Chapter 1: Waking to a New Life

He was tired. As if he had run fifty marathons without stopping.

Okay, maybe that was exaggerating a bit but still, he felt as if he couldn't move any of his muscles.

He heard the sound of someone cooking in the kitchen downstairs. It was probably his mother preparing breakfast.

Turning over onto his side, he hugged the covers close to him, breathed in deeply, and froze mid-inhale. This…this wasn't his bed. It smelled unfamiliar and too fresh, as if it hadn't been slept in for a long time but washed frequently to stay clean. So he was in the guest room? But why would he be sleeping in the guest room of his own house?

It was then that he was alerted to another presence in the room he was in. And in that moment the events of the previous night came crashing back to him.

He was fed an untraceable poison! He shouldn't be alive!

Yet here he was, in a bed inside what was most likely a guest room, in a stranger's house, with someone in the very room he was in, along with the person in the kitchen fixing breakfast.

He was certain this was not what death was like.

Was he kidnapped? He remembered one of the two men saying something about 'not tried on human'. So these people have detained him to see what effects the poison had?

Shifting onto his other side so his back faced the wall adjacent to the bed, Kaito cracked an eye open and was shocked when he saw the other occupant of the room.

Hakuba was sleeping in an armchair on the opposite side of the enormous guest room, a few Sherlock Holmes books in a neat pile on the ground next to him.

Almost as soon as his mind thought, 'Did they kidnap Hakuba too?!' Kaito saw that Hakuba wasn't tied, and realised that neither was he. Also, the door was slightly open.

Perhaps the two of them weren't kidnapped. If they were then their kidnapper/s were doing a very, very poor job.

What had happened after he blacked out that ended up with Hakuba and him sleeping in a guest room in some stranger's house? Because this was definitely not Kaito's house and he didn't remember a room decorated like this in Hakuba's house.

At that moment the half-Brit stirred, causing Kaito's attention to go back to Hakuba.

The detective looked around the room, and then his eyes settled on Kaito.

At least it didn't seem as if Hakuba was wary, confused or surprised at the environment they were in.

Instead, Hakuba's full attention was on him.

"Kuroba?"

The tone Hakuba had said his name in was wary, unsure, wanting confirmation. This confused Kaito. He had never seen his rival look so uncertain and it was giving him the creeps since it didn't suit the usually confident, proud, arrogant teen.

"Yea?" he replied. His voice sounded weird, perhaps it was hoarse? But it didn't hurt…

Hakuba sat there frozen, still as a rock. Kaito could see the gears turning in his head. What was wrong with him?

"Are you really Kuroba Kaito?"

What's with the weird question? Kaito sat up in the bed. "Hakuba, did you lose some screws while you slept? Of course I'm Kuroba Kaito. Or did you forget me already?" He put on a mock hurt expression, hand clutched over his chest. Something didn't feel right… "How could you forget me, magician extraordinaire, when I have tried my utmost to make your life hell at school? Or is something out of place that you don't recognise me?"

As proof he was a magician, since Hakuba seemed to need it, Kaito flicked his wrist and made a rose appear in his fingers.

Or that was what was supposed to happen but instead his hand came up empty.

Kaito was shocked. What the HELL?! Why didn't his magic trick work? He always kept his roses in the same place! Last time he checked, there were enough to make a bouquet… Did someone empty his pockets?

Poker face, poker face, must remember Poker face…

"Kuroba, there is definitely something out of place."

What?

Hakuba continued. "You…might want to have a look at yourself, in the mirror."

Kaito jumped off the bed. Why was the bed so high up? Who had beds elevated that high off the floor? Then he almost tripped over his long, baggy pants and realised all of his clothes were much larger than him. He headed to the door where Hakuba pointed, which was probably the bathroom.

What the-? Why was everything so large? Who makes the doorknob so high?

Seeing his hand, Kaito froze. Why was his hand so small? Was his arm always this short?

No, he was pretty sure his arm wasn't this short.

Better check that mirror then.

