Summary: In which, Ran and Saguru deal with a sniper and in Kyoto, Shinichi deals with Vermouth.

Notes: Thanks to everyone who's left me feedback - favs / follows and reviews! You're all amazing, and I would hug you all if I could. Hope you enjoy the update!

The glass of the fish tank splinters at first, like a spider's web, and then, it cracks completely under the pressure of the water. The glass comes first, and then the water in a downpour, bringing with it the dead fish and little pebbles from the bottom of the tank.

Ran curls in on herself, braces herself, and winces as everything crashes down on her. She gasps at the cold of the water, the feeling of glass digging into her skin, but luckily the moment only lasts a few seconds.

"Ran?" Saguru breathes, from the other side of the table. He's wet, too, but not quite as drenched as she is. "You okay?"

Ran pushes herself up, not far enough to be seen through the window, she hopes, but enough to meet Saguru's eyes. She nods, mutters, "It's freezing, and I'm pretty sure we're going to need some tweezers to get rid of this glass, but I'm fine."

Saguru lets out a sigh of relief. He says, "I was worried you wouldn't dive in time."

She narrows her eyes at him, about to scold him on the entire idea of breaking into the apartment but stops herself. People wouldn't have shot at them if they weren't hiding something secret. Instead, she says, "the red dot means it was probably a sniper, right?"

A nod. Saguru squints, "why?"

"How long does it take for someone to aim a sniper rifle?" She asks.

Eyes narrowing, Saguru shakes his head. He says, "Ran, right now the best idea is to stay down and out of sight and leave out the back."

"It's not that," Ran continues now. "There's something in the fish tank. We need to get it. I think it's important."

Saguru crawls towards her, a frown prevalent on his face. He winces as he pulls himself through the glass, coming to a halt beside her. She points up to the fish tank, at the plastic rock covered in rubber bands. She notices that the letters are crumpled in his hands, wet. Ran takes them, gingerly places them in her bag.

"It's too risky," Saguru says.

"How many seconds would I have to grab it?"

He shakes his head, looks at her and says, "that's a horrible idea Ran, Kudo would never forgive me if I let you get shot. I – Do you really think it's that important?"

Ran nods. There's no doubt about it. They'd been fine before she'd started to focus on the fish tank, and maybe that's in part related to the flashes when Saguru had been taking photos, but she thinks it's also related to what's inside this fish tank. She says, "I really do."

"The one with the rubber band?" Saguru asks. Another nod. Then, he turns to her, pulls out his torch and says, "The only way we'd even have enough time to do this, is if the sniper has their attention somewhere else."

He passes the torch to Ran. She takes it, although with some confusion, and watches as he points towards the doorway. Then, it seems to click.

"You can't leave me to be the diversion," she hisses, "what if you get shot?"

"I won't be, if you divert the sniper's attention enough," Saguru says. At her doubt, he says, "Listen, you're wet, and there's glass all over you, even if you don't admit it, you're aching, you're freezing and right now, out of the two of us, you'd be slower."

She doesn't like that he's right, can't help but worry. She can feel all the grazes though, all the glass piercing into her skin, still held there from where the water had applied pressure not even a minute before.

"Fine," Ran says, "but for the record, I absolutely hate this."

He offers her a smile, then waves his hand, urging her to move back towards the door, a few seconds later, she does. She wants to wait, wants to take time and hope the sniper goes away, but the likelihood is too low. If they stay here, soon, people will come up, and surround them.

They don't have much time to disappear, Ran knows that.

"Okay," Ran says, "on three."

She points the torch up, turns it on so there's a large beam of light aiming into the room, a sliver of light among the darkness. Saguru bursts upward, leaning into the fish tank.

He hisses, not even bothering to remove glass shards as he leans his arm on it, slicing into his sleeve as he moves his arm forward, grabbing for the rock.

"Got it," Saguru says, and turns to offer her a quick smile. He's about to dive back for the floor, when a loud bang reaches their ears. Ran watches at the bullet zips past him, embedding itself into the wall beside them.

Saguru drops down, swears.

