[March 12, 2008] [Detective Conan/Case Closed] Of Shock and Tea

[ayaia-moon.livejournal.com]

 

Title: Of Shock and Tea

Day/Theme: March 12: Too much blood in my caffeine system

Series: Detective Conan/Case Closed

Character/Pairing: Shinichi/Ran

Rating: PG-13/T

 

He’d been shot.

That’s what it boiled down to.

Shinichi had been shot.

Heiji, without even realizing he was doing the right thing, had kept Shinichi awake, alert and coherent. It had kept him from going into shock. It had kept him from feeling too much pain, as the adrenaline continued to pump through his small body.

There were so many factors that could save his life, the doctors had said. He was healthy, and athletic; those factors alone could help him recover. Aside from the fact that he was really a seventeen-year-old stuck in the body of a seven-year-old, Shinichi had never been in better shape in his life.

He’d developed a fever; his body’s way of dealing with the shock of the gunshot wound. It just kept getting higher…No matter what they did to try and lower his temperature, the fever persisted. It presented a problem, the neurosurgeon said. While his temperature was so high, it was too risky to perform the surgery he needed to retrieve the bullet from his left shoulder.

Ran had been flitting around the hospital; she was some demented parody of a mother hen, ensuring that everyone had the snacks they wanted from the vending machines, donating blood to Shinichi’s cause, and generally avoiding everyone in a very clever way.

Kogoro had taken it upon himself to call Shinichi’s parents in America. Ran had tried, but when Yuusaku answered the phone, she couldn’t say a word. He’d eventually hung up. They were en route to Japan now; on the fastest plane money could buy.

It was Heiji who realized first that Ran hadn’t yet slept. She had gone about to fetch extra pillows for everyone, yes, and had certainly fetched enough tea to start a small fortune-telling business. But she herself hadn’t slept. She hid it carefully. When everyone slept at their random intervals, she’d slip into another room; everyone assumed that she’d slept, but that they hadn’t seen her doing so.

He deliberately started an argument with Kazuha, and she left in a huff, muttering about his being an Ahou, and he set about figuring out what on earth was going on in Ran’s head.

“Neechan?”

“Did they try ice? If they tried ice, his temperature would go lower…maybe it would be enough for them to operate.”

“I think they already considered that.”

“Then maybe they should try it. How fast can you get lead poisoning? As they’re sitting there waiting for his fever to break, he could be slowly dying from lead poisoning.”

“I think it takes years for lead poisoning to take effect from one bullet.”

“He’s so…he’s so small though. Are you sure that wouldn’t make it take effect faster?”

“Neechan, it could be hours before his fever breaks. Why don’t you get some rest?”

“I’m fine.”

“Neechan –”

“Do you think they tried peppers?”

“Peppers?”

“Eating them makes you sweat.”

“They need his stomach empty for the surgery.”

“Right.”

“Neechan –”

“I’m fine. When can we see him? Can we see him?”

“I don’t think so. He’s out anyway, with all the meds they’re pumping him with to keep his shock in check.”

“Do you need more tea? I’ll get you more tea. Green or Oolong? Or they might have more Lemon on another floor.”

“I’m fine, Neechan.” Ran got up anyway, chattering about the possibility of the machines having been re-stocked in her absence. Heiji slipped in front of her, blocking the door. “Neechan…you need to rest. You’re not helping anything by running yourself ragged.”

“I’m not running myself ragged.”

“Neechan, you’re donating Green Tea instead of blood at this point.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“You’re exhausted.”

Ran narrowed her eyes. “I can forcibly move you from in front of that doorway, and then we’ll see how exhausted I am.”

Heiji sighed, defeated, and stepped aside. “Neechan…at least sit down somewhere. Stop jumping up to get everyone pillows and tea.”

Ran nodded, but then she went through the door, presumably to get him more tea. He wandered dejectedly to the waiting room that had become the unofficial gathering place for the friends and family of Shinichi Kudo. He had no sooner sat down next to Kazuha than she made an exasperated noise at him and flounced off to sit somewhere else.

“What’d you do to her?”

Heiji blinked in astonishment as Ran took Kazuha’s vacated seat, plopping a can of hot Lemon tea in front of him.

“Neechan, didn’t you just –”

“I’d gotten these beforehand. I was afraid they’d run out of the kinds everyone wanted, so I just got a whole bunch of each kind. I hid them under the sink in the women’s restroom.”

“But Neechan, what about –”

“I was furious with him. He called me, just before…just before Conan left. He was making empty promises again, saying he’d be here when we both knew he wouldn’t be…and I gave him a piece of my mind. I couldn’t figure out why he just sat there and took it. The next call I got from him…was when you had to hang up on me and call the ambulance.”