When Kuroba had answered him and proceeded to talk as if nothing was wrong, Saguru thought he was hallucinating. The child really was Kuroba Kaito, and seemed to have the same mind as he did yesterday.

This meant only his body shrunk, turning him into a 7 year old child.

Although his mind still seemed to be 17.

Kuroba was taking long, perhaps he should check on him.

Standing up and heading towards the guest bathroom Kuroba had disappeared into, he thought on this matter some more.

It shouldn't be possible to change the human body to what it was 10 years ago, yet the proof that it had indeed happened was right in front of him.

He hadn't missed the way Kuroba froze just before reaching the doorknob. He probably had a vague idea on what happened to him then.

Upon entering the bathroom, he saw one mini Kuroba Kaito, staring dumbfounded at the reflection that showed him the horrid truth of what his appearance was now. If Kuroba sensed him entering then he didn't show it.

The silence went on until Kuroba found his voice again.

"H-Hakuba? How? How did this…?"

There it was – the question he was waiting for.

"I do not know how you ended up like this. Someone else had found you first and was carrying you when we happened to run into each other. He showed me your face, asking if I knew you. I had a feeling the child in his arms was you so I made up a background for a 'Takahashi Kei', saying you were my cousin…"

Saguru proceeded to tell Kuroba the cover story he told Kudou Shinichi.

"Really? You could only up with such a common, bland name?" was the first thing Kuroba said to him.

"I didn't have much time to think. Deal with it."

Kuroba was now facing him, processing the new information.

It was a lot to take in. To wake up one morning to find yourself in a body you grew out of 10 years ago…

"Kuroba, what happened when you disappeared?"

This time, the magician detective told the half-British detective about going after the one of the two black men from earlier yesterday, saw the illegal deal between the man and a CEO, got caught watching it and was fed an experimental poison.

"Experimental…poison…?" Saguru gave the shrunken teen a 'are you serious?' look. "Kuroba, first you go actively searching for cases and nearly end up dying on a quarter year basis. Not only that but now you have ingested an experimental poison that we may never find the cure of?"

Saguru watched as Kuroba sighed. "What am I going to do now?"

"It would be dangerous for you to go and reveal who you really are. If those men in black find that you are alive then they'll definitely kill you."

Kuroba scowled. "I get that, it's just…how am I going to live in this body? If, and there's a chance I might not, I somehow get an antidote for this poison, until that time comes, how am I supposed to live as a CHILD? And to get an antidote I would first need a sample of the poison itself. There's no way I can get my hands on it."

There was a moment of silence as both he and Kuroba thought of ways to tackle this tall brick wall that had suddenly emerged as a hurdle in the life of Kuroba Kaito.

And it just had to be at that moment when Kudou came up the stairs.

A knock on the open door startled Kaito out of his thoughts.

"Good morning, Hakuba-san. Breakfast is ready so come down to the dining room…unless the two of you want to go back to playing statue."

A chuckle left the teen whose appearance stunned Kaito. The person looked exactly like him! …Wait, there were slight differences. Still, if he wasn't Kuroba Kaito then he would've thought the teen at the door to be him.

"Sorry, I was telling him he should be careful when he goes outside by himself, especially at Tropical Land, and to not stay out that late again."

What? Where did that…? Oh. The story Hakuba made up. Right.

"Being by yourself at that time of night is dangerous for anyone," agreed Kudou. "Ah, Kei-kun. Would you like to change into some better fitting clothes? I still have some clothes from when I was younger that will probably fit you."

Kaito looked down at himself and his clothes and remembered almost tripping earlier. "Yes, please!"

Kudou nodded and left, then came back with clothes that fit Kaito perfectly. While Kaito was getting changed, Kudou left again for 'Kei's' privacy, and Hakuba was lost in thought.

He thought it was odd that Kudou Shinichi, 17 years of age, still had clothes from when he was around 7. Hakuba passed it off as it was up to people to throw old clothes away or not, but he couldn't dismiss the fact that Kudou hadn't questioned Kaito's extremely large clothes. Surely it would have raised a few questions?

