"Ran-neechan…?"
Ran's eyes were hidden behind her bangs. Neither moved nor spoke for almost a minute.
The storm had passed.
"I'm sorry Conan-kun… I shouldn't have asked you those things."
The tiny tantei looked at her perplexed.
"I've known you long enough now to know that you don't take things lightly, and I'm sure that whatever your motive is for being here, it's important and you're doing your best."
"Ran…"
She wiped her arm across her eyes hastily and stood, releasing her grip on his arm.
"We'd better get going if we ever hope to catch up," She smiled down at him fondly.
Conan stood still for a couple seconds then threw his arms around her middle in a big comforting hug. Ran hugged him back briefly, then followed as he hurried to find Kogoro and his client.
000
Just as Conan suspected, the entire route from the missing Joutarou's place of work to his home was seemingly devoid of any evidence.
As the others looked around themselves Conan wandered off to explore the only side street that hadn't already been examined. The area was just outside the main part of down town Tokyo. Here there were only little shops and hotels with a scattering of larger business offices. There were a fair number of people milling around and going about their business during the day, but Conan suspected that there would be far less late in the evening unlike the busier sections of the city. He also noticed that some of the streetlights were in need of repair, meaning that quite likely it got pretty dark. Not bad conditions for a kidnapping at all.
"Hey Cool Kid!"
Conan looked around for a minute then spotted Jodie Saintemillion waving at him as she stepped out of a small coffee shop and walked towards him.
"Rather strange place for a kid be wandering around isn't it?" She stated, smiling at him, "I suppose you've also heard about the disappearance of Tanaka-san?"
"Do you have any information?" He asked.
"Unfortunately not much. Shuichi and I were examining this area because we had reason to believe that this case might be connected with them."
"And is it?" Conan looked up at her expectantly.
"Dunno. Could be, but there's no way to verify it." She replied with a shrug. "Those murdering SOBs are infuriatingly careful."
"What's an S-O-B?"
"Uh… Never mind."
000
"Aniki."
"What."
"It's that brat again."
"I know."
"What do you plan to do about it?"
The longhaired man crushed out his cigarette with the sole of one of his shiny black shoes, then responded,
"We'll watch him. He's smart, but still just a child. He shouldn't pose too big a threat, if any at all."
The two men stood hidden in the shadow of an office building about 50 meters away from the conversing child and FBI agent.
"What about the woman?"
" Let her be, Vermouth has plans for her."
They hurried silently away as the child in question turned suddenly to look in their direction.
000
Conan had a strange feeling that he was being watched. He turned quickly and just managed to spot two dark shadows disappear around a corner.
'Gin!'
He quickly sped after them, but when he rounded the corner there was nobody there.
Had he imagined it? Maybe his over wary mind was playing tricks on him; it wouldn't be the first time…
'No, it was them, they were here.' Something in the back of his conscious whispered.
'You can sense the evil here.'
"Hey Cool Kid! What's the hurry all of a sudden?" Jodie exclaimed rushing to catch up to him.
"Them."
Jodie looked surprised.
"They were here? Are you positive?"
"I know it was them, their presence is unmistakable."
"Do you think that they've caught on to us?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure they're suspicious. We already know that Vermouth knows, but I don't think that she's told anybody yet." Conan thought of something then. "Didn't you say you were with Shuichi-san? Where is he?"
"Ah yes! I should probably inform him of this, he is inspecting the area a couple blocks up. You should probably get in touch with your Osaka friend too."
"Don't worry, I will," Conan responded. He had promised Heiji that he would call if anything came up.
"I'll contact you if we find anything else or get any information," Jodie said as she began to walk away.
"Ditto."
"Oh and Cool Kid, take good care of Ran-chan. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that she'll be high on the hit list if you're discovered."
"I appreciate your optimism."
000
Conan pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number of his good, but sometimes obnoxious, Osaka-jin friend. He waited as the Heiji's phone rang a few times hoping he had his cell on him. He was relieved to hear a click at the other end.
