Author's Notes: First of all, thank you to all who reviewed! As well as to those who put this story and me on their alerts and favorites. It really means so much to me. At the same time, it makes me want to write even better so I wouldn't disappoint you guys. :D

This took quite longer to finish than I thought, especially since there were several times that I couldn't think of a proper way to move the story forward. And also because I tried to incorporate the constructive criticisms that I received. I'm not sure if I've been very successful at that, but I'm still trying my best.

Warnings: Shounen ai, AU I think, OOC-ness, and one thing that you shall find out if you read on. Hehe.

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan in any way.

Chapter Two: Friends

When Shinichi opened his eyes, sunlight was peeking through the windows. He was tucked in bed, a bed that was not his own actually. He sat up and immediately felt as if his head would explode. He put a hand to his head and tried to think of the events in the past 24 hours, despite the pain.

He, along with Kaito and Heiji, went to a party last night to find out more information about the Black Organization, which, as they were told, were going to said party. But he didn't get any useful information. He got many catcalls and passes though since he was dressed up as a girl then.

'Oh, how would I ever forget that?' he thought, putting himself in a bad mood.

Anyway, drinks were offered to him by the people he tried to get information from and he ended up drinking a bit too much. He remembered that at one point, he was dancing with Kaito.

'What on earth was I thinking then?'

He also remembered sitting next to Heiji and striking a short conversation with him, before walking off who-knows-where. He vaguely remembered a dark corridor and seeing someone, but after that, he could only think of darkness.

He groaned as his head throbbed even more. 'Remind me to never drink again. Ever,' he thought miserably.

In the middle of his musings, he didn't notice that the two people he had been thinking about had entered the room, which was actually Kaito's room.

"Good morning, sunshine!" the owner of room chirped, which earned him a glare from the person on his bed. "Woah. Calm down, Kudou. I was just greeting you a good morning," he continued.

Shinichi rubbed his temples and said in a voice that was trying to be patient, "Alright. But please don't talk too loud. My head hurts enough already, thankyouverymuch."

"Huge hangover, huh?"

"Way ta' point out the obvious, Kuroba," Heiji said.

"I was just trying to make conversation," Kaito shrugged and returned his attention to the current occupant of his bed. "Kudou, Mom prepared breakfast downstairs. I suggest you get changed before then. Unless you're quite comfortable with your current attire?" He added the last part in a teasing manner.

It was then that Shinichi got a good look at himself. To his horror, he realized that he was still wearing the dress from last night! He immediately covered himself with the blanket on the bed in embarrassment. However, the sudden motion made him feel even more light-headed. And so, he closed his eyes in attempt to make the world stop spinning. This didn't go unnoticed by his two friends in the same room. Kaito grabbed the change of clothes on his desk and put it on his bed beside Shinichi.

"Here's a change of clothes for you. You can change here in my room. Meanwhile, we'll just be downstairs. If you need anything, just call out, alright?" he said. Despite his growing headache, Shinichi managed to nod his head in understanding. With that, the two other teens went out the door and left him to change.

Shinichi blinked his eyes blearily and eyed the clothes. He figured he might as well change because the sooner he was out of the dress, the better.

Moments later, Kaito and Heiji were almost downstairs when they heard a scream from the room they just left. They looked at each other for a moment before hurrying up the stairs and back into the room. Needless to say, they were surprised at the sight that befell them.

They were expecting to see something so horrible that made even the Kudo Shinichi scream, but they sure didn't expect a brunette girl with her back to them. When they entered the room, she turned to look at them and it was then that they noticed her lack of clothing. Both boys were red in the face but it was only Heiji who had the grace to be embarrassed and looked away, while Kaito seemed too stunned to take his eyes off her. But their faces were nothing compared to the girl whose face was bright red from the extreme embarrassment. She tried to cover up her underwear-only-clad self but when that failed, she tried the next best thing.

"OUT!" she all but bellowed as she pushed the two boys out the room.

When the door was slammed behind them, it seemed like it was only then that their senses fully returned to them.

"Was that.." Kaito started.

"..who I think it was?" Heiji continued.

A few minutes later, the door to Kaito's room opened and out came the girl from earlier wearing a shirt large for her frame and a pair of shorts that were barely staying on her hips so she just held onto them. She seemed frustrated with her attire since she kept on fussing with the shorts that just wouldn't stay put. At the same time, she looked a bit troubled. She didn't notice that the two boys from earlier were now in front of her until their shadow fell over her. She looked up into their faces and were surprised at the seriousness there. They said nothing but walked forward, so she had no choice but to step back into the room. This continued until her last step backward made her trip and sit on the bed. By then, all three of them were in the room with the door closed so no one would disturb them. This made the girl gulp in nervousness.

The Kansai detective settled for leaning on the wall while the thief stood in front of his desk. The silence continued until the girl decided to break it, but even then, Kaito beat her to it. "What happened..Kudou?" he asked.

At the name, the girl couldn't help but flinch. Any words she wanted to say died on her lips.

"Ya' are Kudou, aren't ya'?" This time it was Heiji who spoke up, although his tone seemed careful.

This time, the girl closed her eyes as if in deep thought, and nodded.

It was then that the two boys got a good look at him/her. Come to think of it, why didn't they recognize their friend immediately when they opened the door earlier? After all, s/he still looked pretty much the same as the disguise they made him/her wear last night.

"What happened, Kudou?" Kaito repeated the question, though this time there was an edge of worry in his voice.

The girl, who is actually Shinichi, retold his/her thoughts from when s/he woke up awhile ago. The information wasn't much, but it was all s/he had anyway.

The two other teens seemed to be in deep thought, processing what they heard, before Shinichi spoke up again, cringing at the unfamiliar voice coming from his/her lips, "How about you guys? Do you know anything of what could have caused..this?"

