Warning, Gender Bender! - Fem!Shinichi – Based roughly off the movie, Wizard of Oz and Tin Man, the mini-series. I own neither.

Enjoy!

Road to OZ part 1

~A Dalantis story~

"Ma, Pa!" Shinara yelled, running into the kitchen with Conan in her arms, holding tight around her neck, "look what Conan made!"

Yusaku and Yukiko looked, up their smiles forced as they greeted their two foster children.

"What is it my dears?"

Shinara froze, reading the tension in their body language, but Conan jumped from her arms, landing on the floor and running to their parents.

"I made a drawing, Auntie Yukiko!"

Yukiko pursed her lips at the title (she hated being called auntie) but didn't refute the term like she normally did. Instead, she took the picture, a badly drawn scribble of them and the children; her eyes filling with tears.

"…It's wonderful…Conan," she whispered, standing up as she placed the pictured back on the table.

Conan and Shinara stared after her in confusion.

"What's wrong with Yukiko?" Shinichi asked his foster father.

Yusaku sighed.

"We…" he paused and turned to Conan, "Conan, would you please go outside and see if the boys are finished with their chores around the estate?"

"Sure pa!" he yelled, dashing out of the room, all smiles.

Yusaku turned back to the serious faced Shinara.

"Yukiko and I… we want to adopt you."

Shinara gaped at him before a smile split her face. "Really?!"

Yusaku nodded, but he didn't smile. Shinara's own smile slowly died.

"What…what's the matter?"

"It…someone else, wants to adopt Conan."

"What?! They can't do that! Conan is my brother, he belongs with me! Are they wanting to adopt me to?"

Yusaku shook his head. "No."

"Well, you told them no right? I mean, you told them you want to adopt him as well, right?"

Yusaku grimaced.

"Shinara… we want to, but… with our money as tight as it is right now, what with the war and everything going on right now… we just, can't afford to. We only have the money to adopt one and… we have always wanted a girl, what with the boys and all."

Shinara stared at him in disbelief.

"No! I refuse to leave Conan!" she finally yelled, outraged.

Normally, Shinara was a silent and well-mannered girl, but she was fiercely protective of her little brother and the idea of allowing him to be adopted by a stranger without her there to protect him; it infuriated her.

"Shinara!" Yusaku shouted after her, but the teen was already gone, rushing out the doors of the farm house estate.

Shinara ran hard, tears stinging her eyes. She didn't know where she was going, but ran and ran and didn't look back for even a second. How dare they do that to her and her brother!

How dare them! She hates them! Hates them, hates them, hates them, hates them…

She continued to chant this in her head, but her tears streamed harder the more she thought it… because she knew it wasn't true. She loved them. For the first time since she became a child of the foster care system, she had found a place she truly considered home.

God, why was life so unfair!

Slowing to a stop, Shinara wiped her eyes and looked around. She hadn't been paying attention to her destination and now, standing in the middle of nowhere, she was utterly lost.

"Just great…" she whispered with a sigh, her hand clutching at her head where an ache had begun to form.

Behind her, the horn of a car brought her from her frustrated state of mind.

"Standing in the road little miss will get you run over," a kindly voice called from the truck.

Shinara squinted her eyes against the light of the sun.

"Sorry mister," she sighed.

The man stared at her a moment.

"You lost?"

Shinara wanted to deny it, but as she looked again at her current surroundings, she couldn't deny the truth.

"Seems so."

The man hesitated for a moment, before shoving open the passenger door of his truck.

"Get in, just tell me where to drop you at."

Shinara paused, unsure about accepting a ride from a random stranger, but at the moment, she was somewhat desperate for someone to talk to.

"Alright, thanks," she said as she climbed in the cab.

The man nodded and started down the road.

"So… you going somewhere?"

Shinara glanced at him.

"Not really. Why?"

"I noticed you running earlier from a ways away. Luckily you didn't dart in front of my truck. Still, no one just runs like that without a real reason."

