Alternate Universe:
Terrible Twos Part 6
Brats pt 1
Shinichi and Kaito sat side by side, staring down the stranger now sitting in the Mouri detective agency. Both boys could remember hearing stories about Heiji Hattori, but nothing worth honestly paying attention too. In regards to skill, it had been obvious Shinichi Kudo was the best and he was all Kaito needed as a praiseworthy opponent.
Now, both really wished they had paid just the slightest bit more attention to those news articles, so that they could be prepared for whatever it was Mr. Hot-shot, had in store.
Kogoro Mouri sat between the two groups, also staring at the teen detective with obvious dislike. Ran just stayed silent, serving tea as her own thoughts swam with questions. Why did this guy want Shinichi? Did he have a lead on where Shinichi might be? Why was he staring at her like that?
"Your Kudo's girlfriend, right?"
Mouri scowled and Ran nodded, a bit timidly.
"Yeah, I mean… we were talking, not necessarily… dating."
"Does Kudo call you?"
Ran frowned.
"I don't see how it's any of your business, but yeah, he does."
The teen named Hattori, smirked like he had won the jack pot.
"If he calls you, that means you're important and if you're important, that means he wouldn't leave you with no word on his whereabouts. So tell me, where is Shinichi Kudo?"
Ran slammed the cup of tea down in front of the stranger who stared at it in surprise.
"He didn't tell me," she merely replied in a quiet tone, taking a seat beside the boys who watched her, concerned. They could tell she was angry.
Hattori frowned.
"That doesn't make any sense," the teen argued, his eyebrows knit in deliberation.
Kudo was silent, watching the teen like a hawk when a sudden pain nearly made him gasp. Surprised, he glanced at Kaito who had noticed the flinch and was giving him a somewhat worried look.
Hattori and Ran also, unfortunately, noticed the movement.
"Conan-kun, are you alright?"
Conan smiled, answering in his usual childish tone. "Yeah, Ran-onee-chan, my stomach hurts a bit, that's all."
Ran gave him a sympathetic smile.
"You're probably tired from all the excitement today."
Conan chuckled nervously.
"Yeah, that's probably what it is."
"We are going to head to bed, Ran-onee-chan," Kaito stated, jumping to his feet, "good night."
Ran smiled.
"Night Marti-kun. Night Conan-kun."
She frowned. "If you get sick during the night, let me know okay? I can get you something for it."
Conan nodded as the two boys hurried out of the room.
Hattori watched them go before turning back to the teenager.
"Your little brothers?"
Ran, though annoyed with the questions, found this one in particular rather amusing.
"Oh no," she smiled, her eyes looking the way the two boys had gone, "their Shinichi's cousins."
Hattori sat up a bit straighter, suddenly interested.
"Oh?"
Ran nodded, a thoughtful look on her face.
"They really do remind me of him. Especially Conan-kun. He is so much like Shinichi, it's scary."
Heiji stared at her before a sudden thought entered his mind.
"It's pretty late at night and I came all the way from Osaka, would you mind if I stayed the night?"
Kogoro huffed, setting his newspaper down that he had been perusing.
"Why can't you get a hotel room?"
"Dad!" Ran reprimanded, dismayed by his attitude, "He did come all this way."
Mouri sighed.
"Fine, let him stay the one night, but tomorrow, you need to leave. I finally have a client and I won't let some brat get in my way."
The older man marched out of the room and Ran sighed.
"Sorry about that. I will get you some pillows and a blanket for the couch. Come with me and I will show you where things are."
Heiji followed the teen out of the room and into the living room where she indicated the couch before starting up the stairs. He hurried after her and listened to what she said carefully as she explained where everything was located.
"The waiting room we were just in on the left, is locked during the night. It connects to my father's office which no one but he is allowed in. The kitchen is down the stairs on your right. Feel free to get a drink or something to eat if you're hungry."
Hattori nodded as she turned to the upstairs doors.
"The left door is my father's bedroom. The door beside it is the bathroom, feel free to use it. The door at the end of the hall is Conan and Marti's, so please don't disturb them while they sleep. The door next to it on the right is the supply closet in case you make a mess and the door next to it is my bedroom, please respect my privacy."
Hattori nodded.
"Thank you for this, Ran Mouri."
Ran shrugged.
"I couldn't exactly throw you out at this time of night. Please wait here."
As she vanished back into her bedroom to fetch blankets and pillows, Hattori sneaked slowly up to the bedroom of the two kids and listened in. Everything was muffled, but he could make out just slightly, what they were saying.
"You had a pain?"
"Yeah, I don't know what it was from. It shook my entire body. It… it reminded me of that night, when we got injected."
…
"Side effect?"
"Maybe. You felt anything?"
"No, but you did get injected first, right? Maybe mine will come later?"
"Maybe, but hopefully not. Perhaps my body is rejecting it…?"
"That's not something to joke about, Shinichi."
Hattori frowned. Did he hear that right? That brat called the other one Shinichi?
"I know. We will just keep an eye on it. If it gets worse, I will talk to Agasa."
"If he can even doing anything to help it."
"Well, all we can do is…"
Hattori startled back as the door to Ran's room re-opened and the girl stepped out, her arms loaded down with blankets and pillows.
"Can I take those for you?" he asked, stepping up.
She stared at him, surprised he was further down the hall that she remembered, but she figured maybe he had gone to the restroom.
"Sure, is this enough?"
"Plenty, thank you."
She nodded and vanished back into her room.
Hattori frowned as he headed back down the stairs.
Something was up with those two brats and he was determined to find out what.
