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Bloody Moriarty

thelotusflowerfiles:

The only place Shinichi could think was Periot and that embarrassed him. Here he was supposed to know Beika, did know Beika, and the only place he could think of was a tiny cafe some odd blocks away from his home. He shook his head and unscrewed the cap off a water bottle to take a long gulp of water. His work out had just ended and he was just waiting, trying to kill some time between the actives cases he was working on and the series of colds that Meguire-keibu had given him.

‘Something to keep you from hunting the streets.’  He grimaced. He did not hunt Beika’s streets NOR prowl as Shiratori-keibu put it. It wasn’t his fault that he stummbled, literally sometimes, across murders or in the scary sense fell right into his lap. That was a interesting night to say the least.

Shinichi sighed and pulled the thin shirt over his head to mop the sweet off his face. He still hadn’t replied to Hakuba mostly because he was still debating on taking the fellow detective to Periot or scrambling in the last minute to find a suitable replacement. A cafe in Japan? After living in Europe? Fat chance he was going to be able to find something that good.

SO Periot it was. At least it was a comfortable spot for him.

Shinichi sat in front his laptop again after his shower and reread the email. The message brought up more questions than answers for him. Particularly why his meeting spots would no long exist. He had read, after some digging and a bit of illegal hacking, and heard the rumors about his running with a criminal named Spider. It didn’t go well for either of them. The coroner’s report was pretty clean and straight forward in their findings.

He leaned back in the chair, the tips of his fingers pressed together as his mind raced with the possibilities as to why it had happened. What trigger that reaction from his fellow detective. Not that he didn’t think it wasn’t necessary but ….

He shook his head. Hakuba was his colleague and was asking for his help. What ever happened in his past need to stay there untouched till the other brought it to the surface. Sitting up in his seat again he got to work on his short simple reply.

Hakuba,

I know of a cafe that is pretty close to my home and is something of a neutral spot for me. Periot cafe. This weekend sounds perfect if a case doesn’t crop up during that time. I’ll be looking forward to our up coming meeting.

Kudo.

He reread the message, was satisfied with it and hit send then looked at the time: One AM. He let his head fall and hit the table.

image

Hakuba waited until the morning of his departure before responding, seated in the uncomfortable wooden chair on the covered patio of the Wickham-Hakuba estate.

His tea cooled in the warm morning air, spoon set aside while he tapped out his reply on his phone. Marion watched him from across the table, sun hat shading her face in a solid line while the rest of the setting was dappled with sunlight from the overhanging latticework and ivy. 

Kudou-san,

Excellent. I will give you a call on Saturday morning to confirm plans. Shall we tentatively plan for 15:00:00?

The game had changed. Last names only from Shinichi meant that Hakuba would switch to last and honorific, as opposed to the full names of their previous emails. Did this mean that Kudou thought of him as an equal already, or at least a colleague? Incredible, were that the case…

“Are you sure that you’re able to travel? There’s still time to cancel your flight.” Marion’s voice broke the train of thought, careful to keep her lips in a thin line, not wishing to give away her feelings on the matter, though Hakuba already knew quite well how it was. They played the game of pokerface often, but knew each other far too well to be fooled. 

He didn’t even bother to look up at her, reaching for the delicately rose-covered cup to take a sip. Still too hot. He set it down again. “I expect I’ll be fine, Mum.”

“Yes, of course you’d say that, but your back…”

Hakuba gave a patient sigh and ignored her in favor of rewriting the line he’d just written, easing into a statement that would be a little less formal. 

Let’s tentatively plan for 3 o’clock PM.

Better. It was a little more friendly while still accommodating. But what else to include? How to end it?

“Do you think Miss Twiggy will take to Ekoda well?”

Hakuba finally looked up at that, blinking. “Oh, I think Twig will do splendidly. She’s a sturdy thing.”

So sturdy, in fact, that he wasn’t entirely certain where she was. He glanced over the vast grounds of the estate, squinting to see if he could spot her. Probably herding the ducks again. Like all good corgis, she liked to keep busy. He could relate.

She smiled. “You could always leave her here.”

“No, Mum. Twig stays with me.” He set his phone down to take another sip of tea, which had finally cooled enough to let the flavor of honey through the brew. “We’ll be fine.”

They both sighed, both took a sip of tea, then looked at each other again– she pleading, he irritated. 

“Oh, I wish Baaya were going with you. Just promise me that you’ll stay away from the station?" 