Ran's eyes widen, and she crawls forward, even as Saguru starts to edge nearer to her. He swears again, and she clicks the torch off, throwing it into her bag.

"Come on," Saguru says, and he sounds almost breathless. He's pale. His free hand – the one not holding the rock – is pressed against his side. "Let's get out of here before someone comes looking for us."

Ran hesitates, but what can she do? They need to leave. They start moving together, until they're past the door and away from the window. She says, "you were–"

"The bullet grazed me," Saguru says. His eyes seem strangely light, not at all dull, or pained. Ran imagines it's the adrenaline pumping through him. She can feel it too, knows she's probably not feeling the full extent of her own pain. "That's all."

"A graze is still serious," Ran mutters. They can stand in the hallway with no risks of a sniper coming after them, and so they do. It's darker here, difficult to see, but Ran doesn't dare turn the torch back on.

Instead, they move forward, Saguru following behind her, both stopping when they reach the kitchen. Then, they lower to the floor again, not wanting to risk and more gunfire.

"I don't know if there's any one out this way," Saguru whispers, as they inch towards the door, "but I think we need to risk it."

Ran nods her head, and without any hesitation, lest they give whoever is shooting at them more time to corner them, she opens the door, crawling out into the street.

No red dots meet them.

"Take this," Saguru says, passing her the rock. She drops it into her bag, shivers against the wind. She wonders what people will think if they look at her, glass clinging to her body, just like the drenched clothes she's wearing. "And come on."

He grabs her by his arm, and then, with a laboured breath, starts running down the alley, dragging her along. Ran doesn't put up a fight, even when her lungs feel like they're going to burst.

They keep running until they feel like there is nothing but empty space between them and the apartment. Then, they slip into an alleyway, and try to think of what to do next.

"Let me get that glass," Saguru says, turning Ran around. He can't get all of it, obviously not – there are a lot of small shards too – but he manages to brush off the pieces that cling to her jacket. Ran returns the favour, brushing off the stray pieces of glass from his sleeves.

Then, she looks at the fabric just around his abdomen. Saguru's left side is darker – instead of the dark grey jacket he'd been wearing, it now looks like a wet black.

"You said it grazed you," Ran says, stern. This doesn't exactly look like a graze.

Saguru scowls. He says, "It did. But I am bleeding. It's alright, I'll deal with it when we find somewhere to settle for a while."

"What do you mean find somewhere," Ran says, and then, pauses. She answers the question herself before Saguru can. "We can't exactly go home and explain ourselves to our parents. It could be dangerous."

"Exactly," Saguru says. "We could head to one of KID's hideouts, one of the places taken over by the police, but they could be watching those–"

And they still can't trust the police.

Especially not now.

"I think I know somewhere we could go," Ran says. She pulls out her phone, but it won't turn on, is waterlogged. She'll have to put it in a bag of rice and hope the rice will soak up the moisture. "Give me your phone."

Her grip is tight around his wrist, not to a painful amount, but enough that Shinichi knows that if he tries to pull away, he'll fail.

Vermouth is wearing the disguise of someone his age, looks startlingly close in appearance to Ran. It's almost as if she's teasing him, or maybe, she's simply trying to draw his attention.

Shinichi isn't sure, all he knows is that his stomach is churning, and he can't find a way to settle it.

"Vermouth," he says, trying to sound calmer than he feels. His voice comes out slightly high. "What a pleasure."

"Hello, Shinichi," Vermouth responds, sickly sweet, her voice mimicking Ran's. He fixes the woman with a glare. "I'd like the talk."

"I won't talk to you if you look like her," Shinichi whispers. "I'm not sure if I really want to talk to you at all."

Vermouth's grip on his wrist slackens, enough that he can worm his way out of it, if he wanted to. Shinichi doesn't. Instead, he waits, watching to see if Vermouth offers any hints as to what she's thinking.

"I wanted to catch your attention," Vermouth says. A pause and then: "Well, maybe it is a little cruel to show you an angel when you've been stuck in hell so long. I've been waiting a while to talk to you, silver bullet, so I'll change. How about we both adapt our disguises and sit down in that café over there?"