T_T
Kaito gasped, a sharp pain making him curl into a tight ball. Opening bleary, sleep filled eyes, he winced and gripped his stomach. It was like someone had stabbed him and kept twisting the blade every few seconds.
Shinichi woke to the cry of pain and sat up with a start, listening to his surroundings. When he heard the sharp intake of air across the room, he hurried out of his bed and over to the thief.
"Kaito, are you okay?"
"H-Hurts…"
Conan frowned, flipping on the lamp light beside the magician's bed.
The thief blinked at the sudden light in the darkness, his skin pale and clammy to the touch. Conan frowned.
"Is it a stabbing pain?"
Kaito nodded, his eyes pinched tight.
"That's what I felt yesterday. I still have a dull ache," the detective noted, "but it's not as bad. Maybe we ate something that didn't set well?"
Kaito shrugged, but gasped again as the pain flooded him.
Conan frowned, worried. He couldn't call Ran about this. They couldn't risk anything about them being found out.
"It-it's okay. If yours went away, mine probably will too. Give it time."
Conan didn't say a word, but he kept a constant vigil on the thief throughout the night until finally, both of them drifted back to sleep as the pain faded.
T_T
The following morning was a rude wakeup call for both boys. Conan and Kaito both felt a dull ache settle in the pit of their stomach and it put both boys on edge as they walked down the stairs towards the kitchen. If that pain came back, they weren't sure they could hide it; it was that severe.
"Perhaps we should talk to Agasa," Kaito whispered, "Maybe he knows something he can do to alleviate the pain a bit?"
Shinichi nodded. "I will send him a message on my cell phone. If I can convince Ran, we might be able to go over there, but…" he hesitated and glanced at Kaito who was pale and shivering just the slightest. He had an idea that he looked about the same and if Ran noticed, they wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.
Kaito understood the unspoken concern and wondered also if they would be able to convince the motherly teen that they were fine. He doubted it, but one way or another, he wasn't going to stay put. He was Kaito Kid for goodness sake, he could sneak out easily if he wanted. The problem would be bringing Shinichi with him. The detective wasn't exactly good at being inconspicuous yet, if a couple nights ago was any indication.
"What?" Shinichi snapped, seeing the small glare sent his way.
"Nothing, nothing," Kaito sighed.
He couldn't fully blame the detective. It was just how all of them were; running towards the source of danger in an effort to help. Heck, Hakuba was always butting his nose into business in which it didn't belong. He wouldn't be surprised if Shinichi was just as bad if not worse when it came to a mystery.
Conan ignored the thief who had paused, obviously thinking about something. He had the inkling he would rather not know and so he headed down the stairs; the smell of sausage and eggs making his mouth water.
Stepping into the kitchen, he was just about to call out a 'good morning' to Ran, when he froze, noticing it wasn't Ran cooking, but Heiji Hattori.
"Ah, good morning," the detective smiled.
Conan stared at him.
Kaito walked in a moment later, also freezing when he noticed it was Hattori and not Ran. Shinichi and he shared a look before heading to the table.
"Good morning," Hattori greeted with a large smile, "Marti-kun and Conan-kun, wasn't it?"
Conan nodded and Kaito stayed silent.
"If you're looking for Ran-chan, she is still sleeping. I thought I might help out and make breakfast for everyone as a thank you."
Somehow Shinichi doubted she would agree, but left it alone. Ran could put a fight if she wanted to. Besides, Ran let this guy stay the night, so obviously she didn't feel too uncomfortable around him. Shinichi trusted Ran's instinct on people and if she felt he wasn't here to do any harm, than maybe he could give him the benefit of the doubt as well.
"Would you like some juice or milk?" Heiji asked, peeking in the fridge, "I don't think they have any orange juice or anything."
"Milk is fine," Kaito spoke up.
Conan wanted to say coffee, but he knew that would be questionable, so he sighed and agreed to milk as well.
"Alright, well I made sausage and eggs. Are you boys ready to eat?"
Kaito shivered.
"Just eggs for me."
Hattori raised an eyebrow but shrugged, "okay."
He dished out the food and watched as both boys shoved the food around on their plates. Frowning, he leaned forward, noticing how pale they looked. Were they always that pale? He was sure they hadn't looked that sickly yesterday when he had met them.
"Are you alright?"
Conan chuckled nervously.
"Of course."
"Yup," Kaito added, digging into his eggs with more enthusiasm than he truly felt. He really just wanted this constant ache to go away.
Conan also pushed himself to eat, finishing his plate in record time.
"We are going to go get ready!" the two yelled and dashed back upstairs.
Heiji watched them go with concern. True, he wanted to use them in order to learn about Kudo, but they were just kids. He wondered what was wrong with them.
Kaito and Conan had just made it back into their bedroom when the pain hit again. Both collapsed to their knees, gripping their stomachs as it seemed to burn throughout their entire being.
Kaito took quick, shallow breaths, but Conan couldn't handle the pain anymore and screamed. He tried to close his voice off, not wanting to draw attention, but dark spots swam before his eyes and suddenly, he was unconscious.
Kaito stared at Shinichi, highly worried, but his own pain was so intense he feared he also might soon collapse.
"Conan! Marti!" the concerned voice of Ran shouted through the door.
Kaito tried to call out, but he couldn't handle the agony anymore. With a small cry, he allowed the black abyss of oblivion to take him.
Ran heard the small cry and hurried into the room, Hattori who had heard the earlier scream rushing in after her. The two stared in horror when they saw the boys splayed out across the floor.
"Conan! Marti!" they shouted, but their concerns went unanswered.
Sorry this is so late, I have been extremely sick and still am. Updates will be rather slow for a while.