The Vampire Detective 2 – Second Grace

Chapter Seven – I Need Something

I need something to believe in/ Cos I don't believe in myself/ I'm sick and tired of getting nowhere/ Guess it'll all work out- Newton Faulkner

-----

Shinichi somehow managed to squirm his way through the time it took to tell Mina and Fritz for the last time what was and wasn't allowed while in his home, give them the spare keys and see them out the door, Ran watching all the while. Thankfully, a Fritz related incident had relieved her of at least some of her worries towards the pair, or the American at least. He could just imagine Hattori or Kuroba trying to prank his house, but it had been the other vampire who had suggested uncovering his stash of luminol and spraying it everywhere for a joke, only to be reamed out by the owner of said house coming up with a litany of 'No, you are not to luminol my bathroom. Or my kitchen. You are banned from going anywhere near my room! Neither of you are allowed to root around in my attic, and there is to be no redecorating of any sort while you're there. At all. I mean it!"

Ran had actually giggled, ruining his serious moment yet at the same time bringing a smile to his face. Her reaction to those two had been worrying him, and it was good to see and hear her laugh again.

He only hoped that the guy – or rather, Mina, since she seemed to be the only one able to control him – had been listening. Otherwise when he finally had cracked the case, he'd have a house that looked like the inside of the Twilight Mansion to go back to.

And of course there was his hope that somehow, he could get through all this without Ran getting too upset. . . and somehow staying alive after Mouri got home.

"Ne, Shinichi?"

He looked back around as the door closed in front of him, tensing slightly for what he knew was to come.

"Why. . . I know you said before, but I want to know, really know. . . why did you do this? Why did you risk yourself like that, just for a case? Why – why didn't you tell me you were going to do this?!"

He leant his small body against the secure weight of the door for just a moment, tired from his ordeal yesterday all through and into today, even when he hadn't been awake and aware to know what was going on. Tired of all the secrets and lies. Tired of Ran having to pry answers out of him. Just bone-achingly tired.

Hoping that Mouri would get home so inebriated that he didn't notice the extra pair of small outdoor shoes or the fact that he was here at all, he took to the stairs slowly, making his way up to the office with its wall-long window and welcoming seats.

"I didn't want you to stop me," he said at long last once he was sat and with his head in his hands. "I knew that if I saw you and I told you my idea, then you'd hate it, and you wouldn't want me to even think about it. You'd say it was too dangerous."

"Well, it is!"

He laughed dryly.

"See? I said you'd say that... But I had to. Otherwise I would have always wondered – would the case have gone quicker, been solved at all, if I'd done this? If I didn't try, I wouldn't know. I knew that it was possible. I just ... didn't want to tell you."

"But why, Shinichi? I want to know why you kept something from me again."

He looked up to meet her eyes – she called his pretty, but hers were just beautiful – and smiled, sadly.

"Because I knew that if I'd told you, or Hattori about this, then somehow, one or both of you would be able to talk me out of it. You'd look at me like you're doing just now, and I wouldn't be able to resist, and Hattori'd shout at me and call me ten kinds of idiot, but I'd be able to tell no matter what he said that he'd be worried and upset that..."

"And you don't think he's not going to be worried and upset now?! Now, he's going to have to deal with the fact that you didn't tell him. It's like you didn't trust either of us!"

He shook his head, hair flying wild in his vehemence.

"No, no, no! I do trust you! I just wouldn't have been able to trust myself, that's what – I knew that this would work, but with you trying to make me not do it, I. . . I couldn't just keep sitting there idle, Ran!"

"So what do you think the rest of us feel like then, Shinichi? We're not all meitantei like you are, or even Hattori-kun and Hakuba-kun. And just because you're the one we all look up to doesn't mean that you have to be the one to shoulder all of the problems that come our way."

Conan's – Shinichi's – eyes widened. He was. . . what? I mean, sure, Hattori's never been as good a detective as me, so I've had to show him things a couple of times or so, and Hakuba's better at chasing thieves, namely Kuroba, but. . . she said all. 'We all'. I. . . don't know how I feel about that.

How about like it's no news at all and yet at the same time, absolutely terrifying?

He shivered. His idea of what she had just meant took up a great deal of his thinking space.

"We know that you're hitting yourself over the head all the time about having seen something you can't remember. But you've said it yourself, a number of times – a detective isn't god. Even Kuroba-kun said you can't control everything. And his speciality is chaos," she said, finishing with a tremulous smile on her face.

He smiled weakly back at her.

"But I'm here now," he said. "I can't change that. I wouldn't even if I wanted to – couldn't do that to..." he cut himself off, not wanting to explain the fact that it had required two feedings, one of which had been rather large, while the other had necessitated that Hakuba Saguru, through the detective's own volition, had become a part of Shinichi's extended family, or so that was what Fritz said it translated to.

Clan. Mina and Fritz. Him. First Kuroba, then Hakuba. A morbid part of him wondered who was going to be next.

First Kuroba and then Hakuba had tried to drill it into his head that this didn't bother them, not really, even though Shinichi could see that it did. Shinichi himself could see that it could be a good thing - Kuroba had, at some point not long after having explained some of what Fritz had told him that one night, explained exactly what had happened the day before Shinichi's Incident. Kaito had known that something bad was about to happen - just not what. And if what he'd been told was right and he'd get the same kind of danger sense when it came to them, then it was, perhaps, worth it.

