Second Wind
By Ysabet
Chapter 7: Dangerous Playgrounds
It was a good place to watch from, the window-seat up on the landing. One could see in, one could see out; but, recessed as it was, one could not be seen. An excellent place to observe the world going by. The cars that passed on the road below, for instance, could be seen well enough to note their color and make without the least chance of discovery. The neighbors' yards were easily visible--- there was even a good view of the vacant Kudo residence (although it was notable that the yard was beginning to look a bit overgrown; the watcher tsked silently about that and made a note to take up the matter later. Neglect tended to be noticed.) The few passersby were mostly children of one age or another on their way home from school or out playing--- nobody worth concerning one's self about…..
…..save for one.
She entered the gate, small hands latching it neatly behind her with only the faintest of clangs. Quiet steps; the child moved quickly, diminutive feet near-silent in their tennishoes on the walk. The watcher approved of her movements, her lack of scampering, bouncing or randomness (so very unlike that of most children, which generally brought the antics of laboratory primates to mind). This child moved with grace.
The door on the first floor was unlocked; the watcher heard it squeak open, heard the light footsteps and shuffle as the girl changed from her outdoor footwear into a small pair of house-scuffs. That was the other advantage of the recessed window-seat: excellent placement in regards to sound, at least inside the house. And if the watcher were to lean the least bit forward, they could see down to the floor below…..
The small girl was looking around carefully, taking stock of her surroundings. Had she heard a sound? Where was Professor Agasa? Obvious trains of thought. But, reflected the watcher, she really did keep a rather good poker-face, didn't she? The heart-shaped countenance under the tangle of dark hair was perfectly young, perfectly innocent. How peculiar that innocence should come so easily to one and with such difficulty to another; for some, it seemed their lot in life lay among the guilty.
*Somehow,* Haibara Ai reflected with the faintest of smiles, *I don't think that I was ever made to be innocent.*
She slid from the widow-seat, moving forward silently to get a better view. Things were already proving interesting; how *fortunate* that she had decided to return home.
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Ran's steps fell softly on the tiles of the entranceway; she paused, glancing from side to side. What---- no; nothing. For a moment there she had thought….. but never mind. From the recesses of the house she could hear the sputter and hiss of a welding torch, which told her that the Professor was back in one of his workrooms; God alone knew what he was in the middle of now, and even He probably wasn't certain.
Hmmm… maybe a little something to eat while she waited for Shinichi? The transformed young woman headed for the kitchen, thinking about sandwiches.
Half a sandwich and a leftover egg-roll later, she sat back at the small kitchen table with a sigh. One of the things Ran was finding hard going was her new form's appetite; she seemed to be almost constantly hungry. But she burned the calories right up--- no worries about gaining the least bit of weight, not for her, not for years. Now why, she reflected, can't that happen to a person when they're an adult and they care about how they look? It wasn't fair…..
Swinging her legs, she took a long drink of her soda and reflected that a lot of things had been proven to be 'not fair' lately; Mouri Ran was learning how to deal with that for herself--- it was when it affected others that she had problems.
Like Shinichi, for instance. She supposed it was sort of a combination of how she had felt about him before he had 'disappeared' and the protectiveness that she had developed for his Conan-self over the last twelve months; basically, it was easier to deal with her own personal discontentment than with his unhappiness, and this missing-child thing had him very unhappy.
And as for her happiness or lack thereof….. She felt oddly content--- almost guiltily so. Ran crunched on a bit of ice, considering. *Well, let's take a look at the current situation, shall we, Ran? You've exchanged the future you've been building for seventeen years for an uncertain and extended childhood; you've given up your education for a return to crayons and the Multiplication Tables; and you've surrendered your social life and the friendships of years in trade for a place among small, noisy little kids that you used to be capable of picking up with one hand.*
*And worst of all--- worst of all, you have TOTALLY blown any cover you had as regards to your feelings--- you can't claim that Shinichi's 'just a friend', or yell at Sonoko when she teases you for wearing something because you think he'll like it, or--- or anything like that. Nope; that's a lost cause. You said what you did, right in front of your parents and everybody, and you told them why, too.*
Ran leaned back in her chair, stretching; she clasped her hands behind her head and smiled a little to herself.
*You did it because you wanted to be with Shinichi. You did it because you wanted to be happy, and that was the only way, for you. And you're glad. Stupid, but glad. So I guess contentment's where you find it, ne? End of discussion.*
She chuckled, watching her own hands as they lifted the glass for another sip--- those hands were probably the hardest thing to get used to of all. *You know, people never think about their hands when they think of how they look… they think of faces, bodies, that sort of thing. But you don't see your face twenty-four hours a day; you do, however, tend to have your hands in view most of the time--- and when they change, it can really be off-setting. Just look at them--- skinny little wrists, bones like a bird's; fingers and palm long all out of proportion to the rest--- pointy elbows…..*
*And then there's the voice. Little kids have high voices--- when I heard mine for the first time, it sounded so strange. I kept feeling like I was squeaking! But it's okay, I suppose--- I'm getting used to that. Shinichi did, so I can too.*
*Of course….. there's the rest of it…..* Ran grimaced, brushing the crumbs off of her t-shirt and glancing downwards. That was the *other* thing she was having a hard time with--- after all, a young woman in her prime tended to get used to having a certain physical profile….. One came to expect it with the years. And suddenly, well, things had gone… downhill, so to speak.
*Oh well----- things change. And at least I know what to expect, this time around. And I'm still glad I did it.* There was a certain satisfaction to making your own choices, after all.
Sliding off the chair to land with a slight thump on the kitchen floor, she puttered around for a few minutes, cleaning up the minimal debris from her snack. Off in the distance, she could hear the sputter and occasional ZAP!! from the Professor's activities; Ran hoped there'd be no explosions this evening.
*I wonder how long it took Shinichi to get used to how high kitchen countertops are?* With a last swipe of a cloth, she tossed it to hang neatly over the faucet. *The footstool's helpful, but there's the cabinets. How does Ai--- oh, I see.* What looked like a simple nylon curtain-pull had been attached to the handles of the taller cabinets; a pull in the right direction brought them open easily. *Trust her to have made things… 'efficient'. I have the feeling that efficiency is high on her list of priorities.*
*She certainly dealt with me efficiently enough….. Of course, she could've slipped me the capsule in secret; she didn't, though. She let me choose. Granted, she manipulated me quite a bit there--- that little speech in the House of Mirrors was very clever. But I think she was telling the truth; she really did feel a bit guilty about our situation.*
*Why am I thinking about Ai so much right now, anyway? Because she's not here? Because-----*
*Oh. Because I did hear something when I came in the door. Because I do feel like somebody's watching me.* A slight prickly feeling shivered its way between her shoulder-blades. *Hmmmmmm…..*
Ran glanced casually across the kitchen; through the open doorway she could just see the foyer, with all its crooks and angles and half-visible corners. A moment's use of the footstool brought her two glasses; she opened the refrigerator. Without looking at the doorway Ran questioned the empty room: "Well, Ai-chan, would you prefer fruit juice or some ice-water?"