Kaito and Heiji looked at each other for a moment before the former retold his story of how he found him/her in a dark corridor, unconscious, and deathly cold. The more he described the state in which he found Shinichi, the person he was talking about seemed to be getting paler and looked very worried. And when the thief brought up and showed the wig that he found, Shinichi was already trembling all over. At this the two boys looked at him/her, worry evident in their faces. They just stayed silent though, and waited for their friend to take his/her time in saying what s/he wanted to say.

When Shinichi spoke, even his/her voice was trembling. "Those signs you saw in me last night, I couldn't help but think that they sounded familiar. But then it clicked, they sounded familiar because they were the same symptoms I felt that fateful day that.." s/he then trailed off.

S/He took a moment to compose him/herself before continuing, "Isn't it obvious? I've been drugged again by them. Only this time, the drug didn't turn me into a kid, but into a..girl.." At that, the now-confirmed boy-turned-girl couldn't help but choke as tears spilled down her cheeks. She did nothing to stop them though, and only let them fall freely as she cried silently.

On the other hand, Kaito and Heiji were at a loss on what to do to comfort her. They never really understood it when girls became emotional, but a friend who used to be a guy and was now a girl seemed a bit more complicated.

It was Heiji who moved first and sat next to her on the bed though. Still quite unsure of what to do, he just placed his hand on her back, rubbing circles hoping it would somehow soothe her. Kaito moved next and sat on her other side and put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

At these actions, she seemed to have calmed down a little. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and said in a tone that she hoped sounded a bit cheerful, "Sorry about this. Oh God. I haven't been a girl for more than 24 hours yet I'm already bawling my eyes out like this."

The three of them couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "Don't worry. Ya'll..get used ta it, I guess," Heiji said, trying to choose his words carefully.

"Hmm. Yeah, maybe," Shinichi said, this time feeling a bit better.

"What are ya' plannin' ta do now though?" he continued.

"I..don't know actually.." she replied, suddenly looking confused herself.

The reply surprised her friends, especially Kaito. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, his hand on the other's shoulder suddenly tensing.

She didn't fail to notice this, but she struggled with what to say.

Kaito took her silence as an opportunity to continue talking. "You won't even try to find a way to turn back?" he said in a somewhat accusing tone, but his face remained expressionless.

Words were failing her once again, as she failed to find the right words to explain what was on her mind. "It's just that.. This time it feels different," she started. "This is already the second time this has happened to me. And the first change lasted for..what, years? You don't know how it feels like to think that you'll never get your old body back.." She said the last part in a smaller voice.

But Kaito seemed like he couldn't keep his temper. He withdrew his hand from the shoulder he was trying to comfort just earlier, stood up from his bed, and said in a low voice, "I might not know how it feels like, but at least Conan never gave up. I thought you would be the same, Shizuka." He emphasized the fake names so much, especially the second one, that the one person they were pertaining to couldn't help but just close her eyes and accept the words as if they were blows. With that, he left the room, but not before slamming the door close.

Silence prevailed for a few moments before Heiji attempted to break it, "Kudou?"

"No," she replied almost immediately. "It's..Kaede Shizuka now, isn't it?" And she shot a sad smile at him.

At the sight, the Kansai detective couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart. That smile was so beautiful, but at the same time so heartbreakingly sad, as if she really had accepted her unfortunate fate.

"Are ya'..really sure 'bout this?" he asked.

She seemed to hesitate for a moment but she still managed to say firmly, "Yes, I'm sure."

Heiji remained looking at her, as if searching her face for any sign that this wasn't what she really wanted.

Shinichi - now Shizuka - was surprised when her friend suddenly put an arm around her shoulders and made her head rest on his shoulders. They stayed like that for a while in what seemed to her an awkward silence, before she spoke up, "Heiji? What are you doing?"

Suddenly embarrassed, the other teen removed his hand from the now-girl's shoulder and blushed, saying, "N-nothin'. Just got carried away a bit."

"Well, don't get carried away again. I might look like this now, but that doesn't mean you guys should treat me like a girl. That goes especially for you who know about what really happened."

"But ya' sure seem ta be babblin' like one," Heiji mumbled, which, unfortunately for him, the girl beside him heard. She looked at him sharply, as if saying that she didn't like his comment, but he just shrugged and scratched his head.

He spoke up again though, this time seriously, "What are ya' gonna do 'bout Kuroba though?"

Shizuka bit her lip and thought for a moment, before saying, "I have no choice, do I? I just have to talk to him and explain my side. If he's still not ok with that, at least I tried, right?" At this, she looked at him, as if waiting for a confirmation, which she received when he nodded at her words.

"I don't think it'll be easy ta get him ta understand your reasons, but if ya' need anythin', I'll be here ta help," Heiji offered.

"Sure. Thanks Heiji," Shizuka replied, feeling a bit better that someone was on her side.

"Hey. Ya' called me by my first name! That's twice already!" he suddenly said.

Shizuka was surprised at this, and when she thought about it, it was true. She had indeed called him 'Heiji' twice now. "Sorry about that," she said apologetically, "If you want, I'll just return to calling you 'Hattori'."

"No, no," he said, waving his hands as if emphasizing his words. "I'm fine with 'Heiji'. I guess I was just surprised that ya' suddenly called me that, but it's really just fine."

"Sure?"

"Sure."

"Does that mean you have to call me by my first name now too?"

"Well, if ya' want."

She thought about this for a moment before finally agreeing, "Sure, why not. Besides, it'll help me get used to my new name."

They looked at each other for a moment. And when both their stomachs growled, they couldn't help but laugh.

"Let's go downstairs now. Kuroba's mom must be wonderin' why we hadn't gone down yet," Heiji said as he stood up and made for the door. