It was midnight. And Shinichi was awoken by the sound of his stomach grumbling. He just remembered he didn't have any dinner last night. How could he while he had so many things going on in his mind? But now, his anxiety was gone and the things in his heart were resolved; he felt starving.
He was reluctant to get up though. He still wanted to enjoy his slumber, especially when Ai was beside him right now, snuggling in his arms with only a blanket covering them. His lips formed a contented smile as he observed her figure that was illuminated by the only light came through his bedroom window.
He was glad she stayed with him.
At any rate, he had prepared himself to go for the extra miles to get her heart if she gave him a negative to his question last night. Lucky him, her responses were more than what he had expected. Her laughing voice was still ringing in his ears, giving off such a nice melody– the nicest he had ever heard in his life– and no Mozart could be more beautiful than his name escaping through her moans.
Screw his perfect pitch ears, he was getting excited again.
His hands moved instinctively to tuck a falling strand of the strawberry blonde hair behind her right ear, then he fondled the ear playfully with his thumb. He chuckled when Ai squirmed her head deeper into his chest. It was one of her sensitive spots after all.
He brought his face closer and was going to kiss her lips quietly before he felt a very soft smack on his face.
"You'll look like a perv if you keep on smiling like that." She said sleepily.
It seemed Ai was also awoken. Her voice sounded a bit raspy– he knew what caused it. He let go of her ear to grab her wrist and removed her hand from his face. Instead of releasing it, he started pecking her palm further down her forearm, shifting their position so he was on top of her now.
"It's all on you if I became one." Shinichi teased with his husky voice as he kissed her neck.
Ai groaned from his sudden ministration, but she was too tired to struggle. He really couldn't get enough of her. He started to get more aroused when his stomach grumbled again, louder this time.
"You better feed your hunger first." Ai chuckled, opening her eyes slightly.
She recalled the incident on the sofa except it was him who made the sound this time.
Albeit, he flipped her arm to see the long fainting scar that almost healed completely. He somehow wanted to check it now, and he grinned once he saw it. He made a note to himself to give his gratitude to that boy when they met again. It was because of him (unintentionally and indirectly), he finally realized his own feeling for the woman who he thought would be the least to be his wife.
"Why don't I eat you instead?" He said as his lips started tracing the scar slowly just like the first time he saw it; his eyes were peeking at hers from behind her arm seductively.
He earned a soft punch on his shoulder and another light chuckle from her. Since when did he become this flirty?
"Why don't you take a cold shower instead?" She suggested. "I need to grab a bite too."
"Fine." He pouted.
Shinichi snuggled into her neck for awhile, then kissed her forehead before he got out from the warm blanket. He got into his pants that he found lying around on the floor near the bed and handed Ai a clean t-shirt from his closet. She wore a yukata yesterday, so it wasn't possible to get into it in this wee hours, was it? He didn't find the garment anywhere in the bedroom anyway.
Perhaps he took it off from her when they were downstairs in the study.
As soon as she heard the bathroom door closing, Ai found herself blushing remarkably seeing the mess they had made. She buried her face into the pillow yet its scents reminded her of last night. Although she didn't show it in front of him, but she was indeed feeling euphoric right now.
She couldn't help it, could she?
She had been repressing her feeling for him for ten years before she could finally express it without being burdened by guilt and her consciences.
She put on the t-shirt he handed once she was calm enough. Then picked up all their clothes one by one– searching for her underwear too while at it– trailing them down to the last room they were in, and put them in the laundry basket.
She went into the kitchen to whipped up something for them. Luckily there were still some slices of bread left, so she could make some peanut butter jelly sandwiches. Her favourite. Shinichi joined her not long after, and they ate in a carefree atmosphere.
"Let's go on a date today." He invited her out of the blue.
Today was the last Sunday of the month. It was the little girl's day out with her maternal grandparent. And so, that left her and Shinichi by themselves today.
She only thought of having a lazy weekend at home like usual and was eventually surprised he invited her out. Maybe she had gotten used to spend almost twenty-four-seven together with him inside the house, so she had never imagined of spending their time outside.
"Are you sure you're not going to ruin it?" Ai teased. "You're a corpse magnet, remember?"
There she went with her usual sarcasm.
"Do I ever attract one whenever we go on family outings?" He retorted.
"No, but it is only when you're with Chiharu and when you're inside this house." She smirked.
It was as if the baby and this dwelling were his only talismans from all the bad lucks he had with falling bodies.
"Oh, shut up."
She always knew how to get on his nerves, but it was the least thing to aggravated him. In fact, he found this way much better than her not talking to him at all.
"Let's go then." She replied. "I never had something so perfect in my life anyway, why bother with a ruined date?"
He grinned from ear to ear upon hearing her reply. Shinichi started to discuss excitedly the places they should go for their first date while Ai was listening to him with a smile plastered on her mouth.
Although she didn't mind with having an imperfect first date, but she was still looking forward to it. They hoped nothing would interrupt their plan.
"What about now?" He suddenly asked. He was leaning on the kitchen counter, sipping a mug of warm milk while she was washing the empty plates with her back facing him.
"What about now?" She asked him back. He could see she was puzzled.
"You told me nothing in your life was so perfect." He elaborated. "Then what about me?"
The sound of the running water tap was slowly turned off. She was done with the cleaning up and turned around to meet his gaze. She also leaned herself on the counter opposite of him with arms crossed.
"Can you please stop giving me vague questions, Shinichi? And always so spontaneous in unexpected times too." She complained.
He chuckled. He walked closer to her, trapping her between him and the kitchen island with his arms as he put down his empty mug on the table behind her. Ai was baffled with a tint on her cheeks. He was too close.
"I'm trying to ask you if nothing perfect had ever happened in your life, then am I not enough to make you feel at least there is one thing in your life that is perfect?" His head leaned forward to meet hers.
She was enthralled by his question for a moment, then she let out a stifled laugh. Shinichi was getting embarrassed now. What was so funny with it?
"Sometimes I am wondering where you do get such confidence." Ai wiped a laughing tear from one of her eyes.
"Well, I am a detective. I have to show such conviction when interrogating suspects." He tried to be sensible, still with his red cheeks though.
"So that makes me your prime suspect now, huh?" She couldn't help but kept teasing him.
"Wha- No-" He was lost for words in the end and gave out a very long desperate sigh. He lowered his head, resting it on her shoulder. He really could never win with her when it came to exchanging banters.
Ai giggled at his anguish.
She, however, knew very well that this man was more than enough for her to call ideal. As a matter of fact, none other than being with him like this could she say perfect in her life. She was just afraid to admit it.
"It scares me." She said once her giggle subsided. Her hand was stroking his hair, trying to cheer him up. "When you never had a certain something and you were desiring to have it although you knew you'd never can get it, then one day it suddenly plopped up into your hands. Doesn't that thing scare you?"
Was it the real thing? Or was it a fake? What if this was only a dream and it would disappear along side with her realizing that there was no such thing in the first place? That it was all just her sense of longing to have something so perfect in her life.
It scared her greatly that she refrained herself from believing its existency even though she actually got a hold of the genuine thing.
"So does that mean you have been yearning for a moment like this, and moreover, with me?" Shinichi raised his head, grinning while still maintaining their intimate distance– her hand stopped stroking his hair abruptly.
She knew he was being puckish with her right now. Even so, Ai couldn't contain her blush. She wasn't really saying that to him but how did he assume such an understanding?
He took her blushing bewildered face as a silent yes from her.
"Then let me remind you." Shinichi said as he gripped her wrist and brought her arm to circled his neck, pulling her closer all together.
Ai was a bit surprised as he moved his head forward to slowly peck her lips. After all, she hadn't get accustomed to his sudden acts of affection.
"Let me keep reminding you everyday that this isn't a dream, Ai." He said it in between the short seconds he broke their lips before kissing her again, with more passion this time. Her eyes fluttered closed; she was enjoying the sensations he stirred inside her heart.
He really had his way with his words while she really was intoxicating him– just like her old code name. And he couldn't stop himself from relishing the flavor of every single drop of her.
His hand gently slipped to the back of her head; the other one was playing with the hem of his t-shirt she wore. His fingers were brushing the skin underneath teasingly as he raised the loose clothes bit by bit.
"I love you, Ai." Shinichi told her very clear in her ear with his voice that was very deeply low.
Ai answered him by sliding her hands on his back, feeling his warmth against her heart. She was savoring each word he directed at her.
After living for twenty eight years, only now did she dare enough to admit that reality could be better than any of her dreams.
.
.
.
DING DONG!
The Kudo Residence was always lively so early in the morning in spite of what day it was. Of course it was because of Chiharu, the only early riser in the house, woke everyone up as soon as the sun shone. And now they had an unexpected guest coming at seven.
DING DONG!
It seemed the guest was an impatient one. He was going to press the bell button again when he heard the clicking sound of the main door being unlocked.
"Yo! Kudo!"
It was Heiji.
He excitedly shouted his greeting only to meet a pair of annoyed blue orbs, which somehow were shorter than him in height. He was sure the last time they met, Shinichi and him had almost the same height. Moreover, his eye color was dark blue.
There was a moment of silence between them before the Osakan detective gave a shocked speechless expression to the girl by the door.
What is this little nee-chan doing here?! His inner self shouted.
Ai tried to keep her poker face steady yet she couldn't bear to not let out an exasperated sigh right in front of his face.
Dang.
She led Heiji into the living room but he stopped by the opened door when he heard his old-time best friend's laugh. His whole body froze the instant he was witnessing the unbelievable sight.
"Daddaa!" A little girl around one year old, almost two shouted happily to Shinichi who was sitting with legs crossed on the floor a few centimeters away from where she stood.
He was dangling a baby toy toward the girl while encouraging her to walk toward him.
What the hell?
Then Heiji saw the strawberry blonde walked toward them.
"Mammaa!" The little girl was calling her now.
She smiled warmly as she took the little girl's hands.
"Let's go to the kitchen, Chii." She told her softly which earned her a nod from the baby.
And to his horror, did she even smile a second ago?
"Who is it, Ai?" Shinichi looked up to her.
"Your Osakan friend." She smirked while pointing toward the empty shell of the said detective.
Shinichi followed her index finger and smiled wryly upon seeing the dark skinned man with his own eyes.
Today would definitely be a long day.
"Seriously, Kudo?" Heiji asked after he regained his senses. He was now sitting on the sofa, holding a mug of coffee served by Ai with a vein popped up on his skull.
The Tokyoite detective had told him the whole detail about his current situation with Chiharu and he was somehow irritated with him.
"What did you ever do to be so lucky in your life?" He bored his best friend so deep in the face with his eyes.
Ten years ago he was dating his childhood sweetheart. Things happened and they broke up but remained best friends which was considered his luck too. Who could truly stay friends after a break up, huh? Now, he was married to a seventeen-years-old nee-chan who was his old-time partner, who turned out to be so attractive.
While he. He was still trying to propose to his longtime tomboy girlfriend and failed several times because things always interrupted them, to his marvel.
God seemed so unfair with his life.
"I did nothing. It was just you who took your time slow." Shinichi scoffed. He was sitting on the armchair with his hand on the armrest, propping up his jaw lazily.
Heiji felt stabbed by his words on the heart.
"But it is so unexpected for things to turned out like this." He coughed, clearing his throat. "As far as I remember, she had been avoiding you for years. You looked so stressed out at that time, even way more than when you broke up with Ran-san."
Of course, how could he not while he had to bear with her silent treatment? Not to mention those vexing months of playing cat and mouse with her.
Looking back to those years, it was partly thanks to this friend of his that he could gather himself up and living his life until he met her again that day.
And now, she couldn't get away from him anymore even if she wanted to.
"Yeah." Shinichi turned his face away from Heiji to hide his blush. The memory of her from last night and few hours ago were suddenly coming back to his mind.
Heiji didn't miss that.
"Couldn't you be less obvious? I know you really are enjoying your new marriage life there, Kudo." He teased him with annoyance, which darkened the blush on the face of his best friend.
"Anyway, you aren't here so early in the morning for nothing, are you?" Shinichi asked him back while trying to compose himself.
"Sharp as ever." Heiji grinned. "Of course I'm here to ask for your help on a case."
He took out the file for the said case and explained it all to Shinichi.
Apparently it was a murder case which corpse of a man was found in a suitcase stored in the cargo hold of an airplane flight between Haneda to Itami Airport. The baggage owner who was identified as the main suspect claimed to have not known there was a body inside. She just found out all of her things were replaced with the dead body once she opened her luggage in the toilet to get some stuffs before exiting the arrival gate.
She also claimed to have not recognize the victim, which her statement was supported by the relatives and close friends of the killed man. The suspect insisted her things must had been exchanged by someone after she handed it to the passenger assistant for the check in procedure. Her guy friend, who was also traveling with her, testified her luggage had passed through the screening machine smoothly without any peculiarity noticed by the officers on duty. The police were still confirming further evidences on this altogether with the motives. Some other suspects also arose being the last persons the victim met few hours before he was missing.
There hadn't been any lead to the exact murder place because the time of death was manipulated by the condition of the temperature inside the luggage and the cargo hold. Therefore, the case was currently filed under the two prefectural police jurisdictions.
"What we all know right now from the postmortem examination is that the victim died due to strangulation on the neck." Heiji ended the brief.
Shinichi was skimming the report for awhile after he heard the rough detail of the case.
"If that's so, why do you not take this to the TMPD?" He finally spoke. "Shouldn't you be meeting someone there to discuss this with?"
"The thing is, the Osaka Prefectural PD has specifically asked the TMPD to assign you on this case." He explained. "You should be notified some time by today about this. That's why I am here to bring the case to you."
Shinichi turned quiet as he tightened his grip on the papers.
For the first time in his life, he didn't feel any excitement when someone brought a case to him. Because–
"Since most of the evidences were in Osaka, so you should prepare yourself to make some trips as soon as possible." Heiji continued.
There. That was the thing that made him lost interest with the case.
Based on the brief, he believed it would take some time for this case to reach its conclusion. Furthermore, it required him to travel to Osaka for few days at least. Which meant, he had to leave Ai and Chiharu alone here.
Shinichi sighed.
Why of all the days should he be assigned on a such complicated case today?
Just like what Ai said, maybe he really shouldn't be asking her on a date outside without bringing his talisman, huh?
Author's note: Notice some new callings in the narration? Right, now Shinichi had started to call Ai as his wife and vise versa (haha). Well, I can say that this chapter marked the new arc of this story (because there are just so many more stories popping up in my head about these two for future chapters!)
I apologized for the scenario of the murder case. I know it was not as thrilling as it sounded because I am not good with making mystery genre. I did my research at least, and tried to write it based on all the information I could access from the internet (it was limited though). So I could only have ideas for very simple cases in mind. Luckily, it wasn't the spotlight of the story.
I do hope you all like this chapter. Do not forget to give your comments and reviews.
Happy reading!
Disclaimer: All characters of Detective Conan are belong to Aoyama Gosho. I don't own any single of them.