Title: The Art of Subtlety

Summary: As to be the real reason as to why Shinichi loves the Holmes novels and Kaito is surprised and amused as to what one can find on the Internet.

A/N: Had this for a while, finally I can use it!

Conan couldn't fathom a guess as to why he and Hattori were in fact in his home, the Kudo mansion, until he realized that he was standing in his great library. Must be a research thing - perhaps he would like to borrow one of his books? In the massive room, Hattori stood in amazement at the sheer number of books it held. Conan sighed. Acknowledging the fact that he most likely wouldn't be able to make the Osakan detective leave the premises, he decided to pass the time by grabbing a book from a nearby shelf that was within arm's length. He then started the journey to the lounging area in the corner.

"Woah, Kudo! Look at all the books!"

The shrunken detective gave him a look while he pointed to a picture behind him of his father and mother just barely appearing in the corner. "Father being a world famous author. That is the only comment I have about your last statement."

Ignoring Hattori's expression, he kicked off his slippers as he snuggled into a plush chair out in the corner of the room, book still in hand as he turned on a switch on a nearby lamp. "Tell me when you're done researching," he called before digging his nose in his book.

"Let me guess, A Study in Scarlet?" Heiji appeared behind him, making Conan close his book and turned to him in faux shock.

"Oh wow! Whatever gave you that idea? Was is the title seen on the spine of the book?" Conan asked in a high, shocked voice before giving him a dubious look. "Yes, it's Study in Scarlet. Now leave me be while you do what you want in my house." He turned back to his book again, tuning out his intrusive guest as he continued to read.

"You wound me and my detective skills, Kudo," Heiji sniffled, clutching his arm as if in pain. Still, it didn't faze the not-child as he just continued to tune him out in favor of his book.

Heji, soon realizing that he wouldn't receive a response from his reluctant host, took a seat on the floor and crossed his legs into a pretzel. Pouting, he said in a somewhat quiet voice, "Actually, I was hoping that you would lend me a book. A book about a certain British detective and his doctor assistant?"

Conan looked up from his book at that point, a glinting look in his eye. "Really now? Whatever made you suddenly decide to read them? Is it the reason as to why we are here?"

"… Perhaps."

"Well then," Conan shut his book and stuck out his tongue. "Too bad."

"Hah?" Hattori went wide eyed at the not-child's response.

"Baro, you should know all about Sherlock Holmes after that case. You know, the one where you found out who I truly was? You know enough if you were able to pass the 'amateur' test. Baakaa..." Conan frowned. "Can I go now?"

"You wound me once more, Kudo." Hattori frowned as well, rustling his jacket. "I believe that Kid may have made a reference to a novel -"

"There was a notice?" Conan jumped off the chair and quickly to Hattori to take the piece of paper he started to remove from an inside pocket. Hattori, still slightly annoyed at Kudo's attitude while at the mansion, kept it away from him.

"When was this, why was I only told now?" He demanded, his voice ringing in the Osakan detective's ear.

"I stopped by the agency and found an envelope addressed to one 'Tantei-kun' on the floor." There was also a white shaded rose attached to the note, but Kudo didn't need to know that. Hattori faintly remembered tossing the flower in a trash bin while on the way to pick up Kudo from school.

"To me?" Conan reached out to grab the note again, only for it to be raised even higher from reach. Cursing his size, he pouted and crossed his arms, facing away from Hattori.

"Now what do you say?" Hattori grinned as Conan turned to him.

Instead of speaking, he held out his hand.

"..." They stared at each other for a moment in silence, Heiji too stunned and confused by his shrunken rival.

"Give me back what's mine. It was addressed to me, was it not?" Conan gave him another dubious look that he was so famous for. "You don't expect me to ask for something that's mine, do you?"

"… Fine." Hattori tossed him the note. Conan began to devour it with his eyes.

With the purple larkspur buried underneath the powder snow.

Even with the grains of sand, glistening, I

know you don't like her.