Shinichi pulls a face. He says, "I'm kind of done with cafés today. How about you drop the disguise and we just… walk."

Now, Vermouth lets go of his arm. She says, "It seems we both have a train to catch anyway, so we'll be going in the same direction."

Suzuki Sonoko slams open the door with a burst of sound not unlike cannon fire. Her hair – falling just above her breasts – was pulled back into a ponytail, and it swishes as she throws herself forward, pale as she takes in her guests.

"Hey Sonoko," Ran says, feeling woozy on her feet. Beside her, Saguru looks just as pale, like he needs to sit down. She really hopes he hasn't lost too much blood, because a hospital doesn't really seem like something she wants to do, not right now.

"Ran," Sonoko says, rushing forwards. Her hands wrap around Ran's wrists, her eyebrows furrowing as she looks her up and down. If there's any residual glass on her – and Ran bets there is – Sonoko doesn't show any signs that she can see it. "You're soaking, you must be freezing."

Ran offers a wobbly smile. She says, "we came around the back, so no one would see us–"

"I rerouted the camera feed for you," Sonoko says, waving them inside. "This is about Shinichi-kun isn't it? You started looking into his case and stumbled across something big."

She says it with such certainty that Ran can't find it in her to deny the words. There are only two people in the world who she understands better than she understands herself, and that's Sonoko and Shinichi. The premise, she knows, goes both ways.

Lying to Sonoko is impossible, her friend will figure her out within seconds.

"Yes," she breathes after a second, as they take off their shoes, replacing them with slippers, "yes, we found something and it's–"

Sonoko leads them into a small sitting room – not one that Ran has ever been in before, the Suzuki estate is larger than she can comprehend – and waves for them to sit on a couch. There's a plastic sheet draped over it.

"How do you know how to reroute the camera feed?" Ran asks, finally registering Sonoko's words. She watches as Sonoko raises an eyebrow, turning back to grab the first aid kit she'd been warned to bring with her.

"I'm no genius in Math or Japanese like you and Shinichi-kun are," Sonoko says, "but I am good with computer sciences, and I'm pretty good at sneaking out. You just tend to pick things up, I suppose."

Ran doesn't… really have a response to that.

"Anyway," Sonoko says, "catch me up Ran. And you," – she juts her finger out at Saguru – "you're injured. Shirt off, show me."

Saguru pulls a face, but ultimately does as she says, ridding himself of his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt. Without any fabric covering him up, it's easier to see the where the bullet grazed him, and Ran holds her breath.

"Does it hurt," Ran says, and receives a nod. "I'm sorry. I should have–"

Sonoko opens the first aid kit, takes a moment to look at the contents and says, "This is what happens when a bullet grazes someone. Why, exactly, are we being shot?"

Saguru purses his lips, lets out a small groan as Sonoko pulls on a pair of gloves, and grabs a pair of tweezers from the first aid kit. He mutters, "how'd you gather it was from a bullet?"

The stare Sonoko gives him, is quite possibly the blandest look Ran has ever seen her friend give anyone. She says, "I grew up with Shinichi-kun, you think I don't know what bullet wounds look like? It took him a while to realise to keep his nerdy detective stuff to himself."

Ran has to stop the giggle that rises in her throat as she watches Saguru raise his eyebrows, mouthing a small 'o' as he realises. And then, as he lets out a small hiss, the laughter dies in her throat.

"Is there anything we can give him?" Ran asks. "Any painkillers or…?"

Sonoko shakes her head, mutters something about the medicine cabinet being kept in the main house, not the extension that they're currently in. Going would mean having people ask questions.

"Which we don't want, exactly," Ran says.

Sonoko nods, leans forward before stopping herself. She puts the tweezers down before she can even use them and says, "We don't want people knowing if they're only going to go on and tell other people. But… we do need a doctor, you need more treatment than what I can give with a first aid kit, I think."

Saguru shakes his head no, and then, promptly, passes out.

"They'll be bound by confidentiality, he won't go telling anyone." Sonoko pauses. "I'll go phone the doctor."

Vermouth returns to the street with a new disguise, someone less recognisable. The wig depicting brown hair has been cut into a bob, the mask adjusted so that instead of looking like someone in their late teens, she looks instead like a woman in her late twenties.

"What did you mean," Shinichi says, as they fall into step, making their way through the crowd. "when you said I wasn't going towards your plan."

She looks as if she wants to lift a finger to her lips and claim her secrets make her a woman, but instead, Vermouth shrugs. She says, "Well, I suppose since now you'd sooner be shot than arrested, there's no fault in knowing the truth."

The words are flippant, as if they don't matter, but there is a strangeness to the way Vermouth words them, something that leaves him curious. The truth – well, Shinichi hasn't thought he'd get much of it in a very long time.

"Do you remember the final warning I gave you when we last met?" Vermouth raises an eyebrow at him when he remains quiet, lets the words roll on her tongue as she adds, "Well, it was almost two years ago, it's difficult to remember that far back, it seems."

"I remember."

"Then you remember that I said, my organisation was looking into you," Vermouth says. "And that they would kill you if you let them know who you were."

It had been a few weeks before the first murder, before everything had started to go downhill. Shinichi's nod is small.

"They found me," Shinichi says. "Which is why I'm in the situation I'm in now."

Vermouth rolls her eyes, pushes through the crowd and they turn into an alley, something she mentions is a small shortcut. Paranoia rises through him, but there's little he can do. If this is a trap, then Vermouth has orchestrated it so he can't exactly run.

She could out him as a runaway criminal, and both of them know it. Or, she could lead him into a trap where he'll be killed. Why hadn't she done that from the very beginning?

"In a way," Vermouth says. "They wanted to shoot you, but I convinced them that other options were much more efficient."

Heat rises in Shinichi's cheeks. For a moment, he wants to shout, to yell about how he'd much rather have taken a bullet to the head rather than live with the knowledge for over a year and a half that he would hang.

He swallows down the heat and forces himself to cool down. Even still, when he speaks, there's a bite to his tone, "So I've heard."

"You weren't meant to escape the prison," Vermouth says. Which is, well, alright, that's pretty obvious. The organisation hadn't planned for him to live, so this goes against her plans.

"Obviously not," Shinichi says. "I was supposed to hang."

He can feel the noose around his neck. Can feel himself having to balance so he doesn't trip against the stool around him. Not that there'd even be a stool – Shinichi knows how they do hangings. A noose and a floor that opens up. Instead of falling, he was supposed to swing.

"Not quite," Vermouth answers. He glances up at her, frowning, suspicious. "I peddled favour with the judge, so you would hang the day you were old enough to be punished. No rehabilitation, just a quick death."

"I'm sure you thought that was a kindness." Shinichi's throat is dry, and as such, his words come out brittle enough that they cut into the woman beside him.

"If you want answers so much, silver bullet," Vermouth continues, chiding now. As if she is his superior and not the woman responsible for his imprisonment and sending him to be hung. "Then you will listen rather than throw accusations at me."

He supposes it's fine. Shinichi shrugs his shoulders, purses his lips and decides that no further comments will be important for him.

"The plan was that to the world, you would hang. An execution behind closed doors," Vermouth says. "Kudo Shinichi would die, but the silver bullet would be smuggled out of the prison, swapped with someone already dead."

For a moment, Shinichi forgets to breathe. Carbon dioxide collects in his lungs in the place of oxygen until his lungs are screaming at him. Time feels like it's slowing down, and he feels like maybe he's close to breaking down. He lifts his hands up.

They shake around his throat.

Then he breathes.

"You murdered seven people, framed me for it, and made me go through – through hell – just so you could… fake my death?"

Even knowing the truth, the noose remains. Maybe he's escaped one death, but there's always another. More waiting for him, more people to be wary of.

Vermouth doesn't respond. Perhaps because she knows confirming this will do little good. She'd wanted to help, and she had, in a fucked up, criminal way. She'd saved him from dying, she'd saved his life from an organisation that had wanted him dead.

