Detectives often came about problems throughout their life. Some had reoccurring criminals they had bring them down. Some had the unfortunate luck of running into large cases. Others had the problem of running into cases everywhere they went. Shinichi Kudou had all three problems, which sometimes it made him wonder why he ever wanted to become a detective. Despite all of the hell he went through being a high school detective, he couldn't deny the pleasure of putting criminals in cuffs. He loved the sheer enjoyment of taking apart a case and putting the pieces together only to impress people when he revealed the truth. He liked the look on their faces when facts were explained that no one had even known about. The thing he loved almost as much as solving a case was knowing that people depended on him. They wanted to know that with his judgment they would be safe, and he loved reassuring people of that. Sure the fame was nice and the fan mail was flattering, but he loved putting criminals behind bars even more knowing that other people could sleep well at night.
He used to like the fame more before he became Conan. He was a stuck up Holmes snob who only really cared about figuring out the puzzle and opening fan mail from pretty ladies after school was out. After the black order had come into the picture he didn't like the cameras and publicity as much. It was a constant fear of being seen that soon left him as the humble soon-to-be adult that Shinichi was now. And Shinichi was indeed Shinichi, not Conan.
Ever since he had turned back into Shinichi he had kept himself out of the papers. He made sure that the cases he took were small and didn't have to do with murders at all. When he wasn't solving cases he stayed in his house when he could. School was really the only reason he left the Kudou mansion on a regular basis. The only times that he went out for long periods of time had to be special; buying food so he didn't starve and trying to catch Kaitou KID would be two of the main reasons. Of course, hunting down Kaitou KID wasn't a very good reason according to Haibara, but Shinichi needed to do some sort of puzzle game to exercise his brain while he worked to take down the B.O.. So Shinichi would wait for those once a month heists with itching anticipation, hoping that he would be able to sneak past Haibara long enough to play cat and mouse with his favourite criminal. Hunting KID had become something of a habit. He kept himself to the shadows and made sure that he kept things short and to the point when he confronted the thief.
"Haibara," The detectives voice called from the living room of Agasa's house. Ai entered from the basement where most of her tests were done and wrote something down on her clip board.
"Already tired Shinichi-kun? It's a shame, you lasted longer the last time we did this." She said walking over to the teenage detective where he was lying on the couch with electro pads stuck to his skin.
"No," Shinichi breathed, worn out from the procedure being done. "but I have a meeting soon, I don't want to be-" Shinichi was cut off when shocks surged through his stomach and legs. His back arched off the couch and his toes curled into the upholstery. Haibara wrote something down and only stopped when Shinichi collapsed onto the couch again, panting and trying to collect himself. "...late." He managed to pant out and Haibara looked from him to her notes a few times before shutting off the machine sitting next to him.
"Fine, but remember what we agreed on." She scolded as she began to take the pads off of him. Shinichi rolled his eyes but nodded.
"Just stick to the case that I've taken on. You've been telling me this all morning." He explained and Haibara nodded.
"Exactly. If someone drops dead in front of you, keep walking." She says and Shinichi scoffed but stayed quiet.
He already knew that. With the Black Order still out on the loose, any involvement in a public case could be life or death for him and the people he knew. He wasn't so stupid as to get himself killed.
Shinichi stood up from the couch, nearly falling to the ground when his legs almost gave out. Haibara gave him a weary look as she wrapped up the machine.
"Are you sure you're in good enough condition to be going out?" She inquired as Shinichi dusted off his jeans. The detective looked at her and stretched his legs.
"We do this every week Haibara, I'll be fine." He said and bent over to grab his shirt. His spine protruded under his skin, visible when he did this and he looked fairly malnourished from where Haibara was standing, but she just couldn't convince him to eat more than a one thousand calorie diet. The electric shock therapy was supposed to help his depleted muscles and make sure that he could get through the day without getting too tired. So far Haibara could tell it was working, but if he didn't start eating right then no matter how hard they worked, his muscles wouldn't get any better. "I'll be back around dinner time." Shinichi said making his way to the door after he had thrown his shirt on. Haibara made a sound of agreement before turning and making her way to the basement door. Shinichi smiled at the still small adult and made his way outside.
It was fairly bright out for the morning, but it was more often like this in the summer. Shinichi very much liked the warm mornings when he could walk around and not be freezing his tail off. So with a deep breath and hands in his pockets, Shinichi walked back to his house next door and said goodbye to the sun as he entered the dimly lit mansion. Ran was waiting for him in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in hand. He smiled at her and took the coffee with a thankful nod.
