~A NEW METHOD OF PERSUASION~

GIN CENTRIC/SLASH

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Detective Conan related, meaning the characters, settings, or any of the toys I would love to have that Gin mentions

I'm currently flying by the seat of my proverbial pants. Shinichi and Heiji are mad at me, so this chapter is going a bit wonky, it changes point of views several times… Kogoro, Heiji, Gin, and Ran all have perspectives. I think that the Heiji and Shinichi notice thing will be in the next one, but I will not write it until I have an idea what to do with them.

Also a Kaitou Kid quote that is oddly fitting: "Anyone can write, but only a literary genius can entertain." I'm not saying that I'm a literary genius, but Kid might be.

Last Time in A New Method...

"Oii Kudou!" Shinichi visibly twitched when he heard that voice call out to him. If Shinichi thought his weekend was interesting, this afternoon was about to get complicated…

"Hattori, how many times do I have to tell you not to shout that out?" Shinichi frowned trying to wipe off Vermouth's lipstick. The plum color looked funny, and the Osaka detective didn't hesitate to snicker at the sight.

"Your mom sure did go overboard this time, but there's no time for that!" Heiji grabbed his hand, "You—or one could say Mouri—got a notice. But there's no time to discuss it here, come on! Hurry up Kudou!" Shinichi was forcibly yanked towards the neon green crotch rocket that Heiji had arrived on. A few seconds later there was a nice tight black helmet thrust upon his head, and not more than a nanosecond later they were speeding off towards the Mouri Detective agency.

PART TWENTY ONE-NO TAG BACKS

Kogoro watched the boy's face go from irritated to interested in the matter of a few moments. The kid certainly did know what the notice meant, not that he could think of anything besides puns off it. The Osaka brat had phoned in that he was coming down anyways, so Kogoro had made the mistake of telling him the notice over the phone. The Osaka boy had gotten so chatty at it that he actually couldn't hear or understand half of what he was saying.

Looking at the two of them he wondered what was so interesting about the thing… It was just a bunch of numbers and a few letters, it was like that other time that the Osaka brat had come… The kid had received a message and all of a sudden there were three arrests, Kogoro just didn't get it at all.

"… is this?" the kid asked handing the notice over to the Osaka brat. "If it's the same code, then why does it only seem like only half of its here?" The Osaka brat nodded, seeming to confirm his suspicions.

"Hey Occhan? Is there a note that came with this?" he asked the oldest detective with a look of curiosity. Then the freeloading brat spoke up, Kogoro was surprised at the childish smile that graced his features.

"Heiji niisan, let's go," the expression was so odd gracing the child detective's features that it creeped out the seasoned detective…

"Well I suppose you read the note already based on the fact we're leaving," Heiji whispered as they descended the stairs, Shinichi shot him a look.

"It was simple really, even Occhan will eventually be able to figure it out," Shinichi sighed, "using a gambler's code like that case with the lawyer…" The Osaka detective looked like he remembered that case more clearly than he would have liked. Shinichi could see the frown form from the corner of his eye, it had been fairly interesting from Shinichi's point of view. From Heiji's it must have seemed like just another near death experience…

"So what does it say then Kudou?" he asked trying to forget the other case.

"Simply put, it is only half of a notice. First we have to retrieve the other half," Shinichi responded coolly, "logic dictates that the other half will be waiting for us at the professor's house." The Osaka detective looked mildly confused at this point, which since he didn't know that Agasa hakase picked up Shinichi's mail he supposed that it probably didn't make that much sense to the other detective.

"Why would you think that?" he finally gave in and asked.

"Because, the other notice was probably in my mail… Kogoro Occhan and I are the most famous detectives in the Tokyo area," Shinichi reasoned, "if he got one half of the notice than there's a very high chance that I got the other half. Seeing as Occhan gambles a lot it's of no surprise to me that they sent him the code in that format. My half of the notice will be the one we have to worry about…"

"Ah, that would make sense," Heiji nodded helping the shorter detective back onto the neon green crotch rocket. After both of them had their helmets on Heiji speed them off towards the Kudou estate.

~Gin~

He was currently staring out the window of his usual dwelling. It seemed that the mini detective wasn't the only one who had enjoyed the weekend cooped up in a small apartment. Sherry had been working with him still, but it just wasn't the same without the clever fox around to keep him on his toes. He looked down to the pistol in his lap that he was only have finished cleaning, he frowned at it. Cleaning the small firearm was a lot easier when both of your arms were completely functional, as it was he was limited to one handed pull ups and that wore him out more than he had allowed for.

He couldn't allow Vodka to do all of the weapon maintenance, he made too many mistakes which was why Gin now had to supervise all of firearm cleanings. Which might not have been totally necessary except that Vodka had forgotten to put the firing pin back in his own weapon. Gin had raised his eyebrows more than a few times trying to figure out exactly how one manages to forget replacing the firing pin in your weapon.

He put the berretta pieces on the side table after much consideration, it wasn't like he didn't have several to begin with. He checked the clip of his backup weapon before sliding it smoothly into his shoulder holster. He wondered what type of gun the fox liked to use, it wasn't a stretch to picture the pint sized detective with a weapon, unlike the white clad annoyance that stalked the boy. Perhaps he was an old school revolver shooter? Maybe a slightly bigger piece, like a zig? Or perhaps he liked mini guns… Gin smirked, .50 mini guns were very fun to use, however he personally preferred his M82 Barret with the inferred red dot scope.

It was very hard to hide from a dot you couldn't see, especially the one locked on you from almost two thousand kilometers away. Gin had made use of the organization's shooting range more than once to perfect his use of the weapon. It was an unspoken fact, if you needed a point man Gin was the best there was. He also hand loaded a lot of his rounds, so a lot of times there wasn't much left to clean up body wise by the time one reached their target.

The blond secured his coat, putting a make shift gauntlet over the broken appendage for the meantime. He had a tendency to swing that arm into things, and it hurt under any circumstance that it actually made contact. He thought back on how the detective had said goodbye, he had seemed sincere at the very least. Locking up the door behind him he made his way to the Porsche, briefly considering ditching the recon assignment and going to bug the detective. As a vaguely familiar brunette wandered past him he decided against it and drove off.

~Ran~

She looked back at the darkly dressed blond that had passed her and had to take a moment to figure out if it was a man or a woman. She decided on a man recalling the sharp cheeks and the way he had just peeled out of the parking stall his car had occupied.

She vaguely stared at the black tire treads newly settling onto the pavement. It wasn't enough of a distraction, she could still feel the tear streaks that had long since dried on her cheeks. It had been an exceptionally long weekend, and the sheer amount of homework that had been assigned during it had been horrendous. The one thing she had waited patiently for the entirety of the weekend however, never happened, Conan saying that Shinichi would call her. What a lie…

Shinichi's inconsistencies were taking their toll on her, was he okay? Was he even alive? Ran had spent whatever time she had when she was not working on homework trying to rationalize what was going on with Shinichi. From there it took a right turn to Conan always making excuses for him, and the constant strange behaviors and actions of everyone. As of late things had become strange, Conan spent more time at Agasa's leaving her to ponder everything without interruption, save for her father's drunk shouts at the television.

It had taken her a couple of hours in addition to the overwhelming long weekend to finally come to a conclusion. This conclusion might have been flawed to some, but it answered a lot of her worries. Tears had been shed, flowers torn up using a childish crude method, and an abundance of strange evidence all pointed to one truth.

Shinichi must be Conan. This fact which she had suspected on and off for so long had finally come to a crux. Yet this explanation solved every question, every mystery but one. Why was he lying to her? It made sense of why Hattori continually called him Kudou, it also explained the irritated expression Conan's face would make as he looked around when Hattori did so. She had witnessed yet another one of those moments just earlier.

Conan had looked back at the Osaka detective with a scowl just like Shinichi had when irritated, he hadn't bothered to correct him either. The way Conan spoke with Hattori also had lead her to the suspicion that it was Shinichi. They spoke together like the detective geeks they were, and a lot of times 'Conan' had showed up the Osaka boy during their deduction games. Just why did Hattori Heiji get to know while she was kept in the dark?