"Yo."
"Do you always answer your phone like that?"
"Kudou!"
"Hattouri."
"Finally calling for the services of the great detective of the west? I knew you would give in sometime!"
"Ha ha. You should know that's not the case."
"Troubles with Neechan then?"
"Yes actually, but that wasn't the reason I called either. I need you up here now, I have a feeling something big is going to happen."
"You found a lead!"
"Kind of, and I think I saw Gin and Vodka today."
"I'll be there tomorrow morning."
"Good. Oh, and bring Kazuha with you."
"Kazuha? No prob, I doubt she'd stay behind anyway. Why?"
"Ran."
"Ooooh."
000
Conan Ran and Kogoro arrived back at the Agency where 'Meitantei Kogoro' immediately proceeded to flop onto his desk chair and pop open a beer.
"Well that was uneventful," He grumbled. "I couldn't find a damn thing."
Conan and Ran ignored him as usual.
Conan still had to meat with Agasa and Haibara and figured that he may as well take care of it now.
"Ran-neechan, I'm going to go to Agasa-hakase's house." He grabbed a jacket and pulled on his red tennis shoes.
"All right, but be back by seven okay? I'm making okonomiyaki for dinner tonight."
"Great!" he smiled briefly at her then headed out the door and down the street.
When he reached the large white house where the extraordinary genius and his long time friend resided, Conan was surprised to be greeted by none other than Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko.
"Conan-kun!" Ayumi exclaimed excitedly. "Why are you here?"
"Me? Why are you lot here?"
"We came over to see Ai-chan. We tried to invite you too but you weren't home."
"You came at a great time!" Genta said as Conan entered the large house.
"Yeah, Hakase was just about to give us another one of his boring quizzes with the silly puns." Mitsuhiko continued.
"They aren't boring!" Agasa sulked as Conan and co walked into the large living room.
"They are too! We can never solve them." Genta stated crossing his arms. Ai sat on the couch reading a boring looking magazine on nanotechnology.
Though he enjoyed appending time with them, the presence of his pint-sized friends was definitely going to make it difficult to talk to Haibara and the professor. That's when he got an idea.
"Hey guys, why don't we play hide and seek?" Agasa looked Conan strangely. He didn't usually like playing such games.
"Sure as long as I'm not it," Genta responded. There were nods of agreement from Ayumi and Mitsuhiko. "Ai-kun has to play too!" This of course played right into Conan's hands.
"How about if Haibara and I are it?" He offered.
"Two people? Won't it be unfair that way?" Mitsuhiko asked.
"It'll be more fun if it's more challenging," Ai supplied.
"All right, but no peeking while we hide!"
"Oi oi…"
The terrible trio ran off to find hiding places.
"What did you want to tell us?" Ai asked looking up from her magazine for the first time since he arrived.
"I think I've found a lead."
"Oh?" Agasa responded excitedly. "What happened?"
"We were investigating a missing-person case. The victim is a medical genius."
"The one that just found a rather interesting compound I presume." Ai stated calmly.
"How did you know about that?"
"It's been all over these magazines," She held hers up, "Hard to miss really."
"I'd like to inform you that you're the only person who reads those."
Ai made no reply.
"So you think the organization might be involved?" Agasa asked him.
"I'm almost positive."
"So what are you going to do?" Ai asked him pointedly. "Nothing reckless I hope, though that's probably asking a bit much of you." Conan ignored the last comment rather expertly.
"I've already contacted Hattouri. He'll be here tomorrow."
"Just remember to think before you act, and don't do anything without telling us first." Ai warned. "By the way, we might want to start looking for the kids before they get suspicious."
"Oh yeah."
"Remember what I just said about thinking?"
Conan glared at her.
Not much happened in this chapter, but I'm pretty sure the next one will be more interesting. Keep reading and reviewing!
And don't forget to visit me at myspace and livejournal! The links are in the previous chapter.
-CCV
For anyone involved in the DC forum, my user name is Calvados.