AN: Give it up for chapter eight, because here it is! I hope everyone enjoys reading it, and I thank you very much for taking the time to do so! As always, please remember to leave a review on your way out, please and thank you!

Phantasmal Black

Chapter Eight

Angel

For all that he'd been watching her rather intently ever since she'd entered the house, Paikaru's instinctive reaction to the woman he'd been told was his childhood friend closing in on him was to promptly hide. Letting out the breath he had been holding as he heard the door to the room he'd been lent closing, his shoulders slumped slightly. Chancing a look back into the room from where he'd perched himself just outside the window, sitting on the ledge as if he were a cat, he grimaced, his own eyes meeting those of Hakuba's, who had lingered inside to wait for him.

"How are you even doing that?" Hakuba couldn't help but ask as he opened up one of the windows, glancing down at the window ledge Paikaru had balanced himself on. It was barely thick enough to place a foot on, and yet he wasn't even wavering. "Toyama-san has gone back downstairs now, so you can come back in, if you like."

"Nah, I like it out here. S'cozy." There was a sarcastic note to Paikaru's voice as he effortlessly made his way back inside the window, carefully shutting it behind him as he did so. "Don't expect me ta thank ya fer that back there, though."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Hakuba's tone was dry- as was his expression. "I'm just surprised that you ran from her, really."

"Listen, that's not a topic I want ta get on with you." Casting a brief glower in Hakuba's direction, Paikaru nevertheless quickly averted his eyes from him, unable to quite come up with a reason why he'd chosen to hide himself. Maybe he just wasn't ready to come face to face with someone who knew him from his past, but had no knowledge of who he was in the present.

Or maybe it was because he had the feeling that it wouldn't take the woman in question long to realize that his sudden appearance in the Kudo household when timed with the two detectives suddenly gaining the allegiance of the Black Organization assassin, Paikaru, could only mean one thing. And when he thought about that face of hers twisting with the realization that someone she had grown up with both no longer remembered her, and was also no longer the person she remembered, somehow he couldn't bring himself to face her.

The specter of the one who had been Hattori Heiji that he'd dreamed up last night was right- he really didn't have the right to try and fill the shoes that he had left behind.

Perhaps it had been her words more than anything that had driven that point home to him, the cold tone that speaking of him had brought to her voice. God though, her voice- as much as he hated to admit it, maybe Shinichi's absurd theory had been right. Maybe he really was still in love with this woman, this Toyama Kazuha, this girl he'd grown up with and fallen in love with.

And had forgotten, just like everyone else he'd ever known. He'd thought maybe seeing her in person might perhaps stir some memories within him- but although there was the faintest of tugs, nothing came forward. When he tired to push it, the only thing he got in response was a sharp, stinging pain. The part of his memory that extended back beyond the past five years was still an empty, yearning void, with nothing to fill it other than the things that he had been told.

Which wasn't the same as actually remembering.

"Well, I think you made the right choice, at least." Hakuba said after a moment, a slight frown crossing his features. Unlike Heiji, Paikaru masked his expressions well- but even he could see a crack in the mask of the former assassin. "Toyama-san has been waiting for him all this time after all. For Hattori-kun."

"An' not fer me, is what yer tryin' ta say." Blue eyes flickering over towards him, Paikaru couldn't help but shrug his shoulders, unable to help but agree with him. Strolling over towards the desk, he carefully placed his hand on top the novel that she had picked up- he'd peeked at her through the window, watching her take it carefully in her hands. Vaguely, he still thought he could feel the warmth of her hands.

"Yes." Hakuba's tone was rather cold- although it wavered somewhat. Even he was fully aware of how deep Kazuha's bonds with her childhood friend had been- and who was he, who had no such bonds of his own, who understand nothing about the concept of having a childhood friend- to get in the way of such a reunion? To advise against the two of them meeting again?

But he also knew just how much Kazuha had poured herself into helping Shinichi with taking down the Black Organization in the first place after they'd lost Heiji, doing whatever it was that she could do to help him. Taking her anger, her frustration, and her sorrow and focusing on the one thing she thought she could do for the person who was no longer with her. And likewise, he knew just how much she had poured herself into the investigation surrounding Paikaru- and just how many case reports she'd paged through, page after page of Paikaru's victims.

She knew what kind of blood he had on his hands probably better than even himself. If she were ever to find out that those hands belonged to none other than her childhood friend, the one she had fallen in love with, the one she loved even now, if Hakuba didn't miss his guess- how would she react? Shinichi had told him that Kazuha was stronger than he was giving credit her credit for, but it wasn't so much that Hakuba was undervaluing Kazuha's strength. Rather, he thought Shinichi was undervaluing the blow this realization would deal her.

Perhaps it was just because Shinichi knew Heiji better than he had, that he saw more traces of the detective of the west in Paikaru. And while Hakuba could see bits and pieces here and there, to him, it was almost as if Heiji had been completely erased, and replaced by a stranger, one who wore his face like a mask.

"Well, it's not like yer wrong." Paikaru said finally, casting a quick grin in his direction. It was a far more practiced expression than the genuine ones that Heiji so often had sported.

"What, the two of you are both in here?" Opening up the door, Shinichi heaved a long sigh, looking between the two of them. Thankfully it seemed as if Paikaru had relaxed somewhat in Hakuba's presence- but he knew that the blood between them was still rather bad. He wished that there was something that he could do about it, but he'd rather not try and force the situation and make it even worse.

Frankly, he still thought it was a miracle that Hakuba had even agreed to not turn Paikaru over to the proper authorities. It probably wasn't so much for Paikaru's sake as it was for that of Shinichi's own- and Kazuha's as well. Perhaps he too, felt a certain sense of guilt that for all of his skills as a detective, he had not been able to detect that the one they thought had died was in fact still alive.

"Where are Mouri-san and Toyama-san?" Hakuba asked.

"They've already left." Shinichi said, glancing over towards Paikaru. "I take it you two didn't meet."

"Nah." Giving Shinichi a simple shrug of his shoulders, Paikaru let the question roll off of him as if there was no deeper meaning loaded into those words. "We didn't."

"I see." Closing his eyes and letting out a long sigh, realizing that his earlier assessment had been spot on, Shinichi couldn't help but frown. In spite of everything, he really did want to attempt to reunite the two of them- although he knew full well just how deep down the rabbit hole Kazuha had gone while researching Paikaru, he also knew just how deep her bond with Heiji was. And it was that bond, he thought, that would win out in the end.

And it was that same bond, he thought, that might very well be the key to unlocking Heiji's memories.

But just like with the tense relationship between Paikaru and Hakuba, Shinichi knew that this wasn't something that he could force. It needed to happen on it's own, in it's own time. He was pretty certain that Kazuha would be furious at him afterwards for not telling her the truth from the start, but he thought that the current approach was the best approach.

And as concerned as he was about Heiji's memories, his bigger concern was still that of the upcoming confrontation with Merlot and Gin- with bringing down the last vestiges of the Black Organization once and for all. And with figuring out what to do with Paikaru once this all was over.

He'd earned a lot of favors from the FBI over the years- perhaps then would be the time to cash all of them in. Perhaps he could strike a deal with them- he didn't doubt that Paikaru's knowledge of the shadowy world of assassination extended beyond that of the Organization. That knowledge could prove very valuable to the FBI. He knew that it would be impossible for Paikaru- for Heiji- to avoid all punishment for the things that he'd done in the past five years, but he wanted to save his life, at the very least, at all costs. And also, at all costs, he wanted to prevent Paikaru from disappearing again- like he knew that he would if he sensed that things were turning south, and that there was a threat to the freedom that he'd finally found for himself.

He'd been gone from them for too long to disappear again.

Shinichi's words in regards to his memories hadn't been lies- it was true that he desperately, desperately wanted him to remember, to recall a time when he was known as Hattori Heiji, when they were rivals and best friends. But it was also just as true that even if that was impossible, that he had no intention of casting him out just because of that. Even if his personality had been altered, even if he didn't remember him, nothing changed the fact that the one in front of him was still very much Hattori Heiji, however ill at ease the name made him.

