Disclaimer: Gosho Aoyama owns Detective Conan. I only own the plot of this story.
"Where am I?" hissed Kudo, crushing Shiho's petite frame with his weight. Still trapped in that compromising position, Shiho snapped, "Let go of me, you beast!"
"Not until you tell me where I am," he said, tightening his grip on her arms.
Shiho glared coldly. "Shouldn't you be more concerned about who I am?"
"You?" Kudo laughed humourlessly. "Nothing important."
"I can kill you now."
"Yes, when you are trapped under my masculine body."
"I have people to back me up."
"I doubt that. You don't look like the sociable kind."
Shiho looked into his turquoise orbs. "Don't judge a book by its cover."
To her fury Kudo only smiled sweetly. "I am a detective, honey. In the short span of three minutes and twenty-three seconds since I've woken, I noticed that you only have pictures of a woman that, if I'm not wrong, is related to you. Also, this flat is too small for wild cats – which brings us back to our original question: where am I?"
"So what if I only have my sister's pictures?" scoffed Shiho. "I love her."
Kudo raked his eyes down her body. "You probably don't have any experience with guys, seeing as how much you are fidgeting in my arms."
"That's because you smell."
"Didn't you bathe me at all? I'm hurt."
"Of course I did!" Shiho shouted defensively. "I took care of everything for you! Bathing, eating, drinking – "
"This proves that you were lying just now. You wouldn't hurt me."
Shiho screamed at herself inwardly. Just why did she have to tell him that?
"What is your point?" she sneered.
"You clearly have no other friends other than this sister of yours. However, since I'm sure that I don't associate myself with unsociable people like you, I can't be your friend…" he paused, frowning. Then there was a look of sudden realisation.
"Just where am I?" he asked, grabbing Shiho by her collar, There was a primal glint in his eyes and Shiho did not like it.
"As if I would tell you," she said, jutting out her chin stubbornly. Growling, Kudo forced her arms into an awkward angle, and straightened them.
"Ouch! Don't go so harsh, you ungrateful bastard…" Shiho winced. Kudo intensified the hold – and collapsed. He touched his head gingerly, and scowled.
"My brain cells are dying…"
Without any forces restricting her movements, Shiho sat up grumpily, and massaged her sore arms. "What does the pain feel like?" she grumbled, none too happy about treating Kudo after his sudden and brutal attack on her. Her only answer was a loud whimper.
"Get up," she commanded, grabbing a pack of ice cubes, and wrapping them in a cloth. She placed it tenderly against Kudo's head, with a motherly touch. "Feeling better now?" she muttered, giving Kudo a reproachful look. "Well you deserve it; I'm surprised that you did not get a concussion, with all those 'high-impact activities' that you have been doing right after you came round."
There was a pink stain on Shiho's cheeks, and she looked away, abashed. An awkward Kudo sat beside her, staring at her soft, porcelain hand that touched his forehead habitually.
"Well, you don't have a fever, so your conditions are probably stable now," Shiho stated, still not making eye contact with Kudo.
There was silence. She rose to leave, but a hand hesitantly grasped her wrist.
"Who are you?" those words are silently muttered.
Shiho looked into his heavily-guarded turquoise orbs, which regarded her expectantly. There was an inexplicable emptiness in them, but she cast that thought aside.
"Hell's angel," she said, removing his hand from hers. She tried to smile at him, which she was sure looked like a lopsided frown. "Rest well, tantei-san. You will get your answers later. Sweet dreams."
She turned the door knob and opened the door.
And closed it.
Kudo Shinichi was in a daze. It was a remarkable feat in itself, because Kudo Shinichi was never dazed. It just goes to show how screwed up he currently felt, as he lay in an unrecognisable dark room, where the only source of comfort was the rhythm of his own breathing.
In fact, for the past forty minutes, he had been counting the number of times he had breathed, because that seemed like the only thing he was capable of. It was oddly soothing to hear the sound of numbers rolling off his tongue because of their familiarity.
All in all, Kudo Shinichi was feeling like the biggest failure in the world. He was aware of that, but he still could not accept the truth.
The truth that he had no memory of anything that had transpired in his life up till that very moment.
It pained him to know that he was essentially stripped of everything that made him him. He did not exactly know it per se, but his intuition told him that his core –memories, possibly his knowledge and sense of humour – was gone, and whenever he tried to remember what happened that landed him in this situation, his head would start throbbing painfully.
He supposed he was still pretty lucky to have his logic. At least, with logic, he could figure out how to wear socks, which he could have easily forgotten without logic. Humans have two feet, don't they? Socks are for covering humans' feet, aren't they? There, you have it!
He simply had to pull his socks over his feet. One might laugh at him for going through such a tedious process, but Shinichi smiled knowingly. Logic was the best gift humans were blessed with; logic transcended time and ensured that humans remain the fittest of all animals.
Shinichi clenched his jaws with determination. He would pull through every single day, with the gift of reasoning that made him famous. No matter what, he would find a way to get back his memories, and escape from this place unscathed.
And there was this mysterious woman that Shinichi was still struggling to understand. Who on earth was she? Was she why he could not recall a single thing? How did she know him? What would she do to him?
From what he had observed so far, Hell's Angel, as she had called herself, was a stubborn and cold woman, though she could be kind at times. The name was rather befitting, but it also got Shinichi wondering: why didn't she reveal her true name?
A wave of nausea suddenly hit Shinichi hard, and he curled into a ball. I shouldn't have questioned so much! he thought silently, as he faded into unconsciousness.
And all was black.
