Hello everyone,
Again, sorry for the break and thanks to all of you for having patience with me! Before I finally leave you and the new chapter alone I want to mention that I started this story back in 2010 … so the scene with Akai revealing himself behind his new identity wasn´t out – so here you find my version of it.
Have fun!
Out of the Shadows
For a brief moment, Heiji searched for his mobile phone. A quick command to all available units would be the only option for them to at least have a slight chance to catch them. But for that, he would have to explain what had happened and to whom.
His gaze wandered to Kudo, who still stood there frozen like a deer caught in the headlights, staring into the direction in which the three women had just disappeared.
The Osakan abandoned the idea with a curse.
'I guess they are gone by now anyway.' The bitter taste on his tongue made him swallow. Surely Kudo knew what it meant that there had only been one shot, a very precise shot as well. They weren´t in danger any longer, but for now, the organization had reached their goal.
'For now.'
The officer's face darkened, as he slowly took a step towards his colleague.
"Kudo…"
Only when Heiji put a hand on his shoulder he seemed to notice him, turning his rigid gaze to his friend. Heiji had to swallow at the sight of his friend. No wonder Ran had recognized him immediately. The graze on his cheek hadn´t destroyed the mask completely, but it had caused a deep crack that spread over the fake skin like an ugly scar revealing the human tissue and features underneath.
Nothing was left of the cool blue eyes of Bell's. While it had been Conan's childlike innocence back then, it had been Bell's restrained, almost disinterested manner that had been able to hide Kudo Shinichi behind his gaze over the last years. Now, all of these walls had been torn down. Even without the mask he couldn't see that much of the Shinichi he'd known ten years ago. What he saw however, was deeply disturbing to the detective.
"Come on… we should go."
But his friend didn´t react, just kept staring stubbornly ahead.
"Kudo, lets go." When Shinichi finally reacted he thought that he'd been able to rip the detective from his trance, but Kudo's words didn´t seem to be directed at him.
"That was Gin."
Heiji's eyes narrowed, he didn´t voice his option on his friends statement, instead put a hand on his shoulder in order to gain the high schoolers attention.
"Let's go."
XXX
They made it to the car without that someone noticed them. They had reached Professor Agasa, who was rather startled by Shinichi's appearance, but after a quick shake of Heiji's head not to question any further, they led them into living room.
The officer had made his way to the kitchen to make a few phone calls and while Shinichi got rid of Bell's voice and the rest of his mask, the scientist put the small first aid kit on the table.
Shinichi could feel the anxious eyes of the old man on his shoulders, but avoided his gaze until the professor asked him to turn his head a little to the right, so he could get a better look at the wound on Shinichi's cheek.
Agasa bit his lips, while Shinichi didn´t even twitch at the touch of disinfectant. The old man's moustache twitched back and forth inconclusively before he finally decided to talk.
"You should get this treated in hospital, Shinichi. Not here." Agasa sighed, he didn´t have to look down to knew the skeptical look Shinichi was giving him.
"I fear that it'll scar if it isn´t treated properly." But even this "threat" didn´t seem to work, the high school student just nodded, staring further at a spot on the opposite wall.
"Just do what you can, Professor."
Agasa just sighed and continued his work, when a clinking keychain and a voice let the made up paramedic and his patient pause.
"Oh my, I´m full to the brim."
Stuart's voice echoed through the long hallway, so did his finance's answer.
"You could have eaten a little slower instead of stuffing yourself within seconds. We could have stayed longer, I quite liked the restaurant."
"Well my dear, I wasn't the one who ordered the most exotic food on the card and then just nibbled on it. Was I? Besides, I´m just too excited to see what my science fellow is up to today." The ghost of a smile rushed over Agasa's face, while he listened to the pair's argument, whose voices where slowly getting closer.
"Stue, he invited us to sleep over, so you have plenty enough time for-" But the American agent stopped her sarcasm as soon as she entered the living room and his eyes had found him.
„Shinichi! What happened?"
But Shinichi stayed silent, his eyes however seemed to tell her more than he wanted to reveal, so he did well to breake eye contact with her. Instead he eyed the man beside her and nodded to greet him. Stuart's fancy outfit for their dinner wasn´t in pristine order any more. His shirt came out of his pants at the front and one pocket of his jacked was heavy with something that could only be the restaurant's napkin. Because it would be news to him that Stuart Davis suddenly developed a fable for gastronomic souvenirs such as pepper pots or salt cellars. Normally, he would have teased him with this little detail, but his tongue was still stuck to his palate, while his head felt like it had been filled with cotton.
