Disclaimer: There's no way that a simple author like me can make such an amazing creation. I wish.

I know. This story just popped up and I just can't ignore it. I would certainly update my stories, don't worry.

Confrontations

by

sakurablossoms18

This fanfic is especially dedicated to a special friend, aili13-san, my first ever friend here.. Ai-chan, maraming salamat!!!

Conan's POV

It was a fine morning really; the birds are chirping happily, the clouds dance merrily in the clear blue sky, the summer sun glared its might on the unsuspecting beings on earth. I would have just lounged at oji-san's office chair, drink a very cold glass of lemonade, read a novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and wait for Ran to come back form the grocery. Yes, that's what would have happened if she didn't come.

"Ano, would you like to drink something?"

"Coffee would be okay,"

"Hai, please wait for a moment,"

I slowly made my way to the kitchen door, once I reached the door posts; I immediately hid my body at the doorway. I glanced suspiciously at the figure sitting calmly at the couch.

'What is that demented witch doing here?! There is no way that she would visit occhan at any occasion, unless it's about a case of course. Anyway, he is out today, probably gambling again. However, that's not the problem here! Ran is out shopping and what am I going to do with this witch? It would be rude to leave her be and lock myself in the room; but I would definitely be skewered alive by her glares! What am I going to do?!'

"Here is your coffee, Kisaki-san,"

"Mah, thank you kid. Your name is Conan if I'm not mistaken ne?"

"H-hai. Edogawa Conan desu. It's nice to see you again,"

"Same here. Since it seems that you remember me, I would not introduce myself once again,"

"H-hai. Its okay,"

I just sat there, fidgeting slightly as the woman in front of me, scratch that, the woman who by any chance, is the mother of the love of my life is patiently sitting, and drinking a cup of coffee at the middle of the afternoon. Doesn't she feel the heat or something? What is she doing here anyway? Visiting Ran? Possible. Better ask her, so I can get away as soon as possible. She is certainly giving me goosebumps.

"Ki-Kisaki-san, can I ask a question?"

"Hai. What is it little boy?"

She leaned close to my face and I suddenly felt the rush of blood in my face. Even if time has passed, Ran's mother is still beautiful as ever! Occhan is a total idiot to be a pervert and cheat on her wife! The lawyer just smiled at the reaction of the boy.

"Wh-what are you doing here? I'm sorry but Ran is out so I think it's best if you would just come back-

"Ran is not the reason why I came here today,"

"Eh? Then, you're here to visit occhan?"

"Psh. In his dreams!"

"Then why?"

"I came here to talk to you,"

"Eh?! Me?"

Conan looked surprised of what Eri said. 'She came here to talk to me? Why? Is it because he found out my secret? How? Is it that incident? The man with ring? Aish, I shouldn't have poked my nose in that case! Now, I am in risk of blowing my cover! What am I going to do? Lie casually? No. That would be impossible, she is a first class lawyer and she would see through my lying easily. Tell her the truth? That would be dangerous! What am I going to do?

Unknown to Conan, Eri stood up and paced in the room, without removing her eyes on Conan's face after all. It is really amusing how that child can portray multiple emotions at that moment. She reached thatshelf and grabbed the familiar red book. She flipped a few pages and found it.

Now staring at it, she suddenly felt nostalgic. So it has been 10 years since then huh? Time sure flies fast. Her Ran-chan certainly grew up in the span of time. She bloomed into a beautiful flower that you see at spring, with its colorful and waxy petals, with its inviting fragrance, any bug would be attracted to it. However, a certain bug already possessed her dear flower, and now, she can never escape from its evil clutches.

"Ne, Conan-kun, is it ok if I ask a question?"

"Ha-hai,"

"Mah, mah, don't sound so nervous. It's not that I am going to eat you, you know,"

Conan looked unbelievingly at the woman, she, not going to eat him alive? Is that a kind of divine miracle? Ha! Since he and Ran became friends, since he was born in this world, that woman certainly made his life a living hell! She often scold them when they are out in detective work and arrive home late, with him dragging Ran of course, or often getting Ran late because he saw another case, or always dragging Ran in trouble. There was no time in his life that that woman never threatened his existence in this world! Preposterous! Impossible! Absurd! Ridiculous! Illogical! (Ne, do you have any dictionary there? I ran out of synonyms for bizarre.. anyway,)

"Hai, I am sorry. I am just a little bit scared, that's all,"

"Oh? And what are you scared of, boy?"

"No-nothing at all!"

