A DC version of Dead Like Me with some slight changes to the abilities of grim reapers. Rated T for no reason.
Shinichi: Did you have to torture me like this?
Me: Well, ofcourse, torture is fun!
Shinichi: *Facepalm* I'm swearing to god, if I ever get my hands on you! *Makes strangle motions with his hands*
Me: Too bad your a fictional character :). (If you weren't Hattori would be real too and I'd hug him to death.) *insert evil laughter*
Shinichi: *crosses his arms and taps with his left foot* Isn't it Disclaimer time?
Masago: The author of this story is too lazy to write a Disclaimer and finds it rather stupid to do so, since this is a site for fanfics and it is logical she never owns any of the characters unless they're OC's. *Stares at reader*
Shinichi: You're not helping!
Me: And if you're done reading, REVIEW! *puts on a hypnotic melody that makes you review after reading*
It was dark outside, but the light of the attractions gave you enough chance to see two teens, a boy and a girl, walking over the main plaza of Tropical Land. The boy was talking with a smug expression on his face, the girl was sobbing, clearly upset with something. It was only after a while that the boy seemed to notice it and he stopped his pace, turning around to face the girl.
"Oi, Ran. That case really upset you, didn't it?" He said, giving his childhood friend a caring glance.
"Of course! Someone got killed out there Shinichi! How can you be so heartless?" Ran sobbed. Shinichi sighed. Ran had always been like this: Putting up a though façade but easily breaking down. He put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, not liking to see her sad like this, but then spotted the two suspicious men in black who had been at the murder scene walking into a dark alley.
"Go on without me, Ran." He said and ran to where they had went, waving goodbye to his friend. "Don't worry, I'll capture up with you!"
"Shinichi, wait!" Ran said and tried to follow him, but her shoelace snapped. All she could do was look how her friend disappeared into the darkness. "Please be safe." She said as she stretched out her hand. 'What is this feeling? This feeling that I'll never ever see you again?'
As Ran thought this Shinichi carefully looked around the corner, seeing how one of the man in black picked a tape out of his pocket to trade it for a suitcase filled with money. 'I knew there was something fishy about those guys!' He thought as he took out his cell phone and started to dial Megure-Keibu's number. 'Now I'll just inform the inspector so he can take him in!'
But what Shinichi hadn't realized was that the other man in black wasn't there. The man in question was sneaking up behind him, lifting a small iron pipe, ready to give Shinichi a blow on the head.
"So, who do we have here? Our little detective." The man said, swinging down the pipe. Shinichi turned around, realizing the mistake he had made, but it was too late. The pipe hit his head and with a short "Oof" Shinichi fell to the ground, blood seeping from the wound the blast had caused.
"A-Aniki!" The man in black who had been taking care of the deal said as he turned around in surprise, letting the small businessman who he'd been dealing with escape. Then he looked back at where the businessman had been and cursed.
"Let him go, we'll take care of him later. But first…" The other man in black bend slightly forward, letting his long silver hair fall down his shoulders, and stared at Shinichi's face. "First we make sure our little detective friend will never speak a word about what he's seen here."
His companion took out a gun and pointed it at Shinichi. "We'll make this a fast one then." He started to unlock the safety mode when the silver haired man stopped him.
"No, you fool!" He hissed. "The cops are still crawling around from that murder case! A gun would leave too many traces, even if you use a silencer." He searched through his pocket and pulled out a small metal case. "They say it leaves no trace. Sounds perfect for our little situation."
Though it wasn't visible through his black sunglasses, the companion of the silver haired man was shocked. "But Aniki, that stuff hasn't even been tested yet!"
"We'll test it now." The silver haired man replied while he kneeled down, lifted Shinichi's head and pushed a capsule down the boy's throat. "Sleep tight, meitantei." Then the two men in black left.
Shinichi groaned. His body was on fire! It was like every vein in his body contained lava instead of blood. And his bones, they felt like they were melting! The pain was unbearable. He wanted to scream his lungs out, but the pain had taken away his voice. Shinichi closed his eyes and thought of Ran. Ran… He had never told her how he felt about her and now he would never have the chance to do so. He felt sorry for leaving her like that, her face filled with sadness and despair as he left her behind. 'I'm sorry Ran.' He though as he felt his consciousness slip away.