"I'm done!" shouted Kaito, jerking Hakuba out of his thoughts.

Kudou came back gave a little smile and seeing the beaming 'Kei' in clothes that now fit him.

"Shall we go downstairs, then?"

Kaito and Hakuba both nodded and followed the teen whose name Kaito didn't know. He did look familiar, though. No, it wasn't just because he was similar in appearance to Kaito, or would be if he was still in a seventeen year old body.

Stepping out of the guest room he was amazed at the abundance of rooms the house, no, mansion had. The inside was elaborately decorated and furnished, chandeliers hanging on the ceiling, numerous paintings on the walls around him.

Deciding to act like the little child his body was, Kaito exclaimed, "Wow! This house is huge Saguru-niichan!" and began darting around everywhere.

Then again, he would've done the same if he was in his teenage body as well.

He inwardly laughed at Hakuba's face – he was taken aback at the sudden burst of exclamation, and the niichan suffix along with use of his given name had thrown the half-Brit off balance. Mind you, that wasn't his intention but it was funny nonetheless.

Running around the house like he was excited wasn't a hard thing to do since it was in his nature to be overly energetic.

He heard Hakuba shout after him. "Ku-Kei-kun!"

He passed by various paintings, tables, chairs and bookshelves that went up the ceiling.

A big, shiny, black something in one of the rooms down the hallway caught his eye.

Pushing the door open and entering, he saw that it was indeed a music room. A grand piano stood in the centre. Rushing over to it, he slid his hands over it and found there was no dust on it. While he was running around he had noted how there didn't seem to be dust remotely anywhere. Even though it seemed the teen lived alone – there were no other signs of life.

A voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Kei-kun? Do you like the piano?"

Turning around, he saw the teenage boy in the doorway.

"Yea! I really, really, really like pianos! Actually, I like all kinds of instruments and music!"

Just then his stomach rumbled. Loudly. A light blush appeared on Kaito's face.

The teen smiled. "I'll show you some other instruments but we should eat breakfast first. We'll come back afterwards, alright?"

"Okay!" Kaito chirped.

Following the teen out of the room, he realised he still didn't know the other's name yet.

Passing what he assumed was the living room; Kaito saw a large family portrait of three. It was about as big as the portrait of his father in his own room. There was a man, a woman and a small child who looked eerily similar to his current shrunk form, albeit with neatly groomed hair like the teen in front of him. The child was the teen when he was younger.

With a start he recognised both the man and the woman – Kudou Yuusaku, the famous mystery writer known for his Night Baron series along with helping the police solve cases as a hobby, and Kudou Yukiko, the retired actress whose acting and disguise could easily rival Chris Vineyard and Kaitou KID.

Then the teen in front of him was…

Realising Kaito had stopped had caused the teen to turn around and look at him puzzled since the child seemed to be deep in thought.

"Is something the matter, Kei-kun?"

Time to confirm what he thought. "Ah, it's just that I don't know your name, niisan."

"Oh, sorry, I forgot I haven't introduced myself to you. I'm Kudou Shinichi. Nice to meet you, Kei-kun."

Kudou outstretched a hand. Kaito took and shook it. "Nice to meet you too, Shinichi-niisan."

Kudou had told him to go to the dining room first, saying he would find 'Kei' since the house was big and he didn't want two guests who didn't know where things were to both get lost in his house.

Kudou was partially right. He knew how to get to the dining room since he had gone down from the guest room last night. But he wouldn't get lost in a house – he had a good enough memory so he would know where every room was after having gone through it once.

Then again Kudou's offer to look for the hyperactive was probably the better option for Saguru. If he had found Kuroba then the shrunken teen would undoubtedly start pranking him and make finding him harder. At least if Kudou found Kuroba then things would go more calmly, hopefully.

When the two entered the dining room he saw Kuroba animatedly having a mostly one-sided conversation with Kudou who listened attentively, praising 'Kei-kun' for his skill in magic.

