Hello, everybody! I've decided to go forward with my next fic!
TO REVIEWERS: I would like you to review for this one, too! And plz check out my author page for some questions I would like answered in your reviews, thanks!
Disclaimer: I don't own Case Closed/ Detective Conan or Harry Potter
Pairings: Jimmyx Rachel
ShinichixRan
And onto the story!
The Book of Knowledge
It was a normal night at the Moore Detective Agency: Richard was inhaling alcohol so fast it would keep anyone intoxicated for days, Rachel was cleaning all his beer bottles and cans into a trash bag, and Conan was inside his broom closet of a room reading detective novels.
And this was when the very loud doorbell rang.
"Guests?" Rachel asked, absently. "Oh, no! What'll I do when they see this?" she asked rhetorically, gesturing to her now KO'd father.
"Rachel?" A female voice called. "Are you there?"
Rachel froze.
Chapter 1
Conan froze.
He hadn't just heard the voice he thought he did, right?
"Mrs. Kudo?" Rachel called out the window.
"Rachel, honey! It's so nice to see you!"
Rachel was struck speachless. Did this mean that Jimmy was back? With a quick, "I'll open the door," Rachel was off.
"Rachel, my dear you have grown so much since the last time I saw you! When was that?" Vivian Kudo asked thoughtfully, embracing the teen after she had opened the door to the agency, and ignoring the sleeping detective next to her.
"About the time you left for America," Rachel said, remembering.
"Right! And Jimmy refused to leave!"
"What?" Rachel asked.
Inside his room, Conan was debating. 'Do I pretend I know her? Or do I- She lives next-door to my 'relative', of course I know her!'
"Auntie Vivian!" Conan asted, breaking their conversation at an opportune moment.
"Conan? Is that you?"
"You know him?" Rachel asked.
"Well he is a relative of my next-door neighbor! We crashed a family reunion once. That's where I met him. Conan, I haven't seen you since..."
"Er- the last family reunion! But that was a long time ago since Dr. Agasa got into that fight with my mother and she wouldn't let me see him," Jimmy quickly made up.
"Right, well, I was hoping to see you. You see your mother sent you a birthday present, for tomorrow. Fanny Edogawa, very nice lady don't you think, Rachel?"
"Hm? Oh, yes. Very nice,"
"And here it is! Why don't you go into your room and open it, Conan!" Vivian handed him a box. It was relatively small, about the size of a box in which you would put a piece of jewlery.
"Uh, Mrs. Kudo-"
"Vivian, dear," Jimmy's mother interrupted.
"Er- Vivian, is Jimmy with you?"
This caught Conan's attention and he looked up from the box he was inspecting.
"Actually, he's here with us until tomorrow. Celebrating his birthday and all," she said.
'Oh, yeah. My birthday is tomorrow. Wait- did she just say I was actually here !'
"Why don't you hurry and open that present, Conan?" Vivian prodded, actually pushing him this time.
Conan, taking this as a sign she wanted to say something embarassing about his counterpart, left the room with the odd little package in his hands. Going back to his broom-closet, he steadily tore off the wrapping.
---
Kudo,
I made a 24 hour pill for you-- think of it as a birthday present. Use it wisely.
Haibara
---
A 24 hour pill? This was the best birthday present he could have gotten! Now he could spend his birthday with Rachel-- actually as himself. But-- he'd have to take it without Rachel knowing. A thought occurred to him.
"Aunty Viv?" he called out into the hall.
"Yes, Conan?" she called back.
Stepping out of his room, Conan continued, "May I stay with you tonight? I want to talk about stuff with Jimmy! I've solved a lot of cases while he's been away! And he'll just love them!"
"Why Conan! That's a grand idea! You wouldn't mind, would you, Rachel?"
"Not at all... May I come to drop him off?" Rachel asked, selfishly hoping for a glance of Jimmy.
Sitting in bed at a very late (or rather early) hour, Jimmy thought of what he would do the following day- his birthday. He had already undressed and taken off the glasses, told his parents not to come if they heard him yell and scream, and taken a glass of water to the bedside table.
Deciding now would be as good a time as ever, he swallowed the pill, lying back in the bed.
Now all he had to do was wait.
"Morning, mom," Jimmy greeted as he entered the kitchen to Vivian Kudo's cooking. He kissed his mother on the cheek.