Still. A high price to pay. Blood. Loyalty. Family. Duty. And for all he knew, they might not have reacted the same ways that they had if they hadn't been affected by that bond. Whether any of them wanted it or not.

A selfish part of him was only thankful that it had been them, and not Ran. That he hadn't been anywhere near Ran either time. Not just because of his own cowardice... though that did play a part of it - he didn't want to know whether she would be the same Ran he had always known after, or not. But also because if there was one thing he'd learned, it was that sharing blood - when not feeding that way he had that first time, that time he tried not to think about, when he'd almost lost control - was personal. Very. A connection ten times stronger than just normal friendship. And if that was what he felt when feeding from Kaito and Saguru, who were just friends, his face usually turned an interesting shade of red whenever he contemplated what that kind of connection would do to what he and Ran had.

Not to mention that, no matter what she said, Ran was still at least slightly squeamish about such things.

And yet here he was, in her home again, in such close proximity that he could hear her heartbeat and practically feel her breath on his cheek even though she was too far away from him for that to be viable. Her every emotion was laid out before him in minute detail, if he wanted to examine them. Her scent - something that went to his head every time he was around her, and in here it was literally everywhere he went - was so strong and at the same time so gentle, just like her. Smelled of cooking, of ink-and-paper, of light cotton and orchids . . . her distinct perfume. A dozen other things that were all just her.

His heart broke for a moment as he wished that it wasn't Conan there, tensing and squirming under her sad, disappointed, accepting gaze. But it was Conan. Conan was needed. Whether he wanted the know-it-all brat to be there where Kudo Shinichi wanted to be or not, he was there to stay, at least until the case was done.

He looked up at her, only to see her sigh, eyes closed. She looked like she was about to say something, and he tensed for what was undoubtedly going to be another verbal onslaught, even if she didn't even raise her voice, but then -

A slam resounded throughout the building, and he cursed fluently in Nakamori-ese. Mouri - Kogoro Mouri - was back. And by the sounds of things, not quite drunk enough, for once.

------

Damn it, thought Mouri Kogoro as he slammed the door shut. Damn these cases, and damn that detective brat.

He wasn't drunk enough. But then again, the case had caught him on the way home from a meeting with friends not far away, and had sobered him up like nobody's business. Damn murders. Even with that brat gone, they still haven't stopped.

He stopped thinking about that particular matter. He usually tried to find some way of avoiding the subject no matter what. Just because murders had often happened around Mouri Kogoro didn't mean that Mouri Kogoro liked them, or liked having to solve them. But whether he liked it or not wasn't the important bit – he was a detective, damn it, and he wasn't going to be shown up by some upstart brat with too many brains and too much money for his own good.

Even if that brat was good at what he did. Really good.

Good enough that, upon being told after that girl they'd been after had been rescued that he, Kogoro Mouri, had basically been used as a puppet for the past... however long... just because the brat'd got himself into a mess he hadn't been able to bluff his way out of, he'd started to actually try and work up to that legend the kid had made for him for the sake of his own pride if nothing else. Kami knew it probably wouldn't be long until Eri found out, was told, or quite simply figured things out on her own, and he didn't think he'd be able to live with himself after seeing that woman laughing at him for something like that.

So he'd worked. And damn but that brat made it look easy. It wasn't. It was hard. All those eyes watching you, a dead body in the room, and the knowledge that the killer was among those few people lined up in front of you. . . and that this time, there was no miracle waiting in the wings. No 'Sleeping Kogoro' unless he chose to put on the act. And the killer would walk away just like that unless he got everything right. And that woman would look at him in that way of hers if he didn't. And tonight, he hadn't been drunk enough.

Just in front of his own door at the top of the stairs, getting out the key, turning it in the lock and opening the damn thing. The little things. The house scuffs, still lined up and waiting for him to kick his own shoes off and out of the way, Ran's probably on her feet and - he blinked. The brat's were missing. They'd gotten a smaller pair for the kid not long after they'd practically adopted him into their home, and even after he'd gone off again, Ran hadn't wanted to part with the things. Huh. Maybe with all that was going on now, she'd finally got rid of them. He slid his own feet into his own and slouched further into the room.

The TV was off. He blinked, and reminded himself that Ran usually left it off when he was gone and she was home, and that usually meant that the radio'd been turned off as well. He'd have to check to make sure it wasn't unplugged or anything, though - there'd been a Yoko special that he'd set a timer to record that would really help him feel better...

He went to sit down on his couch - he wanted something a bit more comfortable than his desk chair for once. It was his home after all. And after office hours. And it wasn't as if he was going to do anything else tonight other than what he wanted even if there were police sirens right outside his front door. Which there weren't. So. . . So. . .

So why did there seem to be a pint sized brat - of the disturbingly, horrifyingly familiar kind - sitting right in the seat where he wanted to be? It had to be a joke. The world hated him, he was going to turn into some sort of crime magnet of the worst kind just like that Kudo kid, and he still hadn't even been able to reach the fridge for that beer he desperately needed, let alone just a single cigarette. At least he could tell that the show had been recorded - there was that flashing little red light on the machine under the TV, the one that gave him headaches every time he woke up in his office with a hangover.

He swore. The brat flinched. Which was wrong - the brat never flinched.

