Here's the next chapter. Enjoy.
P.S. If you can't tell I'm not in a very pleasant mood right now. Maybe by the end of the chapter I'll feel better. But I promise my lack-of-happiness won't affect the storyline.
Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan. © Gosho Aoyama.
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Part VII ~ Resolution (A)
Shinichi, Ran, and Vermouth looked at Gin, who was lying unconscious on the ground. "That won't hold him very long," Shinichi said. "Got any rope, Vermouth?" he asked, grinning at her.
"Or should I say…Kaito Kid?"
Vermouth sighed. "I guess my acting just isn't good enough, huh?" "She" pulled off a mask. "Yup, it's me." Kaito grinned.
Ran gasped. "You—you're the infamous thief that everyone's after? But—you're so young! You can't be the person who disappeared so many years ago. I doubt that you were even alive back then."
Kaito looked at Shinichi. "Oh, so you didn't tell her the whole story." Shinichi shook his head. "It wasn't my story to tell."
"I appreciate it." He nodded his thanks. "Well, enough time-wasting here! We have to tie these guys up and then save some people from a burning building!"
"Wait a minute…" Shinichi said as he and Kaito bound Vodka and Gin. "Save people in the burning building? You don't mean…"
Kaito winced and nodded. "BAKA!" Shinichi shouted. "I can't believe that you abandoned our plan!"
"It WAS part of MY plan, but I know that none of you guys would agree to go this far, so I just had to go ahead with it. Trust me, if I didn't do that, I'd be dead right now."
"What are you talking about?" Ran was still confused.
"Hattori and Toyama-chan are trapped inside that building, which is about to burn down!" Shinichi said. "Kuroba, I can't believe that you would do such a thing."
"Well, blame me later, let's go already!" Kaito sprinted toward the building, with Shinichi and Ran close at his heels.
~ * ~ * ~
"I…have something to tell you, Kazu—" Heiji's sentence was cut short by the smoke. Kazuha looked at him worriedly as he coughed nonstop.
"Don't…worry about me," Heiji struggled to speak. "Listen, this is very important. As you can obviously tell, not everything's going according to plan. So…there's something I must say before all this is over."
"Over?" Kazuha asked. "C-come on, Heiji! You were always so optimistic, what's happened to you? Stop talking like that, you're scaring me." She laughed weakly. "We'll make it out of here, I promise! I bet that Kudo-kun is on his way right now—"
"Stop talking and listen, will you?" Heiji shouted. She fell silent. "I-I'm sorry," he quickly apologized. "I lost my temper again…"
She shook her head. "No, go on."
He sighed. "Kazuha, I've been hiding this from you for a long, long time, but—"
"HEY!" a knock at the roof window. They looked up. It was—Shinichi! "Save the confessions for later! Be careful, we're breaking in!"
"How in the world—"
"Shut up and cooperate!" Kaito shouted. "Go on, Ran-san!" Ran nodded and shattered the glass with one strike—and she didn't even get a scratch.
"Where did she learn that?" Kaito muttered. Shinichi shrugged. "Be glad that it's just the glass. Usually I'm the one getting punched." Ran shot him a death-glare, and his closed his mouth.
In a few minutes, Heiji and Kazuha were safely out of the burning room. "Now to jump off the building," Kaito grinned. They stared.
"Geez, I'm just joking," Kaito said. "You guys are no fun. "Here, I'll transport people on the glider one by one." He expanded his "wings" and safely brought everyone to the ground.
"Well, I think that's a very good ending for now," Shinichi smiled.
"Wait a minute," Kazuha said. "You've been Vermouth all this time, right?" Kaito nodded. "So, where is the real Vermouth?"
"Ah," Shinichi grinned. "That's where Haibara comes in."
~ * ~ * ~
"So," Ai said quietly. "You've finally found me, Vermouth."
"Sherry…" Vermouth gritted her teeth. "I don't believe you."
"Hey, it's not my fault that you sent me off overseas to receive extra education and training. If it wasn't for you, I would have never figured out how to make this." She held up a small pill in her palm. "Open your mouth," she commanded. "Or else…" In her other hand, she held up a switch with a red button on it.