The picture of her empty eyes flickered like an after-image over his retina, the way she'd been staring through him still gave him goosebumps.
'Ran…'
He hadn´t noticed that the two Americans had approached him. Tracy slid to his side on the sofa and put a hand on his shoulder, while Stuart stepped closer to inspect the wound on Shinichi's cheek.
„Not too deep, but deep enough for troubling the healing process. It seems that you can move just fine, so no nerve damage at least. Are you sure that you have enough practice to treat a wound like that?"
Stuart stepped aside to make Agasa some space, but he only shook his head with a long sigh.
„We don´t have that much of an alternative anyway. He doesn´t want to go to see a doctor in his… condition." Stuart nodded, hiding his hands in his pockets, while his gaze thoughtfully wandered off.
"Well… I´m afraid that he has a point."
"I´m right here, you know?"
The eyes of the two men drifted to Shinichi in surprise, who looked up at them from the sofa, a little annoyed. But the anger quickly disappeared from his face, he sunk deeper into the pillows with a sigh.
"Just try it professor, we've no choice anyway." The old man nodded and started to work in silence. Shinichi felt the piercing look of the two Americans on him, while he tried to catch something of the calls Hattori made in the kitchen. Only when the professor rushed into the bathroom to find some suitable patches, Tracy could no longer stop herself.
"Shinichi…"
The detective however avoided her eyes, gritting his teeth. But Tracy had long since stopped to leave him be in a situation like this. Without paying any further notice to his defensive behavior she put a hand on his knee, while Stuart stepped behind her to support his fiancée's words with his presence.
„Look at me, Shinichi."
He swallowed, but followed her request, even though his eyes barely met her own, but she'd already seen enough.
"What happened?" The high schooler took a deep breath and started to tell them what had happened. When he'd finished his story it was silent before he started to talk again.
„Just this single shot. I don´t know why they didn´t kill my in an instant, probably because they are mocking me, or they wanted to pile the pressure on me."
'Well, that worked.' An empty laugh escaped his throat, before his features turned grim again. The stomachs of the Americans had already filled with stones during his speech, but while Stuart was already thinking about the possible motives of the organization, Tracy's eyes still lingered on Shinichi.
„There is more behind this. Isn´t it?" Shinichi's surprised look that now lingered on her, left her time to confirm her assumptions. The young detective's face was pale, his gaze lacked any hint of strength, his eyes seemed glassy yet dull at the same time. As if he'd been deprived of his life essence. Shinichi however, swallowed and turned his eyes back to the ground. He knew that Tracy would figure him out, despite his efforts to keep Ran from the story, she would find the truth.
She always did.
"She was there as well."
A brief shiver went through the high schooler, he kept his eyes on the ground in front of his feet, even more firmly than before. Her statement however, ripped Stuart back from his thoughts, so Shinichi didn´t need to look up or nod, both of them already knew that Tracy was right. It was clear what that meant. Tracy searched Stuart's eyes, who shared her concern.
'She knows…'
A depressing silence spread between the three FBI members, before Stuart dropped his hand on Shinichi's shoulder.
"I'm sure we'll find a way out of this mess."
Tracy nodded, thankful to her husband, before she turned to Shinichi herself, her hand still resting on his knee.
"Stuart is right. We-"
"SHINICHI!?"
The detective flinched at his mother's voice, who burst into the living room, before she found him on the sofa. The worry in his mother's eyes mixed with relief when she saw that he was mostly alright. She made a step towards him to make sure that he was really okay, but paused when she finally became aware of the couple by his side.
The way they had placed themselves beside him let a shiver run down her spine.
'Shinichi…'
Yukiko's thoughts were interrupted by her husband, who'd also arrived and put a hand on her shoulder. He seemed to feel her tension and avoided to address the subject, instead the author turned his attention to his son, who still looked at his parents in surprise.
"Megure called us and asked if the FBI could meet at our place, since he wants to avoid too much speculations at the department. He explained what happened in response to my question…" The question why he hadn´t come to them himself lingered heavily in the air.
"Next time you ask Heiji to make such calls it would be nice of you to inform us first."
"It isn´t Shinichi's fault, Kudo-san."
Shinichi took a relieved breath when his friend steeped out of the kitchen to save him, even though it seemed like Heiji looked ten years older after these calls. Heiji cleared his throat before he started to explain.
"I made these call's myself. Kudo didn´t know. I am sorry that you heard it from Megure and not from me or your son, I've to admit that I am a little rattled myself." With an apologetic glance the Osakan let himself sink into the closest armchair. His words, as he continued, were mostly addressed to Shinichi, as if they were alone in the room.
"It's all organized, everyone is on their way. I guess that's fine with you?" The detective grit his teeth, before he nodded with a sigh.
'I guess I've no choice anyway…'
Besides, Heiji was right, he could no longer sweep this under the carpet, let alone sort it out by himself. Shinichi knew that his friend had done the right thing and just wanted to help, yet the thought to work with the FBI again left a bitter taste in his mouth.
After all, that had worked out so good last time.
XXX
While Agasa had patched him up and now a bandage adored his cheekbones, the first "guests" had arrived. The meeting had been moved to the Professor's place, so that they could stay where they were. Shinichi could tell from the officers eyes that Heiji hadn´t left any detail from his story, unlike him. Kogoro in particular, seemed to try very hard to tame his anger – which was only thanks to the stern glances of Megure. The old officer only had asked him to tell them his story again, but the results were just more thoughtful faces, so that Takagi was the first to show his curiosity.
"But what is that supposed to achieve? They couldn´t possibly know that-"
"Of course, they knew."
At the cold voice that interrupted Takgai, their eyes wandered to the FBI agent in surprise. While Akai Shuichi didn´t care about their reaction, it was Jodie who stepped out of his shadow with a shy smile.
"Hey, please excuse our sudden appearance, but given the circumstances it might be better to actually close the front door, Professor." Her partner however, ignored her attempt to lighten the mood, while Shinichi withstood the sharp gaze of the agent, whose eyes now wandered to the patch on his cheek.
"Where?" Shinichi swallowed, noticed how his lips started to speak, while his face darkened. He was too tired to deal with the FBI right now, but he wanted to make clear that there were more important things now than their quarrel in the past.
"Beika, Ideko-district not far behind the old ramen restaurant." Akai however, didn´t look at him, but reacted with a short nod.
"Alright," he grunted and took the black bundle from Jodie's hands that she'd brought into the house and slowly unwrapped it, before he loaded its contents onto the coffee table and pressed the black fabric into Shinichi's hands. His gaze flickered briefly over the high school student before he spoke.
"You'll need it."
With these words the FBI Agent turned around, leaving more than just one confused face behind along with a rather annoyed Jodie, who couldn´t stand the wrangle of those two any longer. Shinichi didn´t look after his colleague, his gaze wavered over the lonely pistole on the table before it got stuck on the heavy black jacket in his arms. His throat went dry, while his fingers traced over the bright yellow letters. The acronym of the Federal Bureau of Investigation seemed to brandmark him.
The eyes of the others, especially those of the officers, rested on him and proved that his feelings didn´t betray him. It wasn´t the first time that they asked him to wear it, every time things were getting serious, only for his own protection.
'Of course.'
The fact that Akai had given him these things made one thing clear, he was part of the FBI, he belonged to them, whether he wanted or not. He came to them, they had made agreements and terms he could not slip away from. Especially now, when the police was craving for his attention as well, it was clear that they wanted him to show that he was part of them.
Until everything was over, he would belong to them.
Jodie sighed, throwing her hair back in annoyance, while she looked after Akai, who had already left through the door.
'Was that really necessary?'
"What crawled up that guy's ass?" The Osakan's accent ripped her from her thoughts and her gaze wandered to the man by her side, who gave her a stern look. It seemed like he'd manage to get a hold on his anger, at least he was a lot calmer than during their call a few minutes ago. Well, she couldn´t blame him, since she still could remember how the high school student had searched for any evidence that his friend was alive with almost manic precision.
She had never guessed that her acquaintance with those high school detectives could grew into this. Even though, she should have known before he'd showen up on her doorstep to show her what had been right in front of her all this time. Jodie had to clear her throat before she silently started to tell Heiji what had happed almost a decade ago.
