5th chapter is out, these events take place A FEW DAYS after the previous one. Hope you'll like it.
Conan woke up in the middle of the night. He was in his own room in Kudo Mansion, on his bed. He extended his hand at the other side of the bed, searching for Ai's sleeping body, but the only thing he felt under his touch was the mattress. He turned his face and apprehended that he was alone in the bed, his wife was not there. Then he narrowed his eyes and 'scanned' the room, searching for her presence, without any results. He got out of the bed and switched on the lights. As expected, she was not there. He approached the door and opened it, exiting his bedroom.
"Ai" he called but didn't hear any answer.
"Ai" he called again and, just like before, none answered.
He walked towards the bathroom and knocked at the door.
"Ai, are you there?"
None answered, so he stepped into the bathroom, which was dark inside. 'She isn't here' he thought, closing the bathroom's door.
'Maybe she was hungry and went to eat something' he hypothesized. He stretched out his arms and yawned while going downstairs to the kitchen.
"Ai" he called, switching on the lights, but she wasn't there either.
A bit of anxiety started developing into him. 'Where could she be?' he asked himself in his mind, 'She must be in the library, probably she wanted to read a book'.
He switched off the kitchen's lights and went straight to the library. He entered the immense room and switched on the lights, but he couldn't see the person he was searching for, so he explored every square meter of the room, but he didn't find her.
"Ai, where are you?"
No sounds. No voices.
Anxiety increased in his heart, who was fastening his beating. He proceeded to inspect every room of the house, including the guest rooms, but she was nowhere to be found. Sweat started flowing down on his forehead as his heartbeat increased even more. It wasn't like her to do that, leaving the house in the middle of the night without even informing him. He had also searched for a note or something like that, but there was nothing.
'Than she must be at Hakase's place' he deduced. He wore a heavy jacket over his pajamas and went out of the house.
It was cold outside, and there was also a strong wind, which brushed through his hair, ruffling it.
"Why the hell did she went out with this weather in the middle of the night?!" he mumbled, opening the gate of Kudo's Mansion and stepping out. The wind was becoming stronger and stronger as he was getting closer to the house next to his, Agasa residence. Luckily he had a copy of the keys since he used to live there almost seven days a week.
He managed to reach the main door and was having trouble with sticking the key to the lock since his hands were trembling because of the cold. After many attempts, he managed to open the door and enter the house. He immediately turned on the lights.
"Ai! Where are you?" he called with a loud voice.
While inspecting the living room, he noticed a small stain on the floor, a red stain. 'No, this can't be...', he leaned down and looked at it more carefully, it was blood. Fear was growing into him, as he headed to the kitchen, finding another bloodstain on the floor, this one was a bit larger than the previous one.
"No no no no, this can't be..." he mumbled quickly, now panicking.
He ran downstairs, reaching Ai's laboratory. He slowly opened the door, afraid of what he could find. The room was completely dark, he extended his hand to the wall, trying to find the light switch. After a few seconds, the lights turned on.
And there she was, lying on the floor with blood surrounding her.
"AI!" Conan shouted as he reached instantly her body.
He leaned down on one knee and checked her heartbeat by touching her wrist. He couldn't feel it. At that moment, he felt as the world had just crashed on him, a huge pain in the middle of his chest, and his lungs asking for more air. She was dead, and he was alone. Tears started forming in his eyes.
"No, it can't be true" he muttered with a barely audible voice, starting sobbing.
"AI WAKE UP!" he shouted, scrolling her arms with his hands. He repeated those words several times, but she wasn't moving an inch.
"No... Ai... wake up... please" he implored, sobbing and crying desperately.
"Don't leave me alone... please".
He hugged tightly her lifeless body, wetting it with his tears.
"Shinichi..." he heard her voice and gasped instantly. He looked at her corpse, but it wasn't coming from it.
"Ai..." he whispered, his eyes widened.
"Shinichi..." the voice echoed again in his mind.
"AI WHERE ARE YOU?" he cried out, looking around him with desperation.
"Shinichi, wake up!"
Conan's eyelids started opening.
"I'm here, Shinichi"
He blinked a pair of times, his vision was blurry because of the tears, but he could still recognize the face in front of him.
