Summary: In which Heiji confronts a tail, and Saguru refuses to leave the precinct without the full case notes in his possession.

A/N: 2020 has been a year you guys. I'm not even going to try to explain everything that's added to this taking forever. Just, it's here now. With everything going on in the world, I sincerely hope you're ALL staying safe.

Someone is following him.

Nervousness fills him as he moves, because someone is following him and trying to figure out which of the three are his suspect is difficult. Either paranoia is filling him up, swelling in his stomach like a sickness – something he'll feel stupid about later – or they've slipped up somehow and revealed themselves.

Except, Heiji isn't so sure what's been done to five themselves away. If it's anything then… it must be the website, right?

They'd clicked into it and set off some sort of… alert?

Heiji shudders. What kind of organisation are they working with, if even looking on a website can tip them off?

Moving forwards, Heiji turns, cuts a corner nearer to his house. If it were a normal day, he'd head left and down the road to his own house. Instead, he turns right.

As he turns, he takes a moment to glance over his shoulder to the three still following behind him. The pair of teenagers follow behind too. The businessman, however, keeps walking straight.

Heiji shudders.

He watches from the corner of his eye as the businessman keeps moving, walking straight, swinging his briefcase until the wall between them obscures all vision of him.

"Oh, fuck me…" Heiji mutters under his breath. His heart feels like it's going to burst from his chest. And he's still got two more following him to worry about. He wonders if this is how Kudo has felt the entire time, since he'd been free but not, how he feels knowing that everyone he walks past could be after him,

If this is the way his paranoia feels, Heiji wonders how Kudo can even sleep at all. He feels faintly, like he'll never sleep again. He turns right, into another side street that's more obscured from view, brows furrowing as he walks.

Perhaps he's setting himself up as he starts heading to this route, but it's the only way to know for certain, if he's being followed. The side street leads to a dead end – unless they know, like Heiji does, that there's a small hole in one of the neighbourhood fences.

An unknown detail, Heiji knows, unless you've spent the entirety of your childhood looking for lost pets and learning the neighbourhood down to even the smallest rock.

They follow. Heiji tenses.

His gaze sweeps around for something that could be used to protect himself. Something long, something that could resemble a bokken. He's trained for years at kendo, so even if something happens here, he can at least try to protect himself.

He untenses himself from panicked into a different sort of tension. Readying himself on adrenaline for a fight. There are some old construction materials here, a plank of wood that he heads towards. Covertly, of course, so as not to raise suspicion–

"Hattori."

Heiji jumps, pivoting as he does to look at the two girls. And oh, for fucks sake. The voice is familiar…

"Are th' two of ya completely insane?" He hisses to the disguised selves of Kuroba and Nakamori Aoko. "Ya don't jus' sneak up on a guy like tha'."

It's difficult to consider what exactly they're supposed to do next.

Ran follows after Saguru, waits for him to quit moving as they leave the department behind. That was a bust, she supposes, but they'll find another way around things. They just need to figure out a… way to do that.

"We need the case files," Saguru says, when they're outside of the offices, leading Ran into a small alcove, pausing as he glances up and down the corridor. "We're not going to be able to find Kudo-kun without them."

Pressing her lips together, Ran glances away. She's not sure how they're supposed to get them if they've been taken off the case, if they don't have the access to them anymore. There's no way, it seems almost as if it's… out of their hands now. They'll just have to use the information they've got on hand to figure things out.

"They won't give them to us." Ran says. "You know that."

Saguru pauses, nods. Taking a moment to think, he's entirely quiet, until:

"We need to take them."

"We can't!" Ran is uncertain if it's fear, or nervousness that leads to her moving forward, tugging on his sleeve so he's properly looking at her. There's a… there should be a limit, shouldn't there? "Inspector Nakamori already said–"

"The inspector is still reeling from his daughter choosing KID over him," Saguru says. His brows furrow, a frown flashing across his features. "Which… should have been expected, honestly. Even as KID, Kuroba showed her more attention."

He pauses, glances away again for the moment.

"They're…" Saguru sighs. "They're both in danger. Kudo-kun's case… they're a part of it now too. More of my friends are in danger, and I… We need those files because we need to find them, to give them the evidence we found."

Ran falters, feels her shoulders drop.

"I don't want them to get hurt anymore than they already have," Saguru continues. "If we can help them by breaking a few rules, then shouldn't we?"

"It shouldn't work like that," Ran says, although she knows like each other time he's made a point like this, she'll cave.

"But it does," Saguru says. "Come on, all I need is an open terminal."

Ran sighs. And then, she nods her head. "I think there was one just around the corner."

"Let's go then." Saguru says, leading the way. Ran follows behind him. "Something tells me we don't have much time."

Kazuha arrives to the shrine with a feeling of trepidation curdling in her stomach, acid rising up her throat. She shouldn't have left Heiji, she should have stayed, but he's always been stubborn and she understands why he told her to go. She just…

Sometimes she wishes she'd never gotten involved. That she'd been smarter before all this, when Heiji had started going on his weekend trips from Osaka to catch on that they were to visit Shinichi. Then, maybe she wouldn't need to be so worried about Heiji.

She can't change it thought, can't go back and so instead, she hides her motorbike among overgrown plant life, focuses on sweeping away as much evidence of her being here as possible.

Shinichi doesn't come out to see if it's her, and Kazuha wouldn't expect him too. Instead, she focuses on getting this done as quickly as she can while still being efficient, before heading up towards the shrine.

It always makes her sad to think about how this place was vibrant once. Without weeds and ivy growing up along the side of the building, nettles interweaving the wooden staircase up into the building, almost as if trying to devour the place.

People used to pray here, but she doesn't know for what. She wonders if they should start praying for safety. She closes her eyes at the door and prays, in particular, for the omamori she'd gifted Heiji with when they were children, to keep him safe.

If he needs that.

She really hopes he doesn't.

Her prayer finished, she steps inside, and goes in search for Shinichi. He's not in the reception area, but she finds him further inside, in on of the side rooms they'd set up for a sleeping area.

"Shinichi-kun?"

She can't keep the alarm from her voice. Shinichi sits, his knees up to his chest, nose pressed against the fabric of his jeans, hands brought up into his hair. His breath comes in sharp inhales, and she can see from the way that he's shaking, that it's panic.

Kazuha steps inside.

"I'm comin' in," Kazuha says, as she comes closer. She gets a small noise, affirming, but not much else. Not that she'd expect more from him, not that she'd want to hear gasping words. "I'm gonna sit next to ya, okay?"

A staggered nod – Kazuha takes it as permission, and sits, her back pressed against the wall, own arms holding her legs as she takes a moment to consider the best way to help.

Panic attacks aren't a stranger to her, haven't been since she was a child. Hands gripped around the edges of her blankets, around teddy bears and Heiji, her knuckles going white from the tightness of it all.

All it had taken was her father getting injured in a confrontation with a suspect at work, and she'd been terrified for him each day when he'd gone to work. The way it had felt difficult to breathe…

"Breathe in with me Shinichi," she says, keeping her voice low, trying to make her words softer, less of the usual harshness in her accent. "I'm gonna count from five and you breathe in, okay?"

Shinichi nods.

Kazuha counts – this is the point where she usually shuts her eyes, but she can't. She keeps her gaze on Shinichi, monitoring, trying to make sure he's okay. Instead, she soothes herself by counting things designed to soothe herself.

"Five."

Kazuha is safe, somewhere that's unknown.

"Four."

Shinichi is also safe, even if his body is flooding with adrenaline, his breathing staggered and harsh.

"Three."

They're in a shrine that has almost become one with nature, on the brink of society and it feels like no one will ever find them here, like even if they let their guards down accidentally, it'd be alright.

"Two."

Heiji is saf–

"One."

Heiji is…

Now she does close her eyes. Focuses on counting and keeps to it. She doesn't want to think anymore, lest she join in with her own panic.

It must work, because eventually, Shinichi's breathing becomes less uneven, deeper. She can feel when he stops shaking, the way he slumps back slightly against the wall – not relaxed, but better.

"…It was her." Shinichi says. "Vermouth."

Kazuha frowns, trying to piece things together. Shinichi hasn't mentioned Vermouth before, not until yesterday, when he'd claimed she was Sharon Vineyard. She doesn't see where she fits into things.

"Vermouth," Shinichi continues, breath hitching. "She killed those people. I… spoke to her in Kyoto."

Kazuha's blood turns to slush, a mixture between horrified ice, and overwhelmingly hot rage, anger on Shinichi's behalf. To be stood in front of… to have to talk to the person responsible for everything he'd been blamed for…

"She…"

"We'd met before." His voice settles, miserable. "…Three times before. Although… now I know who she is… we've probably met more often than that…"

"An' she killed those people?" Kazuha asks, words soft.

"…Yes." Shinichi says. "Because of me."

"It's not your fault–"

"It is," Shinichi says. He turns to look at her now, miserable, like the world is weighing him down. He is Atlas, and Vermouth is the person who has placed the weight of the world down onto his shoulders. When he reaches his hand up to his neck, scratching, Kazuha leans forward and slowly takes his hand. "She did it for me."

"Did ya ask her to?"

"Of course not." His tone is vehement, horrified. "I would never–"

"Then it wasn't for you," Kazuha says, gently. "That's just an excuse. She's th' guilty one, not you."

"She did it," Shinichi says, shuddering, "so that the organisation would frame me, instead of killing me. I would've never… She'd have faked my death."

"That's still not your fault," Kazuha says. At his weak expression, she leans forward, hand on his shoulder. "It isn't."

