Kiss of Death Chapter 5
"Self Denial"
Note: Detective Conan belongs to Gosho, not me.
Warning: This is an AiCon fanfiction dedicated to AiCon fans. As mentioned, Conan is 15 in this story, so the Detective Boys had grown up as well. As kids grow up, their perspectives and priorities change over time. So do not expect them to act like 7 year olds, but also do not expect them to be rational adults as they are still in mid-teens.
A/N: More Detective Conan characters appearances!
Previously: As Heiji and Conan follows a mysterious case of a woman's murder that has links to the Black Organisation, Conan is forced to visit Ran's household. How will he react? Meanwhile, how are the Detective Boys and Ai doing in Teitan Middle School?
"Where's Edogawa-kun? He didn't come home last night," Ai questioned the former Detective Boys. All she got was 3 shaking heads.
Feeling disappointed, she sat down on her usual seat with a solemn expression on her poker face. She stared at the empty seat beside her, her heart seemed to be hollow, could it be loneliness?
No, I've lost the most important people in my life and I'm still doing fine.
Her concentration was on Conan that she did not noticed a young boy, gazing at her from a distance. Oh how Mitsuhiko wished that he was Conan.
He would always wonder how Conan had the ability to snatch a girl's affection, without having the intention to.
Still, Mitsuhiko was unable to accept that the fact that he could not hold a candle to Conan, for Conan was almost perfect, at such a young age could he be able to solve a crime fully, as if he knew everything from the start. His knowledge was unlimited, not forgetting his soccer skills. Just being a Sherlock Holmes fan and a soccer freak would make Conan's abilities so incredible. Despite his thick glasses, Conan had a handsome face along with that usual smile of his, that every girl would be so sentimental from the moment they have a glance of him.
Finally, it was Conan's character. Though he was arrogant at times, he was nevertheless sympathetic and gentle towards him and the Detective Boys.
At times, Conan would do reckless things, for the sake of his passion, either for an unsolved case or saving someone.
Of course, Conan was not a perfect person, nobody in the world is. Being such a dense person, he could read a guilty soul's intentions, but never to read a woman's heart. Also, his voice was no different from a crow when he sings.
But his flaws were not as major as Mitsuhiko's. Mitsuhiko had too many flaws, there's no way he could impress Ai, like how Ai always seemed so interested in Conan's character. He couldn't even outsmart him for once second. What chances does he have?
Mitsuhiko shook his head.
He had thought about his unstable crushes towards Ai and Ayumi over the past few nights. Though he had always viewed Ai as a beautiful mystery, he accepted that the likelihood of getting her was slim. She was too detached and pragmatic in her ways that maybe even being in a relationship with her would trouble him. They were simply incompatible.
But as for Ayumi, she was the opposite. She has the optimism and heartwarming presence that Ai lacks. The world could be turn against her and she'll still find a way to show her love unconditionally.
Now, that's the kind of girl he wants to be with.
Resuming back to reality, Mitsuhiko was still staring blankly at Conan's empty seat.
He was disappointed that Conan didn't attend school today. Though he envied Conan, it was the type that inspired him to be a better person, to be gain more knowledge and observational skills like Conan. He didn't wish to be an ignorant teenager. True, there was a phase where his covet was dangerous, but as Mitsuhiko matured, it sublimed.
The issue was, knowing that Ayumi had a childhood crush on Conan, he wanted to ensure that Conan had not felt analogously.
But screw that. It was quite obvious that it was unrequited right?
He could no longer bear with the silence any longer, thus, he walked towards Ayumi and opened his mouth to start a speech, "Ayumi-chan."
Despite his call, Ayumi ignored him, her eyes fixed on her smartphone.
Despite his failure of his first attempt, he continued, "I was wondering if you could...err..that..." Mitsuhiko's speech ended with a stammer. Ayumi was oblivious to her surroundings.
"What?" Ayumi's head shot back up, confused, "yes Mitsuhiko?"
Feeling rather imprudent and humiliated, Mitsuhiko shook his head and plodded back to his seat.
Another pair of eyes was staring at Ayumi in a while, but this time it was Ai herself.
Ai smirked. She could sense a love story folding between her two friends. Seeing the Detective Boys sometimes saddened her as they continue to lose their youthful innocence, but it was still heartwarming to watch them in their process of self-discovery.
"Ai-chan," a sweet voice chirped, "since Conan-kun is not here today, may I sit beside you?"
"Yeah sure."
From then on, the school bell rang and the class heard the footsteps of their teacher. Everyone scurried back to their seats, smiling innocently. To Ai, the boring day begins, again.
