Selfish but imma try to fix it

The house was just over the street, a bridge hanging on the path towards it. The small river underneath was cold but fast, the water clear enough to see the first rocks. On days like these, walk in the sun would grant just enough heat to ignore to cold, but what can fish say about that? They are forever cold, forever protected by the cold waves, forever safe. The overall flora around the house was nicely kept, same with the neighborhood, the trees small and bushes cut. All around the house, there was garden, blooming beautifully in it's last moments of morning. Not that Shinichi was a novice to flower types or something, but he asked Ai-chan about the name of some of the beautiful flowers to perhaps give to Ran later. No real reason, since it wasn't a romantic thing anyway - it was just that making his friend happy was one of his favorite things to do, especially when they did not see each other in proper ages for some time. She saw so much murder and dead people in her life, the only flowers she knows shouldn't only be the ones on graveyards.

About that romantic thing, though...

He talked to her over the phone yesterday, and, apparently, she... got someone else now. It could never change the fact that Shinichi loves her, of course, and if something would fail he would be there for her, but to be honest now that he thought about it... wow, he misses 3 days of being around her as Conan and she already has...-!

Back to topic.

Of course a lady selling drugs would somehow get the money for all that pretty plants. - even if the police got her under observation now, they would not straight up sell some vases with a few greens inside just because of that. Nevertheless, an approving whistle can be heard out of Kaito as he looks over the flowers. The group stepped out of the car as soon as it stopped, the neat path to the house not having even a crack in the bricks. How nice.

"well, this looks well kept. I hope our information source is home and not buying some more lawnmowers just because the previous one cut a half of an inch too high." Kaito steeped towards the door, looking over the windows if the woman was inside. It was pretty dark, so he could not tell. Hattori tensed, ready for hostility, for answering questions to the current observing personnel, even for a black organization member inside. All that was coming, however, was stillness.

*Knock*

"..."

"Maybe she didn't hear?"

*Knock* *Knock*

"Let's just...Wait a sec?"

"Seems like it won't work. She would have heard. Now, let's just..."

...Aaaaaand Kaito lockpicked the door. Amazing. Heiji would have reminded him that it's technically breaking and entering and it's illegal and all, but currently his thoughts were occupied. Does the vial work, where the woman could be, how is the case going back at the precinct, why is no one around, this and that - Oh look, they are inside already!

Ever since he got tortured, both with self-torture toxin and BO members torture, his attention span got shorter and shorter. Being hot-headed and tense was his thing though, so no one noticed his evolving paranoia. He hoped it would get better with time, as for now he was stuck here to both continue the case and keep an eye out on Kudo - since the bastards could be anywhere and he knew it well.

He felt an arm on his shoulder, barely fighting the instinct to flinch. It was Kudo, he knew, as the only person who was behind him on the right was the young detective. He turned lightly, picking up on Shinichi trying to get his attention in checking the surroundings.

"Does this seem off to any of you?" Kudo asked, getting in his detective mode, his eyes focused on scanning the terrain. Hattori knew he was asking the group, but he felt that in reality he was just silently portraying his fear into him to help them both deal with the possibility they started to expect long time ago.

"There! look, that's...-!" They followed, not paying much attention to the darkness in the house or decor but all the blood on the floor, a clear trial of dragging.

"Here we go again..."

"...Please don't tell me she's..." there was just enough light to tell. Their lead, as some would expect from the criminals already, was taken care of - by that we mean dead. Just... Dead. They all came here to find their only trial dead. All this work, just for this one clue, and she was just there, eyes open and mouth full of blood, staring at them and their failure. Who even cares that it was predictable, it was his only chance... wasted!

"Ugh, i can't even look at this. You detectives do the job, i'm just calling the cops. Fucking unbelievable that a person that was supposed to be observed is laying dead, undiscovered by what looks like to be 6 hours." His disappointment was audible, in contrast to everyone else still processing the event and how to bottle the anger inside. Then, as most of the times before, Hattori broke the tension;

"'Yo sure a thief should call the cops? Not scared at all?" Heiji turned on his heel, honestly just done with this all. Damn, even Kudo couldn't catch these guys in such a long time, what was he even thinking?... Police his ass. Oh, wait, are there going to be multiple bodies or just one? He still always liked a good mystery on his good days, but being unsure about ...anything... canceled that possibility out.

"Point, but i'm the only disguise master around that fooled them 10000 times already." He smiled with triumph, but quickly remembered that it wasn't a good time for that. He followed his retort with "Professor, i don't think that's good for your health either to look at such things...Is outside better?"

