The aftermath of Sherry : The murder of butterflies
A/N: The titles of the chapters of this story just keep on getting weirder and No, no one died on this chapter because I cannot, in all honesty, write a murder case
Thanks for the reviews! Anyway, I think it's time for more ShinShi scenes.
Disclaimer: I claim no rights over DC.
Ran
Shinichi has acted differently since that night. For one, he seems more genuinely excited to go to cases now. I could see the ease on his shoulders, on the way he moves. It's like getting acquainted with a new Shinichi and I find it both intriguing and scary. While it's exciting to discover these new facets of my childhood friend, it also scares and saddens me that I am completely unfamiliar with this side of him. And that he managed to grow into this completely different version of him without me.
I tried to ask him what occurred in that party to bring all these distinct changes in him but all I got was a sheepish smile. All I really wanted to know is how that one encounter with that woman has turn things in 360 degrees.
But he never tells.
He never explains.
He never tries.
He came into the house one day with a blinding smile, he just solved yet another closed room murder case.
I heard he had some help too, so I asked him.
There it was again, the flash of a smile, a spark of something I could not name on his cerulean eyes.
" I got my partner back" he said.
Then he went on about how it always made it easier for him to discover the identity of the murderers and the tricks that they used whenever she's around and then went on to brag about her intelligence.
'she' I thought. It's not easy to miss the word.
So I asked him her name.
"Shiho" he said with such tenderness.
" Shiho" I repeated. The name left a bitter taste in my mouth.
" You two should meet" he proposed and despite everything, hope bloomed in my chest.
Maybe that's what I needed. Maybe this is the start of him opening up his coveted world with her. The door to unravel the secrets he'd carefully kept.
I've met her a few days after and instead of relief, all I felt was anxiety.
She was nothing short of stunning but you could always tell that she's just more than just a pretty face with the way she carries herself. The girl moves with purpose, she does not engage in extraneous conversations—rarely join in discussions but once she does, you stop in the middle of your sentences and listen because you know it would be significant and to be delivered on point. There's just something to be said about the invisible air of superiority around her, she doesn't even have to try so hard.
I saw how they worked together, communicating merely by their eyes. It was an out of body experience—seeing the one you thought you know best to be understood better by someone else.
She despises attention, that's was the first thing I noticed.
Shinichi calls her his partner but she rarely stands beside him at all. She lets him do what he does and just watches with knowing eyes somewhere in a corner of the room but when Shinichi looks back, she would automatically be on his side. He would also seek her whenever he hit another dilemma and is confused. He would whisper something to her briefly and would go back to investigate. A couple of minutes later, she shows up and merely nods at him. He'll smile in return, knowing that whatever he ordered her to do was done and ready.
He would unravel the crime and declare the culprit but after all the attention, he would take a few steps back from the crowd to stand by her side not just as partners but as equals.
Yes, I think that's what it was. Shinichi had always been skillfully and intelligently superior among our peers, but in Shiho, he had found somebody to question him, to challenge his ideas. He had found an equal—something I could never aspire to be.
I walked towards the two figures and Shinichi seemed surprised. A flash of guilt appeared in his eyes—he forgot that I was here all along.
He introduced us both to each other and she flashed me a tiny genuine smile, something that she does not seem to do often. I expected to hate her, but she was nice.
We sat in a café afterward and I could tell that she was hesitant to do so at first. Shinichi teased her about being a killjoy. She told him that all this knowledge has stunted his emotional intelligence, to which he looked confused and lost in. She rolled her eyes and called him dense but she said yes to the invitation nonetheless.
They were taking a sip of their black coffee while I'm enjoying my caramel frappe. I decided to be brave and asked how the two of them met. Shiho threw Shinichi a confused glance and sighed.
The anticipation was drumming in my chest right when she started to open her mouth to talk. Before she could utter a word, Shinichi said that they met on a case and had to work together. Basically, an even briefer version of what he said to me after he "came back" to himself. He told me about being Conan and working with the FBI but I know he conveniently left some things in the dark. For one, he never told me about having a partner until a few days ago. I had my suspicions but I have no way of validating them when he's so determined to keep them under wraps.
Shiho narrowed her eyes on him.
" The case" she added as she turned to me with a small tight-lipped smile.
On my periphery, I could see Shinichi paled and is silently sending Shiho a pleading look.
Her response to him was a piercing and what looked to be a scolding stare.
She breathed and turned back her attention to me with an assuring smile. She told me that she was entangled with a dangerous underground organization and they were after her blood. She met Shinichi and he had to protect her. They had worked with each other ever since to bring the heinous organization down. It was a dangerous mission and that Shinichi didn't want to leave me but he had to do so for my own and my family's safety.
I appreciated her disclosure and somehow, it assured me a little bit. It's funny how a stranger could provide me that in a matter of minutes and I wonder why Shinichi couldn't give me that for weeks.
