Case Closed AU

By: FunahoMisaki

(A/N: I own nothing and read last chapter)

Irene nearly growled as she heard two of the four students accuse the others of trying to kill Michi while she observed the spot where Michi had been standing when she was attacked. Whoever did this had obviously planned it out, there wasn't anything out of place.

"Whoever did this obviously was able to see what they were doing. They didn't knock anything over or hit anything other than their target in the dark room." Irene said narrowing her eyes at the four students, one in particular really, while nearby Yumi nodded as she wrote it down in a small black notebook that Irene had tossed her.

"Little one…why are you examining the scene? You're too young to see something like this." Yuko said looking worried, Irene looked up at her in disbelief for a moment before she began snickering.

"That's the funniest thing I've heard all day!" Irene said laughing while Kazue looked at the young girl sharply, worriedly. Was the girl's mind about to snap?

"I'm being perfectly serious here!" Yuko said sounding confused and startled at the girls reaction, causing the girl to laugh even harder.

"That's why it's so funny!" Irene said as she finally calmed down and looked up at Yuko with a slightly maniacal look on her face as everyone stared at her.

"Lady this little murder attempt isn't the worst I've seen. It's not the first murder I've seen, it certainly won't be the last. Not with my moniker…not with my curse!" Irene said smiling darkly at the young woman who stared at her shocked and slightly horrified as she backed up a step subconsciously.

"What do you mean?" Nishitani asked gulping nervously as the girl turned her grin on him next.

"You don't get it do you?" Irene asked before snickering darkly again.

"Anyone around me should be on high alert. They should always look out for anyone and everyone else. They should never let their guard down while I'm around or else they might end up dead, dead DEAD! Not just that they'll end up murdered!" Irene said sounding slightly hysterical while Kazue stood up alarmed as she stared at the girl from behind her tinted shades. Everyone else seemed frozen in shock and horror as they stared at the small girl who seemed to have lost her mind.

"That's my curse! It's a miracle that kaa-san and the others have been around me as long as they have without being killed! It nearly happened to Jessie-tou-san, to Aunty Seiko to Fonke-nee, to Jasmine-nee and Camilla-obaa-san, Reika-nee, Nancy-nee Aunty Sonoko, Yumi-nee and Sato-nee! Everyone else is likely to be killed killed KILLED!" Irene said shouting the last word with wide eyes while Kazue walked over to stand in front of the insane looking girl and kneeled down, bringing the child into a hug as she did so which stopped the girl's next few words cold.

"You shouldn't hug me. You might end up dead or dying next." Irene said after a moment as she looked at the old woman who was holding her close.

"I'm already an old woman little one, death doesn't scare me. What scares me is an innocent child losing their mind due to things outside of their control. I can't stand to see such a young child like you lose their mind like you're going to if you don't relax a little. Just take deep breaths little one. For now just take deep breaths." Kazue said softly as she patted the back of the girls head softly, causing the small detective to nuzzle slightly into the warm hug and follow the instructions she had been given.

"There we go. Don't you feel a bit better now?" Kazue asked smiling softly as Irene nodded into her shoulder silently.

"Now obviously your mind is strained from seeing so much death at such a young age, after this case is solved you and I will be having several talks understand?" Kazue asked as she slowly released the girl who looked a bit upset and reluctant but nodded her head slowly in understanding.

"She needs to see a psychiatrist or psychologist at the least. Since I have the qualifications I'll be more than willing to help her. I've seen too many people lose their minds before, I don't want to see such a young child go through that." Kazue firmly told the others, especially Ran and Kogoro who winced at the angry look she was giving them. Why had they never thought to take the girl to a psychiatrist before? Especially after she started wondering if she should be locked up?

"I need to get back to the case. The weapon was obviously something small and thin but sharp. It couldn't have been a knife or an icepick." Irene said becoming stoic as she moved away from Kazue and went back to observing the kitchen.

"Inspector." Irene said in English, making everyone stare at her shocked while McGuire looked at her and nodded to motion for her to go ahead.