"How did your session with Agasa go?" She asked as Shinichi took a sip of his coffee. He sat down at the bar next to her and put his mug down, holding it with both hands.
"As good as it can. My session should have been longer, but I have a meeting with some people who want me to investigate their house." He explained bringing the mug to his lips and taking another sip. Ran got up from her chair and made her way around the bar. "I'll get breakfast on the way there." Shinichi explained as he saw her opening the fridge. Ran turned to him with a serious motherly face that he often saw as Conan and Shinichi leaned away from her a bit.
"No you won't. That's why I'm going to cook you something before you leave." She demanded and reached into the fridge for the ingredients. "You don't eat enough Shinichi and your weight is suffering because of it." Things were quiet for a moment as she looked down at the floor. "I know that you can't eat much at one time because of the incident, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't at least eat something to keep your current body weight." She said as she got ready to cook. Shinichi sighed and leaned his chin on his hand. Shinichi knew he probably should have told her the truth.
It had been nearly another year before he had returned as Conan and when he returned to his teenage body the lack of nutrition had left his muscles as they were when he was an eight year old. Because of this, Shinichi couldn't return to the Kudou mansion like he had planned. Conan had returned to living with his parents in America, but Shinichi had been kept at Agasa's house in order to help him recover. His rehab was still ongoing, but he had to drop off the radar from everyone but the two doctors for two months. When he met with Ran again he was forced to use a walking stick so he would be able to walk places with her. Ran had questioned him thoroughly about why he looked to starved and Shinichi had to make up a story about how he was kidnapped for two months and only fed once every few days. It seemed fairly convincing at the time, but now he just felt horrible,when she brought it up. She was hurting because he was put through a hell that didn't happen, but he couldn't tell her the truth yet. So he was forced to deal with her comments and her force feeding.
Its not that he didn't want to eat, it was just hard because he got sick if he ate too much. His body wasn't used to eating adult meals and sadly, getting sick happened all too easily in his current condition. When Ran had finished making him food he began eating right away after a glance at the clock on his phone. He had an hour to get ready which didn't leave him with very much time to shower.
"Agasa told me that you should be able to play soccer again soon." Ran explained as he chewed a mouth full of rice. "Isn't that great?" She quipped and clapped her hands together. Shinichi smiled at her habit of motherly reassurance and nodded. He hadn't been able to play soccer at all since he had returned to his body.
Halfway through his meal Shinichi had to sit back and take a breath. He was starting to feel a little sick again and Ran seemed to notice. She picked up his plate and took it over to the counter next to the sink. "I'll pack this up for you so you can eat it on the way." She explained.
"Thanks Ran." Shinichi said putting a hand over his mouth as he let out a silent, but unsettling burp. His brows scrunched in irritation before he stood. "I'm gonna go get ready to leave." He huffed out and she waved goodbye with her back turned as she put the food in a left over container.
Shinichi made his way down the hall and looked to the top of the stair case. He remembered not being able to climb these at one point, but now as he stepped forward, he climbed them easily. Well, as easily as one could have. He was a tad winded when he reached the top.
His shower was warm and left him refreshed when he got dressed for the day. He chose to wear casual clothing since he was meeting someone he had already met before. Sure they weren't exactly friends, but they were at least acquaintances. His school uniform wasn't extremely comfortable anymore either considering he had to wear a belt with it that dug into his hips. He slipped on his socks and made his way out into the hall again.
"Shinichi?" Ran's voice called from downstairs.
"Yeah?" He answered while making his way downstairs. Ran was standing by the door with her jacket on and Shinichi's food in hand.
"I'm heading out. Did you want to walk to the train station with me?" She asked. "I'm meeting Sonoko at the mall." She explained. Shinichi nodded as he walked towards her and grabbed his own jacket from the rack. It wasn't cold out, but the wind made it chilly.
"The kids came over again yesterday." She explained sadly. Shinichi tried to look disconcert at this. He understood their concern for Conan, but they needed to understand that he wasn't coming back.
"What did they want?" He asked as they turned the corner out of the mansion gates.
"To see if Conan had visited." Ran muttered. Shinichi could tell she was pretty beat up about Conan leaving. The children were just making that feeling worse, but no matter how many times Conan called to tell them to stop they just kept showing up. He probably shouldn't call them anymore. That was probably why they kept going to the detective agency.
"Have you told them that he's not coming back?" He asked. Conan had told them this a few times, but they didn't seem to believe him. Ran nodded solemnly. Shinichi sighed, not sure what else to say. You can only say so many things to kids. Even these kids.
Ran and Shinichi talked for a while longer before they reached the station. Shinichi waved goodbye to his childhood friend before turning and making his way to his own train.