Hakuba rolled his eyes at that. "I’m retired, Mum. I’ve no reason to go to the station except to meet Dad for… whatever I would need to meet him for. I’ll just be taking a holiday.”

It seemed to ease her worries, but only just. “If you say so, but you know how detectives are…” She stopped herself when her son’s expression went cold. “Retired or not, you’re still just as thirsty as a hound, you know! I know you, Saguru James. The moment a case comes up that piques your interest, you’ll be off running regardless of your capacity!”

If it weren’t for the medications, the comment might have pushed Hakuba in all of the wrong direction. As it was, he took another sip of tea, then calmly set it down, ignoring the tremor in his hands. “I’ll stay away from the station, and I’ll come back in one piece.”

Marion let herself relax at that, satisfied. “Good. See that you do, my dear. I’m going to fret from the moment we see you off at the airport until you’re back again.”

“Yes, yes, I know.” Hakuba picked up his phone again to finish the email, hitting send without a second thought. It wouldn’t do to linger, since he was well aware that he was inviting trouble and ignoring his mother’s wishes, right there at the table.

Thank you for your quick response. 

I look forward to seeing you and discussing the aforementioned topic. I’d love to hear of some of your cases, as well.

Sincerely,
– Hakuba S. J.

by

The Meaning of the Monocle

smokebombsandmirrors:

He blushed. He really didn’t know anything about wine. Oh Gods did he mess up? Was it a bad choice? He swallowed the bite he had just taken and felt his stomach churn. Then when he heard Hakuba had visited the Blue Parrot struggle not to vomit. The memories of Jii flashed through his mind and he had to really concentrate not to break into a sweat.

“Did you?” His voice fluxed and broke embarrassingly. What was the question? The wine? Right. He took a deep breath and put on an easy smile. His expression changed to one of ease and normalcy.

It was fake.

“I brought it from Blue. Is there something wrong with it?” He asked through the smile and the perfectly masked pain.

“Oh, no, no… it’s brilliant, actually. A very fine selection, good year from what I understand.”  Hakuba reached for the bottle to look it over, giving himself an opportunity to continue to ignore the food in front of him. "I believe that I’ve had a taste of this before– a couple of years ago in England. I remember it being quite good and, ah…“

It was completely inappropriate to bring up the cost, but the detective didn’t think that he could drink it in good conscience while Kaito was blissfully unaware. Or, well, not blissfully – the pain, as well as it had been hidden, was shared in quiet empathy. The wine was just a convenient distraction.

"It’s quite expensive, too.” He paused, lips pursing. Not wanting to imply that Kaito were poor, or that even if he was in comparison that it was at all a problem, Hakuba quickly continued. “If we’re really to drink this, we must make certain to savor every last drop. Perhaps I’ll bring out a different wine for dinner, and we can share this one afterward?" 

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japansfamousdetective reblogged your post and added:

She was done attempting to empty her empty stomach by the time she heard Hakuba’s voice, tears stinging her eyes and maybe her mouth a bit of a mess from the attempt alone. This probably wouldn’t have been half as bad if she’d actually managed to empty her stomach of something, but then she could be wrong about that too. Not like she’d know at this point.

Looking up at him as he crouched near by, she took the water and happily downed some of it, relishing the way it smoothed out her throat and washed away the taste of stomach acid. She knew better then to drink too much too quickly at least. Oh but the water had been so nice she had wanted to.

“It’s… I don’t know,” she replied, moving to put a hand against her temple. “It feels a little off, and I think there’s some pain, but I don’t know how much of that is the hang over and how much was the attempt to empty my stomach.” It had gotten pretty bad for a moment there.

“Thank you, for the water." 

"You’re more than welcome, Kudo-kun,” Hakuba said, taking a moment to drink from his own water bottle afterward. Although he kept his tone and pleasant, it was no use trying to hide the guilt that permeated it.

It had been he who had suggested the wine, and he who had commented on her beauty the night before. So inappropriate… and he hadn’t expected her to react the way she had… 

He sat back on his heels a moment later, wanting to rub her back to offer some sort of comfort, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Not when he didn’t know where they now stood. So instead he cleared his throat with a small cough and gestured to the folded bathrobe. “I’ve brought you a robe; why don’t you put it on while I get some painkillers for you?”

by

The Meaning of the Monocle

smokebombsandmirrors:

He blanked and went very still. Then he laughed weakly at himself. OH Gods what was he going to say? He fell for Sherlock? At least the food came at the right moment and saved him the YEARS of embarrassment. 

