DISCLAIMER: Okay. This is Goshou Aoyama's. Not mine. Get it? Got it? Good.
Anyway!
Some people made reference to the TV Special where Hattori got... shot, I think it was? Where Kazuha, Ran, and Conan were all allowed to accompany the paramedics into the ambulance. In theory, this situation would have been no different. But that wouldn't always be the case. And this is an exception. In wanting to inform Kogorou what had happened, they didn't ask to accompany the paramedics and Ran to the hospital.
Also, on the thought that it was wierd no one wanted to check Conan out as well, the reason it didn't happen is because of Hattori picking him up. I don't know about you, but if I were to see someone near the scene holding on to a kid, I'd think the kid was just curious to see what had happened.
This chapter is really... hardly any different at all. A few things were changed, but not very much. I'll get chapter five up soon, horridly sorry for how long it's taken me, guys.
Recap of Chapter Three!
The next ten seconds went by very slowly, and yet at the same time, too fast for him to remember.
"Conan-kun!! Abunai!!"
He was thrown to the side, and landed roughly on his right arm and hip. He yelped, and his ice cream was thrown from his hand. He looked up to see what had happened, just in time to see Ran get tossed in the opposite direction of him, hit by a small red sports car that was going way too fast for the busy street it was travelling on.
His brain stopped.
A woman screamed, and he vaguely heard a man yell. "Someone call 911!!"
His mind caught up with him, and he realized what was going on, and why people were suddenly crowding onto the street. There was a horrid sinking feeling in his stomach. He sat up, and craned his neck to look around the bumper of the red car, of which a woman had stepped out of and was now crying.
Suddenly he couldn't breathe.
All the colour drained from his face, and he tried to swallow the nauseous lump growing in the pit of his stomach.
Ran was laying limp on the ground, her hair cascading haphazardly over her face and shoulders.
She'd pushed him out of the way. He'd been standing right in the middle of the crosswalk, like an idiot, staring at his bloody shoe.
He stared for another moment, willing her with his eyes to get up.
Get up, Ran... get up. Please.
He couldn't move.
Ran... Ran, don't do this!! Get up, sit up and scold me! Tell me I shouldn't have been standing there!! Ran, get up!!
He finally found his lungs.
"RAAAAAAN!!"
His ice cream fell to the ground behind him with a wet splat.
Namida wa Shitte'ru
Chapter Four: Some Unexpected Osakans, and a Milder Than Anticipated Reaction
He hadn't even remembered screaming. Suddenly, all he could see was Ran's lifeless body laying on the pavement. He stood up and scrambled toward her, muttering her name over and over to himself, praying that he was seeing things, that his Ran was okay.
He paused.
His Ran?? Where had that come from?
He vaguely noticed a pair of arms wrap themselves around his middle, and his view changed. Someone had picked him up.
He struggled.
"Hanase, I have to help Ran!" He flailed around in the arms of who had picked him up, who's face he still hadn't seen. He wasn't looking. He didn't care.
"Agh, stop flailing, Kudo! You're like a damned fish!"
He froze.
He knew that voice...
Conan snapped his head around to look up at the dark-skinned, blue-eyed face of Hattori Heiji.
"H... Hattori!!" Conan said, utterly confused, and yet he couldn't ignore the tremendous wave of relief that washed over him. Hattori would be able to help, he was sure of it!!
But wait...
What was he doing here? Conan shifted and pressed an arm against the fellow high school detective's chest. "Put me down, Hattori, Ran is.."
"I see her, Kudo. It's all right, just calm down. We'll take you back to that detective place your staying at and get her dad. Lord knows, that crazy man has the right to know..." Hattori was talking in a hushed voice. He didn't want anyone to hear him calling Conan by his actual last name. Good guy, Hattori was. ...When he wasn't nearly blowing Shinichi's cover on complete accident, that is.
Conan stared. He was right... but what did that matter now!? Ran wasn't in the hospital yet, she was still lying on the ground!
"Demo, Hattori..." He started, and looked over his shoulder, relaxing slightly in the Osakan's hold. He struggled again, only when Hattori started turning to walk away. "Hattori, what difference does that make now? She's still laying on the ground!!"
"It'll probably just work out better if you let the paramedics handle things, y'know?" Piped a voice from behind them. Both the boys turned their heads to see Hattori's childhood friend Toyama Kazuha walk up.
Conan squinted, and only then did he notice the wailing sirens. Within four seconds, there was an ambulance pulled up about fifteen feet from where Ran lay.