She dropped the spatula she was holding. "Jimmy?" she asked, "Is it really you?"
"Yes, mum," he said, rummaging in the kitchen refrigerator for something to drink.
"Jimmy!" she shouted, glomping him.
"Jimmy?" a male voice asked. This belonged to Jimmy's father, Booker Kudo. "Well, it's good to see you at your own height. That girl said this would leave you like you for today, right?"
"Nice to see you too, dad," Jimmy replied, finding some orange juice that hadn't gone bad.
Vivian spun the plate now filled with pancakes to the table. "Eat up, Kudo's," she said, sitting down at the kitchen table. Booker followed her example, and he was followed by Jimmy.
Breakfast was silent until Booker spoke up.
"I was thinking, Jimmy. What if I made a story, fictional of course, about what's happened to you? I think children'll love it! It would be the next Harry Potter! (which I don't own) And I could use that journal you keep of all your cases that's upstairs,"
"I don't think so, dad. My life isn't that exciting," Jimmy replied. "And I don't really think you could ever beat Harry Potter,"
"Well we could sure try!" Booker said.
"Do what you want," Jimmy said, getting up from the table to change.
"Jimmy-"
"Let him be, Booker," Vivian interrupted as Jimmy left the room, "He's got other things on his mind," she said suggestively.
"Ah, well in any case, I wanted to ask her to be in the book too. It would be missing dramatic and romantic flair if Rachel was left out,"
"Oh Jimmy!" Vivian called. "Rachel said she'd be over in about an hour!"
"What!" Jimmy shouted, frantically. He immediately rushed upstairs.
A doorbell rang at exactly 10:00.
Booker was first downstairs to answer it.
It was no surprise to see Rachel Moore standing there.
"Hello, Rachel. No need to ask who you're here to see. Jimmy!" he called.
Jimmy was next downstairs.
And every thought of everything he ever wanted to say to her, left him.
"Rachel," Jimmy said.
"Jimmy," she said back. "Is that really you?"
Booker took this time to close the door, and make his exit.
It was a good thing too, because Jimmy was glomped the next second.
"You idiot!" she shouted at him, breaking her hug slightly. "Do you know how often I wondered what you were doing? Whether you were in trouble? Whether I would even see you again!"
"Aww, Rach. You were worried about me!" he shouted teasingly. "Did you cry over me too?"
"I was NOT worried and I did NOT cry!"
"I think you did," Jimmy said, still joking. "Remember, Conan slept over last night,"
Rachel was at a loss for words. She stuttered a few phrases. Then turned away, "If I get my hands on that little squealer-" she started. "Wait-- where is Conan?"
"Er-" Jimmy stuttered.
The doorbell rang again.
"Who could that be?" Jimmy asked, grateful for the change in subject.
In the doorway stood the Junior Detective League.
"Wow! He really is Jimmy Kudo!" Amy said wondrously.
"And Miss Rachel's hugging him," Mitch couldn't overlook.
This made the now blushing teens break apart.
"Is she your girlfriend?" George asked Jimmy.
"No we're just friends!" they both shouted at the same time. This brought back a serious deja vu for everyone about a certain time in a grocery store.
"You must be Amy, George, and Mitch," Jimmy said, naming them one by one.
"Wow! He really is a good detective!" Amy said.
"Er- actually Conan told me," Jimmy said, inviting them in.
"Conan?" Amy's face brightened. "So he's here?"
"Er-" Jimmy said again, back on the topic he tried to avoid.
They were interrupted by the sound of running feet, loud vomiting, and a voice that said, "Auntie Viv? I don't feel so good," to which Vivian Kudo answered, "It's alright, Conan, we'll just put you straight to bed,"
Jimmy was astounded.
"So he's sick? And on his birthday, too... Can we at least say 'Hi'?" Amy asked.
"Er- I don't think so, he may be contagious,"
"Then I'll take care of him!" Amy suggested.
"Thanks, Amy, but I think my mother's taking care of it,"
Amy's face became downcast, and both Mitch and George turned their attention to cheering her up.
"Mitch, George, Amy!" Jimmy's father called from the stairs. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure Mr. Kudo!" everyone shouted, seeing the great mystery novelist in person.
"Look at all these books!" Mitch marveled at the front hall, his voice getting farther away as the Jr. Detectives followed Booker, leaving Jimmy and Rachel to themselves.