"It feels like it is," Shinichi whispers. "If I'd backed off when she told me too…"

"Then more people would have died," Kazuha says, firmly. "You just wouldn't have known about it."

Shinichi sighs. He lifts his hands up to his neck, before pausing. "Where's Hattori?"

Saguru finds an abandoned computer terminal and Ran is instructed to keep watch.

"Just act like we're meant to be here," he says. "I've been down here often enough to be recognised – they won't second guess us."

Ran bites her lip.

She doesn't ask why this department is different to theft, why they won't kick them out. Instead, she trusts that Saguru isn't too tired, too injured to know what he's doing. Even if it feels like they're painting large targets on their backs, she trusts him.

He kept her safe, and she'll do the same for him. She makes the promise to herself. As her brain blocks out the generic noise of the precinct, her ears focusing on the way Saguru's fingers clack at the keyboard, she promises that she won't let anyone else get hurt for her sake again.

The silence is almost overbearing as her promise settles on her shoulders.

"We're going to need everything," Saguru mutters under his breath, and Ran is pretty sure that it's not an invitation for them to converse but simply a reminder to himself to be thorough.

Ran sighs.

"We don't need everything," she says, regardless of whether it was intended for her or not. "I've got some evidence at home for Shinichi's case–"

"I'm going to get everything, just in case," Saguru says, cutting her off. His voice is firm. "Or there might be things that they didn't necessarily give you. Like the video interviews, the transcripts. Everything regarding what happened with Kuroba and Aoko-san yesterday."

Another sigh.

"How long do you think this will take?" Ran asks, quietly.

"Hopefully," Saguru says, fingertips faltering at the computer, forehead crinkling into a frown. "…It doesn't extend into time that we don't have."

"Alright," Ran says, quietly. She doesn't mention how that's not an answer. "And we're what… we can't be printing all this off, can we?"

"I've got a USB stick; I'm going to copy them over." Saguru says. "The only issue is trying to make it so the system won't flag the fact I'm copying all of these files over."

Ran pauses.

"I don't think I want to ask how you know how to do all of this," she says, after a moment.

"Understandable," Saguru says.

Ran pulls her attention away from him, surveying the room instead. They've found an area outside of theft, so as to avoid Inspector Nakamori's attention, but it's still busy.

There's an influx of people moving in and out of the department. Some carrying case folders, others carrying mugs of coffee. Most monitors have the bright white LEDs of a case report being written up, although from this distance, it's impossible to read the writing on the screen.

She glances out around the room instead, mouth open partly, as she fiddles with her hands. Mostly, there's just an influx of police officers she's never met before. And then–

Short, bobbed hair.

And a butterfly tattoo.

Ran frowns. She doesn't know why she feels unsettled, but a coldness runs down her spine as she glances back to Saguru.

"Which department is this again?" She asks quietly.

"Organised crime," Saguru says offhandedly. He pauses for a moment, gaze flickering up to her. "Why?"

"I think our case might be being investigated in her too," Ran says quietly. "The waitress from yesterday, I think she'd have been called in as a witness, right?"

Saguru pauses.

"Oh," he says. "That's not good."

"We need to go before she notices us," Ran says.

"Else they'll link…" He trails off, body going tense. "Alright this might not be… the full files but it's enough. Give me one more minute."

Ran wants to refuse him.

A minute, she wants to say, feels like a lifetime when placed under pressure. It feels like an eternity stretched out into a large expanse of nothingness where an impending disaster is right on the horizon but all you can do is stand and watch as it moves in slow motion.

Ran wants to refuse him, to say they don't have a minute. But she doesn't.

Instead, she watches as Saguru pulls out a USB stick and inserts it into the computer, loading it up and mass copying over files. She keeps an eye on the waitress across the room, trying to remain subtle.

"Almost–" The computer works quickly enough, but for a moment, as her gaze flickers back to the screen, it seems as if the process will remain at 78% completion.

Ran glances back to the waitress and waits, her lips pressed together in a firm line.

"Done," Saguru says. "Let's go."

He yanks the USB from the drive, before logging off from the computer. Then, he pushes his chair out, lips pressed in a tight line.

"Let's go," Saguru says, as he pushes up, letting out a small hiss as he does. His pain relief must be wearing off.

Ran lets her attention remain on the waitress for one last second – she doesn't seem to have noticed her, is messaging on her phone – before focusing on the door.

"Let's never do anything like this again," Ran says weakly.

Saguru lets out a small laugh.

"For the record," Kuroba says as he focuses on Heiji, his voice pitched high in a melodic lilt, feminine and very much keeping up the disguise. "Walking straight up to you somewhere crowded would have been much more suspicious."

Nakamori nods beside him but remains quiet.

