Author: SunniNiko

Title: Put the mask back on

Rating: T (topic + some swear words)

Disclaimer: Meitantei Conan is owned by Gosho Aoyama, and I'm not making any money with this story.

Warning: bit sad...

Author's comments: Well, hi there This is my first fanfiction on this website. I hope you like it.

Normally Yoshida wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but since she was friends with the extremely out-of-the-ordinary-child named Edogawa Conan, who was also in her class and sitting next to Haibara Ai, the other abnormal child they had in class.

Nut right now; Ayumi was more or less a detective rather than a grade-schooler. She's watching Conan, as he hurriedly ate his lunch and then resumed talking to Haibara, who passed, again, and left into the library.

"What is he doing?" Genta, her childhood friend, groaned as he saw the two leaving.

"Perhaps they're hiding something from us." Mitsuhiko speculated widely, believing in some surprise they always got from the professor.

"It's probably a lame quiz again…"

"I doubt it." Ayumi exclaimed rather sad. The boys immediately turned their attention to the girl, whose expression is serious.

"Nande? Why do you think that it's not a quiz?"

"Because…" she stopped, thinking of a way to phrase the sentence not too shocking for them. They didn't know as much as she did, but it was obvious why they didn't.

"I know Conan a lot better than you think I do." She answered, which caused the boys to laugh.

"So you finally resumed the courage to ask him to date you?" Mitsuhiko giggled like some girl, and Genta just glared at him for that comment. He was the biggest, and oldest of all of them, and this pimp Conan wouldn't stand a chance against him.

Ayumi blinked and was confused.

"No, I did not ask him to date me!" she responded rather furious.

"Than to marry you? Come on Ayumi, we're in third grade…" The freckled boy continued to tease his childhood friend mercilessly.

"Will you shut up?" she screamed and they both felt silent. They looked at her with huge eyes and tried their best I-didn't-mean-it-that-way-will-you-forgive-me-gaze on her. She simply ignored them.

"I know something about Conan that you don't. Remember that high-school-detective, Kudô Shinichi?"

"Oh yeah, it's Ran-sans Boyfriend, isn't it?" Genta was confused. What the hell had this guy to do with Conan anyway?

"Yes, that's him. But no, actually, he isn't the boyfriend of Ran nee-chan, but I guess he likes her." Now they were even more confused. Just what was Ayumi getting at?

"I think…" she stopped, should she really say it out loud? As long as she kept it to herself, in her own thoughts, it wouldn't be embarrassing, but if she told them about it, she would be in deep shit if she was proved wrong.

'And at the one time, both of them were there…' But it was too late to reconsider; she already made the guys anxious about it.

"I think… I think that he is Conan."

"WHAT?" both Genta and Mitsuhiko said in reunion?"

"Wait, let me get this straight. You think, that Conan and this detective-guy are the same person? How hilarious is that?" The laughed out loud and Ayumi felt anger building up inside of her.

"Look, I don't know why he is a grade-schooler, or why he is in that form anyway, but I just know it's him."

"And how on earth is it possible to turn back into an elementary kid?" The scientific Mitsuhiko was shocked about that solution. It shouldn't be possible it defied all natural laws.

"But…" Genta tried to complain again, this was too horrifying even for him.

" I have no idea…" she slowly continued, not daring to look at her friends. That was it, she was literally crazy. No proof, nothing like evidence, just a hunch based on a childish crush. But still, she just knew she was right.

Before she could tell more about the situation at hand, Conan and Haibara came back, the detective was slightly grinning… He'd waited that long for them to figure it out.

So as he approached, he wasn't a bit surprised about the gazes he received from the children.

Mitsuhiko just stood there, saying nothing, only mumbling something like "It's not possible…' and Genta. Genta, walked in front of him, fixed him with a questioning gaze, and suddenly graped Conan at his collar. The smaller one choked slightly, and Ayumi stormed in between them.