"Ai" he whispered and sat up straight.
"You had a nightmare, Shinichi"
"You're alive," he said with a thread of voice as tears were still flowing down on his face.
"Shhhhhh... don't worry" she whispered reassuringly, hugging him and pulling his head to her chest, driving her hand to stroke his hair. He hugged her back tightly and she didn't object, resting her chin on the top of his head and using her other hand to caress his back.
"It's only a nightmare" she reassured him with a delicate voice.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, until he calmed down and stopped sobbing. He pulled back a bit and looked at her eyes, searching for the confirmation of her being alive. She cupped his face in her hands and wiped out his tears with her thumbs, then gave him a long kiss on the forehead.
"You need to have a shower, you're soaked with sweat," she remarked gently.
"Y-yeah" he agreed, touching his wet pajamas.
"Go, I'll bring you the change of clothes," she said sweetly, then brought his face closer to hers and kissed him softly on the lips, "alright?"
He nodded and went to the bathroom to take a hot shower. In the meantime, she approached the closet and took a pair of boxers and a new pajamas for him.
'Seems that today's case has influenced me' he thought during his shower. That day he had helped the police to solve the case of a woman who was killed in her apartment by her neighbor; her husband had found her in a pool of blood, and Conan had been touched by the pain he had shown in front of everyone. Ai wasn't by his side this time, she had to work on a new project she had mentioned to him without revealing any more information.
He couldn't help but think again at the image of Ai's dead body on the floor. He needed to see her, to hear her voice. According to his needs, Ai opened the bathroom door.
"Here are your clothes, Shinichi, I'll wait for you on the bed" she notified.
"Thank you, you can sleep if you want, you don't have to wait for me," he replied, caring for her necessity to sleep. He felt guilty for waking her up in the middle of the night, even though it wasn't his fault.
"Okay" she lied, with the intention of waiting for him and checking his mood.
Conan came back to the bedroom, expecting to find it completely in the dark, instead, the lamp beside Ai's side of the bed was turned on and, contrary to what she affirmed before, she was awake, waiting for him. She wasn't properly lying on the bed as she was gonna sleep, she was sat up straight with her back leaning against the pillow.
He wasn't surprised at all, he knew that even though most of the time she acted coldly towards him, especially when in the company of other people, she cared very much for him and his feelings.
"Hey, I think I told you not to wait for me," he said with a disapproving tone, or rather faking a disapproving tone since he was glad to see that she was worried for him.
"Don't try to behave in a parental way with me, you know it doesn't suit you" she retorted, feigning indifference.
He went on the bed and approached her.
"It's two in the morning, why aren't you sleeping?" he asked despite knowing the answer, he wanted to hear that from her.
She could still see the fear in him, she had learned to read his facial expressions, especially his eyes. 'He's still afraid' she thought to herself, she felt hurt too when he was scared like this. He looked so fragile now, even if he was trying to appear strong.
"That bad dream is still bothering you, isn't it?" she asked, fully aware of the answer to her question, fixing a strand of his hair.
"I can't hide anything from you, can I?" he was also being rhetorical.
"Forget it now, come here" she opened her arms and put him into a comforting and warm hug, full of love and solidarity. She exploited the direct contact with his body to check his heartbeat and, as expected, it was accelerated.
"Your heartbeat is telling me that you won't manage to sleep in this state" she reported softly. He nodded in response to her statement, confirming her thesis.
"Turn around," she said in a whisper, holding his shoulder and turning him, who automatically followed her arms movements. His back laid on her lap and his head rested right under her neck. Ai's left hand went to stroke his hair, while her right one reached his cheek.
"Feel better now?" Ai asked him.
"I can't afford the thought of losing you" he admitted, there were sadness and pain in his voice.
She took it as a negative answer to her question, he was still thinking about the nightmare. She needed to distract him and make him focus on something else, otherwise, none of them would have slept for the rest of the night.
Her hands stopped from what they were doing and found their way to his pajamas shirt, unbuttoned and opened it, uncovering his torso. He was astonished by her action, so he lifted his gaze and stared at her with the look of a child and a blush on his face.