At least, that was how it felt at first. But after a while, or at least what seemed like a while, he noticed he could still hear, feel a soft breeze, smell the scent of grass. Why wasn't he feeling the soil on his cheek? Wasn't he supposed to be lying on the ground? Slowly Shinichi opened his eyes and noticed he was standing which was weird. Then he looked down and his mouth fall open. "O." Beneath his feet was his body, lying perfectly still, blood flowing down his left temple.
"I see you finally noticed." Shinichi whirled around to where the voice came from and saw a man in his mid thirties with dark brown, almost black hair and emerald green eyes, standing in the shadows.
"How long have you been there?" He said, noticing that his voice sounded weird. It sounded hollow, like it came out of nowhere and didn't really exist at all.
"Ever since you were attacked by them. Good thing they didn't spot me." The man said and smiled sadly when he saw how angry Shinichi looked at him. "It's not like I could have helped you. If you hadn't died by their hand they would have found another way. It's all planned out, every death is chosen at every birth, sometimes life is ruled out completely. It's the reapers way, son."
Shinichi frowned, not sure he understood. "The reapers way?" He turned away from his body and stared at the man, making sure he had understood him right. "Isn't that just a bunch of bullshit made up by some guy with farfetched theories?"
The man laughed and shook his head. "You really are a detective, only believing in what can be scientifically proved." Then he turned serious. "But it's a hundred percent true, son, I can tell you that. And you should be able too, seeing your body like that." The man looked at his watch. "Now, come over here, the cops should be arriving pretty soon."
Shinichi hesitated, but then slowly walked over to the man, not completely sure he could trust the guy, buy also knowing he couldn't hurt him either, not in the state he was in now. "You called the cops?"
The man shook his head. "No, but I informed the reaper that was tracking you. You're her last, so she really freaked out when she'd lost you out of sight."
Suddenly the light of a flashlight went over the grass field where Shinichi's body was lying on. The man grimaced and quickly hid behind the bushes he had been standing next to, beckoning to Shinichi to follow him. Shinichi did reluctantly, not quite knowing why. When he'd made sure he couldn't be seen he observed how the light moved across the field. After scanning it for a while the light suddenly stopped when it found what was left of him. "Iwamoto-San, there's a body here." A tall male policeman with dark brown hair and brown eyes appeared, along with his female companion, who had jet black hair and incredible blue eyes. They kneeled down at Shinichi's body and slowly turned it around, their eyes growing big with shock.
"It's K-Kudo Shinichi!" The female agent said, her voice filled with shock, and she quickly grabbed his wrist, checking for a pulse. After a while she softly put his arm down, her eyes turning sad. "He's dead, Taijiro-Kun." The male agent stared at her in fear.
"You're sure?" He said, swallowing. Then his eyes fell down at the remains. "I mean, he can't be dead, can he?" his voice was filled with disbelieve.
"I'm a hundred percent sure, poor boy. What did he do to deserve this?" The female cop replied while observing the boy. Shinichi stared at her. Somehow the woman looked familiar, though he had no idea where they could've met. "Someone gave him a blow to the head, but it doesn't look serious, he was probably poisoned to make sure he was dead." She stood up and reached out to her walkie-talkie, only to realize it wasn't there. "Err, I forgot my walkie-talkie. Guess we'll have to use yours."
The male cop nodded and moved his hand to his back pocket, then froze, searching for an item that wasn't be there. "I forgot mine too, guess we left them in the canteen when we were called out." He frowned. "Strange, I usually check if I have it with me."
"Then go get them, and alert the others while you're there. I'll stay with the body." The female cop said, tapping her foot and sounding slightly irritated. Her male companion swallowed.
"Okay, but watch out, alright? The people who killed him might still be around." He replied and stood up, giving the female cop a last glance before disappearing.
"Sada-San, is he gone?" the man with the dark brown hair asked softly, peeking over the top of the bushes.