Shinara supposed that was logical.

"If you must know… I was running away from home for a while."

The man was silent for a moment.

"Are you in trouble?" he asked.

Shinara chuckled.

"Trouble?" she repeated, "depends on how you mean."

She sighed and shook her head.

"No, not really. It's just… my brother and I are foster children and… the people who are keeping us… they don't have the money to adopt us both, but they still want to adopt me. Without Conan though…" Shinara stopped, her emotions beginning to once more take control of her tear ducts.

"Easy little miss," the man stated kindly as he handed her a handkerchief, "Sorry I asked. Sounds to me like you have a real mess on your hands."

The girl choked on a sob as she nodded. "You don't know the half of it," she whispered.

The man was silent a moment before sighing.

"I can somewhat relate."

Shinara turned to him, to curious for her own good. She always did love a mystery.

Noticing her patiently waiting expression, the man began his tale.

"See uh, I had a wife and son. My wife, she was a spirited gal with a good knack for brightening a place up with her presence alone. My son had the same knack. Anyways, one day my wife and son left to visit her parents and on the way, their plane got stuck in a horrible storm."

The man paused, a deep grief filled his eyes.

"They never returned. Authorities declared them and everyone aboard the small plane, deceased. In one night, I lost my entire world."

Shinara didn't know what to say as they pulled up to the front of her house. Climbing out of the cab, she froze when a sudden thought struck her.

"I never told you my name or my address. How did you know…"

The man smiled.

"My name is Toichi Kuroba. As mayor, it's my job to know the people who live in my city."

The man smiled and tipped his head.

"I hope it all works out for you, Ms. Shinara."

With those words the truck pulled away to leave Shinara staring after it.

Road to OZ

Shinara snuck into the farm house, past the living room where she could hear the voices of her foster parents whispering back and forth with one another, to the back door leading to the chicken pens and horse stalls.

"Conan!" she called, searching for her brother.

"Over here Shin!" came her brothers voice.

Shinara rounded the corner and came face to face with a large cow, behind which sat her brother, a large grin on his face.

"Hattori was teaching me how to milk the cows!"

Farm hand and former foster child, Heiji Hattori, smiled as he bashfully rubbed his head.

"Wasn't nothing ma'am," he stated with a smile.

Shinara grinned. She and Heiji had been friends for a while at the orphanage, but he still refused to call her by her name even now.

"Glad to hear he is taking care of you. Look uh, Conan, I need to tell you something okay?"

Conan frowned but nodded as he followed his sister out of the stalls.

"What is it Shinara?"

"I was talking to Yusaku and…"

"Shinara! Conan!" a voice called.

The two looked up as Saguru came strolling towards them, a large smile on his face.

"Sagu-nii!" Conan yelled, running to the blonde as he swept the little boy up into his arms.

Saguru Hakuba was the son of the town sheriff, Rikuto Hakuba, who for a short time due to his parents' divorce, stayed in the orphanage until child custody could be decided once and for all. He had become especially close to Conan who had been much younger at the time.

"Saguru," Shinara greeted with a smile.

Saguru smiled back.

"Glad to you see both," he replied before his smile faded, "I am afraid however, we have come with bad news."

Shinara felt her breath catch.

"They are here… aren't they?" she whispered.

Saguru scowled with a nod.

"They came demanding my father to bring them to the farm house where the child they wished to adopt, lived. Father didn't want to, but… he couldn't deal with their endless complaints about threatening to call the mayor."

"Mayor…" Shinara whispered, thinking back to the man in the truck, "Mayor Kuroba, was it?"

Saguru blinked.

"You know him? He just recently became mayor."

"Yeah I uh, happened to meet him."

"Well anyways, yeah, they have been leaving endless messages for both my father and the mayor for the past several days. They wanted to talk to Yusaku and Yukiko about something. Probably, trying to take Conan earlier for the moneys sake."