Even if he never remembered the friendship that they had shared, Shinichi still wanted to try and offer him a new one- even with the blood on his hands. It was an absurd thing for a detective to think, and yet, nevertheless, here he was.

As much as everyone tried to convince him otherwise, he knew that it was his fault that Heiji had ended up going down this path in the first place. No pretty words or kind sentiments could wash that away. If he'd never involved Heiji with the Black Organization business in the first place, then Merlot would have never noticed him, never taken an interest in him.

Merlot.

Shinichi had always kind of assumed that the one who bore that codename would be a redhead- but according to Paikaru's description, she in fact had black hair, that was starting to gray faintly around her ears. Although she was well into middle age, that hadn't slowed down the woman's steps any, and it was clear that she was still one of the finest assassins out there. He didn't know much about her history, other than that she had been in the trade for a very long, long time- perhaps she had been born and bred into it, just as many of her students as had- just as she'd claimed he had.

In the end, where she came from didn't really matter that much.

What mattered was what was in store for her future- namely, justice. For as much as he blamed himself for allowing such a thing to happen to Heiji, even Shinichi was fully aware that the ultimate blame for everything rested on the woman who had taken notice of a detective and had decided that his talents were being wasted on such a thing, and that she was going to turn him into a splendid murderer instead. The one who had lied to him, the one who had manipulated him, the one who was ultimately responsible for every drop of blood on his hands, for every sin that he bore.

It had been awhile, Shinichi thought, since he'd hated someone as much as he did Gin. His feelings for Merlot were clear cut and precise- but as for Paikaru?

He was certain that the feelings were far more complex. He could only hope that he could one day earn the measure of trust needed for him to open up to him about it.

Even after everything that she had been through with him, Ran still had an incredible amount of faith in Shinichi. When she learned that he had been lying to her for almost a year, that he had been by her side the entire time, posing as a grade school student, she had been understandably furious with him. After everything that he'd put her through, after all the worry she'd felt for him, he had been right there next to her the entire time. There were millions of times that he could have spoken up and said something, could have told her the truth- indeed, she'd closed in on the truth more than once herself, but each time, he'd fooled her with a clever ploy.

But even at the same time she had been angry with him, she could understand his reasons. He just wanted to protect her, to keep her safe from danger, from a danger that was so big that he couldn't even fully understand just how dangerous it was at the very beginning. He'd wanted to tell her at first- it was in fact the Professor who had advised him not to, telling him that if those men in black knew that he was alive, they'd come back to finish the job- and those around him might very well be dragged into it.

And in the end, the Professor had been right.

When Shinichi had finally spoken to her about what had happened that night, and everything that had lead up to it, she felt her heart nearly stabbed by the guilt that crossed his too young face, even as he tried to conceal the expression underneath the glint of Conan's glasses. Heiji had discovered his secret on his own, and left with no other choice, he'd told him everything. She had always thought that Heiji and Conan were rather close, almost like siblings- back when she had no idea that Kudo Shinichi and Edogawa Conan were one and the same.

She failed to realize just how close, not until Heiji was no longer there, his loss very nearly breaking Shinichi. It broke him so hard that he could no longer maintain his facade, could no longer pretend to just be simple Edogawa Conan- not to her, at the very least. He confessed everything to her, pouring it all out at once.

As angry as she had been, Ran's concern for him had won out. It wasn't even a contest, really. He had just lost someone incredibly important to him, and he felt that it was all his fault. Even though she didn't think so, even though she knew the blame only lay with the Black Organization, with Vodka, the man who had shot the bullet that had pierced through Heiji, with Gin, who had fed Shinichi the poison that had started everything- she knew that Shinichi wouldn't accept those words.