"Ah, what a mess! Don't worry, Masago-San, the coast is clear now." The female cop named Iwamoto Sada turned around and gave him a friendly smile. "Although I would hurry, if I were you. Someone left a bomb that will explode within a few minutes."
"A bomb?" Shinichi said, appearing from his hiding spot. Sada looked up at him and nodded. "Whoever bumped in to you probably didn't want to leave a trace, now let's get this over with, shall we?"
The man, or Masago, nodded and smiled at Shinichi. "Well son, it's time."
Shinichi frowned, not knowing what to make of this, and stared at Sada as she walked over and suddenly grabbed his wrist. Shinichi shrieked when she did this. It wasn't like he hated being touched, but hers was like fire and Shinichi's eyes widened as Sada's hand lit up and made his skin glow and somehow, materialize?
"It's done." Sada said when she finally dropped Shinichi's wrist, staring at him with a warm and happy smile, like she had been bonded to something and finally had been set free, ready to spread her wings and fly away. She gave a sad glance at Masago and hugged him. "It's strange, but I think I'll miss you guys." She muttered. "Give them my farewell, will you? And make sure they are kind to our little newbie."
'Newbie?' Shinichi didn't really understand, nor did he want to. Things were just to weird. First he had died, became some sort of ghost and then was resurrected somehow. 'Perfect, just perfect!'
"Don't worry, I will." Masago slowly let Sada go, patting her on the head before she turned around and returned to Shinichi's dead body. "C'mon son, we'd better get out of here before the bomb explodes or someone sees us."
"Wait, shouldn't we get her away from here too?" Shinichi protested, nodding at Sada. He didn't want more deaths tonight.
Masago gave him a weird glance and shrugged. "It's her time to go, didn't I tell you you're her last one?" He lifted one eyebrow and then walked away. "Now hurry up!"
"Could you please explain this to me now?" Shinichi said. He already had a hard time following the man he now knew as Masago, his new body still being very stiff. He shouldn't even have a body right now. He should be dead, nothing more or less, just dead.
"Not here." Masago replied, not slowing his pace unless he had to stop for a traffic light. "At my place, I usually don't take people with me, but I guess you don't have another place to stay, since today's meeting is already over."
After that the both of them didn't talk for a while, giving Shinichi the time to observe his surroundings. They were in a part of Tokyo he hadn't seen very often, but he recognized the tall buildings and the occasional bar from times that his mom took him to an old cinema that mainly showed movies about weird superheroes and stupid soaps, something the little him wasn't really interested in, and he still wasn't.
Suddenly Masago stopped in front of a staircase next to a café called Souru and started to climb them, leaving the stunned Shinichi behind. When he finally noticed Shinichi hadn't followed him looked over his shoulder. "Are you still coming kid?"
"Err, yeah, sorry." Shinichi replied and walked up the stairs to the second floor where Masago was standing, opening the door to an apartment. Then he stared at Shinichi.
"You go first."
Shinichi blinked and nodded, walked into the apartment, pulled off the shoes that had appeared alongside his new body and traded them for a pair of slippers. When he was done he looked around and tried to ignore the feeling he had been here before, while he knew that was impossible.
"Do you like it?" Masago stared at him as he pulled of his shoes, waiting for a reaction.
"It reminds me of my friends house." Shinichi muttered, just now realising why the apartment looked so familiar. "The lay out and interior look a lot like each other." When he had said that he bend his head. 'Ran…' She would have heard by now that he had died.
"Interesting, well sit down and wait while I make tea, we have a lot to talk about." Masago said with a nod, then showed him the living room and disappeared into the kitchen while Shinichi sat down at the table. Within a few minutes he was back and poured steaming tea into two small cups. "If you want sugar I'll get some out of the kitchen."
Shinichi shook his head. "It's fine." He sipped from his cup of tea and put it down when he burned his tongue, deciding to let it cool down a bit before drinking it again.
Masago folded his hands and stared at Shinichi. "Now, I can imagine you have a lot of questions." He stared straight into Shinichi's eyes, making him shiver out of discomfort. "But I'll start with a proper introduction of myself."
