Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ When Pandora's Box Is Opened ❯ Rendezvous ( Chapter 64 )

Chapter Sixty-Four

Rendezvous

“... the sniper bullets then stopped, but it was too late...”

“What'd I miss?” Heizo muttered as he sat down next to Hakuba Saguru, who jumped. He was a little pale but otherwise composed.

“Hattori-keibu,” he whispered. “Is it true that your son is missing?”

“Officially, yes,” Heizo muttered. “First things first. Who's he?”

“Yamashiro Yuuta, new Superintendant General of the Tokyo Met, Chichi-ue's old deputy who was in a meeting with Chichi-ue when the sniper fired,” Hakuba muttered. “I'll give you the real details later if you give me the real details on Hattori.”

“We'll talk later,” Heizo agreed, turning his attention back to the speaker, narrowing his eyes.

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“Yes?” Agasa said, opening the door to the persistent ringers.

“Agasa-Hakase?” Kazuha said, glancing around.

“Kazuha-kun?” Agasa said in surprise. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“It's a long story but I bet ya can guess about halfa it,” a child's voice said. Agasa glanced down at Heiji, then went whiter than his hair as he jumped.

“Kami above,” he whispered.

“Let us in, let us in,” Heiji said insistently, pushing past. “I'm feelin' paranoid as hell fer some reason right now. Kudo an' Haibara at school?”

“Er... as it happens, they're playing hooky,” Agasa gasped, still looking like he was mid-heart attack. “Shinichi... he's regained enough of his memory to realize that he's not Edogawa Conan and, well... we told him the rest. Actually, Ran-kun did... it's a long story.”

“Great, we can swap,” Heiji said, flopping down on the couch, pulling off the baseball cap that he'd pulled low over his face as he and Kazuha had run from his father's car to Agasa's door. Kazuha sat protectively next to him.

“The end result is that Shinichi is over at his house, looking through photo albums with Yukiko-kun and Ran-kun... Yuusaku-kun is shadowing the review over Hakuba-kun's father's death. Ai-kun was also going to play hooky to work on the drug research, but she ended up following Shinichi and Ran-kun... she was a little curious, I think,” he said with a very grandfatherly chuckle. “Plus, Yukiko-kun is insistent that she eats more, so she's probably plying about five lunches on her... I should go get them... oh, but I ought to make some tea...”

“You go get them, I'll make tea,” Kazuha offered. “Heiji, ya sit still, got it? Those bruised ribs need rest.”

“Yes, Ofukuro...” Heiji muttered, lying down on the couch and taking up all of one cushion. “Geez, this is weird...”

Still pale and stammering, Agasa-Hakase left. Kazuha started humming a little as she made some tea in the kitchenette.

“Kami, I'm glad she's all right,” Heiji thought with a sigh. The worst moments had kept replaying in his head, the moment she went into the water, when the guy in the glasses had started shooting at her, the fear in her eyes in that very first moment when the guns had touched their backs...

“If she'd been killed `cause of me... Kami, how could I have lived with that? Now I know just why Kudo was so completely freaked about Mori gettin' mixed up in any of this...” he realized what he was thinking and shook himself. “Hold on a mo. Kudo's in love with Mori. Kazuha's just my friend, and she don't deserve ta get mixed up in my messes...”

If she'd been killed, though...

“Marutake Ebisu Ni Ochi Oike…”

“Oh, hell no.”

Heiji jerked out of his thoughts to find Kudo staring at him from the doorway with an expression of utter shock, even more visible because he wasn't wearing his glasses. It struck Heiji how different he looked without them- without them, it was very obvious that he was a tiny Kudo Shinichi. He wondered where he could get a pair.

“No shit, Sherlock,” he said instead, as Ai and Ran both appeared behind Kudo and both stopped stock still as they stared at Heiji. “How the hell did you get used to this?”

“Can't remember yet,” he croaked, staring at Heiji. “Holy... I still didn't quite believe it, it just sounded so weird, but... Kami...”

“Three,” Ai said quietly. “Why us three alone?” then she stopped talking to herself as she narrowed her eyes on Heiji. “What happened to you? How? I thought they'd stopped using it...”

“Evidently, they ain't,” Heiji sighed. “They musta decided that it was just too perfect fer untraceably killin' off cops' kids...”

“Hattori...” Kudo said, “What did you do?”

Heiji shrugged. “I got noticed.”

“Ran-chan!” Kazuha came back through, Agasa following her with a tray of tea things. “This aho scared me half to death, and then- I mean, I can hardly believe it- oh, Kami, I just...”

“Calm down, Kazuha-chan,” Ran said soothingly. “Trust me, I know exactly how you feel...”

“And you!” Kazuha said angrily, confronting Kudo with an accusing finger. “You lied to Ran-chan! You hurt her, you know, you baka, and you-”

“Kazuha-chan, he doesn't exactly have all of his memory back yet,” Ran said, standing between Kudo and Kazuha as Kudo backed away, looking confused and not a little upset.