The next time she saw Shinichi in his true appearance, she'd been walking hand in hand with him, holding his tight like a lifeline. Not for her own sake, this time, but for his own. The real antidote hadn't been completed in time for the funeral, so he'd taken a temporary one- he needed to be there as himself, and not as anyone else.

She never wanted to see that expression on Shinichi's face ever again.

Even after being lied to for so long, in the end, she still trusted him. But she'd also vowed to never allow herself to be fooled again- no matter what his reasons, she wanted to stay by his side, wanted to help him no matter what. She'd learned to pick up on the signs, to tell when there was something Shinichi wasn't telling her, when he was leaving things out, not telling her the whole truth. Over the years, she'd gotten quite skilled at it- which was why she knew right away that there was something important- something very important- about the current situation that he wasn't telling her.

And it left a heavy feeling in her gut, one that she didn't like. No matter how much she turned over his words in her mind, she couldn't come to a conclusion on her own.

And so, she sought out the only person who would tell her the truth- the whole truth. Even though she most likely wouldn't want to, she would do it anyways, just because she asked.

She wanted to stand by Shinichi's side, and in order to do just that, she had to know what was really going on. He'd masked it well, but she knew that troubled look in his eyes, knew that there was something eating away at him. There had been a flash of it as Kazuha had spoken coldly of Paikaru, a slight wince that crossed his face that nobody else seemed to notice.

Why? Why was that? What was it that Shinichi was keeping from her? And not just her, but also from Kazuha, if she didn't miss her mark. She didn't believe that he was doing it willfully, but rather, she knew that it was most likely something that was difficult for him to say. And it was exactly because it was something difficult for him to say that she needed to know- because not only was she furious at Shinichi for lying to her for so long, she was furious at herself for being fooled for so long, even though she'd uncovered the truth time and time again. She was furious at herself for not being there to support him when he needed her the most.

Taking in and letting out a deep breath, Ran steeled herself, stepping into the room where only that woman waited. When she first met her, she had still been going by the name of Sharon Vineyard. When she knew her next, she had been posing as Tomoaki Araide. Later, she came to know her name as Vermouth.

That was the name that had stuck.

"It's been quite a long time, Angel." For all that it had been, something in Vermouth's tone told her that she wasn't the least bit surprised to see her. The woman's gaze leveled with hers- and Ran was unable to help but notice that even in five years, her appearance hadn't changed in the slightest. It was almost eerie.

"I think you already know why I'm here today." Ran told her, carefully taking the seat that had been left for her. "I already know that Shinichi visited you recently. The guards told me that much."

"That he did." Closing her eyes and giving her a small nod of her head, Vermouth slowly opened them back up, gazing through the glass that separated the two women. "You've really grown up since then. I hear you're going to be a bride soon. I am happy for you, Angel."

"Thank you." Ran told her, keeping her tone somewhat curt. "But I didn't come here to be congratulated."

"I'm aware." Vermouth said simply, folding her hands into her lap. "You've come because the one you are engaged to is keeping things from you again, and you would very much like to know what they are."

"Yes." Locking eyes with Vermouth, Ran spoke. "I hear that it's very likely that Gin and Merlot are going to be coming back to Tokyo again, very soon. Shinichi thinks that there will be one last big showdown with the Organization very soon. But I don't think that's why he came to visit you so suddenly."

"And why do you think he came to visit me, then?" Vermouth asked.

Swallowing a little, as if somewhat uncertain of her own deduction- she was no great detective, and even now, she sometimes found herself unable to keep up with her future husband. Still, that didn't mean she was a fool either- there were things even she could notice, even she could deduce. What lay within Shinichi's heart had become one of them. "He also mentioned that he was going to start working with another member of the Organization to bring the remains of it down. He told me his codename was Paikaru."

Her words lingered in the air for a long moment, finding herself half unable to continue- before she resolved herself, pushing herself forward. "And that's why I'm here. Because I know his words were the truth, but not the whole truth. And because I know that whatever it is that he isn't telling me is causing him pain."