"A Diet Coke would be fine, actually," said Haibara Ai, leaning against the doorjamb.
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When he wandered up from the depths of his lab in search of a cool drink and a moment's break, the last thing that Professor Agasa expected was to find Ran-chan and Haibara in calm conversation at his kitchen table.
The portly scientist goggled at the sight for a moment; the two sat, half-full glasses at hand, looking at him with near-identical expressions of vague surprise. "Something wrong, Professor?" asked Ai, her usual cool expression sliding back with practice.
"Ahhhhhh, that is--- errm, no; welcome back." There was a somewhat uncomfortable pause. The grey-haired man's eyes tracked to Ran's face; she sat composedly, kicking at the rungs of her chair with small feet. At his worried look, her own dark eyes twinkled and she stifled a smile, shaking her head the very slightest bit.
Reassured, he glanced back at Ai. The small blonde scientist gazed blandly back. "What… did you expect a battle royal to break out between we two when we met again? Hardly; Mouri-chan and I have been discussing the situation quite like, ah, adults." She chuckled softly. Bushy grey eyebrows rose; with a shrug, Agasa poured himself his own glass of Diet Coke (a somewhat critical glance from Ai made his hand move hastily from the neck of the beer-bottle he had been originally reaching for) and took his own seat at the table…..
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All in all, their meeting had been very interesting--- almost enjoyable, in an odd sort of way.
"So….." the young blonde woman/child said, leaning against the doorjamb with her arms crossed and eyeing Ran curiously. "You did choose to take the capsule, after all. I thought you had." She accepted the glass, sipping at it.
Ran had nodded. "You expected me to, didn't you." It wasn't really a question. "You're very good at reading people's intentions and motivations, aren't you, Ai-chan?" If the scientist winced slightly at the diminutive attached to her name, it went unremarked upon.
"It's a survival skill; for those in our particular position, it's quite necessary. But I scarcely need to tell that to a detective's daughter, do I? Kudo uses it with great alacrity--- you'd do well to emulate him." Ran snorted slightly in agreement, taking a seat at the table.
Ai surveyed her for a long moment; one eyebrow raised. "I was present to see your meeting with Kudo and what looked to be the beginnings of your transformation, back at the amusement park--- but after that, I deemed it a good thing to leave the area for a while. All things considered, I rather expected….. less composure from you just now, Mouri-chan; we didn't exactly part on the best of terms, after all…" The ice clinked in her glass.
Ran took a sip, both small hands clasped around the tall container. The house had grown remarkably silent--- she assumed that the Professor had reached a stopping-point in his experiment (either that, or he had managed to create something that exploded quietly.) "I've had a little time to think about things, I suppose….. A person's perspective changes a bit when they're suddenly less than four feet tall." She offered the other girl a wry smile, which was faintly returned.
Ai slowly walked up to the table; sharp grey eyes examined every detail of Ran's appearance, checking proportions, skin tone, skull size, looking for any abnormalities. "Well," she said at last; "You seemed to have weathered the transformation admirably. Have you had many difficulties adjusting? I must say, you make a lovely little girl."
Ran laughed outright; the tension in the room eased perceptibly. "Thank you… I think! It's been--- well, it's had its moments….. but it's been interesting, I'll say that much." Her little-girl face softened slightly; "And I've had Shinichi to help me….."
"Yes." The satisfaction in the other girl's voice made Ran blink.
Now it was Mouri Ran's turn to glance towards Ai with curiosity in her eyes. "You sound--- well, almost happy about that. Why? Why should what happens between Shinichi and I matter to you at all?" Her voice was almost accusatory. "You made the drug that did this--" and she indicated her transformed state with a nod of her chin; "Does it bother you that much?"
There was a moment of silence then, a long, hard silence full of unsaid things.
At last Ai sighed, looking towards the doorway almost as if desiring an escape. When she spoke, her voice was distant, almost tired. "You would have to ask that, wouldn't you? Mouri-chan, I am not one to analyze my own feelings to any great extent; I haven't lived the kind of life that lends itself to emotion, and I suppose I'm out of practice. But….. yes; what happens between Kudo and yourself is important to me."
"You see….." She hesitated, almost groping for words; "…you see, for the last few years I've dealt with people who cared not in the least about the consequences for their actions. If a person was hurt, or their career ruined, or they lost their life--- the Black Organization operatives don't care about that sort of thing; it's their stock in trade. They never pay for what they do, they never have to balance any of their evil with good; why should they, when they can get away with murder--- literally?"
Now she drew a deep breath, her eyes still fixed on the distance. "But I'm not part of that any more; while I was working for them I could ignore the consequences of what I was doing--- and there were consequences; do you think that APTX-4869 was the only drug I ever made for them? But… while my sister was alive… I could pretend that her safety was the only thing that mattered." Ai's voice shook very, very faintly as she spoke the last sentence.
Her eyes dropped to where she was gripping her drink tightly. The scientist released it and flexed her small fingers, opening her narrow hands to the kitchen light as if asking for something: forgiveness? mercy? or maybe something a simple as truth?
"These hands….. Mayano Shiho's hands….. They did a lot of things that would have been better never done. At the time, those things seemed like a reasonable compromise between my sister's safety and my conscience. But now….. well. What's done is done, but--- Do you understand, Mouri-chan? I offered you the capsule because it was one of the few things I could do, to balance things out. And I must admit that it was done in my own self-interest, as well; after all, Kudo was clearly planning to tell you everything--- wasn't it better to second-guess him and tempt you with this choice? A sort of solution to some of your problems, all wrapped up in a nice, neat little pill." Her voice had an ironic sound to it now, less shaken, more in control. "Quite an efficient way of handling things, and with such an air of symmetry, don't you think?" Yes, definitely more in control.
"I am not--- very good with emotions; I'm learning, and I know enough to know that I have a great deal more to learn. But I can tell you this much, and I imagine that it's the only time you'll ever hear it from me: I do, in fact, regret what has happened to Kudo and to you--- not your current transformation, but the parting of two people that should never have been parted, young as they were. I can't help anyone else who was affected by the other things that I created in the past for the Black Organization, but I could help you two….. and so I did. And so I will."
She sipped at her drink. "But….. don't expect any great declarations of friendship or fellow-feeling from me, Mouri-chan; I doubt that I'm capable of it." Ai's voice was careful and controlled now, very calm.
Ran swallowed. She hadn't expected to hear half of what she had just heard; her experiences with the young scientist had, so far, been only from the perspective of an adult squiring around a remarkably quiet gradeschooler, just one of Conan's friends. Of course, that wasn't counting the House of Mirrors encounter….. Even so, to hear so much from the unchildlike child in front of her---
Carefully she reached out, touching the girl's arm with the faintest brush of fingers; Ai started slightly, turning somewhat weary grey eyes towards her. "Capable? Maybe, maybe not… maybe it's just a matter of practice, ne? And it's not important, anyway. What's done is done, just like you said; why don't we start off with that perspective? I did mention that mine had changed quite a lot, didn't I?"
