Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ When Pandora's Box Is Opened ❯ Deja Vu All Over Again ( Chapter 74 )

Chapter Seventy-Four

Déjà Vu All Over Again

“You have amnesia? Geez,” Max sighed.

“You were probably better off spared memories of this lot,” Richard laughed.

“Do you still remember how to speak English?” Scott asked. “Because I'm shite at Japanese...”

“Well, yeah,” Shinichi said. “... when did we meet before?”

“You two were on a date at Christmas,” Alex informed him. “We ran into you at the skating rink...”

“Aye, and we met Ran here when her old man came to solve a murder case at our place,” Andrew said. “And the wee man.”

“Conan,” Dillon supplied. “I don't often forget the name of someone shorter than me.”

“It's good to see you all again!” Ran said cheerily. “Did you make it to the last heist?”

“Aye,” Max said with a grin. “Terrifying when we heard the gunfire, but then the Kid came leaping out of the window and caught that girl and flew off... amazing!”

“Jinky bastart,” KJ laughed.

“You're such a Weegie, KJ,” Taylor said dryly.

“Yeah, but remember that guy who hit the dirt?” Hazel said with a wince. “Bloody fountain of...”

“Blood?” Douglas helpfully suggested.

“I don't think I'm ever going to rememorize all of their names...” Shinichi muttered.

“It's all right, I still haven't,” Ran muttered back.

“Hey, some of us speak good enough Japanese to understand you,” Charlotte, said, sticking her tongue out playfully, but she also looked a little worried. She kept glancing at Laura, who kept staring around them, as if watching for something.

“The shadows are drawing in, I can feel them!” she hissed. “They feel evil...”

“Shadows?” Shinichi asked.

“I can feel it coming for you,” she said urgently. “A shadow with killer's eyes...”

“...what's up with this guy's eyes? They're the eyes of a cold-blooded killer...”

Shinichi suddenly froze stiff, glancing around, suddenly terrified. Of course, if they were seen out here...

“We've been here all day,” he said to Ran. “Maybe we should head back soon...”

She glanced back at her watch. “Yeah, maybe so... nice seeing you all again!”

“It's coming soon, you know,” Laura called after them. “You're running out of time. There's only ten days left...”

“What are you babbling about?” Emma asked curiously as the two of them started heading away.

“Is it anything to do with this morning?” Charlotte asked. “You said you sensed some kind of demon coming out of the Teimuzu...”

“Not a demon, not quite evil,” Laura said. “Just... strange, unnatural. What's after him... that's evil.”

Shinichi nearly broke into a run. He wasn't sure why, but the foreign girl's words were giving him a bad premonition- a feeling that he was being watched, watched by cold green eyes.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{ }{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

“What I want to know is why ya didn't tell me sooner,” Kazuha huffed.

“I didn't realize till ya told me that story, did I?” Heiji snorted. “Besides... I dunno, it just made me kinda nervous.”

“The one time where it'd be alright ta be as brutally honest as ya are about everythin' else...” Kazuha sighed. Heiji just shrugged but didn't say anything. To be honest, his brain had shut down entirely the moment she'd kissed him, reloading with entirely new programs. Kazuha was important to him, yeah, but before then he hadn't really consciously thought of them as more than best friends, or even considered that they ever would be. But the second she'd kissed him, his perspective flipped, seeing the same girl in an entirely new way; not the silly little girl he'd gotten cuffed to, but a young woman, a stupid, impetuous, beautiful woman...

A woman who'd been a part of his life as long as he could remember. A woman that, he had had occasion to realize, he was terrified to lose. The one person he wanted in his future more than any other.

That was when he'd kissed her back.

She'd insisted on going through the little dance of the changing-relationship talk, but it hadn't taken long. They were both frank and honest- too much in his case, Kazuha never seemed to tire of saying- and they both knew what they wanted. And that was each other.

His father had gone back to Osaka the previous day to oversee the “Hunt-the-Heiji” as he'd jocularly termed it, but when he came back- either when Heiji was cured or Kazuha's parents decided she'd finally skipped too much school- he was definitely in for at least one surprise. On the other hand, given the expressions on the faces of him and the rest of their parents on New Year's, maybe not.

Now they were curled up on the couch, watching TV. Well, to be precise, Heiji was lying on the couch and Kazuha was lying on his chest, one of his arms draped over her, the other propping his head up, leaving her in control of the remote, which for some reason didn't particularly bother him. Ai had surfaced from her lab occasionally, but there were no changes. Aside from the periodic explosions from the mechanical lab that Agasa was working in, it was fairly quiet, just the two of them; done talking, just being together for the last time until whenever Ai came up with the true antidote, which would hopefully be soon.