Her phone started to ring, she looked at the caller id on the small screen with a soft smile. He was late, but late was better than never.

"Konnichiwa baka tantei otaku," she spoke into the receiver. There was soft sigh from the other side of the line, "you had me worried this time you know. It has been so long since I'd last heard from you…" She didn't like playing the guilt card, but Conan had mentioned that he would call earlier.

"Something came up, someone was injured in the case I was working on," he sounded sad, "he was okay, but we had to call in a doctor for him. Conan said you were looking a little blue and that I should call, so are you feeling better now?" He sounded concerned, she smiled and softly laughed at him over the phone.

"Much better now that I know you're alright," Ran smiled, it was just like him to get all worked up when people got hurt. "I hope your friend gets better soon, so how did he get hurt?" Shinichi's voice made her heart flutter in joy, it confirmed to her that he was alive and okay. It made days of uneasiness slowly scatter to the winds, as he explained his voice going through varying tones of excitement and worry. "Could you call again sometime soon, it was good to hear from you again Shinichi. Take care of yourself, I miss you."

"I miss you to Ran," the solmon tone in his voice almost made her cry, "I'll give you call again soon, tell Conan thank you for me." She waited until she had ended the call to laugh with small treks of tears framing her face. He wanted her to tell him thank you from himself? She smiled recalling Hattori's voice in the background while he was talking. She would wait until he was ready to tell her he was Shinichi, until the game would transpire the way it did.

~Shinichi~

"Hattori, are you trying to get me in trouble?" Shinichi hissed. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to tell Ran about Gin getting injured, but it was why he didn't call. The blond had been injured, but Ran would understand that he would make sure that the person would get the proper care.

"You were giving some weak excuse to her about somebody being injured, why couldn't that somebody be me?" Heiji whined, "besides, if you weren't making it up who was it?" Shinichi's face grew hot, he should have seen that coming. He gave him a short glare, "what's that look for?" Shinichi made like he was reaching for his shoes.

"Maybe Kid was right, detectives do seem to be nosey critics," he mumbled under his breath, "I went to visit Haibara this weekend, and one of our mutual acquaintances came back with a broken arm and a twisted ankle." Well it wasn't an outright lie, Heiji had a distinct habit of poking his nose in matters that Shinichi was involved in. "Thankfully Araide sensei agreed to look over their injuries, it eliminated any disagreements on going to a clinic for treatment."

"Why would anybody disagree about going to the doctor's office with that sort of injury?" Heiji shrugged his shoulders, "so is it Iatrophobia?" Shinichi had to hold his tongue, he couldn't even begin to explain what was wrong with that image.

"No, it has nothing to do with a fear of doctors, although the doctors might be more concerned about having them as a patient," Shinichi smiled for a minute, "you know the old saying don't you Hattori?"

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?" he guessed. Shinichi was laughing so hard he was unable to correct the Osaka detective.

'To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.* Or in this case pistols and targets…' Shinichi thought in amusement. He just couldn't picture it as he doubled over on the sidewalk, but the idea of Gin being mistaken for a woman sent all sorts of humor induced images floating through his mind. "I wonder what he'll say to that…"

"What who will say to what?" the Osaka detective asked, then he remembered the pronoun. His cheeks flushed, "there's no need to pass that on is there?" Shinichi sent him a crazy person's smile, of course he would. He wanted to see the consequences, it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Pulling out his keys he unlocked the front door to Kudou manor, making the dark trek into its depths with a smile tugging at his lips.

a/n: I am SOL on writing a notice for the boys, so we may see the entire thing from the views of other characters points of view. It will be interesting, it still comes down to I stink at writing riddles. I will try to be more timely, and now I'm going to watch it rain on the Rose Festival. Hittocere

*To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail. —Abraham Maslow

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. – William Congreve from the Mourning Bride circa 1697.

The actual quote reads- Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned," spoken by Zara in Act III, Scene VIII. The version used is a commonly used paraphrase.