Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ Revelations ❯ Revelations 3 ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Hi, here's the third chapter. Many thanks to my invaluable pre-readers that helped me improve this chapter which had caused all sorts of problems for me. -_-' Anyway, hope you enjoy and please, C & C!! Thanks!!

Standard disclaimers apply.

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Cha pter 3

Kisaki Eri nudged the door open gently. Kudo Yukiko looked up blearily from her seat beside Shinichi's bed and gave a small smile. Ran was curled up on the sofa tucked away in a corner of the room.

"Thank you Eri-san," Yukiko said quietly, accepting the cup of hot coffee she gave her. "Ran just fell asleep."

Eri covered Ran with her jacket and took a seat beside Yukiko. Reaching out to gasp the other woman's limp hand, she asked in a low tone to avoid waking up Ran, "Why don't you get some sleep, Yukiko-san? You've been up all night."

"I can't sleep," Yukiko stood up and began to pace up and down the small, narrow room. She wasn't used feeling so helpless; even when she and her husband first discovered Shinichi's predicament, they had at least been able to DO something. Even if was something as small as flying back to check on him. And after leaving him in Tokyo, they hadn't been idle either. This was the first time she wasn't able to do something to actively help her son in anyway. And she hated it.

"He will be all right, Yukiko-san. Don't worry so much. The doctors here are the best in Tokyo, if anyone can make him better, they can."

"I know. Yusaku said as much. But...but Eri-san, he is my son! How could I not worry for him? He's all Yusaku and I have! All the money, all the fame in the world won't mean anything to me if he is....if he is...." Yukiko could not carry on. Eri patted her back comfortingly.

"Ever since we received news about his injury, I had been thinking. About the kind of parents Yusaku and I are. How many parents would leave their teenage son in Japan and migrate to America? And how many parents would leave behind their seventeen year old son who had shrunk back into a seven year old child because of some stupid drug invented by some organisation in one country while they are in another continent entirely? NONE! Only WE have done that! And when something happened to Shinichi, WE were always the last ones to know about it!! What KIND of parents are we? I have failed utterly in being a mother!" Yukiko dissolved into sobs. "If anything happens to Shinichi, I will never forgive myself!!"

"Yukiko!! Get a hold of yourself!!" Eri said sharply. "Getting hysterical now won't help matters! So you have been a bad parent, well, so what? Be a better one when Shinichi-kun wakes up! Everyone makes mistakes, hell, even I do! The important thing is to learn from your mistakes and not to make them again! I'm sure that Shinichi-kun understands your reasons for leaving him behind in Japan. And from what I can tell, you did try to persuade him to join you in America once you found out about his situation, but he refused. As you have said, he is seventeen, he can look after himself. And even if you had been here with him, in Japan, would you have been able to prevent him from getting shot?"

"But...but..."

"But nothing. This is no time to waste on recriminations and self-pity. The important thing now is to get him well and about again. The rest can wait for later."

Yukiko stared at Eri in amazement and chagrin. It was one thing to be wallowing in self-pity and self-blame but another thing entirely to be told that you are a silly ass to do so. She had always known about the force of Eri's character, but this was the first time she really faced this side of her. Pulling herself together, she faced Eri and said "Thank you, Eri-san. I needed that." She smiled wryly, no wonder Shinichi was always so afraid of her.

"Quite right. Yukiko, how many times must I tell you to stop blaming yourself? It was not entirely your fault. I must carry some of the blame too. Eri-san, thank you very much for your help in cheering up my wayward wife." Yusaku walked into the room, followed by Kogoro.

"I talked to the doctor just now. Shinichi is presently out of danger. Now, we just have to wait for him to wake up. Eri-san, Kogoro-san, you have been up all night, why don't you go home for a rest? We will send Ran-san back once she wakes up," Yusaku continued as he walked towards his wife and placed his hands gently on her shoulders.