He ate the rest of his breakfast on the train, making sure to pack it all back up before he arrived to the address he was given. He knocked on the door and waited looking around at his surroundings. A fairly large American styled house, no garden in the front but there was a porch swing, they surely had a good amount of money from the state of the house. It had a green lawn and fairly recent siding. Shinichi observed more of the house before there was a crash from inside and some cursing followed by the door being wrenched open. Shinichi was surprised to see the boy he had met a while ago, about his age looking back at him, but what surprised him even more was the fact that the teen was covered in pink glitter and green glue.
"Are... You okay?" He asked as the boy just stared, shocked by the one standing in front of him that looked just like himself. When he didn't answer Shinichi leaned closer and gave him a befuddled look. "Hello?" He asked and the boy shook his head. Glue and glitter flew from the ends. Shinichi flinched back to avoid getting hit with glue.
"Heh," The boy laughed opening the door and stepping fully into view. Shinichi saw more glue and glitter. "Sorry. My magic kinda got the best of me." He explained gesturing to himself. Shinichi hummed and nodded, entering the building when the boy stepped out of the way.
"Kai-Chan, is the detective here?" Came a female voice from down the hall. The boy pulled some glue away from his face and glowered when it pulled at his hair.
"Yeah..." He grumbled rather loudly and retreated down the hall. Shinichi took off his shoes and glanced around for the slippers, but after seeing none, walked down the hall after his look alike.
"Good." The female voice said again, getting louder as he got closer to the room. He followed the boy- Kai-Chan, though he doubted he'd be calling the boy that- into the sitting room. A woman with short brown hair and pretty amethyst eyes walked in holding a tray with a tea set on it. She set it on the table and smiled at him as she too sat down. "Kai, go clean up while I inform the detective about what we're gonna do today." She said. Shinichi noted the casual accent to her voice but knew that it wasn't Kansaiben or any other accent from Japan that he knew of. "Now then," She said once the teen had left the room. "My name is Chikage ." She introduced herself. "Kai -Chan'll be down in a bit. Would you like some tea?" She asked as she picked up the pot.
"Yes, please." Shinichi said and sat down as she poured him some. "I'm sorry if this is a bit rude," Shinichi began. "but where are you from?" He asked as he took the tea cup from her. She grinned.
"I was born here, but I like to travel a lot, so I've picked up a weird accent. Does it bother you?" She asked, still grinning. He smiled a bit shaking his head.
"No, I had noticed from the way your house is styled. It has an American setting, but a French interior mixed with Japanese structure. Its very unique." Shinichi explained. The woman's face was a mix of shock and fascination that Shinichi had often seen on people who expected nothing less from him.
"Impressive." She said and sat back in her chair with her own tea. "But I'm sure you'd like to get to business." She said and took a sip of her tea. Shinichi nodded and did the same. "This visit is probably unnecessary, but we'd like to make sure we cover all the bases. The place that we just bought as a summer house needs to be touched up and renovated, but the people that we send there have been disappearing if they stay overnight. So far the only people who've been returning are the day watch and us of course." She explained, Shinichi nodded. "There hasn't been any occurrences where the bodies have been found bloodied or beaten to death or I would have called the police, so I wanted to bring in you instead." She explained. Shinichi sat his tea on the table and leaned forward to lean his elbows on his knees.
"Has anyone been found?" He asked, referring to the missing peoples. She shook her head.
"No one has even reported them missing. The families I mean. It's like they never existed. Only me and Kai-Chan realized that anyone is missing." She explained. Shinichi's brows lowered in confusion.
"That can't be possible." He offered. She met his confusion with an equally stumped frown. "Well, I'll see what I can do." He confessed. She nodded and sipped her tea again. The familiar face from earlier thumped down the stairs and Shinichi looked over just as he entered the room.
"Oh, Kudou-San, this is my son Kaito. Kai-Chan, this is Shinichi Kudou." She formerly introduced them. She stood with Shinichi as Kaito picked water out of his ear. He was fresh from the shower with a plaid button up thrown over a white t-shirt. Shinichi had time to glance down at his slim jeans before he offered a hand for Kaito to take. "You two look nearly the same!" Chikage Said cheerfully. Shinichi inspected Kaito briefly, noticing the mischievous spark in his eyes before his hand was gripped by Kaito's and there was a sudden poof of pink smoke. Surprised, Shinichi let go of the teens hand to take a step back. Chikage Let out a unamused noise and there was shuffling before a window opened and the smoke slowly faded away. "Kaito, I've already told you not to do those types of tricks in the house, and certainly not to our guests!" She scolded.
