--------------Chapter 8: The Unplanned Capture--------------
Out on the cold, snowy street, however, a couple of men had plans for anything but a quiet night of sleep. Whispering to each other, their breath forming clouds in the air, they confirmed their idea for the night. The two of them nodded, as one walked off down the street, the other quietly darted up the stairs to the Mouri household. A quick slip of the key and turn of the knob, and open creaked the door... A scarily familiar man stepped into the room.
Kazuha, still awake, heard the noise. Opening the door to her room, she looked down the hallway. Quietly walking down the steps, she stood behind the wall. She looked to her left around the corner to see who, or what that noise was.
The man walked slowly up to Ran, thinking, "Ah, my beauty. It seems you have a little boyfriend. Well, too bad for him, because I didn't get to do quite everything that I wanted to do, that night..."
Kazuha noticed the figure, it was too dark to see who it was though. She took a step back quietly as her eyes widened. "Oh, no.." she thought to herself. She looked at Ran and Shinichi, who were both deeply asleep. She looked up stairs, then back to where the man was standing.
The man approached the sleeping Shinichi. Suddenly, he grabbed his shirt, picked him up, and threw him aside. Shinichi's head hit the table behind him, waking him up. He grabbed his head and opened his eyes. Immediately, he recognized the man, and he was... going towards Ran?!
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" he shouted, finding a cup on the ground and kicking it to the man's head. The man flew backwards and onto the floor. Shinichi glanced up to see Kazuha. "Quick, call the police!"
Kazuha nodded as she ran through them. Grabbing the phone in the kitchen, Ran woke up quickly. She sat up and looked at the dark figure, then at Shinichi. Kazuha looked at Ran as she held the phone, dialing the number repeatedly. "Come on, come on..." Then she yelled out, "It's not working, Kudou!" She looked back at Ran, seeing that she was still standing up, looking at the man. "Ran!"
Heiji, hearing the commotion, ran down the stairs. "What's going on here?!" He looked to the man on the floor, remembering his sight as well. He saw Shinichi step towards the man and check if he was awake. He turned then to Ran and Kazuha. "Are you okay?! He didn't do anything did he?!"
"No, luckily, it seems as if they're all right..." started Shinichi, "and so is he. He'll just be out for a while." He stood up, rubbing his head again. Lightening the mood for a moment, he joked, "Too bad I didn't get that luck.. heh heh." He immediately regained his seriousness, looking over to Kazuha, "Wait. Did you just say the police number wasn't working!?"
Kazuha nodded. "There's not even a dial tone," she said, pointing at the phone from standing in the kitchen. Ran knelt down to the man, moving his hair out of his face. She squinted her eyes, unable to see his face in the dark. Kazuha tried turning on the light, "Nor is the power working."
"Ah, hold on," said Heiji quickly, disappearing down the dark hallway. He returned a moment later with some candles and a lighter.
Shinichi walked over to him and took some. "Great idea, Hattori!" The boys immediately starting setting candles down around the room, lighting them one-by-one. When they were done, they sat down on the loveseat next to each other. They both blinked, gazing around the room for a moment.
"Uhhh..."
"Heh, let's switch seats, Ran!" asked Heiji, "This looks a little too romantic for me to be sitting next to HIM..."
"Heh heh... yeah..." started Shinichi, "No wait, you mean you want her to sit next to me?" He blinked, then shook his head, "Nah, haha this isn't quite the time for something romantic anyway." He blushed and looked down.
Ran blushed, looking away. "Uh, okay." She got up and sat beside Shinichi, grabbing a lighted candle, she looked around the room, then back at the unconscious man laying on the floor, studying him. She knew she had seen him from somewhere. Kazuha immediately sat down beside Ran.
"Creepy, huh Ran?" she said, smiling and nudging her in the side. Ran laughed fakely.
There was a sudden knock on the door. Heiji stood up and approached it, listening. "Who is it?"
"It's the police! We got a report of a break-in!"
Heiji turned to the room, his eyebrow raised. "Did any of you?..." He turned back to the door. "Umm... Nobody called the police here, sir. How did you know there was a break-in?..."
"Ah, we got a call from the neighbors. Anyway, may I come in?"
Heiji stared at the door doubtfully. But suddenly it opened on its own. In came another oddly familiar man, dressed up in cop's clothing.
Kazuha fell back as her eyes widened, dropping the candle she had in her hand to the ground. It went out. Kazuha inched herself against the door behind her. She couldn't speak. Ran looked down at her, then back at the man. "It's you.." she quietly said.
"It's who, sweety?" the man asked, walking closer to Kazuha, but speaking to Ran. "I'm just a friendly neighborhood cop, reporting to activity that occurred in this house. Just to be safe though..." he put his sinister face up close to Kazuha's pale one, "I think we should perform a full body search..."
"YOU SICKO!" shouted Heiji, running towards him with more fury than ever imagined. The man turned around, and just as Heiji went to jump at him, the man blocked it. He grabbed Heiji's arm and twisted it.
"This is what you get for putting me away again the other day! You also stopped me from achieving my goal..." he looked down to Kazuha, hungrily.