Heiji understands it, but his heart rate isn't getting the memo. The paranoia they've instilled in him has adrenaline rushing through his blood, has him waiting for the moment something bad occurs.

It doesn't. Heiji stays stood where he is, his fight-or-flight sense betraying him as two more associates on the run stand calmly in front of him.

They must be insane. Heiji officially rules that they're not sane. The pair of them are completely and utterly insane and it's only moderately terrifying.

"I get tha'," Heiji says after a moment, "but still."

"He does have a point," Nakamori says, nodding her head. "It doesn't help with all the paranoia. Especially on a case like Kudo-kun's."

Heiji's gaze flickers from Kuroba to Nakamori before settling back on the thief. His nervousness shifts into something hot, something boiling in his blood as a flood of anger rushes through him.

"You told her about the case?" He hisses.

"She broke me out of hospital," Kuroba says with a shrug. "Including police custody. I think Aoko deserves to know about the case."

"It's dangerous!" Heiji protests.

"I've gathered that," Nakamori says, dryly. "Since I was almost killed by a sniper."

Heiji glances between them both. The anger fizzles out slightly as he considers. "They were aiming at you and not KID?"

Nakamori shakes her head. "I doubt it was that."

"I gave Aoko my gas mask during the heist," Kaito says. "I needed her help with my escape plan – they must have been shooting for the mask. We reckon it'd have been easier to shoot at a mask through all the tear gas."

"All things we can explain fully," Nakamori says, crossing her arms, "in a group. We'd like you to take us to Kudo-kun, please."

Heiji looks between them both, before offering a small sigh. "…I don't have a spare bike, if ya can get one that you can follow me on withou' drawing attention to you, then I guess so."

"I'm very good at acquiring things without a trace," Kuroba says, a brightness to his tone. Beside him, Nakamori rolls her eyes, shaking her head, exasperated.

"Give us a few hours," Nakamori says, more calmly. She levels Heiji with an even look, determined, unwavering. "We'll find something."

Heiji's brows furrow slightly, before he nods. "Take the Hanshin expressway out of the city – route 13. Down th' Daini Keihan road there's a turnin' that leads to Katano, takes about half an hour – there's a small dirt path off the track, I'll meet ya there and we'll head out after tha'."

"It's almost four now…" Nakamori says, quietly, frowning.

"Eight p.m.," Kuroba says. "We'll be there for eight. Allow us half an hour past that and if we're not there by then, we'll contact you if we can."

Well… that sounds ominous.

Still, Heiji nods. "…Alrigh', I'll let them know."

The phone call interrupts them both, saving Kazuha from answering with whatever half-hearted, scrambled excuse she could think up. She's glad, really for two reasons.

The first, obviously, because of the relief that floods through her seeing Heiji's caller I.D. pop up on her phone screen, the image of him frowning down at her when they'd been studying together for their midterms before, telling her to get off her phone.

The second reason being that she doesn't need to come up with a lie. Kazuha's not bad at mistruths – not when the situation depends on it, at least – but lying to an ex-detective, to anyone with the skills to read people down to the faintest verbal tic?

Yeah, Kazuha doesn't fancy her chances.

"One moment," Kazuha says, as she presses answer. Shinichi raises an eyebrow at her, but otherwise remains quiet.

Kazuha waits.

"We were bein' followed," Heiji says by way of greeting, "but not by anyone tha' wants to kill us or anythin'."

"You do realise," Kazuha says after a moment, "that this isn't comforting if you don't offer me more information, right? You do know that?"

"Ahou," Heiji hisses, before continuing, "of course I know tha'. You just didn't let me finish. Let Kudo know Kuroba and his girlfriend are here, and he'll see them soon."

Kazuha pauses for a moment, processing. "What time will you get here?"

"About nine," Heiji says. "We'll have to leave 'em to get caught up, we can't stay tha' long."

Kazuha nods to herself. "Okay, I'll see if I can scrounge up some extra blankets for 'em."

"Later," Heiji says, as he hangs up.

Shinichi's watching her quietly as she puts her phone away, contemplating. The tension in his shoulders has eased slightly, the ram-rod straightness of his spine easing in, not quite a slouch but something more natural, comfier.

"They broke out of the hospital and headed straight to Hattori," he says.

"Seems like it."

There's a moment where Shinichi simply breathes, relaxed, before the previous tensions returns tenfold, his brows furrowing.

"What if they were followed?" He asks. "They came straight here, they're linking Hattori–"

"We're…" Kazuha can't deny that it's something worrying to consider, but she shakes her head. "They wouldn't risk something like that. They're on the run too."

It seems she's said the right thing, like Shinichi simply needed to be reminded, because he settles again without any further issue, offering a short nod.

"…Right," Shinichi says, quietly, voice mostly a whisper. "Right. You're right."

Kazuha pushes up from the floor. "They won't be here for a couple hours, so are you gonna help me search for some blankets, or what?"