Shinichi heard Kaito chortle before he looked down at himself and saw that he was wearing Kaito's clothing. Upon further inspection he saw that Kaito was wearing Shinichi's clothing and his hair was now almost exactly like Shinichi was wearing his. However when he reached up to his hair he realized that Kaito had styled Shinichi's hair like Kaito's had been. The messiness of it mildly irritated Shinichi, but he ignored it for now. Right now he wanted to figure out how the boy had managed all of this without Shinichi feeling it. When the last of the smoke wafted from the room, Shinichi realized that his socks had also been changed. He was about to ask how he had managed this without feeling anything himself when the room turned at an odd angle.
He had to sit down.
"Woah, I didn't know you were gonna pass out on me or I would've just stuck to a hand buzzer." Kaito confessed as Shinichi stumbled back into his chair. Admittedly it wasn't because of Kaito's trick. It was because he hadn't eaten the special diet food that Haibara usually made him that morning when he had the electrotherapy. Shinichi shook his head.
"Sorry, it's not because of you..." He explained as he ran a hand through his already messy hair. He nearly missed the concerned look that ghosted over Kaito's face when he ran a hand down his own. It seemed odd, but right now he was more worried about his blood sugar. "I'm fine. Don't worry." He said more to himself than to his clients. Carefully, he stood up again and reached into his back pocket to pull out a small candy. He unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth. Candy wasn't one if his most favorite things to eat considering he didn't enjoy the taste of sweets, but it was the quickest way to raise his blood sugar level without sitting down to eat another meal. Kaito didn't look as concerned as before and was actually looking at the clothes he was wearing.
"You sure are skinny." He said and Shinichi let out a huff. Kaito's mother walked up behind Shinichi and smiled.
"I'm sorry about that. Kai-Chan likes to show everyone his magic the first time he meets someone." Chikage confessed and Shinichi shook his head. It wasn't like this was their first meeting. Kaito grinned and made a gesture with his hand and Shinichi watched as a rose popped out of nowhere.
"I'm gonna be a famous magician one day!" He exclaimed. Shinichi seemed surprised at this but didn't let it bother him too much. Kaito gave a mischievous grin. "Even better than Kaitou KID!" He said and waved his arms causing all of his hidden pigeons to escape out of his, well they were actually Shinichi's, clothing.
Shinichi found this interesting. Kaito was obviously a good magician, but KID had years of training up his sleeve. Shinichi doubted this teen could be so good at magic. He wasn't given more time to think about it though. They had to get a move on if they were going to make it back before dinner. He didn't want Haibara yelling at him again.
Kaito's mother made a small whistling sound and all of the pigeons came flying back to her. She pet one on the head before turning her attention to Kaito.
"Why don't you put your birds away and then we'll leave?" She asked. Kaito pouted and placed the rose he had conjured up earlier in Shinichi's hand before making the same whistling noise. The birds flew over to their master happily and made little cooing sounds while Kaito walked across the room.
Shinichi inspected the rose in his hand as Kaito left the room. It was red with a long stem and didn't have any thorns. Shinichi was so fascinated with it that he didn't see the worried look Chikage gave him.
"Are you sure you're alright Kudou-san?" She asked and Shinichi looked over at her. He nodded.
"Yes, I just had low blood sugar." He spoke around the hard candy in his mouth. "It happens every once in a while." He spoke and she nodded in understanding.
Kaito came back into the room minutes later wearing his own clothes again with his wild hair back to normal. He handed Shinichi his own clothing and Shinichi nodded gratefully. Before he could even ask where the bathroom was there was another explosion of smoke and his mother let out an angry sound.
"Kaito!" She said and he let out a cackle.
"It's faster this way!" He exclaimed, his voice sounding like it was in Shinichi's ear.
Shinichi jumped a bit at the sound of his voice being so close. It wasn't that he didn't mind the other teen being close in proximity, it was how close he was. Now that he was paying close attention, Shinichi could feel the ghost of a hand on his wrist. The feeling made him shiver and want to reach out to grab his hand, but he refrained. Instead, he waited until the smoke was cleared away so that he could look at himself again. With a sigh of relief he ran a hand over his shirt.
"Alright, shall we get going?" Shinichi asked, ignoring Kaito's smug grin.
A/N: I have no idea how many pages this is. My phone wont tell me. So, this was originally a Black Cat story, but I felt that it was better suited to be a Detective Conan story. Its easier to write knowing that I don't have to ultimately do a crossover or AU. It'll take some time to do the second chapter, but I assure you I'll have it out in a reasonable amount of time.