"Don't bother, I don't think Ran would leave the hospital before HE wakes up. I will just go home and pick up some changes of clothes for her before coming back. Once HE wakes up, HE and I are going to have a little chat about sleeping darts and voice-changing bow-ties, among other things," Kogoro scowled. "Eri, are you going back to your house? Let me give you a ride." Eri nodded and they both left the room.

"Where is the Professor?" Yukiko asked.

"He is with Haibara-san. He told me he had also notified Hattori-san, and that he would be coming along sometime this afternoon," Yusaku sighed. "Tell me again we did the right thing, Yukiko." Alone now except for his wife, a sleeping Ran and an unconscious Shinichi, Yusaku finally let his mask drop and looked down on his wife. He was no longer a self-possessed, world-renowned author; just a father, desperately worried for his son.

"We did the right thing, Yusaku." Husband and wife clung to each other for mutual comfort as they prayed for their only son.

Ran slept sweetly on.

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Kudo Shinichi opened his eyes slowly. Bright fluorescent lights shone directly into his eyes making him wince in pain. Where am I? He wondered. Slowly, he pushed himself upright, giving a grunt of pain when his movement pulled at his stitches. Looking around, he noticed that he was on a hospital bed. Numerous wires and tubes were strapped to his arm, connecting him to a very complicated looking machine that show his heart beat. His torso was covered with bandages....he seemed to be in a hospital. Brilliant deduction, Sherlock Holmes, anyone can see that, he thought wryly.

"Crash!" Shinichi looked up to a shocked Ran in the doorway with a pile of broken dishes at her feet. Her hands were shaking as she brought them to her lips in shock and her eyes swam with unshed tears.

"Shinichi! You're awake! Doctor! He's awake!!" Ran ran off, leaving a very puzzled and confused Kudo Shinichi behind. Wait a minute, 'Shinichi'?

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< br> Dr. Fujisawa shone a small pocket light into Shinichi's eyes.

"Well? How's he doing?" Yukiko asked anxiously. Three pairs of eyes stared at the good doctor, frightening him just a bit with their intensity.

"Er....Ahem....well, all signs indicate that he is well out of injury now. In fact, if he continues to improve as he is doing now, Edogawa-san would soon be out of the hospital before you know it! Young man," Dr Fujisawa turned to address the silent Shinichi. "You are very lucky indeed, not many people can sustain that kind of injury and still be alive. Take care of yourself okay?"

"Thank you sensei," Yusaku murmured as he showed the doctor out. After looking at Ran and Shinichi, Yukiko followed her husband out, saying something about getting her make-up touched up after being sleepless for an entire night.

The door closed behind them. Pause. Silence.

Shinichi was staring hard at Ran, willing her to look at him while his thoughts ran in all directions. Her presence in his room, with his parents, the fact she called him 'Shinichi' and her refusal to look at him after that first time; it didn't take a genius to know that the cat was out of the bag. How the pussy got out was a matter he intended to get to the bottom of, but now, he had to try and explain matters so that she would not be mad. Or at least, not SO mad.

Gods, of all the times for this to happen! He had envision himself telling Ran the truth about himself dozens of times, tried to predict the questions she would ask and her reactions as well as how he would answer, but not like this. He wasn't prepared, and he didn't know how much Ran knew, how much to explain, much less how to start the conversation.

As Shinichi racked his brains for a way to breach the silent gap between them, Ran was doing a lot of thinking on her own. It was one thing to know, intellectually, that Conan was in fact, Shinichi but another thing entirely, to face him. She didn't really know what to say. After one whole year of nearly being apart, or so she thought, she was finding it hard to say anything. Looking down at her fingers which were clutching her skirt tightly, she reminded herself again that this was Shinichi she was facing, the childhood friend she had known forever. Not, as she thought, a seven-year-old precocious child that she always thought to be wise beyond his years. He had lied to her. For one whole year, as she waited painfully for his return, she realised. Every time she cried because of him, he had known.

"Why?"

Shinichi looked up, startled.

Ran was standing in front of him, hurt and bewilderment in her eyes. Shinichi looked away. He couldn't face the pair of accusing eyes in front of him.

"Why did you lie to me?" Ran repeated. "For one whole year, you kept me in the dark. As I worried and wondered where you were, tried to figured out why you seemed to be avoiding me, you had been right beside me all the time! When I cried for you, you were right there beside me! You KNEW how I felt! But you did nothing, said nothing. Was it so funny for you to see me crying and longing for you? Did it boost your ego to see me like this?" Ran was near tears as Shinichi stared at her in shock and dismay.

NO! NO! NO! It wasn't supposed to be like this! She wasn't supposed to feel this way! She was supposed to get mad at him, then he'll explain everything and beg for her forgiveness, then she'll beat him up or something....not like this! Never like this! He never meant to hurt her! She was dearer than life to him. To realise that he was the one hurting her, it was more than enough to make him regret his actions for the past year. He began to see the other side of his actions as others might view it. As he saw tears silently dripping down her face, he felt as if someone had plunged a knife deep into his heart and slowly grinded it in. It hurt even more than the times he was transformed back into Shinichi or Conan. In fact, he would gladly welcome the pain just to remove the tears from her eyes. He had vowed never to let her cry again, even if his place in her heart was taken by another, but now, here he was, making her cry. Again.

Clenching his small fists around the bed sheets, he swallowed the lump in his throat painfully and looked at Ran.

"Ran," his throat tightened and he had to gulp audibly before he could continue. "No Ran! You've got it wrong! I didn't keep the truth from you because of that! I kept it from you for your safety! If you knew about it, and the Black Organisation found out, who knows what they would do to you! I couldn't let that happen, even if it meant keeping the whole thing from you! I will never forgive myself if anything happen to you because of me! I love you! More than anything else in the whole world!"

"I know. I know you love me," smiling through her tears, Ran reached out gently to brush the bangs from Shinichi's forehead. "You told me once, remember? When I lost my memory? I just wanted to hear it straight from your mouth again, with me in the full possession of the facts. I love you too, but you knew it, didn't you? A long time ago. But, Shinichi, if I was that important to you, couldn't you have at least trusted me with the truth? Was it that hard, for you to trust me with everything? Or did you feel that letting me know would only increase your burden?"

Shinichi looked straight into Ran's eyes, trying desperately to convey his sincerity and feelings to her. He understood her fear and uncertainty about him. After all, before he 'disappeared', their relationship, while just a step higher than normal friends, had never progressed to the stage where they openly admitted their feelings for each other. Even now, when both of them knew each other's feelings, things were still unsure and rocky. His actions didn't make things better. He needed to reassure her of his love, and restore the trust he had unknowingly chipped away with his absence and lies.

"Ran. I'm very sorry for all you have gone through. There was many times, that I had wanted to tell you the truth, but just when the words were about to leave my mouth, they just got stuck. There was only one reason, Ran, the most important reason why I chose to keep it from you. You don't know how big and powerful this Organisation is. They have contacts all over the world, people from all walks of life. I was afraid. If they came after you, I could not protect you properly, not in this form! And you yourself can never stand alone against them. I couldn't let that happen! I couldn't take the risk! You were too important to me!"

"But what if something happened to you? What if the injury you got yesterday was fatal? Would you let me carry on with my life, forever wondering what happened to you and never knowing what had became of you and the truth? Was it preferable to letting into the dark? How did you think I would feel then? Or did you leave behind a letter, to be open only at the advent of your death by me, saying that you love me and was sorry you were dead?" Ran said hotly. Why couldn't he get it into his thick skull what was it she wanted? Shinichi flushed guiltily. Ran opened her eyes wide. "You didn't!! Of all the inconsiderate things to do! I...I..." Ran threw her hands up in exasperation and begin to stalk around the narrow room, muttering all the while.

