Author's Note: Whoops, almost forgot to upload tonight. I literally had to drag myself out of bed to do it... and yes, I'm going to bed early. That's because it's been a long week, and I've had an awful headache all day. I digress though. I thank you all for the continued support, and I wish you all an early "Merry Christmas" and a "Happy New Year!"

I might want to mention that too though, hm? So I am going to be at my father's again during Christmas break. For those that don't know what that means, I cannot upload chapters during that time due to lack of Internet and computer privileges. I'm probably going to upload a couple chapters over the course of next week to make up for it, as well as a regularly-scheduled one next Friday... but early in the morning since that's the day I leave.

Okay, now that's everything. I hope you enjoy the chapter~!

Chapter Twenty-One: Inconvenient Impediment

Conan slowly ascended the basement stairs, pausing when hearing laughter from the other side of the door. I really wish I knew what was going on with Haibara…why she suddenly cried like that. She's only cried once that I've ever seen, and that was her asking me why I didn't help her sister during that time. Whatever happened—no, whatever made her leave in the first place must have been very serious and personal to her.

On that note, he added as he quietly walked to the kitchen, how did she not know anything about police officers being murdered? Agasa-hakase said she's only been gone a few days, and I know she would hear about it from him. Did he lie to me, or was she isolating herself during that time? He made himself a cup of coffee, frowning when seeing something he faintly recognized beside his mug, and returned to the living room, where Heiji had finished the pizza and was struggling to stay awake.

"Oh, yer back, Kudou," he mumbled with a smile. "That sure took ya a while. Where did she say she was?"

Conan kept his expression blank as he sipped his coffee. "I don't know where she is, but she said she would come back early tomorrow morning. I doubt Agasa-hakase would mind us staying anyway with you half-asleep as it is, and Haibara even suggested we do so."

Humming thoughtfully, Heiji turned himself sideways to lie down. "That's odd; I didn't think that li'l Neechan would actually want us 'ere." He shrugged. "Ah well, I'm too bushed ta think straight anyway. Make sure ta get some sleep tonight, Kudou!" Adjusting his ball cap so it covered his face, he closed his eyes and was snoring in under a minute.

"Honestly, Hattori…" Conan placed a blanket over his friend with a sigh. "I was almost hoping you would figure it out." Yawning a bit, he returned to the basement and found himself staring at Ai's computer. "Hmm, it wouldn't hurt to take a peek, would it? That way, I could figure out if she was isolating herself or not." He turned on the tower and waited for it to boot up. As he sat in the swivel chair, he couldn't help but notice the sudden heaviness of his eyes.

That's strange; I slept enough today to where I shouldn't be so tired this early… Drinking more of his coffee, he clicked around and skimmed a few documents, finding nothing of great importance. "Where would you keep the stuff on the apoptoxin, Haibara?" He yawned again and typed a few commands in the command prompt, but there wasn't a single thing towards the antidote.

"What the heck? I thought she spent her time down here working on the antidote for the poison. What does she do down here then?" He finished his coffee and was about to set it down when noticing something odd on the bottom of the mug. There was a faint trace of something white. Using that along with what Conan saw earlier by his mug…

"Kuso, they crushed a sleeping pill in my drink! I know I'm short on sleep, but I really have to look into this tonight!" He shoved his mug away and quickly began typing more commands. He had only half an hour at most before the pill really kicked in, meaning he had a lot to cover in a very short amount of time.

What Conan was able to find didn't seem like much, but he knew it was a start since it was the only picture with a password lock. Typing in "Akemi," the picture opened, and Conan rubbed a hand over his eyes. For a moment there, he had seen two pictures, but it was back to normal once he opened his eyes again. "Wow, I'm getting tired pretty fast." He took a deep breath and viewed the picture.

There was a smaller Ai—she was about four years old—and she was with a group of teenagers and young adults, most notably her sister that was sitting in the center with Ai in her lap. Everyone, including Ai, was wearing black clothing, and there was a small handwritten caption that read, "One Big, Happy Family."

Heh, they're almost like the Addams family, Conan laughed dryly as he remembered the American TV show his mom had shown him years ago. Feeling his head start to droop, he quickly erased all sign of his search excluding a quick email to himself of the picture and set his mug on the coffee table beside the couch. I would love to keep searching, but I know I can't stay awake much longer with that pill in my system. He lied himself down and tried to think as much as his brain would let him.

My guess is that Haibara had to do something urgent that involved someone in the picture she tried to hide. Why would she try to hide it in the first place though? Was there someone in that picture that's supposed to stay hidden from the world…or maybe me? His eyelids slid shut, and he was forced into a deep sleep.

X

Haibara Ai shook her head with a sigh as she entered her…no, Agasa's home. She could see the Osakan detective snoring away on their couch, and she had a feeling where the other was. Making her way down to the basement, she turned on the light and held in a gasp. There was Conan, completely conked out on the couch with an empty mug of coffee beside him. He was down here for some reason, but she couldn't figure out why—after all, she was no meitantei.

"Maybe you just figured I would want the guest bedroom," she whispered to herself as she approached the sleeping teen. But something made her stop in her tracks with a frown: his injuries. There were many burns on his body that were still healing, and there was a mark on his arm from donating his blood. Why would he need to give some of his blood? It's quite rare, and there's only one person that I know of that shares that type…A pang of regret shot through her heart. He's gone through so much, and I wasn't able to help. Sure, he may never ask for help unless he knows he needs it, but it's obvious I've missed quite a bit over the past few weeks.

"Ai-kun, did you just get home? I hope you've been resting enough." There was Agasa with a sad expression on his face as he entered the basement. In his hand was a blanket, which he used to cover Conan. "It appears everyone around here's been short on sleep lately; Hattori-kun told me Shinichi's been having nightmares."

Ai froze. "Nightmares?" she echoed in disbelief. "Kudou-kun is having nightmares? That's like saying you completely followed your diet while I was gone—there's no way!"

Agasa sat on the end of the couch and watched Conan's chest slowly rise and fall. "I think it's true, Ai-kun. Even if I've known him since he was first brought home from the hospital, I can believe that he's having nightmares. He may not have had them in many years, but anything's possible. Besides, Hattori-kun also said that there was a memory he lost concerning this culprit for the serial murder that Shinichi is starting to remember through these nightmares."

Ai's brows furrowed. "Could you tell me more about that murder case? I think he said something about it last night, but how bad has it been? I can see he's been severely injured and must have been in the hospital for a while."

Agasa frowned. "Actually, I'm not really sure what's happened with them. I heard a bit from Yukiko-kun that he had been in the hospital for three weeks after being burned in a fire and Hattori-kun with the nightmare part of it, but that's all." He paused. "As for the victims, they're all police officers from Japan that have recently been transferred to a new division…well, there was the exception of Toyama Ginshiro, but that could have been something involving his daughter Kazuha and her attack."

Ai hummed. "So Hattori-kun's girl was attacked? What about Kudou-kun's?"

Conan stirred at those words. "You weren't told yet?" he asked softly, his eyes fluttering open. "I figured Hattori would have told you, Agasa-hakase, but I guess I can understand why he wouldn't want to bring it up." He felt as if he had no energy, so he remained lying down and closed his eyes again. "She's dead. She died five days ago due to heart failure after being crushed by a support beam. I gave her as much blood as I was allowed, but it wasn't enough…her injuries never stopped bleeding until she breathed her last."

Agasa's eyes widened, for he could sense the pain in Conan's voice. "Shinichi…"

Conan curled up under his blanket as he began to tremble. "I tried to tell them I needed to give more, but they wouldn't listen to me. They said one pint was more than enough for the surgery since I have such a small body, but they refrained from telling me the truth until I saw her that last time…when she said her last words to me."