One man emerged from the emergency vehicle and ran over to Ran, a bag of medical supplies at his side. He set it down and began checking Ran's vitals while two other men wheeled a stretcher from the back of the vehicle over to her. They spoke in authoritative voices, and within two minutes, Ran was hoisted carefully onto the stretcher and wheeled quickly, yet safely, back to the ambulance.
One of the two men who had brought the stretcher hopped into the back of the vehicle and picked up one end of the stretcher, while the other pushed it cautiously unto the back of the ambulance. He then joined his comrade in the space left around the stretcher. The third man, who had run first to Ran's side, was now back in the passenger's side of the car, medical supplies with him. The two in the back shut the opened doors and the car sped off. Hattori and Kazuha watched after it, but Conan's eyes were transfixed on the spot where Ran had lain only a few minutes before.
There was blood on the ground.
Kazuha seemed to notice the boy's horrified gaze and followed it to the bloodstain on the asphalt. Her eyes widened and she gasped, putting a hand lightly on Hattori's shoulder.
"Heiji, let's go." She said softly, and the Osakan detective eyed her, confused. She nodded her head toward Conan. Hattori blinked, then followed Conan's line of sight just as Kazuha had. His reaction was subtle, he just closed his eyes over for a moment, and turned away so Conan couldn't stare anymore. Now he wasn't so sure that the girl was all right.
Hattori set Conan down, and turned to Kazuha, who was starting to look a distressed. She looked at him, her face slightly drawn. Ran was her friend, and this was a highly unsettling matter. She forced a smile so that he would drop his gaze. Having him stare at her like that wasn't helping.
Hattori looked back to the now dispersing crowd of people around the bloodstain that marked where Ran had been laying. She'd obviously had to have been cut by something, and it had given her a fairly large gash somewhere on her back. Although there wasn't enough blood to worry about too much blood loss, losing enough blood to leave a stain on the pavement wasn't something to be relieved about.
Hattori pat the back of Conan's shoulder lightly to gesture for him to follow. Kazuha was already on his heels. Though she was stronger than some girls, she didn't want to linger around somewhere where her friend's blood was staining open asphalt.
Conan walked slowly behind the Osakan couple, his head swimming. Hattori and Kazuha were getting smaller, they were walking at a fast pace.
What had happened? This day had suddenly become very, very confusing.
She'd been crying, so he consoled her.
He'd made breakfast, so she wouldn't have to.
He'd walked her to school, after being accused of being a stalker.
...In any other situation, he would have found that thought mildly entertaining.
She'd taken him out after school...
...and now...
The image of Ran laying on the pavement flashed in his head.
...now...
He suddenly broke into a run, pushing between his two comrades walking in front of him. Hattori swore and ran after him, followed closely by Kazuha, slightly confused but chasing after the two boys anyway.
Conan ran, without seeing much of anything, running past people, nearly running into quite a few. Hattori swore again from not far behind him when he nearly ran into a young woman whom Conan had startled.
He lunged forward and grabbed hold of the boy's wrist, stopping him short. Conan resisted and tried to keep running. Hattori dropped to his knees behind the boy.
"Do you want the same thing to happen to me or Kazuha as did to Ran?!" he said harshly, roughly grabbing ahold of his shoulder and turning him around. "What the hell are you doing, running off like that and not watching where you're going?!"
A few people around them paused and stared. A few women, perhaps thinking Hattori was Conan's caretaker, tsked and shook their heads. Kazuha caught up soon after, and stood behind Hattori, still confused.
"...Heiji...? Doushita?" She asked, quirking a brow. Hattori stood up. He looked at Kazuha over his shoulder, then snatched Conan's wrist, keeping him from running off again.
"We're almost there, don't run off again." He said, realizing that perhaps shouting wasn't the best to do in the current situation. He nodded to Kazuha, and she walked ahead of them. Hattori released Conan's wrist and followed after giving the boy a warning gaze.
Conan stood there a moment, staring after them. Hattori was right. He shouldn't have run off like that. He could have easily caused the same thing to happen all over again with someone else.
Why didn't he think once in a while?!
He followed after the Osakan couple, staring at the back of Kazuha's shoes silently.
They arrived outside of Mouri Detective Agency soon after. Hattori jogged up the steps and knocked on the door, while Kazuha turned to Conan and smiled.
"Everything will be okay, Ran-chan will be fine." She said, trying to reassure him, despite her own fear for her close friend.
She started up the stairs and waited a second for Conan to follow. She stopped behind Hattori just as the door opened.
Kogorou squinted at them.
"...omae..." He raised an eyebrow. "What are you guys doing here?" He noticed Conan, and his eyes flicked over Hattori and Kazuha, and his eyes suddenly became questioning. Where was Ran?