Turning around, she pinned him with a look that clearly told him she would appreciate no interruptions and lurched into a full-blown tirade. "You said you love me, but you still persist in treating me as someone, SOMETHING to be set aside, tucked away in a corner where it can be safe. Well let me tell you, buster, love doesn't work that way! A relationship works only when both sides are equal partners, both protecting and supporting each other, through both joy and sorrow. And the most important thing is trust. How do you expect me to believe you, to forgive you if you didn't trust me with even such a big thing? Or did you not think I was capable of handling the truth, and making intelligent decisions about it? Do I look like a child to you? I may not be as good as solving cases like you, but I AM seventeen. The same age as you if you remember. Surely I deserve the respect and the treatment of one?" Ran ran out of breath.

Flabbergasted, Shinichi could only stare at her, open-mouthed. Now he remembered why Ran was the only person in his entire life who was always able to surprise him. Just when he thought he finally figured out what she wanted, she went around and turned the tables on him. He told his mother about it once, and she only laughed and said it was a good thing there was still someone in the world like that and winked at him. She always treated Ran like a prospective daughter-in-law after that, much to his bemusement and confusion. In a very small voice, he said, "Would it help if I said I was sorry?"

He looked so woebegone that Ran almost relented. Almost. This wasn't a time to soften. Not until he promised her what she wanted anyway. "On two conditions." Shinichi looked up hopefully. Even with his present body, Ran could still see the young man he had once been, and will be, she promised herself, once she got hold of Haibara. "One, you must promise to tell me EVERYTHING after this. And I mean everything; no matter how you may think it will hurt me or harm me. I want you to treat me as an equal, as a PERSON whom you can confide in and count on to guard your back, and not a flower vase you can tuck away to keep safe. Is that UNDERSTOOD?" He wondered why Ran suddenly seemed so much like her mother all of the sudden. He still couldn't really come to terms with the idea of letting Ran know everything. Well, maybe not EVERYTHING. But...

"Yes."

"And second." Ran's eyes softened. "Promise not to leave me alone again." Gripping Ran's hands tightly, Shinichi nodded. And I also promise that I will do everything in my power to make you happy, he pledged silently, both to himself and her.

Ran finally looked satisfied. Slumping back into the chair, she turned to regard him with wide blue eyes that suddenly turned contemplative much to his unease. "What is it?"

Ran smiled slightly at his unease. "Nothing. Just thinking about what will become of us now."

"As to that, perhaps I could be of service?" Yusaku smiled as he walked into the room, followed by Yukiko. Shinichi growled. "How long have you been listening outside the door?"

Yusaku tsked. "I never do anything so uncouth. I simply put a listening device under the table near your bed." Ran flushed bright red. Does this mean that Shinichi's parents heard all what she said? Yukiko patted her on her back and there was a knowing twinkle in her eye. Ran smiled back hesitantly.

Shinichi was still very put out with his parents. And he was coming down with a most frightful headache. He wondered if it was a side effect of his injury but rather doubt it. There were enough things for him to get a headache over ever since he woke up. "What did you mean by that?" he said testily.

"What I mean is this little device I stuck to the bottom of that little table just before I walked out with the good doctor, your skills at observations still needs to be further honed, if didn't even see that, Shinichi." Yusaku smiled broadly.

"No, I mean that first sentence you said when you walked in."

"Oh that. Well, your mother and I came back here with a gift for you. Besides coming to see you about your injury, of course. It was recently just completed and is still in the testing stage, but I guess you wouldn't really mind that do you? Of course, there MIGHT be some side effects, but I am quite confident of its results."

"Quite stalling already and tell me!" Shinichi was very annoyed with his father at the moment and the beginnings of a headache wasn't helping him any.

"Oh, just that I have with me the currently untested antidote to APTX4869." Yusaku polished his nails against his suit while Yukiko smiled happily behind him.

Before Shinichi and Ran had the chance to absorb the implications of this statement, the door to the room banged open.

"Kudo! I heard you were injured...." Hattori Heiji skied to a stop as he noticed the people in the room, only to be propelled forward as Kazuha didn't notice and ramped into him.

"Oi! What did you do that for, Kazuha!!" Heiji shouted.

"Well it's YOUR fault for stopping so suddenly!" Kazuha retorted back.

Yes, Shinichi thought as he massaged his temples. I DO have a headache.


To be continued.....


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