Okay, I know I have been a jerk for not updating for…almost two months. *winces*
Since I do not believe in excuses (total lie XD), I'll just save it all and tell every one of you I'm very, truly, deeply, honestly, really, sincere-
Tessa: Just get on with it before you use up every adjective in the dictionary!!!
Right. Anyways, I'm very sorry. I've had this huge writer's block after the exams (which were a month ago), so I've been trying to re-spark my inspiration for this fic. I promise I'm going to finish it! But, now the updates might have longer gaps in between. I hope you can all cope with that.
And since I lost the idea of the whole "something shocking" thing mentioned in the Next Up in the last chapter, I wrote about my own little world of what I think Wataru's life was like. Hope you all like it!
Late (very, very, very late) review replies!
Yolapeoples- Thanks so much for willing to wait until now. And you're welcome!
Katiesparks- Okay…I'll try Heiji. Kaito is still a bit foreign to me. BUT, it'll have to be after I finish this. And who know when that's gonna happen? XD
TheShangKudarung- So that's what happens in January? Interesting…thanks for the tip! =D (Oh, and me want cookie!!!!)
Nataeiye1- Down, girl. All will be revealed in time. XD
Miyanoai- Yesh! I'm going to throw you all into my awesome knowledge of Japanese! *insert evil laughter here* XD
Shinigami- Don't worry. The BO is not in any way responsible for this, I can assure you that much. As for the rest, well, I'll just have to keep you guessing, won't I? XD
Ziraulo- Aw shucks. You flatter me. There are people out there who write much better than me. =D
Master of Toast- First, I love your stories. They're good. I love MPD Vampires the most. You need to write more (says the one who's been on this site for more than three years but had just begun posting stories. XD). Second, thank you. And it's okay, you don't need to go through all the trouble in reviewing every chapter. Really, you don't.
Midori: Don't own Detective Conan!
Chapter 8
That night, Wataru lay on his bed in the guest room he's staying in.
Staring up at the ceiling, his mind drifted back to the search they had in the bookstore. A shiver went down his spine when he remembered the gaze he felt.
What really scared him back then was that even though they left the store, he could still feel that gaze. Yet every time he turns around to look, it disappears. It nearly drove him crazy. The feeling kept nagging him until they turned the corner.
Why? He thought. Why is someone looking at us with such a…evil intention? What on earth did we do wrong?
Is going back to the bookstore really a good idea? Questions swirled around in his mind as he drifted into sleep.
The next time he opened his eyes, he found himself staring into huge blue orbs at an extremely too-close-for-comfort range.
"AAAAAAAAAH!" He screamed as he abruptly sat up from his position. Then he got a good look at his "attacker".
"Shinichi-kun! Don't do that! I thought you promised not to the first time we were at the store!"
Shinichi was sitting on his body horseback-riding style and looking at his with a smug expression. He placed his hands on the back of his head and smirked, "I stuck out my tongue and said 'Gomen'. I didn't say anything about not doing it again."
Wataru grabbed his pillow and toss it at the younger kid, hitting Shinichi square in the face. In the process of doing so, Shinichi fell back unto the bed.
As Wataru laughed out his victory, he didn't notice Shinichi's hand inch slowly to the pillow that's lying on his face.
"HA!" Shinichi cried as he suddenly sat up and threw the pillow back at Wataru.
A pillow fight that nearly tore up the guest room ensued.
DCDCDCDCDCDCDCDCDCDC
Yuusaku groaned. This was not what he had expected to wake up to on a peaceful Saturday morning.
If you can even call it peaceful, that is.
He had been awakened by the commotion coming from the guest room (and considering that his room is at the opposite end of the hallway, that's pretty impressive). When he ran there, he was greeted with a site he didn't know whether to laugh or yell at.
Feathers were flying everywhere. Somehow, the "back up pillows", as Yuusaku liked to call them, had found their way out of the closet and are now in several white pieces and pillow cases across the room. Two boys lay on top of each other in the middle of the room, laughing hysterically together. Each one of them still had a pillow case in one of their hands. Pillow CASE. Yuusaku thought in dismay as he replayed that thought in his mind again.
"Shinichi…" Yuusaku slowly said as he rubbed his temples. Great, a headache so early in the morning. I'll never finish my manuscripts today.
The laughter died almost immediately as the two boys slowly turned their heads towards the door.
"T-Tou-san!" Shinichi cried.
"Yu-Yuusaku-san!" Wataru squeaked at the same time.