"…Kudo? Are you alright?" a smooth hand was up against his neck. Shinichi felt the first signs of consciousness – drowsiness and inability to discern sounds. It felt surreal, as if he was trapped in Limbo.
More caresses. More spoken words.
"…wake up, Kudo! Don't go dead on me."
Shinichi lifted his eyelids for a split second, and shut them tightly. "Damn…turn off the fucking lights. My head bloody hurts, for God's sake."
"Sorry about that," she said, not apologetic at all. "I need to conduct some checks on you first, hence the strong lights. Problem?"
"Yes. In case it needs any reiteration, my head just feels like it's been run over by a truck."
"Thanks for the vivid description. Now would you kindly shut up while I try to save your arse?"
Shinichi mumbled unintelligently, before going still again. He knew that the woman meant no harm, but it just ticked him off to know that she was bossing him around.
Honestly? Just who does she think she is? Shinichi thought, scrutinising her with a critical eye. A professional, white coat was casually worn over her red turtleneck dress. He had no idea why she was in heels…and black heels, at that. Perhaps, she would be going out later? Or did she just come back from, say, work?
"You didn't introduce yourself properly."
"I don't think I should," she looked up from the clipboard. "It's better for you to stay away from me. I'm dangerous."
"Inappropriate adjective you have used there, Miss."
"Don't insult my linguistic skills. I know what I am saying, thank you very much." She wrote the last word on the piece of paper attached to the clipboard. "But I wasn't joking just now. The less you know about me, the better."
"Quit making grand claims! They make you a lot harder to tolerate."
"Then don't. I honestly don't care about what you think of me," she said, handing him four white pills. "Drink them up. It'll make the pain go away."
Shinichi did. "Look, I'm just trying to start a conversation here."
"It might be unwise to do so, though. Which part of 'do not talk to strangers' do you not understand?"
"As far as I can remember, that's the only way to make an acquaintance."
Shiho glared at him. "Don't make this any harder for me."
"Why not? You aren't exactly helpful."
"Ungrateful jerk," she muttered. "This won't work on me – I will not slip and tell you anything, so save your breath."
"What will?"
"A kiss."
"Seriously?"
"No."
"Come on, you are no fun."
"I don't feel inclined to make this experience fun for you."
"At least do it out of apathy?"
Shinichi sat very still as the woman edged towards him, with the gait of a predator stalking its prey. She had a smirk on her face, which Shinichi thought was incredibly…interesting. She then sat down at the edge of the bed, smiling.
"You're right. We should let go every once in a while."
Where did she learn that from? Shinichi wondered, taken aback. He didn't actually expect her to do it…
Now she was leaning so close to him that he could see the tip of her button nose and her perky lips. Shinichi felt his blood rushing to his face, and stuttered, "I was kidding, alright?"
"No, Shinichi, if we are going to spend the next few months living together, we might as well…become better oriented with each other."
Shinichi could not think straight. His head was pounding again. He shifted backwards subconsciously, suddenly feeling uncomfortable in his clothes. His spine tingled with excitement as the woman enveloped him in an embrace. Her hands travelled upwards, until they were entangled in his hair.
It was too…overwhelming. Shinichi had never been kissed in his life, and he never thought that his first time would be with a stranger.
He closed his eyes and turned his head away. "Sorry…I can't…"
"Shh…" she cooed, pressing a finger against his lips. She better positioned herself, lifting her legs and kneeling before Shinichi.
They were intimately close.
The woman took her time to remove her coat. She shrugged it off carelessly, until it covered little of her pale arms. With one last tug, the coat came off and Shinichi swallowed hard.
This can't be good, he thought. It was agonisingly painful to remain in his rigid position when his mind was torn between running for his life and getting it over and snogging the woman senseless.
He did neither.
It did not help that the woman was readjusting her position, her thighs accidentally brushing against his. She arched her back, and met his gaze with a sultry smile.
"Game on, tantei-san?"
They were only centimetres apart now. Shinichi did not dare to move, afraid that he would ruin the moment. It was not some cheesy 'love at first sight' crap – oh God no – blame it all on his raging testosterone.
He was a fighting a losing battle. Shinichi gave in and leaned forward ever so slowly…
A second passed. Nothing came.
Then he felt a sharp, blinding pain shooting through his groin.
"What the fuck?" he screamed, covering his male jewels with a pained expression. Shiho abruptly stood up and wore her coat.
She glanced at Shinichi coolly. "I hope that sends the message clearly: I am not someone to be messed with." There was no amusement in her voice, only an underlying warning that she was nothing but dangerous.
"I also want to take this opportunity to let you know that I'm not to be taken lightly. This is no joke. You had better get that through your thick skull," she said, folding her arms across her chest.
"Last but not least, do not take me for a common whore. I find that very insulting." Shiho had already turned around. She flipped off the switch.
"Dinner's at eight. I'll bring it to you, so you don't have to come down personally. If you need help or anything, ring this bell –" she pointed at the object placed next to Shinichi's bed, " – and I'll come. No pranks, is that clear?"
Her hand was on the door knob.
"Before I go," she said quietly, "remember this: do not ever leave this room. If you do, I'll kill you before you can even say 'Sherlock Holmes'."
She then slammed the door shut. Shinichi stared at it, stunned.
Crazy bitch, he thought.
Author's Notes: I really want to thank every single one of you for your amazing reviews! Special thanks goes to holmesfreak-san, who was really kind and pointed out the flaws in the story without sounding too harsh.
Thank you so much! You guys are splendid, and I could not thank you enough. :) Hope you've enjoyed this chapter!