My first and only fanfic for DC so far! I wrote this waaaay back in 2012 hahaa, but I hope you guys enjoy it! ^~^
I'll put it up on fanfiction.net too, my account url is www.fanfiction.net/~wildheart888
~The Strangest Thing~
“Kagome~” A voice filled the house, taking up every crack in the house, entering every room.
I mumbled something under my breath. ‘I’m busy,’ I thought. Too busy to say it aloud.
“KAGOME~!!”
I sighed. “What?” I called out. Can’t I even get one day of peace? I lay on my bed, my blankets cushioned under me, my manga in my hand. My door was half open.
“Inuyasha’s here!” Sota’s voice barely reached my ears before I saw a flash of red and white.
“BANG!” The door swung back and forth from the force.
A split second later, Inuyasha stood in my room, his feet as muddy as always, wearing the same fire-rat cloak he’s been wearing for his whole life. A smirk was painted on his face, a blue baseball cap covering his white ears.
“Yo, Kagome,” He sat down on the floor and sniffed the air.
“.....” I stared at his feet, which was dirtying the spotless, only-cleaned-yesterday floor. He was fiddling with one of my dolls. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?”
Inuyasha blinked. “Taking you back..?” He said it like it was obvious.
“You said I could stay for a week! This is only the third day!” I yelled. I’d just written a test yesterday, one I’d only known about the day before. I had just come back from the Feudal Era, and Hojo-kun just happened to pass by. ‘Good luck on the test!’ He had told me. ‘Yeah, sure,’ I thought. I had spent the rest of the day studying madly, calling on my friends Yuka, Eri and Ayumi to help.
I was now very tired, and only hoped for a day of silence and peace and catching up on manga-reading.
“Breakfast is ready!” Sota poked his head inside just as Inuyasha was opening his mouth to say something.
I sighed again. “Let’s go..” I stood up, reluctantly left my manga on my bed, and climbed down the stairs. Inuyasha followed silently behind.
‘Seriously,’ I thought as I poured myself some milk, ‘Does he think he can just take me back anytime? This is my home. My family. He can’t just separate me from them like that. That stupid, arrogant, impatient, hot-headed.....’
“Uhmm...Kagome?”
‘Ignorant, retarted,....’
“Kagome?”
‘Rude, idiotic, JERK!’
“KAGOME!” Inuyasha’s voice broke into my thoughts.
“Eh?” The room was now quiet, except for some mysterious dripping sound.
“....Your milk is overflowing.”
I looked down. The entire table was flooded with milk. Drops of white was splattered over my red shirt. “Ahh!” I yelped, and dashed to get a towel. I frantically swept the counter-top with the towel, trying to stop the milk from dripping on the floor. My family sat by the dinner table, mouth gaping, speechless.
“...Baka.”
~~~~~
“Are you alright, Kagome?” Mrs. Higurashi asked her daughter, a concerned look across her face.
“I’m fine, mom.” I replied. “Just a little tired.” Very tired, I said to myself. I had stayed up almost the entire night reading. I didn’t mean to, but it was just so good! The plot, the mysteries, the action...all of it tempted me to keep on going. I tried to blink my grogginess away.
“Well, at least it’s the weekend~!” Sota said cheerfully. “I’m going to my friend’s house to play video games today!” He announced.
Blink. Blink..Blink...
“I have to do some gardening, since the weather’s so nice.” My mom ate her last piece of egg and stood up.
Blink.....Bliiiink.
Suddenly I felt something poke my shoulder. “C’mon!” A little kid’s voice rang through my ears. It sounded oddly familiar.
“Hmm?” I turned to look at a boy, around Sota’s age. He was wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt, and a red bow-tie.
“Whaddaya mean, ‘Hmm’?” The boy grabbed his backpack and his books. “We’re going to be late!” He pointed to the clock. It read 8:15 am. Just then, a high-pitched girl voice yelled from outside the window.
“How long are you gonna make me wait? Hurry up!”
“O-Oh,” I stuttered. “C-Coming!” I shouted towards the window. Then I frowned. Why does my voice sound...different? Different, but..a bit familiar at the same time. Then the boy grabbed me by my sleeves and hurried me to the door.
I stuffed my bread into my mouth, swung my bag over my shoulder, and put on my shoes.
“G’bye, Occhan!” He called to the snoring old man surrounded by beer before closing the door.
~~~~~
“Seriously, what was taking you so long?” A slim, teenage girl stood by the stairs, her arms on her hips. She was a little shorter than me, and had short, light brown hair that was pushed back by a bandanna. ‘She too, seems familiar,’ I thought to myself. Then I was struck by a sudden realization. ‘C-Could it be...?’
“...What’s wrong?” The girl asked. “You look like you’ve seen Shinichi with another girl!” She joked.
I couldn’t help myself. I must’ve looked extremely ridiculous at the moment, with my mouth gaping open and my eyes flickering back and forth from the two people. She had just confirmed my suspicions. “S..Sonoko?” I managed to whisper.
The girl, whom I had called Sonoko, frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay, Ran?” She felt my head. “Do you have amnesia? Who else would I be?”
“R-Ran-neechan?” The boy looked at me behind his black glasses. “Are you alright?” He had a look of concern on his face, unlike kids at his age.
“C.....” I tried to breathe normally. “Conan-kun?”
“Ran..!” Sonoko shook me by my shoulders. “Snap out of it, will ya?” She yelled.
I tried to sort out my thoughts. My name is Kagome Higurashi. I live in Tokyo. I travel to the Feudal Era in a well. I am in love with a half-demon dog named Inuyasha. But then I looked around me. So why am I suddenly here? With Conan and Sonoko? As..Ran? I felt my hair. Oh no..I shook my head. It can’t be.
Suddenly Sonoko gasped. “We’re gonna be late!!!” She pushed me from behind and ran. “C’mon!! We have Mathfor first period today! With Gorilla! He’s gonna kill us if we’re late!”
“R-Right,” I stood there, utterly confused.
Conan pulled on my hand. “Let’s go, Ran-neechan,” He ran after Sonoko too, leaving me no choice but to follow.
~~~~~
“Riiiiiing~”
Sonoko and I gasped for breath as we sat down in our seats. “We just made it!” She high-fived me. The teacher gave her a glare.
“Let’s review our homework, shall we?” He eyed us with his cold eyes. “Suzuki and Mouri.” He nodded to us. “Homework on the board.”
I didn’t know what to do. Did ‘I’ do ‘my’ homework yet? If ‘I’ did, where was it? I looked over to Sonoko for help. She returned my look, then stood up and walked over to the board.
I quickly took out a blue notebook, hoping it was the right one, and joined her.
“Sonoko..” I whispered to her. She didn’t seem to hear me.
When she glanced at me, she said, “You can do #1~5. I’ll do #6~10.”
With the class quietly chatting away, I flipped to the end of the notebook. I was aghast. Ran, the real Ran, had only done #1~4! I slowly wrote the answers on the board, and then the 5th question. ‘I suck at Math..!’ I thought. I took a deep breath and tried to work through the question.
~~~~~
“...Mouri?” The teacher frowned.
“Y..Yes?” I answered. It felt so weird answering to someone else’ name.
“Is everything alright?” He asked me. “You never do anything wrong in Math. But...this last question...” He glanced at me, a you-know-what-you-did-wrong look.
My mind was running in circles. Will they figure it out? That I’m not actually Ran? What am I gonna do?
But then Sonoko’s hand shot up. “I think Ran’s had a tough night last night. Mouri-san stayed up playing mahjong and..uhmm...” She trailed off.
The teacher grunted. “Still, you shouldn’t have made such a...stupid mistake..” He paused, waiting for the class’ laughter to die down. “But ah, whatever.” He waved the matter off. “Let’s continue, class, shall we? So on Friday’s lesson, we talked about the x factor and the y.......”
I zoned out. I never really payed attention in math class anyway. I was still stunned by what was happening. I mean, this can’t technically happen, right? It’s not possible. But...here I am! I must’ve defied all the laws on Earth.
After an eternity, the bell rang for lunch. I sighed, relieved to be finally free.
An elbow nudged me. As I was busy saying “Ow!”, Sonoko was ranting about me. “... daydreaming in Math class today! Hmm.....if I was gonna guess, I would say you were thinking about Shinichi~” She smirked. “‘Oh, Shinichi, where are you now? When are you going to come back?? I miss you so muuuuuch! <3’” She looked at me with her big cerulean eyes. “Ne?”
I had to smile to that one. “Actually--”
“Oh, oh!” Sonoko acted like I hadn't said a word. “But you were totally blowin’ it in History just then!” Her eyes lit up, as if I had just let her on a secret or something. “I never knew you were so good at History,” She teased, and nudged me again. “Anyways,” She said without pausing, not giving me a chance to answer, “Let’s go eat first! I’m starving!”
~~~~~
The afternoon crawled by slower than a sloth. Since I hadn’t been to school in a while, my mind couldn’t tackle the memorization stuff like Science and English. And just my luck, there was a test in English. I couldn’t remember if necessary was spelt ‘neccessary’ or ‘neccesary’. Or was it something else? I could usually skate over them on thin ice, but too many things distracted me. I was unused to my surroundings, for one. The uniform here was way different. The longer skirts, the tight blazers. But what was most distracting was the fact that everyone treated me like Ran. It felt so weird, I just couldn’t concentrate.
