A/N: Oh no; kill me now. I'm playing around with Saguru's character. You know that's asking for trouble, lol. XD (Coughs) Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter filled with stupid puns on names and randomness~! 8D – shot – Also, to understand the jokes, I will put the meanings of the names at the bottom – hence the numbers in parentheses that appear twice. Just for forewarning, the jokes suck. On ice. So, yeah… Moving on the chapter now. XDDD
Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito in any way or form. Or shape. (Laughs)
Chapter Nineteen
I chewed on my bottom lip absentmindedly, staring at the ground in thought. It was pretty late by now – sometime around six or seven, if I remember correctly. I blinked out of my thoughts as Akako started talking to me again. "By the way, have you come up with a name?" She asked and I furrowed my brows in confusion, head tilting slightly. "Name?" She sent me a glance that seemed to say all that needed to be said. And it did, as she glanced over my body before coming to meet my eyes again with a deadpan. Right, a name for my big-self, since I made one up for my small-self – Duh, I berated myself.
"I have, actually~!" I brightened on the outside, grin hurting my cheeks because of its size. Hm, what name should I have…oh! – "Midori~!" I chimed happily, watching her reaction.
She raised a brow in my direction. "Midori? Why that name? Not that it isn't a nice name, but there are lots of other, more meaningful, names." She stated, referring to my choice as if it was strange beyond believing. Which it really wasn't, if you knew me well enough; when you know me well enough, you tend to learn the signs of when I'm about to do something lame and/or idiotic. But, Akako didn't know me that well yet; would be creepy if she did, since we barely spent time together. Then again, she was like the epitome of creepy….
"But, it has a perfectly sound meaning." I chided lightly, winking at her smoothly. She didn't even blink at the display of cheekiness, though her interest had spiked about my name considerably. "And what would that be?" She smirked. I returned it in full. "Well, you know…," I trailed before breaking off into another grin. "(1)Green means go, after all~!" I let out a purposely obnoxious laugh as she deadpanned again. Okay, so that was a horrible joke, but I didn't really care at the moment.
After my laughter had subsided, I looked over to her with glittering eyes. "What should I do for a last name? It would be suspicious if two Koizumi's – who don't exist, mind you – suddenly appear out of nowhere." She stared at me for a moment before her eyes gained a certain quality that kind of freaked me out; she was laughing at me on the inside, I could tell.
"How about Watanabe(2)?" She offered and I nearly laughed because I realized her joke but managed to contain myself, instead watching her through half-lidded eyes, a sweat drop running down my cheek. I finally couldn't contain it and weary chuckles escaped me. "Are you serious…?" I droned and she let out a hair-raising laugh. "Of course I'm serious, dear. I, personally, think it's a good enough name. Though, you can still use Koizumi when you see fit; it doesn't really matter, either way." She crossed her arms and I sighed, shrugging before turning my head forward to see where we were walking. It seemed like we were heading back to her house.
"I guess I can use that; Watanabe Midori." A snicker slipped past my throat. "Or even Koizumi Midori." I nodded in approval at my own choices before a silence descended once again on us; this time comfortable and filled with the good humor we both shared.
ooOOoo
"Just change back and we can go to Kuroba-kun's house. Try to make it quick…Alice." I rolled my eyes at my companion's emphasis before shuffling off to the bathroom, hoping I didn't get lost, and changing back. I wiped some sweat off my forehead before changing back into my kiddy clothes, which were back to a brand of Kaito's-weird instead of Akako's-strange – both of which were interesting and neat, despite their…different tones. I chuckled before walking back out to the living room and sending a cheeky wave at the friendly witch – I mentally crossed out the 'kinda' part. Spending the day with her had proven her to be a nice person, even if it was disguised with layers of creepiness. 'Course I already knew she was nice, but that was to Kaito, and she was in love with him – no matter her denial – so I hadn't known if that kindness would be extended to others. Seems as if I worried for nothing.
She grabbed my hand as we finally made it to Kaito's street, immediately falling into the roles of older cousin and younger cousin. I could hear music seeping through the edges of the door as we came to a stop in front of it to knock, and I suddenly grew nervous. There was going to be a decent amount of people inside, no doubt. It's not like I was scared of people, but, I mean, I'm going to be the only midget in the crowd. Who's to say I'm not going to be run over or something?! I broke out into a cold sweat as nerves swept through my insides like a hurricane. My hold tightened on Akako's hand almost imperceptive, though, as I smiled to mask my true inner turmoil.
Kaito opened the door happily, immediately spotting me down beside Akako's leg – no, I was not trying to hide behind it. Goodness, who am I trying to kid? My teeth clashed together silently as I grinned up at Kaito. He let us in with a bright, ushering arm, welcoming smile on his face. "Come on in~! Everyone else is here already, actually." He chuckled wholeheartedly and the sound made me feel sick to the stomach. Everyone was here already…yay…
I could feel the blood rush out of my face, leaving it pale, but we walked in, anyways. I blinked in surprise. The room was practically empty, save for Aoko, Kaito, a girl I recognized as Keiko, and now Akako and I. Sitting on the corner of the couch somewhat stiffly was one Hakuba Saguru, looking as if he wanted to be anywhere but there at the moment, though he was doing a pretty good job at hiding it. Relief flooded me and my shoulders dropped along with my tension.