"I see." Closing her eyes for a long moment, Vermouth considered the woman in front of her. When she had first met her, she had been just a girl- but it appeared that she was very much on the way to growing up into a splendid woman. Slowly opening her eyes back up, she gave her the slightest hint of a smile. "Only pain lies that way for you as well, Angel. I was instructed myself to not tell you anything should you show up here. Even so, all you need to do is give me the word, and I will tell you all I know."

So Shinichi already knew that she might come here, Ran thought to herself. That made her feel a little bit better about going behind his back like this- even though it still filled her with a hint of guilt. Still, she'd already vowed that she would never let Shinichi carry a burden by himself ever again- all the more so because the two of them would be married soon. She wanted to shoulder at least half of his pain, but she couldn't do that if there were still things he wouldn't tell her.

"I'm prepared for it." Ran told her, her voice resolute, even as something in her gaze wavered. "Please tell me."

"Very well." Vermouth said. "You're quite correct. The reason that he came to see me in the first place was in regards to the one known now as Paikaru. However, when the two of you knew him, he had a different name."

"Different name?" Ran blinked, a slight frown gracing her features, even as the heavy knot in her gut tightened, it's weight growing. That way that Shinichi had winced at Kazuha's cold tone resurfaced in her mind, playing out over and over again. "I knew him?"

"You did." With a slow nod of her head, Vermouth gave her a tight, joyless smile. "Before he became one of us, you knew him rather well, in fact. You could say that you know him better than even he knows himself now."

The silence that lingered in the room was only broken by the sound of Ran's pounding heart, as she felt a cold, creeping realization that she knew exactly what Vermouth was trying to say, and who she was speaking about. Feeling her body tense up, her breath briefly catching in her throat, she found that only one name came up within her mind. But that was...

"He died." Ran spoke up finally, shaking her head. "It's not possible. Hattori-kun died five years ago."

"So he did, in a sense." Vermouth told her, a hint of sympathy flashing through her eyes. This wasn't easy news for her to bear, she knew that much. But since she had come all this way to ask her, she wouldn't keep the truth from her- even if she had been told to. She deserved to know, even though it was painful. "The one known as Hattori Heiji died on that day, and from that point on, Paikaru existed in his place."

"But why!?" Springing to her feet, unable to help herself, Ran almost couldn't believe her ears. The Heiji that she knew would have never agreed to work for the Organization, so why? "Why of all people would Hattori-kun...?!"

"I said it earlier, didn't I?" Vermouth asked her. "You know him better than even he knows himself now. There was no betrayal involved, Angel, have no fear. The one that you knew simply lost his memories, according to what your future husband told me. The life that he's been living these past five years has all been one long lie strung out in front of he who awoke one day knowing nothing. All that he is now is because of that woman, who took advantage of his amnesia for her own benefit."

"That's awful." Her voice barely came out louder than a whisper, but the crack of anger that surged through it was clear. She didn't need Vermouth to specify who 'that woman' was- she'd been paying enough attention to Kazuha's investigation that she knew she meant Merlot. After all, it was said that Paikaru was supposed to be a pupil of hers- it didn't take a detective to put two and two together, not about this. "So even now, Hattori-kun doesn't...?"

"Doesn't remember." Vermouth finished for her. "I did warn you that the truth wouldn't be easy to bear. Do you regret learning it?"

Slowly shaking her head, Ran took in and let out a deep breath, bringing out the steel within herself, of which she had no small amount. "No. I don't regret it." She told her- even as she felt the stinging pain in her heart. Even though she hadn't known Heiji as well as Shinichi had, in the end, to learn that he was still alive in the same breath as she learned that he had amnesia, that he'd been deceived for so many years because of that, that he'd...

Now everything made sense.

Shinichi's unusual behavior that evening two nights ago. That look in his eyes as Kazuha had spoken coldly of the one named Paikaru. The reason that he couldn't bring himself to tell them the whole truth. It was all because he knew this truth- that Hattori Heiji and the Black Organization member Paikaru were one and the same, that he'd lost his memories, that he'd become something he was never meant to be in the first place in their absence. That he'd gone down a path that none of them could follow him on, and yet still, had somehow managed to return to them, in spite of everything- even though he himself had no way of knowing that he'd found himself once more where he had always belonged.