"How in the name of... What the hell d'you think you're doing back here like that, you- !?"

----

Edogawa Conan flinched again, but this time it was purely on the inside, memories of what Ran had told him only minutes before and the implications of such a thing still making themselves known in the worst ways possible. And it was Conan, now. The glasses were back on. As were the suspenders. And the belt. And the watch. The only thing missing from the ensemble was, in fact, the voice-changer bowtie, since he had decided that he didn't want to have to explain how the bruises he was sure he'd get if he was wearing the thing went down so very quickly - the old man knew about the so-called 'Sleeping Kogoro' part at least, ever since the day after Shinichi had returned from helping Kuroba rescue the younger Nakamori, having not much cared about the physical consequences at the time.

He dared to look up, though didn't quite get the strength of will up to look the man in the eye. What he saw wasn't entirely unexpected, but for some reason some part of his mind hadn't thought to take the incoming information seriously up until that point. The man looked different. Not too different, though - he still acted like a slob and smelled of cheap alcohol, cigarettes and badly chosen aftershave. The Mouri place didn't look all that different either; but therein lay one of the changes. Sure, Ran had been there practically all day while her father hadn't, but Shinichi's nose couldn't still smell the wifty aroma of afterstench of beer cans and instant meals that had been left lying around for hours or even days on end. Not to mention the tell-tale smell of crime scene that stuck to the man's clothes even now. As one who was quite intimately acquainted with blood from both a forensic and a vampiric perspective, it was obvious where he'd just been. And he'd been there for a while.

Hidden inside of himself, there were feelings of pride and relief. That the man had finally gotten his act together, or at least started to. Yet all he could do was hang his head, light reflecting off of his glasses. Glasses which he'd last worn what seemed like a lifetime ago, now.

"Well? I'm waiting for an answer, brat."

With a snort and a loud grumble, the man crossed his arms, looking slightly more sober than before.

He let out a soft, almost inaudible sigh, knowing that while Ran might still be in the kitchen making drinks (or at least pretending to; he hadn't heard the kettle boil or smelled anything brewing) she would definitely be listening in on the conversation.

"I..." he fought not to look nervous, well aware that his palms were sweating, "I had to. No, I needed to. Otherwise, the case-"

The sudden scowl on the man's face did not bode well for him.

"Damn it, brat! Sometimes even a detective has to give up on a case if that's what it takes!"

"I can't!" He shot back, nerves disappearing suddenly with newfound anger. "I couldn't just give up on a case, no matter what! That person's still out there, somewhere. And wherever they are, I've got to find them."

Kogoro snorted again, but this time in derision.

"Sheesh, you really think the world revolves around you, don't you? That thing you saw was just some normal murder. I'm not saying it's not as important to find who did it, but it wasn't those guys. And even if it was, you're forgetting one big thing."

"What might that be, then?"

"They know about you. You told me yourself how there's a chance they'd recognise you even like that. You took a stupid risk for absolutely nothing except your own pride, brat. You're forgetting that you're still just a kid - and you've made yourself even more of one now."

"I had to," Conan gritted out, fists clenching tightly. "The risk was worth it. I can't even remember anything about that person! For all I know, they could have been one of them - and if they had been, then it wouldn't have just been Kudo Shinichi's life that was forfeit. It would've been you and everyone else! That's the reason. If Kudo Shinichi suddenly disappeared, without anyone knowing why, then he could be anywhere. They'd have to spread themselves thin to find him. Conan returning wouldn't be that big of a deal; people are already familiar with him. He's known to be a big supporter of his 'Shinichi-niisan'. There's no way the kid would just watch on while his role model was-" he cut himself off from saying anything potentially hazardous. "Indisposed and away."

He met the older man's eyes, daring him to say anything to that. He hadn't said everything earlier because he'd hoped that he wouldn't have to have Ran hear, but while her father might be a bit slow at times, that was really only because he was lazy, and Shinichi knew that once he actually picked himself up and got moving, he wouldn't stop.

"Feh," the man said, finally. "All that on a mere possibility?"

Not entirely just a mere possibility, he thought, remembering. That witch Koizumi had helped. Meaning that either she thought that the likelihood that all he'd thought up was true was worth considering, or she'd seen something. None of the prospects were good. He took a deep breath to steady himself.

"You're forgetting something, too. Ignoring the idea of them, there's the person I saw. Even without a stupidly big Organisation behind them, one person that I can't remember would probably try to remove their potential evidence. If I was them and in their shoes, that's what I'd be doing. Trying to figure out who saw me, and how I can make sure they never remember." At long last, he allowed himself a shaky breath. "I figured that without even being able to tell who it is even if I saw them face to face right before they got me, being Conan would be safer." He laughed bitterly at that.

In the kitchen, a spoon clattered to the floor. He turned in the direction that the sound had come from, not worried, but sad. She'd heard.

"Ran..."

"It's all right," she called out, as though able to hear his too-quiet use of her name. It was obvious she was faking the cheerfulness, though. He could hear it.

A moment later, the kettle started to boil. Five minutes after that, she came back into the room, carrying the tray with the tea things on it for the second time since he'd come in that evening, but with three cups instead of four, this time. The old man whined about wanting beer, the Conan situation temporarily forgotten, but was stopped short when she glared at him with that sweet smile on her face - an expression that usually occured just before something got smashed to pieces. No more complaints. None of them touched the cups, though. All of their minds were on other things.

