slowly rebooting up. She heard a heavy breathing in the direction of the drafts, and felt something like scrunched up limbs supporting her body. She stirred slowly, and the breathing froze, plunging her into silence.
It was not for long, until she heard the rhythmic beating of a heart in a chest thumping loudly. She raised her head and nuzzled the firm wall of flesh that held it in, nosing around its warm and soft surface. The breathing started again, and she thought she heard a relieved sigh.
"You're awake?"
The voice was familiar, and her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the environment quickly. She saw that her legs were tucked under her arms, and his lower body and legs curled under her like a baby's cradle. The broken rubble surrounded them, but it somehow; the little hole did not cave in on them. She looked up and gazed into the brilliant blue eyes that gleamed in the darkness.
"Shinichi-kun…?"
He smiled. "Good, you're awake. You've had such a bad fall just now…man, am I going to kill Kuroba when we get back home."
She did not say a word.
"Shall we get out now? The others are waiting for us."
"Why am I not dead? And why doesn't the rubble and everything fall down?"
He sighed at her inquisitiveness, and gestured up at the pair of white feathered limbs holding up the low ceiling. Half of the snowy feathers were drenched in crimson red blood, congealing into round drops. She wondered at them, then decided to ask him.
"You…so the other two times weren't dreams."
A look of confusion flickered across his face. "What other two times?"
"There was one when Conan jumped off the building with me on piggyback, turned into you and flew to the ground. The other would be when someone who looked like Serin grabbed me out from the window and you saved me again."
"Oh. Those two. Nah, no nig deal."
"You don't count this as another big deal now, do you?"
"Err…"
She smiled, her childish demeanour looking so innocent and sweet under the circumstances. Shinichi twitched a wing, letting a little bit of cement fall down beside them.
"When I fly out, there will be a lot of building to go through, so keep your hands and legs in, all right?"
She nodded mutely.
"Good. Now let's go."
…
Kaito shut his eyes, bracing himself for the bullet. He had felt it once before, but this time was different. It was a whole new situation altogether.
He waited, the whoosh of the bullet echoing in his ears, speeding towards him at lightning speed, ready to take his life with it.
His muscles tensed up, ready to take the shot.
"Blam!!"
Jerking his eyes open at once, he looked around in shock. Apparently Gin's shot had missed him in the confusion, and his attacker whirled around to face the ruins of the warehouse, where the noise had come from.
The debris stayed still. Nothing had happened. "It was probably a spare bomb or something, and it had a delayed explosion," he thought. It seemed that Gin thought the same as well, and pointed the gun at him again.
A twitch of movement caught his eye. He slid his gaze up to the pile of cement chunks, and could have sworn that he saw one of them pieces move.
"KA-BLAM!!!"
The pieces burst open, the mass of cement and metal falling away and a layer of moonlight white feathers unfurled from within, revealing a teenage boy cradling a girl of his age in his lithe arms. The wings propelled them up into the air, the huge heavy hunks of warehouse crashing back down onto the floor below. Shod feathers floated down from the wings of the angel, perfect petals from the white lily.
He drifted down, landing on the asphalt ground lightly on tiptoe, his wings falling into place behind him. He strode over to the yellow car and gently placed the dazed girl inside, shut the door quietly, and turned to the both of them. In the car, all those who were awake and alert had taken the chance to gape in awe.
"Getting a little hasty now, aren't we?"
Gin nearly dropped the pistol in surprise, but held his hand steady and glared into Shinichi's eyes. The detective smirked with confidence, and mentally raised Gin up. He laughed at the look upon the man's face, which was one of utter horror and fright.
Kaito could not help but laugh as well. "Hey Kudo, his eyes are just like a goldfish's: too big for his face!" He laughed some more, his stomach soon aching and he had to bend over to suppress the mild pain.