He again bow his head and gave thanks for the food. Sending a side glance towards Hakuba he notice that the other was distracted by something under the table. He leaned over and angled so he could try to see what exactly it was.

If Hakuba was an expert at anything, it was hiding his phone while he researched something. What he found had him pause, though, eyes getting wide for a moment as he looked from the phone to the wine bottle again, then to Kaito, then back to his phone, then the bottle again, then his phone as he hurriedly back into his pocket. Oh. 

“…so, I didn’t ask you,” he said, voice tense as he straightened up in his seat, reaching for his water glass again, gaze shifting from what he was doing to the rest of the food as it materialized. The servants were quickly gone away again. “This wine that you’ve brought… private collection from home, or something from the Blue Parrot?”

Another sensitive topic, but this he addressed with a small, sweet smile at the end, looking to face him directly. “I used to frequent,” he added quietly for context. 

by

The Meaning of the Monocle

smokebombsandmirrors:

“Adler? ” He was a little disjointed. He looked at Hakuba and heard him speak of Lupin. He chuckled. “To be honest I haven’t read Lupin. We, the current Lupin and I, don’t  exactly get along.”

He smiled and the edges were slightly cruel. “As for Adler …. I didn’t fall for her … it was -“

Surprise and curiosity had Hakuba’s attention firmly fixed on Kaito once more, and he nodded as he spoke, taking in every word with several degrees of calculation. Alas, the servants arrived just at that thought, bringing in the start of the main course. 

It was painful to tear his thoughts away, but he couldn’t help but be distracted by the flurry of movement and the situational upheaval.  "Ah, hold that thought,“ he said to his companion, reluctantly turning his attention to the staff to nod and offer his thanks to them.

So far, so good. Roast. Potatoes. Vegetables. Soon the wine joined the table with appropriate glasses, and Hakuba found himself side-eyeing the label again. So familiar… but where…? 

Attempting to be as discrete as possible, the detective slipped his phone out of his pocket and under the table, typing in the name while feigning a smile. "I suppose dinner is served… a little earlier than planned, but…" 

by

The Meaning of the Monocle

smokebombsandmirrors:

“Actually is wasn’t Adler….” He grumble softly to himself. Remind him of who? He was getting a little lost. The Bosocombe Valley Mystery …. that was the only story he had only read once and for obvious reasons. After Nightmare everything was too hard to read. He fell unnaturally silent. His emotions went dark as his mind ventured to past memories.

The words reached him, but it was his observations that really caught him. Smile twitching at the corner of his mouth, Hakuba sat back in his chair and looked down at the untouched soup in front of him. Right. He’d hoped that bringing up Boscombe would thrill the thief, but…

“That’s a shame. She’s a wonderful character. Quite interesting that she was introduced so early on in the series…” Hakuba let his voice trail off as he picked up his spoon to stir the soup, half wondering if he would end up doing anything more than taste it – which he did then. A fine representation, to be certain, but… “So, ah, you’ve read Holmes. I can honestly say that I’m a little surprised. I thought I might get a lecture about the superior virtues of Arsene Lupin…” 

by

The Meaning of the Monocle

smokebombsandmirrors:

He picked up his water and took a long drink. This was beyond embarrassing.

“The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle is on the list as for my all time favorite … is  ..Ascanfelofbohenam” He muttered the last bit too quickly and felt his hands tremble slightly. 

There was a brief pause before Hakuba raised a brow, head tilting with the slyest of smirks. “Oh ho ho,” he said, voice almost purring in amusement. “A Scandal in Bohemia, very good choice, Kuroba-kun. Don’t tell me that you’ve fallen for the seductive charm of Irene Adler, too~?" 

He clicked his tongue in a teasing tsk tsk tsk, winking in his direction. "My, oh my. You know, she always did remind me of…” It was there that his train of thought derailed and Hakuba hesitated half a beat before continuing as if he hadn’t started the previous sentence.

“It’s The Boscombe Valley Mystery for me. God, it’s such a perfect illustration of the human condition and the ethical shades of grey in detective work…”

by

The Meaning of the Monocle

smokebombsandmirrors:

Kaito pause completely and looked up at him slowly. He was trying to back track to when exactly he had told Hakuba he had read the series. He remembered the little book locked away in his makeshift library and felt his ears grow hot.