The clock ticked on. One by one, the stars revealed themselves from their hiding places in the sky, and slowly but surely the moon made her way to her throne in the heavens. Finally, the weight of the oppressive silence grew too much and he stood up, drained his cold drink, and carried it over to the kitchen, putting it into the sink with a bit of a stretch which he might once have groused about. Now, he was simply too accustomed to having to make do with this height, and aside from that... he had chosen it, this time. He didn't deserve to complain about something he'd chosen.

Once he'd done that, however, he turned to go out into the hall, but once he got there, he stopped. Not moving any further, he found that he couldn't say anything, his eyes widening as he realised that there was at least one thing that he hadn't considered in the whole equation.

"Oi, brat. What is it now?"

"I..." he tried to start explaining, but all it did was make his headache worse. How was he going to explain this? He hadn't even thought about it before. He supposed, he thought as his mouth opened and closed again without saying a word, that he'd been a bit of an idiot in that respect. Everything else had been thought out to the letter and step. This - he'd just assumed. He should know by now not to assume. He was simply too used to how things had been before to remember and actually realise that things were different now. He sighed, dropping his head with it in a worn-out gesture before bringing it up again as he turned back to the others. "...Um. Where do I go?"

Mouri's still full drink hit the table with a clank and a splash, cold liquid spilling out as he stood.

"Listen, Kudo. There are a few things we need to sort out. Right now."

Shinichi met the older man's glare, heart beating faster for some unknown reason but not about to back down just because of that. "Understood. Like what?"

"First things first - I know who you are now, so there are some things I'm not going to let lie any more. Like letting you freeload in my house like you did the last time. You can stay with someone else."

Shinichi's eyes widened of their own accord, mouth gaping open in sheer disbelief. Butterflies started to fly about in his stomach, causing a nausea-like sensation he'd had only a blessed few times before - but that had all been in his older body, not the younger, weaker body of Conan. This can't be happening. I knew he wasn't going to like it, sure... but not like this! I can't - not after all those times. Can't let them.

"Tou-san-!"

"Occhan, you - you don't understand! I-"

"I mean it. I'm not having that brat sleeping in the same room as me even one more night - and it's over my dead body he's going to stay with you, Ran."

"Oi, oi! It's not as if I ever wanted to share your room, old man, and stop insinuating that I'd ever do anything, anything, inappropriate, even if I did stay with Ran! Which I wasn't even thinking of, at all!"

For one thing, the old man's snoring had kept him up any number of nights - among other things which had often hindered his much needed sleep - while he'd been Conan the first time, and he wasn't exactly looking forward to any kind of repeat. And as for Ran. . . the only time he'd been forced to sleep so close to her, he hadn't been ableo to due to that very reason. And he'd been human at the time.

"Tou-san, stop being so rude to Shinichi! He wouldn't do anything of the sort, I know him, and besides, there's a good reason why he can't go elsewhere. . . isn't there, Shinichi."

He didn't know whether she was sticking up for him because of the fact that it was him, because she knew that if occhan actually did kick him out then he'd be forced not to be able to go back in (at least, very easily) or because she wanted him nearby for her to still be angry at. He didn't really know. Whatever her reason was, he was grateful.

"Yeah," he answered. "And this time, it is about them." Both of them tensed, startled, as though neither of them had quite expected that kind of answer. Well, they should have. "With a small number of inconsistancies, Edogawa Conan has always been around whenever Kudo Shinichi wasn't. Times when the two were together over the past year have been rare, for obvious reasons, and I have a plan to make the duration of this case a lot harder for anyone who wants to exploit that. But until now, you two have both looked after Edogawa, and because of how he calls Ran 'neechan' among other things, he's often been mistaken for another member of the family. Now, imagine the surprise a curious outsider would feel if the nosey glasses kid didn't go straight back to the Mouris' after getting back from America, missing all his friends? People may well even have seen or noticed me today - I couldn't just stay cooped up inside right until after dark, you know. If that happened, then there'd be questions. Too many people suspect already, barring anyone I've already told or who found out by themselves in the past couple of months or so. Adding yet more evidence," he said around the nausea that was still there, "would be a stupid thing to do."

Ran looked horrified at the very idea; her father, however, looked like he'd just bitten into a lemon.

"Fine, fine! Do whatever you like. I suppose I'll have to get that old futon back out again. . ." Came the frustrated and annoyed mutter as the man sulked off.

"Yeah. . . I, uh. Thanks."

The man grunted. "Don't thank me. I just don't want everyone getting killed because of you, brat."

Shinichi could tell that Ran was getting riled up again in his defence, but he was more preoccupied with getting his heart to start pounding properly again, his breathing to start acting like it was doing the job right. The old man's words had struck a dissonant chord with him, and made him realise something that he should have taken in from the moment he'd realised that he was going to be sleeping somewhere other than his own home.

The nightmares. Oh kami, the nightmares. His eyes widened, and Ran seemed to understand that something was wrong, if not what it was. He'd never told her, and now if things went he was going to be waking up her father with his night terrors. And if he somehow went back to sleep straight after for whatever reason. . . he knew what he looked like when asleep. It wouldn't be good. But worse would be the fact that he would look weak in front of that person, and weak . . . in front of Ran. Which he hated.