XXX
It burned.
Only then the taste reached her tongue.
Sweet and bitter in the end.
She swiveled the martini in her glass, looking over it's edge to the TV Programms she was sapping though. She had tied her blonde hair up, since she wasn´t in the mood to dry and style it. Why would she- she didn´t expect any…
'Visitors?'
The ring on her front door let Jodie look up, her gaze wandered from the hallway back to the clock in the living room.
22:47
Who could want something from her at this time of day? She got up and made her way into the hall and looked to the little spyhole.
No one there.
She swallowed, took a step back to get her gun from her jacket.
The FBI agent took a deep breath and opened the door, with her weapon ready to react. Her pulse began to normalize slowly, just when she started to believe that it been nothing but a prank a sudden voice made it clear that she was wrong.
"M-Miss Jodie."
"What?" She lowered her gaze, searching for the source of the noise and found it.
"Conan-kun!" She knelt down beside him only to see the state the little boy was in. Of the many bruises and abrasions his face was the worst. A black eye started to bloom on his left eye, in it's early stage in all sorts of blue shades. Without asking for permission she let her fingers slide through his ash-covered hair and found what she was looking for. A bump on the forehead and an even bigger and more worrying one at the back of the boy's head.
"Cool kid, you need a doctor!"
"No." His dry voice held a stern tone that made her flinch. He only ever used this particular tone on one subject. Her eyes wandered anxiously to his own, only to see the torment and exhaustion which lay in the child's eyes. Her own throat felt dry when she finally dared to ask.
"What happened?"
But the silence and the looks he gave her made it clear that this wasn´t an issue to talk about in a hallway.
She had steered him into the living room, offering him a warm tea while she was waiting for James, who she had called like Conan had asked of her. However, she was more interested in the other man who she had called and asked to meet them, also at the boy's request.
Okiya Subaru.
Jodie's eyes still rested on the small boy, who still stared into his untouched teacup in absolute silence.
'What's the meaning of all this, cool kid?'
A relived sigh escaped her lips when it finally rang at the door and she found her superior agent James Black behind it. Jody led him into the living room and James rose one eyebrow when he saw the state of the boy, who only looked up when James Black took the seat opposite him. Jodie handed her boss a cup of tea as well and the Englishman sipped on it while an almost unbearable silence spread between them, before agent Black finally started to speak."
"So, how can we help you?"
The little boy didn´t look up, but instead fixed his gaze even more on the small coffee table. Jodie could see that he tried to choose each of his words and started to speak in a tone much too cold for his age.
"Before I tell you what you want to know, I want you to promise me something?"
"A promise?"
"Well… we might as well call it a deal, agent Black." The agent's moustache twitched.
'That's going to be interesting.'
"Well, I'm all ears."
The primary schooler nodded thankful, before his gaze fell back to the ground. It was obvious that he had to swallow, after all it wasn´t easy for him to make his demand.
"I would like to use your witness protection program and also a guarantee of the protection of my friends and family. However, I won´t be joining to your usual conditions.
I won´t allow you to exclude me from my own case, this deal is only going to workif I'm allowed to continue my work on this case."
"Interesting… but you were talking about a deal, so there are two sides. You can´t make demands without an offer yourself and I would really like to hear what this could be…"
'… Mr. Holmes.'
"The organization."
"What?" But none of the two cared about Jodie's interruption, so the little boy continued to speak.
"When you agree to this deal, I will give you all the information on the black organization I have." The Englishman looked over the edge of his teacup.
"And what information could a little kid like you have about that crime syndicate?"
"You're right… Edogawa Conan won´t be able to give you the information you need, but-"
"Kudo Shinichi."
The name of the detective echoed in the living room, Conan felt how his mouth became dry, while he tried to withstood the gaze of Okiya Subaru. The dark-blonde man pushed his glasses back on his nose and strolled further into the room with a knowing smile.
"Quite a dramatic scene you chose to reveal yourself." While Shinichi had no other option than to swallow the bitter comment, the owner of the apartment finally snapped back to reality.
"What? But- Who are you? And how did you get in anyway?" Subaru looked at her for a while, before he answered without a hint of mockery in his voice.