Against all odds, Kazuha had been right all this time. Heiji had always been alive. Somewhere out there, in the wide world, the one that her red string of fate was connected to was still alive, was still living. It was a wish that everyone had wanted to be true, even as they began to lose hope themselves.

But not like this. Never like this. How could she ever tell Kazuha something like this?

"Why don't you go on, Angel?" Vermouth told her, looking up at her, a certain softness manifesting itself within her. "There's no point in staying here with me any longer, however grateful I am for your presence. You have things that you want to say to him, don't you? Perhaps all those thoughts you're chasing around in your head would be settled if you met him yourself."

"You're right." Slowly nodding her head, Ran placed a hand over her heart, fighting back against the stinging pain in it. Whatever the circumstances, it didn't change the fact that what she had thought was impossible was actually true- that Heiji was actually alive. Before anything else, before coming to any other conclusions, she should at the very least, try and meet with him. In spite of everything, in spite of the new role in which he'd been cast, in the end, he still found his way back to Shinichi's side, and had found himself working with him once more, just as before.

There was hope in that.

"I should. It's been five long years after all. I have welcome Hattori-kun back home. Shinichi being the way that he is, he's probably forgotten to do it properly himself."

"Kudo-kun." Taking his finger off the intercom button, so that the woman on the other side couldn't hear his words, Hakuba glanced back at his fellow detective who had joined him in the living room, a little bit too late to answer the ringing doorbell himself. "Mouri-san is back."

"So she is." Heaving a long sigh, it only took one look at his fiancee's face to realize that she was mad at him- and he had a vague feeling as to why. "Let her in, Hakuba. I think I know why she's here."

They had known each other since they were children, after all. Over the years, he'd come to understand Mouri Ran very well- and he knew that she'd come to understand him just as well. He suspected that she was fully aware that there was something he had left out about what he'd told her, and he likewise suspected that upon realizing this, she would go and look for answers. Considering that it involved the Black Organization, he didn't doubt for one second that her search for answers would lead her straight to Vermouth- and he also doubted that Vermouth would keep her promise to not tell Ran anything.

The question was how much she knew.

Sensing that it was time to make himself scarce, Hakuba silently retreated upstairs. Just in time too, as he heard Ran enter the Kudo manor. Whatever was about to happen, he didn't want to get himself in the middle of it.

"I want to meet him." Were the first words out of Ran's mouth, cutting off Shinichi's greeting, her name all but dying in his throat. "Shinichi, I want to meet him."

"Who?" Shinichi asked, almost instinctively finding himself playing dumb. Quickly having cause to regret it, as Ran turned a sharp eye on him, he let out a long sigh, his shoulders slumping. "You went to see Vermouth, didn't you?"

"I did." Ran said, placing her hands on her hips, letting out a long sigh. "I can understand why you didn't want to tell me the whole truth, especially in front of Kazuha, Shinichi, but I've told you over and over that I want to be here for you, and share half of your pain. Those words weren't just meant to be pretty sentiments, you know."

"I know, I know." Shinichi told her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "But if Vermouth told you about the current situation, you should understand that it's not an easy thing to talk about." Without meaning to, he felt his grip on her shoulders tighten, as he drew in a long breath. "It was hard enough breaking it to people who barely knew him."

"Does he really not remember anything, Shinichi?" Ran asked, her expression softening somewhat as she met his eyes. This was his best friend they were speaking about, after all. She knew just how deeply his death had affected him, and she could only imagine how he felt now, thrust into this situation as he was. Carefully placing her hands over his own, she gently guided them off of her shoulders, cupping them within her own.

"Not a thing." Shaking his head, Shinichi did his best to give her a small smile, feeling the warmth of her hands seep into his own. She had always had warmer hands than him. "At the very least, he believes what I've told him is the truth, and seems willing to accept it, but... he really doesn't remember anything. Not about me, not about himself- not even anything about Kazuha. There's still something there at the very least, though it's faint."