"Ne, Shinichi...? Are you, um, all right?"

He swallowed hard, and nodded mutely. Then -

"O-oi, there weren't any other places I could crash, were there? I mean, anywhere other than occhan's. No disrespect or anything, but- I just remembered something. Uh, really important."

"Um, no, not really. I mean, there was an old cupboard room we were thinking of using for that before, but when you came back to normal, I mean, back to Shinichi again, we figured Conan-kun wouldn't need it any more. I guess we could clear it out at some point, but that's too long a job for tonight, though. . ."

"Oh."

Ran's father came back in with the old, familiar futon under one arm, and scowled at seeing them so close together - Ran had gone to him and knelt down to be at his level to speak to him.

"Oi, what're you complaining about now, huh?"

"Ah - Tou-san, I was just telling Shinichi about that space we were going to clear up for him before. You remember that, right?"

Kogoro grunted, and set down the futon, propping it up sideways against the wall.

"Hmph. If the brat wants to stay elsewhere, he's welcome, so long as he doesn't get in my way. The couch is fine."

Ran covered her mouth, eyes wide with what was likely the image that had assailed him and made him wince at the idea; he didn't particuarly like the thought of being burnt alive while still asleep and almost literally dead to the world.

"Wouldn't work," he said flatly, through the lingering sick feeling that had developed from the thought. "Anyone'd be able to see me from the window, and I really don't think that I'd like the idea of waking up to that."

Not least that the idea of waking up to bullet wounds hadn't sounded the most fun when Fritz had described it. Other than wondering what exactly the older vampire had done to solicit bullets being thrown his way, he thought that Haibara for one would kill him for being so careless as to open himself up to being such an easy target if he was found out when he was still in such a weak position. Not that he was going to say any of that in front of those two, though - especially not Ran. She didn't need to know that sort of thing.

"Well tough, then. That place is stuffed with junk still - there's no way you're getting it now. And besides, you're only going to be like that for the case, right?" The last was said with a sharp glance in 'Conan's' direction as he went back to find the rest of the bedding.

"Y-yeah," he said, feeling suddenly put on the spot again by not just occhan but also Ran.

"Huh. That scientist friend of yours found an actual cure, then?"

"I-uh, yeah. Sort of. . ." He trailed off with a nervous laugh. Eh. Not like I'm going to say what that 'cure' is. And its hardly likely that Haibara'd ever take this one. . . Not that he'd actually involved the chemist in his explanation to the old man all that time ago. Only a vague allusion to someone he knew who was working on it, and could be trusted. Haibara hadn't wanted to have herself given away by accident, and thought it bad enough that so many knew about her as it was.

"Huh."

Luckily, the 'great detective' hadn't felt the need to poke his nose into the chemist's business, however.

Shinichi turned back to look at Ran, only to find her expression troubled. Not actually upset, but she had a slight frown, and she was biting her lip just so, a certain look in her eyes that he had grown far too familiar with over the past year, although it wasn't anywhere near as bad as he had become used to. He opened his mouth, wanted to say something - she was probably angry at him still, but he knew she was worried, too, and if he could say or do anything to help, he would. He was about to say something, when her expression changed without warning. From troubled to a sort of steely determination. She took a deep breath, stood, and looked in the direction of her father, who was just coming back again.

"Tou-san, he can stay with me."

Kogoro instantly dropped what he'd been carrying, a horrified look on his face just as an equally strong one of panicked disbelief made itself known on Shinichi's.

"No, Ran. Absolutely not!"

"Ran, ah, no - you don't have to do that!"

"Actually, Shinichi," she said, turning her icy glare on him, "I think that it's my choice. Tou-san, hand me the futon - I'll put it down somewhere in my room."

"Ran."

"And don't you - either of you - start saying anything about anyone doing anything innapropriate. If 'anyone' does, then they'll wake up very, very sore." She picked up the futon, one of her hands clenching into a ready fist right before she did so, and Shinichi stepped back slightly, putting his hands up above his head in what he hoped was the universal way of saying that he wasn't going to be doing anything.

This didn't reassure her father, though. But there wasn't anything either of them could do about it, and half an hour later both he and Ran were in the same room, and for the second time, he couldn't think straight. It wasn't as though they were sleeping in the same bed this time, or even that close together - his futon and bedding had been put at the opposite end of the room to her bed, so there was hardly any chance of that sort of embarrassment happening - but his senses were still going haywire from the change. They weren't as strong as they had been, and that took some getting used to, but kami, were they sensitive to what they did pick up. His face flushed sporadically as her breathing seemed sometimes so loud that it was right in his ear, and her smell surrounded him, making things worse in far too many ways, but at the same time it comforted. There was something about it that felt. . . safe.

"Ran. . ."

He heard a soft exhalation of breath from the other side of the room.

"Good night, Shinichi."

Without his say so, a smile crept up on his face as he let himself drift off.

"G'night, Ran. And. . . thanks."

-------

Ran knew for a fact that she was not a light sleeper, and that it did in fact take quite a lot to wake her up even in a dire predicament. Shinichi had taken every opportunity available to tease her about this fact. So she knew that, when she was being steadily woken up by strange sounds in the night, in any normal situation, such things shouldn't have disturbed her sleep at all. She wondered what it could be - burglars, maybe? They might have made a loud sound that could have woken her up a short time ago, and that would explain why she was awake now. . . and burglars, she could handle. She could. It was only ghosts and bakemono that she couldn't handle. Carefully, just in case they could hear her, she started to sit up.

