Act Two


Scene One: Play the Part (Role-reversal...Does the Mind Good)


Honestly, I would have never thought this kind of thing could happen to me. I mean, yeah--the take-place-of-another-person thing I have done, but someone taking my place? I never thought that someone could pull it off--not believably, anyway.

...should have known Kudo would be the one to do it.

But before we get to that, I should probably tell you why I really don't like to be impersonated. One: it can mess with certain elements in my life. (Like that time with Robot-san...Aoko couldn't talk to me for over a week without going red for some reason or another.) Two: it ruins my reputation. (Like those times Kaitou Kid copycats decided it was fun to attempt a heist just to lure me out or just to prove to his elementary school friends that he's really the Kaitou Kid by saying he'd steal a homerun ball from a no-hitter baseball player...)

I bet this makes you wonder why I continue to impersonate people. Well, easy enough to explain. I am always in character--that is, I don't do something that the person I'm impersonating wouldn't do. Unless I slip up...or I have to guess what they would do next...

HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW CLOSE YOU AND RAN-CHAN HAD GOTTEN IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS, KUDO?

...okay, better now.

It was inevitable that Ran-chan would want some of her fiancé's attention, seeing as how he appeared to be with Hakuba Saguru, Hattori Heiji, and Kuroba Kaito for almost twenty-four hours. I knew she'd somehow find a way to drag me--that is, Kudo Shinichi away from the men long enough to make me uncomfortable and make Kudo--that is, Kuroba Kaito pissed at me for getting Ran-chan's attention.

Honestly, Kudo, I could have gone without this incident myself...

It was during a planning-session for my scheduled heist. Kudo and I were arguing about whether or not I could wear a disguise and still be Kaitou Kid in Kudo's body, and whether or not Kudo would be willing to do the heist himself. Kudo, needless to say, was resisting both ideas and was pushing for me to postpone. I, naturally, ignored him and wondered aloud if Kudo's body could handle the stress and strain of Kid's line of work.

Kudo, as expected, asked slowly, "Are you saying I'm out-of-shape?"

I, of course, responded cheekily, "No, of course not--hm...well, maybe...just a little--"

"Oh, yeah?" he countered before holding up his hands and wiggling his fingers at me. "At least my hands don't look like a woman's."

Ooooh...low blow...especially considering the underlying insult that he was just wanting to gloat at. Yep...he was a bastard. A cold, heartless bastard.

...no wonder I like to hang around him.

I leaned back in my seat, mimicking the way that Kudo usually sat, an arm thrown over the back of the chair and my left ankle propped on my right knee as I used my right foot to lift the chair back onto its back legs. A smirk crawled its way onto my face as I attempted to shrug off the cheap shot at my masculinity. Was it my fault that I had a slightly more lithe build than Kudo? "Small hands make for good thefts, don't you know?" I responded with a cheerful air, "same for how flexible bodies make for good performances."

Oh, yeah...he hated me. XD

Ever the one who wanted to seem in control, Kudo merely snorted through his nose, lowering his hands. I had expected him to continue with his argument against any piece of him participating in my heist. What I hadn't expect was for him to suddenly flash a winning smile and cheerfully wave behind me, "Na, Ran-chan, how long have you been there?"

I blinked.

I leaned my head against the back of the chair and looked up at the ceiling to see a very irked and annoyed Ran-chan glaring at me with blue eyes that usually smiled at me. I found myself thinking: So this was how Kudo saw her. Damned if she wasn't beautiful at the same time she was scary.

Tap.

My eyes flew wide open as I felt the chair over-balance and realized that there wasn't a damn thing I could do to save myself from the fall as it was all a part of Kudo's normal routine. When Ran-chan was irked or annoyed, Kudo got hurt. Simple as that.

Bam!

"Owowowowow..." I immediately muttered and hissed under my breath as I rolled over to the side and sat myself up, rubbing the back of my sore head. Tears pricked at my eyes, and I made sure to aim a disgruntled and hateful glare over to Kudo who was purposefully not hiding a wicked grin and snicker behind his hands.