"Genta-kun. Don't do that to Conan-kun." She shouted and the taller boy released the bespectacled one.

"Thanks, Ayumi-chan." But she ignored him plainly, instead pierching Haibara with her gaze.

"Is it possible?" she asked and Mitsuhiko interfiered, knowing where this would end.

"Woah, wait a second Ayumi. Alright, so Conan is really smart and maybe a bit too smart for his age, but Haibara is also…" His eyes widened at the realization. "No…" no breathed.

"Is it possible?" Ayumi asked again, still having her eyes at Haibara.

The strawberry blonde sighed, tucked her hands in her pockets and turned away.

"I'm afraid so…" she said and waved a bit at Conan.

'See ya later' she send him a smile and continued her way, leaving Conan alone with the kids. He sighed, too. So it would be his turn again to tell the guys the truth.

"Ok, you're right, Ayumi-chan. I'm not the person you think I am, and as you guessed correctly, I am indeed Kudô Shinichi, Meitantei."

"But why?" she now asked, breaking down to the ground, sobbing. Shinichi was lost. What should he do? He didn't like women to cry, especially not little girls, because they had a crush on him.

Mitsuhiko turned back to him; meanwhile Genta hugged Ayumi gently, trying to comfort her in his clumsy ways.

"So, you're really Kudô Shinichi. But… What about Haibara-san? Is she…" He swallowed hardly.

"That's her story to tell…" He smiled at the young one, now giving fully away that he was indeed older than all of them.

"And I'm deeply sorry about lying to you, but I had no other choice. I didn't want you to be in danger because of me… Well actually, that didn't work out well, since you always had to follow me everywhere."

"We were your friends. We liked you!" Ayumi said, standing up, facing the other kid with glasses he didn't seem to need.

Shinichi was taken aback. Even Ran took it much better than these fellows.

"You could've died." He whispered to her.

"And you would've died too without us. Or have you already forgotten that we rescued you in this cave?" Genta raged without any thought, but Shinichi understood all of his anger.

"No, and I am very grateful that you were with me. It is hard to live like a kid, when you aren't one. But you helped me a lot with that, thank you." It normally wasn't his style to get that mushy about something, but in this case, it had to be.

"So you… don't hate us?" The girl sniffed, her eyes were a bit swollen, but a small smile creaked in her face.

"Of course not. I like you very much, you are my friends…" he ensured them.

"And when are you leaving and begin being an adult again?" Mitsuhiko asked at last, and this time it was Conans turn to be sad.

"That will never happen…" he said, smiling, but his eyes betrayed his expression. There was a deep sadness in his gaze, and he showed his depression openly, for just one moment. After that, his mask was in place again.

The mask of a child with too much brain for his own sake that was playing happily with his friends, thinking of nothing.

The kids all saw this change of him, and were terrified.

"May… May we ask what happened to you?" It was difficult for them to ask such a thing, as it was obvious that their older friend didn't want to talk about it, but their curiosity was stronger.

"I was poisoned and left to die, but instead I shrank. We tried several antidotes, but we need the original ingredients… So well, I'm staying a kid and grow up all over again, I guess." He tried to shrug it off as something unimportant, but they knew better.

I was everything for him…

"Sorry, but I have to go now. See you guys in school tomorrow." He suddenly said and ran off, only stopping after the next corner. His run turned into a slow pace, and the three children, who were following him a bit, saw that he was truly unhappy.

"I'm so sorry for you… Kudô-kun…" Mitsuhiko mumbled, fully understanding their friend.

Conan walked slowly towards home, meaning the agency of Kogorô. His own house lay there abandoned and forgotten. He couldn't call it home any longer.

The organization was destroyed and so was the antidote.

Just a little shot from me.

I hope you liked it and I will probably write a sequel, if you wish.

Please tell me, if I made any grave mistakes. I'm not a native speaker and this is nearly my first english fanfiction.

So long

sunni