"I wonder what he wanted to talk to them about," Rachel said absently.
"Probably about the new book he'll be writing," Jimmy said. "It's on the adventures of Conan Edogawa,"
"Cute!" Rachel said. "Er- Jimmy?"
"Yes?"
"Happy Birthday," she said, blushing and holding out a package.
"Rach, you didn't have to... I even missed seeing you on your birthday,"
"Yes, but you did leave me a present," she said. "And I wanted to see you," she added quietly, but Jimmy caught it.
"Thanks," Jimmy said, being forward and kissing her on the cheek.
Rachel, blushing furiously, tried desperately to bring a change in subject, "A-a-aren't you going to open it?" she asked, stuttering.
"Sure," he said.
He smiled at the content. It was the latest, and most awaited, detective novel. Jimmy, being Conan, never thought to ask for it because it would have adult scenes in it. But it was alright for Jimmy.
"Jeez, Rach! You don't know how long I've been waiting for this! It doesn't come out in America for months!"
"I figured," she said.
He hugged her, smiling the whole time.
"But I got you a present, too," he said.
"Jimmy! It's your birthday!"
"I know, but I did promise," he said, pulling out two tickets to Tropical Land.
"Thanks for today, Jimmy. It was great," Rachel said as the taxi stopped in front of her house. It was about dusk, and the sun had just set. The setting of which they watched atop the ferris wheel. Both teens got out of the vehicle.
"I had fun too..."
"You have to leave tonight..."
"Yep..."
"What are you going to do for the rest of the night?..."
"Why not spend it with my best friend at the movies?..." he said slyly, glancing at her.
"Really!" she shouted.
"Hey, why not?"
"Thank you, Jimmy!" she shouted, hugging him again.
"... Er- Rachel? I-I-I wanted to tell you something,"
"What is it, Jimmy?" Rachel asked curiously, pulling herself slightly away from Jimmy.
'No, don't tense up now of all times!' He thought when his body didn't respond to the opening of his mouth. "Rach, I-"
"Rachel?" a voice asked. Rachel froze.
"Serena?" Rachel asked.
Serena Sebastian, Rachel's best female friend, was coming out of the Detective Agency.
"Well, I didn't expect you to get so far this fast with him, girl! When did he get back? Today?"
"Yesterday, FYI," Jimmy butted in.
"Oh well. Rachel, Mr. Kudo wants to talk to us. He's with your dad right now," she said.
"My dad's here?" Jimmy asked.
"Uh, duh!" Serena ungraciously replied.
Rachel, curious, separated from Jimmy and went up the stairs to her father's office. Jimmy followed closely, and he was followed by Serena.
"Mr. Kudo?" she asked.
"Rachel!" he greeted. "I wanted to ask you a few questions,"
"Dad?"
"Jimmy? I didn't expect you to be here,"
"Well if I've been with Rachel all day-"
"All day!" Richard shouted, apparently disgusted that his daughter would spend the day with his rival.
"Yes, father. All day," Rachel said, being defiant.
Richard was now at a loss for words, and settled for opening and closing his moiuth like a fish.
"Well then," Booker said, breaking the silence, "I wanted to ask you three for permission to use you as characters in a book I'm writing about Conan. It'll all be fictional of course, so I wanted to know if you'd be okay with me tweaking your characters a little bit, if you choose to let me do it that is,"
"Be in a book?" Serena asked.
"Sure!" Rachel agreed automatically.
"How would I appeal to women?" Richard asked. He was promptly hit upside the head by Rachel.
"He'll do it," Rachel answered for him.
"If Rachel's doing it, I'll do it, sure!" Serena agreed.
"Great!" Booker shouted. "I'm going to start the book right away! Jimmy'll be in it, won't you Jimmy?"
"You asked this morning, dad,"
"Er- Mr. Kudo? Could you give us an idea of what the book is about?"
"Well, like I told you, it's fiction. Jimmy over here went one step too far on a case, and this syndicate tried to get rid of him. So he ends up shrinking, and that's where Conan comes in!"
Jimmy looked horrified.
"So then, he tries to solve crimes as a kid by improving the rep of a once famous detective, which would be your character, Mr. Moore. Don't worry, I'm not saying that that's real!" Booker said quickly at the look on Richard's face. "And of course, he has the help of his long-time crush Rachel and her friend Serena, and the Junior Detective League! I'd change all the names of course. No need to pretend this is real," he said, smiling at Jimmy.
