File Two: Pointing a Gun at My Face

That was the longest, and most awkward car ride Shinichi had in his life, he would safely bet on that.

Since Yukiko had to go to the police station for some questioning, the trio was to head back home first. But had been so strangely quiet that Shinichi had tried to break it, talking about some random nonsense that none of the other two seemed to care about. As things were now, it looked as if the teenage boy was the only one wanting to have a proper conversation, since Ran seemed to be down for some strange reason and Conan being Conan preferred to gaze out the window in silence.

"And this is what Holmes said-"

Groaning, the kid covered his ears. "Could you talk about anything else?" He glared at him. "You are really trying to spoil me, aren't you?"

"Sorry, sorry." Shinichi chuckled. "You said you were reading A Study in Scarlet, right? Did you reach the part where Holmes-"

"Shut it."

Conan rolled his eyes at his brother, and was about to say something else when his eyes caught on something, making them lose that irritated glimmer from before. "Ran-neechan?" The girl was staring at her lap, strangely quiet. "Are you okay?"

"Don't tell me it's about what Rose said..." Shinichi frowned, concerned as well.

"Eh?" Ran blinked twice, before smiling. "Her English was too quick, so I didn't understand. What did she say?"

"It was nothing. She didn't say much."

Her answer caused Conan's eyes to narrow slightly, but he didn't try to press her any further.

"Put up your window, you'll get a cold." If Shinichi had noticed it as well, he didn't let it show. "Especially if that fever you mentioned gets worse."

"I'm alright now. Besides, I can't see New York if the window is up."

The child raised an eyebrow. Yes, you can.

"But still, the car will get wet, and the driver wouldn't like that."

"Don't worry." She brought a pink handkerchief from her pocket and held it up for the boy to see. Conan recognized it as the one that Sharon had given her a few hours ago. "I'll wipe down the seats before I get out."

The kid opened his mouth. "Ran-neechan, maybe you shouldn't-" Predictably so, the wind made the handkerchief slip from her fingers and fly off the window. "... Do that."

Not wanting to get soaked, Conan sighed tiredly, leaning against his seat while watching the two teenagers get out the car to recover it, despite the rain that was falling over their heads. At some point, Shinichi rushed inside an abandoned building, leaving Ran behind to clutch her umbrella tightly as she waited for his comeback.

He better not take long, the kid thought, with an raised eyebrow, as he watched the girl shift uncomfortably, eyes not straying away from the door Shinichi had just disappeared from. If Ran-neechan gets a cold because of something like this, I swear-

All his thoughts came to a violent halt when the sight of something ─ or rather, someone, slowly making his way to her ─ caused his breath to freeze in his lungs. "He's of Japanese descent..." his mother's words echoed in his mind, as he frantically lowered the window. "... with long hair."

"Ran-neechan!" he yelled, taking his head out of the window, not minding the rain starting to soak his hair. "Run away! He might be the serial killer!"

Ran spun around and was terrified to realize that, indeed, there was a man in front of her, looking exactly like Yukiko had just described him.

"Hey, hurry up!" the taxi driver was shouting at her as well. "Jump in!"

Cursing under his breath, the young boy jumped out of the car and ran her way, noticing that the girl was paralyzed out of fear in her spot, rendering her unable to move, let alone using her karate on him. He barely paid attention to the driver taking off as soon as he got off, in favor of standing right beside the girl.

A serious frown took over his young features ─ he hoped that he didn't look as scared as he currently was.

"Conan-kun!" Ran shouted at her, eyes wide open with horror. "What are you doing?! You need to get out of here!"

The kid didn't reply, just glared at the man in front of him, who didn't even react to his presence. Before long, however, Conan's expression changed radically.

He blinked, as if confused, before sighing in relief. "Don't worry. He's not the killer."

"Eh?"

"If he was, he would've already murdered you, then both me and the taxi driver. We saw his face, after all." The child offered the man a smile. "Isn't that right, Officer-san?"