You would think the Mazarin Stone,

but personally, if I must choose, I prefer the goose.

Until we dance then.

Kaitou Kid

"…"

Conan was wide eyed and studied it. Hattori's phone rang. He gave the non-child a wry smile, who shrugged and just got up from his spot and to a shelf. The Osakan answered his phone, "Hello?"

Meanwhile, Conan searched for those specific books, finding two and looking for a third before Hattori hung up the phone.

"I was just informed that Kid left another note at the Station, but what I was told was completely different from what this note says..." He trailed off as he realized that he was being ignored anyway as Conan searched on for that book, on his tiptoes. The shrunken detective let out a groan and tried to reach for a book, which after a few moments he gave up and pulled over a chair to improve his size.

Only to find that Hattori had picked it out. "The Five Orange Pips?"

Or not. "Baarroo," Conan insulted as he snatched the book from the teen's hands and placed it back on the shelf, punching him on the shoulder for good measure. "This book."

Hattori rubbed his arm; it didn't hurt as much as a kick would but he would humor the boy. "The Sign of the Four? Hey, isn't that your favorite book?"

"Yeah..." Conan scratched his neck. "Anyway, what about the other note?"

"I won't bother you with the details, since it was already decoded."

Conan blinked. "Really? That was fast."

"Yeah well, it was simple. Hakuba-han was there. Basically Kid said that he will take the Golden Egg at the exhibit that will be held for it on the Suzuki Cruise Ship on September 18th 'within the sixth and seventh hour'. It didn't give a specific time. Anyway, I'm sure that you will have an invitation for it. As for me..."

Conan smirked as what was implied. "Guess you're not coming, huh?"

Hattori sighed in defeat. "I doubt it."

"Well then," Conan tucked the books underneath his arms and pointed to the door. "Get out of my house."

"Conan-kun, you look so cute!" Ran squealed as she, her father, and her 'brother' walked onboard the cruse ship, dressed for the occasion. She was wearing a spaghetti strap crimson red dress that shimmered under the moonlight, cut right at the top of her knee. She shivered as they rushed inside the hall.

"Ehehehehe..." He himself was wearing his red bow tie, as always, but couldn't get in his belt, sneakers, or suspenders in. Instead, all one could see was Conan in a black buttoned short-sleeved shirt with a snow white buttoned vest over it. Actually, it couldn't be seen as he was wearing a blue scarf with a black pea coat for outerwear.

"Perhaps I should have dressed more warmly..." Ran rubbed her arms together.

"Here, Ran-nee-chan!" Conan removed his gloves and handed them to her. It wasn't much, so he sacrificed his pea coat and scarf and gave them as well.

"Oh, thank you, Conan-kun! But I won't take your coat and scarf, although I do appreciate it!" She said, taking the gloves from him and gave back the pea coat and scarf. As she took them, she spotted a twinkle. "Say, what's that on your finger?"

"Nothing, Ran-nee-chan!" He chirped, quickly hiding his hand behind his back. "I'm going to look for something to eat! Bye!" Without another word, he dashed off into the room, looking at all openings and exits.

Of course, if he knew what he was doing, he was most likely already at the party, in disguise, biding his time. Conan pulled at his sleeve, revealing his watch, which told him that there was twenty minutes until the appointed time. Not that anyone else knew, as the information was hidden not in the formal note, but the informal one.

"How did he find out…?" He spoke to himself aloud, not paying attention as he almost walked into a waitress.

"Hey, be careful there!" She said, lowering herself to Conan's eye level. "It's almost six. Kaitou Kid will be here any moment now. Regardless, may I offer you an hor d'oeuvre? It's duck." She brought the tray to Conan's face, and popped one in his mouth despite shaking his head.

He savored the flavor. "This is good," He commented, taking another. "Oh, and he won't."

She blinked at his confidence. "Oh? Then do you know at what time he will strike?"

"6:18," He said after eating another piece.

"And how do you know that?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at the child, who removed his personalized note to show her.