Shinichi chuckled along with him, waggling Gin around like some kind of twisted ragdoll. When they were done with their play, Shinichi threw Gin to one side. The once intimidating man scampered away quickly, escaping to a helicopter parked someway up in the sky and retreating with his band of agents. He cried out something to them, maybe it was a word of rematch, or surrender, but the wind whipped away his words, and they never reached the ears of the boys. Shinichi laughed again, and turned to Kaito, who met his intent look with something filled with guilt.
"You dropped Ran."
"I…er…" Kaito meekly tried to find an excuse for his action.
"It's okay. I saw her fall by herself. It's not your fault."
Kaito heaved a sigh when Shinichi forgave his act. He patted Shinichi on the shoulder, and said warmly, "Okay. Party's over, so now let's go home and get a good rest, shall we?" Holding the door to the car open, Kaito gestured to his friend, inviting him to go in.
Shinichi took a step, and froze. His expression changed in a matter of a split second from a relieved one to one of growing terror. His ears were ringing with the dreaded sound of smashed porcelain.
Kaito tilted his head at his sudden change, and poked him in the shoulder. "Hey Kudo, what's wrong? Not feeling well?"
Shinichi's hand reached up to his chest and fingered a weird-looking sharp point of metal sticking out of it. A crimson red flower blossomed around the edges of the hold it cut out in his cotton shirt. Kaito blinked. It had not been there before.
Shinichi hung his fingers in front of his face, examining the blood that clung to it. His eyes widened in realisation, and he slowly turned his head around to confirm his assumption.
Serin's cloudy grey eyes were brimming with tears of anger, as her slender white hands gripped the long metal pole that protruded out the other side of Shinichi's chest. She let her hands fall away, revealing the other end to be embedded in her own; the very pole that Shinichi had thrust into her just a few moments ago. Her grin was almost maniacal, as if she thrown all her remaining sanity to the winds, and crazily focused on her target: Kudo Shinichi.
"Shi--…"
Shinichi looked down at the whimper, and poked the pole. Another soft whine escaped from the Destiny, and he quickly sent down a question.
"Are you alright?"
"No."
He stood rooted to the spot, then went on.
"What did the pole hit?"
"I've got not much time. The stupid pole smashed my entire body already! I'm afraid you've only got a couple of minutes left. If you're lucky you just change back, if you're not then you…well…"
"I die. I get it. How many times have I cheated death already?"
"Your luck will run out someday, you know." Des-chan still had the wit to kid around.
Serin thrust the pole closer into Shinichi's chest, grinning in gleeful madness as she watched the blood spurt out from it. Shinichi retreated and yanked the pole out forcefully, staggered backwards and landed on all fours on the cold hard ground. Serin advanced on him, the doll of insanity, the crazed look painted upon her face. Her hazy grey eyes were tainted with hatred and Raising the pole up high with the sharp end pointing towards Shinichi's heart once more, she cackled evilly, and drawled out her final words to the detective at death's door.
"Say goodbye, Kudo!"
She plunged the pole down with all her might.
The sharp stab of pain shot through his body, leaving a numbing tear in its wake. Broken shards of cream-colored ceramic stung his wound together with the metal and blood and tears. Shinichi had only a few seconds to take a look at his friends' faces…at the faces contorted into horror and shock.
A crystal clear tear dropped down from the corner of his eye as it focused in on Ran, his mouth turning into a wry smile. He felt his body slowly collapse under him, unable to carry its own weight now, and felt his head smack the stone floor once. It was a sharp crack that resonated in his ears, the tingling noise echoing in his ears until his senses broke down as well. His mind was left conscious, but it was not for long.
"I'm sorry, Ran," he thought, as he let slip the thin thread of consciousness binding him down to earth.
I still think he is too precious to kill. Ah well.
Exams are just around the corner! Waaah, no time for stories now, it's study study study all the way! TT_TT I'm dreadfully sorry, everyone....
...But I still put up the finale of Light and Shadows soon!