She'd found a way.

But Vermouth had never told him. She'd never asked him whether this was what he'd wanted, whether he'd prefer living hopeless for months, choking and trying to remember what happiness feels like, over dying. Dying, maybe, but dying happy and a little paranoid, but able to breathe.

He pauses in the street, turns to look at her. He says, "They were innocent."

Vermouth's lips tighten. She says, "They were going to be killed anyway. They were members of the organisation, deserters."

A bitter laugh rises from Shinichi's throat. He says, "As if that makes it any better? They were killed slowly, their blood – they were… they were tortured to make the case seem like something I'd done."

They would have had quick deaths, Shinichi's certain, if not for him. He lets the realisation stir, blinks and tries to push it down. Not now, he'll deal with his own reactions later, but for now.

Now, Vermouth is here and he's going to get answers.

"So, what?" Shinichi continues, "You swap me out and what? I live my life pretending to be someone else, hiding from your organisation so they think I'm not around anymore?"

"No," Vermouth is flippant. "You look into the clues I left you."

What clues?

But of course, Shinichi already knows. The pictures of the bodies, only the killer and he should have ever seen them. The link to the alcohol company – and the fact of her codename. It hadn't been someone goading 'here, I dare you to find me', it had been 'this is where you need to start looking'.

"Right, the clues."

"Yes," Vermouth continues. "I'd thought you'd be smart and keep people from getting involved in the searches, but apparently not. You let those two wander into danger, and now, I'm not sure if they're going to live."

Shinichi's head whips around so quickly, he's not entirely sure he hasn't pulled a muscle. He whispers, "what is that supposed to mean?"

"I keep watch of some of the more physical clues I leave," Vermouth says, "through a video feed, to make sure none of the organisation go removing things. They went investigating and overlooked Chianti."

Shinichi shudders, "…Chianti?"

"The sniper who's been stationed across the street."

He shivers. Who could it be – Hattori and Kazuha, no doubt. They're the only one with access to Vermouth's clues. And Hattori is surely foolish enough to investigate without him if it would mean furthering their case so–

Shinichi needs to make sure they're okay. He needs to– he needs–

"It seems we're here," Vermouth says, finally. When he looks up, the train station is bursting with energy. Shinichi is surprised that he managed to overlook it so completely, overwhelmed by the crowds surrounding him.

For a moment, he'd thought he was completely alone. Perhaps that hasn't changed much, if Vermouth is telling the truth then, he truly is…

"Yes." Shinichi hums. "It seems we are."

"Then, I'm sorry to cut this short, silver bullet, but I have a train to catch."

Shinichi nods. He watches her blend into the crowd, just another passenger and then, very slowly, pulls his phone out from his pocket. He almost doesn't want to call.

But still, he presses 'dial'

The burner phone bursts to life with a sudden ferocity that it makes both Kazuha and Heiji jump.

From where he's sat at Kazuha's desk, looking over the list they've transcribed, Heiji turns. Kazuha's already up, halfway across the room. He watches, forced into silence as she scoops the phone out of her desk, putting it to her ear and answering the call button.

She also presses speakerphone, which Heiji supposes is alright, seeing at they both need to have this conversation with Kudo, and Kazuha's mother had called upstairs saying she'd be popping out to go buy groceries.

Still, they don't respond first. They'd decided on a system. Anyone could grab hold of the phone, and if they did, well, they could phone the only number. Their only rule had been – the one who phones, speaks first.

"Tell me you guys are okay," Kudo's voice breaks on the first words, a mixture of paranoia and terror, croaking as if the words won't form properly on his tongue. His voice sounds dry, as if he's been swallowing down air rather than inhaling it.

"Kudo–" Heiji starts, only for Kazuha to shake her head at him. Her lips are pursed, as if she's trying to figure out what's going on for herself.

"We're fine, Shinichi," She whispers. Her voice is soft, a soothing whisper which makes Heiji think that she is an angel, sometimes, when she isn't being such a pain in the neck or arguing with him. "Heiji an' I, we're okay."

