Boku Ga Iru (I'm Here)
I know the series is running 350+ and eight movies. I have to wonder where this guy gets all these ideas from to keep the show running as long as it has been, really. But, I thought it was about time Shinichi Kudo actually came back and returned for good. I have no sources that say the story will end this way, or end anytime soon, for that matter. I just really want Shinichi and Ran to be together already, which is actually what this is based on...
Warning: I do not have previous knowledge on how the series is actually going to end, nor do I know if I'm anywhere close in my assumptions when I write this story. Be aware that I am in America and have only seen the fourtysome episodes that were released on television, all at the begining of the series. Seeing as I'm missing about two hundred fifty episodes and eight movies in there, I could be saying some totally wrong things in this attempt at a whole different genre (I was never really into mysteries, I'm ashamed to admit). A lot of Conan/Shinichi/Ran angst and love in here, but that's to be expected. All I'm saying is that after all of the crap the both of them have been through, they'd better wind up together. After Ran forgives Shinichi for his horribly long absence.
Disclaimer:I'll say it again--I don't own these characters. I have no idea what's going to happen to them; this is only speculation and minor fantasy living on my part. The original cast and ideas of Detective Conan belong to their rightful creator (whose name I can't recall right now but seeing as it's six thirty a.m. at the present moment, I'm hoping you'll all forgive me).
Background: It is the winter break before school begins again, and Ran has started applying to several colleges/universities, all the while desperately worried at Shinichi's continued absence. She chooses, for several reasons (all three of them male), to stay close to home and has continued persuing her modeling career as well. Her face is well-known in the business, though she hasn't really broken out mainstream, she prefers to continue along with her education and focus on modeling afterward. Conan (Shnichi) is watching this all with a sinking feeling that he is ruining Ran's life.
Notes: The points of view will be continuously changing. Sometimes they will appear in Shinichi/Conan's perspective, sometimes in Ran's, and almost always the third person view. There will be an indication at the begining of a new scene to let you know if it has changed.
Chapter 1
"Please, detective," the woman took a step forward, "tell me where my son is!"
"Why don't you tell me where he is, Ms. Mackensie?"
Everyone in the room gasped and whirled on the figure in the chair. Detective Kogorou Mouri sat in the armchair in the corner of the room, his head propped up with one arm, leaning against the rest. Conan Edogawa peeked out from behind the chair at his captive audience; he took special note of the older woman's shocked face. Turning back to face the wall, he lifted the voice-changing device back to his lips and started his explanation.
"You staged your son's kidnapping, making it seem like an outside job," Conan stated in Kogorou's voice. "You hid him, then contacted your ex-husband, Mr. Shannon, and told him Zachary was missing."
"But I recieved a phonecall--!" she tried.
"And you also recieved a ransom note, constructed of letters clipped out of a newspaper," Conan interjected. "You made that letter; I found the remainder of the newspaper in your wastebasket. And you lied about recieving a phonecall. It seems odd that a kidnapper would leave a ransom note, and then call and make the same demands over the phone, so, I had Inspector Meguire check the call records of the past week."
"There haven't been any unknown phonecalls to your house in the past month," Meguire held up the telephone files as confirmation. "And there wasn't a single call listed in the timeframe you claimed the kidnapper phoned your house."
"As a newly-divorced housewife, bills started piling up," the small detective continued in the other's voice, "I noticed them on the countertop when we first arrived. It must have been stressful, Ms. Mackensie. And you got desperate. You came up with this scheme as the perfect solution to get back at your husband for the divorce and end your debt in one move. You knew Zachary's father loved him very much and would do absolutely anything for him, including paying off a huge ransom."
"Is this true, Ellen?" Mr. Shannon blinked at her.
"Certianly not!" she shrieked. "Why would I call a detective if I thought he weren't in danger?"
"The alibi of a concerned mother," Conan answered simply. "You came to me before contacting the police, do you remember telling me that? And to skip such protocall on a missing person case is quite unusual, wouldn't you agree?" Ellen Mackensie stared at Detective Kogorou in shock. "You said Zachary didn't come home yesterday and you had assumed his father had picked him up from school. But Mr. Shannon was working yesterday, weren't you sir?"
"Y-yes," he looked from his ex-wife to the detective in the chair, "Inspector Meguire actually met me in front of my building, right Inspector?"
"He's right," Meguire nodded. "We delivered the news of his son's kidnapping as he was leaving, actually."
"He had no idea what was going on because he was at work all day long," Conan explained, "and he has an entire floor of employees to confirm this. Where were you, Ms. Mackensie?"
"I was...at the grocery store," she stammered.