A still air-born feather floated down to Yuusaku's head. Yuusaku tried to shake it off, but the feather stubbornly stayed on his head. The scene was enough to put the boys back into another set of laughing fit.
Despite his tries to stop it, a smile settled itself on Yuusaku's face. Oh well, I'll just get them to clean up afterwards. He watch his son laugh with the other boy he had befriended only last Tuesday. I haven't seen Shinichi this happy ever since we went to see the others off at the airport.
DCDCDCDCDCDCDCDCDCDC
After breakfast (and after cleaning up the mess in the guest room), the boys went to Shinichi's room and locked the door.
Shinichi reached into his backpack and fished out all the small statues. One by one, he put then on the floor in order.
The first one was the mouse, then the tiger, the dragon, the snake, the monkey, the rooster, the dog, and the pig.
"We still have the ox, the rabbit, the horse, and the ram." Shinichi stated as he checked the list he had copied from the Britannica. Wataru picked up the dragon one, the one he's more fond of (he did find it, albeit it was more of an accident). He looked at it and examined the fine details carved out of the dark green stone. Even the scales are all carefully crafted to look real.
He turned the dragon around and around in his hands while Shinichi jotted down things unto his notepad.
After a few minutes, Shinichi snapped shut the notepad and put it back into his pocket. "Let's go to the book store in the afternoon."
"Afternoon?" Wataru asked, even though he felt relieved in the inside. "Why not now?"
"Because I remembered that I had something to do first." Shinichi said. But in truth, he had sensed Wataru's uneasiness back at bookstore. So he decided to postpone their trip.
"Wataru-senpai?" Shinichi asked after a long period of silence.
"What is it?"
"Did you always live in Beika?"
"No." Wataru said. "Why?"
"Nothing, just wanted to know more about you, that's all."
"Oh." Wataru thought about it. Why not? It's not like he's got anything to do right now. He placed the dragon back with the others and let himself fall back to the floor, his hands tucked beneath his head.
"I used to live in Kyoto. That's where my parents met, actually. I don't really have that much memory of it, since we moved to Tokyo when I was five. But I do remember that every Children's Day, Otou-san and Okaa-san used to hold each of my hands and take me to the festival."
"So, what changed?"
"Huh?"
"You said 'used to', didn't you? That means it doesn't happen anymore, right?"
It never fails to amaze Wataru how observant "Shinichi-kun" can be. "You're right. Things changed. Okaa-san got a job as this huge company. I forgot the name. She apparently did very well in it and rose pretty quickly in the ranks. But at the same time, she got busier and busier. Now, it's almost rare when we have a meal together with all three of us present. She's always away on business trips. Otou-san is trying his best to spend more time with me, but I can tell that he's really busy, too." Wataru stopped his ranting and looked over at the younger boy. Shinichi was staring at the floor, apparently trying to soak all of that in.
"Tou-san always makes time for me." Shinichi said after a moment. "He'd always be there when I need him…even if I didn't think I need him. As for Kaa-san…" Wataru noted a small shudder from his young friend, "…she gives me too much attention."
Wataru raised an eyebrow. "Why'd you say that?"
"Because Kaa-san thinks she needs to go through that process every time she sees me."
"…what process?"
"…" Shinichi went silent, then he laughed. "…you're better off not knowing. Trust me."
Wataru decided not to pursue the matter.
Just as the boys were about to launch into another conversation, something from the kitchen caught their attention.
KA-BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!
"Mou, not again!" Shinichi groaned as he buried his face into his arms. Wataru, on the other hand, was scared out of his skin. "Wh-what was that?!"
"Tou-san vs. 'The Evil Machines in the Kitchen', round 15." Shinichi bluntly stated, his face still in his arms.
Wataru just gave Shinichi an incredulous look.
To be continued…
As many of you can tell, this was way shorter compared to all my previous ones. Not counting the first chapter, as it was just a test to see if anyone would want to read this story. XD
I tried to make this chapter funnier to make up for all the time it took to have me finally upload this. So, uh…did it work?
Again, so sorry for this long wait!
Oh, and another thing. OMG CT HAS OVER A THOUSAND HITS!!!!!!!!! 8DDDDD
*cough* Sorry, but this is great news to some like me who has never continued a story long enough for it to have over a thousand hits.
Thanks to all of you readers out there! I luff you! *tries to hug everyone*
~ruth~
Next up: The boys return to the store to find the rest of the statues. As for what'll happen there, that's for you guys to wait for and for me to plan out! XD