Disclaimer: All characters from DC do not belong to me; they belong to their respective owners. I only own Masako and Ron, well, and Bourbon too.
Chapter 6: Surprise
RIIIINNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The telephone rang again.
Conan turned over in his bed and growled as he checked the clock. Who EXACTLY is calling at four in the morning???? He reluctantly got out of bed. No one else would pick up the phone anyway. Ran and Sonoko went back to their hotel last night. Ron also went home. Masako's IS NOT going to get the phone. She sleeps like a rock. I'll bet that if I started to bang the pots and pans, she wouldn't even notice. Conan stiffed a yawn as he picked up the receiver in the living room.
"Halloo?" he said sleepily.
"Hey Kudo!!!"
"Hattori?"
"Yup. Haven't talked to you in while! How are things going? Are you having fun with neesan over there? Is-"
"Hattori!!!!!!!!!!!!" Conan almost screamed. "You don't call me at four in the morning just to chat, do you???????????"
He heard Hattori gulp. "Sorry, I forgot about the time difference. So.....ehh, should I, ehh.....go now....?"
Conan glared at the phone even though he knew that Heiji wouldn't get that. "Yes, and if you REALLY need to call, call after noon, as you've disturbed my sleep and that's when I'll be getting up!"¨
"Okay, later, Kudo!"¨ Hattori regained his cheerfulness as he hung up.
Conan sighed. "Time for bed."¨ He trudged back to his room and collapsed on the bed. He was asleep in less than 30 seconds.
Outside, a man with green eyes watched the small figure climb back into bed. He frowned as he lit a cigarette. After shaking his head, he disappeared into the darkness again.
Ran yawned as she sat up in the hotel bed. Sonoko was still snoring beside her. She stole a glance at the clock on the bedside table beside her. 8:30. Not bad after only three days to get over the time difference. Ran dragged herself out of bed and got ready for a shower. She went into the bathroom and took a nice, long, soothing shower. As she came out to change into comfortable clothes, Sonoko asked, "Why are you up so early?"
"Early to bed, early to rise," she answered cheerfully.
Sonoko grumbled.
"Come on, didn't you have a day planned out with Ron?" Ran teased as she brushed her long, black, silky hair into a ponytail. It was down to her thighs now.
Sonoko sighed as she reluctantly got out of her cozy bed. "I'm taking a shower."
Ran smiled. She opened her duffel bag. What should I wear? Hm.....sweats? No, too casual...a blouse? She finally settled for a white blouse with a long navy blue skirt. Then she pulled on some sandals. That's good...since knowing Shinichi; we should be going to the beach. she thought as she looked herself over in the mirror. She stuck her bathing suit into her duffel bag-ish purse. It was quite huge, almost big enough to be a duffel bag.
Sonoko finally came out of the bathroom. She was wearing a short pink miniskirt with a white and black tank top. She threw her towel on the sitting chair and slipped on a pair of flip flops. She checked the clock. 9:15. "Ready to go, Ran?"
"Not yet, give me a sec," she answered as she put her watch on and stuck her wallet and cell phone into her purse. She swung the purse over her shoulder and flipped her hair back. "Now I am. Let's go."
Sonoko smiled. "Beautiful, as usual."
She opened the door to their hotel room and held it open for Ran. As Ran stood in the doorway, she made sure she had the room key and then closed the door. "Where are you meeting Ron?"
"In the lobby. What about you? Where are you meeting that chibi?"
"Conan-kun," Ran corrected. "Also in the lobby"
"Okay, cool. Let's go!" Sonoko and Ran got on the elevator on the tenth floor. As the door closed, Ran said, "Sonoko, how come you're not so excited today?"
"I miss Makoto." Ninth floor.
"Oh, well, he is your boyfriend." Eighth floor.
"Yeah, I know." Seventh floor.
"You should tell Ron that." Sixth floor.
"But he's too nice and it..."¨ Fifth Floor.
"It what?" Fourth floor.
"It feels good having someone like me." Third floor.
"But Makoto likes you!" Second floor.
"No, having two guys like you at the same time. You sort of feel superior." She gave Ran a lopsided grin. First floor.
Ran sighed. "Fine, whatever. I won't worry about you yet, she said as the doors opened and they stepped out onto the carpeted floor of the lobby.
Sonoko spotted Ron easily and ran over to him. Ran saw the small form of Conan by the glass door entrance and made her way to him. The girls waved their good-byes and headed off in opposite directions.
When Ran and Conan got to beach, Conan said, "Did you bring your swimsuit? I thought it would be nice to go swimming. I mean, the weather's good too. Besides, it's not a holiday so there aren't much people. We can have it all to ourselves!"
Ran grinned. That's Shinichi. "Of course I came prepared, Shinichi." She pulled a swim suit out of her purse. The purse was big, almost as big as a backpack.
Conan's eyebrows went up. "Okay." He grinned. "You know me too well already." He pointed to the bathrooms. "Go change while I set up the umbrella and stuff."
Ran nodded and walked off in the direction of the bathrooms. Conan opened up the umbrella and set it at an angle with the sandy ground. Then he unfolded the beach towel and set it under the umbrella. He took the basket and put it on the towel and then sat on the towel, in the shade of the umbrella and waited. While Ran was running back in just a swim suit, Conan took off his shirt and tossed it to a side. He grinned as she ducked under the umbrella.
"What's so funny?"
"You really don't look like a 26 year old lady."
"Shinichi, don't even start."
Conan's grin grew even wider. "Alright, let's go for a swim." He got to his feet and helped Ran to hers. He was about as tall as she was even if he was ten years younger. (Not on the inside, but on the outside.)^^
Conan and Ran had the best time of their lives. They haven't been on a 'date' since ten years ago when Kudo Shinichi supposedly 'died'. As the teen and the adult were chasing each other and having fun, a man with green eyes looked at them from behind his dark sunglasses. It's not over Kudo, at least, not yet. Another person stood next to him. That person had on dark sunglasses too. The person looked at the man, nodded, and then walked away. The man frowned and then walked away into the shadows and disappeared from sight.
~later, the group of friends met again at Masako's house~
"Hi guys, come in," Masako opened the door to let the teenager and adults pass through. "I was just going to shower. Make yourselves at home," she said as she walked into the bathroom. Minutes later, they heard the water running and settled themselves in the living room.
Ran and Conan settled themselves to a game of Sorry while Ron and Sonoko played a game of Trouble.
"So, Shin-, I mean, Conan, how did you meet Masako?"
"Oh, I met her when I was a freshman. She was 2 years ahead of me, well, us, and had been the head of the soccer team. When I joined, that's when I met her." Conan moved his pawn forward on the board. "Darn, so close," he said as he picked up the card and laid it face-up in the other pile.
"I see, but how come you came to America with her?" Ran drew the card and got a 'move from start' card. "Alright!"
"Not fair," Conan said as he drew a card. It was a one, but could also be played as a 'move from start'. "I guess that's alright too." He moved his pawn. "Well, my parents had sorted that out. They had known Takashiki from our soccer games and she was leaving for America anyway. She's also real smart so I guess my parents trusted her."
"No wonder she's so fluent in Japanese. If I didn't know her, I would have mistaken her for American." Ran moved her pawn. "Your turn."
"I know, but she's half American and half Japanese. That's why." Conan moved his pawn back to home. "Wow, that was a lucky card."
Ran smiled. "Oh, you sure know a lot about her, don't you?"
"Well, ten years in this body does make a difference."
"Really, like what?" Ran moved her pawn safely back to home too.
"Well, first of all, I've gotten used to being 'just a kid' and I've taken up karate and judo again. I'm also taking soccer, but Takashiki's a whiz with all the skills and tricks so I just have to ask her." Conan moved his pawn ahead 12 steps.
"I see. Anything else?"
"Well, school has never been so easy."
"Right, but what about the classes you're taking now? How do you handle those? You are back to where you left off." Ran moved her pawn ahead 5 steps.
"I've already graduated from high school because the teachers thought I was too smart so they got me to skip."
"You'd make the world records of skipping grades."
"I know, especially since Takashiki lets me look at her books so I'm already in the last year of college. She told me that if I skipped too many grades, it'll get suspicious, so I only skipped four. I'm also on the soccer team of the college." Conan looked up at Ran and smiled. "I win."
"What?" Ran looked down at the board and sure enough, all four of Conan's pawns were in the 'home'. Ran only had three in the 'home'. She smiled. "Okay, you want to play something else?"
Before Conan could answer, a male voice laughed. It was an evil laugh.
Ran gasped as she looked up and saw the man holding the gun out at them. She saw Sonoko farther behind him. She was asleep, probably because of chloroform. Conan narrowed his eyes. "So, you should be Bourbon." He said as he glared at the man holding the gun and moved his body so he was shielding Ran.
The man laughed again. "So you do know me. I'm the last leader of the Black Organization to be running around free."
"Then why have you exposed yourself?"
"I've only come to kill you, Kudo Shinichi,"
Ran gasped again.
Conan smirked. "Kudo Shinichi, I haven't heard that name in ten years."
"I know because you're going to die as Edogawa Conan, Kudo."
Conan didn't say anything.
"Too bad your friend, Haibara Ai, was so close to finding an antidote, even after all these years."
"She what?"
"I took a little visit to your professor's house when I was still in Tokyo and I overheard saying that she was real close to antidote for you." The man laughed again. "Too bad you'll never be able to return to your true form."
"That's not true," a voice rang out.
The three whipped their heads to the owner of the voice. It was Masako.
"You seemed to have forgotten I was here."
The man shifted the gun so it was now pointed at her. "What do you mean by what you said?"