The two sat down at the table where Saguru was and joined him in eating the surprisingly delicious food Kudou had made. Eating didn't seem to hinder Kuroba's chattering as he continued talking about how his father was the world's greatest magician and how he really wanted to become a magician as great as his father was.

Each time Kudou spoke almost gave Saguru a heart attack, hoping he wouldn't ask the question 'What was your father's name?' It turned out he didn't have to worry since Kudou seemed to have taken 'the world's greatest' as a child's exaggeration. Thankfully he didn't take it literally.

Last night while keeping watch of the sleeping not-child and reading the Sherlock Holmes books Kudou had lent him, Saguru had thought back to why the name and appearance of Kudou Shinichi was familiar. He hadn't thought on it when they took Kuroba to Kudou's house, which also seemed familiar, to treat the head wound and rest for the night.

It was when he was about to read 'The Final Problem' that he remembered the name Kudou Shinichi from the newspapers a few years back. He had visited Japan and his father had once talked of a middle school detective who beat the police in deduction speed and power. His father had said that Kudou Shinichi was the same age as Saguru himself, 13 then, and had begun appearing in the papers as the 'Middle School Holmes'.

When Saguru would go back to England, his father sent him the local newspaper on his request so that he could keep track of what Kudou did in the papers diligently and see Kudou's progress. It was interesting, that a middle school student had gained the respect of the Tokyo police force and would be called for help if the police were stumped and Kudou wasn't on the scene already.

That was until the following year when Saguru was 14, one day Kudou didn't appear in any news. There was no news of Kudou Shinichi from then on. It was as if he had simply disappeared off the face of the earth. A month later the press had printed articles containing speculations and rumours circulating the sudden loss in solving cases by the Middle School Holmes.

Some said it was because the numerous murder cases he had solved had gotten to him in his young age, traumatising him. Sure he was a brilliant detective, however there was only so much a boy could take, they said. Other people said that he was on hiatus, focusing on his studies to become a police detective or open his own agency when he graduated.

Saguru hadn't believed in either of the main two arguments. If it was the former then there would have been an article saying the Middle School Holmes had 'retired'. If it was the latter then Kudou would've said so – it was nothing to hide.

The last case Kudou Shinichi had been involved in had been hidden from the public, kept confidential. Only high ranking police officers knew of the case, and even fewer knew the details. Saguru remembered speculating that last case had everything to do with the disappearance of the Middle School Holmes, but since it was a confidential file he wouldn't be able to confirm it.

What was suspicious was that the news reporters and paparazzi who had staked out at the Kudou residency hadn't seen any lights on when the darkness fell, and didn't see anyone moving around inside either. Kudou had literally disappeared off the face of the earth. Determined reporters and detectives had no luck finding any leads on where the boy had gone, always returning empty handed. People eventually gave up a year later, when it seemed no one would ever return to the house to live in it.

Yet Saguru had been invited into the Kudou mansion by Kudou Shinichi himself, reading Kudou's collection of the Sherlock Holmes series.

When had the teen returned to Japan? Or more specifically, the previously empty house.

When they had arrived at Kudou's house Saguru had felt he had seen the building before. Now, while he could think without any interruptions, he remembered he had seen it in the papers he read.

No wonder Kudou Shinichi had seemed familiar.

That and Saguru now knew why Kudou had been so dead on with his uncanny ability to deduce things from a mere glance.

He had wanted to meet the genius detective when he came back to Japan but by that time the detective was lost to the world, and found that even the police in Beika didn't know of Kudou Shinichi's whereabouts.

Hakuba had met the phantom detective.

After breakfast, they had gone to the music room, as Kudou had promised Kuroba.

He showed Kuroba the grand piano first, as it was in clear view, and let him play it. Saguru was sure Kuroba's piano skills were better than what he showed, but he was acting as a child here – a 'normal' child who was already exceptional at magic tricks.