...and I have learned since then not to do that to anyone I respected. That's right...from then on, those kinds of snickers were only directed to Kudo.

"Kudo Shinichi," Ran-chan snapped heatedly, "just where have you been? I know you haven't been resting like you should. Sneaking in last night as if you were the master of sneaking. I heard you come in! Why do you think that I came to your room last night, anyway? Just because you and Kaito-kun had another one of your matches of wit...?"

Ho boy...and she was off. I just continued to sit on the ground, cowering back from her fisted hands and tense stance. Ran-chan knew karate, and unlike dodging a mop-wielding Aoko, I had no clue how to dodge any of those kinds of things. Not without giving something away. The best I could was to just sit there and take it like Kudo would...with the occasional glance over in Kudo's direction to see how he was holding up to the whole thing.

He looked to be recovering from the initial surprise. Although he hadn't let the smile fall off, as soon as Ran-chan had started the ranting, he had turned a very pale shade of white. Now, however, that the color was coming back into his cheeks, he was leaning forward in his seat with an arm on the table, fingers tapping, and the other arm's elbow propped up with that hand propping up his head. A wicked yet wide grin was on his face as he watched. It was one of those 'now you know how I live every day' looks.

I couldn't help but to agree. I had no idea just how scary it was to be Kudo Shinichi, meitantei.

"...just come in with the choices of flower arrangements and I know that you are not used to doing these kinds of things, but really, you're the one that proposed and the one that set the date, couldn't you do a little more to help out other than sneak off to a Kaitou Kid heist when you're supposed to be in bed resting? Maybe Aoko was right. Maybe Kaito-kun is becoming a bad influence on you...as if Heiji-kun wasn't enough..."

I sweatdropped at this and decided I should derail that train-of-thought as soon as I could or else there would be problems in the future. So I stood myself up and placed my hands on her shoulders as I was accustomed to seeing Kudo do to catch her attention. She stopped her rambling and blinked at my hand in confusion before looking up to me.

Luckily, the 'Kudo grave look of confession or admittance' was something I had mastered a long time ago. "You're right, Ran," I said with a firm nod. "I shouldn't be skipping out to go around chasing a thief at a time like this. Especially since I'm the one that pushed for it."

The severe look on the young woman's face washed away with that simple agreement with her words. I was a bit surprised, however, to feel her lean into my hold on her shoulders and fought to keep down an embarrassed blush. I mean, honestly, the two of them were engaged. Of course they were going to be open about their emotions...cuddling and whatnot.

...would it be wrong to admit that I was picturing someone else in Ran-chan's place? Yeah...let's keep that between us, ne?

"So what is it that you need, again? To help with flower arrangements, right?" Heh...if that was the case, I could do that easily. Perks to having a traditional mother to watch all the time when I was a child--learned a lot of crafts and talents that could be put to use during times in female disguises.

Ran-chan leaned more into my arms, and I fought the urge to back away. Kudo wouldn't have backed away...no...he would...lean in, too...

...crap.

"Actually," Ran-chan said, looking up to me again with a small smile, "I was thinking that since today is supposed to be the day you're allowed to be up and about, we could spend some more time together." A worried look came across her face then. "It's just that things are getting a little hectic and I just don't know if what I'm doing is going to be all right--"

"Hey, hey," I interrupted with a small laugh while I tried to mentally signal a distress signal to the real Kudo Shinichi who was watching another person in his body embracing his fiancée.

Rule of the trade: Hands off of what you're not going after. Keep mind focused on the goal, and if something comes up that needs to be moved around some...improvise.

This was one improv that I did not want to have a hand in.

"There's no reason to get nervous," I said in a cheerful yet soft manner that I had heard Kudo use once in a while to calm Ran-chan down when she was upset. "Things'll be okay. I'm not planning on running off anywhere dangerous again for a while. Are you?"

She slapped my chest. "Idiot," she stated fondly, "that was always you." Her head tilted up, and I nearly dashed away, leaving her to fall to the ground with no support.

