Detective Conan: Chibification Nation a work of Detective Conan fanfiction by The Eternal Lost Lurker Chapter One: Revelation! Revenge! Conan's Confrontation (Disclaimers and notes at end of chapter.) =========================================================================== "In haste, anger, or fear, we often do irrational things...things that make no sense in retrospect, but at the time, seem perfectly logical and justified. "That was how the second most surreal night of my life began. "My name? Well...that depends on who you ask..." * * * * * * * * * "...reknowned genius detective who is still in high school, often hailed as the savior of the Japanese police. Missing for several months, officials are now beginning to question whether or not Kudou Shinichi is still alive..." "Heh." In the shadow of an awning, he pulled a cigarette from a case, clenching it between teeth which gleamed in the darkness. "That punk, huh?" Cold eyes scanned the streets as a match sparked to life, rising to ignite the tobacco. "Che...he wasn't that smart." Taking a deep puff, he glanced toward the door of the building opposite, exhaling a cloud of smoke into the chill night air. "Dammit...what's taking that idiot so long?" * * * * * * * * * "To recap tonight's top story, Japanese officials are now beginning to question whether or not famous high-school detective Kudou Shinichi is still alive--" "That's horrible!" a girl exclaimed from the sidewalk as they passed the store. "Ran...I'm sorry..." The tall, brown-haired girl smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Sonoko, don't worry about it. I know he's still alive. I just know it!" "But the police--" "Sonoko," Ran said, her smile tightening, "I know because my heart tells me...and because a dead man can't call on the telephone..." * * * * * * * * * Cold, murderous eyes widened. *'Aniki...that brat detective...Kudou...the one you poisoned...he's still alive!'* *'Kudou...? Meh. Vodka, you know I don't remember the names or faces of the people I kill.'* *But that's not entirely true...and Kudou is hard to forget...a very famous face...* *Kudou...is still alive...* * * * * * * * * * "Eh? Really? He calls...?" "Mm. Once every week or two, usually. He doesn't want me to worry." Ran snorted. "As if. As if I'd..." A soft red light in the darkness ahead caught her attention. The two girls watched as a cigarette butt drifted to the sidewalk, the tobacco still emitting a bright, cherry glow. "HEY! Throwing a cigarette butt on the ground is rude!" Ran shouted, stepping forward to confront the culprit lurking in the shadows. "Come out of there or I'll..." A click silenced her. It was a click of the type not normally heard in Japan...unless you were the daughter of a former police officer turned famous detective, who became involved in far too many murder cases... She looked into a pair of the most cold, ruthless eyes she had ever seen, and froze. "Now, what is this you were saying about...Kudou Shinichi?" the tall, black-clad man asked. The gun muzzle with the silencer pointed squarely at her forehead chilled Ran almost as much as the man's eyes... * * * * * * * * * A small boy wandered down the dimly lit street, idly bouncing a soccer ball between his knee and head. Ran was out late shopping with Sonoko, and Kogoro, well... Not that the idiot was useful for much of anything beyond a ventriloquist dummy, anyway. Still, between Ran's absence and his current statural handicap, that left one truth which could not be ignored: Edogawa Conan was viciously hungry. So, he'd grabbed his pocket change and left the detective agency, feeling the need for a little fresh air, some decent food, and some exercise--which is why he'd opted to bring his soccer ball along, as well as his power sneakers--after all, it never hurt to be prepared. As he walked, he reflected on the past week of his so-called life, a stormy scowl that definitely did not belong on a child's face gathering as he played back memories he'd much rather not have... It had begun Monday, when the teacher chewed him out for being late to class, and later for sleeping in class. He'd been sent home with a note, and further scolded by Ran. It's not as though it was HIS fault he'd been out until two in the morning the previous night. Who knew it was going to take six hours to work around the bumbling idiot and the incompetent police to solve that stupid murder? Tuesday, Hattori had come to town to cheer for his favorite baseball team, and dragged Ran and Conan along. The Osakajin had been particularly irritating, and had rounded off a perfectly annoying day by swiping Conan's voice modulator, hiding in the crowd at the stadium, and calling out to Ran in Shinichi's voice. Conan had kicked a souvenir baseball into his crotch for that one. Hattori was just lucky he didn't crank his sneakers to full power--he knew it'd upset and disappoint Kazuha if he did. Heh. Wednesday, the Detective Boys had dragged him to some insipid Kamen Yaiba stunt show, during which a stage prop was rigged to kill one of the performers. He'd solved the case, but made it home past curfew, and was scolded again--though not as severely