KudoEdogawa presents...
""The Summer Without You""
Final Conclusion...
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Chapter 9::
"KAZUHAAA!!" Heiji stared blankly down the building at the river below. That was for real, this time he had seen her fall..., seen her left him. He choked back his tears and looked despairingly at the sky, gold with the sunrise. "Kazuha..." he whispered.
Suddenly, his expression changed, it wasn't a sad, painful expression, it was angry, his eyes glowed with rage and he turned to Vermouth and grabbed her by the neck. "How could you...?" He hissed. Vermouth gagged as Heiji choked her. She punched Heiji hard in the stomach, but Heiji did not flinch. "Three words." Heiji said. "Go...to...hell!" He stared, Heiji has lost control and is acting purely on his emotions. "Die, Vermouth." Heiji said and tightened his grasp.
~*~
"Stay put!" Bloody Mary screeched. Her leg swept through the air in a swift movement, Shinichi leaned towards his left and bent down, dodging the kick. His leg stretched out and swept across the floor, hitting the woman's ankles and knocking her off the ground. Bloody Mary supported herself on her palms and leapt back up, doing several back flips to establish a distance from Shinichi.
"Running?" Shinichi taunted.
"You wish," Blood Mary said as she drew a gun from the inside of her black dress. Shinichi winced. Bloody Mary smiled, it wasn't as cold as that of Vermouth's but equally cruel and unpleasant. Bloody Mary fired twice, the first shot passed Shinichi right next to his ears, the whirring of the bullet echoing unpleasant in his ears. The second skimmed over the top of his hair, he could feel something rushing over his head. "Next shot would be your handsome young face," the woman said. "Say good-bye"
She took aim, Shinichi bared his teeth. Something caught his attention; Ai rushing behind the woman, her feet positioned next to the metal bar that Bloody Mary dropped a while ago, and her shoes sparking. She nodded, Shinichi answered with a glance and sighed. "Good-bye." He said casually, Bloody Mary growled at his casualness and fired. Shinichi stared at the bullet.
Just focus on the bullet and time correctly, with enough concentration, it's easy to dodge the hit.
A voice said in his head. His eyes widened in concentration, and in that millionth of a second, he tilted his head to one side, and the bullet only scratched the surface of his skin, leaving a faint trace of blood.
"Damn!" Bloody Mary cursed.
"Now, Ai!" Shinichi shouted. Before Bloody Mary had time to react, the bar was already flying at her, she turned around to be faced by the flying weapon, knocking her out cold.
Shinichi and Ai cheered. I remember now, Shinichi thought, It was Makoto-san. He looked up at the second floor at Makoto, who, catching his eye, smiled.
"Thanks!" Shinichi shouted at him.
"Well that was new," Ai said, approaching him.
"What?" Shinichi questioned.
"You..." Ai said, "That was the first time you've called me Ai; it felt so weird." Shinichi laughed apologetically.
"I'll remember to be a bit more serious next time." Shinichi said.
~Meanwhile~
"Ahh!" Ran screamed painfully; Sake had grabbed her hair and was pulling her around. "You dirty jerk! Using low tricks like that! Release me and fight with honor!"
"Honor?" Sake repeated, "What honor is there for a man of evil?"
Ran eyes watered at the pain of it, she managed to reach into her pocket and take out a pocket knife, and through gritted teeth, she reached back and sliced at her hair, freeing herself from Sake. Strands of beautiful brown hair fell slowly to the ground, years of waiting have been wasted; she had kept her hair long so that she could one day wear her hair like her mother, but now, all that is gone, she'd have to start over, but she's willing to do it for Kazuha, for Heiji, for Shinichi, for her best friends.
"Let's fight," she said and stood in the standard karate stance, preparing for battle.
"Very well," Sake said and charged at her, his fist already preparing to launch at Ran's already bruised face. "Prepare to lose your beauty as well!" Sake screamed.
But there was no sign of fear in Ran's eyes, only determination, she cannot lose, she has been absent long enough in this affair, it's time for her to do something. She cannot lose, Shinichi has allowed her to do this, she must not disappoint him. Ran stared at Sake, her glare sending a strong sense of power at him, shocking him. He tried to stop his attack, his fist wouldn't listen.