Kazuha shifted a little uncomfortably. “Heiji, you're kinda toasty. Do ya feel all right?”

“It's kinda warming up in here,” Heiji admitted, fanning himself with his baseball cap. “Ya not bakin'?”

“Are ya kiddin'?” Kazuha shivered. “It's January...”

“You have the fever?” Ai said sharply, popping out of nowhere and making Heiji feel like the heart pains had started early.

“His temperature's been rising noticeably for a coupla minutes,” Kazuha said.

“Shit, ya mean I'm runnin' outta time already?” Heiji groaned, fanning himself more vigorously.

“Length of time wasn't the main consideration here,” Ai said, dialling her mobile. “Kudo-kun? Are you getting the fever...? Why're you doing that?” she was frowning, looking a little confused. Then she paled for a moment before regaining her composure. “Better paranoid than sorry, I suppose... You're nearly back, right? Good. All right, see you in a few minutes.” She hung up. “They're on their way back anyway, Kudo-kun felt like he was being watched,” she explained. “Kami, I hope it was just him being paranoid...”

“Yeah,” Heiji agreed, suddenly feeling chilled. “But if They are watchin' him... if they see `im change...”

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{ }{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Ran started to relax as they jogged down the Beika street. It was empty- everyone was at work or school- and they didn't seem to be followed. Shinichi wiped sweat from his forehead as they slowed, then they both jumped a mile as his phone rang.

“It's Haibara-san...” he said, checking the display and flipping it open. “Haibara-san?... oh... oh, yeah, I think so, actually,” he said, wiping more sweat from his forehead. “Good thing we're nearly there, we were coming back early... I... just had a bad feeling. Like I was being watched. I know... yeah. Yeah, we are. All right. See you.”

“What's wrong, Shinichi?” Ran asked worriedly, tugging him over to the side of the road, out of the way of an approaching car.

“It's the fever,” Shinichi said, untying his scarf. “We're nearly out of time-”

Crack

Ran shrieked as Shinichi jerked, her shriek louder than the silenced bullet tearing through his right shoulder, and he slumped against the wall, turning to face the shooter. The black car had stopped behind them, and a man had stepped out, a man with long silver hair and cold green eyes, his right sleeve dangling loose as his right arm sat in a sling, the left hand holding a gun pointed straight at them.

A familiar man. A man she had seen a terrible day over two years ago.

“Gin,” Shinichi hissed, eyes widening, as he pushed Ran behind him. The man's lips curled into a cold smile.

“Well, well,” he said mockingly. “While hunting for the treasure map, it seems that I've inadvertently stumbled upon the treasure. It's been a long time... Kudo Shinichi.”

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{ }{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

“... and that brings us here,” Kaito sighed, finishing the tale of the Kaitou Kid from his point of view. Aoko hadn't said anything, letting him talk.

“I'm still pissed off at you for lying, you know,” she said eventually. “I take back what I said about hating you, but I'm still pissed off at you for lying.”

“I'm just thankful that you're alive to do it,” Kaito sighed.

“I should probably leave and go see Otou-san,” she sighed. She hadn't seen her father yet, admittedly, but she also needed a little time to churn everything over, the shocking revelations about Kaito… and Toichi-ojian… “I haven't yet, even though Hakuba-kun said he was in the hospital... but I just crashed last night, and this morning I just had to know the truth... I had to know what was going on, you know?” She covered his hand with hers. “I mean... I trust you, Kaito. I know this goes beyond the law. I'm just... really sorry that...”

“Shh,” Kaito said, pressing his finger to her lips. “If you start apologizing I'll start apologizing, and we agreed last night that it would get us nowhere, right? I don't care that you ran... all that matters to me is that you came back. So we're past it, okay?”

“Okay,” Aoko said, her eyes swimming a little as she fought not to start crying again. She stood up, wiping her eyes. “I'd better go- hospital visiting hours will be over in-”

Kaito shushed her again, but this time his voice was low, an urgent sparkle in his eyes. Aoko froze, listening to distant sounds.

A car engine, rolling down the street, sounding odd, old. It stopped, and there was silence for a moment, then a scream rent the air.

A familiar voice.

“Is that...?” she whispered.

“Sounds like Mori-san,” Kaito said quietly. “What's-?” he tried to lever himself up on his elbows, grunting in pain, and leaned against the windowsill to look out. Aoko ran around the edge of the bed to look out too.

All she saw was the boot of an old-fashioned black car. The rest was out of sight- the window was at the wrong angle to look.

“Stay there,” she hissed. “Don't you dare move.” She ran through the house, going to a room a couple of doors down, where Kudo Yukiko was already looking out of the window, pale white, a phone clasped to her ear.

