Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan.
Roundin' Up the Bad Guys—Along with a Little One-on-One
"But it wasn't all a lie," said Ran quietly, interrupting the somehow half-tense, half-companionable silence around them.
"Hm?"
"You were talking about how I pretended that I made up the stuff about the phone call and the visits. That part was true but when I think about it, even if you had . . . you know . . . died . . . the phone calls and the visits probably would've still happened, at least to me."
His steady footfalls stopped as he turned to face her. "What do you mean?"
"Because I would've made them up anyway, and they would've become reality."
"Because you love me." His straightforwardness was so unexpected that she was caught speechless for a moment.
They had ushered Gin and Vodka to the police. Inspector Megure had come right away once he heard Shinichi's voice on the phone. Shinichi blurted out all he knew about the organization his captives had been in, with the exception of the reason for his disappearance. He didn't think he wanted to tell anyone yet, except Ran.
"The government's had us keep the Kurozukume a secret for a long time, but I guess it's only rational to tell you who it is you're dealing with. Those two may give us a clue about their whereabouts. Count on you to bring the crooks right to the police station, Kudo," a grinning Inspector Megure had said.
Shinichi grinned. "Actually, Ran did most of it. I just pitched in to help."
"Really? Is this true, Ran-kun?"
The stout man turned to the girl sitting on the bench, her head bent in reflection.
"Ran?"
"Mm?" she raised her head, her eyes leaving her clasped hands for Shinichi's and Inspector Megure's puzzled expressions. She laughed nervously. "Oh, sorry, I was thinking about something else."
The orange-clad inspector thought he understood and glanced at his wristwatch. "Whoa, sorry. In all the excitement of seeing you after so long Kudo, I've lost track of the time. You two can head on home, you're probably tired."
Shinichi didn't reply nor take his concerned eyes off of Ran, whose gaze had once again returned to her hands. It was almost in slow motion that she raised her head to meet him again, her eyes assuring him that it was nothing to worry about, their owner getting up and following Shinichi out the door.
She couldn't help but smile. "You'll always be that cocky, won't you?"
"Well, you do." His teasing grin flashed in the uncanny brightness of the moon.
I do, she thought, blushing furiously when she realized what this would indicate in different scenario. "I mean, because you're my best friend and all, it'd be so boring without you," she added hastily, starting to walk again, careful to keep her eyes on the moonlit sidewalk and nowhere else.
"Right. Because I'm your best friend." His tone was drenched in skepticism. "Ran, you admitted it to Conan, and you know that I'm Conan. So why can't you admit it to me?"
"Shut it, you," she said, elbowing him in the ribs. "Besides, I wouldn't be that comfortable with myself if I were you. Speaking of Conan, you still have to spit out the whole story . . . and why you didn't trust me enough to think I would keep a secret."
"Ran, I –"
"Save it." She stopped but didn't turn to him as she murmured, "You'll need the night to think your facts straight."
He raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "All right, whatever you say. Come by after school tomorrow."
This time, she turned to him, sharply, her eyes wide and a hint of a smile on her lips. A part of her had guessed that Shinichi was here to stay, but the other part – the afraid part – had warned her to not hope too much. "So the case is –"
She stopped as he shook his head. "No, the case isn't over yet, but we're getting there. By now, you would've already guessed what the case is."
She nodded quietly as he continued, "The people working with those two guys would want to know who had turned them in, who had exposed their operations. They won't rest until they find out, and when they do, we're in for it." She didn't say anything, and he continued, "Even if we've told the police, the Black Organization would know, and they would try to escape. I have to track them down before they do anything in retaliation."
She raised her chin decisively, almost defiantly. "I'm helping."
"No," he said sharply.
"Yes," she returned, just as sharply. "Or are you afraid I might get in the way? Tell me the truth, Shinichi."
"It's not that, it's never that," he answered after a moment's pause, and even though he averted his eyes, Ran could tell he was telling the truth. "It's just that you might get hurt –"
"As you might," she said, a spark of triumph in her voice. "Look, whatever can happen to me can and probably will happen to you. I don't want to sit around and twiddle my thumbs knowing you might be in danger."
"Now you know why I didn't tell you about before?
She opened her mouth to speak, groping for a word in reply, anything. None came.
He gripped her shoulders, locking his gaze with hers.
"You do care about me, Ran. Don't you think I know? Remember, I was Edogawa Conan. I still am, in the sense that whoever worked with those men is still a threat to me. I saw your tears. I knew what caused them, and I couldn't forgive myself knowing that it was me. But even so –"
"– you couldn't tell me. Why?" she asked, her eyes shining with tears. "If you knew how much I missed you, why didn't you say anything?"
"I did say things. But words from Conan just weren't enough. And I could only tell you so much over the phone. I couldn't tell you my true identity because I know you, Ran. I knew what you would try to do. And I would rather die myself than watch you risk your life for me."
He caught a tear cascading down her cheek with his finger. And whispered so softly he didn't know if she could hear it, "I love you, Ran." And I always will…
She started in surprise. "W-what?"