Ran raise a single hand and blocked the hit, before Sake had time to react, she had grabbed Sake's other arm, push him towards the ground and kneed him in the stomach. She pulled him back up, he staggered and swayed, Ran sent a punch, and another, finally sending her opponent on the ground with her reversed roundhouse kick.
She stood above her fainted enemy and let out a sigh of relief and pride. She reached back to feel her new, shortened hair...it felt uneven, she'd have to get a proper haircut to fix it tomorrow, but for now, she was content. She had proven herself useful, not just useful, but useful to Shinichi, and now Shinichi was back she couldn't feel happier...
Her joy turned to sorrow as she turned towards the stairs, hoping for the safety of Kazuha and Heiji. A thud came from the other side of the room; Shinichi had finished his battle, she joined him and the cheering Detective Boys.
"Nice," Shinichi said to her.
"I had some motivations," she said amusedly.
"Nice," Shinichi repeated. Ran stared blankly. Seeing this, Shinichi pointed, "I meant the hair.
"Oh," Ran said, "I was seeking new fashion."
"Let's see how Makoto-san is doing now..." Shinichi said as he raised his head to watch the battle above. "Hope that Heiji could take care of himself..."
~*~
Three loud booms exploded within the warehouse, followed by more. Gin, like a dog with a disease, is firing at Makoto uncontrollably, and all Makoto could do under such swift attacks is to jump and hide.
"My face, my cruel, evil face, how can it be bruised by a brat like you?" Gin said, his expression mad. "How could I, one of the top members of the Organization, be beaten to such a state by someone the likes of you?"
"Gin!" Makoto shouted in midst of the fire. "You've lost it! Snap out of it and surrender!"
"Surrender?" Gin paused his attacks. "I never surrender..., I could turn Kudo Shinichi to a helpless kid, I could lock Miyano Shiho up, and I could to the same to you!" He fired again.
"Men like you are pitiful." Makoto said angrily. Without giving Gin the chance to react, he had dashed forward and kicked Gin in the chest. He staggered and took a few steps back, his body leaned towards the ground, Makoto seized the chance and karate chopped him in the back. Gin dropped to his knees and fell. "Men who lose control for power..."
He leaned on the rails of the second floor and looked down at the mess, "Everything alright down there?"
Shinichi gave him the thumbs up sign, "I think now would be safe to invite Officer Megure." He took out his cell phone.
"But Heiji and Kazuha," Ran said suddenly.
"Don't worry," Shinichi said as he dialed the number, "He'll take care of himself."
The doors of the warehouse slammed open, a dozen men in black appeared, "The boss says to retreat, gather our warriors and forget about the brats." One of them said. Shinichi, Ran, and Makoto prepared for a second round of battle, but the man who had spoken took out something from his pockets and dropped in on the ground...a black haze arose from it and when the darkness cleared, they were gone.
"Damn..." Shinichi cursed.
~*~
Heiji's hand tightened around Vermouth's throat, his face expressionless as if lost the will to live on. Vermouth grunted painfully. "Don't be foolish, Hattori." A voice behind him said. His expression calmed and his grip loosened as he and Vermouth turned to look. Pure white in the sky, and painted golden by the newly risen sun, Kaito Kid flew steadily towards them on his glider. Heiji angered again; where has this bastard been? Now that he thought of it, Kid wasn't in the battle downstairs, nor was he helping up here up on the rooftop. But wait..., Kid didn't look right; he was holding something in his arm, what is it? Surely it isn't...but Kid is indeed an expert with his glider.... Heiji rubbed his eye with his free hand, it was Kazuha! His arms dropped.
"It can't be...," Vermouth whispered.
Kid landed on the rooftop with a soft thud and put Kazuha down, she was fast asleep. "You would've seen her body on the ground below if she died." Kid said as-matter-of-factly. "Now Hattori, repay her for all this that she has gone through."
Heiji turned once again to Vermouth, a murderous look in his eyes; Vermouth prepared herself for battle. A black helicopter flew over head when the battle was about to start and a ladder dropped from it. "Vermouth, retreat and destroy the warehouse."
"But..." Vermouth started.
"Now, Chris!" The man in the helicopter said again. "It's a direct order from the boss."