"According to this, I know that he'll come at 6:18." He replaced the note back into his pocket as he took the last appetizer from the tray. "Those were good, what was in it?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, I just serve the stuff. But I'm glad you liked it." She smiled. "But I see what you mean about the note," the waitress said, nodding as she reached out for another hor d'oeuvre from a fellow waiter's tray. This time, it was a mini vanilla cupcake. "You're Edogawa Conan, right? The one that likes to duel with Kaitou Kid?" She handed it to him. "It's your birthday today, isn't it?"

He widened his eyes, how did she know that? "Yeah..." He licked his lips as she fed him the cupcake. It was sweet, but gave a weird aftertaste from eating poultry just a few moments before. He felt himself to be growing warmer, so he stripped himself of his scarf and pea coat.

"I can take that for you," The waitress with a now empty tray said, tucking said tray underneath her arm and taking the clothes from the child, who was starting to breath heavily.

"Duck…. Duck…" He groaned, blinking at the waitress. "Please don't tell me that you did."

"Did what?" She asked, smiling at Conan's outfit.

"Nyeh..." He mumbled, rubbing his head. "I'm sleepy."

"Would you like me to take you to a couch to rest?" She asked, smiling at the blush appearing at Conan's face.

"N-no, take me to Ran-nee-chan, please," He panted, starting to lightly sweat.

"No, I don't think I'll do that…" The girl said, breathing in Conan's ear. "Look at the time, Tantei-kun," Her voice turned low, "It's 6:17. Time flies through random chit chat and snacking, doesn't it?"

"Fuwah," Conan spoke, unable to speak coherently as the girl took his hand.

"Excellent. You received my message intact, even if Tantei-han did remove one of the most important elements." She produced a white rose from her sleeve just as a soft chime rang.

"That's my cue." Kid looked up to the sunroof. "Would you like to come?"

"Uwha," Conan replied, blinking franticly.

She placed the flower on his vest. "I'll take that as a yes then." With a snap of fingers, the lights went off. There was a flutter of cloth as the lights flickered back into life, and Conan found himself in the arms of Kaitou Kid on top of the chandelier.

"Oooh, less stable than I thought, give me a second here..." Conan closed his eyes as they landed beside the exhibit. Kid cleared his throat so that he would be noticed as everyone didn't.

"You think that I would be taking this egg, yes?" The thief gestured to the display case containing the Golden Egg. "Well, sorry to disappoint you there. Instead, I'll be taking this," Kid held out a blue ring high to show it off to the audience. "Chibi Tantei-kun here was kind enough to understand the true meaning of my message."

Random bystanders were in shock. Megure-keibu especially as he held Nakamori-keibu back to avoid tripping over the security. "How did -"

"Yes, the Sky Ring, lost to the ages but obviously not." Kid set off a smoke bomb and ran in the confusion, taking his favorite detective with him.

"Conan-kun!" Ran screamed, reaching out in a futile attempt to save him.

"Don't worry, Mouri-chan," Kid winked with his silhouette in the moonlight, Conan mumbling incoherently in his arms as he closed his eyes. "I'll take good care of him."

"How you feeling, Tantei-kun?" Kid asked as he tucked the shrunken detective into a bed.

"Gack, I can't believe that you actually drugged me," Conan mumbled as he snuggled himself in the bed to make himself more comfortable, still feeling the after effects. "The same exact way too." He remembered the cupcake. "Although the cupcake wasn't originally there."

"Well, it's only fitting." Kid winked, taking out a booklet. "I can't really say I'm impressed by your writing, since it was obvious that you would be an amazing author. However, the content of the writing, now that impressed me. And it's your birthday, so I figured since I couldn't bring a cake it was the next best thing."

Conan blushed. "Sh-shut up," he stuttered, hiding himself under the pillows. "How did you find out?"

Kid shrugged. "I was pleasantly surprised while surfing the internet. Never thought it would be you."

Conan's ears were red. "How did you find out?"

Kid turned to the window. "You solved the riddles. Didn't you notice the references I made to them?"