"My name Hatano Masago, and though I look like I'm 36, my actual age is 101." Shinichi stared at him, thinking he hadn't heard the man right. Masago smiled at him, and continued to tell about himself. "I died on August the ninth, in Hiroshima. I guess you know what the cause of death would have been. My body was never found, probably shredded apart by the impact." As he said that there was a flicker of pain in his deep green eyes that disappeared as fast as it had appeared. "Luckily, my wife and daughter weren't in Hiroshima that day. They had a hard time with my absence, but I kept supporting them in every way I could. My wife died 24 years after my death and my daughter is now a grandma of three grandchildren." He smiled sadly and took a sip of his tea, but put it down immediately. "I think I made the tea a bit too hot."
Shinichi could only stare at Masago, thinking the man was crazy. No way he could be 101, that just wasn't possible? And then there was the part about dying. Shinichi wasn't sure what to think of that, since, in a way, he knew the guy could be speaking the true.
"Are you saying you're a zombie?" This surprised Masago and he began to laugh.
"No, son. I'm a Grim Reaper." He replied with a smile. "And from now on, you'll be one too."
"What?" Shinichi said, hoping he'd misunderstood what Masago had just said to him. Had he been talking for real when he'd said it was the Grim Reapers way? But that couldn't be true, could it? That was just impossible.
Masago could only smile at Shinichi's shocked face that somehow made the kid look very funny. "That brings us to the next part: The Grim Reaper." He sighed. "It's the Grim Reapers job to cut the ties that attaches the soul to the body before death and afterwards help the soul cross over to the other side. To be able to do this without people recognizing after death, he or she receives a new body, along with a new appearance. Once a Reaper has helped enough souls he or she is granted to cross to the other side himself. The last soul that is freed from his body then takes over the role of being a Grim Reaper." Masago sipped his tea again, his eyes looking sad. "It's a never ending circle."
"And what if I don't want to?" Shinichi stared at him furiously, crossing his arms. "Be a Grim Reaper, I mean?"
"Then you'll roam on this world forever." Masago's voice suddenly sounded cold and distant, as if he had lost his patience. He sipped his from his tea again and then smashed the cup on the table, spilling hot tea over his hand. "Now, have you thought of a new name yet?"
"Huh?"
"A new name! You don't think you can run around telling you're Kudou Shinichi, do you?"
Shinichi frowned. Now thought about it, it did sound logical to change his name. "What about, Edogawa Conan?"
Me: *sigh* I already have to make up a lot of names, so I was too lazy to make up a new one for our fellah Shinichi.
Shinichi: You're awful. You make me sound OOC too.
Me: *Claps hands out of happyness* I know :), and I think you're pretty much yourself, you just died, that would be a big shock, ya know? *Pokes Shinichi in his chest*
Masago: He's right, you even made me sound a bit OOC. *Stares at reader*
Me: Aw, shut up!
going on to other stuff:
I know I should have finished The Last Match first, but this idea kept buggin me, so here it is! This is what happens when dead like me and detective conan get mixed up (but with new characters) ! Got this idea when I was reading a few stories where Shinichi died, and I started to wonder: What would happen if Shinichi dies, but ends up working as a soul reaper? Wouldn't that be against everything he believed in? Wahaha, I'm evil!
As for the Chara itroduce section:
Hatano Masago - As leader of a group of Grim Reapers his main job is to hand out post its with names of people who are going to die, his other job is too look after the Grim Reapers in his area, making sure they don't mess up. He is a very silent and caring person, even tough he tries to hide it, he cares a lot about his fellow reapers, but mainly his care goes out to Shinichi, pitying him for his too soon death. Masago died on the 9th of August 1945 when America dropped an Atomic bomb on Hiroshima. His daughter and his wife weren't in the city that day and thus survived, his daughter is now a caring grandma of three grandchildren, one of them being one of the Detective Boys.
Iwamoto Sada - The Grim Reaper that gave her role to Shinichi. Not much is known about her besides that she was a cop working for the metropolitan police station.
Iimori Taijiro - Sada's police partner, though not much is known about him now, he wil have an important role in the rest of the story.
*Puts the hypnotic melody off* Now review! The button is right there!
(It's down here, now hit it and review!)
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