The man stared at him for a bit, before he snorted, amusedly. "Close enough, but I'm not a police officer."

Conan raised an eyebrow. He's not?

"Have you seen a suspicious man?" he then asked them, completely ignoring the clueless look the kid had plastered all over his face.

"None, besides you."

"C-Conan-kun!"

He barely had the time to glance at her before a car came from the way the man had appeared from and pulled out next to him, just for another man to step out of it.

"Did you find him, sir?" he asked in English.

"No, I found only a pair of tourists. I guess he hasn't been to this street. The gunfight against us excited the beast, he couldn't have gone without catching the girl."

Conan's curious eyes fell on the back of the man that had just gotten out of the car and noticed three letters printed on his shirt. FBI.

So that was what he meant when he said wasn't a police officer...

The long-haired FBI agent suddenly grabbed Ran's arm. "You can get to the main street if you take a right at this corner." But she didn't budge. "I suggest you take a taxi from here."

"But wait, I'm waiting for my friend..."

"Then, I'll say this once for you, this kid, and your friend: Leave!"

And then, just as quickly as they had arrived, the two agents disappeared into the darkness of the night, leaving the two to stare, dumbfounded, at the place where they had previously been standing, until Conan woke up from his stupor suddenly and bolted inside the building. Ran followed suit, without adding a word.

Upon entering, something stole a grasp out of the girl. Following her gaze, Conan was shocked to find tiny little drops of blood on the floor. Don't tell me he… The kid observed the trail of blood leading to a set of stairs. The girl didn't need him to say anything to understand what he was looking at.

"We need to find Shinichi," said Ran, suddenly determined, before starting to climb up the stairs and call for him. "Shinichi? Shinichi!"

Her umbrella was discarded and left forgotten on the ground ─ Conan hurried to grab her and follow after her. By the time the kid had managed to climb up the first step, the girl had reached the stair landing. She's worried, noted the child, as he continued going up.

When a dizzy spell seemed to suddenly hit her, causing her to collapse against the handrail, the boy sped up, reaching her side just as she was straightening up. "Ran-neechan!" he called, frantically. "This is the sickness you two were talking about before, right? Wait here, I will go get-"

Ran shaking her head prompted him to click his mouth shut. "I have to do this." Conan could only panic when she, ever so slowly, started to climb up the stairs once more. "Shinichi came in here after the handkerchief I lost..." The kid nervously positioned beside her, so that he could at least try to help her regain her footing in case she fell again. "It's my fault." Her eyes watered, yet she kept going forward. "I-It… It really is my fault."

Innocent eyes studied her for a few moments. "This… This isn't about the handkerchief anymore, is it?" Ran did not reply. "It's about what that woman said."

The girl forced a smile at the boy. "Of course not!" she said, a bit too cheerfully to be deemed normal. "Weren't you listening before? I didn't understand what she said-"

"You're lying," he interrupted her. "Rose spoke slowly and clearly. Your English is not that bad, Ran-neechan."

For the longest time, Ran merely looked at the sharp, but sincere gaze that was piercing right through her heart, struggling to come up with some other excuse. "You don't understand, Conan-kun." But eventually she gave up, realizing that it was impossible to lie to him. "If I hadn't saved her, Heath-san wouldn't have-"

"If you had let Rose die, would you have been able to live with it?"

Bewildered eyes wouldn't look away from the young, yet incredibly wise boy smiling warmly up at her.

"You're kind, Ran-neechan, that's who you are. Don't be so hard on yourself."

Her mouth opened and closed, struggling to say anything but, before she could manage to get a sentence out, they both flinched, startled by the sound that reached their ears.

Steps. Somebody was descending down the stairs, and they knew for a fact that it was not Shinichi.

Soon, they were proved right at the sight of a man, with long, silver hair and a gun in hand, rushing to their way. He's injured, Conan observed despite the situation they were in.

"Conan! Ran!" Shinichi's desperate cries filled the room. "Run! That's the serial killer!"

