Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ Kore o kudasai ❯ Ch VII: Birth of a Mystery ( Chapter 7 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: Misk

Ch VII

“Now, I need you to be on your best behavior alright.”

“Ok, Daddy” Ran said with an obedient nod, grabbing at the edge of her sundress and tugging on it, to try and straighten it back out. Again he smiled, reaching down to make a half hearted attempt to straighten her hair. “That's my girl”

A moment later Yukiko Kudo was at the gate and ushering the two into the house with a smile and a greeting that consisted of a hundred words a minuet. Once inside Ran began to remove her sandals, lining them up neatly next to her fathers. “Isn't she just a doll” Yukiko cooed, kneeling down to the girls level. “I wish I could get Shinichi to pick up after himself like that.” Ran giggled and performed a little curtsy by way of a thank you. Shinichi's mother stifled another bout of laughter. “Shinichi is back in the study, you know where all the books are, right sweetie?” Ran thanked her quickly and bolted down the hall in search of her playmate, leaving the two adults to speak in peace.

Mouri let out a sigh as he watched his daughter disappear around a corner. No matter how many times he told her to walk…but she was out of ear shot before he could give her another reminder. Yukiko merely beamed. “She seems too had inherited a lot of your energy detective” she commented wholeheartedly. He glanced over at the curly haired starlet and offered her a weary smile in return. “Yah, that and her mothers strong will and iron firm convictions…”

Yukiko stifled another bout of giggles. “Oh come now Kogorou, you say that as if it were a bad thing.” He could not help but chuckle at her playful chiding.

“My husband is upstairs in the privet study,” she began once more. “I believe he was expecting you today.”

Mouri raised his eyebrow at that but said nothing. No one had told Kudo about the recent developments in the Inoue case, had they? Pushing the thought aside he thanked Yukiko and began marching almost pensively up the flight of stairs in search of the author in question. “I'll be up in a minuet with some tea.” Yukiko called up after him. It was all he could do to keep himself from chuckling. For a woman who had once held the hearts of thousands as a dynamic and dangerous spy, she had certainly managed to tern herself into a little Susie home maker without even batting an eyebrow. She really was something else.

Reaching the second floor Mouri stepped quietly to his left and, reaching the third door to the right he knocked softly. From within he could hear a muffled growl and the shuffling of papers before a voice hailed him to enter. “Ah, Mouri, good I was beginning to think you weren't going to come around until tomorrow.” Kudo announced spinning about on the chair at his desk to get a quick glimpse at his guest.

The man looked as he always did when interrupted in his craft. With crumpled shirt and unkempt hair he looked the very picture of the melancholic thinker. Ink stained fingers gestured to a chair in part buried beneath a pile of various notes and maps. “Please, take a seat.”

Collecting the papers in a lopsided stack Kogorou cleared the seat and handed its contents over to the writer. “You must forgive the mess” the other added with a weary tone and an apologetic smile. “Ever since the Night Baron series hit the shelves six months ago I have been hard pressed by my editor to complete the sequel.” Mouri nodded as he sat. He himself was not really one for fictional writing, but from what he had heard at the precinct the book had become an instant sensation. Many of his friends would talk about nothing else, claming it was one of the best and most accurate mystery novels to his the shelves. Hell, even some of the more elite criminal investigators were hard pressed to find fault with the logic of the work, despite its fictional context.

“It about Dr. Inoue, isn't it.”

Kouguru eyes the other, a bit of a bitter look in his face. “So you were already told…” Mouri began, irritated that his superiors would send him to make a personal call on his own time if they had had every intention of simply calling the man in the first place. Kudo however simply shook his head. “There was a mention of last nights National Museum incident in this mornings paper, given the first part of his lecture was held there…” the author trailed off, the rest of the peaces falling into place. `Clever basterd' Mouri noted to himself, not for the first time. “What do you make of it then?”

Kudo sat back in his chair his face becoming remarkably grave. “I'm not sure” he confessed, “if I'm not mistaken, either the good doctor is keeping something from us, or there's more to his research then even he knows.” Mouri nodded his agreement, and for a long moment the two sat in silence both men contemplating the most recent and unsettling events as well as their implications on the case. “Has Dr. Inoue said anything further on the matter?” Kudo finally inquired, his cool calculating tone the first the break the silence. Mouri shook his head. “He seemed pretty shaken up by the affair,” he confessed “but when we interviewed him about it he simply said that accidents happen and that we should be grateful that no one was killed.”

The writer furrowed his brow at that, his gaze becoming somewhat distant. “Interesting choice of words…” he mused, lacing his fingers together as he rested both elbows on the arm rests of his chair. “Did he seem ill at ease by any chance?” Mouri shook his head, “no more then any other time I've seen the man.”

Of coarse both men knew that meant very little.

A piercing scream suddenly ripped through the relative silence of the house followed shortly after by the sound of smashing glass. Both men were on their feet in an instant. “What the hell…” Kougoru managed. “It Yukiko” Kudo bit out, dashing for the door, Mouri fresh on his heals.

The two men bolted down the stairs and made a mad dash for the kitchen where the small television could still be heard chattering away to itself. Yukiko sat on the floor of the kitchen, broken glass and porcelain littering the ground where she had evidently dropped the tray and tea set she had been preparing. She seemed transfixed, gaze fixed on the small television set on the counter, her expression one of absolute horror. “Yukiko, Yukiko what is it!” her husband demanded, ignoring the shards he kneeled down beside her, trying to coax her up to her feet. The woman wouldn't move.

“Mamma?”

Mouri turned to find the Kudos' son and his own daughter standing at the doorway of the kitchen both looking equally scared and confused. One glance at their disheveled hair and wrinkled clothing told him that the two had undoubtedly been roughhousing, despite his warning. “What's wrong…” the boy asked looking with bewilderment at Mouri and then behind him at his parents.

“You too, go back and play”

“But…”

“Ran, don't argue with me, now go”

It took a moment, but at last the two complied, backing away from the kitchen and disappearing down the hall. Finally he was able to turn his attention back to the kitchen. By now Yuusaku had managed to assist his wife to her feet and now stood supporting her as she stared, eyes still fixed on the televisionnews broadcast.

“Ohgod…”

The words that finallymade it past her lips were strained and cracked. “Oh god, sensi…!”Yuusaku's attention,which had been fixed to the television, now turned back to her. “What…”

Yukiko tried a slow breath, her body still shaking uncontrollably. “Sensi…Sensi Kuroba…he's dead. Sensi is dead!”