I couldn’t wait to get away from here, so when the long-awaited bell rang, I dashed out as quickly as I could. I heard shouts of my name, and Sonoko was running close behind me when I turned around. “Where are you going, Ran?” She panted. “Weren’t you supposed to help out with Agasa-hakase?”
“O-oh, riight..” I faked a smile. As we got near my house, Sonoko smiled back and waved to me. “I’ve gotta go now!” She said. “I’m going to visit Makoto~” She had a dreamy expression on her face. “Jia ne~!” She skipped away and left me in front of Shinichi’s neighbor, Prof. Agasa’s house.
~~~~~
“KONNICHIWA, RAN-NEECHAN~!!” Five children chorused upon my arrival. Hungry Genta, smart Mitsuhiko, cute Ayumi-chan, Conan-kun, and of course, the fierce and quiet Haibara Ai-chan.
I patted each of them on the head. “Hey guys!”
The feeling of weirdness crept up again, but this time it was overswept by the awe. The awe of being inside a room I’d only known about. Meeting these actual..people!
“Well,” Agasa-hakase said in his gruff voice when he saw me, “Let’s get goin’!”
~~~~~
I sighed a sigh of relief when I stepped ‘home’ at last. But it was quickly shattered.
“You’re cookin’ dinner!” Kogoro, my ‘dad’, grumbled. He was watching TV, in his hands a can of beer.
I sighed, this time not so much of a relief. It was exactly what I pictured. “Kay~” I answered back reluctantly.
‘My cooking will be different than Ran’s though..’ I thought as I heated up the stove. ‘Hopefully I can pull it off..’
~~~~~
“Whoa!” Kogoro exclaimed with his mouth full of beef. “Since when did you learn to cook like this?” He stuffed a mouthful of rice in there too, and a swig of beer.
“Ahaha...in cooking school last week...” I lied. It was a traditional dish in our family. We ate it often, so my mom taught me how to make it.
“It’s awesome, Ran-neechan!” Conan chimed. I couldn’t help blushing. It’s not everyday that someone praises my cooking.
But I was still very much shaken. I was getting used to this, to answering to Ran, to hearing those voices I’ve heard so many times before. I needed to find out the truth. Will I go back home? Will I stay here? What happened to the real Ran? And, more importantly, what happened to me? I couldn’t just live on and wait for the answers. They won’t come to me just like that. I had to go look for them myself.
I’d cleared the table, washed the dishes, readied our lunches for tomorrow. Conan-kun was on the phone.
“.....Yeah. I know. Alright then, Haibara. See you tomorrow.” He said, then hung up. When he turned around, he saw me standing right behind him. “R-Ran-neechan!!” He stammered, obviously surprised that he didn’t notice me.
I smiled. “Hey, Conan-kun.” I squat down so I could look at him face-to-face and smirked. “Or should I say...Shinichi?”
I saw his eyes widen. His mouth opened but no words came out. He took a step back, and laughed nervously. “W-What are you talking about, Ran-neechan?”
I fixed him with my now blue eyes, and leaned forward. “I know, Conan-kun. That you’re Shinichi.”
Conan-kun suddenly looked cornered and helpless. I almost regretted my way of approach. But then, his mouth turned its corners, and he smirked. He smirked so suddenly, I was stunned for a second. I frowned.
His smile grew wider, and I was feeling more confused than ever. “W-Wh-What?” I stammered. “What’s to funny?”
He sighed, still smiling, and said, “I thought so.”
I blinked. I really had no idea what he was talking about.
He then took a deep breath, like he was starting a deduction. “You’re not really Ran, are ya?” He looked at me amusingly.
“H-H-How did you know?” I stuttered when I finally regained my voice.
“It was a bit obvious.” He told me matter-of-factly. “You were here since breakfast, right?”
“Y-You know that too?”
“Sure,” He shrugged. “Since you started stuttering.” He laughed.
I sighed. Well, I’m found out. “Umm..I’m Higurashi Kagome, by the way.” I felt like introducting myself would be the best thing to do.
“Nice to meet you, Kagome” Conan-kun smiled. “How’s Inuyasha?”
I widened my eyes a bit, but soon realized that, if I knew Conan and friends, it wouldn’t be weird if he knew us too. I thought about Inuyasha. Him coming to my house this morning. How he told me to go back. I missed him. But of course, I couldn’t say that aloud. “Still a jerk,” I replied.
Conan chuckled. “Good to know,” He nodded.
Just then, he started to fade. You could kind of see through him. My surroundings started to fade too. “C-Conan-kun?” I asked, not knowing what is happening.
I saw him, still standing there. Then, I knew. I knew I was returning back. Back home. I waved gently. “Goodbye, Conan-kun.” I said. “It was nice meeting you.”