Only to find that when they started up once more, they didn't sound like the sort of noises an intruder might make, and they weren't even that far away. They hadn't moved, they hadn't gotten any louder or closer, either, and Shinichi hadn't. . .

"Shinichi?"

No response.

Concerned, she got out of bed, walked barefoot over to where she'd put down his futon that evening. Kept her ears out for anything else out of the ordinary, an eye out for anything such as shadows within shadows. And something was moving, a small something not big enough to be a robber - unless they were. . . a child. . .

"Shinichi!"

Still no response, and Ran started to worry. As her eyes became more used to the dim light, she started to realise how late it had to be - her dad wasn't up still, as there was no light pooling around the bottom of her door. In any other instance she might have suspected a ghost, or something like that, but the only other person in the room was Shinichi, and Shinichi was enough to scare anything else away, anything other than Ran, that is. She hoped. But when she came closer, it turned out that the small form that had been moving . . . had been none other than Shinichi himself. Breathing hard in his sleep and looking far more vulnerable than he ever should, all she could see of him was what his coccooned form, hidden by the covers he'd hidden himself in, let her see. Faced away from her, she couldn't see what his face was like, but from what she could hear, it wasn't good. Shinichi had told her that vampires looked like they were dead when they were asleep. Almost really, truly dead, and so much so that he'd said once, very grouchily, that the first night he'd spent in the same room as Kuroba-kun, he had kept being woken up by a very worried thief, and glared at him the entirety of the next morning and more. But then, why - and how - was he acting this way now?

Ran didn't know. She didn't know what to do. He sounded scared, but he'd never had nightmares, she knew that. . . didn't she? She could account for any number of times when they'd had sleepovers when they were little, when they were young enough not to care about sleeping in the same room as one another, but for any later than that? Could she even account for any of the time he'd spent since becoming Conan? That, after all, while spent in her own home had been somewhere else in the house, and her father slept deeper than she did. And what of ever since he'd gone back to being Shinichi? That, she knew nothing of, except that no one had ever told her of anything unusual. But then, why worry her?

Except, now that this was happening anyway, Ran didn't know what to do. She knew Shinichi would never hurt her. But what if he was so far gone in his dream that he didn't know what he was doing, or where he was - such things had happened, she'd heard about them, and what with Shinichi being as strong as he was, and looking so scared. . . and she didn't know how to deal with a scared Shinichi, either.

Tears pricked at her eyes at her own weakness and at not being able to do anything for him, but were cut short at a loud noise from outside her room - something real this time, definitely not imagined, unless imagined things often took the form of sounding like someone had just tripped over one of her dad's empty beer cans that she must have looked over and forgotten to throw away in the madness that had been that evening. Not wanting to leave Shinichi's side, she turned to face her doorway and leaned over to look out from where she was sat kneeling, as she had been ever since she'd found him like this.

"Hello? Dad, is that you?"

There was no answer, but if she listened carefully she could hear someone speaking. It sounded more like curses, actually, muffled by walls and a soft voice that sounded oddly and jarringly familiar. But at the moment her mind was on other things, and she couldn't place it, so she wasn't going to assume.

"If - if you're a thief, or something, then-"

A darker patch of shadow came into her doorway, the door itself opened to reveal a still shadowed figure leaning on the frame.

"Well, I could be if you wanted me to, ojou-san."

"E-eh! Ka- Kaitou. . . Kuroba-kun?!"

The voice. . . of course she'd recognised the voice. It was almost the same as Shinichi's. And maybe she should be more worried that someone had broken into her home, but at the moment she was more concerned about Shinichi, and relieved that someone else who knew and was trusted was there.

"Th- thank goodness! It's - Shinichi. I... don't know how to... help?"

For a moment Kuroba-kun just stared at her, eyes widening in that same way that Shinichi's did, cute and innocent and kind of boggled and unsure of how to deal with the situation. Then he was walking in purposefully with a frown on his face that was barely visible in the darkness of the hours so late they were early. Knelt next to her, attention all on Shinichi but with only one knee to the floor, as if ready to run at any moment. He probably was, knowing his night job. Shinichi's twin put out a steady hand and touched the shoulder that could be seen underneath the covers, and Shinichi's breathing hitched, rising into a new level of panic. Ran looked at Kuroba-kun in concern.

"Oi, oi, Kudo. Calm down, will you? That's not healthy..."

This didn't help, and Shinichi didn't calm down. Instead, her friend, the one she liked most, keened softly, tensing. Kuroba-kun turned to her, a serious expression on his face.

"Oi, how long has he been like this?"

"I, I don't know. I only just woke up a short time ago. He was already like it. I don't understand," she said, turning back to Shinichi, who now looked even more like the child his body made him out to be, reminding her of that time not so long ago when that boy had impersonated him, only to cry just like that when he found out what had actually happened. "He's never had nightmares before, at the very least none like this. If he had, we'd have known! Conan-kun slept in the same room as 'Tou-san, and he would've woken up if something like this had happened, I'm sure! He's never been like this before. Ever. I don't think so."