"…. That's why they seemed so familiar…" Conan spoke softly, eyes still slightly glassy. "Glad you took out the last part."

"Hmm, perhaps."

Conan tore the blanket away from his head. "WHAT."

Kid sniggered. "Well, Tantei-kun, again I must say I was surprised by context - "

"Shut up!"

Kid chuckled. "Well, should I continue how you wrote it?" He caressed his fingers along Conan's cheek. "Hmm?"

"No." Conan pushed him away."Shut up. I don't want to do it the way I wrote it. Besides, you aren't even doing it right."

"What do you mean?" Kid questioned. "I followed the blueprints as close as possible."

"It's different!" Conan blushed. "I-I didn't mean it like that."

"Oh?" Kid brushed Conan's bangs away from his eyes. "I'm sure that you didn't."

Conan turned even redder if possible, and shoved the thief away. "Oh my god, why did it have to be you of all people?"

Kid stuck out his tongue. "What's done is done. When you post it on the internet, it's for everyone to view and scrutinize. I'm allowed to read it as much as anyone else. Besides, they're part of the best ones out there. Do you know how much crappy ones I had to surf through before finding yours?"

"H-how did you know that they were written by me specifically?" Conan asked, finally revealing himself from behind the pillow he was trying to suffocate himself in to leave this shameful situation he found himself in.

"Hmm, well at first I just wanted to know if you read it, but since you continued after the heists, with Arsène Lupin in them, I didn't find it to be a coincidence." Kid smirked. "Happy to provide some inspiration for you!"

Conan buried himself in the pillow again. "Mfffffmpf."

Kid tilted his head. "What was that?"

Conan lifted his head from the fluffy device. "I could just die right now from embarrassment. I didn't think it would be you." He sighed. "But what was promised will be delivered." He removed the ring from his finger and handed it to the phantom thief. "Anything else?"

"Hmmm..." Kid thought about it. He smirked. "Wanna finish it the way you wrote it?"

Conan widened his eyes and turned red again. "No!"

"Hey, you're not going to delete them, are you?"

Conan shook his head. "No, like you said they're a lot of crap one has to surf through to actually find the good stuff. Besides, I actually what I put there." He widened his eyes. "But you never heard me say that."

Kid nodded. "Very well then. So, I suppose we should be honest with each other, Kudo Shinichi?"

Conan froze, but sighed. "Since when?"

Kid lowed his cup of tea, out of his outfit and now dressed as Kaito. "During the Sunset Mansion Case. You were invited after all. And you two share the same birthday. Wasn't Ran-chan a little suspicious because of that?"

"… I don't even want to know how you eavesdropped on that conversation. But concerning the Sunset Mansion case, you were the one who invited everyone. At least, in writing. And you came anyway." Conan sighed. "And you? Is this who you are when you're not Kaitou Kid?"

"Kuroba Kaito. At your service, Kudo Shinichi." He smirked. "I'm sure that we can keep each other's secrets."

"So, Kuroba Kaito," Conan started, "since we can go into details about our motives and situations later," he cleared his throat. "could you please untie me?"

Kaito smirked."But we're only on the fourth case! There's at least thirteen I wanna do!"

Conan groaned. "I swear if any of them are the rated M ones..."

Kaito laughed. "We can do those if you want."

Conan jerked back. "I'd rather not!"

"Come on! You can be Sherlock, and I could be Watson -"

Conan rolled his eyes and raised his head, abandoning all shame as he licked his lips. "Just shut up and take the Carbuncle already."

Kaito pouted, but reached out all the shame. "You're no fun, Shin-chan."

A/N: Ending is meh because of reasons.

This makes sense, right? Do I need to bluntly say what is going on here? I really don't want to... But it is head canon of mine. xD

Happy birthday, Shinichi/Conan! xD

More b-day thingies to come... :P

Edit: If you really didn't understand what happened, please PM me or leave a review and I'll be happy to explain it to you. I don't want to put it in here for Title reasons.