“Umm... Ran...?” he said quietly, sounding more than a bit overwhelmed.

“Everybody calm down and have a little tea,” Agasa said as they made their way to seats around the coffee table, Ai giving Heiji the same calculating stare that he'd often seen her watching Kudo with.

“All right,” she said, “start talking- what exactly happened? Did anybody see you?”

“Don't think so,” Heiji said with a shrug. “All right, it kinda started th' day before yesterday, when me an' Kazuha were headed home from school...”

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“... so that's the truth of it,” Saguru said quietly, leading the way down the hospital corridors. “We just need to expose that truth...”

“I see,” Heizo said, examining the bullet in the bag. “The Commissioner will be here for the funeral tomorrow- I'll talk to him...”

“I'll come with you,” Saguru insisted. “Nakamori-keibu and Megure-keibu ought to come as well, they identified the bullet... here we are.” He knocked on the door before entering.

Sato was there again, talking to both Takagi and Shiratori, the latter awake though very weak-looking. All three glanced up at the pair as they entered.

“Shiratori-keibu, Takagi-keiji, how are you feeling?” Saguru greeted them. “I see you're still around too, Sato-keiji...”

“Can't kill us if you tried,” Takagi said cheerily, “as several people can now vouch for...”

“I'd like you all to meet Hattori Heizo, chief of the Osaka Police,” Saguru said, indicating Heizo. “Hattori-keibu, this is Sato Miwako-keiji, Takagi Wataru-keiji and Shiratori Ninzaburo-keibu, all of the 1st Investigative Division- all targets of the Organization, albeit in Shiratori-keibu's case by accident.”

“I've offered to help the FBI in coordinating a strike against police infiltrators such as the one that we pulled in Osaka,” Heizo explained. “Which means that I'll need your cooperation as well... well, Sato-san's, at any rate. It doesn't look like either of you gentlemen will be going anywhere anytime soon...”

“Nah, it was clean shots, I'll be out in a couple of weeks,” Takagi said dismissively.

“I'm out of here as soon as they let me have solids,” Shiratori growled weakly.

“The plan is to arrest Yamashiro, and search and seize his house and possessions,” Saguru explained. “He'll have data on every other infiltrator in the Tokyo met, possibly more, and we'll be able to use that to strike against everywhere else. Sato-san, will you and Megure-keibu lead the search and seizure as soon as we can secure a warrant?”

“Try and stop me,” Sato said. “I'll turn his house upside down.”

“Oh, yes...” Saguru remembered, “I've been, eh, warned that data on these people cannot be taken off of their computers, so you may have to hack any passcodes that he's put up... Kudo-sensei has requested to come with you for that reason.”

“He's still in Japan?” Takagi said in surprise.

“No problem with that,” Sato said with a shrug.

“That man's up to something all of his own,” Heizo muttered. “If only he felt inclined to share it with the world...”

“Whatever it is, I doubt it's any good for the Organization, and that's good enough for me,” Saguru said. “After all... in some ways he's in the same position as you, eh?” Heizo nodded tersely.

“Because your sons are both Kokosei-tantei?” Takagi asked.

“Something like that,” Heizo said.

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“... an' so here I am,” Heiji said, waving a tiny hand. “Now tell me ya got some breakthroughs recently, `cause I sure as hell ain't goin' through kiddy school again...”

“Not really,” Kudo said with a shrug. “We're still on the temporary stuff, right, Haibara... Haibara?”

Ai looked deep in thought, ignoring Kudo completely.

“Ai-chan?” Ran asked, leaning over to look at her.

“There's something, I just know it,” Ai muttered, “there must be something about us three that's different from those who died, it can't be purely random, not given how set the effect is... not gender issues, obviously...”

“We'll leave ya to it,” Heiji said with a shrug. “More importantly, Kudo- ya left two messages at the place ya were hidden, an' I'm hopin' that ya got enough a' yer memory back ta remember what they mean `cause we sure as hell can't figure it out...”

“Let me see,” Kudo said, holding out his hand. Heiji passed over the photograph, with “V=ETA” written on the back. He stared at the photograph.

“Broken jewel and a monocle...” he said with a frown. “That jewel... it's the Pandora thing that you told me about, right, Haibara?”

“Pandora?” Heiji said in confusion.

“... Which they didn't know about...” Ai said with a sigh, only slightly surfacing from her deep thoughtfulness.

“It's a jewel,” Kudo said. “A doublet that supposedly grants immortality. Kid's been trying to destroy it, that's how he got mixed up in all of this... that might be what it is: Kid's true target is the Pandora's destruction. Look, those are shatter lines, not facet lines.”

“Does th' jewel have anythin' ta do with astronomy?” Heiji asked.

“It supposedly fell from a comet ten thousand years ago, and only grants immortality at the comet's pass,” Kudo said. “How'd you know?”

“It could be Eta Carinae, then...” Heiji said thoughtfully. “The other message, it's written on the back,” he added to Kudo's look of confusion. Kudo flipped the picture over, staring at “V=ETA”.

