Tomorrow
Hey guys! Finally, the first chapter is out! I am really, really sorry that you had to wait so long on this… I had a lot of stuff to do. The SAT's, science fair, a 410 point LA project, a science project… But, I finally got them all done! Anyways, enjoy the story! Oh, and I had edited 'Nightfall' a couple of times, and some plot changes were made. Mainly, Shinichi didn't tell Ran he loved her. He still does, you got that for sure. She just doesn't know, yet…
A reminder:
'thoughts'
Disclaimer: Yeah. I own Detective Conan. My real name is Gosho Aoyama. Right… I can speak nearly perfect English. Did you know pigs can fly, too?
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Chapter One
'Shinichi!' She bolted out of bed, gasping for breath. She had a most peculiar dream last night. Well, maybe not that peculiar… She'd wished for her suspicions to be proven correct… Where Conan would finally admit, without any distractions, that he was really Shinichi… Her heart sank as she looked around the room. It was plain and ordinary, like her room… Nope, didn't go anywhere last night… Except…
'Oh man, why did I ever tell her? You idiot! Now the Black Organization will come and destroy her, too! Go to hell, Kudo!' He was awake, lying in his own bed, silently debating with himself about the consequences of last night's confessions. He would have liked to kick the soccer ball, but… Well, Ran was sleeping in the next room… And it might not be such a good idea to wake her in this hour of morning… Good thing it was Saturday. Now they got the weekend to discuss last night. 'Great. Just what I always wanted… Getting pounded to a pulp by Ran…'
She noiselessly made her way through the hall, heart hammering in her chest. Could it be? Was he really…Shinichi? Can last night be real? She dared not to hope. There was just too much to take in. What were the chances that her suspicions were confirmed? And yet… She didn't have the window in that corner of her room! She paused at the next door. "Shinich?"
'Peachy. Just so fucking great. I have to answer to Ran right now! I mean, if it were a couple of hours later, I could think of a response… Now what?' He shook himself of his stupor. "Yeah?"
'So we're in his house. Which means this isn't a dream!' She sighed happily. "What are you doing in there?" She had to know. If he wasn't in an…embarrassing pose…or task… She would proceed to go into the room and shoot her head off in interrogating him.
"Nothing much. Just thinking." Bad move. Way bad move.
'Yes!' She opened the door. And blinked. The scene in front of her was weird. Really weird. There was the 7 year old Shinichi, in his night-clothes, his hair even wilder than normal, and that groggy face. She couldn't help but giggle a little.
He blinked. "What? I didn't do anything!" He answered somewhat defensively.
"Oh, it's nothing, just…" She giggled again. "Your face…"
"What about it?" Confused, he crawled out of bed and navigated into the bathroom (after rubbing the bruises that he got along the way due to bumping the myriad of things in the hall). "Huh?" He was still clueless.
"Oh, forget it!"
"Okay…" 'Women! What is it with them and that giggle? I'm just sleepy, nothing to laugh about!'
"Shinichi?"
"Eyaa!" He jumped, not noticing that she had walked in after him. "Er, yeah?"
"Do you want something to eat?"
"Oh! Uh, don't worry about that. I'll make it."
"You sure?"
"Yeah." He jumped off the stool, and went out of the bathroom with Ran. "Why don't you just wait a while in the study? It'll just take a sec…"
'Sherlock Holmes… Sherlock Holmes… …and more Sherlock Holmes… Sherlock Holmes… Sherlock Holmes…Eh…talk about being obsessed.' She had browsed the shelves of the Kudo residence for the past quarter of an hour, and found, as she expected, nothing but the works of Doyle. With the occasional break from the monotony by coming upon some stories by Edogawa. As boring as it was, she was content being there, knowing that her Shinichi wasn't going to run away again and leave her all alone. Knowing that he never left, and had stayed by her through thick and thin…
"Ran!" A lone voice range through the house, a cheerful and childish voice. Not many knows of the intelligence of the so called 'child,' of his hidden pains. Not many. "Breakfast!"
She walked toward the kitchen, still lost in her thoughts. However, that train stopped when she reached her destination. There he was, in an apron and a faint smudge of flour on his cheeks. His hands held a spatula, and the table had…pancakes. That image was priceless. For a second, he acted very much like the child that he looked like. "Syrup?"
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"Shinichi?" She had paused from eating and glanced up, wanting to ask the questions that had being nagging her for some time.
"Hm?" His meal was halfway up to his mouth, and it stayed there. "Yeah?"
"Um… H-how did you get like this? I mean…" Her voice trailed off, but her hands showed the height of his current status.
He sighed and lowered the piece of food. "I… Ran, I- I…" The words never left his mouth. They were stuck to his throat, never to come out except with a crowbar.
She was…confused, to say the least. The Shinichi that she knew, before he became Conan, never had been afraid. 'So why is he…so nervous?' It worried her. To have him actually be frightened in to silence… What would be so terrifying? He had to deal with death threats all the time before this… They never bothered him… '"Because you'll die if you knew."' The words rang through her head. Maybe… Maybe it wasn't that only he'll have to die… "Shinichi? Um, if I did know what happened, would that mean that I'll be…" She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
He looked up sharply. "Yes, Ran. That's why I can't tell you. If you knew, if anyone knew, they'll be dead. Dead, Ran. Don't you get it! They- They'll kill everyone! Everyone!"
"Shinichi! Calm down, please…" She patted his trembling hand, apprehensive about his abnormal behavior. He had never, on any conditions, been this emotional…
'Deep breaths… Come on, calm down. For Ran.' Slowly, he stopped himself from going into hysteria. "Let's start over again. I- I got like this after I left you at Tropical Land that day…"
To be continued
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…and the end of Chapter 1, folks! Sorry, got to sleep now! Oh, and in this story, I won't require any number of reviews. Although I would really like to have at least some reviews… So, please be patient, I got my major stuff done, and am working as fast as I can get my ass to go…
Chinese-freak 03.08.2005