Chapter 4

The light that came from the windows had signaled the sleeping Ran that morning had come. It was no earlier than 6:30 or so, when she arose from her bed. She yawned, glancing around. She was still here in her room. That night before, she thought that if she had fallen asleep, she would've woken up in the hospital room, surrounded by her father, mother, and Sonoko. But for some reason, there was still this image of a boy stuck in her mind. Like, someone else was waiting for her to awake from her distant dream.

She had a dream about him too. A little boy, wearing a red bowtie, with big framed glasses was walking towards her. The weird thing was, that he was walking very slowly towards her. While Ran just stood there, waving at the little boy to come, gesturing to come quicker. Her thoughts were soon disrupted by the yawn of her father from the other room.

"Hello pretty lady, please join me--" and then he began to snore. Ran sighed, arousing from her bed as she walked into the bathroom, grabbing her school uniform. She made a promise to herself. She vowed to stop thinking about it. Realizing that the more she thought about it, the more it would hurt. She slowly approached the bath-tub, and turned the knob letting the water flow. She watched the bath-tub fill itself up, and while she did, she heard something else:

H-Hey Ran-nee-chan..!

Awh c'mon Conan-kun! We should take a shower together!

She blinked out of reality once more, venturing into her mind once more. She knew she heard that name before. "Conan-kun?" Her lips would part, and then gazed at herself in the water's reflection. "Argh, don't worry about it..just forget all about it.."

She finished showering minutes later, buttoning her shirt, fixing her blue skirt, combing her long chestnut brown hair as she gazed at herself in the mirror. She slowly hummed to herself, before returning back to her room and began to tie her green sneakers. Once she had finished, she walked into the living room, grabbed her briefcase and walked out. She continued humming to herself, as she walked towards Shinichi's house, which wasn't really the far to begin with.

On her way to his place, she passed the electronics store. There were many tv's on display outside on the windows, while she passed she heard one of it say:

'Another case solved by 17 year old Kudo Shinichi! This time, the case involved a woman who was jealous about --'

She stopped, glancing at the tv screen. She sighed, and then smiled to herself. After a few good minutes, she continued on her journey. It didn't take her long to reach his house. The gates, amazingly, were open and she allowed herself to walk up the stairs of the house. She froze, and thus knocked on the door awaiting for Shinichi to open it.

But nobody answered...

That's weird..maybe I should try again...

She did, but still nobody answered. She began to worry, and knocked even louder. Maybe he slept in and couldn't hear her knocking on the door? She tried her best not to think so cynical about the matter. But she couldn't help herself to worry. This was Shinichi she was thinking about. Perhaps he got his nose buried in a dangerous case?

She gazed at the door, and then sighed. Shinichi..

I'd hate to do this, but..looks like I'm gonna have to do it. She closed her eyes, clenched her fists, stood in a pose and then kicked down Shinichi's door as hard as she could with her karate skills. To her amazement, the house was fairly quiet. If she didn't know that Shinichi had lived here, she would've thought that it was a ghost house, judging from it's atmosphere.

"Hello?" She called out, but no answer. She helped herself into the kitchen, but nobody was there. She checked upstairs. The bathroom? nope. His bedroom? nope. She checked every room upstairs, but there was once place that she did not check. Her lips would form an 'Oh' expression, as she ran down the stairs and approached the library which belonged to Shinichi's dad.

Maybe he stayed up reading those books of his and probably fell asleep while reading ...

It seemed like the perfect explanation, so many high hopes were in her heart. She opened the doors of the library, and found him there. He was soundly asleep, his head laying on his father's desk. She giggled, approaching him. The closer she got to him, the louder the snores became. She leaned her face to his, and watched him for awhile. She had to admit it, he looked so adorable sleeping there. Like a little baby, almost.

She blushed, as she stretched out her hand to his face. Her fingertips wanting to touch his soft cheeks. When she realized what she was about to do, she was about to retreat, when suddenly Shinichi's hand grabbed hers.

"Got me red-handed, huh?" His lips would form a smirk, his eyelids still closed.

She blushed. Part of her wanted him to hold unto her hand a little longer, but she glanced at the clock and noticed that if they didn't hurry, they'll be late for school. Her lips would open to speak, but before she could, Shinichi broke the silence himself:

"Don't worry about school, we'll take the day off" His eyes slowly opened, those blue eyes gazing up at Ran. He suddenly let go of her hand, as he stood up rubbing his head. He blinked, glancing down at what he was reading before he fell asleep.

"Umm, are you sure we should..?" Ran would ask him, noticing that he was busy placing the books where they rightfully belonged.

"Of course, that's because I tricked you.."

She blinked, arching a brow at him. "What are you.." She then thought about it, and it slowly came to her. "Wait! Don't tell me you made up that we had school today!"

"I thought you would've noticed. It IS saturday after all.."

She blushed, and then looked the other way. How come she didn't know that it was saturday? This was, feeling all too weird. "So, why did you trick me then?"

"So we could spend some time together and.." maybe I'll find out what's bothering you..

"And?"

He sighed, and then walked up to her placing his hand on her shoulder. "I'll get you to feel better somehow. Fun is what you need, Ran. Perhaps if we went to the theme park, or to the park, or to watch a movie or something, you'll feel better." He smiled, patting her shoulder. "How about it?"

She thought about it for a second. Have..fun? Seems reasonable. If she went out and spent the day having fun, then maybe she wouldn't dwell on all the negativity at the moment. How she thought about that strange little boy, his name, those voices in her head, or the mere fact that she's supposed to be in a hospital room deathly sick, instead of standing here before Shinichi. She had a nagging feeling that wouldn't go away, hopefully the day will bring about more positivity.

She nodded. "Sure, why not?"