Kuroba-kun took this in with a look on his face that only looked more worried as she went on, making her wonder whether there was something that he knew and she didn't. Another secret that Shinichi had kept from her, maybe? But she and Shinichi had agreed not to have any more secrets, right? And for the most part, that had held true. Except for the fact that he had planned to turn back into Conan-kun without telling her at all, that is. And. . . whatever it was that had happened on those nights, last month. She never had gotten the whole truth on either event.

She breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly in an attempt to stop the tears from coming any further. They wouldn't help her, and they wouldn't help Shinichi, and they wouldn't help Kuroba-kun. Who was. . . taking a deep breath himself, as though steeling himself for something.

"Come now, Tantei-kun - enough of that. Ran-san's waiting for you back here. You wouldn't want to keep her waiting for you, now would you? Maa, maa. Are you just going to let this idiot thief get away again? That's not like you, Shinichi-kun. Not like you at all. Ah-ah, despite appearances, you're grown, aren't you? Shouldn't you know that even phantom thieves aren't actually ghosts?"

Ran watched, fascinated, as Kuroba Kaito performed a Kaitou Kid act for exactly two people, and one of the members of the audience wasn't even paying full attention. At least, not at first. Slowly but surely, though, Shinichi's breathing started to even out, the tension in his entire body eased up. Not entirely relaxed still, but better, more of an approximation of normal human sleeping patterns. Which, even though they still weren't the norm for a vampire, were still a lot better than they had been. Kuroba-kun continued to perform for a while, though, until at one point, without warning, Shinichi took a hold of the other boy's arm, and promptly fell back into a proper sleep like that, startling Kuroba-kun to no end.

"I think I've just had my arm stolen," the thief deadpanned.

Ran giggled behind her hand, so relieved that something had been done to calm Shinichi down that her laughter almost turned into hiccups.

"Wh- what just happened then?" she finally asked, once she had calmed down somewhat. "Why. . . why did he react like that? And those things you were saying. . . why?"

Kuroba-kun somehow found a way to lean up against her wall while not seeming able to detach Shinichi from his arm. With a head movement that Ran recognised from Shinichi as being one that went with an eye roll, the magician gathered up the bedding so that there now seemed to be a nest of mini-Shinichi all centered around Kuroba's left arm, which was hanging by his side as the right did all the work.

"There now. Should stay asleep like that, don't you think, Ran-san?" Ran nodded, hiding a smile in the darkness, but her eyes kept her questions. Kuroba-kun sighed, with a glance at the small form domineering his left arm.

"I'm an idiot," he said. Softly, calmly, reminding her of Shinichi calling himself "Stupid high school detective". But instead of looking as though he had just won, Kuroba-kun looked about ready to hit himself over the head. "Aoko's right. I'm a stupid, stupid idiot."

"Kuroba-kun...?"

"I'm sorry, Ran-san. But - more than anyone else, I should've known this kind of thing was going to happen sooner or later. Guess I was taken in just like the rest of us, huh?"

"I. . . I don't understand. How could you know?" She shook her head and shuffled over so that she was sitting opposite him. "And why are you here, anyway? I - I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound rude, but. . ."

"Pft, I understand," he said, waving his free hand in the air. "Winged by thinking of the brat here - you know, he only did the switch yesterday evening, right?" Ran nodded, even though Shinichi himself had said nothing of the sort. She'd had to figure it out for herself from what fitted. Kuroba-kun raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else on the matter. "I know. . . because I was there."

Ran didn't say anything.

"He still hasn't told you, has he? Nothing more than 'Just kind of lost control a bit' or something? Though I guess I'm not one to speak about that - I bet I wouldn't have told Aoko, if I was in his place. Thank the kami I'm not, though - that'd get sticky real fast."

"...No. He hasn't told me anything. But it's his thing to tell, isn't it? Why are you telling me any of this?"

-------

Kaito turned to her, looking the girl who looked so much like Aoko in the eye with his head tilted slightly to the side where he had one chibi tantei-kun sleeping away, curled up against him.

"How about because if I don't, then he'd probably never get up the guts to? He's been having nightmares about what happened, damn it! I didn't even think it through until a couple of days ago, and by then everything was happening too fast to be able to do anything at all. I should have. I was there." He paused, to calm himself down. Wouldn't do to lose his own grip on the situation, after all. "I'm telling you because what I'm saying is mine to tell, and because so far as I can see, you've got the right to know. Since he's gonna be rooming at yours, that is."

"Yours. . . to tell?"

"Yeah." He shifted - or tried to - to make himself a little more comfortable. It didn't work. There were still tricks poking into him everywhere they weren't wanted. "And aside from that, I think Hattori already figured it all out from what he noticed before and after. Though that's not saying much; that guy was almost on a level with Kudo here before he turned. Though," he said, grinning at her, "From what Kudo's told me, you're not too bad either, when you set your mind to it."

He had the pleasure of seeing her blush at the compliment, if that hand to the face meant anything at all.