"You called me, I am Okiya Subaru." He sighed, fishing a small key from his pocket and put it on the table.
"And since I have one of your spare keys it wasn´t hart to get in."
Jodie's eyes were glued to the little silver key.
'Impossible…' James Black on the other hand, was still looking at the newcomer, who now reached under his turtleneck and became someone else with nothing but a short jolt.
"After all, I am the second undead person on the organization's list."
For the first time in her years of service, the agent's knees grew weak. She vaguely noticed James supportive hand on her shoulder, while she could barely move her lips to speak.
"Shu-Shuichi?"
'Impossible… he is … he-'
"But- How?"
From the corners of her eyes she could see that James eyes never left his supposed to be dead agent, just like he was afraid that he could vanish again. But the Englishman finally broke eye contact in order to focus back on the grade schooler, who'd watched the scene from the sofa rather emotionless.
'Of course…' The boy had wanted her to call him, this Okyia, but that could only mean.
"You knew?"
"That doesn´t matter now, we can discuss this later. To explain what happened is his job now." The green eyes fixated him, but Conan felt that right now as if Akai's eyes seemed to choke him. He knew that what he was about to tell would have an impact, not only on his own life. Conan swallowed, his tongue stuck to his palate, so he had trouble to start talking.
"I'm sorry. I- I should have been more careful. I don´t know how she managed to find me, to follow me, it wasn´t supposed to happen. I should have taken her away.. I-"
"What are you talking about?"
But instead of answering, the elementary school student in front of him just began to tremble. A nasty foreboding rose in Akai's stomach. He got down to his knees in front of the detective, grabbed him by the shoulders to force him to look up.
"What happened, Kudo?"
"Shuichi." But his boss's words fell on deaf ears, his gaze was fixed on the little boy and nothing else.
"Spit it out, Kudo! What about her, what happened to Shiho?" Another jerk on his collar forced the boy to look up. His breath stuck in his throat while Akai waited for an answer. The agent looked into Conan's eyes. For a second he opened his mouth to speak, but stayed silent. The eye contact between them broke and the gaze of the boy fell to the floor and the depressing silence between them, told Akai more than he actually wanted to know.
"You were supposed to protect her." Slowly, he loosened his grip on the boy's collar, so that the kid slipped from his hand to the ground.
"You told me you had everything under control, so I could focus on him." His gaze didn't reach the boy, but his voice held nothing but cold despite.
"I should have known better."
Shinichi however, didn´t even flinch at the agent's suddenly cold voice, his eye darted back and forth on the grey carpet, searching for answers himself.
"How could she have known about it? And…" His voice was rough, little more than a hoarse whisper.
"Why did she do it. She knew that Gin was pointing the gun at me- why?" Akai hadn't listened to the little boy at his feet, too deep in his own thoughts, but his last question still had reached him.
"Because she loved you."
Akai didn´t look at him, his voice cold as ice. Shinichi winced and stared at him, his mother's words were like a whisper in his hear. She'd warned him.
The FBI Agent felt the eyes of the little boy on his skin and continued in a dry voice.
"That aside, she would have done it anyway." Akai's eyes wandered past Jodie to Black, none of them had dared to intervene, even though Black gave him a warning look.
"You were the one who gave her hope, she thought you cold actually put an end to all of it. She believed in you."
'Just like her…'
The agent's lips grew slim, his voice was cold and rough when he finally spoke again.
"Your death would have shattered that hope into pieces, that's why."
XXX
Heiji's mouth was as dry as Jodie's who had explained to him what had happened and what the death of Ai had meant for her colleague. Akai had not been able to forgive what happened back then, neither had Kudo forgiven himself. It had driven a wedge between the two who had worked so well together before.
"I understand…"
The officer swallowed and turned his gaze to Kudo again, who looked even more tired after he'd been listening to Takagi, who had summed up what they've been discussing while Hattori had been listening to Jodie.
"So, you believe that our murderer saw you at the café without your mask and therefore he's the source of information for this syndicate. Or might be part of it himself?"
Shinichi sighed, crossing the room in measured steps while he explained.
"Well, some things are at least pointing to it, the changing of guards in the hospital for example."
"What about it?" Megure's tone held a slightly offended nuance and Shinichi couldn´t blame him, no one liked mistakes.