Ai stood still as her mind processed what was said. So Mouri Ran was killed. No wonder Kudou-kun's been so quiet lately. "Hey, Kudou-kun," she spoke up, "could you tell me more about this serial murder you and Hattori-kun have been solving? I was told it involved police officers, and it's obvious you were injured."

Conan was silent for a moment. "He goes by Black," he mumbled, struggling to stay awake. "He's been killing police officers around Japan for an unknown reason and is the kind to play with your mind. It's impossible to trace his movements, so we're always left with dead bodies and a note bragging of his success. He did give us one riddle involving Ran's kidnapping, and we made it there on time. However, I was cocky and let her be killed.

"As for my injuries, that was due to the murder we were able to stop. Black had set the house on fire as soon as we arrived, and I was able to save the officer at the price of being thrown in a wall of fire. I'm not really sure what happened after that, but Hattori said he was able to get me out by willingly burning his hands. I was asleep in the hospital for three weeks after that, and I came across my mother and…" He paused. "Oh, I haven't told you about Kuroba, have I? I guess that can wait until later though; I'm tired."

Agasa placed a hand on Conan's shoulder. "Rest then, Shinichi. We'll wake you when we feel you should eat something." He felt Conan's muscles relax as the not-child returned to sleep. "So Ai-kun," he whispered, still remaining at Conan's side, "can you tell me what made you leave for so long? I did as you said and lied to Shinichi, but that doesn't make me less concerned."

Ai sat at her computer and turned it on. "Not yet, Hakase. I'll tell everyone later once they're all awake…since this is a very important thing to tell."

X

"Get up, Hattori-kun. You need to eat something."

Heiji groggily opened his eyes and was surprised by how bright it was in the living room. "Sheesh, what time is it?" He shielded his eyes as he heard something be set on the coffee table beside him. "I didn't think I was that tired."

"Um, sorry, Hattori-kun, I probably made that worse… I just got worried since I could see how tired you and Shinichi were; I didn't know what else to do except sneak in that sleeping pill." Agasa was standing beside the couch with a guilty expression.

Heiji lowered his hand and grinned. "S'fine, Hakase! I probably needed that extra sleep anyway, an' I know Kudou did! Speakin' o' Kudou, where is he? Is he still sleepin'? 'Cuz it's already…" He checked his phone and gasped. "12:23?!"

"I was asleep until someone woke me," a voice mumbled from the basement doorway. Conan then trudged into the living room and plopped on the couch by Heiji. "Seriously, I'm actually sleeping well for once and then I'm woken up by someone. What's a good reason to wake someone if they've been short on sleep?"

Ai entered with a bowl of soup in her hands and smirk on her face. "You still need to eat something, Kudou-kun. Besides, don't you want to know why I was gone for the past few weeks? That was why you called in the first place, right?"

Conan rolled his eyes. "Ba'arou, 'course I do, but was it really urgent enough to have to wake me?"

For some reason, the word "urgent" made Ai avert her gaze. She quickly handed Conan the food and ran back to the basement saying she had to do something. "Do you know what that was about?" Conan looked to Heiji and Agasa, who were both as confused as he was. Apparently, whatever she had gone through was indeed urgent, and Conan felt bad for joking about it.

"Ai-kun must have gone through a lot," Agasa thought aloud, "since she didn't bother to check on me or my dieting during that time span. Seeing her reaction to what you just said, Shinichi, I think my feeling was right."

Conan quietly sipped his soup, feeling more awake but not enough to want to worry about this. "I'm not sure why, but I'm getting a bad vibe from this. I heard her talking with that person once I was about to hang up last night, and she sounded scared by what that person said."

"So you were eavesdropping." Ai tried to sound confident, but the quaver in her voice and tears streaming down her face didn't help. "How much did you find out?"

Conan's eyes widened in surprise. He had never seen Ai show an emotion this openly besides anger, so this was quite serious for her. "I only know that you had made some kind of mistake, and that's because that person said it. What happened, Haibara?"

Ai collapsed in the doorway and choked out a sob. "Kudou-kun, I was so stupid…I let our identities go out to a member of the Organization."