His rose trick from earlier hadn't worked because his pocket had 'moved', so his hand had reached for its usual place only to grab nothing since the pocket was further away as the clothes were too big for him.

Kudou interrupted Kuroba's piano playing, which was just him pressing any and all keys. "Kei-kun do you want to see some other instruments?"

"There's more?! Yes I want to see more!"

The energy and chirping of the little Kuroba was getting slightly easier to endure, to Saguru's dismay.

Kudou opened the double doors to a walk-in wardrobe in the room and brought out the instruments on the floor for Kuroba and Saguru to see. There was a violin, cello, harp, xylophone, marimba, oboe, clarinet, flute, harmonica, saxophone, ocarina, guitar and even a Biwa.

Both his and Kuroba's eyes were wide from the number of instruments that were in the seemingly small space.

"Do you play all of those instruments, Kudou-san?"

"I tune the string instruments when I have time, and play a few basic pieces on them or on some of the others. My mother plays all of these here with great skill – most of them are hers. My father can play a few but he usually sticks to the saxophone, clarinet or the Biwa."

"What about you, Shinichi-niisan?" asked Kuroba.

"I'm confident in playing the violin, if that is what you mean." Kudou looked at the violin fondly.

"Holmes could play the violin as well." Saguru recalled.

"Yes, actually that is the reason I took violin lessons – to be like Holmes." So the Holmes collection was indeed Kudou's, and not one of his relative's.

"Then did you perhaps learn fencing as well?"

"Unfortunately they didn't offer fencing at the schools I went to so instead I played soccer."

"Wow! Is Shinichi-niisan a good soccer player?"

Kudou scratched the back of his head and blushed slightly. "I suppose you could say that."

They spent longer than they thought they would in the music room – they had stayed in there from straight after breakfast to just before lunch. Kaito and Hakuba had lunch with Kudou, as they did with breakfast, and then were given a tour around the house.

Every room they went into, Kaito had spent at least 10 minutes in each one, looking interested in all the paintings and decorations in the rooms.

Although he was interested in the interior design and 'how cool it looked', he was also looking for hints as to why Kudou Shinichi had suddenly disappeared three years ago, and why he was not solving cases like he did before when he had come back. Kaito, like Hakuba, had recalled the fact that Kudou Shinichi is the Middle School Holmes who went missing. Although there probably weren't any hints, it didn't hurt to try looking for them.

Unbeknownst to him, Hakuba was also doing the same, except more discretely. He felt he did not have the liberty to poke and prod at everything like Kaito since he wasn't a child and it would be ill mannered of him to do so.

Kaito had had a suspicion ever since the Heisei Holmes (Modern Day Holmes) had appeared. No one knew of his real identity and went by the name of 'Higashi-tantei', literally 'Detective East'. Both were names given to the same person by the press. He helped solve cases the police were stumped on, just like the Middle School Holmes had, except Higashi solved the cases without even being on the scene. He solved them over the phone and was always deadly accurate.

Kaito's suspicion was that the Middle School Holmes and the Heisei Holmes were one and the same i.e. they were both aliases of Kudou Shinichi. Now he just had to find the evidence…

In the end, after scouring through the whole mansion, he didn't find any clues to anything. The house was like a design house of the Victorian age – everything was so elaborately designed. But that was it – ornate and showing nothing personal. Even Kudou's own room was a model, and didn't seem personalised. It was as if the whole house was for show, and all Kudou did was sleep in the bed.

The fact that he didn't know what he was looking for made it harder to look for evidence, and he also had to make sure Kudou didn't suspect anything. Although Kaito thought he probably wouldn't suspect anything from a child, one could never be sure around a detective, especially one as unpredictable as Kudou Shinichi if the disappearance act 3 years ago was anything to go by.

After dinner Kaito and Hakuba bid farewell after thanking him for his hospitality.

Kudou had responded with "No problem. You two are welcome here anytime."

Hakuba and Kudou had traded numbers. Kaito wanted to as well since he had admired the Middle School Holmes when he was in the papers. His admiration had been revived, especially after seeing his personality – he was such a kind person, taking home an injured boy he found along with his 'guardian' and letting the two stay for almost 24 hours.