"Well... I would watch out, there can be more bodies 'round. These people... These bastards, they had a few policemen on observation duty to get rid of too. I...I'm sorry." Kaito felt a grimace lightly show on his face, but when a sad sigh followed, it left a slightly raised level of depression around the room. ...Really, how much more grim could it be when there already was a dead body in the room?!

"Poor woman. Everybody chained to the organization ends up like this, every time, and even if she did some wrong, it still just makes me so...!..so..." Ai couldn't finish. Her mood was just fine this morning, and here she ended up, ready to vomit at the sight of the bloody body. ...She really did get softer, didn't she? - Kudo thought passively. He also felt bad, but he can't change anything about it all now, so he tried hard to convert this feeling into determination instead of fear of how close they were to ending up like her.

Yeah, trying being the keyword.

"Man, this is just tha' worst..."

"Well, i'm used to it so no problem. They got away with bigger things. This here is a classic, trust me. There probably won't be much clues, either... Hah." The answer came immediately, without emotion from his mouth. Heiji almost shuddered at the coldness of the statement, the sheer lack of Kudo's usual slyness or even hope present.

...Was this really how Kudo thought every time he tried to follow their bloody trial?... "Kudo..."

This really was a wide problem, BO being a wide organization, but it wasn't looking like an impossible to solve crime. His kidnappers were green leaves, or at least he hoped so, so maybe the same inexperienced guys would give them an opening? A clue? They have an entire police database at their disposal now, there has to be something!- Haibara just nodded in agreement to Kudo, also indifferent and prepared for his reply. Heiji cursed quietly, his hands clenching into fists. After a while he just took out his phone, texting out some things towards his dad, still with a scowl on his face. His hope was still strong, the only thing left to do being to deal with this murder and get as much as he can while he still has his hands free ; he still had a bit of hopelessness lurking within and yelling retreat at his thoughts.

He took a closer look, his east counterpart already squatting near the victim and taking samples. Of course he would, he is respected enough to have permission now - Hattori envied that quite a bit. As he also began to search for the cause of death, he noticed many repulsive bruises and marks on the victim, looking like quite a bit of blows must have been dealt. Slight foam at mouth, not to mention the blood not being all dried, cuts, bruises, stiff body, (Kaito's theory with 6 hours about right) A white n' thin... wire? - going through the victims wrist... what the actual...?

There were also some marks all over the wall now that he looked closer at it. "Was this tied there?" He thought aloud.

Not even a second after he figured it out, Shinichi simultaneously exclaimed 'yup, i got it figured out', making his count of victories one up Hattori again. Maybe he was the only one counting, but well, it mattered, alright? - The thing is, the circumstances of the death didn't just stop the detective from further thinking this time - he just started to wonder if most effective venoms were doing their job this morbidly, would his curse do the same? Would he be laying just like that, lifeless, if not for Shinichi repelling his death away? He spared him a look, continuing to wonder.

"...Ran, i think i we should go there."

"Huh? Where do you mean?" Ran asked Kazuha, both walking along the hallways of the precinct. She looked back at the sweet girl, obviously having a plan on how to get her to go. "There was just a call that Shinichi Kudo and Hattori Heiji are at the scene of the crime in a faraway town. Well, not so far if you ride in police cars..." She didn't have the time to continue as Ran popped up. "Kazuha-chan! Don't just joke like that, tell me what happened quick!" At the shine in Ran's eyes Kazuha knew she hit a bulls-eye, already half done convincing the schoolgirl.

"My dad and Heiji's dad know each otha', and they will be leaving after the main squad comes to secure tha' place. It's a bigger deal, a long and complicated case, they said. My request to travel there with them would most likely be accepted, since, ya' know, we are both technically involved." Kazuha's plan to meet Heiji and set things right wasn't forgotten by her for even a second, the opportunity that arose being the perfect one. She will just ask about the case, details and stuff...and then she will apologize. She can't just leave things like that!

...My last message from Hattori shouldn't be a meek answer to some code, containing just "some jumbled letters, glitched message", just as well as their last conversation being awkward. Especially since now she has proof...

She held Ran's hand in hers, smiling.

"...And since i know how you would love a reunion with Kudou-kun, i say i go there to kick his butt for ignoring you too."

"Kazuha-channnnn-"

They went ahead, the police car starting an exceptionally fast ride with it's siren blaring perfectly to the rhythm of policemen hearts.

Even more of the body was seen as Haibara, the only person in the room who thought about it, turned on the lights on 100%. This old case in a dark candle-lit mansion really did a number on their eyes, since even without that both detectives were sure all the things to be found were already discovered.

"God damn it!"-Ai exclaimed, for once actually under pressure from both other people and from her own revenge. She was tired of all this death, all this torture, of these guys doing all they want! She already knew what exactly caused this death, but god was she angry.

She knew also that the vial she gave Heiji wasn't going to work forever, and that Kudo trapped in his younger body needed to be atoned for. Even so, the karma was never getting these guys, the people in question slipping right through their fingers. Every. Damn. Time.

This day she had hope, but it did not work anyway.

"You recognize something, Haibara-chan?" Hattori asked, getting up and examining the nearby walls once again. Seems like the victim was tugged through the floor while bleeding, then tied to the walls - although the white wire was probably tugged only as she fell down, perhaps closing the door for another one of "closed room" mysteries that the police took 2 hours to figure out nowadays. Although the murder weapon was hard to recognize, as the body didn't have any concrete marks on it, it may take them more to start guessing if it was a chemical murder.

"I'm pissed because it's poison. Again." Ai started, scoffed, waited, and... "You know what, i will join the professor and the cosplayer outside. I need some good conversation and this isn't gonna work."

sigh.

Noon, Victim's house

Kudo was, to put it simply, losing hope. More people approached the house, the police already looking in their general direction now, a few murder-related professions standing by the door. His thoughts were pretty much -We won't get any info out now, will we?- but also going in the direction that -maybe there are clues as to their location somewhere he didn't look?- dimmed by -if she was killed because they knew she wouldn't stay silent, surely they would take everything suggesting such things away. We are back to base one.-

He looked at the once determined faces of the people hurt by the same cause. The cause that there was a hope of abolishing. Until now.

Welp. Gotta figure out a new plan.

As everybody met near the car, Kaito being a bit behind, he didn't even have the time to think about what to say to the police about this stuff, or how to respond if someone recognized him before being snatched away to the side by a pair of kendo-trained hands.

"Oi, what's tha plan? If ther' even is any." Heiji stood, watching expectantly with his arms crossed. Kudo caught on, replying smoothly. "Oh, the great detective of the West can't figure it out? Was i correct?"

He smirked, feeling momentarily better by still noting all respect the other people have for him. The other huffed just like he expected, reminded of the cases the Osakan was one step behind on. There was a smallest of smiles on his lips for a second, though, so, a Win.

"Nah, it's not that. I figured it out, i just doubt there are clues, and ever since yah' got blocked by them more times i thought i should ask first."

Kudo... Kudo honestly wasn't so sure in this one. They managed to slip away, one person killed, and the difference of having Hattori and Kaito Kid didn't do much currently. Was it even worth it to partner up with them? No, i can't think like that... Not now of all times, when we hit a dead end. Just gotta figure things out - Shinichi took a breath, now seriously contemplating the next step. "i...Well, we can still look for clues? You can-"

"Watch out."

"What?"

"Watch. Ou-"

Out of nowhere and with a strong impact, a full-on-running Ran-niichan crashed into Kudo's back with a sickening CRACK.

"MY GOD RAN, LET ME GO!" Kudo struggled against her hold, to no avail. The girl was glued to him, her arms locked tighter than ever. Ran was saying something against his back, a smile on her face to be sure, Kudo getting her arms a bit up so he can actually hear. "Told ya." Hattori snickered from behind, watching Shinichi struggle against an unstoppable force.

"Shinichi! You're finally back!" She was looking like a lighted up Christmas tree, her bright smile and happy eyes all but eating her best friend with joy. "I h-had a feeling you would be here! I m-missed you so much, why didn't you phone me that you are here so we can meet up?!" And there she goes, angry mode activated. Hattori's snickering subdued, now looking away from the pair of teenagers towards the other guest he wished he would have 'watched out' for. Kazuha was a few meters behind Ran, apparently mid-word when she had ran off. Her face was already turning towards him, judgmental and ready and just so, so-...

Hattori seriously didn't want to deal with this, especially since he had more important things to do.

In hopes of escape he sneakily did a 'run for yo life' maneuver, throwing his comrade one longing look from the inside of his safe zone, the murder scene.

"Heiji, wait just a second." Hattori Heizo was calling out to the teen, the police car he was just in turning off it's sirens. He didn't look happy, and certainly not up for a cheerful conversation. Surprising how he was so fast in getting here, Osaka was so far away he must have been here for business beforehand or something...