Conan smiled back. “It was nice meeting you too, Kagome.” Then, he tossed something to me before I was consumed by the darkness.
~~~~~
I blinked my eyes open. Lifted my head. Glanced around me. For a second I forgot where I was. Then I saw my mother, busy washing dirt off her hands. ‘Wow,’ I thought, ‘What time is it?’
“Hey,” She said, turning her head towards me. “Finally up?”
I mumbled something inaudible. “Where’s Inuyasha?.” I asked monotonely, glancing around some more. I noted the clock, which said 12:03 PM.
My mom saw me glancing there, and said in an apologetic voice, “Sorry, gardening took a bit longer than I thought. I’ll prepare lunch right now.”
“Sure,” I muttered.
“Anyways,” She began to rinse her hands. “About where Inuyasha is,” She nodded towards the stairs. I frowned. What was he doing up there?
“Thanks~” I rubbed my eyes to get the sleep out of them, and climbed up the stairs.
“Inuyasha?”
No answer.
“Inuyasha~?”
Still nothing.
‘Why, that mangy idiot!’, I thought as I climbed the last staircase.
I peeked inside my room. And there he was, on my bed, turned away from me.
“Inuyasha?” I approached him. He didn’t move. “Is something wrong?”
I faced him with worried eyes. He, on the other hand, eyeballed me full of anger and blame.
I tilted my head. “What’s gotten into your fur?”
He still didn’t say anything, but just kept sulking.
“Inuyasha!” I raised my voice just enough.
“.....”
“What, is this about something that happened when I was asleep?” I rested my hands on my hips. “Did I miss something?”
Inuyasha grumbled, sounding like my grandpa when he snores.
“Come on,” I sighed, exasperated. “Spill it out already!” I looked at him in the face. “What did I miss?”
He turned away to avoid my gaze. “Everything,” He hmphed, murmuring it so softly I only heard a bit.
“What?”
“Everything!” He yelled, crunching his fists into tight balls. “We missed a whole day of catching up to Naraku!”
I blinked. “That’s...it?” I asked.
“‘It’? We’re a whole day’s worth of traveling behind now! And we already were lagging, so at this rate he’ll gather even more Shikon shards and become even more powerful! He has Kikyo, you know? We can’t afford to lose time!” He stood up and paced around the room. “I even promised Sango and them that we’d be back by this morning...They said they would prepare breakfast..” He sighed, shaking his head.
“Oh..” I murmured dumbly, not knowing what to say. “But....couldn’t you have woken me up?”
He gave me an are-you-dumb look. “Do you think I haven’t tried?” He rolled his eyes, and flopped back down on the bed. “I tried everything possible, but you wouldn’t stir one bit! All you did was mutter nonsense, like “Conan-kun” or “Wait!”. I had no idea what you were talking about. I gave up around an hour ago.”
I noticed my cheeks were burning a bit. “Oh..” I muttered again. “Well...uh..we could...always go back now, right?” I asked hopefully. I sat down beside him. “It’d be better than nothing...” I forced a smile. “Right?”
Inuyasha shrugged. “I guess..”
I formed a determined fist. “Then let’s g--oww!” I flinched.
“What’s wrong?” Inuyasha frowned.
I opened my hand, and found a little pin the size of a grape. It was golden and blue, and on it was inscribed ‘Detective Boys’. It had a Sherlock Holmes shadow on it too. It was....a Detective Boys Badge. I smiled.
“What’s that?” Inuyasha swiped it from my hands.
“Hey! Give it back!” I stood up and tried to grab it from him.
But of course, Inuyasha was too fast. “I just wanna see it!” He said, and began fiddling with it, pulling the antenna out.
“Stop it! You might break it!” I yelled.
Inuyasha pretended not to hear me. “Whoa, this is coool!” He turned it over.
I took a deep breath. “Inuyasha....” I began.
Inuyasha froze. “Uh-oh..”
“SIT!!” I commanded. Inuyasha fell to the ground with a satisfying ‘Bang!’. I took my badge back.
I pulled Inuyasha up. “Why’d you do that for?”
When I didn’t answer, since the answer was obvious, he hmphed. “Where’d you get it from, then?”
I paused for a second before answering him. “I don’t know.” I really didn’t, now that I thought about it.
Inuyasha looked at me with disbelieving eyes. “I leave you alone for an hour and look what’s happened to you,” He said. “What happened when I was gone?”
I thought of my ‘dream’ that wasn’t really a dream. I thought of being Ran, meeting Conan and everyone else. I thought of how I got the badge.
I smiled. “The strangest thing,” I said. Then I skipped out of my room, starting down the stairs. “Let’s go, shall we?”
~~~~~
The Detective Conan manga still lay, half-read, on my bed.
~~~~~
THE END