once he explained what had happened. However, Kogoro had rumbled something about cheeky little brats trying to pretend to be real detectives, and made several disparaging, drunken remarks about "that Kudou upstart" which rattled around in Conan's head like pebbles in a vacuum cleaner as he prepared for bed. Thursday, some moron at school decided to play with a cigarette lighter--right underneath the emergency sprinklers. He'd been thoroughly soaked, and luckily got home and out of his wet clothes without catching a nasty cold. And the previous day, Friday, he had been menaced by Mitsuhiko and Genta after Ayumi tried to nag him into spending Saturday afternoon with her. Even though he begged out of it, claiming to have errands to run for "Ran-neechan", the two larger boys had been rather put out, and at Ayumi's upset at his refusal, had only become more irate with him. The ensuing chase and scuffle had been singularly humiliating. The less said about Shinichi's weekly call to Ran, the better. That, too, had been getting to him more than usual recently. Seeing Ran's pain over his absence from her life always left him feeling raw, guilty, and anguished. He knew he had been such an idiot before his change--a real world-class jerk. He knew that now, because now, he would love nothing more than to wrap his arms around Ran and...well, and be the man he was in heart and mind, if not in body. To be deserving of her love, to show her how much he cared...to really be there for her...to make up for all the pain he'd caused, all the misery, all the tears... But here he was, trapped in this small, scrawny shell, a child to the world around him--to the woman he loved more than life itself... *I should have told her THAT NIGHT,* he thought bitterly, fighting the tears forming in his somber blue eyes. As he stewed, Conan noticed a suspicious flash of light from the shadows... * * * * * * * * * "Sh-shinichi?" Ran gulped nervously. "Yeah. You said he calls you. You must know where he is." "I--no! I don't know! I ask but he'll never tell me! He just says he's on a difficult case..." "Yeah, I'll bet he is." The cold-eyed man smiled. It wasn't a kind smile at all. "Wh-what do you want with Shinichi?" Ran summoned the courage to ask. "I don't see how that's any of your business." Ran's fear of the man's gun--and his murderous eyes--kept her temper in check. "Wh-what're you--are you going to kill me?" The man with the gun raised an eyebrow. "Well now, that all depends." "Depends?" "On how useful you are to me," the man replied. His grin widened. With his free hand, he placed another cigarette in his mouth. "You see, I might need bait to lure Kudou out of hiding..." He lit a match, holding it perilously close to Ran's nose... * * * * * * * * * The bright flash of fire in the shadows caught Conan's interest. He took a step closer to the street, peering across... ...at the unmistakable visage of the man whose cold, murderous eyes haunted his nightmares...and the girl whose beautiful face filled his days and nights with longing and pain. His eyes widened. Panic gripped his heart. *GIN! And...he has RAN!* Scowling, Conan bent down and adjusted his sneakers to full power, then carefully took aim with the soccer ball. *God, please do NOT let me miss...* * * * * * * * * * The cold-eyed man suddenly let out a yelp of pain as something collided with his gun hand, hard and fast. The gun clattered to the pavement, and Ran wasted no time kicking it as far away as she could. The black-clad gunman clenched his hand in pain, cigarette falling from his mouth. He looked at the wall--and the soccer ball embedded halfway in its brick surface. His eyes widened. He turned... "GIN!" "Who's there?" Ran and Sonoko both turned to face the source of that voice, across the street. The flash of a streetlight reflected brilliantly off of a pair of lenses. Dark brown hair, just visible in the dim lights, ruffled in the night breeze. The diminuitive figure stepped forward... "C-Conan-kun?!" As the young boy entered the light, his eyes became visible. The rage in them brought even the ruthless killer known as Gin short. *What the--what's with this kid?!* "Gin," the boy repeated, his voice grim and tight. "I finally have you. It ends tonight." "Wh-what're you talking about, kid?" Gin replied, voice regaining a bit of his cockiness. "I've never seen you before in my life!" Inside, however, Gin was as unnerved as he'd ever been. *How does this kid know who I am?!