"I can't stand this organic chemistry," Ayumi whispered.
"I'll teach you if you'd like," Ai commented, but Ayumi refused.
"Why not?"
"I don't know, I don't want to. I'm bored."
"Welcome to my world," Ai said sarcastically, before looking at Ayumi. Ai figured her out. The younger woman was itching for a session of gossip with her. Though Ai couldn't be bothered much about what the kids were doing, but knowing she was bored to death as well, she continued, "yes, Yoshida-san, let me guess. A new eyecandy?"
Face flushed in a crimson shade, Ayumi nodded her head before whispering excitedly in her ear -about an American exchange student "Cedric" whom she wishes to be her prom date.
Ai walked home alone, oblivious that there were three children following her. She gave the excuse that Hakase needed her to rush back home, but they had the hunch that it was concerning Conan's disappearance.
"Come on, you guys, talking to her wouldn't hurt," Genta persuaded Ayumi and Mitsuhiko as he pulled them along with his force. The other two were reluctant at first, but they decided to muster their courage and called, "Haibara-san!"
Hearing her name, her fake name that is, she turned around, "What is it?"she questioned.
Genta spoke up,"Conan didn't came to school today, so we were wondering how he's doing."
Shrugging her shoulders, Ai replied with a sense of calmness," I don't know where he is or why he didn't turn up. I think he just wanted to pon school."
Her reply was very hostile, that Genta wanted to argue with her, but Mitsuhiko ceased him from doing so.
"How about we'll come over to your house, perhaps Conan-kun will drop by. If not, we can always visit Ran-neechan's house and see her newborn baby!" Ayumi suggested.
The moment Ai entered Hakase's house, her eyes scanned for Conan.
"Taidaima," she mumbled to Hakase. "Is Conan here?" she added.
"Ai-kun, your back. Shi- I mean Conan dropped by. He seemed to have solved a case with Heiji," Hakase replied.
"Eh?! A case?" Mitsuhiko exclaimed, "why didn't he tell us?"
"Be glad that it's over, I honestly find cases kinda boring. We're busy," Genta lamented.
"But," Mitsuhiko protested, "he skipped school and just went on with a case. That's a bit unfair for us, right? Playing truant ain't good either."
"Well that's because Conan's not a slow-thinker like you."
"Eh what-"
"Suck it up!"
"Guys!" Ayumi interrupted, fearing that a heated argument will burst at the Hakase residence, "since Conan's not here, let's all go to Ran-neechan's place. We can see her new kid by the way!"
DING DONG.
"Heiji" Ran said, "I'll get the door. Go and look after Kouchi and Rin, okay?"
"Hai-"
Once Ran opened the door, a huge smile on her face appeared upon seeing the four teenagers.
"Eh, nice to see you!" Ran greeted, "Heiji also dropped by to have a short chat with me about Kazuha."
"Hello," Heiji waved shyly, with his Osaka accent still prominent, "eh? You kids grew so fast? I'm getting old. And Haibara-san, your English blood is becoming more dominant. You'll make a certain four-eyed kid lucky."
"Eh? Heiji you too?" Ran added, "I have always thought that Conan likes Ai-chan!"
You're so wrong Mouri-san.
"Oi, kid, smile for a while eh?" Heiji reprimanded, his head tilting to the side, slightly annoyed by her hostility.
If his Osaka friend is here, that means-
Noticing this, Ai gave him a smirk, intimidating him further. She surveyed the household, scanning the view for Conan's presence. There he was, in the nursery room, holding Rin in his arms.
The shrunken detective could feel her presence, but refused to turn and greet her.
Leaning by the door with her arms folded, she sardonically commented, "You know, this scene is like Hera attempting to kill her lover's child, Hercules."
"I was hoping you could have said something less...morbid," Conan had difficulties replying to her, his mind blanked out but still desperately collecting words from his pool of vocabulary knowledge. It seemed so unnatural.
Why am I suddenly so uneasy? Like I'm walking on eggshells.
"How could you be so fond of them?" Ai asked, such an interesting yet irrelevant question to steer away the awkwardness.
I hate it when you push me away, and then the next moment you act like nothing happened.
He shrugged, still carrying the infant in his arms, "Must there be a reason? They're still Ran and her husband's kids. Heck, even if they are anyone's children, you'll be fond of them."
"You're a bad liar, tantei-san," Ai teased lightly, smirking, "we all know that you still have feelings for her, so in turn you'll love her children even if they're not yours."
To her surprise, he shook his head. What was more surprising was his next lines: "I've thought about it. I care about her, but I don't love her that way anymore. As lifelong friends, yes. But not that kind of love, Haibara."