Shiho
I was enjoying the quietness of the night on my veranda when the doorbell rang, which is nothing but strange. Only Rei knew where I live and he was away in a few days for his job so the possibility of whoever is outside the door to be him is pretty much zero. The familiar feeling of fear rose on my toes and went up to wrap its way into my whole body. With tentative steps, I carefully walked towards the living room, grabbing a vase by its neck on my way. I peeked into the hole and was surprised with who I saw on the other side.
The sight of a swaying detective welcomed me as I threw the door open.
" What are you doing here?" I asked as I looked at him up and down.
The unsteadiness of his stance did not escape my scrutiny as well as the half-empty bottle of beer on his hand.
I put my arms in front of me and glared at the unusually disheveled Shinichi.
" How did you even know my address and apartment number?"
A proud smile etched on his flushed face. " Well, I wouldn't be the great detective Kudo if I couldn't find out where my partner lives now, would I?
" I did not tell you this on purpose!"
A wave of hurt flashed in his eyes.
"Is that how bad you want to get rid of me?"
Guilt gnawed at me then.
" Don't push me away. Please, even just for tonight" he said with his eyes downcast, refusing to look unto me. Seeing him this honest and vulnerable is a rarity I cannot truly brush off.
' Baka, this is exactly why. It's because I can never really say no to you when it matters most—even though I probably should.'
He finally looked up to me when he heard the creak of the door opening wider to let him in. " You have until 10 o'clock. I'm retiring early tonight."
His eyebrows went up. He knows I'm full of it. " And since when does this scientist started sleeping before 3 or 4 in the morning?"
"Shut up"
He chuckled as he dropped himself on the couch. I sat on the other end of the seat and watched him fidget on the bottle he's holding.
" So what's the problem?"
He does not answer for a while, just pressing his lips in a thin line.
" So she finally managed to ask the right questions" I assumed.
Seeing him flinch was the only confirmation I needed. " I was quite surprised to discover that you still hadn't told her a thing. Why? Why not tell her the truth? If you're worried that she can't handle it, you're wrong. She is stronger than you think, Kudo"
He slowly, finally turned to me, his gaze roaming on my face longer than I'm comfortable with.
"What?"
"It's…It's not actually her I'm worried about." He said, eyes fixed on mine.
This sent warmth on my chest. " Baka, If it's me you're worried about, You don't have to. I'm perfectly fine with it."
"But it's not just my secret to tell."
" And I'm telling you to. I could see all this secrecy is weighing on your relationship. You clawed your way back to her, do you think protecting my secret is worth enough to hang your relationship on the balance?"
" You're more important to me than you think, Ai" he said as he intently stare straight to my eyes, trying to prove something and I could feel the butterflies lose their shit in my stomach.
I willed them dead. Hope is something I could never afford to nurse when it comes to him because the outcome is the same nonetheless.
My hand reached for the beer on his hands and I took a swig of it.
' There, you damn butterflies. Die'
Shinichi
She listened to me and scolded me for being the most clueless and dense detective to have ever existed.
But her insults can never penetrate against the feeling of peace and contentment I am in at the moment. This raised a few interesting questions in my head but I pushed, pushed, and pushed them further away at the back of my mind. I probably should mind them eventually, but not now. I don't want to deal with them tonight. I don't wanna taint her presence, I want to bask in it—at the moment.
She urged me to tell Ran everything.
"You can't build a relationship on lies. Because if you do, everything else starts feeling like one." She thoughtfully said. She also told me that she can never do something about her past but she won't be happy without seeing me get my happiness.
How can someone be so selfless? In a world that just takes and takes, how long can a person like her who just kept giving go on before they can longer give something out?
We paused our banter at the heavy sound of rain outside. My feet pulled me up and started walking to the balcony. And as I started to open the sliding door leading to the open balcony, a hand stopped me.
" What the hell do you think you're doing?" she said with an incredulous look.
While it is true that Shinichi Kudo does not usually do this type of thing, something just pulls me to go forward.
I slipped through the open space and stepped into the night.
I closed my eyes and tipped my head upwards, feeling the rain as it drops on my skin. A smile curved on my face. I like this feeling, of being childish and foolish just for the hell of it.
Shiho was looking at me like I've finally lost it when I turned my gaze on her. " Have you finally gone crazy?"
She is beautiful and I need to hold her.
'Why?' the question popped in my head and I know that I should have, once again, pay attention to it but I'm tired of thinking—of constantly being "on".
The need kept on getting stronger the longer I stare at her standing there. Tempting. Pressing.
Like I can't breathe until I touch her skin. So I took a step towards her until I got her in front of me, within my reach.
She was taken aback when my hand grazed hers. I could see roses on her face when I held her hand in mine.
I felt her sucked in breath when I whispered in her ear and my lips brushed against the skin of her cheeks.
" Dance with me, Shiho"
I did not wait for her response though. That's how selfish I have become when it came to her.
One gently tug and we are both standing under the rain.
We were drenched within seconds but I am far from cold.
Burning.
Is this how it feels to burn?
-End of Chapter-
A/N: Yay or nay? Thoughts? I'm really feeling guilty now for subjecting Ran to these shitty situations and thinking that it would only get worse from here