* "Haven't you?" Conan smirked. "Oi, Ran! Don't just stand there!" Ran blinked. "Eh?" "GET HIM!" "Ah...hai!" Remembering herself, Ran suddenly launched a vicious assault on the black-clad man. Gin, unprepared for this, fell victim to the first kick, barely ducked the punch that would have taken his head off, and countered with a sweep that sent the girl sprawling. Sonoko, meanwhile, had recovered her wits and run to pick up the discarded gun. Gin smirked as he pulled a dagger from his coat. "Alright, girl, that's enough out of you..." "NO!" Conan snatched up a helmet that was strapped to a motorscooter parked nearby and kicked it, sending it flying straight into Gin's face. Blood fountained from his nose as he staggered, the knife clattering into the shadows. Conan dashed across the street and kicked him in the shin. The amplified force of the kick caused his leg to buckle with a sharp, sickening *crack*, and he went down with a yell of pain. Watching with detached horror and fascination, Ran began to wonder why the noise had not attracted attention from the shops surrounding them. "You little BASTARD!" Gin hissed, clutching at his nose, curling his wounded leg protectively under him. "What the hell's your problem, kid?" "You want to know what my problem is?" Conan asked, kneeling beside the cold-eyed man. "Alright, I'll tell you. First, you were holding a gun on Ran." He kicked Gin in the ribs--only this time, he'd turned off his shoes' enhanced abilities, so it was the normal kick of a seven-year-old boy. "Second, all the lives you and your organisation have ruined and destroyed." Kick. "And third, MY LIFE FOR THE PAST EIGHT MONTHS HAS BEEN A LIVING HELL BECAUSE OF YOU!" Another vicious kick, which caused something hard and metal to clatter out of Gin's inner coat pocket. The object gleamed in the streetlights, and Conan's smirk suddenly turned nasty. "Oh? Is this what I think it is?" He picked up the case, opening it and examining its contents. "Conan-kun, what--?" Conan ignored Ran, focusing his gaze on Gin. "APTX-4869." Gin's eyes widened. "How the hell do you know about that?!" "Oh, you don't remember? Let me refresh your memory. Eight months ago, near the Tropical Land park. You used this. Do you remember who you used it on?" Gin frowned. "That brat detective, Kudou." "WHAT?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO SHINICHI, YOU BASTARD?!" Ran yelled, leaning down and grabbing Gin by the collar. "RAN! Enough!" Conan barked. Stunned, Ran dropped the black-clad felon. Conan removed a red and white capsule from the case. "Yes...this is the poison you forced into that boy detective. The untested, untraceable poison developed by Miyano Shiho. Or as you call her, Sherry." "How does a little punk like you know all that?" Gin demanded. Conan kicked him again. "Shut up!" He leaned down and forced the pill into the criminal's mouth, then took the water flask from the capsule case and poured a liberal amount in. Gin, eyes wide, tried to spit it out, but pressure to his throat by the boy forced him to swallow. "You--you...do you know what you just did?!" Gin's eyes were wide with panic and fear, his voice harsh and rasping with pain and terror. "Yes," Conan replied calmly. "I do. But *you* don't. But you *will*." "CONAN-KUN! What are you doing?!" Ran shrieked. Conan glanced up at her, and she was taken aback by the look in his eyes. Haunted, angry, wrathful...those were not the eyes of a child...! "Getting revenge," he stated in the most cold, menacing voice Ran had ever heard. "Conan-kun..." Gin's entire body seized up with sudden, intense pain. *AAAH! My bones...they're on fire...!* Wisps of steam began to rise from the long-haired gunman as he clutched at his chest, the bleeding of his nose long forgotten. *My heart...it feels like it's going to explode!* He looked up at the calm, cold face looking down on him, doubling as his vision blurred...black spots danced in his eyes in time with the pounding of his heart...he tried to yell in rage, say anything at all, but all he could manage was a strangled choke... "ANIKI!" a voice bellowed. Another figure in black rushed up. A gun was drawn, targetted on Ran. "CHIKUSHOU! I forgot about Vodka!" Conan cursed. "What the hell's going on here? Aniki!!" "DROP IT!" Everyone except Gin turned to Sonoko, mildly surprised that the vacuous teenager was holding Gin's discarded gun in a shaky grip, and pointing it at Vodka. The thug seemed taken aback. "Better do what she says. Besides, you've got other things to worry about," Conan smirked. Vodka slowly laid his gun on the ground, then rushed over to his partner, who was gasping and shaking on the ground, clutching at his chest and throat in horror. "Aniki! What's--" What happened next came as a surprise for three of the four onlookers. The cold-eyed criminal suddenly began to collapse into his clothing, soon disappearing completely within the folds of the black coat. A thinning cloud of vapor shrouded the dark garment, like mist over a graveyard. "He--he disappeared!" Ran shrieked. "Not quite," Conan said, stepping forward. He pulled the lapel of the coat back, and revealed a terrified child with wide eyes and long, straw-coloured hair. "Aniki?!" Vodka gasped. Gin looked down at his hands, which had fallen out of the black gloves he wore. "Wha--what happened--?" He looked up at the bespectacled child...and his eyes widened further. "You...don't tell me...!" Conan removed his glasses. "*I'M* Kudou Shinichi, you piece of shit, and I'd say justice has been served." "SHINICHI--!?" Vodka swept the diminished form of Gin, black coat and all, up in his arms. "You...Kudou...you'll pay for this! I swear it!" He began to run. Sonoko tried to shoot him, but missed. Conan, cursing, picked up the forgotten helmet, cranked up his sneakers... ...but it was no use. Vodka had turned