I knew exactly what she expected then.

Kudo...you were late on your cue.

Play the role. Play the role. What would Kudo do in this situation? Well, in the past, he would have probably been blushing a lot and hoping to whatever deity was out there that someone would either keep everyone away or bring in a new case for him to follow up on. That's what Kudo would have done back in the past.

In that time, however, I was pretty sure that things weren't like that anymore.

...so exactly how do I give Ran-chan the expected kiss without her noticing that there was something way off about it. Like how it wasn't exactly experienced, and how it was definitely not her fiancé.

I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see--

My own face watching Ran-chan and me as we both paused where we were and stared at the new-comer to the small embrace. Kudo looked distantly disgruntled, but played his part in the mischievous counter-part by looking between the two of us. Then he poked a thumb in my direction and asked Ran-chan, "You sure he's ready for that kind of thing right now?"

Another low blow. Well, sorry, Experience-san. It happens to be that I have a lot of experience in things...just not dating...or kissing...or...other activities.

...I hate you, Kudo. Let it be noted.

Ran-chan seemed to realize that Kudo was talking about my 'just recovering' from a few weeks ago and stood up straighter, taking her hands away slightly, letting them hover near me as if she was afraid I'd suddenly shatter into pieces if handled roughtly. "Oh...your right...Shinichi should probably rest some more."

I inwardly let out a sigh of relief.

It was over. No need to panic that day. Ran-chan would play nurse-maid for a little while longer--

"KAITO!" a certain voice called from outside the room, and I paled a little at the tone of it. Kudo, taking his cue from me, seemed to mirror my expression as he cursed quietly and said, "Aw, crap. Aoko."

He looked ready to start off to look for a get-away, but paused to suspiciously look at me, managing to hide the expression from Ran-chan.

I gave a small wave as I smirked at him. "Good luck keeping her from the mop!" I offered helpfully before he cursed again and scurried off. Probably to try to find Hakuba or Hattori to defend him from Aoko's wild swings.

I think the reason for Aoko's tone then was for a small little gift I had left for her father the night before in the pool. If there was anyone she was going to take out her anger and frustration on, it would be me.

Heh...so now it goes the other way, I thought to myself smugly before I suddenly had a revelation that hit me like a ton of bricks. A reminder from the past. One of the reasons I hated to be impersonated.

I sweatdropped, remembering that particular episode with Robot-san, and tried to get passed Ran-chan as I heard some crashes coming from the next floor. "Maybe I should--"

Ran-chan clamped onto my arm. "Oh, no you don't," she said with that severe tone again. "You said you were going to help with the flower arrangements. You better not be trying to get away from a promise."

I gave her a nervous laugh. "Of course not! It's just--" Crash! "--I don't want anything to get broken, is all!"

Ran-chan didn't buy that one bit.

Not good. Not good, not good, notgoodnotgood! Let the panicking begin! While I got stuck with a wanting Ran-chan and Kudo ended up being chased around the house by a crazed Aoko, there would be no time for us to get our plans together.

Tick-tock.

Time was running out, and the two women we loved were really making things a whole lot harder for us.



Autho's Notes: cheers YATTA! HE LISTENED TO ME FOR ONCE! ...at 5 IN THE MORNING! -glares daggers of DOOM at Kaito, who sweatdrops nervously backstage- ... -coughs- Right, sorry for the long delay. -rolls eyes- It was Kaito's fault...and now that I have this out, the next scenes of Act II shouldn't be that hard to get out. -snickers- Oh, it gets fun. Promise. You know how Kaito was freaking out in the narrative at the beginning? Yeah...situation with Ran gets...interesting, right, Kaito? (Kaito: -whining- "You're so cruel to me, Editor-san! Can you at least get Hattori to give my hat back now? You didn't have to tell them where it was!") Too bad! Punishment for making the readers wait! BOHAHAHA!

...right, I'm done here. -grins and gives a small salute- Hope you all enjoyed!