Kudo heaves out a shuddered sigh on the other side of the phone. He says, "If you guys are lying to me–"

"We're fine," Kazuha presses. She places the phone on the desk, nudges Heiji so he'll shuffle, offering her half of the chair. He swivels it in her direction and complies this once rather than complain that there's a bed literally three-feet away. "Why wouldn't we be fine?"

"Found a lead," Kudo breathes, and it seems almost like he's both calming down and getting more agitated at the same time. "You found a lead, right?"

How could he have known that?

"Yeah–" Heiji says, frowning. He trusts in Kudo's skills as a detective, but he's ever been omnipotent, capable of making leaps without the evidence in front of him. So, where's the worry coming from? What has he heard? "How'd ya know abou' that'?"

They can't hear him completely, when Kudo next responds. All Heiji really captures is the word 'dying' and 'shot'.

Kazuha, more experienced in dealing with emotions than he is, puts it together a lot quicker. Heiji's wondering who's been shot, and Kazuha seems to hear the question rather than the statement.

"Neither of us have been shot, Shinichi," Kazuha says. "I promise, we're fine. We found a lead, but we didn't wanna pursue it til we next talked to ya."

"We know this is a dangerous case, Kudo," Heiji adds, "we ain't gonna go investigating without letting ya know and decide whether ya want in on it, okay?"

Kudo's silent on the other side of the phone. Then, slightly horrified: "Kaito and Nakamori-san."

"Shinichi?"

"It must have been them…" Kudo mutters, "she must have meant them."

Heiji wants to ask who, opens his mouth to ask, but Kudo speaks again before the words can even form against his tongue.

"I'll explain later. I'm – I'm on my way back now. If you can get out, I'll be back just past midnight. I'll explain then."

He doesn't give them time to explain. The call goes dead, the phone screen going black as he hangs up. Heiji stares at Kazuha, gives her a look that he hopes translates into 'what the hell just happened' and realises that the question reflects back from her.

"Do you think you'll be able to sneak out without your parents noticing?" Kazuha asks after a moment. She's gone pale, and Heiji assumes he looks just as stunned. Neither of them had been expecting any more talks of shootings and death.

Heiji doesn't want to think about it. About the possibility.

"No," Heiji says. "My old man's notices every tiny detail."

"But we're going to go anyway, right?" Kazuha says. He dips his head in response, a silent yes. They can't leave this until tomorrow, not if Kudo had been so panicked.

Heiji will just have to figure out some red herrings to leave for his father, to make him think that Heiji is out doing something other than aiding an alleged serial killer.

Ran is pretty sure the doctor is going to get a speeding ticket, because Sonoko leads him in to the room not even ten minutes later, pointing towards Saguru and explaining about his injury.

Not knowing what to do, Ran remains still, waiting for the verdict.

"Do you think you can help him?" Sonoko says, as the doctor assesses him. He's a tall man, wearing a white overcoat and with wiry, black glasses framing his face. There's no name badge though, and Ran can't help but feel uneasy.

"It doesn't look like the bullet skimmed anything important," the doctor says, quietly. He leans down, taking a closer look at the wound. "I think this is just a task of cleaning the wound and applying stitches."

A small smile. Ran feels relief spread through her as well, mutters, "thank you."

"I'll prescribe some painkillers," the doctor continues, "and some antibiotics for preventative measures. Then it's just a matter of monitoring him."

He turns to Ran, offers a smile – reassuring, a sedative prescribed to those around him in the form of expression – and says, "it could have been a lot worse."

Sonoko nods. She says, "we'll leave him to you, Araide-sensei. Ran, come with me."

Ran, not wanting to leave Saguru behind, offers a quick glance towards Sonoko and shakes her head. She receives a stern expression in response, tight lips and hands on hips, and realises that while she is stubborn, she has never been as stubborn as her best friend.

"You need to get out of those clothes," Sonoko says, "and warm up, you're shivering. And that glass, I'll help you get rid of it. Let's go have a bath, okay?"

Ran relents. She grabs her bag and follows after her friend.

The author really appreciates comments.