When they had said party…
They apparently only meant them five, six including me. Well, that was much more comforting. Jeez, panicking for nothing, I grumbled internally as I pasted on a childish smile and was guided by Akako to the couch where the others were. Aoko and Keiko seemed to be having an interesting conversation while snacking on chips, that were being held in a bowl, and the center of the party, as I mentioned before, was just being an extra weight on the couch. I bit back a snicker at the display.
As soon as we made it to the couch, Akako released my hand and sat on the couch gracefully while I drew curious stares in return. Kaito came up behind me, crouching down to pat my shoulder comfortingly. "This is Koizumi Alice, Akako's cousin. She's living with me for the moment." He grinned and gave me a light push forward so I could greet Keiko and Saguru. I shuffled forward shyly – gah, stares! I hate stares…
"Uhh, nice to meet you...," I offered a weak smile and bowed slightly. Keiko smiled brightly, eyes sparkling behind her glasses and introduced herself bubbly, "Nice to meet you, Alice-chan~! I'm Momoi Keiko!" I was taken aback by her high spirits, but found it comforting, fondness filtering through me. I always had a soft spot for the 'extra characters' like Keiko and Sonoko, for some reason. They were just…interesting, I guess. I absently noticed with some amusement that the frames of her glasses were actually pink, instead of the normal black I had thought before.
My attention was ripped from Keiko as a smooth and suave, slightly accented, Japanese voice spoke up. "My name is Hakuba Saguru. Nice to meet you, too, Koizumi-san." Ah, as proper as ever, I see. Even with kids, I felt my lips twitch as they threatened to rise into a large grin. My control slipped a bit and a small grin adorned my face. "If I remember correctly, Kuroba-kun told me you're from America, right?" He questioned and I almost rolled my eyes at the sort of detective quality entering his voice. I guess I couldn't blame him, though. I mean, some random girl shows up and claims to Akako's cousin, but is staying with Kaito instead…
Now that I think about it; that sounds absolutely suspicious. Not to mention ridiculous…
However, I answered right away, trying to ignore my heart fluttering at the seriousness of the situation. If he figured out anything incriminating, everything would fall out from beneath me and I'd have to make a run for it. "Hm~! I speak English and everything~!" I waved my arms around dramatically, imitating Ai's childish gestures from that one movie; The Phantom of Baker Street. His eyes seemed to soften at the enthusiastic display, but I could tell that still didn't stop his detective-blood. I scowled in irritation internally before climbing onto the couch and sitting next to Aoko who was smiling at me.
Kaito clapped his hands together, rubbing them together as he seemed to grow manic, grin growing bigger – if that was possible. "Okay, let's get this party started~!" I sweat dropped. That sounded… promising. Saguru seemed to think the same thing as he became stiffer than before, alert and waiting; for what? We would just have to wait and see.
ooOOoo
Surprisingly enough, Kaito actually hadn't done anything worth cursing loudly over. In fact, the party had been quite mellow-ish. We played some board games, talked, ate, played card games – though, we had stopped once we realized Kaito's luck was being the down fall for us all – and the like. There was one game of Twister which had ended up with several awkward situations, but, hey, it was Twister. It was supposed to put you in those weird situations. I won, though – being the smallest of them all had come in handy for maneuvering around everyone else; though, I had pouted when I had to put my hand on the color all the way on the other side of the mat. I hadn't been able to reach, which ended in my undoing that one game. Curse this tiny body.
Kaito had won that time; which was actually really impressive since he kept laughing like a maniac due to his and Saguru's position that had been composed of his butt practically shoved in the poor Brit's face. Saguru's expression had been priceless – face scrunched up in disgust, scowling, eyes wide as he tried to look everywhere but in front of himself, and a light blush since Kaito was teasing him with suggestive comments; all of which made it look like the blond just wanted to hide in a hole in mortification. Akako had been the spinner – surprise, surprise – deciding not to do something as ungraceful as Twister, and Keiko had to go home early when she remembered she was supposed to make dinner that night. Over all, it was good and amusing night, filled with laughs and jokes; even Saguru began to enjoy himself, after he had relaxed enough.
At the end of the night, goodbyes had been said – slightly bittersweet – and promises of coming back to visit when he could were exchanged between the group of friends. It felt like a private moment, so I had lingered behind the door as the others had said all these things outside the house in the night's misty coldness.
I blinked as my name was called and I peeked over the edge of the door to see Saguru calling me over with a small, content, smile. I looked to Kaito for permission, and at his nod, I ran out of the house, ignoring the cold easily. Cold weather always felt nice and I enjoyed watching my breath puff in front of me with each breath. Saguru crouched down to me, placing a warm, large hand on my shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kaito looking at us curiously, but he turned away politely as Saguru sent him a pointed look.
He turned back to me and before I knew it, I was staring into a stunning pair of honey-golden eyes, shocked. I could have sworn earlier his eyes were a pretty shade of sky blue; what happened? I stared, mesmerized with curiosity and I couldn't seem to tear my gaze away. It was almost like I was asphyxiated on them; stuck in place and heart frozen in mid-beat. He began speaking softly, to keep Kaito from overhearing us, I assume.
"Take care of him, will you? He's an idiot who always pretends everything is alright, even when he's sad." I felt like this was some type of conspiracy secret because of his whispering, but I took the words to heart. It was worrying to hear that from him who was observant, which must mean there was some truth to it; Kaito always did strike me as the type to wear a mask most of the time, but hearing it personally made me bite my lip roughly. I stared back into the Brit's eyes seriously and nodded, "I will."
He smiled softly and moved his hand to pat my head – Oi! – before he blinked, eyes returning to the sky blue from earlier, darkened because of the night sky. Like someone had snapped their fingers, the 'spell' was broken and I sucked in a deep breath as my chest loosened – I hadn't been breathing. Weird. I hadn't even noticed…
He stood up from the crouch and said his farewell to Kaito and I before leaving down the street, disappearing from sight once he turned the corner of the road. Once I caught my breath, the cold air travelling down my throat and almost burning, I turned back to Kaito with a grin and hurried back into the warmth of the house. That had been…a stranger encounter than I had expected…
ooOOoo
Once she was back in her home, Akako turned to her demon-butler with narrowed eyes. If you looked close enough, you could almost see him flinch on the receiving end of that unforgiving, crimson, stare. Either way, he asked what was bothering her, causing her to sigh deeply, brushing away a silky strand of her hair from her eyes.
"I didn't take her to get tagged. I couldn't…," Another sigh. Her butler's eyes widened a bit, his sharp teeth becoming visible as his mouth opened in disbelief. "But, Akako-sama, she needs to be tagged! With how she is now, I mean, for heaven's sake, she's a–" Akako cut him off with powerful clarity in her voice, making him flinch again as her eyes practically blared with magic. "I know that!" She snapped.
"But…," Her voice was suddenly soft. "It doesn't seem right; it'd just be more annoying trouble, for all of us."
The two of them fell into a thoughtful silence.
Review Replies:
To: Iriss-sama – Haha, yup~! Akako = Awesomeness, lol. XD And for the OC thingie, I sent you a PM, so we can chat on there for that. ^^ Thanks for your review. 8D
To: Kudo Shinichi Tanteisan – lol, really? XDD I get those looks a lot, too, from my mom and sister, lol. Oh well, the power of the wide grin will triumph~! (Does Funny Super Hero Pose ) XDD Thanks for your review~! (Grins as snowflakes fall and eats cyber cookie) ^^
To: MagicMilkbone – Haha, yup~! Gomera always spikes my interest in DC, since it's technically the Godzilla (which I love) of the DC world, so I decided to add it in there. Lol. XD And here's Hakuba's party – well, the rough sketch of it. I was kind of at a loss at what you do at parties, since I haven't had one in forever, not even a birthday party… XD;;; Hope it was alright, though. Thanks for your review~! ^^
To: Hello – Hi there~! I was reading this and I was like, "really? Shoot, I should have done that way", since I didn't actually do a full detail researching for that part – only partially. Which was a bad idea, now that I think about it… (Sheepish Laugh) I do agree that that way probably is much more graceful, but since I already wrote it, it'll have to stay that way. Thank you for telling me that, though – that way, I can add it later on in the story. ^^ Also, I guess you could say that since Akako was eating it that way and Alice – Midori…;whatever – was copying her, she would be doing the same way, and I, for some strange reason, see Akako eating it the way with the slurping and being all cool and mystical because she keeps it graceful, lol. I dunno.;;; XD And for the "Besides, in America, they only sell instant noodles…," I meant that they only sell instant noodles in the stores. She never said that you couldn't get ramen in America, but she was saying the only way she could get noodles was from the stores like Walmart, Walgreens, ect., ect. I didn't mean that they didn't sell those types of noodles in restaurants. Sorry for the confusion. .;; That's my bad explaining details at work, lol. And Alice isn't the only name that is mention for the main character; somewhere in the chapters (can't remember exactly where at the moment; I'll have to check later) it's mentioned that her name, or nickname(?), is Lui. It's not mentioned often because I'm trying to keep it as anonymous as possible because of that certain effect I'm trying to put into it. XDD;; Erm, yup. (Nods) lol, thanks for your review and sorry for the huge reply. XDD
Meanings;
- MIDORI meaning "green" (緑) - Japanese girl name.
– WATANABE meaning "cross boundary" (渡辺) – common Japanese last name.
-So, by looking at this, you guys should know my jokes are horrid. That is all, lol. XDDD
-Edit: Not much here. I'm happy. XD