"GAH! DAMN YOU! YOU DIRTY SON OF A-" screamed Heiji, wincing through the pain. He did his best to try and kick out and knock the man over, but he jumped and avoided it.
"You think you can outsmart me, you little punk?! Think again!"
Ran quickly got up as she tackled the man to the ground. Kazuha stared at him, still frightened. She looked at Heiji, "Heiji, a-are you okay?" she said, extending her hand out to him.
Heiji managed to wiggle his arm loose. He looked up to Kazuha in front of him. He reached out his arm and took her hand. "Y-yeah. I think so. Are you?..." He was still for a moment, as it suddenly occurred to him that he was holding Kazuha's hand.
Over on the couch, Shinichi was in the middle of a sneezing fit. As soon as it stopped, he looked over to the group, then rushed over to help Ran keep the man down.
Kazuha felt her hand shake, taking it back, she came closer to the wall. She was burying her face into her knees. Ran got up noticing the man behind her was waking up. She knelt down to Kazuha, "It'll be okay."
Heiji saw the man awake. He jumped over to him, holding him down as well. "Girls, do you think you can do us a really big favor?" Both he and Shinichi watched the girls carefully.
Kazuha looked up at Heiji, Ran turned to look as well, "What is it?"
Heiji sighed. "Okay, now remember- the bad guys are in HERE. They're not out on the streets anymore. They're.. well, SOMEHOW, not behind bars anymore either..." He peered down at the man beneath him, realizing that he was, indeed, supposed to be in jail. "So it's okay to go outside for a minute. We just need you to run to the nearest neighbor or payphone and call the police. The REAL police. Do you think you can do that?" The boys looked to them expectantly.
Kazuha had already got up, walking passed them, and out the door. Ran got up, holding the lower part of her stomach. She was following from behind. She had already noticed Kazuha was at a pay phone that was on the side of the house. Ran looked at her as she stood on the stairs.
"Thank you." Kazuha told the policeman on the phone. Hanging up the phone, she looked up at Ran. She ran to her, putting her hand over hers. "Ran you're bleeding!"
Ran looked down and took a step back, "I-I didn't even notice.." she said, lying. She waved her hand, "I'm fine though.." she insisted.
Shinichi pushed down onto the man tightly, essentially pinning him to the floor. As he watched him squirm he remembered what he said to Kazuha, about not doing everything he wanted to do the other night. He looked over to the guy Heiji was keeping down, and then realized... "Oi, Hattori..." he hissed.
"What is it, Kudou?" asked Heiji, looking up.
"Do you think..." he paused, "Do you think... Maybe that guy... Maybe he meant to do stuff to Ran as well?..."
Heiji looked down at him, the man managed to chuckle. "Meant to? Oh my boy, I meant to FINISH what I STARTED..."
Shinichi's eyes flew open. Heiji's jaw dropped, as they both stared at the man. Shinichi could feel the anger bubbling inside him. Is this how it felt for Heiji before? He fought the urge to jump up and strangle the man, instead taking out his frustration by digging his fingers into the man beneath him's skin, pinching him.
Ran's eyes flew open as she looked away. She stepped into the apartment, looking down at the man. She turned away again. Kazuha was still outside on the stairs. She didn't want go in and face that man again. Ran fell to her knees, her bangs covered the upper part of her face, "Why did you do that to me and Kazuha?" she asked calmly.
The man under Heiji chuckled again. "Because, darling... We know we can!" He looked to the both of them. "I always thought that girls who think they're tough are attractive. One day my buddy here saw you practicing your kendo," he looked to Kazuha. "Likewise, I've seen this fine-looking lady walk out of a karate class before." He nodded towards Ran. "And thing is, I think it's essential in this society to put self-righteous women in their place, right bud?" He glanced to the other man.
"Please stop pinching me," he squeaked. Shinichi just raised an eyebrow and dug his nails in deeper.
Ran looked over her shoulder at Kazuha. Kazuha, of course, was still in shock. Ran began to feel a tear fall down from her face, she wiped it away quickly as she soon heard the police come. Kazuha and Ran immediately ran to the couch and sat down.
"So then... Before the police take you away... Do you care to explain how you got back out of jail?..." asked Heiji.
"Or must we?" continued Shinichi.
The men did not say anything. One merely grunted, while the other made another squeak.
"It's quite simple..." started Heiji. "Are you sure you don't want to tell? You've already made it obvious." He looked down at the man beneath him.
The man stayed silent, watching the door that the police would come through any minute.
"J-JUST GET IT OVER WITH!" whined the one that Shinichi was pinching.
Shinichi let out a laugh, "Well if you put it that way, maybe we won't say anything at all..."
"No," said Heiji. He kept an eye on the man beneath Shinichi. "So, you're a retired cop, are you? Or perhaps who quit? Or, given your outlook, you're a cop who was fired?"
"H-How did you know?" he squeaked out.
"Let him be a bit, Kudou." asked Heiji. Shinichi frowned and loosened his grip.
"Thank you," the man breathed.