She smiled briefly, scooting back a little in her chair and giving the smallest of bows. "Let me introduce myself: I'm Himitsu Rin, and I'm new here. And you are---?"
The other girl eyed her, and one corner of her mouth tugged upwards in a reluctant smile. "How….. practical. Very well. Haibara Ai." And she bowed back, her shoulders straightening a little.
"Pleased to meet you, Ai-chan….."
The other woman winced slightly, her eyes pained. "Must you call me 'Ai-chan'?"
Rin laughed.
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"Soooo…." rumbled the Professor, taking a long pull of his drink; "What's brought you back so early, then? I had, errr, thought that you intended to spend considerably more time… away…"
The blonde girl stretched her thin arms over her head, looking annoyed and rather tired. "Well, now; where shall I begin? Perhaps with the Honshu Seafood Festival? Or the First Annual Yokohama Beach Cleanup? Or the new Children's Safety Bill, passed just last week? Do you have any idea how many police are currently patrolling the shores of Japan, being kind and helpful and entirely too curious? There are more good Samaritans than I would've ever believed possible before--- oh, excellent people, I'm sure--- But I did not need help 'finding my parents', and I wasn't lost, and--- well. Perhaps you get the picture now?"
She rubbed at her eyes, closing them tightly; a crease formed between them as she sighed. "It's been a very long week or so….." said Haibara Ai. "I decided that it was best to return and fend off Kudo's wrath as best I could, rather than endure the kindly ministrations of one more policeman. I do believe I'm going to start twitching at the very sight of a uniform."
Ran stifled a laugh, picturing the situation as Ai continued to elaborate to the Professor. *She's not so bad, is she? Rather cold, I suppose, but from what Shinichi's told me it's not surprising. Speaking of which, I wonder what's keeping him?*
She cleared her throat, interrupting a rather annoyed description of an encounter with Beach Security. "Ummm, Professor? Has Shinichi stopped by here yet? He said he had a couple of errands to run, and then he was heading here… He mentioned that you needed to do some sort of tests, right?"
Agasa frowned, rubbing his moustache. "Right, right--- just standard measurements, nothing extreme. But no--- I haven't seen him yet; I'm sure he'll be along soon enough, though….."
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Dark; it was dark, and his head hurt, and he was cold----
Hazily Shinichi tried to think through the pounding that was beginning to shift into a steady drone of pain in and around his skull, like the whine of an engine, permeating every thought. *Hurts--- what the hell've you gotten yourself into now, Kudo? Dark---*
*and that smell-----*
The boy shifted, feeling his shoulders bump against the hard metal walls to either side. Cold metal, hemming him in tightly, too tightly, too tightly--- no, couldn't let himself give in to claustrophobia, not here, not now---- not to the nausea rising in his gut, either; throwing up would be intolerable in such close quarters, so----
He spent a long handful of moments (how long? Impossible to tell; his time-sense was totally screwed) muzzily attempting to sort his physical feelings from his mental ones; it was hard. The roiling unsteadiness seemed to seep through every inch of his limbs, leaving him limp and trembling and hardly able to think. *Concussion….. the brain gets bounced around inside the skull, resulting in….. I can't think. Bruises--- that's it. Everything's sort of numb and aching at the same time….. feel like my head's stuffed with cotton and the cotton has a hangover. And my throat--- he choked me, right, I remember that, it burns..… can't talk, can't call for help…*
He had to get out. He had to get out. He wasn't going to let himself end up like-----
*Oh God, Toshiro. I'm so sorry. I tried--- and it was too late already. But that just---- No way, that just can't be right. I saw him, I SAW him, hell, I talked to him several times--- how could I have seen him if he was already---??*
*And Ran saw him too, and Mitsuhiko and Ayumi and Genta. He was there.*
*I don't believe in-----*
*Don't think about it. Think about getting out.*
Sliding his palms up along the metal top of the box that surrounded him, Shinichi cradled his throbbing head in his hands; he could feel the stickiness of drying blood on either side. *I remember… I was trying to reach the door--- he must've kicked me right in the head, and I bounced off something. Shit, it hurts!!* His eyes watered, and he squeezed them tightly shut against the lights that seemed to come and go in painful bursts behind the lids.
He tried to remember what he could about the dangers of concussion; it was difficult. Sleep was the big danger--- you had to stay awake or at least have somebody wake you up every hour….. Of course, if he could get out he could find help-----
*Got to get out of here. Got to get out, got to get OUT-----*
Against a rising tide of panic that choked his bruised throat and made him hiss with pain, Shinichi explored his metal cell with shaky fingertips. Cold, unyielding metal sides; a drawer above him that shifted slightly (though not very much--- it seemed to be full of files) under the weak pressure that was all he could manage to exert. The backside of the locking mechanism, all sharp angles--- could you pick a lock from behind? Did he still have his lockpicks?
And behind everything, there was the stench of death…..
The dull pounding behind his eyes increased; this wasn't going to be easy.
*How long before somebody realizes I'm missing? Ran….. I told her to wait for me at Agasa's, she won't be expecting me for a little while--- shouldn't be too long, though--- Ah, GOD, my head hurts! So hard to think for more than a minute at a time. Ran….. Oh crap. OH crap. What if she comes looking for me and Ojiwa catches her?*
*What if he hurts her?*
*God, NO. Got to get out, got to get OUT OF HERE-----*
Panic won. Not for himself, not for his own life--- but the thought of Ran under a madman's hands was too much. Kudo Shinichi pounded on the unforgiving metal with fists and heels, fighting against the sides of his prison until the pain in his head grew too much and drew him down into a deeper darkness (which was only another sort of prison, after all)…..
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"Cranial radius, frontal: nineteen centimeters…… cranial radius, dorsal: sixteen-and-a-half. Hrrrrmmm….. step up on the scale, would you, Ran-chan?" The grey-haired scientist laid his calipers down on the table. Seated to one side of the room, Haibara Ai jotted down the last measurements on a clipboard.
"Weight: twenty-three kilos exactly….." He slid a marker up a notch; "Height: one hundred eighteen centimeters….. I'll need to take a blood sample now; will that be alright?" In answer she grimaced slightly, then rolled up her sleeve as she stepped down from the scale. "Ah, thank you….. here, hold tight to this." Taking a seat, Ran eyed the rubber Yaiba doll that she had been handed to squeeze with some bemusement; she raised an eyebrow at the Professor. He reddened slightly, muttering something about a 'souvenir'. Across the room, Ai's mouth twitched.
Ran winced slightly as the needle slid home; Agasa was careful, but it still stung. She watched in fascination as the first and then the second vial filled with dark, dark red; something about the color-----
--- something about the color made her feel ill; made her head hurt, her throat ache, made her feel weak and dizzy and---
"Ran? Ran-chan? Are you alright??" The concerned voice tore her from the momentary dizziness that had gripped her, from the strange coldness that had rippled through her for the barest of seconds. She shook her head, blinking hard. "F-fine….. I'm okay. I was just--- maybe just a little dizzy for a minute there. I'm fine." Ran looked up to see both scientists peering at her, one set of eyes a concerned, faded blue, the other set calm, clinical grey. She shivered, clasping a hand to her inner elbow as Agasa withdrew the needle; the cold dampness of an alcohol-soaked cottonball burned briefly against the tiny incision.
*What was THAT all about? I don't have any problems with blood being drawn--- do I? I mean, my body's changed and all that, but I've never had a problem before….. It wasn't even that I felt dizzy because of the blood loss--- two vials, what's that? Even for a child's body that's a tiny amount. No, something about the color--- I think.* She shook her head hard, shivering slightly again, then looked up to meet the Professor's worried gaze. "It's okay. What's next?"
"Next" involved more tests and measurements; as the minutes passed, Ran grew first a little impatient, then a little annoyed….. and then a little worried. No Shinichi. *What's keeping him, anyway? It's almost dark out. He may be an adult under the skin, but physically he's still a little boy--- and it is NOT a good idea to be out in the city after dark if you're that small, not by yourself, Great Detective or not.*
She glanced at the others in the room; the Professor was carefully adjusting the settings on what looked like a glorified blood-pressure machine, while Ai typed in data to the computer, small fingers flying. The young blonde scientist had slipped on her usual undersized lab-coat on (which, the adult Ran had some time ago decided, was terribly cute; apparently teddy-bears came in more than one shape) and had settled in to her usual place with a distinct air of satisfaction. "Prints?" she asked without glancing up from the keyboard. In answer, the Professor grunted, pulling out a pad of ink and a grid-marked sheet of paper.
Ran sighed internally; prints. Shinichi had taken them enough times as a kid for her to be very familiar with the proper way of rolling the fingers under pressure to create good prints; *Oh well….. at least this ink'll wash off.* She complied, marking the boxes carefully. It amused her to see what small smudges her fingers made---
*Nice and clear, as good as anything Shinichi ever took. And where IS he? I'm really starting to worry now…..*
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He was dreaming.
Some part of Shinichi's mind knew that, in a strange, detached sort of clarity. Some part of him stood off in the distance, watching:
….. he had to hurry, school was starting, Ran had gone on ahead; but the rain was slowing him down, staining his clothes and making the empty streets (why were they so empty? Was it a holiday and nobody had told him?) a morass of scarlet-black, slick and--- but he had to hurry anyway, dodging from overhang to overhang, shielding the child-sized backpack that he dangled from one hand because his shoulders were too broad to wear it at the moment, of course…..
*****Poor guy. Not one thing, not another. Lost.*****
….. just his mother, coming in to check on him, her lovely blonde hair falling over her forehead and catching the light in that way he had always loved. "Did you have a bad dream, Shin-chan? I heard you cry out." She knelt in front of his small-child's bed, tapping him on one cheekbone with a manicured finger. "Silly one, I'm right here-----"
*****But you weren't here, Mom; neither you nor Dad were. I miss you… Couldn't you have come home, for me? When I shrank? Couldn't you have been here for me then?*****
….. sweep of a flight of doves and the glint of an eye behind a mask of glass, dove-white clothing and always the laughter at the expense of stupidity and clumsiness--- the thief smiled down at him and winked once, then his smile faded into a poker-face and he nodded at the murderer's mark on the wall. "Well, Sherlock? It won't come clean for me; how about you? Want to try?" and he handed him half a gold sovereign (stolen, of course), but no matter what the stain just wouldn't come out…..
*****Yeah, I know. I know. Stupid of me not to have seen it earlier, but he was good company. I know now.*****
…..Ran. He could hear her on the other side of the broken emergency exit as he let the bomb schematics slide through his fingers and told her to choose. They had only seconds anyway and then it would all be over; he handed her his life, told her to pick a wire, any wire, he'd be there with her no matter what. And he waited for salvation or sudden death to come for them both…..
*****And I'm waiting now.*****
….. faint flash half-seen out of the corner of his eye, and something was coming down HARD on his head--- pain, exploding fireworks like a summer festival in the night behind his eyes, and then the dull crumple to the ground--- they were raising his head, shoving something small into his mouth and forcing liquid down his throat--- he swallowed reflexively, then felt himself dropped dizzy and aching again to the harsh grass: "Abayo, Detective." And the old life ended and the new life hadn't begun yet and he was being burned alive-----
*****And I'm burning now.*****
….. Toshiro? Where are you, Toshiro-kun? That thing in the box, that wasn't you, not the kid I spoke to. Maybe it used to be, but not anymore. Where are you, Toshiro-kun? Did somebody let you out of your box, or are you still trying to escape? The window in this room's too small. I can't get out either, but I don't want somebody to find me someday like that, not like that, not like that, not like that----- Toshiro, can you hear me? Toshiro, where are you?……..
*****Toshiro?*****
He was dreaming.
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And now it was dark out. Two phone calls home had produced no results other than a rather cranky Mouri-san and a slightly concerned Kisaki Eri. Ran's mother had tentatively suggested that she contact his school friends, but no; her daughter was fairly certain that Shinichi--- that is, Conan--- wouldn't attempt to bother three gradeschoolers that late. And what for, anyway?
No; she was quite sure at this point that he had gone off to do something on his own, something regarding the case.
*Shinichi, when I get my hands on you--- making me worry like this-----* For a little while, annoyance was a good antidote to concern; but only for a little while. And it was getting late.
The Professor had finished his tests; he had settled down to mull over the data, making the occasional 'hrrmph' noise under his moustache as he jotted notes in her file. Ai, on the other hand, had abandoned her computer for some sort of technical journal--- or so Ran thought, until she saw the way the blonde girl's eyes were staring past the pages towards the window. "You're worried too, aren't you?" she asked her quietly. "I would've thought you weren't exactly eager to talk to him at the moment….." She sat down opposite the young scientist, resting her elbows on the table and cupping her chin in her hands.
Ai shrugged noncommittally. "Oh, it won't be pretty--- he'll rage and throw a fit and so on, but in the end the choice was yours… and he knows it." She chuckled softly to herself. "In fact, that's half the problem; he has so little control over his situation that he hates to relinquish any of it."
Ran shot her an amused, somewhat pointed glance. "Sounds just a little familiar, though, doesn't it, Ai-chan? I believe the phrase is 'Takes one to know one'….."
Grey eyes narrowed, considering; then the lab-coated child gave a snort of amusement. "You're probably right." She turned back to her magazine.
Ran hung over the back of her seat, facing the window and fidgeting. Already the street-lights were on, and Tokyo's eternal neon-haze was beginning to show clearly above the buildings like an artificial Aurora Borealis.
*Shinichi--- where ARE you?!?*
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This time, waking was more like rising from a pool of dark, murky water; from blackness into blackness, from cold into cold….. It was a little while before he was sure he was actually awake.