Eyes widening with fright, Conan instinctively took a step backwards, watching the serial killer putting a silencer on his gun, when the rail he had been leaning on suddenly gave up. He stumbled back into the abysm.

The silencer fell on the asphalt with a metallic sound. The silver-haired man, however, was beyond shocked to see that he was still alright.

And so was Conan. Unable to believe his eyes, the kid blinked at the sight of Ran holding onto the serial killer's jacket like dear life, shouting at him to hurry and grab her arm. Shinichi mirrored her actions and aided her friend. In no time, the serial killer was back on his feet, giving all of them a cold glare.

Yet Conan just stood there the whole time. What should I do? He trembled slightly, his knuckles having gone white for a while now after grasping into Ran's umbrella so tightly. He knew he had to do something, but his legs wouldn't move.

Besides, if worse came to worse, what could he do? It wasn't like a worn-out umbrella would do much against a charged gun.

"Why?!" Conan winced when the serial killer screamed. "Why did you save me?!"

"Because Conan-kun was right." The boy jumped on his spot out of surprise at the mention of his name. "If I let you die..." Her voice was growing weaker with each passing second. "... I don't think I could live… with myself."

She turned around and her eyes met with the child's, a warm, yet weak, smile making its way to her face as she mouthed something ─ strangely like the words 'thank you' ─ before she dropped into the floor, just like a puppet with its strings cut.

"H-Hey, Ran!" Shinichi called, loudly, out of concern.

Before he knew it, Conan felt his legs moving, "Ran-neechan!" and fell into his knees, right at her side. "She's burning up," he declared after resting a small hand against her forehead, and looked at his older brother, voice tainted with urgency. "We need to get her out of here."

Shinichi nodded at him, promptly picking her up. Conan stood up next to him, ready to follow him when he heard a click. The serial killer, despite being saved by them, was pointing at Shinichi with a gun.

"Maybe you shouldn't do that," Conan blurted out without thinking. "I found an FBI agent on my way here. They are looking for you, and they are nearby. If you fire that gun they will hear you."

Only when the serial killer lowered his gun, gritting his teeth, the kid found himself able to breathe properly again. Shinichi, in turn, said nothing. Just gave the man a long look, before turning around.

"I'll let you go for now. But if you hurt either Ran or Conan, I won't show mercy next time." There was a dangerous glint in his eyes, as he walked. "I'll prove your crimes with any evidence necessary and I'll make sure you're put away… Even if my life goes with it."

His little brother stared, dumbly, at the teenager. He snapped out of it right away, running so that he could catch up with him. Just now, he… Even after he had reached him, his curious gaze didn't leave the older boy. He looked like an entirely different person. The way he spoke, so confidently and determined, with a serial killer...

But Conan could tell that he had been secretly terrified. The way his hands were still shaking, and the beads of perspiration dripped from his forehead, were proof of it. He didn't comment on it.

Like so the Kudo brothers, and a slumbering Ran, made their way back home. Silent during the entire thing. The kid wished, with all his might, that morning would arrive with no further complications.

That night, though, Conan woke up with a startled yelp, only to find himself sitting straight up on top of his own bed, drenched in cold sweat from head to toe.

Shakily, the kid brought his hand to his forehead, trying to slow his breathing, but to no avail ─ it only kept coming out in sharp gasps. Even minutes after waking up, Conan's heart wouldn't stop pounding against his chest, so violently that he momentarily worried that it would leap out of his little chest.

Realizing that, once again, he wouldn't be able to get more sleep tonight, the kid grabbed his glasses from his nightstand and carefully slipped out of bed.

That night, Shinichi woke up to a soft, almost imperceptible, whimpering coming from the room next to his and craned his head to gaze blearly at the numbers in his digital clock shining angrily in the middle of the darkness.

3:37 AM

Any other time, he would probably shrug it off and go back to seep, but he didn't. Instead, the teenager laid away, keeping an ear out and waiting for something else. Sure enough, the muffled sound of barefoot steps against the wooden floor echoed through the darkness.