"But - point is, Kudo. . . really did kind of lose it, that night. Ah, nothing you need to worry over now - other than the many ways he's been affected by it, of course. Or his pride. I mean, he is not going to be happy with me when he realises I've told you any of this, you know." He sighed. "Right then, how about we start with this. You might even know better than I do on this one, but I think that he's usually best off when he's, ah, taken the necessary at least once a day, maybe more, right? I thought so. From what I've gathered, his upper limit to that is about two to three days and he gets cranky. More, and his temper is prone to sudden flares, and he has difficulties controlling some of his instincts. Nothing too bad, not as bad that he can't keep on top of everything. Any further than that, and . . . he can't. He might not even notice it - especially if there's adrenaline involved. That neat trick of his, that one where he heals himself of just about anything that's not wood-inflicted? Pretty much gone bye-bye. I'd say the power gets rerouted to his senses, which basically go into overdrive. Can I just say now, not pretty? Well, if you're just looking, and you've got absolutely no common sense, then sure, but otherwise? Not pretty."

He shivered at the memory, under a carefully disguised Poker Face. He still remembered the way the guy had looked, as though he were inhuman... addicted, even. And when Kaito had stretched out his arm to shake him out of his trance-like state before he did something they were both going to regret, Kudo had simply lunged; it had been purely thanks to his own special brand of luck that fangs hadn't been able to penetrate any further through the white silk and cotton, that he'd stopped when he had.

What had been almost as unsettling had been the way Kudo Shinichi had broken down moments later, knees up and back against the wall, facing away from Kaito. Crying. The Detective of the East never cried. . . or so he had thought, back then. He knew better, now.

"Things got - pretty dire," he continued, noticing Ran watching him with a worried expression. His free hand found itself trawling its way through his hair, making it even messier. "I'd bet something pretty big that nightmare just now was his subconscious showing him what might've happened if someone'd got hurt. Bad."

"But," Ran said, interrupting him quietly, "No one did, did they? You just said so."

He shook his head. "No. That's why they're called nightmares, Ran-san. They show you the absolute worst possibility that could eveer have happened. Doesn't matter how it did happen, or how close... no, I don't know exactly what his are about, but I do know that much."

"Oh... then, why was it that, I mean, at that time..."

"Why'd I use Kid's voice, you mean?" Ran nodded. "'Cause I'd already tried calming him down using my own, and that didn't work. I figured his most traumatic experience that'd make him react like that'd have to be the one I just told you about, and at that time I was Kid, so... like that. It's a thing. When Kid's nearby, no one gets hurt. To the best of Kid's ability."

"Oh," she said again. "I think I see. That's part of how you're such good friends, isn't it?"

"Kind of, but I hope that's not all there is to it," he said, shifting slightly and moving his arm so as to help the blood flow a bit better. Which ended up with Kudo's head half resting on his leg. The girl across from him started to giggle.

"Eh? What is it now?"

"Ah - nothing. I just, well. It's a shame I couldn't take a picture. The two of you like that have to be one of the cutest things! You'd never guess he'd been like... well, like he had been, the way he's sleeping right now. Just like a real seven year old."

"Yeah," Kaito deadpanned. "A seven year old that won't let go of my arm and has a grip as strong as rigor mortis, maybe."

More giggles. What was it with girls and giggles?

"Oh, come on. You've got to admit - like that, you look even more like brothers or something!"

"Yeah, yeah. Everyone says the same thing. Seriously. D'you know, part of this guy's brilliant plan is to say that Kudo Shinichi's not really gone, just going at the case from a different angle? Oh, he told you? Well, apparently, he's somehow talked me into being his body double for the duration of the case."

"Oh really? And how was he going to make that work?"

"Well, he hardly ever appeared on his last 'big case', as he called it, and he's not half as much the media hog as he used to be for obvious reasons, so infrequent comings and goings wouldn't be that big of a deal. As for anything more specific. . . I usually go with the idea that you let the audience see what they want to see. It generally works, too."

"Hmm..."

She still looked unconvinced. Kaito didn't blame her.

"Well," she said, looking away slightly as she did so. "You've got school tomorrow, haven't you? No, I know you do. And you might have some kind of idea how to get Shinichi off of you, but I don't. And if you did. . ." Kaito swallowed hard, remembering easily how the girl across from him knew karate. Blackbelt karate. "Maybe you'd better stay here for the night."

He opened his mouth in protest, but she cut him off with a look that pierced easily throught he darkness.

"Right now, Shinichi is calm, and Shinichi is asleep. At the moment, for whatever reason, he's not having those nightmares. I'd like to keep it that way. I might not like having two boys in my room, but for tonight I'm sure I can bear it. Now - I'm going back to bed. You - you can use Conan... I mean Shinichi's futon. I sincerely hope that I'm not woken up again, understand?"

Kaito nodded, reminded strongly of Aoko. Except he and Aoko had never been in this kind of situation before, thank goodness. Not at all. Never had to. He'd have been mopped to death and back if he'd suggested it, too. In fact, he was very glad that it wasn't Aoko over there. Kudo's Ran-san? He could deal with. Aoko. . . would be embarrassing. He probably wouldn't have been able to sleep.

-------

AN: O_O Well, that was a long one.

On a more serious note, apologies for lateness. Had some bits of writer's block/was questioning a very important plot point. Never expected the chapter to end up being this long, but there were things that had to happen and I wasn't going to cut it short at all, as it wouldn't have been the same or worked at all if I'd done that.

A lot of plot points touched upon here, and readers may recognise that the events that happened in between the end of chapter 13 and the Epilogue of TVD1 are still not only having a knock-on effect to just about everything else, but are being retold and retold, and still aren't completely spun out...

I don't know about anyone else, but that image of Kaito and Conan like that? Ran's reaction was mine.