*But I'm not dreaming now….* he thought dizzily, trying to stretch his cramped limbs. *At least, I don't think so….. Hard to think, though. Feels funny--- like something keeps getting in the way. Like wads of cotton in my head….. Guess that's the concussion.*
This was like… trying to read in the dark. Nothing wanted to work right, not his body, not his mind; nothing was cooperating. Shinichi's fingers brushed against the puffed and abraded skin of his throat; he coughed hoarsely, and felt his eyes water at the wire-thin pain that wreathed the movement in flames. *Ahhhhhh, that HURTS---- no way, nothing doing there. Can't call out.*
*…Can't do much of anything… Feel sick. Dizzy.*
Heart pounding in his temples, he tried to marshal his thoughts. His feet hurt, and his hands--- right; he had pounded them against the metal until unconsciousness had swallowed him up. *Unconsciousness sounds really good right now… at least my head doesn't hurt when I'm asleep. Sleep, that's a problem, I need to stay awake-----*
Like what he needed mattered at this point?
He had to keep calm. *But it's hard….. It's so dark and close in here, it's too small and I can't MOVE much and it feels like a coff---*
Shinichi cut that thought off right there. *Shut up, Kudo. Stop that now.*
He tried not to think about what he could smell, so close by-----
But the throbbing in his head was getting *worse*, MUCH worse….. he could feel sleep bearing down on him like a huge, smothering tidal wave----- *Stay awake, stay awake… stay awake… stay awake, dammit….. stay awake…..*
*stay awake*
*stay awake*
*stay*
....................
****************************************************************
Haibara Ai watched as the other girl shifted, turning to stare longingly at the window again for the third time in the last two minutes. She sighed mentally, trying to ignore the tiny niggle of worry that was beginning to tear the smallest of rips in her relief at being 'home' again.
*Home….. have I ever really had a home? Perhaps….. my home with my parents, I suppose---? but that ended too early, and truthfully it was never very comforting, was it? There was my sister's apartment, and my own; both were paid for and belonged to the Black Organization, just like us. No, I doubt that one could call either of them 'home'. Here, at Agasa-san's? I am welcome here--- I do believe the Professor was actually glad to see me. I suppose that this is the closest thing to 'home' that can exist, for me.*
*I've never had that before. Interesting.*
A clock somewhere in the house chimed the hour, and Ai looked at her watch; she was startled to realize how late it had become. Surreptitiously she checked the window herself; nothing. No short, irritating, admittedly-intelligent-if-occasionally-predictable detectives coming up the walk, no police cars, no skateboards screeching to a halt--- nothing.
What had the idiot gotten himself into now? Mouri-chan was obviously worried, and she respected the other young woman's intellect enough to consider her worry valid. Across the room, Agasa-san was beginning to pace, his brow wrinkled. "Ran-chan?..... Those samples you and Shinichi gave me the other day---"
The small girl turned to look at him, eyes dark with worry. "Samples---?? Oh, right….. you were going to check them for blood. Did you?"
*Blood?*
"I did." He looked uncomfortable. "I had intended to talk to you both this evening about that….. not only were both samples positive for blood, but they were both of the same blood-type. And-----" Agasa hesitated, his bushy brows drawing down. "There was one other thing, something worse. On the first sample, the one on the tissue….. I found traces of human skin as well."
"Skin?" She looked horrified, staring at the portly scientist. He nodded emphatically. "And the second one had a number of skin cells present as well, though not as many….. it had apparently been subjected to various cleaning chemicals: bleach, several types of disinfectant and saponins, that sort of thing. Ran-chan….. what's going on?"
Looking more than a little shaky, Ran moved back to take her previous seat; she ran her hands through her long hair, pushing it back from a face that had grown rather pale. "I… yes. It started about two weeks ago, when a little boy from school went missing-----"
Quietly, Ai listened.
****************************************************************
*I don't like this dream. I know I'm dreaming, and I don't like it. It's dark here too, even with all the lights.*
*I look so pathetic lying there, don't I?*
*All this vapor--- my body looks like it's on fire. That's right, Ran did this when she changed. Never thought about how I must've looked… no witnesses, after all. Just me, and I thought I was dying.*
*I wonder if I am? Dying, that is.*
*Why doesn't that bother me more? It should, shouldn't it? I feel sort of… detached, I guess. Nothing much feels like it matters--- everything's a long ways away, off in the distance where it can't hurt me.*
*Except….. I can hear something. Somebody's crying. Who's crying? Not me--- I don't feel much of anything, just sort of numb. And tired. So tired. And it's cold here, colder than I remembered. Who's crying?*
*Look, my clothes are already getting baggy.*
*Who's crying? I can still hear it-----*
*…Ran?*
****************************************************************
Professor Agasa's eyebrows rose towards his hairline early in the tale; before Ran had even half told the story of Nodomo Toshiro's disappearance, he was already reaching for the phone.
****************************************************************
Mouri Kogoro was not a happy man; no, not at all. He had been more or less reluctantly involved in moving a few boxes from his wife's current apartment to his (she stubbornly refused to give it up entirely, offering the excuse of You Never Know, which made him nervous) when Agasa had tracked him down. Presently he was muttering epithets under his breath that would have scorched the asphalt from the streets, all directed at a certain smart-ass young thinks-he's-a-detective,-does-he? in child's clothing. He drove angrily, rounding corners sharply and with a heavy foot on the gas; beside him, his occasionally estranged wife sat silent save for the occasional bitten-off exclamation or muted 'ooof!' as he hit a bump.
At last she turned to him, laying one hand on his sleeve firmly. "Pull over….. right over there…" she directed; he caught the steely note in her voice and obeyed, shooting her an annoyed glance as he slid into a space less than a mile from her apartment. "What's the problem? I don't have---"
"--- time for this sort of thing, yes, yes, I know….. You've been grumbling about what a terrible inconvenience this is ever since we got in the car. Now move over." He snorted but complied, as she walked around the car to take the driver's seat. "I won't have us killed or arrested for reckless driving just because you're in a bad mood….. and it is my car, after all." They pulled away from the curb; Mouri slouched back in his seat, growling something about 'pushy women' just below understandable range.
"What was that?" asked Eri, gunning the car past a slower vehicle; the wheels screeched as they striped the pavement. Mouri Kogoro swallowed hard and checked the fit of his seatbelt. "Mrmph. Nothing."
"Charming; you're learning…" she said sweetly, shifting to fifth. He gulped and blinked hard at the passing traffic.
After a few minutes of somewhat life-threatening driving, she slowed down to a more sedate pace. "So… why are you so annoyed? Agasa-san sounded legitimately concerned so far as I could tell. What's the problem?"
He grunted, wishing he could smoke (Eri had banned cigarettes from her new car, disliking the stink; Mouri had deep fears that she was going to try to convert him to a non-smoker). "We're giving up our evening to go look for a little brat of a kid who should know better than to make this much trouble--- what do you think's the problem? Kudo's old enough to know how to take care of himself--- we shouldn't have to go running after him every time he-----"
Mouri stopped at his wife's sudden laughter; he frowned suspiciously. "What's so funny?"
"You are." She chuckled appreciatively, her sharp eyes flashing gold in the streetlights. "First you call him a 'little brat', then you talk about him being 'old enough to take care of himself'….. So which one is he, hm?"
He scowled, rubbing at his moustache. "Both, damn him." A car swept past them on their right, full of teenagers and loud music; the sound dopplered past, and the detective's head tilted as he followed them with his eyes until they were out of view.
Eri-san took them around a curve with an aggressive shift of the clutch; her husband tried not to wince. "Correct. So he's a kid AND an adult; fine. Wouldn't you help him if he was still his 'old' self and he needed it? And wouldn't you help him if he really was a child?"
A grumble of disapproval was all the answer she received. Stifling a second chuckle, she continued. "Now… our daughter wants us to find him for her, and apparently she's worried about some missing child from her school as well--- if it'll settle Ran-chan's mind, is it really such a bother? Ten to one he'll have turned up anyway by the time we arrive at Agasa's….."
Another rather surly grumble. Mouri-san settled himself as best as he could and hung on, wishing desperately for a cigarette.
****************************************************************
*I'm pretty sure I'm awake this time. It's kind of hard to tell….. if there was some light, any light at all, I'd know for sure. But so far the only lights I see are in my dreams when I'm sleeping. How's that for irony?*
*Hey--- I'm thinking a bit better… I think. I still feel sort of detached--- like the rest of the world was a long, long ways away. But it's not so bad now. Head's still pounding, and I can't tell up from down from sideways; really dizzy. Must be the concussion. Don't think I could walk upright to save my life.*
*But I could crawl….. Won't give up.*
*Wonder how long I've been in here? No more than a few hours, I guess….. Wonder if they've missed me yet?*
*God, but my head hurts. Think I'll just lie here for a while, try and stay awake and hope my headache goes away.*
………………
*I--- think I dozed off again. Hard to tell. But I hurt, so I must be awake. Cold; gotta try and stretch----- aaagh! Bruises I didn't notice before. Guess I got a little banged up. So stiff.*
*Really tired. Shouldn't let myself keep falling asleep like this, though; dangerous. Hard not to, lying here waiting to be found.*
*I hate being helpless. Won't give up.*
*I wonder when they'll find me? I wonder--- if they'll find me? Shut up, Kudo.*
*Tired….*
*really tired*
……………..
****************************************************************
"So….. You're sure that this child--- Nodomo Toshiro?--- has been kidnapped? And you actually saw a dropoff? Why didn't you *tell* us before this, Ran?" demanded Kisaki Eri, staring down at her small daughter, hands on hips. Both parents were looming over her, faces dark as thunder.
Ran glared right back, arms crossed. "Because he kept showing up!! I mean, Shinichi talked to him a couple of times, I saw him twice--- wherever he's been, he's been able to get out! We didn't really know what was happening, and we're still not really sure---"
In the recesses of her mind, the girl added: *At least… I hope we saw him because he could get out. I don't want to think of… other reasons why he could come to us. Shinichi doesn't believe in ghosts; I wish I didn't.*
She continued: --- but we've been trying to find out. I know Shinichi was looking at an article in the library today about drug-smuggling and coffee….."
At that, her father's eyes narrowed. "Drugs and coffee. I remember something about that-----" He sat down on the couch in Agasa's main room, running a hand abstractedly through his black hair. "Something about a bunch of, what, airline workers? Got themselves caught running drugs, didn't they? They were hiding them in boxes of coffee, I think--- yeah, I remember that one. Made a big splash in the news."
Eri-san crossed her arms, mirroring her scowling daughter. She pushed at her wire-frame glasses, settling them on her nose. "Why coffee?" Her gaze was turned inwards as she ran through memories of old court cases and evidence. "What significance does coffee have in regards to drug smuggling? After all, there are plenty of ways to smuggle drugs, some good, some bad; I've seen cases where drugs were smuggled in hollowed-out shoes, inside prosthetic limbs, electronics, fireworks….. Why use coffee?"
Everyone was silent, thinking. Then a small, clear voice spoke up into the quiet:
"Simple. It's the scent."
As one, they all turned. Haibara Ai stood in the doorway, lab-coated and with clipboard in hand. For a second her stance and appearance fooled the eye--- for a second, she could have passed for an adult. Then the viewer's gaze caught the proportions of the doorway, of the room….. Her expression was as calm as ever, but a faint hint of impatience made one eyebrow rise slightly.
Agasa was the first to speak. "The scent, Haibara-kun? Could you elaborate, please?"
"Certainly." She surveyed the room with a cool grey gaze; Mouri-san's own eyes narrowed as he added two and two together to produce the creator of APTX-4869. Only Eri's rather hard grasp on his shoulder kept him from exploding then and there; he subsided, listening with a glower.
The unchildlike child walked calmly over to take a seat in one of the Professor's rather well-beaten chairs, hopping up nimbly. "It's a simple thing, really; the chemical constituents contained in the aroma of treated coffee-beans tend to deaden the sensory abilities of the dogs that the airlines use to find drugs in the baggage and stock containers." At their dumbfounded looks, she shrugged. "It's not common knowledge, but if one looks around the Internet, it's there to be found. Apparently someone decided to try that ruse again." She crossed her legs. "I wonder what they were smuggling?"
Agasa harrumphed, rubbing at his moustache. "Could be almost anything--- "
"No….. it had to be something small." Ran was thinking out loud; listening, Ai was struck by a certain similarity between her voice and the missing detective's. She leaned back and listened curiously, her head tilted slightly to one side. "The package wasn't really very large, and it was narrow; whatever it was had to fit in with the coffee, too, and Shinichi said that the boxes weren't really that big. It couldn't be very heavy, either. That rules out marijuana, I guess….. it could be cocaine, or pills of some sort, couldn't it?"
*Interesting; when she's talking to people who know her for what she is, people she trusts, her voice still sounds like Mouri Ran's in phrasing and inflection. I rather imagine that she sounds a bit like Ayumi when she's playing the child.* Ai had never really bothered with attempting to alter her voice, save for the odd moment or so when she had to talk with the police. She was more likely to keep silent than to speak to someone she didn't know; thinking back, she could recall what an act of will it had taken for her merely to introduce herself to Ran.
*Rather ironic, isn't it?* She allowed herself a small smile at life's intricacies.
****************************************************************
………………..