"Wow! That sounds like a really good story, Mr. Kudo!" Rachel said enthusiastically.
"I have to agree with Rachel, and I don't read much!" Serena said.
"Well thank you, girls!" he said, "And where are you off to now, Jimmy?"
"Well, we were going to go to the movies-"
Richard started, then shouted, "No you're not! Not with my daughter!"
"Please, Mr. Moore," Serena butted, "They already act like a married couple. They were even voted best couple in the eighth grade for the yearbook! It was almost a unanimous vote! I even voted for them! Even if I did have a long-standing relationship with Jake Corner at the time,"
The teens blushed.
"Bye!" Rachel and Jimmy shouted, speeding out of the Agency.
Breaking into fits of laughter, the teens came out of the movies.
"And then- when he jumped off the building- it was hilarious!" Rachel said, barely stringing a sentence together.
"But then- when he tried to tell her- I practically fell out of my seat!" Jimmy laughed back.
"And then when he was underwater- I almost died laughing!"
This pretty much continued until they got their bearings at a park bench just around the corner.
Jimmy glanced at his watch. It was midnight.
"Oh, Jimmy! That was too hilarious!" Rachel said, reduced only to giggles now.
"Yeah..." he agreed.
Falling into an awkward silence, the two teens surveyed the park, their eyes coming to rest on each other.
"Er- Rach, I-"
"Jimmy?" she asked.
"I've wanted to tell you something for a while now..."
"Well?"
"I think... Well Rach, I've liked you- er- for a long-"
"Jimmy!" a feminine voice called
Jimmy turned around to see a mob of girls. They screamed that girly-fangirl scream. He immediately spun into action. Grabbing Rachel by the hand, he ran.
And ran.
And ran.
And ran.
And still the mob of girls was on their tail, although losing members as they went along.
"Rachel!" he shouted. "I have to go soon, but I need to tell you something!"
"Jimmy?" she shouted "I can't hear you!"
"Rachel!" he shouted back again, not hearing Rachel's comment. "I've liked you for a long time!"
"What?" she shouted back.
"I like you a lot, Rachel!"
"What?"
Jimmy stopped, swiftly turned around and said, "I love you,"
And he kissed her.
The mob of girls immediately stopped in their tracks.
He glanced at his watch again. It was one.
"I'm sorry, Rachel. I've got to go again. Please forgive me," he said, kissing her once more.
He ran off, leaving Rachel staring wide-eyed at the space he once occupied. The fangirls stared at Rachel, some glaring, some with their eyes full with the romanticism of his confession and how they'd been there to see it.
Jimmy felt his chest begin to burn once he got through the door of his house.
"Jimmy?" Vivian called. "Is that you?"
She came out into the hall to see Jimmy keeled over near the stairs.
"Oh!" she said "It's happening, isn't it!"
Jimmy quickly nodded, trying once again to go upstairs to his room. He fell yet again as another searing line of pain ripped through him.
He stifled a loud yell.
Booker came into the room. "Jimmy? Are you-" he cut off at the sight.
"Help me get him upstairs, Booker!" Vivian called, supporting Jimmy with an arm.
They quickly laid Jimmy on his bed, and closed the door, promising not to come if he yelled.
The following day, Conan was returned to the Moore's by Dr. Agasa, who insisted that the Kudo's had dropped him off when they had to leave.
"Are you feeling better, Conan?" Rachel asked, somewhat distracted. She had yet to reveal to anyone the confession of the last night.
"Yes, Rachel!" Conan said, his little boy attitude getting the better of her.
The Television was on, and from it came an unexpected report.
"Today, booksellers are swamped with the release of Booker Kudo's newest novel, The Secret life of Conan Edogawa, Volume 1. Apparently, the children's novel has been long awaited in America and now the craze has come to Japan! Editors say that..."
"He'd already written the book!" Conan and Rachel shouted.
"Whaaaa?" Richard said, his hangover getting the better of him.
"Editors have high hopes for the series, the next of which will be out in six months. Some say it may outsell even Harry Potter!... And in other news..."
TBC
Hehehehe, first chappie done!
REVIEW! PLEASE!
next chapter: More things about the book and it's popularity, but some of it's contents stir up suspicions in more than one person.
animebookworm