"Like hell they will," Shinara growled, but her fears grew. What if Yusaku and Yukiko let them?

"Conan, we need to leave. Come on."

Shinara grabbed her brother's hand and began dragging him after her. The child was confused, but complied as Saguru called after them.

"Where are you going?!"

"Away from here! I won't let them take Conan!"

Saguru growled and ran after her.

"Shinara, I understand how you feel, but…"

"I don't think you do, Saguru."

Shinara stared at her friend who flinched away at the desperately sad expression she was currently giving him.

"I can't let them take Conan. He's… all I have left."

Saguru didn't try to stop her as the two vanished over the grass covered slopes of the farm.

"Shinara where are we going?!" Conan struggled in her grip as he tried to stop his feet from moving.

"Away from here," stated Shinara, but her heart ached with a pain she tried to hide.

"Why?! I like it here! I want to say, I want to…"

"Conan!" she screamed, stopping cold.

Conan froze, his eyes wide. His sister never yelled at him like that before.

"Conan," she whispered this time and hugged him close, her head buried in his chest as she knelt on the ground in front of him, "I'm so sorry."

Road to Oz

Shinara woke as the rumble of thunder shook the air. Beside her, deep asleep with his head buried in her side, was Conan. Shinara smiled, gently brushing a hair from his face before another clap of thunder, this time louder, had her sitting up.

"Shinara?" Conan whispered, sleepily rubbing his eyes, "what's wrong?"

"A storm…" she whispered, "Come on Conan, we need to get back!"

Conan blinked tiredly as Shinara swept her brother into her arms. It had been foolish coming out to the plains this time of the year. Twisters were a normal occurrence in this area and from the sound of that thunder and the harsh pull of the wind, she began to fear they had stumbled their way to the heart of one.

The sky turned black and the wind howled as she fought to get home. She screamed out for anyone to hear her words, but no one answered. Struggling with her brother in her arms towards the door, she pulled it open and rushed inside.

"Yusaku! Yukiko! Anyone?!"

The house was deserted.

Running to the bedroom, she was nearly to the bed when the house groaned and the nearby bookshelf fell, catching her off guard and to the floor. Shinara blinked away stars as she looked around the room. Conan lay beside her, his eyes closed.

"Conan?" she called, but he didn't budge.

Wincing, she touched her head and noticed the blood dropping from a cut on her forehead. Looking up, she called out again to anyone who might possible be nearby.

"Yusaku! Yukiko! Hattori! Anyone!"

Again, there was no reply.

Outside, the wind howled in anger. The window of her bedroom shattered and she ducked her head and covered the body of her brother with her own before looking back up. Outside, a twister of dirt and farm supplies swirled in a circle. She stared in awe as cows flew by and chickens squawked through the open window. In the distance, seeming to sit in the midst of the sand, the image of a person began to appear.

An evil cackle like never before heard, sounded through the room and Shinara hid her eyes as the vicious face of what could only be described as a monster shown through, and then all at once, the wind died down and the sand and dirt vanished and all that was left, was the shining sun.

"Shinara?" came the groaning voice of her little brother.

Shinara turned to Conan and checked him over.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, what happened?"

"A twister… Yusaku and Yukiko! Are they alright?!"

Shinara rushed to the front door, her brother following behind her at a slower pace. Rushing out into the shining sun, she froze when, instead of a wrecked farmstead greeting her eyes, a village unlike anything she had ever seen appeared.

"Where…are we?" Conan asked, his small eyes wide in awe and wonder.

Shinara stared at the small, colorful village with her own expression of bewilderment.

"Wherever this is, it's definitely not Kansas."

At that moment, an alarm began to sound.

To be continued…

AUTHORS NOTE:

So yeah, this is my own version of the roughly adapted version of Wizard of Oz with the characters from Detective Conan. I own neither, though I wish I did.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! More to come!

Let me know your thoughts!