#haibaraxcats

[sternentinte]

Emogust 2019 - 07. 08.| In which character A. is searching for a cat, and character B has found a cat around their windowsill

„Let me get this straight”, Shinichi says, slowly, “you lost the cat. How in the world did you manage to lose the cat?”

“Hime-chan got scared while I was working in the lab and slipped out.”, Haibara states, “you need to get her back.”

“You lost the cat and I need to get it back?”

“We lost the cat, of course you need to get her back. You are already in disguise anyway and I need to finish this up.” She gestures vaguely around the chemicals in the room.

Shinichi gives up trying to argue. He knows Haibara adores that cat and he himself is actually kind of fond of it to—there is something about stealing a cat out of an illegal research facility both of you were trapped in that makes you like it, simple as that. That’s the short version of the story of how they adopted a cat even though they are technically still on the run.

On the run is a pretty loose term, since, as of now, they even have a (secret and FBI-protected, but nonetheless) apartment. Compared to the last five years, they are pretty safe right now—maybe not as save as they’ll ever be, not yet, but considerably safer than just a few months ago. Not quite safe enough that Shinichi could go back to his actual real identity and his actual real life. Not yet.

That is what he is hoping on though, as soon as all the loose threads are collected and, more importantly, convicted. As soon as everything gets out.

But, as of right now, he is a small boy with a silicon mask on his face that is looking for a cat.

He doesn’t find the cat. Not that day.

-

Bringing down a criminal syndicate, as it turns out, includes a lot of waiting time. It’s weird, but now, now that he has prove, now that he has done this, they actually don’t want him to finish it up.

“You’re a civilian, Kudou-kun”, Megure tells him, “You need to let law enforcement work it’s way through.”

Shinichi sighs, but only so he doesn’t scream. He hasn’t been a civilian for ages and that is his case, dammit. But he knows the only reason Megure is telling him this is that his higher ups know that Shinichi knows him, that Shinichi trusts him.

The problem with not being able to help, or at least, not being able to help all of the time, is that Shinichi has free time now, and after four years of constantly switching between running from and towards criminals, he doesn’t really know what to do with that.

It gives him too much time to think. Too much time to regret. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, it’s Haibara’s turn to be the adult of the family for this week. This way, he can’t go and do anything impulsive. Stupid, as Haibara would put it.

Instead, he looks for the cat.

It doesn’t seem to be in the immediate surroundings anymore, or at least if it is, Shinichi can’t find it. So, he does the obvious thing and makes posters. They are probably not the most effective, since, due to a total lack of pictures (“Pictures are dangerous.”, Haibara says at the back of his mind, along with his own general paranoia) he has to rely on descriptions.

Megure also gives him an exceptionally weird look when he asks him to print them at the department, but Shinichi really has endured worse. Also, if Haibara worries less about the cat, things are going to get done sooner.

He still doesn’t find the cat.

He begins asking people, children, old couples at the park, store owners. It’s risky. They might remember him and tell someone else about him, but on the other hand, he is a little kid and wearing a disguise, so there is a pretty low chance anyone could trace this back to him. But he doesn’t dare asking any of his neighbors either—better when they don’t know anything.

After a few days he’s not all to hopeful. It makes him sad in a way he doesn’t expect. He had never really thought he’d keep the cat, not even in the best possible outcome, the one that seems so close that the hope is killing him every time he thinks about it (so, pretty much all the time).

It was always going to be Haibara’s cat. But still. It was an act of being to hopeful, of trusting this to work. Relying on a future. And now the cat is gone.

Haibara is going to flip her lid, he thinks, but then he thinks better of it. If he has realised the cat is gone, Haibara’s probably known it for a while. She tends to hope less than he does.

He still doesn’t want to say it to her face.

He sighs. In front of him there’s a news parlour selling proper newspapers along with trashy gossip magazines. Shinichi steps closer and asks the boy behind the counter about the cat.

The employee leans down to him and tells him that, sadly, he hasn’t seen the cat. As he promises that he will keep an eye open, Shinichi realises that the guy is younger than him. Not younger than physical-him, of course, but still. The thought gives him a chill.

He distracts him by gazing over the shiny covers in front of him and immediately does a double take. On the cover—it’s Ran.

Its not new, not really. Ever since the band took off—Ran, Kazuha and that other girl he doesn’t actually know, Nakamori-san, Inspector Nakamori’s daughter—they’ve been in and out of celebrity gossip. Nothing particularly nasty that he heard of—but his access to news hasn’t really been all that regular at times. Also, he doesn’t want Haibara to know he’s paying attention to it—he knows her well enough to know it would only make her feel bad. But she probably knows anyway. They’ve learned to know each other way to well.