Shinichi smiled. "You heard what I said."
She looked at him, still disbelieving. They stood in silence as the tide of centuries dragged by, and then she finally relaxed, smiled through her tears, and buried her face into his shoulder, not able to hold it back any more. The long, lost nights, the pain and the silent anguish, the memories and dreams that could only console her so much all washed away with the tears evaporating into the stars.
She didn't know how long they stood there like that, the streetlamp casting them into the light, with Shinichi holding her close as she cried into his shoulder, as if to protect her from anything that would be flung their way. His fingers stroking her hair were already enough; but his whole being so close to her, holding her for both their sakes, for the sake of seventeen years' memories that was meant for this day . . . she swore she could feel rather than hear his heart beating.
Finally she raised her head and wiped her face with the back of her hand. "You know what?" she said, "Actually, I think I would like to hear it."
"Hm?" Reluctantly, he let her go.
"About the whole Conan thing, and why you always tried to keep me from figuring it out."
"What is it?" she asked after five minutes of staring at the kitchen table and not a word from either of them.
"What?" he propped an elbow on the table and inserted his chin into his hand, his other hand.
"You look like you want to ask me about something."
"I just can't get used to you accepting the stuff about Conan so readily."
"Well… I'm still waiting for your explanation." She grinned. "Don't forget, Shinichi. I had suspected Conan as being you before, but you always managed to work your way out of it. And despite . . . despite a lot of things . . . I think a part of me did suspect. The rest of me just never gave in to it. The rest of me just didn't think it was possible. But it's possible, and I should've given in before."
He nodded. "But it's partly my fault, too, Ran. If I hadn't been so damned careful – and a wonderful mess that's gotten us into –"
"– it is a wonderful mess though, isn't it?" She asked, meeting his eyes and grinning.
He stopped and, once he caught her meaning, grinned back. He took time before answering, looking at the house he hadn't entered for months – a house filled with all sorts of dust-bunnies no matter how much Ran dropped by to keep it in order. And then he looked down at his hands, hands slightly larger than Ran's. The long fingers, the neatly trimmed fingernails, the wrist that had lengthened the circumference of his stun-gun wrist-watch by several notches, hands that only last week had sent gripping a pencil above way too easy, first-grade kanji practice sheets that were made messy with more effort than the other way around. Oddly, it was those hands that gave him the most relief at being "back". Then he looked at Ran. No, it wasn't his hands that gave him the most relief, the surest proof that he was most certainly back.
Her blue-purple eyes sparkled in the dim light given from the single lamp he had turned on, and the shadow of lock of her hair cast a temporary scar across her cheek. That scar had him written all over it, just like her eyes and her smile did. That scar was her loss, but from every loss, there was always a gain. All of this. He had done it all for her. Words raced across his mind and underneath them all was Ran. Ran. He opened his mouth to tell their meaning, but shook them off in the last minute without really knowing why. But he had learned to trust his instincts when it came to danger. He would trust them when it came to the light as well.
Instead, "Definitely."
A satisfied silence. Then, "So?"
"So what?"
"So who else knew?" She began to answer her own question, ticking off names with her fingers. "Dr. Agasa did, because Conan – er, you – was with him the first time I came across him . . . and he covered up for you way too many times to have it have been a coincidence. And your parents did . . . your mom covered up for you once . . . and Heiji did! That was why he was always calling Conan – you – 'Kudo' every time he mentioned him, er, you. He probably figured it out by himself since to be honest, you make a better detective than a liar. Did anyone else know?"
"Yeah. Ai."
She raised her eyebrows. "I know you have a good reason for telling her."
"I do have a good reason. I didn't. She knew it herself."
Shinichi didn't need to hear her "Wha?" to explain. "No doubt you know those two men were the ones that turned me into Conan."
She nodded.
"They were making an illegal trade or something, and I snuck up on them. One of them – Gin – came up behind me when I wasn't looking and hit me over the head with something. They force-fed me some pill while I was still paralyzed. When I woke up, I trapped in the body of a six-year-old kid, namely myself, except about ten years younger."
"And then," she picked up, "you went to Dr. Agasa for help. Then I arrived. And the rest is as I know it. So where does Ai fit in? And how did she know who you were without you telling her?"
"I'm getting to that," he answered. "See, Haibara-san is like me. She also took the same pill, APTX-4869, that turned me into Conan."
Her eyes widened, but she didn't say anything.
"Her real name is Miyano Shiho, and she used to be in the same organization as Gin and Vodka. Gin killed her older sister and was going to kill her too, but she took the drug she herself made, to kill herself. Instead, it turned her into pretty much the same thing it turned me into."
"She made it…? So that was why she seemed so much like you . . . " she whispered to herself. "So then . . . "
"It was also Ai-kun who made the antidote, this morning."
"And you went to Dr. Agasa's house to get it."
He nodded.
"And, knowing you, you were eavesdropping on me when I was on the phone. You took the antidote after dinner and followed me."