“What …. um, A Study in Scarlet and the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.”  He answered reluctantly. Now he felt his whole face burn in embarrassment.

“The bread and soup is amazing.” He coughed and tried to levitate some of the pressure building in his chest.

Hakuba blinked, completely missing the comment about the food, leaning forward with sudden and total interest. “Ah-HAH!” he exclaimed, only barely able to keep himself from standing at once in his excitement. “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is my absolute favorite, yes! Good! God yes! Not that A Study in Scarlet is not brilliant in its own right, but – oh, oh, please, do tell, pray tell, which is your favorite in The Adventures Of?" 

Bright, sparkling eyes accompanied the question as the detective waited with baited breath for his guest’s response. Really, nothing else could be so important than that very singular moment – the moment of absolute truth!

by

Bloody Moriarty

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When Hakuba looked at the pair of plane tickets in his hands, he felt a certain sense of dread. They were meant to be a gift, a fresh start, and something to get his mind off of the recent verdict of his suspension. But all that they did was drive his failure home. While he’d completed his nine year-long quest, he’d destroyed everything else that he’d built in the process. The fact that his father was extending an offer of help was more than enough evidence of that.

It’d been almost seven years since he’d left Japan for what he’d hoped would be a permanent change. Once he’d graduated from Ekoda High School, it was straight to Oxford with only one or two minor distractions by way of kidnapping and torture, graduated with a four year degree in criminal science with a minor in english (emphasis in journalism), applied for and granted full British citizenship, and been welcomed into Scotland Yard with open, greedy arms. Nearly everything had gone according to plan, just as had been designated oh so many years ago… with a few niggling changes in the details.

…something about a the famous international Hakuba Saguru being forced into early retirement at twenty-four years old, hospitalized for nearly a year due to a broken back. The papers failed to mention the circumstances of the incident, of course, but it was just as well given that his heroism came with the sordid details of deliberate disobedience, drug addiction, and (court ruled ‘justifiable’) homicide. 

Still, the fact of the matter was that Hakuba was in desperate need for a change in scene, and as much as he would have loved to run to Paris or Rio, neither could offer the familial support that he needed. Not that his father, the still-presiding Superintendent General, really could, but the wealth of onsens and homeopathic remedies available seemed promising.

Depressing, but promising. 

But… there was one small glimmer of hope. And that was in the form of his once idol and colleague, Kudou Shinichi. They’d never had the chance to really connect while he was in Japan before, mostly due to the other’s sudden disappearance, but if he were returning, perhaps… 

Well, it was worth a shot, anyway. It wasn’t as if Hakuba expected this letter to result in anything different. Previous correspondence had been ignored, and despite his best efforts to investigate Kudou’s whereabouts, he had never found any sort of useful resolution. No closure. 

He drafted the letter in four attempts and posted it via Royal Mail, international, overnight. Just in case. Enclosed was nothing but a single sheet of paper with scribbled blue characters– the shaky handwriting of a once steady hand.

Dearest 
My fi 
Greetin

Kudou Shinichi,

I hope that this letter finds you well. I know that it has been quite some time since we last spoke, but Ihope that thi I do hope that this will reach you. It seems that I will be returning to Japan to visit for six months an indep indeterm undetermined unspecified period of time, but if agreeable, would very much appreciate the chance to meet with you.

There are many things that I would like to discuss with you, not the least of which being the death defeat of my so-called Moriarty and your opin ethical opinion of such.

Please respond if willing – I  via post, email, or phone at the information listed below.

Sincerely yours,

Hakuba S. J.

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It would have to do.

Japan, for Hakuba, teemed with loose ends. It was possible, however, that there was no better time than the present to fix that. 

by

The Meaning of the Monocle

smokebombsandmirrors:

The question about college made him pause and remember that Hakuba was still going to return to England at some point. He swallow a soaked piece of bread and glanced away briefly angered and hurt. He turned back to him.

“I haven’t no. Its kind of hard to think about a college when you may not have a future. No?”

“Ah. Yes. Quite.”

Perfect. Offend your guest during the first course; always the mark of a successful dinner party. Hakuba leaned back in his seat, whatever small amount of appetite that he’d had suddenly gone completely. Nevertheless, he continued to tear the piece apart into even smaller pieces, letting it gradually disintegrate in his hands over the soup bowl. 

He needed another topic. Something light and pleasant. “Do you have a favorite Sherlock Holmes story, Kuroba-kun?" 

Perfect.