the corner, and when the three of them finally caught up, a black Porsche was roaring away into the night. "Dammit!" Conan growled, slamming his fist against a nearby wall. "I let them get away! I'm so STUPID!" A hand touched his shoulder, and he looked up. A pair of large, wet eyes shone down at him from a tear-streaked, frightened face. "Shinichi...?" The young detective slumped. "Ah, shit..." * * * * * * * * * "Fucking detective brat...!" "Aniki...are you alright?" "Do I *LOOK* alright, idiot?!" Gin's small hands fumbled in the pockets of his now-enormous coat, searching for his phone. He pulled it out, beginning to dial...then paused, frowning. "Dammit...Vodka, you're going to have to make the call." The square-jawed man frowned, then nodded, accepting the phone. Completing the number, he pressed 'Send'. Beside him, the diminished Gin continued to mutter various imprecations about Kudou Shinichi. "Bastard...when I get hold of that little punk..." //What is it, Gin?// "This is Vodka. There's been a...small incident." "Take your size jokes and shove them up your ass, along with my foot," Gin seethed. //Vodka? Where is Gin?// "I'll KILL that goddamn son of a bitch!" "He's here, but he's...not exactly in any shape to talk right now. I'm bringing him to the safehouse." "--fucking bathe in his bloody GUTS--!" Gin's tirade abruptly ceased as Vodka slammed one rock-like fist over his head, knocking him out cold. //What the hell's going on?// "I'll explain when I get there." * * * * * * * * * "Shinichi? Is it...really...?" Conan glanced around, and his eyes fell on Sonoko. "Oi, Sonoko. The gun." The blonde blinked. "Eh?" "The gun! Give me the gun!" Sonoko stared down at the cold steel in her hands, eyes widening suddenly. It nearly fell from her hand onto the street. Conan growled and marched over to her, practically ripping the weapon out of her hand. He fished a handkerchief from his pocket and began carefully wiping the gun, taking care not to touch any part of it with his own fingers. "Cona--iie, Shinichi..." Ran began again. The young boy sighed, folding the handkerchief around the gun and slipping it into his own pocket. "Yeah, Ran. It's me. All those times you suspected, you were right. It wasn't easy staying a step ahead of you." Ran's eyes narrowed. "Why? Why did you need to lie?" Conan shot her an incredulous stare. "BAROU! Didn't you see what just happened here? Don't you understand? I'M A TARGET! These guys aren't playing games, Ran! They make the yakuza look like playground bullies! I had to let them think I was dead! I couldn't take ANY chances..." He sighed. "And yet, there were some chances...I had to take." He looked up. "I had to call you. I had to...I couldn't bear seeing you suffering and not being able to..." "And if you'd just told me the truth from the beginning..." "I'd have put you in danger. The fewer people who knew, the better." He chuckled. "Not that it matters now. I really stepped in it tonight. I can't blame THAT fiasco on anyone but myself." He sighed, and looked at the two girls. "We should get off the street. Sonoko, you're staying with us tonight." "H-hai..." * * * * * * * * * "Megure-keibu," began the forensics technician as he entered the inspector's office. Megure glanced up from the report he was filling out. "Ah, do you have the workup on the evidence for the Kawazu case?" "Hai." The tech placed a sheaf of papers on the desk, bowed, and withdrew. The portly inspector stretched, yawning, and picked up the new documents, idly thumbing through them. He paused for a moment, frowning; he had the nagging feeling something was out of place. Something missing? Or something that shouldn't be there... Hunching over his desk, he began examining the document more closely. It was a standard workup; a fingerprint list taken from an object which was a crucial piece of evidence in a murder case. The object in question, a photograph, had been handled by everyone connected to the case at one point or another--himself (though he had worn gloves), the victim, the confessed killer, the two other suspects who had been cleared, Mouri Kogorou, his daughter Ran, even the precocious little tagalong, Conan-kun, who always seemed to be around every time there was a murder investigation. And that, presently, was what was disturbing him: The name "Edogawa Conan" was NOT on the fingerprint list. He briefly considered that maybe the child's fingerprints had simply been wiped off by someone else handling the photograph, or that someone's prints had overlapped his and obscured them--perhaps even his own gloves had wiped them free. It was certainly not unheard of... ...but then his train of thought abruptly derailed as he noticed a name on the list which did *not* belong. KUDOU SHINICHI "Kudou...but he's..." Megure's eyes narrowed, his mustache twitching as he frowned thoughtfully. He pressed the intercom on his phone, and called for the forensics technician to return. "Hai, keibu-dono?" the harried man asked as he rushed into the room. Megure sat forward, chin resting on his hands. "When you ran the fingerprint analysis on the photograph, did you notice anything particularly