“...not an ethnicity issue...” Ai was muttering, then she stared at Kudo. “Kudo-kun?”

Heiji, who had been refilling his teacup, glanced up. Kudo's knuckles had gone white as he gripped the picture tight enough to crush it. His face had gone deathly white, staring at the message, his eyes wide. He didn't seem to be breathing.

“Shinichi?” Ran said, shaking his shoulders. “Shinichi!”

“Eta,” he breathed. “Eta... and Ushi...”

Then his eyes rolled up into his head as he passed out.

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Twenty-Three Years Ago

“I didn't know you drew, Sharon-chan,” Toichi said, glancing at the sketchpad.

“I'm a woman of many talents,” she said with a wink. “This is one I prefer to keep to myself...”

“That's a cute picture, though,” Toichi said thoughtfully. “The children playing in a field...”

“It's after a story I heard, a long time ago,” Sharon said, twirling her pen in her fingers, “about two very special children...”

“What's so special about them?” Toichi said, quirking a little smile.

“They're special to the whole world,” she said with a little smile of her own, “they're the Hope from Pandora's Box...”

“Sorry I'm late!” Yukiko trilled as she bounced into the clubroom. “Sensei kept me behind because I got a red mark... It's not my fault that we lost a major scene when the tape got overexposed... re-filming went on so long that I never had time to finish my physics homework, but really, is that my fault?”

Sharon laughed, tucking away her sketchbook. Toichi smiled too as he started pulling wig materials out of his bag. Fujimine Yukiko, on top of her dramatic talents, really did have a talent for lightening the mood, as if her bubbly personality was too much for one girl and so was projected onto everyone else in the immediate vicinity. She even always managed to make the often-stern Sharon smile.

And it was because of that that Toichi, for a very long time, forgot all about the special children.

Until he found out who Sharon was.

Until one day, after a heist, quite by chance, he heard one of them talking to “Vermouth”- Sharon.

Until he heard him say that it was not a story, but a prophecy- and the only way to circumvent it was to kill the children that she'd seen.

Until he found out about the Pandora legend.

Until he saw the children with his own eyes.

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Apropos of nothing, 64 is my favourite number. :) Possibly why I decided to stick in a Toichi-related flashback.

I want chapter 703 too, Mel72000… T_T

I know, A Midsummer Night's Dream… but the cleaning crews are at work…

TwilTye has RETURNED! Tremble, mortals! XD Heiji is Heiji, pint-sized or not XD Hakuba's father only appears once and they don't really interact, so I think their relationship was formal at best… but still, he was his father… MUAHAHAHAHA! XD

I hope so, International DCFanFicNut 1207… I spent ages messing with the imagery for it…

I could never forget Kaito, FHP2208. He's just a little busy planning mayhem right now…

Poor Heiji, eh, A Midsummer Night's Dream? XD

The Antiperspirant League ahoy, HaibaraDaiFan! (Anti-BO. Geddit? *shot*) YAY! I'm whipping up Akako love! :D Always remember to take the mental state of the artist into account… if you feel like writing, make yourself start writing! I always find that once I start, I can't stop… “once you pop, you just can't-” *shot*

Of course he is, FaithlessGirl… in fact he just did…

I think they were very shocked indeed, KageNoNeko XD

The M8s will always be back, Marie Ravenclaw! ^_- especially whenever Kid is in town… Death still hasn't left the building, be warned… Shinichi may well know what Vermouth wants, if only he could remember it…

Go on, Pretztailfan95. I dare ya *calls your bluff* XD Don't die! You'll never know how it ends! If Kudo has such a twisted mind, what does that say about me, who's writing him…?

You have returned, Kairi922, and that's all that matters! :D I'm a sucker for overdone drama myself, so of course I'm going to write drama out the wazoo… XD That was partially why I decided that it was Hakuba's father that had to die… I knew one of them would have to, and perhaps it was best at that point to be one that won't cause too much overwhelming pain, but would still serve to bring Saguru and Kaito closer… and mortals were not quite the issue there…

It bleeped what you said Hakuba is for some reason, StargateNerd… good or bad?

An odd but epic combo, JapaneseAnimeFreak16 XD A puzzle is simple only if you have all of the pieces, and Heiji- and everyone else- are missing some rather crucial ones… It is a lovely thing how Ai's lightening up, isn't it? ^_^ The heist, huh…? *evil grin*

I do not claim to own any of the characters in Meitantei Conan. They are the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho. All characters, couples and locations, if Canon, will be faithful to the manga, so if you're into fics with weird pairings like Shinichi and Heiji, the back button is at the top there. The fic may not make sense if you have not read up to chapter 698, which you can do at a site called (read between the lines) O/n/e/ma/n/g/a, but I advise you to buy the official Tankoban novels (up to volume 30 are out in English at the time of writing) so that Aoyama-sensei can afford to continue gracing us with his imagination. Now, I hope you enjoy the fic! (If you don't, please see my previous comments re the back button).