"The killer is too cautious. Enact False Death to make him slip up." Irene said still in English, causing him to nod slightly while Kazue's eyebrow rose as she looked at the young girl impressed.

"You know English?" Kazue asked in English, causing Irene to jump slightly as she looked up at the woman before nodding slightly.

"Impressive." Kazue said going back to Japanese and causing Irene to smile slightly in thanks as she ducked her head slightly shy.

"What was that about?" Nishitani asked warily as he eyed Irene.

"She wanted an update on Michi-chan's condition." Kazue lied flawlessly and causing Nishitani to look worried as McGuire spoke into his cell phone. Closing his cell phone McGuire turned around and pulled down his hat with a grim look on his face while Irene's phone vibrated, causing her to check it discreetly.

"I'm afraid Mrs. Uemori's lung collapsed on the way to the hospital. This case has been upgraded from assault with attempt to kill to Murder." McGuire said grimly, after a shocked moment Kazue collapsed to her knees while Kaoru let out a small sob.

"No…Michi-chan…she can't be…" Kazue said shocked and staring at McGuire in disbelief. A quick look caused Irene to appear by the woman's side and show her something on the cell phone.

"No way… she can't be." Kaoru said softly as she collapsed back into a chair, her hands over her stomach. Irene caught sight of Nishitani turning away, apparently in grief, only to see him hide a smile.

Turning to look at McGuire and Sato she motioned for them to start the questioning. Nodding slightly they nodded and separated to go to the different suspects.

"We'll talk later Irene-chan…and I'm sorry I never thought to take you to see someone earlier." Sato whispered as she passed Irene who looked at her surprised but nodded while Yumi stuck close to Irene worriedly glancing at the small girl every few seconds. Irene ignored the accusations and excuses running wild around her as she continued to search for clues, only looking up and paying attention when she head the kind old lady Kazue get angry.

"How dare you!? I forgave Michi-chan years ago! I'm the godmother of her son for Kami's sake and you think I want to kill her! My eyes are sensitive to light which is why I wear sunglasses even indoors. I'd never hurt Michi-chan!" Kazue snarled at Nishitani who gulped under her furious look.

"It wasn't her. Nor was it Kaoru-san." Irene said softly, her voice cutting through the talking and making everyone look at her before the police nodded and moved over to the other two students.

"The weapon appears to be a needle of some type…but to push it in so far requires something to brace it against and push it with, without harming the hands or fingers…" Kogoro said thoughtfully, causing Irene to nod in agreement while one officers eyes widened as he pulled out a sewing kit.

"Like this needle from Kaoru-san's sewing kit?" The officer asked showing it to them and causing Irene to hum.

"Right weapon, wrong killer. It wasn't her." Irene said causing the officer to puff up slightly angrily. He was a new cop on the force and he didn't recognize her so he didn't like this child that seemed to have a hold on his superiors' ears more than his finding had!

"And what makes you think that?!" The cop asked sneering at the girl who gave him a blank look while Sato stepped up…and promptly smacked the guy upside the head.

"She's been at this longer than you have. Trust her when she says someone's not a killer. She of all people would know." Sato said bluntly while the cop gaped at her for a second before glaring at Irene.

"But what other reason would she have to carry a sewing kit with her?" The cop asked scowling over at Kaoru who gave him a glare in return.

"I'm pregnant and trying to hide it from my husband. Naturally I have to tailor my cloths so that my baby bump doesn't show." Kaoru said scowling at the cop and pressing her hands against her stomach, her cloths flattening against her stomach to show that it was distended enough to be noticed. At this the cop blushed slightly in embarrassment and scowled darkly.

"Why would you have to hide it from your husband?" The cop asked glaring at the woman who sighed slightly and flipped up her eye patch to show a horrible black eye.

"That's why. He's expressly stated that he doesn't want kids, if he found out that I'm pregnant…" Kaoru's eyes glazed over for a second as she thought about it before she shuddered visibly and put her eyepatch back down while everyone was quiet at the implications.