Vermouth shot her a Look but took and swallowed the pill. She gasped.
"Yup," Ai smiled sweetly. "It paralyzes you, doesn't it?" Vermouth could do nothing but glance at her nastily. "Oh, if only looks could kill." Ai sighed. "Then you would have me dead right here. But—they can't. And you can't move."
Ring-Ring-Ring-Ring-Ring.
"It's Vermouth. Say something that's of worth or I'll order someone to shoot you." BEEP.
"Vermouth? This is Whiskey. What in the world is going on? You're not answering your phone—" Ai walked over and picked up the small cell phone. "Oh, an organization-only communicator, huh?" She grinned and held up a red bowtie. "Let's try out one of hakase's inventions, shall we?"
"What do you want, Whiskey?" Vermouth's voice poured out of the bowtie.
"Oh, you are there. Sorry, I was getting worried. I didn't see you after we evacuated the building, and—"
"Don't worry about me," Ai said, grinning at Vermouth, who was snarling with anger. "Hey, listen, where are you?...at the edge of the forest…you're injured? Oh, that's too bad. Well, I'll be here personally in a few minutes, how does that sound?...good, wait for me." She hung up. "Well, how was that for an imitation?" She put away the bowtie and dialed another number. "Hey, Kudo-kun? You should find one of the men, goes by the codename of Whiskey, at the edge of the forest. Don't treat him too badly, he's actually injured…yes, everything is set up…Are you going to call me in fifteen minutes? Will do."
"Apparently," Ai said to Vermouth, "our favorite magician, Kaito Kid, has very good acting skills. He gave orders for your henchmen—I mean, other members of the organization—to gather at a certain building in fifteen minutes. What was that building? Oh yes, hakase and I had just put in a new security system there. With a push of this switch…" she pulled out another switch, this time with a blue button, "…the police will be alerted. Oh yeah, and the people in the building don't know of this alert, so they'll be completely off-guard."
"You…" Vermouth struggled to speak.
"Don't worry, Vermouth. This pill is the strongest of its kind. You should stay like this for, oh, twenty-four hours or so." She pulled a book out of her bag and began to read.
Ring-Ring.
"Oh, I guess fifteen minutes is up. Moshi moshi?" Ai answered.
"This is Kudo. We're at the place. Everyone's here. Well, everyone except for Vermouth. Gin and Vodka have been moved to another room for fear of arising suspicion."
"Code?"
She could hear Shinichi sigh. "Sherlock Holmes."
"Akechi Kogoro," she replied. "Good deal. Switch—on." She pushed the blue button confidently.
"It's over, Vermouth," she turned to look at the blonde woman lying on the ground. "And now—" she pressed the red switch.
Vermouth's eyes widened, then she smiled in defeat as the sound of sirens approached.
"This is my fate, isn't it?"
Ai looked at her seriously. "Yes. It is."
A horde of policemen rushed into the building. "Don't move!" They pointed their guns at Vermouth.
"Don't worry, she can't move," Ai spoke up. "She's been fed a paralyzing pill."
"You—" a policeman looked at her. "Kudo-san said that you would be here."
"Yeah," she smiled. "I'm his assistant."
As the police carried Vermouth to the car, Ai gave her a few last words.
"You shouldn't have messed with my sister," she said quietly. "You don't mess with a family like that."
Vermouth smiled. "I…wouldn't know," she replied. "I've never had a family."
"I'm…sorry." Ai bowed her head. "Maybe if you'd had one, none of this would have happened."
"Maybe…"
~ * ~ * ~
"Well, that's the last of them, Inspector Megure," Shinichi said proudly as another set of policemen captured all the remaining ones in the organization.
"Good job, Shinichi-kun!" Inspector Megure grinned and patted the young detective on the back. "It's sure good to see you. You've disappeared for a long time, huh?"
Shinichi winked at Ran and replied. "Yeah, but I'm back—for good."
"Well, that's great. I hope that you'll keep helping us solve cases, huh? You know, we always have a position open for you in the police force," Megure said. "You take it whenever you feel ready." Shinichi nodded and gave his thanks.
"Thanks again, Shinichi-kun!" Megure said as he drove away. Shinichi waved.
~ * ~ * ~
Meanwhile, Heiji and Kazuha were having their conversation.
"Well, what was it that you were about to tell me?" Kazuha asked.
"Umm…" Heiji blushed furiously.
She crossed her arms. "If you tell me that I need to cut my hair or something, save it! I don't need to hear something like that—again."
"No, no, it's nothing like that, actually," he said quickly. "It's just that…"
"Just what?"
"Well…things weren't going as planned, you know?" Heiji scratched his head. "Ummm…"
She looked at him sincerely. "And…?"
"An-and…well, it's not my fault that it's screwed up!" he suddenly said. "If you hadn't asked me to go out to breakfast, none of this would have happened!"
She stared at him in complete shock. "WHAT?" Her anger had reached its limit. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Detective, but it wasn't me who wanted to eat breakfast at the café! It was some ahou, if I remember correctly! No—it was a big, stinkin' ahou! Ahou!" She turned around, fuming.
You made her angry again, Hattori! You really are an ahou. Why can't you just admit it to her? You don't want to lose her again…do you?
"I'm sorry, Kazuha," he said softly. "I was…just embarrassed."
"Embarrassed about what? Blaming everything on me?"
"No!" he said with force. "I…I made that up! I don't blame you for anything. It was my fault! I made you agree to this stupid plan that almost got you killed. It was all my fault, Kazuha…" She turned around. He looked into her eyes. So beautiful, he thought. Somehow, looking at her gave him courage, this time.
"Remember last time, we were trapped in that evil lawyer's house?" She nodded. "And I wanted to tell you something? Well, I never got to tell you…"
"Yes you did. My hair was too long, right?"
"No…I made that up, too." Heiji looked away, blushing even more now. "Ah ly o," he mumbled.
"What?"
"Ah ly o!" he said, a little bit louder.
"I can't hear you, Heiji! Speak up!"
"I like you, okay?" he shouted. "I don't want to ever lose you again, Kazuha, because I am in love with you! Yes, Kazuha, in love! I've been head over heels for you ever since Jr. High!"
Kazuha stepped back, shocked…
To be continued…
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Wow, I'm really sorry that I'm leaving you in the middle of this very important conversation. Gomen-nasai! But I do have some news for everyone! First of all, yes, I have finished writing this story! (Well, all but the epilogue, that is ^_^ which will be short and easy to write—doesn't take as much thinking as writing these chapters .) I actually wrote both parts of Resolution (this chapter) together, but it was too long, so I split it. Sometimes long chapters can be intimidating or tiring, and I don't want anyone to get tired or scared of my story!
I know that you must be angry because that means you'll have to wait for part B, but since I've already written it, all I've left to do is type some review responses (yes, that means you still have to review) and post it! While I am collecting reviews, I will be writing the epilogue.
The amount of time that it will take for me to post part B will depend on how many reviews I receive!
By the way, I want to thank everyone for reading (& liking!) this story! This is my first "official" fanfic, so I'm really really happy. Thanks for all your encouragement!
Review/Email Responses~~
Starstruck272: Well, you found out who "that person" is! I'm hurrying with the next chapter! In fact, you just read it (heehee). Also, tell your teacher thanks for reading! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as well ^_^
Ispreno: I think I put an answering machine message here…didn't I? *scrolls* Yup, I did. This one wasn't as…creative, but I thought that it might be interesting…
Kai: Yup, Kuroba sure is a GREAT actor! I'm sorry that I had to do such a horrible thing to Kazuha and Heiji, but…but…they got saved, didn't they? So please don't be angry. I was really upset with myself that I had to do such a thing, too…
Kari Ishikawa: First of all, THANK YOU for faithfully reading & reviewing! You're awesome! Wow, now I'm causing nail-bites ^_^ Even though it's a bad habit for you, I can't believe that my story had such an effect. I'm so happy! Keep reading please—we're almost at the end of the tale!
starfruit-22: Hi! Your name is in the chapter again! And I DO have more! Should be updated soon… ^_^
ComPaSs_StaR: Yeah, sorry about all the cliffhangers. But I don't think you'll have to wait as long this time for them…since I've got the next part written already. Thanks for reading!!