"Acutally, you were picking up your son from school, as always," he continued. "Only yesterday, you did things differently. You told Zachary that morning to meet you at the end of the block instead of wait for you to come to the front of the school."
"And how would you know that?" she snapped. "Were you there?"
"No, but I have four witnesses who were."
Conan quickly retied the red bow around his neck and ran out from behind the couch and out of the room. He gestured to the three waiting outside the room and came back in with Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko in his wake. Conan ran back behind Kogorou and pulled off the bowtie, lifting it to his mouth.
"Now then," he spoke once more in Mouri's voice, "two days ago, right afterschool, where were you four?"
"Waiting by the school entrance for our parents to come and pick us up!" Mitsuhiko proclaimed, happy to be helping in an investigation.
"Was Zachary a classmate of yours?"
"Well, no," Ayumi made a face, "but he was in the class across the hall from us. We almost always saw him afterschool. He would wait in the same place as us for his mom. She always drives right up to the gate and opens the door for him."
"What a good memory," Conan grinned to himself. "Now answer me this: did you see Zachary afterschool yesterday?"
"Yeah, he got into his mom's car," Genta spoke up. "Like Ayumi said, she usually comes all the way to the gate but yesterday he ran all the way to the end of the street and then got in his mom's car."
"Come to think of it, Conan was the one who noticed him," Mitsuhiko added. Conan quickly dropped the bowtie and poked his head out from behind the couch again.
"Yeah, I thought it was weird that Zachary didn't wait for his mom to get there. He's always saying that he'd get in trouble if he left before she got there." He sat back down in his hiding place and recovered the bowtie voice-changer, cleared his throat, and continued in Mouri's voice again. "Ms. Mackensie, you told Zachary to meet you at the end of the block so that no one would notice you when you picked him up. You even forgot to play the concerned mother and didn't even bother walking in to the school to ask his teacher about his whereabouts because you already knew where he was. You went straight home, gave him a snack, and hid him in your attic." He glanced out to see the paniced look on the woman's face. "While the search for Zachary was going on here, downstairs, he's been playing quietly up in the attic like a good boy because you told him if he behaved and didn't make a sound, his daddy would come back. Am I right?"
"How could you...?" she gasped.
"Rachel and Conan found him." At his words, Ran came into the room, holding the six year old boy by the hand. "When I got suspicious, I sent the two of them to search the house. Since you yourself invited them inside, they weren't breaking any laws in doing so."
The boy confirmed everything.
"Daddy!" he squealed and ran over to his father, throwing his arms around the taller man's legs. "Mommy was right! She said if I played hide-and-seek in the attic that you would come and find me! But you took too long! I was getting hungry, and Ran gave me something to eat in the kitchen because she said you were busy talking with her daddy about something important." Conan figured he was done; he placed the bowtie back around his neck and stepped out from behind Detective Mouri to listen to the final parts of the confession. "Are you done yet? Are you going to leave again, daddy? Mommy was really sad when you left and so was I but I tired to be a big boy like you said I should but I missed you and I'm so happy you're back!"
Inspector Meguire motioned to some of his underlings and they came toward Ms. Mackensie, withdrawing handcuffs. Still holding on to his son, Mr. Shannon shook his head and waved them off.
"Please, don't do that," he said softly. "Not in front of Zachary. I don't want him without his mother."
Zachary turned to the woman kneeling on the floor: "Mommy, are you leaving now?" Tears rose up in his eyes. "Please don't go away! We just got daddy back!" The woman put her face in her hands and sobbed loudly. Mr. Shannon knelt beside her and put a hand on her back.
"Why didn't you just tell me, Ellen?" he whispered.
"I didn't know what to do!" she wailed. "I didn't want to lose Zachary like I lost you, but I was so angry...!"
Conan felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up at Ran. She was staring at the scene with a troubled expression on her face.
"Ran...?" he touched her hand.
"I...don't understand why people do things like this..." she said softly. "I can't imagine how I'd feel if someone I cared for disappeared..." Her gaze became distant. Conan knew that look--she was thinking about Shinichi Kudo. Who, ironically enough, was standing right next to her. Conan felt a wave of sadness as he realized that Ran was still very worried about him. He had to do something soon; he hadn't phoned her with the voice-changer in a while. Maybe that would assure her?
"I'm sure Shinichi will call you again soon," he spoke up. "That case is probably really, really tough if he still hasn't solved it yet."
Ran shook her head. "I don't want a call. I want to see him. I... I miss him, so much."
See? That would be hard... But, Conan always came up with something. He turned his eyes back to the scene in front of them, his eyes unfocused as he was already thinking of how to let Ran see Shinichi.