"...Occhan..." Conan said softly, still staring at the ground. Kogorou blinked, and turned his attention to the boy.
Hattori eyed Conan out of the corner of one of his eyes. He sighed.
"...Occhan, Ran..." He didn't exactly know how to put it.
Kogorou raised an eyebrow.
"What about Ran?"
Kazuha bit her lip, then took control of the situation.
"Mouri-han, there's been an accident." She said quite simply. Kogorou looked up at her, not quite understanding at first.
Then his face went from confused to somewhere between horrified and angry, very slowly. Conan refused to look at him. This was his fault, but he wasn't about to say anything about it, knowing Kogorou would be quite angry.
"What did you say...?" Kogorou said in a low, threataning voice. Kazuha forced a pleasant smile again, starting to fear Kogorou just a little.
"Ran-chan was involved in an accident, and has been taken to the hospital. We thought you should be the first to know, since you are her father." She scooted closer to Hattori, scooting Conan along with her, somewhat shielding him.
Kogorou stepped back from the door and opened it.
"In." He said roughly. Hattori stepped aside and let Kazuha and Conan walk in, and then followed close behind. Kogorou closed the door.
"Now, explain this to me? My daughter, Ran's been in an accident?" He said, sounding somewhere between livid and frightened.
Conan slipped out from behind Kazuha and faced Kogorou.
"It's my fault, Occhan." He said boldly, and Hattori stared at him with huge eyes, making a slight choking noise, startled. Was the boy nuts??
Kogorou raised an eyebrow. Sure, the kid was annoying, klutzy, and rather accident-prone, but he didn't think that he could cause something that would send a girl to the hospital.
"...How...?"
Conan balled his hands into fists and stared at the ground once more.
"She and I went out for ice cream after school today, and I paused in the middle of the crosswalk. Ran pushed me out of the way, because a car had almost hit me. Instead, it hit her."
Kogorou squinted. That didn't quite make sense. How did that make it his fault? It was the fault of the driver... and why was he calling her 'Ran'? Didn't he usually call her Ran-'nee-chan'?
Hattori put his hands up after a second, stepping forward.
"That's not true, Mouri-han."
Kogorou turned his attention to the dark-skinned Osakan.
"Then, enlighten me. What is the truth?" His patience was wearing thin. Something had happened to his daughter, and he wasn't being given a clear answer as to what.
Hattori sweatdropped.
"I'm not entirely sure myself, Mouri-han, I didn't see it happen. But it kind of seemed like someone wasn't paying attention, and was driving too fast down a crowded street and ended up hitting her."
Kogorou squinted. He stared at the teenage detective, then looked to Kazuha and looked her over a moment, then let his eyes fall on Conan. He was still staring at the ground, his tiny fists shaking slightly from how tightly he had them balled up. He sighed, having an unusually mature attitude about all this.
"Then I suppose you all want me to bring you along to the hospital?" He said begrudgingly, snatching his keys and coat jacket from his desk.
Conan let his hands relax and looked up to Kogorou, confused. He'd expected him to have a harsher reaction.
Kogorou stared at them, pausing in putting on his jacket.
"Well? Are you coming or not?" He headed for the door.
Kazuha and Hattori exchanged glances before both looking at Conan.
Conan looked back and forth between them, then looked back at Kogorou.
"...Yes!" He said after a moment and ran after Kogorou, who was on his way down the stairs now.
Kazuha and Hattori stared at each other, blinking, then Hattori ran after Conan, snatching Kazuha's wrist on the way.
Author's Notes: Fixed the major problems. I know, you all still think that Kogorou went too easy on them. I don't know, I kind of felt he would respond similarly... maybe I went a little too subtle... but in the first and fourth movies(the only two I've seen... grumble), when Ran was in danger, Kogorou seemed to take on a much less... irrational state. Whenever something concerning Ran pops up, he seems to go straight into dad-mode. As opposed to scary constantly-drunk Kogorou mode. Anyway. Onto the glossary.
Glossary of Japanese Terms:
hanase: "let go"... said in a kind of slang-ish way. Boys talk like that.
doushita: "what's wrong".
chan: This is used to express endearment, mostly toward girls. It is also used for little boys, pets, and even among lovers. It gives a sense of childish cuteness.
omae: "you"... Kogorou was more or less, stating that it was Hattori at the door.
han: The Osakan equivalent of "san". Osakans speak with a sort of slang, like the southern accent people in the US get. I think it's just too cute, personally.
Okay, chapter four edited. Reposted, and done. Now, all I have to do, is try and avoid any more screw-ups in chapter five! Pfft, yeah right. I know I'll do something wrong...
Reviews, welcome and appreciated!!
Sakura