"You're a liar to yourself-"
"WAHHH!-"
Ai's words were interrupted by Rin's sudden cry.
"Oh, my child," Ran walked up to her newborn and took her in his arms, "there, there."
"But the way Ran, I stumbled upon this book about chess? Can I borrow it?" he asked, tilting his head to the side and pretending to be less certain.
"It's Shinichi's but I didn't get to return it..." Ran answered, coming off a bit suspiciously defensive and hesitant.
"Don't worry Ran-neechan!" Conan chirped, faking the childish demeanor he had mastered, "I'll return it to the Kudo residence for you!" He hovered the book around, stashing it in his bag.
"No! You can't... It's the only thing left-"
Ran wanted to lurch and grab the book back, but Rin's audible cry started again that she had no time to oppose to Conan's request. Apologizing, she left the nursery room with her newborn daughter to go somewhere more quiet.
As soon as Ran walked out of the room, Conan shot a lazy glance at Ai.
"Geez," he sighed, in a teasing manner, "aren't you the one to talk about self-denial."
"You can never decipher the hidden codes in my mind," she retorted in a similar fashion, "but that's why you're a single detective, eh?"
He was amused. Very amused although he was uncertain of her underlying insinuation. He gave his iconic smirk and said, "I wouldn't want to know what goes in that little head of yours."
"You did know that she didn't want you to take the one item that she kept that was from Kudo-kun, right?" she asked, directing the conversation in another way.
"I need it for a case," he answered coolly, well, as calm as he could, "plus it's not good for her to be holding on to these things. She must know that Shinichi can't be in the picture in her married life right now." Haibara turned to face him, disbelief written all over her face.
I can't tell if he's lying. Does he even know what he's blabbering about?
"Reconciled so soon?" Heiji interrupted, "like a married pair."
"You're the one with a ring and no wife," Conan growled.
What's up with the sarcasms today?
"Hattori-kun," Ai replied, "I don't think I'd go as low as to be the wife of a corpse magnet."
Heiji nodded and continued, laughing half-way, "you might end up dying because people just drop dead wherever he goes."
"The wedding ceremony might've already killed me," the strawberry blonde added.
"Oi-oi, you two are getting on my nerves," Conan said in a demanding tone, exasperated.
She raised her eyebrow and like a cheetah prowling and waiting for its prey, she took slow steps towards him so that her face was close enough to his in order to make the shrunken detective intimidated. Too close, for his liking. A shade of crimson appeared on his cheeks as he inhaled the ambiguous scent of hers.
Is that how her perfume smells or was it just her natural scent?
But whatever it was, it was definitely intoxicating, intensifying the redness on his face. His heart was palpitating so hard against his ribs as she spoke in a very sly manner, "oh tantei-kun, you haven't seen what's it like for me to get on your nerves."
She then retreated quickly with her usual smirk and left, leaving an amused Heiji. Conan could only watch her with discombobulated eyes, the same old reaction when she insults him sardonically with connotative words that seemed foreign to him.
His Osaka friend patted him on his back, having that idiotic grin with matching eyebrows to complement his next comment, "Eh Kudo, you do know she was totally flirting with you, right?"
"Eh?" Conan was stunned at his words, "Haibara? That was just her usual mocking attitude towards me. The ice queen is not the kind of woman who would have flirting in her language."
"And...does the ice queen mocks the rest?"
"Not really."
"Kudo, you're a certified idiot."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Heiji didn't bother to explain further, shaking his head at his dense friend. He was about to tease Conan further when his mobile phone blared.
"Hattori Heiji here-"
"-Eh? You're serious? The old man's dead? Okay, alright. Will head down soon."
Placing the phone in his pocket, he turned around to Conan, his face more solemn that usual and so was Conan's. With that, they knew, that the case just gotten stranger with a further complication-
Jim Cisson was murdered.
A/N: Oh, character death! Yes, be prepared for character deaths and OCs. Who knows! Well, up until Detective Conan episode 800 (I've watched so far), there's not much hints about the "Boss" in the Black Organisation. I could pretty much hide the "Boss" among the characters *grins*... By the way, I've always thought that Mitsuhiko is jealous of Conan, yet admires him for his deduction skills and wants to learn from Conan. Also, it is bounded that Mitsuhiko will realise that Ayumi & him have a better chemistry than with Ai, therefore, will pursue Ayumi in the long run.
P.S. I'll be on vacation so I won't be updating for the moment. Frankly, I was a bit disheartened when no one reviewed when I updated 4 chapters and I have no idea how well the major editing is. So I'm just trying my best writing up a good plot and romance for Ai & Conan.