"Is he really... you know?" Ran's gaze flickered away from him, finding herself unable to say the word out loud. As she felt Shinichi's hands stiffen within her own, she turned her eyes back up towards him, knowing even without looking that she would find guilt and regret there. "It's really not your fault, Shinichi. There's no way that you could have known that something like this would happen."

"I should have looked harder, Ran." Shinichi said, shaking his head. "Then maybe things would be different now. Still, the situation is what it is, and we can only make the best out of the hand that we've been dealt. At the very least, I don't think he's really that bad of a person, at least, deep down. He's really does want to leave the Organization behind, and really does want to help bring them down once and for all."

"He is still Hattori-kun, after all." Ran said, a slight smile gracing her features. "I meant what I said earlier, Shinichi. I want to meet him for myself."

"Are you sure, Ran?" Shinichi asked, his gaze momentarily flickering back upstairs. "Frankly, I was planning on waiting until everything was over to deal with the matter of introducing him to people that he used to know, but..."

"I'm sure." Ran said, slowly removing her hands from around his own, folding them behind her back. "It's been five years since we've seen each other, after all. If he's come back to Tokyo after this long, I have to greet him properly, even if he doesn't remember me. Even if he's..."

She couldn't finish that sentence, so instead she took a step past him, masking the expression that she wore. It was a hard thing to dwell on, and Ran knew that it was likely even harder for the one by her side. What kind of future awaited Heiji, once all of this was over?

"Ah, but that's right." Turning on her heel, she glanced back at Shinichi. "What should I call him? Is Hattori-kun fine?"

"He doesn't really seem comfortable with his real name, though you're welcome to try it." Shinichi told her, shaking his head. Turning around, he placed one hand on Ran's shoulder, carefully escorting her upstairs. The real question, he supposed, was if Paikaru was willing to meet with Ran, considering that he'd fled from Kazuha. "Unfortunately, the only name anyone felt inclined to give him was just his codename. For the time being, we've just been calling him that."

"I see." With a slight frown, she cast a quick glance over towards him, before she turned her gaze forward again, giving a silent testing voice to the codename in question. It felt strange on her lips, especially when she couldn't help but connect it to the image of Heiji that had burned itself into her mind. "Then, that's fine. He must be going through a lot after all. It's probably not easy to learn that everything you know has been a lie."

"I suppose that's true." Shinichi said, unable to help but give her a rather fond smile. Frankly, if there was one thing he could understand about Vermouth, it was why she had started calling Ran 'Angel'. It was a rather fitting nickname for her, in the end. "Listen though, we're not telling Kazuha about this just yet. I think it's only fair that we let Hattori- Paikaru- resolve himself to meet her first before we try and push him into anything."

"I'm pretty sure he's still in love with her, incidentally." That last part was whispered, just in case there were any listening sets of ears lurking around the house. "He's kept her omamori with him after all this time. You should see the look on his face just hearing her name gives him."

"Then, maybe if we let them meet, Hattori-kun might remember something?" Ran whispered back, even though she wasn't quite certain why he'd dropped his voice in the first place. "But I sort of understand what you mean, Shinichi. I won't mention anything to Kazuha just yet, but we can't keep this from her forever. She's been waiting all this time for him."

"Don't worry, I don't plan on doing so." Shinichi was quick to reassure her, planting a kiss on her forehead. Realizing that they had already made their way upstairs, he cut their conversation short, and headed over towards the room he'd leant Paikaru, giving a firm knock on the door. "Paikaru, are you in there?"

"What do ya want, Kudo-han?" Carefully watching the reaction that familiar voice sent through Ran- it was one thing to hear from others that someone you thought was dead was actually alive, and another to actually hear it for yourself. "I was tryin' ta take a nap."

"How can you sleep at all after drinking that bitter muck you tried to pass off as coffee this morning?" Shinichi asked, unable to help but arch a brow. He was still feeling a buzz from that stuff. "I have someone that you need to meet."