unusual about any of the prints?" "Unusual?" The inspector tapped the paperwork in front of him. "I see the name Kudou Shinichi on here, but he wasn't at the crime scene--if you've been following the news, you know nobody's seen him in months. Was there anything--" "Ah!" The technician slapped his fist into his open palm. "Right...there was a minor discrepancy in that the size of that set of fingerprints was inconsistent with the age of the individual." "Inconsistent?" "Hai. It was odd...it could be explained by a very light touch, or something pinching the fingers, but Kudou-san's fingerprints were abnormally small for an eighteen-year-old man. They were more consistent with the prints of a preadolescent." He shrugged. "Given the age of the photograph, though, it's not possible Kudou-san could have handled it as a child. I don't entirely understand it, but...the prints matched in the database." "And Edogawa Conan-kun? His prints were not found on the photograph?" The technician frowned. "Not that I recall. I ran every set of prints through the database twice. Standard procedure. His name didn't come up. Either he didn't touch the photograph, or someone forgot to print him at the scene." "I see. Okay, thank you." As the technician bowed and left, Megure stroked his chin, frowning. *More consistent with the prints of a preadolescent...* *The fingerprints of Edogawa Conan were not present on the photograph...* *And Kudou-kun has been missing for months...* Megure's eyes widened. "That...no, that's...ridiculous..." But suddenly, he didn't seem to be able to shake the notion out of his head... * * * * * * * * * The three of them trooped into the apartment on the third floor. "Tadaima," Ran called, removing her shoes, as behind her, Sonoko and Conan did likewise. The small detective then carefully locked the door. "Oi, Ran! Where've you been? It's really late! Do you think a man could get some dinner around here?" "Gomen ne, Otousan. I'll--" "Order pizza," Conan commanded, his tone now all business as he marched into the living room and fixed the older detective with a sharp gaze. "Use my expense account. Order a few, and sodas too. Sonoko's here, and we're all going to be up all night." Kogoro stared at the boy, mouth agape like a fish. The stern impatience in the sharp blue eyes--no longer hidden behind glass lenses--made the older man ill at ease. "Oi, brat...what do you think you are, coming in and barking orders like--" "Just do it, and quickly," Conan snapped. "We have a problem, and there's a lot to talk about. We're ALL in danger now." Kogoro blinked. "Wha--Ran, what's going on? And you, boy, mind how you talk to your elders..." "Otousan, Sh--Conan's right. We have a BIG problem." "Or a small one," Sonoko murmured, eyeing the younger boy, her usual attitude beginning to return. Kogoro looked at the three of them, expression unreadable. "What's going on?" "Better go ahead and take care of ordering those pizzas first," Ran suggested. "I have a feeling it's gonna be a long night..." * * * * * * * * * Vermouth raised an eyebrow as Vodka walked in, carrying a small child in his arms. A rather angry-looking child, who seemed to take exception to being carried, and who was wrapped in what she recognised as Gin's coat. "Where's Gin?" she asked. "And what's with the kid?" "I *am* Gin," the boy hissed, wriggling free of Vodka's grasp and wrapping the coat around his small frame. He winced as, upon making contact with the floor, his ruined leg buckled, sending him sprawling. "DAMN that Kudou brat...!" Vermouth blinked. "Kudou..." Then, she laughed. Gin stared at her. "What's *your* fucking problem?" "Oh, this is rich. Kudou forced you to take APTX-4869, didn't he?" The other two stared at her. "You *KNEW*?!" "Of course I knew," Vermouth said lightly. "I've known for some time that Kudou Shinichi was still alive...AND what the...*unusual* effects of the apotoxin are." "And you didn't tell me this WHY?" Gin demanded hotly. "Because you didn't need to know, and because I've been having fun toying with him--and his Angel," she replied. "And besides, Kudou is our best lead to finding Sherry." She smirked. "Who, incidentally, is also a member of the height-impaired club. In fact, I came very, very close to finishing her not so long ago..." She sighed. "But that was the night the silver bullet grazed me." Gin's eyes widened. "You mean she's--that traitorous bitch is--?" "The same as you are now," Vermouth nodded, smiling. "WHY DID YOU NEVER TELL US ANY OF THIS?" Gin roared--well, as best he could, given his current size and voice. "As I said...you didn't need to know. But that's rather a moot point now, isn't it? So it's time to make a new plan, to deal with the traitor...AND the cool guy." Suddenly, her smile grew much, much nastier. "But first, I think it's time a very careless agent relearned a few old lessons..." * * * * * * * * * "Okay," Kogoro began as he hung up the phone, "Now, is anyone going to tell me what happened tonight? And why we're all taking orders from the brat all of a sudden?" "Because the *brat*," Ran said archly, "is Shinichi." Kogoro spat out the beer he had just drunk. "WHAT?!" "It's