People were walking all over the crime scene, taking samples, analyzing blood, checking the documents - Normal stuff, verifying with the chief from time to time. Couldn't his dad just focus on his subordinates instead of him? Heiji quietly lamented in his fuzzy thoughts, his mind wanting nothing more than to just sit somewhere and think about the case ; the other thing though, Heiji didn't want to talk. All this is probably gonna come back to him making a mess on the crime scenes and perhaps a reprymend for his inability to prevent this stuff. He thought he had this-

"You look like a disaster! Yo' mother was worried sick since tha' attack you informed us about on Kazuha..." His normally stoic attitude shifted, like a slap to the cheek Heiji took a step back. "Wh..Wha? Yo..." But the father continued, coming closer and setting himself on a chair belonging to the victim near. "You probably blame yourself, and Kazuha? If she got hurt the last thing you would have said to her would be an argument! Make peace with her, leave the scene to me." His voice was absolute, stern, testing Heiji and just so full of weirdness it was painful to hear. It wouldn't be the first time Hattori Heizou started talking in a manner thet made you not have any idea about it's meaning; was it sarcasm, a joke, maybe even loathing?

"Dad, it's not tha' bad-"

"Come. You will feel better." Heiji's plan was in shreds, the only thing other than himself to point out his failure getting closer. He braced-

braced-

His legs kept him in place, the wood making moving Haizou's son quite difficult. "Hattori, why are ya' being so stubborn today?" The rather comically looking scene earned the chief of police a few tilted stares, the rather childish behavior of a young detective gluing their sights on how the action could develop.

Unexpectedly, there was a sound of the front door opening, a brown haired girl walking through it.

"Heiji!" Kazuha threw himself at him, squeezing hard enough to make his bruises burn like hellfire. Shit, please just get off! - But with Heizou watching, he just croaked out a low... "Uh...Hi, Kazuha? Jus' doin' my job, yet you.. uh... hug me?" He petted the girl awkwardly, her hugging not stopping. She noted that tension, remembering that her friend was still sour. "Heiji! I wanted..-! I wanted to apolog-!" Kazuha was cut off from finishing however as Hattori scowled at Heiji dangerously.

"Don't be so harsh, son. I wouldn't want you to screw up other things as well as this case."

Ouch, he should have prepared for that one... it was like that every time lately, him unprepared, that is. The thought lingered in his mind, his hand unconsciously gripping a piece of glass in his pocket.

Chest stiff he put Kazuha away, making note to be cold, he turned to his father. He needed to explain everything, save his father some work, fix his mistakes... His time wasn't limited anymore as he had an anti-vial in his pocket to fend off his symptoms, so whatever.

"I won't screw anything up anymore. Kazuha-chan, we can talk later." He brushed her off, her hands now gripping empty air. She was confused for a solid 5 seconds ; more about if Heiji was warming up to her or the opposite really. "Heiji..?"

"Later, Kazuha."

The old man's eyebrows shook for a second, but he nodded and assisted Kazuha away to talk in private. Seems like his plan to cheer his son failed, and now he was discovering his worsened state wasn't caused by an argument... he himself wasn't a detective, but in that moment he wished he was. Just what was up with all this? Quickly passing, the thought echoed. He would need his wife on this one. Such a complicated kid, but it feels just like ...

Before chief could say anything, Heiji was in the middle of doing everything to avoid his childhood friend's eyes. Kazuha herself shook, bewildered and scared she messed up once more. She just wanted to set things right again! Why wasn't it working? She thought... "But Heiji!? I wanted to say sorry! I really want-"

"It's not a problem. Now go, some other time we will speak."

"But..." The girl looked down, saddened, turning away, understanding it wasn't the time. She was still determined, the hug feeling fresh on her skin and mind, even if dimmed by a slight denial. Even if not now, she will fix this. She felt as if now just wasn't the right moment, so she shall look for another.

she could never give up on such a thing.

...

"Hello, Chief Hattori!" Suddenly, a small Haibara stepped in, tugging on the officer's pant leg. Her smile was innocent, the facade of a child softening her speech. "We were investigating for good 3 days with professor - Shinichi and Heiji-niisan! We found so much normally all officers are very happy, why are you not happy?" Ai's attempt was sweet, but Heiji just dismissed her. "That's nice Haibara-chan, but it would never be enough. For a trial such as this, you need to find a continuation above all else..." His voice faltered near the end there, Haibara noticed.

Side eyeing the older male, Ai just innocently huffed out air, accepting Hattori's explanation. "That's very sad, Heiji-niisan..."

"Hattori. The case. I need the report, and for that i will take you to the precinct. Or, if you prefer, i can get a real detective, this Kudo guy- to do it for you?" Judging stare, impassive, again.- Sharp glare from Haibara, ignored, again. "No, it's completely alright." Hattori grinded his teeth feeling an unknown emotion, a habit he didn't do very often.

Haibara spent only less than a minute rethinking her life priorities and choices. Nothing new to say, really.