"Really? I think you would certainly be scared of one thing, Conan-kun,"

"Eh?"

Eri paced once again and reached Kogoro's work table, there she found his ancient telephone, some bottle of beers which she guessed that he drank last night, some newspapers, a bottle of lemonade and a book. She picked it up and smiled on what she saw. 'Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle huh?'

"Kisaki-san,"

"Nani?"

"What is it that you wanted to ask me?"

"Ah, that. But before that, I am going to tell you an interesting story, would you listen?"

What a strange request. Conan nodded despite of being confused. Eri smiled at Conan's skepticism and smiled at his front once again. She picked up her abandoned coffee and began her story.

"There was once a boy in a faraway land who lived with a perverted detective, and a beautiful woman. You see, Conan-kun, this boy's parents are away, working hard for their beloved son. The boy was first entrusted to the boy's crazy inventor of a friend but the inventor is already old so he entrusted the boy to the beautiful woman. The beautiful woman was first having doubts on accepting the boy but the old man managed to convince her. And so, the boy lived with the beautiful woman and his perverted father, but unknown to the woman and his father, their adopted family had a dark secret,"

Kisaki leaned in closely and watched in amusement as color drained on the boy's face. As much as she hated to admit it, the boy certainly looked 'cute', but she was never going to admit that to anyone, of course.

Meanwhile, Conan's face may be as white as sheet now, his mind his in greater turmoil.' That story is certainly familiar, TOO familiar actually… There's no way that she knows. Right?'

"Do you know what is the boy's dark secret, Conan-kun?" Conan shook his head fervently. Eri once again let out a smile. This boy is bringing out too much of my evil side, I better restrain myself or something bad will happen, in Conan's case, that is…

"Well, the boy is actually a shrunken high school kid who once, because of his nosiness, ran into trouble. A certain dark force made him drink a poison, or what they think that is, intending to kill him, but the poison didn't work. Instead, it turned him to a kid instead. The boy panicked greatly and didn't know what to do. In the end, he decided to pay a visit to his crazy friend. After proving his true identity, however, the inventor is also clueless of how he can bring back the shrunken kid. In the end, the two agreed to keep the boy's identity a secret, especially to the boy's bestfriend because it would endanger the life of the woman. Now, the boy is living with his bestfriend and his father and made the woman's father famous for solving cases eccentrically. However, the boy is aware of the grief of the woman, yet he can't do anything. All he can do is turn away and prevent himself of seeing the bitter tears of the woman,"

There was a great silence that fell upon the room. Eri finished her story yet she still can't see a single reaction from her sole audience. The boy's bangs creatively hid his eyes so she isn't sure if she managed to get a reaction or what. Seeing that he wouldn't budge, Eri slowly reached out for the child but what she saw made her stop.

There were tears cascading down his face, he may have hidden it pretty well, but the look of someone who is guilty of something is certainly there. Conan cried noiselessly and managed to bring his eyes on hers. What she saw made her escape a lone tear.

Grief is written in his azure eyes. Sadness, grief, guilt, misery… Eri needed to blink a few times to prevent the tears that threatened to spill. She had gone too far… She shouldn't have done this, but she can't help on being worried on her only daughter.

When they met at that time, when she was supposed to meet Ran, at the entrance of the café, something caught her eye. A little boy dressed in a blue tux, with a ridiculous big red bow and glasses that occupied half of his face is scanning the surroundings thoroughly, as if finding the culprit who stole his most prized possession. When his eyes landed into hers, the boy stiffened. Now that's interesting. Did the boy recognize her? And why does he look familiar?

She pretended to read at the files before her but her eyes are solely focused on the boy who is still frantically looking for something, or someone. When the waitress called out his name, she was surprised. Edogawa Conan? What a strange name. Are his parents an addict of mystery or what? Anyways, she continued to observe the bizarre child, however, when a scream erupted from the comfort room, the kid was the first one to react.

And that's how she found it all out. His secret. His true identity. She almost smirked in amusement as the child poked around the crime scene of a woman murdered by the use of knife. Any normal child would have been horrified by what they say, there was blood everywhere in the cubicle, and there were police officers everywhere.

But just as she said before, any normal child, he is beyond normal. He may have fooled everyone by his innocent presumptions, and accidental discoveries, but not her. She observed closely as he examined the scene, looking for the possible evidence, how the murder actually happened, and most importantly, the culprit.