He nodded again, this time smiling. "Sounds like me."
"Sure does," she agreed. "You know what else sounds like you?"
He jumped in his seat, blue eyes wide, at the ominous sound of a fist slamming onto the table, leaving a trail of smoke on the ill-fated wood with a dent to match. The flash of mischief in her eyes out-ruled the makeshift scowl on her lips – Ran never scowled naturally.
"If I remember correctly, didn't a certain little boy hear very, very frequently from a certain nee-chan of his that when a certain friend of hers came back from wherever the certain heck that certain he was, that certain she would pound the certain crud out of that certain him?" She jumped onto the table, aiming a kick at Shinichi's black hair.
"Crap," he muttered as he put two feet's worth of distance between him and Ran, diving under the table in hopes of a very brief barrier between the menace he hadn't counted on.
"I'm guessing it does ring a bell." She was already after him almost before her feet touched the carpet.
Her vacant chair yielded itself as he crawled out from under the table, tipping it over and losing a flip-flop to his hurry. He took the stairs three at a time, yelping and encouraging his speed along when Ran chucked his lost flip-flop at the back of his head.
A slam of the door as he ducked into his room, followed by the muffled sound of feet on the stairs as she hurried after him. The opening of the previously slammed door, and the slamming of that same misfortunate door.
"Stay still!" Obvious frustration tinged her voice as he leapt from the bed to the desk to the floor, doing whatever he could to duck her onslaught of fists.
"Now why would I want to do that?" he wondered, grinning again at her vain attempts even though he knew that her experience would get the better of his luck sooner or later.
She stopped and planted her fists on her hips. "Because you know it's useless, Shinichi!" She could have read his mind.
"Um . . . " his eyes wandered to the door, " . . . love to stay and chat, but I gotta run away from a maniacal freak right now. Bye!" He breached past enemy lines, opened the door, slammed it and leapt down the stairs before she could utter out a peep in protest.
Ran was speechless for a moment, and then her face assumed the annoyed mask with which she had started the predator-prey war, given away only by a twinkle in her eyes that bespoke delight. "Shinichi . . . " she muttered, starting to go after him when the contents of a drawer in his bed stand, that had probably come loose during the roughhousing, caught her eye. She opened the drawer, picking up the single inhabitant within. "Shinichi . . . " she whispered again this time without any of the annoyance as before, caressing the wonderful name with her voice. Her features had softened to the ones that would be rightfully called Mouri Ran's and the twinkle within her eyes thrived into an all-out glow. Maybe I'll let this slide…just once.
Shinichi had been catching his breath on the couch when she walked into the living room. With a yelp he ducked behind the couch.
"Relax. I've decided to be nice and forget about the whole 'promise to grind your bones to make my bread' thing. For now."
He sighed in relief, tumbling back onto the couch from the back. Then he sat up, eyebrows raised in question. "Why the sudden mercy?"
She sat down beside him, meeting him square in the eyes. "Where'd you get this?"
He took the picture from her hand, crimson coloring his cheeks when he realized which one it was.
"Um . . . "
That was all the answer he cared to give at the moment as a small, reminiscing grin touched his lips. It was a picture of Ran, taken about two years ago, a year before the Conan incident. They had been visiting Shinichi's parents then, all the way in New York. Her smile back then was every bit of Ran as it was now, only now, there was a lot more within it. It was amazing how someone could change in only a year's time. The Ran before him, looking at him with one eyebrow slightly raised in question . . . she was just so much more than the one in the picture. And he loved the one in the picture to no end. The real-life Ran was exactly the same, only with more. She had gained so much… and she had had already more than enough to start. So how much exactly, did he love her now? He could only hope that he would solve that particular mystery . . . someday.
He glanced at Ran before him, who was trying to guess what he was thinking. Her head was slightly tilted to one side, her hair brushing gently against her cheek on the other. She was so . . . amazing. He had unbelievably high ambitions if he truly wanted to know how much he loved her. No, he didn't need a definite answer. Just loving her was enough. Just loving her this much. This mystery. After all, some mysteries were made to remain unsolved . . . only admired forever, and loved even longer. He had done the latter two faithfully, and he knew he always would. And he wouldn't need to solve her someday. She would always keep him guessing. You could live a lifetime and not realize how much someone meant to you. He was sure glad that he did . . . just a hint of the truth.
"I thought your mom had it," she said, when he gave no other explanation.
"I think she guessed that I wanted it," he finally answered gently. She made a small noise, half in confusion, half in surprise that would register several seconds later into a delighted gratefulness. He answered by smiling softly in amusement, taking her hand into his and circling his other arm gently around her waist.
Ran met his gaze, looked into the eyes she had known for most of her life, had known even before that. Eyes revealing a soul that had been made partly for her, a soul that would always be the way she saw it now, because that soul possessed Shinichi. She squeezed the hand that held hers and rested her head on his shoulder.
She whispered into his ear, "Whatever's going to happen, let it. I'm ready."