“Yes... I think so, I can't see, oh Kami... but what if he's-? No, wait...” Aoko could only see more of the car, a man in a black suit leaning against it and watching something out of Aoko's line of sight. She could see up the other end of the street, though, where a woman was hiding up against the wall around the corner, fiddling with something in her bag. “All right... be careful...”

“What's going on, Kudo-san?” Aoko asked.

“That car...” Yukiko whispered fearfully. “It's one of Them. Don't leave the house, Aoko-chan...”

“Why have they stopped?” Aoko asked, feeling her heart freeze at the mention of Them, their black clothes reminding her of the snarling man in black who had fallen away from her only the night before.

“Yuusaku thinks they were coming here,” Yukiko said, “but that they've stopped and aren't coming in here or Agasa-Hakase's... might mean that they've found what they were looking for in the street... oh, Kami, Shin-chan...”

“We have to help them!” Aoko cried.

“Don't leave, Aoko-chan!” Yukiko said sharply, indicating the woman down the road. “I think help's on its way...”

The woman was leaning around the corner, holding a gun.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{ }{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

While Heiji fanned himself ever more vigorously, Ai had suddenly curled up, shivering like she was in a snowstorm.

“Ai-chan? What's wrong?” Kazuha asked desperately.

“Oh, Kami,” Ai whispered, her voice weak and faint. “They're here... and not just any of them... it's... oh Kami, why him...”

“Them?!” Heiji yelped, jerking upright, but Kazuha grabbed him.

“Let's get hidden, quickly!” she hissed, pulling him and the shivering Ai over to where a pale and silent Agasa was indicating Ai's basement.

“Screw that, I'm havin' a look,” Heiji snorted, instead running up the stairs to peer out of Agasa's windows, paling to a normal person's complexion as he stared out. “Holy shit, they've cornered Kudo! It's that silver bastard that got us as well! Fuck it, give me a sword or a pipe or somethin', I owe that bastard a coupla lumps-”

Kazuha was running up the stairs, trying to see what was happening, when Heiji's rant suddenly cut off as he stared out the window.

“Heiji, what's-” Kazuha began, seeing the men in black turned, and stared as they backed behind the car, the man in sunglasses firing at something out of sight as the man with the long silver hair flexed his left hand, blood dripping from it as his gun lay on the ground.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{ }{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

“Gin,” Shinichi said, keeping his voice steady. He recognized the man from his flashback nightmares, the cold green eyes now trained on him identical to those that had haunted his earlier recollections. “How'd you find me?”

“I've had my suspicions that you might be alive for a while,” Gin said. “Then, when investigating just who has been causing us so much trouble in the police, I found a number of files apparently from a Kudo Yuusaku. I decided we had a few things to talk about, but I think most of all I should talk about luck- specifically, mine in finding you here. What were the chances, eh?”

Shinichi shifted slightly, trying to hide Ran from view. Bad enough that she was a witness to this, he had every intention of getting her out of her alive but little good that was if they saw her face. “Going to finish the job, Gin?”

“Oh, yes,” Gin said. “But first, the question game, and I have little time and patience for bullshit. Where is Sherry?”

“Who?” Shinichi asked. Gin shot him in the ankle. He slumped, Ran shrieking again and wrapping her arms under his shoulders to support him.

“I said I had no time for bullshit,” Gin said coldly. “Sherry was the one who confirmed you dead, despite your body never being found, and lo and behold a few months later she escapes from our lab-something she could not have done alone- and some unseen figure protects her at the Haido hotel. If you insult my intelligence again....” he shifted the barrel of his gun. “Your girlfriend there will be the next one to catch a bullet. Now where's Sherry?”

Ran tensed, but Shinichi shifted protectively in front of her, breathing heavily from a combination of the pain and the heat. “Dammit... either they're going to kill us now, or they're going to see me change... and if they do... they'll be able to find Haibara... What do I do?”

He gasped in pain as the first of the contractions struck his heart.

Gin hissed in pain as somebody shot his gun out of his hand.

“Jodie-sensei!”

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{ }{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{ }{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

“Jinky” means swift-footed or elusive. “Bastart” is a deliberate phonetic misspelling to convey the fact that KJ does actually talk like a Weegie; that is, a Glaswegian (someone from Glasgow).

Anyone can actually become a Wiccan, Marie Ravenclaw- it's a rather customizable religion, like Voodoo, so it all depends on your local sect- but the best, the ones who become priestesses, are the ones with a little magic in them already. If Akako turned her mind to it, she might be a great Wiccan… I hate the dub names and will never use them :P Jodie is here to save the day! Maybe…

Fluff time, KageNoNeko! And now that that's done… action time!

Perhaps Shinichi has a mischievous streak in him after all, Pretztailfan95... XDXD Things don't get much weirder than Ranma