“Neechan…”

“So I need him to be okay. I need him to be okay so I can take back all those horrible things I said to him.”

“But you need to sleep.”

“I need to see him.”

“He’s practically in a medically induced coma.”

“I don’t care. If you won’t help me get in to see him, I’ll find a way to do it myself.”

Heiji looked at Ran in shock. Her gaze was steel. She was serious. He sighed. “If I die, I’m going to kill you.”

Ran grinned.

The emergency Heiji made up at the other end of the hospital was enough to not only distract the nurse, but to get her out of her station. Heiji just returned to the unofficial ‘Shinichi Kudo Waiting Room.’

Kazuha, finally ready to forgive him for whatever he’d said, plopped down next to him. “What is it with you and girls today?”

“Hmm?”

“Well, you made me, mad, then Ran comes to sit next to you, and now she’s missing again. Not to mention that nurse…”

“Ahou.”

“What’d she talk to you about?”

“Kudo.”

“What’s with the tea?” Kazuha indicated his as-yet-untouched can of hot lemon tea.

Heiji just grinned. “Did you realize Neechan hadn’t slept?”

Kazuha blinked. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. She told me she’d horded all the tea in the vending machines on this floor, just in case they ran out of someone’s favorite kind. She hid them under the sink in the women’s restroom.”

“Thus the tea,” Kazuha finished for him, nodding in understanding.

“Thus the tea.”

“Have you slept, Heiji? You’ve been drinking a lot of tea too.”

“I slept a little before anyone got here.”

Kazuha didn’t say anything, just linked her arm in his wordlessly. The nurse had returned, and she shot Heiji a powerful glare.

“Looks like I’ve been ratted out,” Heiji said sheepishly, grinning.

“What do you mean?”

“I was running distraction for Neechan.”

Heiji opened his mouth to further explain, but at that moment, the neurosurgeon Heiji recognized as being the man who’d analyzed Shinichi’s arm come up to their little area.

Kogoro continued to snore pointedly, and Eri nudged him not-so-subtly with her elbow.

“If you want to come and see him too, you’d better hurry and do so,” the doctor was saying. “His fever’s broken, and we don’t want to waste time. We’re operating as soon as possible.”

Kogoro muttered loudly about his sleep being disturbed, but Eri glared hard at him, and he was effectively silenced.

“Too?” Kazuha murmured as they trooped to Shinichi’s room.

“I ran distraction for Neechan so she could come in and see him first.”

The scene that greeted them upon entering the cramped ICU was almost tranquil; Shinichi was asleep, his face half hidden by an oxygen mask, and his shoulder lightly bandaged and cleaned. Ran was harder to actually spot, but she was there, sure enough, her head resting in her arms

Heiji just grinned as they got into the room. “That’s a relief,” he said aloud.

“I know. I was starting to think his fever would never break.”

“No. Neechan finally fell asleep.”

And so she had. Kogoro, with more gentleness than Heiji knew he possessed, came forward, mumbling under his breath doubtless obscenities at his estranged wife, nevertheless scooping his daughter into his arms and out of the way as scrub-clad people appeared out of nowhere to wheel Shinichi into surgery.

Heiji chuckled lightly.

“What?” Kazuha queried, watching as Shinichi was wheeled hurriedly around the corner.

“I just thought it was ironic.”

“What?”

“Kudo said to me that Neechan would kill him if he died without her permission.”

“Yeah…”

“And Neechan said she needed to talk to him before she could sleep.”

“Okay…”

“I was just thinking how ironic it was; Kudo’s fever broke just as Neechan entered the room, and Neechan finally fell asleep when she was in the same room as he was.”

“It’s either irony, coincidence, or some beautifully tragic soap opera.”

“The way his luck’s been lately? I’m inclined to agree that it’s the last one.”

 

                                                     -O-

AUTHORS NOTE

 

‘Kay, so I saw Wicked when I went to LA last month… and I’ve been itching to use part of her phrase…

Morrible: So this must be Nessarose; the tragically beautiful daughter of *can’t remember his name* who was *a ruler of some sort over Munchkinland*

Elphaba: *sees Nessarose and comes up to talk to her*

   -All gasp at the brilliantly green shade of skin that is uniquely Elphaba’s –

Elphaba: That’s right, I’m Elphaba. Nessarose's sister. The beautifully tragic one.

 

And…my little story within a theme continues. This is after my last installment, but not directly after.

:D

(sees tomorrow’s theme and cackles evilly…)

 

~Ayaia