"I mean exactly what I said." Masako held up her cell phone. "I suspected it would be you all along, Bourbon. I've already called the local police, the FBI, the headquarters in Osaka, and Ai." Masako looked at Conan and Ran as she crossed her arms. "Everyone's on their way here."
The man growled as he fired a shot. Conan and Ran jumped about twice their height. It wasn't because they've never seen a gun before, but because they had never been the ones in which the gun was pointed at. Conan hadn't been near a gun since he was in Japan because Masako was always worried about his safety. Masako didn't even flinch as the bullet dug a hole in the wall just besides her left arm.
"Practice aiming,"
Conan finally spoke up. "Wait, Takashiki, do you KNOW Bourbon?"
Masako smiled. "You don't?" She smirked at the fuming man in front of them. "I still have a question for you, Kudo." She glanced at Conan. "How did you know Bourbon's name? I never said anything about him." She gestured toward Bourbon.
Conan frowned. "I knew you would keep in contact with the FBI, I'm not stupid, but I also knew that you were lying to me to protect me. I don't blame you for that, but this is MY problem so I deserve to know. I bugged your phone when I called Hattori so I could know what you were talking about with his father."
Masako nodded. "I figured you wouldn't give up so easily when you asked me about the situation."
Bourbon cut in. "Enough of the chit chat, I'm armed, you know. Besides, it's about a 15 hour flight from Japan; even taking the fastest airplane wouldn't get them here before tomorrow morning. So until then, I have time to get rid of you all." He grinned. "But I don't want to spoil the fun to early either." He pointed to Ran with his free hand. "I want you get over here."
Ran's eyes grew large. I don't want to die, Shinichi. Help me. Ran looked at Conan. He narrowed his eyes and stuck an arm in front of her.
"She's not going anywhere, Bourbon."
Bourbon frowned. "You really want to die, don't you?"
"Go ahead and shoot, Bourbon," Masako cut in.
Once again, the three turned in surprise at the Japanese-American girl. She had a gun out too and it was pointed at Bourbon.
Bourbon laughed. "Go ahead and shoot me." He positioned himself in front of Conan, but still at least twenty feet across the room, next to Sonoko. "Either way, you'll hit this girl or the detective, since the bullet doesn't have enough time to stop before going through my body."
Masako grinned. "Who said I was going to shoot you?"
"What?"
Masako shifted her position. She fired the gun at the window. Glass from the window came down. Bourbon was surprised. He looked behind him, at the shattered glass, in surprise. Taking this chance, Masako dropped her gun, ran up and threw Bourbon over her shoulder, knocking him out with the judo throw. She held his arms as she shouted to Conan.
"Get some rope!"
Conan nodded as he sprinted from the room. Ran was completely dazed. As she saw that Bourbon was waking up, she screamed. Masako's eyes grew wide as the man easily overpowered her grip and punched her in the stomach. Masako stumbled back, swaying a little, before falling down on her back, and lost consciousness. Ran kept screaming as the man came near her. She was numb with fear that she couldn't move. Just before he was able grab her, Conan came back and kicked the man's hand. He landed on his feet in between Ran and the man.
"I HATE YOU!" he shouted, tears stinging his eyes. "I HATE YOU ALL, THIS STUPID DAMN ORGANIZATION THAT RUINED MY LIFE!"
He lowered his volume as Ran looked at him. Shinichi, oh, Shinichi.....
"You don't know how alone I've been, lying and hurting everyone that cares for me!" Conan looked up at the expressionless man.
"We are meant to kill, Kudo." He put emphasis on the word 'kill'.
"I don't understand why you have to kill! Killing won't get you anything! Don't you care about the people you hurt, those you sacrifice for yourself?" He gestured to Sonoko and Masako behind him.
"Why would I?" Bourbon had a feeling that this was going to led to his defeat.
"Because, you once had a family, you once loved a woman! How would they feel if they saw you now, killing hundreds, or millions of people just so you can obtain APTX4869 and live forever? If you become immortal, there still is a price to pay!" Conan shook from anger. I HATE murderers.
"What kind of price?" Bourbon narrowed his eyes. How does he know that I've only come for the apotoxin?
"It's something you won't understand unless you've experience it." Conan shook his head sadly. Then he regained his anger. He stood, waiting for Bourbon to make a move. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a streak of black pass the doorway. He frowned. What was that? Is it another member of the Black Organization, but there shouldn't be any. He gasped as he saw another man enter the room. He picked up the gun that Masako had dropped and stood up straight again. It was.....no way, what was he doing here? But it was. It was him. It was Akai Shuichi.
~to be continued~
Heeehhe, I just have to leave it off at this moment, don't I? ^^ Okay, sorry for the delay and I'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP. Thanks for the reviews, but keep them coming! Thanks again and I would like to see more reviews. It'll take a while for me to post the next chapter if no one reviews. ^^ I'll see you all in the next chapter!
~mysteriousangelgirl~