"I don´t doubt that the change went well, but maybe the guards weren't who your colleagues thought they were." He could see the questioning looks of the officers, before Sato voiced the question they all had in mind.
"How is this supposed to be possible?"
He had already opened his mouth to answer, when another voice replied in his stead.
"Vermouth…"
Shinichi's eyes wandered to his mother, who seemed to have paled even more due to the new information, before he nodded.
"That's right. Similar to William Bell, they two could have been disguised members from the organization, one of them could have been Vermouth, also known as Chris Vineyard."
"The actress?"
"Sure, you might know that the organization does have members in every class and business." Jodie's voice became cold, it was clear that she was serious, even if it sounded like a stupid cliché out of an old movie. They couldn´t trust no one.
"However, it isn´t the only possible connection of our case to the organization." Shinichi's gaze shifted to Jodie.
"Eisuke Hondo is in town."
"The CIA?" Heiji nodded, getting back into the conversation with a sigh.
"I guess we can assume that he isn`t here just for the holyday. I tried to call him, but right now we've got no further information." For a long moment there was silence between them, before Megure started to talk again.
"So, we don´t only have a serial killer, but a worldwide organization toying with us." The eyes of the officer rested on the supposed to be dead savoir of the Japanese police.
'We've got two opponents… the question is just if they truly have different agendas or one common goal… Shinichi-kun.'
XXX
He'd loved nothing better than just stay here on the professor's couch and never ever get up again. But that simply wasn´t the case. After they had made a plan of action for their next meeting they had disappeared one by one, before his parents had coaxed him to leave the professor alone for tonight.
So he'd barricades himself in his room and had already pushed the unloved jacked of the FBI in the darkest part of his closet, so that he was now holding the heavy weapon in his hand.
"Ya now, sometimes theses things can be rather useful." The high schooler flinched and looked up to his friend, who clapped onto his own shoulder holster with a tired smile.
"I fear tha time when a simple soccer ball was enough to defend yarself is over Kudo." Shinichi however didn´t respond, his eyes rested on the weapon a little longer before he placed it in his closet.
When he finally turned around to look at Hattori he found him at his desk scribbling something onto a small notepad before he hold it in front of the detectives nose. He blinked, and raised a questioning eyebrow at Hattori before he took the note.
"I thought you'd be off already?"
"Well, I am." The high schooler nodded, before he looked at the small piece of paper in his hand, where a row of numbers greeted him.
"What's that?"
"Her mobile number, I would guess you should have more luck there than on her landline."
"Hattori…" But he blocked him with a stern gaze. Shinichi just sighed, the little paper seemed to have gained weight in the last seconds.
Heiji was right… he had to make it right.
Somehow.
"When she'll get to know who gave me the number she'll definitely kill you."
"Well, then don´t tell her." A brief grin flashed over the Oskan's lips.
"Besides, ya go first." Shinichi only glared at him, so that Heiji sighed defeated.
"Still ta early for jokes huh?" The detective let himself sink on the top of his desk and brushed with his fingers through his tousled hair.
"Just call her." But the emphasis in the officers voice didn´t seemed to be convincing enough.
"Hattori… you know that will lead us nowhere, I can´t-" But Hieji interrupted him imperiously, his voice was soft but didn´t allow any objection.
"No matter what result ya talk will have, all is better than what happened today." Shinichi couldn´t do more than to look at the little code of numbers in his hand and didn´t saw how his friend finally turned to leave.
"Call her."
XXX
It was useless to stay any longer, it was Kudo's decision to make and after all… he was aware that his own scolding was awaiting him.
'But not tonight… please.' He swallowed and closed the door behind him as silent as possible before he went through the living room. He though if it was better to search his way in the dark, but since there were too many things he could accidently hit and cause noise the officer decided to turn the light on. But even before Heiji had the chance to reach the light switch someone else had already flipped it for him.
He blinked, trying to get used to the sudden light, but the silhouette of the person in the door frame alone told him that he still had a long night ahead of him.
He swallowed, before he looked up at her with guild in his eyes.
"Kazuha…"
And hello once more,
Next chapter will hopefully show up next month, thanks to my lovely Beta Tobina- who is an amazing DC writer herself!
I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, of course I am curious to hear your opinion again… I hope Akai wasn´t to OOC.
Till next time,
Shelling ~