When there was a certain glint in his eye, she knew it immediately, he has solved the mystery. She almost laughed aloud as the culprit left such evidence with him. The culprits nowadays are truly unbelievable. They would plan carefully for the murder but one or two mistake can blow their cover. Well, there's no such thing as a perfect murder. The culprit was apprehended once and for all, by her ultimate techniques, of course.

Anyways, that's not the case. What came next was truly an interesting encounter.

She saw Ran outside the shop, looking so worried. She made a comment on her daughter's mature clothing. Ran just blushed and began to complain. When the child knew that she was Ran's mother, he suddenly screamed. She smiled in satisfaction.

On their way back, Ran once again forced her to go back home, saying that her perverted husband had changed but based from an interview aired just now, nothing changed. I looked at the boy who was so courageous back in the murder scene cower at the back of her 'neechan'. An interesting picture actually, but not an interesting thing to happen to your own daughter. With nothing left to say, I warned her.

"Ran, be careful. Don't end up like your best friend,"

Of course, ran was shocked and clueless with what I said but the boy looked alarmed. He sure DID get the message.

However, I just can't stand there, as I see my daughter wait vainly for his return, which would never happen I'm sure, since he IS beside her already. I knew that Ran and that stupid husband of mine will be out so I seized this chance to ask him, once and for all.

"How did you know?"

"Eh?"

"How did you know?" he asked once again, loud and clear. His eyes are still hidden behind his bangs. But I'm glad, I can't see his eyes, or else I would just cry there, without accomplishing something.

"I JUST know,"

He kept quiet. I just sat there, immobile. There was a thick silence in the atmosphere, and Eri is clueless of what to do. Acting on pure impulse, he approached the shrunken detective and pulled him in a warm hug. Conan looked shocked, his body tensed, but he eventually relaxed, his body sagged and his shoulder shook. He is crying, AGAIN.

"Shh, Shinichi-kun, hush now. I'm not angry at all. I know that many things happened, so please stop crying now,"

"It's my fault! If I haven' been nosy and idiotic to see what happened to those men in black, this shouldn't have happened. I should have been with her on her birthday, in the school festival, in new years, in Christmas. If I hadn't been such a stupid idiot, I would have-

Eri just held the crying boy close to her. No, it is not proper to call him a boy; he sure is a mature man, in a kid's body. He listened to his misery, his regrets, and his sufferings. All is clear now, as he explained all the things that happened in the Black Organization, his reason for the secrecy, his discovery of a member of the syndicate named Sherry, or else known now as Haibara Ai. He told her about the Apoxitin who shrunk him, and Ai's effort in finding the cure.

Probably from fatigue, or probably from the heat, Conan fell asleep. Eri just smiled as she carried the boy in his bed. Once he is settled, she brushed the bangs out of his face. She removed his glasses and once again smiled gently as she remembered his familiar face. She whipped out the thing that she found in the red book earlier and wrote something on it.

Ran almost sighed in relief when she reached the familiar steps back to their home. It seems that today is her bad luck! The grocery's register is broken, the paper bags have holes in it, having the grocery replace ALL what she bought, there was a very heavy traffic, and her cellphone's battery is drained. This is not her lucky day!

When she reached home, she immediately proceeded to cook dinner, since Conan-kun is surely hungry right now. After half an hour of bustling around the kitchen, dinner is served.

"Conan-kun! Conan-kun! Where are you? Dinner is ready!"

"I'm coming, Ran nee-chan!" came a muffled reply and Ran just smiled and prepared the table.

Conan woke by Ran's constant yelling. He rubbed his eyes and was surprised that he ended up in his bed. Slowly, memories came back, flooding at him, and he remembered his encounter with Eri today. Somehow, him crying on the bosom of the woman he once cursed is not that uncomfortable. It was more of reassuring actually, since other besides Haibara, Agasa-hakase, and his parents know it, Hattori also.

Something caught his eye, and he picked it up. It was that picture. His picture with Ran's mother, it was actually taken against his wish, and he never saw it since it was taken. In here, Eri forcefully hugged him and kissed him in the cheek which brought blushes on his flaming cheeks.

He was about to place it back it back to his table when it accidentally fell. He picked it up but he saw something written on the back.

Thanks for the coffee. Call me if anything happened, I would be willing to help you in your quest. Good luck and take care of Ran-chan for me.

P.S. I know you're the one behind my perverted husband's new success. Once all of this is finished, let's rub it on his face ok? *wink*

Conan smiled at the latter statement and proceeded to go downstairs, ready to see the welcoming smile of Ran. With her beside him, he can conquer anything, he can face anything. Well, having the blessing of her mother is another case.

Owari