An Alliance

Surprises Comes in Threes

If there were anything that Conan is embarrassed about, it would be because of three things: 1) His mother's public frets over him. 2) Seriously scared of Ran... scratch that, make that any woman who could take out a man and crack property with a single blow. 3) Being humiliated in front, of friends/company or alone, as he endures the lecture.

And unfortunately for him, fate decided that he needed to go through #3 today. Though he had expected it to happen sooner or later, it never occurred to him that Ai would glare at him like the mouths of hell-fire giant ready to put him and 'Okiya Subaru' through the ringer.

Several Minutes Ago...

They were at the Kudo house entryway when he came face-to-face with Subaru, Tsuna and Hayato hovering nearby. Conan was surprised to see that the pink haired man was still there. He did give a warning out to the man beforehand so he wouldn't get too much involved.

As if reading his thoughts, Subaru gave a wane smile with a shrug to indicate he was caught before he could.

Heiji and Saguru both blinked, not expecting someone besides the two kinds that Conan had described. Ai gave the college graduate and her 'test subject' a hard stare, eyes full of suspicion at their tense reaction.

Tsuna gave them an innocent smile. "I'm glad every one of you decided to come. Now, all we need is for my friends to arrive and we can get started."

"I'm going to call and make sure that they didn't forget and still wandering through the mall," Hayato declared to Tsuna, pulling out his cell and walked down the hall to the kitchen.

"As Hayato does that," the child-boss returned from his worried gaze to his Storm, who was now snapping at the unfortunate person on the other end of the phone ("You freakin'-sword-handling-idiot! What do you mean you lost track of that muscle-headed-idiot!?... You're in the freakin' same department are you not!?... Don't start laughing like this is a joke you bastard! Find him and the others and get to the rendezvous right now!"). "Why don't we have a few things cleared up so that no misunderstanding occurs between us."

Conan, understanding what the brunette was inferring, tensed feeling the gaze from the child chemist behind him.

"What do you mean by 'misunderstanding'?" Ai coolly asked narrowing eyes tracing from the back of her 'test-subject' to the pinkette who seemed to have followed Conan's example and tried to avoid her gaze. She settled her gaze on her 'test-subject.' "Edogawa-kun~, explain..." she pushed dipping the name harshly with the underlying tone of demand.

Kaito, being more informed than he should be (much to the other's displeasure), hunkered down to the chibi-Tantei-kun's height and whispered his agreement. "You lost, Tantei-kun. It's best to spill your guts now before she eats you alive."

"I know that," Conan huffed back his eyes locking with Subaru's for his consent before looking behind him. He winced upon seeing the venomous stare of blue. Swallowing the clogging lump he coughed and explained to her and the other two teen detectives who and why Subaru, or the supposedly dead FBI agent Akai Shuichi, was residing in his home and why he didn't say anything about it.

....

Which led to the current predicament; Conan and Subaru/Akai, seated, seiza position, in front of her, as the others watched the show further back.

And further, further back, was Tsuna, trying to calm Hayato down on the other side of the room, still shouting insulting phrases after phrases at the Rain Guardian who was still on the other end of the line laughing them off. Not a single one seemed to stick to the other at all, running down the teen's ears like it was just water, and it was starting to piss-off the Storm even more. But they were ignored since they knew nothing other than insults thrown with little effect. What was more interesting, are the events that were unfolding in front of them.