As silently as he could, Shinichi opened the door just a crack to see the tiny figure of a child slowly heading downstairs. It really didn't take a detective to figure out where he was going, so he wasn't that surprised when he found his little brother sitting on top of the carpet-covered floor of the library, eyes fixed on Sherlock Holmes' book.

The way the child rubbed his eyes every few seconds was enough for Shinichi to know that he was having a hard time going through it so late at night.

"Just like I suspected." Conan's entire jerked up, startled at the voice coming from nowhere all of a sudden. "I thought it was weird you haven't finished A Study in Scarlet yet, even though you have supposedly been up reading all night for a week now."

Once recovered from his initial shock, Conan scowled and went back to his book. He didn't look away from it, even when Shinichi crossed the room and promptly sat cross-legged next to him.

"Do you want to talk about it?

"I don't remember it," Conan answered rather quickly. "So I can't, even if I wanted to."

The child heard his brother sigh tiredly and expected him to stand up so that he could go back to bed, leaving him alone with his book in the process. Yet, instead of that, he scooted closer. Conan couldn't help a childish squeak when he felt himself being raised in the air from his armpits and settled on Shinichi's lap.

"What are you doing?" Conan gave him a surprised look, watching wide-eyed as the teen pried the book from his small hands, before opening it to read for himself.

"I'm helping you," he replied while shrugging. "At this pace, you aren't going to finish it until you are fifteen."

He received a long, blank stare after that, but after a few seconds the child just sighed, resigning to his fate since he was too tired to continue arguing with his brother. Shinichi smiled, amusedly, in return, placing a hand on top of Conan's shoulder, pressing the child's small body against his chest.

"I wish you could trust me enough to tell me, though." Shinichi's whisper made its way through Conan's ears. "What's bothering you, Conan?"

The young boy didn't say anything, prompting Shinichi to sigh, knowing better than to try to press him. He opened the book unceremoniously.

"I confess that..." Soon, his brother's voice started to resound in the entire room. "... I was considerably startled by this fresh proof of the practical nature of my companion's theories."

Conan found himself listening intently at every single word, somewhat impressed by the teen's unexpectedly good reading abilities. His English might lack proper pronunciation in some parts, but the way he interpreted Watson and Holmes' dialogue completely made up for it.

"Then, of course, this blood belongs to a second individual ─ presumably the murderer, if murder has been committed."

Shinichi's eyes sparkled with excitement when he read Holmes' lines, Conan noticed with an amused smile. He looks like… a child. Even though he was supposed to be one himself.

It was so different from the Kudo Shinichi he would see every single night in his dreams….

Icy cold eyes and a deadly, solemn expression on his face...

Yet, there he was, tenderly cradling his little brother against his body as he read his favorite book for him. Conan hadn't noticed it until now, but Shinichi was rocking his body back and forth, in a very comforting manner.

The gentle rocking motion was relaxing the young kid, and his body was gradually growing heavier, slumping even more against Shinichi's chest until he could clearly hear his steady, calming heartbeat.

How could he ever tell his brother what was bothering him?

Especially when he was certain he would see him again, without fail, as soon as he stepped into dreamland...

... Pointing a gun at my face.

The hand that wasn't holding the book was now on top of his head, running through strands of hair and gently untangling them.

Conan's eyelids dropped sleepily, so much that he had to struggle to keep them open, hoping to hear more about Holmes' brilliant deductions. But the ministrations on his head and the vibrations of his vocal chords as Shinichi spoke slowly, but steadily, lulled him into a strange state of peace and quietness he didn't remember ever feeling in his short life.

Was that dream even real?

Or is this...?

...

... So warm...

Bone-weary exhaustion dragged Conan down and eventually lost the battle. His eyes finally slipped closed and fell into a deep slumber before Shinichi could finish reading the chapter.

For the first time in what it felt like forever, the nightmares didn't bother him, not even once, throughout the rest of the night.

A/N:

Published: 02-15-2020

Last edited: 12-28-2020

Based on Kudo Shinichi's New York Case.