*Can't seem to think. Keep drifting off to sleep. That's bad, right?*
*Gotta stay awake….. If I die here, who's going to make Ojiwa pay for killing Toshiro? And the drugs--- nothing but poison. Hate drugs. A drug made me this way….. 'course, it was supposed to kill me instead, so I guess I should be thankful.*
*I don't feel very thankful right now. Head hurts too much. Too tired, too cold. Too much.*
*Can't seem to….. It's like my thoughts keep chasing each other 'round in circles. Gotta stay awake.*
*Wonder how long I've been in here? Don't know, can't tell shit here in this darkness. Nothing but the cold and… that smell… and the dark. I'm cold.*
*Cold.*
…………………
*Awake again; don't think I slept for very long. Need to STAY awake! Owwwwww….. thinking hard, moving--- makes my head hurt more. Don't be an ass, Kudo; you've got to stay awake.*
*Good thing I'm not so nauseous anymore. Throwing up'd be bad. Come to think of it, good thing I don't need a bathroom, either. Heh.*
*Not hungry….. thirsty, though. Can't have been in here for more than a few hours at worst--- I think. Wish I could move more than a few inches at a time. Let's see….. I can't quite straighten my legs--- not enough room. I've got just enough room above my body to move my arms if I'm careful. Can turn my head, but I don't want to; God, my throat hurts. If my shoulders were any wider, I wouldn't fit in here at all--- as it is, it's pretty tight.*
*You know, a coffin would be more comfortable.*
*Shit. I stay in here long enough, this'll be my coffin. Just like Toshiro. Gotta get OUT.*
*But my head hurts so much; quite a lot of dried blood, isn't there? He hit me pretty hard.*
*Bloody bastard. Murderer. He'll pay, one way or another.*
*Never mind that. Got to get OUT of here. Got to think of a way. Won't give up.*
*But oh man, I feel like absolute shit right now. Head hurts, body hurts, feel like there's this big gap between me and everything else…..*
*Got to get out.*
*Got to get out.*
*Got. To. Get. Out.*
*GOT-TO-GET-OUT-OF-HERE-----*
……………………
……………………
……………………
……………………
……………………*feel like I'm falling*……………………
and suddenly the darkness was different, there were lights and a familiar scent of cooling, sun-baked asphalt and leftover popcorn, and the lights of the ferris-wheel were flashing beyond the ticket-seller's gate.
And a familiar form was waiting for him, sprawled in long-legged boredom on the bench by the merry-go-round.
"What kept you?" said Kudo Shinichi, yawning.
****************************************************************
The school was dark now, and silent. No sound disturbed the empty halls that in the day were thronged with the noise and bustle of young life, no movement scattered the shadows cast by red exit lights at every outer doorway. There was no-one around to break the quiet, no-one at all. Everything was silent and still and empty.
The silence lied. It was not empty, and neither was it completely still.
*****creeeeeeee-aaaaaakkkkk…….. click.****
With a tiny popping of catches and rattle of bolts, every window in every building on the school grounds slowly, slowly opened to the night air.
Except one.
****************************************************************
"You know," said the boy to the young man as they walked aimlessly through the shadows, "we have GOT to be the first person in the world who can think better while they're unconscious than when they're awake."
The young man shrugged, hands in pockets. "Go figure. But so long as it works, I'm not going to complain."
The boy shrugged an identical shrug, kicking at a drift of late-summer leaves on the pavement. "Guess I shouldn't either, then." He stretched, thin arms straining above his head, eyes drinking in the lights of the midway. "MAN, it's good to be out of that damned box!….. Hey, by the way--- what'd you mean, 'What kept you?'" He blinked up at his alter-ego.
Kudo Shinichi hesitated for a moment, then frowned. "Ummm….. I've never been here alone before… have you?"
Conan stared. "Of COURSE not; how could we be alone? When we're awake, we're me--- or you, if you like; when we're here, we're us. How could either of us be here alone?"
Shinichi sighed, looking more than a little uneasy. "You're asking the wrong person if you think *I* understand what's going on….. but I've been here for a while, waiting for you to show up. Last thing I remember are a bunch of weird dreams, and then I was standing outside the gate across the parking lot." He came to a halt, leaning a railing by an ornamental pond. "I didn't know where you were, or what was happening--- I mean, you're a part of me, right? Or vice versa. Whatever. How could I be here without you?" He grimaced and ran a hand through his hair, rumpling it untidily. "This concussion's got us pretty screwed up, doesn't it?"
"No shit, Sherlock…" agreed his other self somberly.
Two identical pairs of dark blue eyes stared down at two reflected faces; in the shadows of the empty amusement park, it was hard to tell who was who. A passing breeze sent a twig down into the silent water with a tiny splash, breaking up the reflections and momentarily blending them into one.
Shinichi and Conan shivered, turning away.
"Well….. we're both here
now. We have GOT to figure a way out of
that damned box--- how about we start by listing our assets?" A nearby bench provided a place for the boy
to begin emptying his pockets. "Let's
see….. what've you got?
Conan frowned, pulling out small handfuls of assorted debris. "Ummm, a couple of rubber-bands, a little pocket-change, a couple of hard candies, a Yaiba Trading Card that Mitsuhiko insisted I take….. a couple of plastic bags, two sticker-'bugs'--- wonder if we can do something with those?--- that's all that's in this pocket." He shifted, digging into the other side. "Hmm; my keys, a twist-tie, my set of lock-picks… a lot of good *those* are gonna do me, on the wrong side of the lock… that's about it, except for some lint." He sighed, poking the lot with a discouraged finger.
"Besides that, I've got my watch. Might get some good out of that. And I think I've still got my glasses--- I wasn't wearing them, but I seem to remember feeling them laying on my chest. Hope the microphone in the frame is okay."
Shinichi popped one of the candies in his mouth, crunching it. "Huh; I didn't really think we had a 'get out of Dodge' kit stashed away somewhere, but it didn't hurt to look. You sure there's nothing else?"
His other self looked annoyed. "Why don't you check *your* pockets, Big Shot?" Shinichi rolled his eyes. "In the first place, we're talking about the clothes on *your* body, not on mine--- I mean, nothing in these pockets'll be available to us when we wake up, right? And there's probably nothing in 'em anyway-----" He stuck his right hand in his pocket; an expression of surprise crossed his face, and he pulled out a handful of random items. "WHAT in the world---??"
Small fingers plucked a flat card of paper from the batch. "A picture of Ran, huh? Not surprising." Conan grinned up at the young man, who flushed faintly. He turned it over. "But--- on the other hand, this is…" Rin's heart-shaped face smiled up at them both from the back.
Shinichi frowned. "Where the hell did that come from? Come to think of it, where the hell did ANY of this come from??" He fingered a rabbit's foot on a keychain curiously; "A two-headed coin… an omamori from some shrine… a— I think this used to be a dried 4-leaf-clover…" Then his fingers found something familiar. "Now this I know--- it's a cartridge from the first time I ever outshot Dad on a target-range; see, there's the date scratched on the side? I used to keep it for luck, but I accidentally lost it over the side of a boat in Hawaii years ago; what's it doing here?" Shinichi ran careful fingertips across the scratched inscription, then dropped it back into the pile; he wasn't quite sure if looking further was a good idea.
A thought occurred to him. "Hey, pipsqueak--- check your pockets again, okay?"
Conan quirked an irritated eyebrow up at him, but complied. His childish face drew down in perplexity as he brought out another handful. "What the---? Tickets to that Tokyo-Kyoto soccer game I want to see next month… a--- driver's license? a harmonica?… ummm, a picture of Ran, Rin too, just like you've got--- what IS this?" He stared at the small puzzles as if expecting them to bite him.