"Damn!" Vermouth cursed and turned to Heiji. "I guess it'll have to wait." She took out a device from her dress and pressed a button, "I've set up bombs in the warehouse..., you have about two minutes to get your butt out of here." She grabbed hold of the ladder and flew away.
"Damn!" Heiji swore and turned to Kid, "Let's go!" He picked up Kazuha and they descended down the building.
The first floor was a mess, Shinichi and Ran were pacing around, the Detective Boys sat impatiently, Makoto stood and watched the entrance to the third floor. Thud, thud, thud. Metal being pounded on. Thud, thud, thud. No..., they were footsteps.
"They're coming!" Makoto declared and the Detective Boys cheered.
A moment later, Heiji, Kazuha, and Kid appeared from the hallway. "GE-OU-A-HE-!!" Heiji shouted incoherently.
"What's he saying?" Mitsuhiko asked.
"GE-OU-A-HE!!" Heiji shouted again, and growled. "GET-OUT-OF-HERE!!" He mouthed.
"He's telling us to get out of here," said Makoto, who was closest to the stairs.
"SHE-PLANTED-A-BOMB!!" Kid shouted.
"There's a bomb!" Makoto repeated to the rest of the gang. "Let's go!"
Heiji came rushing down the stairs, carrying Kazuha. Shinichi grabbed Mitsuhiko and Makoto picked up Genta. Much to her dislike, Ai was picked by Ran and Kid came up to Ayumi and grabbed her; Ayumi blushed.
Whirring of police cars could be heard outside. Officer Megure motioned his men to move closer to the door, they stood next to it, carefully to not attract attention.
"On my call," Megure said, "Three, two, on-"
The door burst open and Shinichi and the rest ran out of it. "There's bomb, get away!" Shinichi shouted.
"What?" Megure said, "Retreat! Move back! All of you!" He commanded frantically.
The group scrambled madly to get away as a loud explosion was heard from behind them, all of them skidded and fell to the ground. And there they sat, on the ground, too tired to move, watching the raging inferno engulf their battlefield. Firefighters were summoned, the case was closed.
Kazuha stirred slightly in her sleep and opened her eyes. "Heiji...?" she whispered.
"Oh, Kazuha!" Heiji cried and embraced her in his arms. "Oh, Kazu', promise me," he said. "Promise me you won't leave me again," he kissed the top of her head, "I've had enough this summer without you by my side."
"Hei-kun..." She whispered and fell asleep once again in his hug.
**********
Epilogue
**********
"HATTORI HEIJI, STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!"
"Why? I wanna go home now."
"You're not going anywhere until I know which college you're going to!"
"Why do you care?" Heiji said and left!!
"HATTORI HEIJI!!" Kazuha screamed, clutching the acceptance letter to Tokyo University tightly in her hand.
.........
"Please, please, please, please, please, please, please," Heiji muttered as his fingers moved to open the letter. It opened..., he took it out of the envelope...and shut his eyes tightly.
"Here goes nothing," He unfolded the letter and opened his eyes.
The words Tokyo University were printed on the top of the letter, followed by the word: "Congratulations!"
"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!" Heiji let out a hoarse whisper and kissed the letter. Looks like they're gonna stay together after all.
*
Somewhere in Tokyo..., the same thing was happening in Ran and Shinichi's life...
~End~
Azayaka sujiru kimi ga inai natsu
Ano koe ano shigoto ga horogatte 'ku
Kotoba nanka dekinakute mo ii
Koboreta hizahi ni kokoro ga nijinda
Ahh, Mou modorenai toki wo chiisaku inotte iru...
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Well, there it goes...this fic took a considerably longer time to write than "Always", even though it's much shorter. The title "The Summer Without You" was taken from the fourth season ending of Conan, "Kimi ga Inai Natsu" by Deen. Detective Conan and its related characters and plotline are properties and copyrights of Gosho Aoyama. Bloody Mary and Sake are original characters. Thanks for reading and please support my other fics, "Knighthood: The Spirit of the Knight" and "Everlasting" the sequel to Always. Please also support my first original fiction posted on FictionPress, "Connected by Stars." Thanks very much
KudoEdogawa, November 14, 2003