Alright, what can I say, Mouri Ran is one of my favorite characters, and we don't see enough of what she thinks and feels. So...that's where this comes in. Don't get me wrong, I love Shin'ichi and Heiji too, but...
Because I'm lazy, Shin'ichi = Shinichi.
Anyway, the title means "Please don't leave me by myself..." and is actually a quote from Volume 23. Also, it's all from Ran's point of view, in case you were wondering. The story begins at the end of File 6 in Volume 33. (That's at the end of the "Bloody Valentine" story arc.) Enjoy!
Chapter One
by Laura Hoak-Kagey
As Ran stared at the carefully wrapped box containing her homemade chocolate, tears fell from her eyes. She had told herself so many times not to let it bother her. She needed to be strong, just like everyone kept telling her she was. Where were the tears coming from?
[Stop it, Ran. Don't cry. He's busy, and you know it. You've been influenced by detectives almost your whole life. There are things you just can't change...]
Yet, the tears continued to fall. Ran wiped the tears off her face, and try to calm herself down. Shinichi was busy, and even if his excuses seemed a little farfetched, well, what could she do? Everytime she tried to bring the topic up, he would abruptly change the subject. Maybe solving cases and becoming famous were more important than her.
Ran sighed. She had pondered these thoughts so many times, and the result was always the same; she was left with no answer at all. Exhausted from crying, Ran lay down and stretched out on the couch in her father's office. She closed her eyes, and within minutes was fast asleep.
@>-;---
"Please don't leave me by myself..."
"No! I don't want to hear it...I don't want to hear another excuse..."
"He said someday, somehow, even if it kills him, he'll return. Until then, he said he wants you to wait for him..."
"Shinichi...when it comes to me..."
"Yeah, you're a big fool, just like me. It's hard but, it's like something felt so right then..."
::Shinichi was pressing his forehead against hers, checking for a fever, causing her to blush.::
[Sonoko...I couldn't write his name...because I won't be able to tell his feelings if I did give it to him...Really...even though I used to be glad I was strong about all of this...]
Ran felt as if she was floating. There were flashes of memories that kept passing in front of her face, just as if they were TV screens broadcasting events from her past. Not just any memories, but all of the memories had to do with Shinichi...
"Where am I?" Ran said to herself, as the re-enacted memories vanished from sight. Where ever she was, it was definitely not a place she had been before. The sky above her was filled with stars, and when she looked below her feet, a grass field materialized out of nowhere. It was a situation Ran had only imagined to happen in stories. Those kind of things just didn't happen in real life.
Setting her feet on the ground, Ran took a better look around her. The field of grass reached beyond her field of vision, and seemed to be the only thing, besides the stars, that painted the setting around her. No matter which way she looked, there was only grass. Then, in the same manner as the ground had appeared before, to her left two roses appeared.
Ran crouched down to get a better look at the them. One was a silvery white while the other was a deep, dark red. Out of curiousity, Ran went to touch the flowers, but the instant her fingers came in contact with the petals, a bright light exploded from them.
After having been thrown back by an invisible force, Ran opened her eyes. Her jaw dropped and she sat gaping at what lay before her eyes.
Two women stood before her. One was dressed in a simple, spagetti strap red dress with an empire waist, while the other woman was wearing the exact same dress except that the color was white.
"Wh-who are you?" Even though their faces seemed familiar somehow, Ran couldn't recall having met these two ladies before.
The lady in the silvery white dress spoke in a gentle yet content voice. "Ran, we've come to help you. We know what kind of problems you've been trying to deal with by yourself."
Next, the lady in the crimson red dress took her turn to speak in a somewhat sad sounding voice. "About Shinichi...you must believe this when I say that we are you, from two different futures."
Ran didn't believe her ears. She managed to stand up again before giving her reply. "M-me? Two futures? What...? Is this some kind of strange joke?"
Giving Ran a gentle smile, the white-dressed woman answered her question. "No, this isn't a joke. We can prove it to you too. These last few days, you've been thinking a lot about Shinichi."
As if they were the same person, the red-dressed woman continued the explanation. "And not the usual thoughts and fantasies about him either. You've been considering if you should move on with your feelings or not."
"You're a sensitive person, and you need someone near you. Right now, Shinichi isn't able to do this."
"And he hasn't even mentioned how he feels about you, which makes you wonder even more. Especially since you've given him all kinds of hints about your feelings, but anytime you try to turn the conversation towards his feelings to you, something always suddenly comes up."
And then together the pair said, "Right?"
Ran had shut her mouth, but she was still staring blankly at the two women. "How do you know that? I haven't even told Sonoko about this, or Kazuha."
The pair sighed in unison.
"It's as we said, we are you."
"And if you believe that, we're here to show what could happen. There are two roads to choose from, and we represent both of those futures."
Ran interrupted their offer by waving her hands in front of her in disbelief. "Wait, wait. Isn't there some rule against all of this? Knowing your future and things like that? This has to be a dream..."
The silvery, older Ran spoke. "You're right, this is a dream. But, since we could only help you this way, we had to come to you in your dream."
"We'll only ask you one more time. Do you want our help? If not, we won't bother trying to convince you any more."
Ran stood there, thinking. If they were right, and they were her future selves...it couldn't hurt to see what the two futures held. They had been right about her trying to decide what to do about Shinichi. Maybe seeing the futures could help her sort things out.
"Well, I'm not saying I completely believe you, but yes, I'll take your offer of help. What'll we do from here?"
"That's completely up to you, dear." The silvery woman offered her hand in front of her as she said, "Do you want to see your future if you wait?"
It was the crimson woman's turn to offer her hand. "Or if you don't wait?"
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Finding the quotes took the longest...all of Ran's "memories" are taken from the manga. :)
Anyway, this turned into a chapter fanfic. Originally I had planned to write a short fic...now I have to write this and my Inuyasha fanfic at the same time...sigh, good thing I like writing, eh?
As always, comments are appreciated. :) And bear with my grammar...my English grammar has gone downhill this last year in Japan...Bye!
July 2001