A chuckle from his older self made him look up. The young man was leaning back against the bench, hands clasped behind his head. "You know, we keep forgetting: this is a DREAM we're in--- or something like it. So I kind of suspect we're pulling out things from our collective psyche about now…. I mean, look at 'em; I've got lucky pieces in my pockets, and you've got wishes and hopes in yours. We've both got Ran, and Rin too."
The boy scowled up at him. "You're going a little too deep for me. And why the harmonica?"
"Ummmm….. no idea on that one; it's just one of those things, I guess….. Hey, what's that?" Shinichi indicated a tiny cardboard box. Conan picked it up, opening it to the park's overhead streetlights; he grimaced, closing the box with a sigh. "Oh, that? Well, if what you're saying is true, if this stuff is all imaginary….. Well, it looks like a capsule, and I'd bet even money it's the cure--- you know, the one Ai's always trying to find?"
Shinichi blinked down at him. "Hang on, it's the CURE?" He grabbed at the box, then cursed at the results. "...... my fingers go right through it; why can't I pick it up?"
Conan snorted. "Well, stupid, YOU don't need it--- you're YOU. I'm the one who needs it--- why do you think I'm carrying it around in my pocket? And it's not really the cure; I'd guess it's what I think the cure'll look like someday." He began stuffing everything back inside his pocket, pointedly refusing to look any further at the contents of his unconscious.
His older self frowned ferociously. "So why don't you take it, then?"
The boy rolled his eyes. "Think about it, Genius. What happens if I take it? I go POOF. No more Conan. Would YOU take it if you were me?"
"Ummm, I *AM* you...... I think."
"Right."
".....right."
Shinichi scratched at his head; he was getting a headache. "This is getting us nowhere. We have GOT to figure a way out." He shuffled his own items back into place, wondering briefly about the small live frog that seemed to have appeared among them; the amphibian wiggled as it was unceremoniously sent to join the lint that lived in his left pocket. "Thinking back… can you remember anything like this? I mean, we've been trapped before, but I think this is the worst."
A cool wind sighed through the branches of the trees overhead, dropping more twigs around the two on the bench. The boy leaned back, blinking up at the stars overhead. "Ummm….. there was the time we were trapped on the--- no, that wasn't too bad; then there was that guy with the knife, but that came out okay. There was that time we got shot, and I can't count how many times we've gotten knocked on the head, and there were those bombs--- what, twice? Three times? and….. y'know, sometimes I think we ought to change our line of work. Think Kaitou Kid'd like an assistant?"
Shinichi snorted. "Suuure….. besides, right now you'd end up pushing a broom. Doesn't sound very appealing, does it?"
They were both silent. Then Conan looked up at his older self, an odd mixture of anger, wariness and disappointment in his young-old eyes. "WHY is he here, of all people? I mean, this is *hardly* the sort of thing he usually does---"
"--- as far as we know. Maybe he LIKES the custodial way of life? Maybe nobody offers retirement benefits for master thieves? Who knows how a guy like that thinks? He's got a reason, that's for sure. And I think he meant us to find him out, that last time we saw him; he could've palmed that little charm of his pretty damned easily, but---"
"--- he didn't, so I guess you're right. Huh; if we ever get out of that box, let's plan on taking care of that little detail first thing." Silence again, and then, reflectively (and perhaps a little sadly): "Kind of a shame, isn't it? I--- liked Hei-san. I really did. Can't believe I didn't see through him before this, but….. I guess I didn't want to." Shinichi simply nodded, eyes dark.
Then the boy continued, softer: "If we ever get out….. It's bad, isn't it? Nobody knows where we are, there's no way to tell them, and a concussion just doesn't lend itself well to physical fitness--- any major exertion is out. And I distinctly remember hearing more boxes being stacked on top and around the filing cabinet." Their sober expressions mirrored each others', first in unhappy dejection, then in slowly strengthening resolve.
This time Shinichi spoke first. "We are NOT gonna give up. First things first--- let's see if we can unlock the drawer we're in. That set of picks--- is there anything like a screwdriver head in them?" He waited while Conan thumbed through the picks, pulling out and brandishing one silently. "That ought to do--- it's small enough for what I have in mind. When we wake up, let's see if we can unfasten the lock mechanism from the cabinet entirely; that might work."
His other self looked worried as he stuffed the set of picks back into his pocket. "Yeah, but--- there's still the boxes. We're too damned small and too banged up to be able to move much, and the leverage---"
The young man cut him off. "Worry about that when the time comes, okay? Like I said, first things first. We need to wake up."
The statement sounded strange, even to their ears. Waking up meant ending their encounter, meant blending back into their original self (complete with the memories of a two-sided conversation from both directions at once, which could be rather disconcerting--- especially when they disagreed). Not that this was normally a problem--- 'normal' had become a thing of the past long ago--- but waking up deliberately? They had never tried *that* before, not even once.
First things first.
Shaking each other didn't work; shouting into each other's faces didn't work. They slumped back on the bench, frustrated. Conan scrubbed at his hair with one hand, sending it standing on end. "We can't just SIT here, wherever the hell 'here' is----- what if that maniac goes after Rin? And God only knows what being like this is doing to our body--- what if we can't wake up? What if we---"
A *thunk!!* on his head interrupted incoming mild hysterics as his alter-ego thumped him once with his knuckles. He glared at him, then subsided. "Okay, FINE; so panicking won't help either--- got it. Any bright ideas, Genius?"
Shinichi rolled his eyes, leaning back to sprawl on the bench. He poked his other self in the ribs irritably with one finger; the boy swatted at him half-heartedly. "WHY am I the one who's supposed to come up with all the ideas? I mean, speaking in terms of time, I'm no older than you--- just bigger. So how come I'm the one who has to-----" He stopped as an unexpected sound behind them made both heads jerk around towards the main entrance of the park, a sound where none should have been.
Footsteps. Small footsteps, just barely audible; hesitant, as if their maker was unsure of their welcome.
The young boy walked through the deserted amusement park very quietly, peering up at the empty rides with widened eyes; his dark hair riffled in the wind, and he hurried his steps as he caught sight of Conan's open-mouthed, staring form.
"Hi, Conan-kun…" said Nodomo Toshiro, smiling a little timidly. Then he cocked his head to one side curiously, looking up into Kudo Shinichi's astonished face. "Who's that?"
******************************************************************************************************************
To Be Continued…….
Ysabet's Notes: Heh heh heh sweatdrop….. and you thought this was gonna be a straightforward ghost story, did you? It's taken on a 'life' of its own, I'm afraid; originally I didn't intend that Ai should show back up at all, but, ummm….. oh well. So it goes. I didn't intend it to to into the psychological possibilities of Conan/Shinichi, either, but that's just how it happened: He got made into twins! Weird, I admit, but it's a hell of a lot of fun to write that way. The next chapter's in the works; I'll have it up ASAP. Reviews would be wonderful….. Bye!