"In fact…I already know who it is…and have proof." Irene said smirking as she looked up at them, holding something in a cloth in her hands.

"Well Irene-chan. What's the verdict?" McGuire asked smirking and causing Irene to look at Nishitani who gulped under her wide shark like grin and wolf like gaze.

"You might want to surrender and confess peacefully now Nishitani-san. Fighting it does no good." Irene said causing everyone to look at the brown haired man who backed up a step slightly.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Nishitani said his voice not wavering to his credit although the cops were already surrounding him to prevent his escape. Irene merely sighed as she held out what was in her hand. It was a contact lens! Nishitani's eyes widened at that.

"You were in France not long ago, this kind of contact filters out light for the eyes and can only be given via a prescription here in America. France doesn't have that policy. Earlier you went to the bathroom and when you saw kaa-chan from behind you mistook her for Yuko-san, whose hair is too dark otherwise she would look a lot like kaa-san from behind. Because of the contacts in your eyes everything looked darker than it really was, which makes it easy for you to mistake kaa-san for Yuko-san from behind." Irene began while Nishitani stared at her wide eyed alongside the other three cooking students and newer cops.

"After your eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the contacts you waited until the power went out with the little trap you had hooked up with the breakers. Then you used a needle in conjunction with the ring on your finger to attack Michi-san when the lights went out, removing your contacts to be able to see. After you returned to your place in the kitchen, you hid the needle on the only thing you could at the time. Your pen." Irene said holding up the pen in question while Nishitani stared at her in disbelief and slight horror.

"How did you get that?" Nishitani asked his eyes widened as he reached into his pocket and found his pen missing.

"I noticed that you kept it close to you at all times and found it suspicious so I 'liberated' it from your pocket when you were accusing Kaoru-san and Kazue-san. Inspector if you look in his mixing bowl you'll most likely find the other contact…and if you look at the inside of this pen I'd be willing to bet that you'll find the weapon." Irene said tossing the pen to McGuire who unscrewed it and held the ink part up to the light, turning it slightly until he saw something out of place.

"Sure enough there's a pretty long sewing needle in here. Now unless you're going to try and tell me that you're pregnant and hiding it from your abusive husband, I don't think you have a very good reason for the needle to be in there." McGuire said while an unnamed cop was wearing gloves as he dug around in the mixing bowl while a few people snickered at McGuire's comment, Kaoru being one of them.

"Here it is Inspector. Just like she said." The cop said holding up another contact lens.

"Didn't doubt it for a minute. She didn't earn her reputation for nothing." McGuire said grinning while Sato handcuffed Nishitani.

"Like I said…now you'll just be another name in my Death Note." Irene said sighing as she looked at Nishitani who's eyes widened alongside everyone elses.

"Oh that's just not fair!" Nishitani shouted as he was dragged away causing Irene to scowl.

"Since you tried to murder an old woman I don't think you can complain about fairness!" Irene shouted after him…he didn't respond.

"So what are you two waiting for? Don't you want to visit her?" Irene asked turning to look at a shocked Kaoru and Kazue.

"What?" Kaoru asked blinking confused while Kazue shook her head to get rid of the cobwebs before smiling at Irene.

"Of course. Just let me get my keys." Kazue said grabbing her purse off of the waiting table nearby.

"Come on Kaoru-chan. Let's go visit Michi-chan." Kazue said smiling at Kaoru who blinked again.

"But isn't she…" Kaoru trailed off confused and causing Kazue to smile widely.

"She's just fine. It was a trick to get him to trip up…she'll be just fine." Kazue said sounding near tears as she smiled widely, causing Kaoru's eyes to widen as she stood up quickly. She wobbled for a second and Irene was instantly at her side.

"Easy there. Not too fast, you'll get light headed." Irene said supporting the taller woman easily. Kaoru nodded in understanding and released Irene's shoulder before Kazue snatched the little girl up and hugged her. Her words causing many to blink.

"Come on little one. Michi-chan will want to see you too. Especially since you saved her life…we also have to schedule your sessions."