"Don't worry, it's not what you're thinking, just something to slow down your heartbeat" she assured with a bit of irony, cupping his face with both of her hands, causing his blush to become more intense.
"Close your eyes" she whispered, lowering his eyelids with her fingers. She placed her hands on the crooks of his shoulders and started making them flow slowly and delicately on his skin, passing on his chest to reach his stomach, then brought them back following the same path in the opposite verse. She repeated this movement, again and again, massaging and caressing him.
"You're making me lose my mind this way, you know" he muttered taking a deep sigh of contentment, his mind was going to ecstasy, completely forgetting about everything else. He was concentrated on the feeling of her soft hands on his skin, her touch felt like heaven, it was warm and gentle, and it was for him.
"Means that I'm reaching my goal" she whispered seductively, hearing him emitting a soft moan of pleasure.
A few minutes elapsed.
"You know, the nickname 'Ice Queen' doesn't suit you in moments like this," he said jokingly. She giggled.
"So do you already have another one ready?"
"Not yet but, when something comes up in my mind, I'll tell you"
"I see you feel better now, so you can sleep" she stated with a teasing tone, stopping her hands. He opened his eyes as soon as he felt her hands interrupting their caresses.
"Just a few more minutes" he begged with his puppy eyes.
Ai chuckled, amused by his childish behavior, and decided to make him happy, so she resumed her cuddles, this time making some more pressure on his skin to deepen their intensity and give him more satisfaction.
"You like this way?" she asked in a low and sensual voice, conscious of the answer thanks to his soft sounds of enjoyment.
"You're fantastic" Conan gave her a cute smile.
"I'll take it as a 'yes', but don't get too used to this, I'm gonna do it only when you will have a desperate need of relaxation" she warned him. Being so nice and lovely was not really like her, and being like this too often would 'damage' her reputation and would make him forget about her dangerous side.
"Then I'll better be extremely stressed at the end of every day" he smirked.
"You know you can't mock me" she smirked back.
He grinned, then closed his eyes again and enjoyed the lovely treatment she was giving him. A few minutes passed silently, the only audible sounds were Conan's sighs of relaxation.
"What project are you working on?" he asked curiously.
"Except making cuddles to a certain detective?" Ai teased. He chuckled.
"Today Hakase told me that you were working on that project you mentioned to me in your laboratory..." he clarified, "Can you tell me what's it about?"
"Oh that... well... it's a surprise" she whispered the last words to his ear. He opened his eyes and lifted his gaze to face her.
"I'm even more curious now" he insisted.
"That's the only thing I can say for now, but I promise you that when the right moment will come, I'll tell you" she guaranteed with a smirk on her face. Then she stopped her hands on his chest and quickly patted it a pair of times, leaving him a bit disappointed.
"That's all for today, now let's try to sleep" she brought her hands to his cheeks and leaned down for a small kiss. He lifted his back from her, then turned around to kiss her again. His lips didn't seem to want to leave hers as he cupped her face in both of his hands. After that, she pulled back a bit and he gave her a last quick kiss before establishing some distance from her and buttoning his pajamas shirt. Ai adjusted her posture on the bed, laying completely and turning off the lamp next to her side. Conan lied down beside her and put the blanket over them.
The two of them closed their eyes and tried to sleep. Conan's nightmare started to come up again in his mind as he wasn't anymore in physical contact with Ai, and the fear of having another dream like that was increasing.
"Ai, I know you've already done much for me tonight but..." he was being reluctant.
"But what?" she asked friendly.
"... would it be too much if I ask you to..." he was afraid that he was making her nervous with his fears.
"To?"
"Can you hug me?" he asked shyly.
She understood that he was still fearing that nightmare. In front of a shy and frightened Conan, she would never manage to act coldly as usual; that version of him always made emerge the sweet and caring side of her personality.
"Come here" she whispered, turning herself to him. He got closer to her and hugged her, who held the back of his head with a hand and made him snuggle into her chest, with her other hand caressing his back. This way he could hear her heartbeat and have the constant certainty that she was alive and near him.
"Sleep well, Shinichi"
"I love you"
"I love you too"
THE END
Thank you for reading my story. Reviews and comments are extremely appreciated. The next chapter is already in production, stay tuned!