"What, again?" Paikaru grumbled, as he all but jerked the door open, glowering down at the detective- before turning his gaze over towards the woman next to him, blinking slowly. He felt like he had seen her somewhere before recently, but...

Oh, that's right. She was that woman in the photograph with Kazuha, and that woman who had come here with her earlier in the day. If he recalled, she was Shinichi's fiancee, wasn't she?

And judging from the flabbergasted look on her face, he could guess that she was someone who used to know him in the past as well. Thinking back on it, he could recall her face, five years younger, among the photographs in the scrapbook that he'd been shown. And although he could recall that much, her face didn't pull at his memory any, didn't call out to anything within him.

"This is my fiancee, Mouri Ran." Sensing that neither of them quite knew what to say to each other, Shinichi decided to break the ice for him.

"Ah, yes, I'm Mouri Ran!" Quickly realizing that introducing herself would be the best, even though it felt rather strange, Ran gave the young man in front of her a quick bow. Even though he was right in front of her, she still had a bit of a hard time grasping the fact that Heiji really was still alive. How many times had she visited his grave with Kazuha? Sometimes she found herself forgetting that there was actually nothing inside of it- but seeing him alive finally drove that knowledge home to her. "It's nice to see you again."

"Ah... yeah." Slowly blinking, Paikaru found himself searching for words. He got the feeling that there was no way this girl didn't also know what kind of person he was, so the fact that she was telling him it was nice to see him again was more than a little befuddling. "I guess I don't really need to introduce myself, then. You've got me at a bit of an unfair advantage there, Mouri-san."

Ran wasn't sure what struck her more- the way that he spoke her name as if were the first time he'd ever said it, or the sudden lack of his Osakan accent, when she knew he'd had it just a moment ago. It wasn't hard for her to pick up on the fact that his guard was raised right now- and it had been ever since he'd noticed that Shinichi wasn't alone in the hallway, though it had eased somewhat after she'd been introduced. That probably had something to do with it, she thought. Glancing briefly over at Shinichi, he gave her a slight shrug of his shoulders, before placing one hand on her own, giving it a squeeze.

"I suppose that's true. I'm sorry about that." Giving him a small smile, Ran looked up at him. She wasn't quite certain what she had been expecting, really. Perhaps she had been expecting someone colder- but after actually meeting Paikaru, she felt some of that heavy weight that had gathered in her gut ease away somewhat. In spite of what she knew about him, and in spite of what she knew that he'd done, she didn't get the feeling from him that he was some kind of monster, or some kind of heartless murderer. She'd seen plenty of the latter- it was a hazard of having a detective as your childhood friend, after all.

All she could really see in front of her was Hattori Heiji, one who was older- and quite a bit taller- than she remembered him being. But even so, she couldn't help but get a different vibe from him than she had in the past- perhaps it was simply her finely attuned senses as a marital artist, but there was something about him that still made the hairs on the back of her neck prick up, whispering to her faintly that she should be on her guard. She ignored it however- the fact that he was here, working with Shinichi was testament enough to the fact that even without his memories, even though he knew himself only as an assassin, and not as the detective he'd been, that what fundamentally made him who he was was still there.

As her gaze trailed down to his left arm, she couldn't help but bite her lip at the sight of the scars that trailed up it, before turning her eyes back up towards him again. What had Heiji been through during these past five years? It churned her stomach just to think about it, filling her with a righteous fury. She was not the kind to take kindly to anyone hurting those that she cared about.

This shouldn't have happened. Heiji should have never had this kind of fate. But at the very least- at the very least, he was alive. Memories or no memories, in spite of whatever sins he might bear, he was alive.

And honestly, that made her happy.

"Um, it might be strange to say this given your memory loss, but I feel that it should be said nevertheless." Finally finding her words somewhat, Ran's smile softened a little. Shinichi had been right- all they could do now was make the best out of the hand that they had been dealt- and if anyone had been dealt the worst set of cards, it was none other than Heiji himself.

"Welcome back, Hattori-kun."