"Oh, you BETTER be thankful- Thankful we didn't beat you to a pulp before the cops arrived!" Heiji called, unable to keep it in. "Okay, I didn't mean to slip that." He sighed. "Anyway..."
"Your cop uniform is a bit outdated," said Shinichi, looking down at it. "See here? They changed the motto a couple years ago on the badge. But it's so small that most people don't notice it."
Heiji nodded. "And we know you didn't just steal a uniform for a few reasons. First of all, you actually know a bit of police training. How else did you pin me down so well? That's something the police might do with tough criminals, before getting handcuffs on them. Also," he continued, "You, or rather, you and your partner here, managed to trick the police in a Tokyo jail. You really think we'd believe that you were released legitimately, so soon, after the case that night? We saw you in the store. It was pretty stupid of you to try and rob a store so soon."
"I wasn't robbing the store," the man sighed. "It was... I harrassed that cashier before.. and she recognized me. I didn't realize it was her, but after she saw me she just had to call out that I was stealing. I had money in my pocket from a previous occassion."
Shinichi looked down, "So you had your friend here dress up in your cop uniform, enter the jail claiming to be a Kansai cop, and help you escape. Just as you did for him some night before... right?"
"That makes you the cop who took the key from Conan that day, after he pulled it out of your friend's jacket," finished Heiji.
The man beneath Heiji made a laugh. "Well, sure. And you can claim that all you want. But before I broke him out I went into the police files and erased our names and fingerprints. There is no evidence whatsoever that either of us have ever done anything wrong. In fact, we even wiped our fingerprints from the key."
"And which key might that be?" asked Shinichi.
"The key to this house's front door, clearly." he scoffed.
Shinichi laughed. "No matter. That's not the key that will incriminate you anyway."
The man opened his eyes, "What do you mean?..."
"He means," Heiji continued, using a napkin to pull a key from his pocket. "That you never wiped your fingerprints from THIS housekey."
The man opened his eyes wide. "W-What?! That's impossible!"
"No, really, it's not," smiled Heiji. "After your friend here," he referred to the man under Shinichi, "was taken down by me, he knocked the key out of Conan's hand. What actually happened was that he knocked Conan's own personal key out of his pocket. The key that he took from you ended up falling under a nearby display with none of us knowing. Conan then picked up his own key without realizing it, and handed it over to you- the fake cop." He glanced at the man he was holding down. "We noticed it later on, after Conan went to get changed and couldn't find his key in his pocket."
"So this guy here called me up," continued Shinichi, nodding toward Heiji. "He told me about it, so I went to the store the next day and found it. Luckily, it was well-hidden and nobody else touched it. Therefore..." his eyes flashed, "only your fingerprinted should be on it." The men just stared at the young detectives, disbelieving.
Ran and Kazuha listened to the conversation, looking at each other. The two of them watched as the men were taken away by the newly-arrived cops. Kazuha let her head fall back against the couch, "GaAaAah..." She rubbed her head. "Earlier I wasn't, but now I'm tired..." she whined to Ran.
Ran giggled softly. Trying to keep her head up, she laid on the couch. "Just, just go upstairs," Ran said, waving her arm back and forth.
Kazuha got up, hunched over. She stopped, looking at Heiji and Shinichi," Thank you." She then walked off out of the room. She wasn't quite asleep yet. She was looking outside again. Ran was already quietly snoozing on the couch, curled up in a ball with her hands touching her lips. Sitting beside the window, Kazuha was in a daze. "Tough night," she thought. Looking up at the sky, she watched the flakes of snow gently fall and hit the ground. She had grabbed the big blanket that was laying on the floor and wrapped it around her. She slowly, and quietly, fell asleep.
Heiji and Shinichi had gone outside to explain the story again to the police. By the time they came inside they found Ran alone, asleep again on the couch. The boys exchanged a look.
"It seems that, even after all that, they can still manage to be so tired." Shinichi shook his head slowly, with a small smile.
"Yeah, I wonder where Kazuha is," pondered Heiji, looking around the room.
"She probably went back to bed too."
The two stood there for a moment, reflecting on what just happened. "So they can never get out again, right Kudou?" Heiji looked to him.
"I don't think they can. From the start it seems to only have been them two. Besides, I'm sure every officer in the prison is memorizing their faces right now. There's no way they can pass as regulars from Kansai." Shinichi peered off out the window.
Heiji nodded, "I bet every cop in my district is doing the same thing, just in case. Well, I'm awfully tired. I think I'll be hitting the hay too." With that, he disappeared down the dark hallway.
Shinichi looked across the candle-lit room. The wax was getting low, but the flames were still bright, casting a warm, flickering glow over the sleeping Ran's face. He wished he could stand there and just admire her forever. But he felt a wave of sleepiness wash over him, so he started around the room, extinguishing the candles as he went by. When he got down to the table in front of Ran, there was only one candle left. He went to put it out, but stopped, noticing the shape that the poured wax was making. A little red heart had formed at its base. "Is it a sign?" he pondered, before sitting down on the couch opposite Ran, lying down, and putting it out as well.
--------------End Chapter 8--------------