true," Conan said, leaning against the wall. "I'm Kudou Shinichi." Kogoro looked from Conan, to Ran, to Sonoko, and back. He then burst out laughing. "Oh, that's hilarious! You almost had me going for a few minutes, but you *know* I'm not stupid enough to fall for--" "This is not a joke, or a lie, or a game," Conan said, his voice taking on the rough, serious timbre that revealed how very much unchildlike he was. "Ran was attacked tonight by the same men who did this to me. I stopped her from being taken or hurt, and then--" "RAN WAS *ATTACKED*?!" Kogoro blurted. "Are you--" "I'm FINE, otousan," Ran cut across him. "Like Co--Shi--like he said, he saved me, then we both sort of beat up the guy who attacked me, then Shinichi fed him some kind of drug, and..." Ran swallowed. "We saw him...change. All of us. We saw it. That man turned into a kid...just like Co--Shinichi." Kogoro stared, dumbstruck, at the three of them, eyes wide. "You--what you're saying isn't--it can't be..." "Eight months ago," Conan interrupted, "the day I went to Tropical Land with Ran, I stepped into something bigger than I realised, and *this*--" he gestured at his diminuitive body-- "is the price I paid. Edogawa Conan was born that night, out of desperation. I didn't realise at the time just how bad the situation really was...or that I'd be stuck like this for as long as I have." Kogoro frowned. "But--no, we've seen Kudou since then, remember, Ran? When that Osaka boy showed up?" "THAT was Hattori's fault," Conan said with a wry smirk. "Remember the first time we met him? He gave me a glass of Chinese whiskey for my cold? It changed me back...for a little while." He glanced at Ran. "Remember, I was trying to get that bottle off the shelf later, and you stopped me?" Ran nodded mutely. "That's why. I thought drinking more of it would change me back for good. Or at least longer than the first shot did. But it turns out, it was a one-time deal." He winced. "I can still remember the hangover, too." "And what about that other time we all saw you?" "You mean the school festival? A temporary cure...a certain acquaintance concocted it for me, but it's dangerous to use it too much, and I've been warned not to use it again unless it's absolutely necessary. It could kill me." Ran knelt beside him. "Shinichi..." The elder detective frowned. "But no...remember, we saw Conan AND Kudou ther e!" Conan shook his head. "No, you saw me on stage as the Black Knight, in my real body, and Haibara Ai in a wig, wearing a cold mask and my glasses, pretending to be me." Ran put a finger to her chin. "Conan-kun DID seem awfully quiet that day..." Kogoro leaned across the table and glared at the boy with narrowed eyes. "Okay, so explain how your mother--CONAN'S mother--showed up looking for you, if you're really Kudou." "Edogawa Conan doesn't have a mother," Conan replied. "That woman *was* my mother, though--Kudou Yukiko, in disguise. She IS an actress, remember?" He chuckled. "She sure fooled me. Her and Tousan both...they took me for a real ride, that day..." The older detective sat back, crossing his arms. "You know," he said at length, "Thinking about it, you DO *look* like Kudou." He paused. "But if you really ARE Kudou--" "He is, Otousan. I'm sure of it." Ran stepped up to the desk. "I've...suspected, for a long time. I've noticed things...habits, the way he acts sometimes, how he seems so much smarter than a normal kid. And there were times...but every time I really began to believe it, something happened--he showed up, or I got a phone call, or..." She glanced back at Conan, uncertainly. Conan solemnly removed his bow tie, fiddled with a dial behind the red silk, and raised it to his mouth. "I'm really sorry about that, Ran," he spoke--and the eyes of the others widened as Kudou Shinichi's voice came out. "I had to do things I hated doing--lying to you, fooling you--to keep my secret. I couldn't be found out..." Kogoro suddenly stood up, marched over to Conan, and snatched the bowtie away from him. "Give me that!" He glanced at the back of it, seeing the dials there. "A voice disguiser?" He spoke into the tiny microphone. "Testing, one, two..." His voice came out sounding like Shinichi, and he blinked, tossing the device onto the table. "Agasa-hakase's handiwork," Conan replied, once again with the voice of a child--and yet not the voice of a child. "A few other things, too, like the sneakers, the skateboard--because he knew I'd need them, since I can never keep my nose out of a mystery." Kogoro grunted. "True, you DO seem to get into everything..." He paused, narrowing his eyes. "This voice changer...can it do other voices? Besides that one? Like, for instance, mine?" "Erk!" Ran frowned. "Shinichi...I remember seeing you do something funny with your watch one time..." Conan began to sweat. "Er...ah..." Kogoro reached down and picked Conan up by the collar. "Oi, runt. Anything else you want to say while you're sharing secrets?" The doorbell rang. "Um...pizza's here?" Conan ventured, slipping into his 'cute-little-kid' voice with a nervous chuckle. * * * * * * * * * While the others were distracted by the arrival of the