Kudou had confirmed that he used to be the Middle School Holmes; the keywords being 'used to be'. Hakuba had accidently let it slip that he knew the Middle School Holmes and had admired his work as a detective. Kudou's reaction to the pseudonym hadn't revealed anything either. Both Kaito and Hakuba knew he was hiding something but his 'normalness' didn't expose anything at all.

Kaito just had to be in a child's body – he shouldn't know of the Middle School Holmes since he was 'supposedly' 3 or 4 at the time, when he should be interested in and watching kids' shows.

However Kaito always took chances no matter how small, so he had asked Kudou to trade phone numbers with him as well while Hakuba was entering his number into Kudou's phone.

He had said he wanted to 'play with Shinichi-niisan again'.

Lady Luck favoured him once again and now Kaito had Kudou Shinichi's number.

Kaito had run around, squealing like a fangirl, which Kudou had taken as a child opening his presents on Christmas.

They said their goodbyes once again and this time he and Hakuba left the Kudou residence, heading for the train station.

The train ride back to Ekoda had been a silent one, neither wanting to talk of the event that had transpired the previous day.

When they got off the train, Hakuba dragged Kaito to his house, to which Kaito had reluctantly agreed. He couldn't go home in his small body after all.

Upon entering the house, they had gone straight up to Hakuba's room.

They were silent for approximately 5 minutes, maintaining eye contact, until Hakuba spoke up.

"So? What do you plan on doing, Kuroba?"

To be honest, Kaito hadn't thought of much. He had been too busy exploring his idol's house.

Hakuba continued. "Those men in black who did this to you are expecting you to be dead. Appearing in public as a child looking exactly like a Kuroba Kaito, will have them hunt you down. Knowing you, you're highly likely to involve yourself in a murder case if one comes up. It'll be the same as carrying a neon sign saying, 'I'm actually Kuroba Kaito now in a child's body!'"

While the half-Brit was talking, Kaito had been going over possible plans of action that were all deemed to be not good enough by him and scrapped.

He didn't have any relatives since both his mother and father didn't have siblings. He and Hakuba didn't look even a smidge alike. He thought it was a miracle that Kudou had believed him to be Hakuba's cousin. Jii was too busy to look after a child so he couldn't possibly stay with him. He couldn't join a random person's family, even if they shared similarities in looks to him…

"Adding to that, your constant need for attention means you will do your magic tricks in front of anyone, anywhere, like today at Kudou-san's house…"

Wait.

Kaito began to smile a smile, one that Hakuba recognised as 'I have an incredible plan'.

"Hakuba, you just gave me a great idea."

"And what would that be?"

"I could live with Kudou Shinichi!"

At that outburst, Hakuba looked cynical.

"You think he would agree to a child living with him? One he has absolutely no ties to? Also, he is, or was, a detective who retains his great deduction skills! What makes you think you can sleep under the same roof as our predecessor to the title 'Saviour of the Police' without being found out?"

"Do you honestly think a normal person would think someone could shrink? Even if that thought crosses their minds, unless it is right in their faces as in your case, no typical person would think along those lines!"

"That's exactly it, Kuroba. Kudou-san is NOT a typical person, in case you didn't realise disappearing off the face of the earth and reappearing without alerting any media isn't as easy as your sleight of hand."

"Then we're lucky the summer holidays just started, aren't we?"

Kaito grinned as he could see the confusion in Hakuba's eyes from the seemingly unrelated topic.

Realisation dawned on Hakuba and Kaito's grin grew wider as Hakuba face palmed.

"You…you're not seriously considering doing it, are you?"

Kaito replied in an overly sweet, overly creepy, childlike tone. "Whatever could you mean, Saguru-niichan?"

He laughed when Hakuba flinched then sighed deeply.

Kaito began explaining his plan to him.

This was going to be a long night for the British detective.

TBC