“Cuteness Explosion! Gosho Girls’ Ran-chan charms fans with new cat!”, the headline reads.

The picture has Ran posing, smiling slightly, friendlily, Shinichi with an obviously very satisfied black cat in her lap. It seems to have been taken from her social media and Shinichi wonders who took it. Maybe Uncle Kogoro or Sonoko or another one of her friends.

Maybe she has a secret boyfriend somewhere, he thinks, one the media doesn’t know about yet. He almost wishes for it, except he doesn’t, because he just isn’t that good of a person and he wants to be her secret boyfriend from back in high school forever. Well, but he also isn’t really delusional enough to hold out for that, so…

He looks at the picture again, only now really paying attention to the cat. But—How is this possible? Shinichi shakes his head and looks again. Maybe he is wrong. There are plenty of black cats around. He glosses through the article to find out more.

“According to Ran-chan, she found Maki-chan on her balcony…”

So apparently Ran found the cat, had tried to look for a former owner, but since it was neither chipped nor had a collar, she had ultimately been allowed to keep it. Of course Hime isn’t chipped. They can’t go around disclosing their location like that.

Shinichi sighs. Then he tries to look at the picture from another angle. Is it really Hime? Maybe he is paranoid.

Scratch that, he knows he’s paranoid. But this is ridiculous.

Well, there isn’t a lot he can do now. He buys the magazine.

-

Haibara is still in her lab when he comes back to the apartment.

“I’m back!”, he yells, and she answers with an affirmative.

He steps towards her and leans into the doorframe of the lab. He knows for a fact that Haibara hasn’t left the apartment in almost a week. She never does, when she is tall, too scared of being recognised.

“Any news, Kudou-kun?”

She seems almost cheerful. Maybe the research is going well.

“So…”, Shinichi starts, “I might have found the cat.”

She turns back to him, clearly surprised, but also weary. He was right, then, she didn’t expect him to find it anymore.

“But?”, Haibara presses.

“I might just be crazy.”

“Well, that’s certainly not news.”, Haibara huffs. She rotates her open palm in the air, a sign for him to just say it already.

“Look at this.”

He opens the magazine at the right page for her, but she flips back to the front.

“A gossip magazine.”, she says. Then she looks closer. “About Mouri-san.”

She looks at him. This is what Shinichi wanted to avoid.

“You know, whatever it says is probably not even-“, she starts, quickly.

“No, just look at the picture.”

Shinichi opens the correct page again and points at the cat. He doesn’t want to hear her advice. Not now. Really, he doesn’t want to need it.

“Am I crazy, or… Tell me I’m crazy.”, he says instead.

“You’re crazy.”, Haibara complies, but he can see her eyes widen at the image.

“That’s Hime-chan.”

“Are you sure?”

“Well yeah. That’s what you meant, right?” Her suspicious look is back, even though this is precisely the reason Shinichi bought the damn magazine.

He nods. “It doesn’t make any sense though, she doesn’t even live near here…”

“How do you know that?”, Haibara asks, flatly.

“Well, they put us far away from anyone who could have recognised us, remember? Also, she would probably have heard about Hime missing if she was near, especially if she asked around.”

Haibara shrugs “I guess Hime-chan is really good at running far away.” She pauses. “It’s probably for the best she is.”

Shinichi thinks of the last place all of them ran from and finds himself agreeing. “So, what are we going to do?”

Haibara shrugs again. “What can we do? At least we know Mouri-san is a good person. It’s better than Hime-chan just being a stray.”

Shinichi nods. Even though he found the cat, in a way, he feels defeated. And tired. So, so tired. He sighs, closes his eyes and concentrates on not falling apart. He’s gotten good at it, but it’s harder in quiet moments.

“Oi, Haibara!”, he calls back, “I’m gonna make some food.”

Haibara gestures him to go ahead. She’s right. There’s nothing to do but to hold out. Just a little longer.

-

“She really is cute.”, Aoko sighs.

Ran nods and pets her cat over the head. “Maki-chan.”

“Maki like true hope?”, Aoko asks.

“Maki like true hope.”, Ran confirms. “I’ve always had a thing for hope.”

——–

So this could be seen as sort of the other side to my story for the heart break prompt. (Still not sure if I’m doing the genre thing right)

@mintchocolateleaves, @sup-poki