pizza, Conan slipped to the phone and made a call. "Agasa-hakase? Sorry to call so late. We've had a little trouble tonight. Tell Haibara that I've got APTX-4869. Yeah, you heard me. No, I'm fine. Uh...problem, though. Ran, Mouri-san, and Sonoko all know about me now. And...aheh...so do Gin and Vodka. I know, I KNOW! Yeah, I know she's gonna be pissed. Just tell her to get over here and get this pill case from me as soon as she can. And tell her to be careful!" After he hung up, he rejoined the others for dinner and further explanations. There had been many tense moments, and some truly embarassing ones. He'd been interrogated rather harshly about a number of things--particularly after Sonoko had, in jest, snagged his watch and wondered what kind of 'secret spy thing' it was. He'd tried to stop her from messing around with it, but the inevitable had happened--she'd accidentally shot herself with the microtranquiliser, and slumped face-first into her slice of corn and tofu pizza. After seeing this, Kogoro had asked a very pointed question about the 'great Sleeping Kogoro', which had been followed by a fifteen-minute chase around the living room, and ended with a large, painful lump on Conan's head. The disgruntled detective had then flopped down in front of the television with a beer, the remote, and a volley of glares aimed at the shrunken youth. About an hour after Conan's call to Agasa's house, the door chime once again rang. "Hai?" Ran answered. //I need to see Kudou-kun,// a muffled female voice called over the intercom. "Ano..." Ran paused, frowning. "He's--" "It's okay, Ran," Conan replied from behind her. "It's Haibara. I'm expecting her." "Are you sure?" At his nod, Ran shrugged and tiptoed down to the locked entry hall. Conan followed her, stopping at the edge of the second floor landing. Ran cautiously opened the door to find a small figure dressed in a hooded lavender parka, hands jammed firmly in the pockets, face obscured by a sterile mask and sunglasses. She blinked. The small form removed the mask and glasses, and Ran breathed a sigh of relief as it was, indeed, the expected girl. "Come on in..." The small girl pushed past her, shaking off her hood. She scowled as her eyes searched the steps above, her scowl deepening as she spotted her target. Like lightning, the small girl shot up the stairs, stopping at the landing, and... *CRACK* "Ai-chan!" Ran shouted, eyes wide. A stunned Conan fell backwards onto the floor, clutching his red cheek. "You IDIOT," Ai seethed. "You utter FOOL." "Ne, Ai-chan..." Ran began, reproach in her tone. The younger girl's gaze stopped her cold. "Kudou-kun has put all of us in danger. Especially *me*. I don't appreciate being put in even more danger by a thoughtless, idiotic act of someone who doesn't think before he does STUPID THINGS!" It was then that Ai's use of Conan's real name registered on Ran. "Masaka...Ai-chan, are you...?" "Like the idiot detective here? Yes." "Haibara...gomen." Both girls looked at Conan, who was getting to his feet. He looked down at the ground. "I know, I screwed up. He...he was threatening Ran. And...I guess that on top of everything else...it just got to me." Ai sighed. "Well, what's done is done. So, give me the apotoxin." Conan reached into his jacket and produced the pill case. Ai examined it, nodding. "Right. There's five capsules missing out of eight. That means other than you, Gin has poisoned four people with this." "Three." At Ai's questioning glance, Conan smiled grimly. "The fourth...was revenge." Ai blinked...then stared, slack-jawed. "You didn't." "I did." "So when they got away..." "Vodka had to carry Gin, yeah." Ai then did something very out of character for her--she laughed out loud. "Well, you're still an idiot, but you're an idiot with style." She then paused, frowning. "Of course, this means that now they know what APTX-4869 *does*, so they'll know--" Conan sighed. "Your 'disguise' is useless now. I'm sorry, Haibara." Ai waved a hand dismissively. "I was never safe to begin with, even with this. Too many people in the organisation knew me when I *was* this age, remember? I told you that when we went through that whole thing with Pisco. And you were THERE that night, with Vermouth..." "Ah, right..." The small boy stuck his hands in his pockets, frowning. "So what's our next move?" "MY next move is to get back to the lab and see if I can make a cure, now that I have the drug. YOURS is to make sure none of us die before then. Oh, and..." She frowned. "It won't be easy, but try to track down the other victims of this stupid thing." She tapped the pill case for emphasis. "There may be other people out there like us--we need to find them and get them all together. Right now, anyone who has taken APTX-4869 and lived is the most valuable weapon we have against them." Conan raised an eyebrow. "Do you have any idea how tall an order that is? Finding little kids who aren't really kids here in Tokyo? Assuming they're even all IN Tokyo?" Ai met him with a cool stare. "You're the 'great detective', Kudou-kun. Finding stray sheep is right up your alley." With that, she turned and left, concealing her face with the hood, mask, and sunglasses once again. Ran placed a hand on Conan's head and smiled down at him. "You can do it, Shinichi. I know you can." * * * * * * * * * Elsewhere in Tokyo... She sighed as she untied her pigtails, letting her hair fall free about her shoulders. A routine nighttime ritual...except that seven months ago, it'd never have been tied up in the first place. "No...I can't start thinking about that again. Things are going too well lately. I'm getting used to this life, and I have friends--good friends. I'm...happy." She WAS happy...right? "Yeah. Happy." "I'm glad to hear that." Startled, she spun around--and relaxed, smiling. "Chichiue," she said. He wagged a finger at her. "'Papa', remember? You're supposed to call me 'Papa' from now on. Cute little girls aren't that formal." She rolled her eyes. "Hai, Papa." Picking up her brush, she turned back to her vanity and sat, beginning to brush out her auburn locks. "So, how did it go?" Her father sighed. "Not well, I'm afraid. I've checked it as far as I can without anyone getting suspicious, but..." She nodded. "It's okay. I don't want to put you in danger. I don't think they knew who I was, so it's best..." Frowning, she set down her brush and turned to face him. "Maybe it's best if we just drop this whole thing." "NO!" He bellowed, striding forward and putting his hands on her shoulders. "I'm not going to forgive the bastards who did this to you! My precious girl...you were halfway through college! Your future ahead of you--marriage, family, everything..." "And I *still* have a future, Chich--Papa." She patted his hands comfortingly. "It's just going to be a little while longer, is all." She sighed. "True, Ken-kun won't be part of it anymore. I can't expect him to wait for me, even though I doubt this can be kept from him forever. And...I do miss my friends." She sighed wistfully. "But I've got new friends now, and...this life I'm living isn't so bad. You know how much I missed my high school days, and now I can live them all over again..." She smiled, although her eyes were damp. "It's going to be okay, Papa. I'll get through this. I'm strong." He crouched down in front of her, tears falling from his own eyes. "I know, musume. You've always been stronger than me. It's just...I..." "I know, Papa. I know." She stood and wrapped her arms around him--the slender, small arms of a young, innocent girl--but not so young, not so innocent. Losing the baby had been the worst part of it. But she was strong. She'd pulled through, and now she was going to overcome everything. She was alive--she had her whole life ahead of her, and then some. She had her friends, and she had her father. She had love all around her, and that was more important than anything--more important than a cure, and especially more important than revenge. She could stand being eleven again. It wasn't such a bad age. "Have you eaten, Papa?" At his headshake, she frowned. "Mou...come on, I'll fix dinner." "You don't have to--" She quelled him with a stern look. "I'll fix dinner." "Hai, hai." As they walked down the hall toward the kitchen and dining room, the phone rang. She picked it up. "Moshi-moshi, Mihama residence. Ah, Tomo-chan! Eh? The English homework? Mou...isn't Yomi-san there with you? Why can't she help--ah, I see." With an apologetic glance and a roll of her eyes at her father, who grinned in reply, she sat down for what was sure to be a long call... --------------------------------------------------------------- Author's notes and disclaimers: This was NOT intended to turn into a crossover when I started out. The crossover aspect just...happened. ^^;; For those who have only experienced the dubbed version of Meitantei Conan (ie, Funimation's "Case Closed"), a brief rundown on who is who (in case you couldn't tell from context): Kudo Shinichi: "Jimmy Kudo". Mouri Ran: "Rachel Moore". Mouri Kogoro: "Richard Moore". Suzuki Sonoko: "Serena Sebastian". Megure-keibu: "Inspector Meguire". Ayumi, Genta, Mitsuhiko: "Amy", "George", and "Mitch". Kudo Yukiko: "Vivian Kudo". Hattori Heiji: "Harley Hartwell". Others here who are introduced in the dub have the same name in both versions (Conan, Agasa, Gin, Vodka). Everyone else mentioned hasn't been introduced yet in the dub, so don't worry about them for now. The only two that really matter are Haibara Ai and Vermouth. Vermouth is, obviously, a very important high-up member of the Black Organisation, and Haibara Ai is the Black Org scientist Miyano Shiho, aka "Sherry", who created the APTX-4869...the drug that changed Shinichi into Conan, and herself into Ai. If you want any more details than that, feel free to look them up yourself :P Okay, disclaimers: Meitantei Conan belongs to Aoyama Gosho, Shogakukan, Yomiuri Television, VIZ Communications, and Funimation. Azumanga Daioh belongs to Azuma Kiyohiko, Dengeki Comics, Genco, JC Staff, and ADV. No permission has been obtained from any of the copyright holders for the use of characters and situations from these series. This work of fiction is not for profit and not intended to infringe on copyrighted intellectual property in any significant or harmful way.