Chapter III: Gun and Blade

Morning arrived a bit too quickly. Last night, Conan and Tae managed to gather what Tae needed in order to prepare for upcoming school. It was Sunday, where Tae was still asleep in the couch. Conan woke up about an hour after the light broke the darkness.

Conan scampered about, wheeling off on his skateboard. Tae remained in slumber while Conan vanished for an hour. He was visiting the ever-so-lazy Richard Moore, who was mumbling incoherently to himself. Conan shook his head, then returned to his original home, finding his companion still asleep. Conan ran his fingers through his hair--he realized it had ruffled itself slightly roughly from the wind's pressure.

"Yo. Rachel."

Tae merely groaned and turned with a most drowsy response of, "Too....early......." Conan grinned. He always thought Rachel awakened herself at this time of day. The light of the orange sun mixed with red was still dim, anyway. Conan turned around, lept up onto the windowsill and stared out at the horizon. In a sudden movement, something soft knocked Conan to the ground, easily dragging him into a disadvantage.

"What the--"

"HAH!" Tae jumped from the couch in front of Conan. "You actually thought I was asleep!"

Conan rubbed his head without any signs of amusement. "Har har har," he answered mockingly, lifting himself off the carpet. Conan swayed when he was brought to his feet, but regained balance in a second. His hand was still on his head.

Tae laughed merrily, though had an apologizing tone as well. "I'm sorry! I guess I couldn't help myself since I'm a kid now." She had a young, cheerful smile about her. Tae turned her head to look at the horizon. "Wow, it is pretty early..."

"Yeah," Conan flatly replied, though forgiving her in his voice without speaking it. Tae had another expression on her face, however. Conan was suspicious she had an odd thing in mind...

"Jimmy. Let's go see my dad. I know you can think of something for him to believe I'm not a shrunken kid."

"Actually, I do..."

"Great." Tae burst out the door and halted next to Conan's skateboard. "You can tell me on the way there."

Conan was astonished, watching Tae's every move. He then nodded and stepped up onto the board, followed by an eager Tae. Conan then activated the solar energy part of it as he stepped on a black button with his right foot. Tae looked down at the grass being blown by an unseen force. A jerky movement alarmed her as the skateboard blasted away into the road.

Several minutes later, they arrived at the doorsteps of the Moores' house. Tae entered first, leaving Conan to follow. After what he suggested, Tae decided it was good enough to fool her father. She strolled into the kitchen, her long, brown hair flowing behind. Conan was literally commanded to linger in the living room with Richard, whom's every movement he quietly and keenly spectated. In the kitchen was a series of clatters of pots and pans. Soon enough, a sweet scent of food drifted into the room, which was quite convincing that Tae was still able to do what she previously could do. Conan dreamily sniffed at the air.

"Tae, you sure you haven't been decreasing the time you train your martial arts skills?" Conan rang out in a dazed voice. Tae took this offensively, then realized he was referring to her cooking, though she laughed mockingly.

"Well, Conan, for once you've actually had a good idea for me to benefit from besides getting killed," she answered with enthusiasm and teasing. Conan laughed falsely, then watched Richard as he spoke many things unaudible. Conan shook his head--Richard, that babbling fool. Conan turned his head as saw another item catch his sight. A bottle of bluish vodka. Long ago, there had been a murder, the victim a diplomat and his 'wife' the murderer. Earlier that day, his rival, Harley Hartwell, also known as the Kudo of the West, had given Conan vodka, disguising it by claiming it could help Conan's cold. Later, Conan discovered it temporarily returned him to his normal form, though in a very painful cycle.

Tae returned with the food a few minutes later. She placed it in front of the still slumbering Richard, then handed a bit to Conan and herself. They consumed their food, no complaints whatsoever. After they had finished, Tae and Conan left the house back to Jimmy's house. Tae wondered how her father will react when he finds food in front of him--and the note she left, explaining her business with Kudo and several others.

-----

Upon arriving at Kudo's house, Tae switched the television on and she flipped through the channels. Conan, however, wandered into the room that happened to be a small library of its own. His sight slowly hovered over each spine of a novel. Fantasy, mystery, horror, drama...so many categories lined the shelves. After a long wait of 12 minutes, Conan jumped up to tip a book on supernatural cases. It slowly tilted further and steadily lowered itself until the hardcover book tummbled and plummeted into Conan's hands, who fell witht he book as he caught it. "Ow..." Conan raised his head and shook it rapidly, only causing him to become dizzy. A few seconds passed before Conan's sight and mind could focus, then lifted himself onto a chair. He opened the large book, the cover with shadowy figures and the back with almost the same. He flipped through the pages that told of cases unsolved, all taking place in places rumored to be filled with dreaded apparations. There were only two live witnesses, but two wasn't enough to confirm the existence of phantoms.

While young Tae clicked away at the remote, she came upon the news. There was a very dangerous rivalry in Tokyo--two innocent lives were killed and the two murderers, unidentified, were discovered to have an intense hate against each other. One had a dagger, the other with a rapid machine gun. Tae stared as she watched Inspector Meguire with the police...and her father! He was at the scene of the first victim.

"This one had been killed by the dagger murderer," they reported, Rachel's father in his usual baffled trance. The second victim is yet to be found. Here was quite a struggle. From what we deducted, the innocent person had came upon the two enemies fighting. He must've been accidentally massacred when the dagger wielder made a blind slash at the gunman and hit this person instead. There is a long slash mark across his side and stomach, and abruptly stops at the other side of the body, where there was a more deeper wound."

"Well, I for one, think the two didn't want witnesses," Richard Moore declared, looking a bit grim at the sight of the corpse.

:-x-: End of page one. Stay viewing the story as page two will unfold. The source bhind Tae Niu's name: Tae from Tae Kwon Do, ponounced differently. Niu is part of a Chinese swordswoman from long ago. :-x-: