A Detective Conan Christmas Carol
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Detective Conan … wish I did, but I don't. They belong to Gosho Aoyama.
"Ow!" exclaimed Conan as he limped through the threshold of the Mouri Detective Agency. Ran hurriedly bustled in after him and handed him his crutches.
"Oh, Conan, please be careful," the concerned teen said as she hovered near his ankle. "We wouldn't want you to be in the hospital again, especially during Christmas!" Ran frowned and shivered at her own words, and then quickly knocked on wood.
"Yes, Ran-neechan," Conan answered, and then made a beeline towards the tree next to the detective's wide desk. "Wow! You guys got an actual western Christmas tree this year!" the seven-year-old exclaimed.
"Yeah, we did." Ran proudly walked over to the pine tree and fingered some of the ornaments she had painstakingly placed among the boughs. "Dad and I figured you might like it since your family seems to like western stuff."
For a moment Conan's face took on a shocked expression, and his 'little boy' mask slipped. Shinichi's eyes shone through the large glasses that he wore, and he stared in sadness at Ran's back. "Does she know?" he thought. "Does she know that I'm not who I seem, and that my parents probably put up a tree like this every Christmas? Is that why she's doing this?"
"…Seeing as they named you Conan and all," Ran added as she turned around and laughed. "Oh, Mr. Grumpy-pants! What're you so sad about now? You haven't missed Christmas yet, you know!" she said as she mistakenly interpreted Conan's expression.
Upon hearing Ran's first statement, Conan sighed in relief. Then he made a face at the second. "Hey, I'm not grumpy! I just don't like the idea of Uncle Kogoro-"
Conan's sentence was cut off by his sudden take to the air by means of his collar. "What were you going to say about me, huh brat?" Conan smelled alcohol on Kogoro's breath as he dangled from the detective's fist.
"Uh, um…" Conan fished for compliments to give, though the task was almost impossible. Kogoro seemed to sense this, and got even angrier.
"Well, fine!" The tall detective flung Conan to the ground, and even though Ran barely caught the boy, he chortled with disdain as he slouched at the chair behind his desk. His sneer didn't stay for long though, as his daughter suddenly began to attack him.
"Dad!!!" Ran frowned deeply. "How could you treat Conan so badly? He just came back form the hospital, for Pete's sake! He's still hurt, too!"
"Bah," the detective said with disregard. "That's barely a scratch. Why, that boy couldn't even take care of himself without my support!" He stood up and started to gesture wildly. "I provide all the money here, so I should be able to treat him like I want!"
"Dad, do you want to know what that's called?" Ran walked over to Kogoro and grinned at him. "Child abuse. And I love Conan too much for him to be carted away just by your stupid theory!" She slammed a fist on the desk.
"Yeah, and Mommy gives you money too!" Conan cringed at his own words. But his point was made. Kogoro stopped to remember this, realized it was true, and then angrily lurched away, grumbling to himself about money.
"Humph." Ran turned her back on the form of her father and then smiled at Conan. "Oh, Conan, don't worry too much about what Dad says. He's just a big, grouchy miser." She bent down and scooped the small boy up in her arms. "Come on. I'm going to make you a nice, big welcome home dinner!"
The two teenagers -one shrunken- made their way up the stairs to the kitchen. They had a blast for the next few hours. Everything felt perfect, now that everyone was back at home, all together again. Ran and Conan both fell asleep with smiles on their faces, dreaming of the Christmas that would come the next day.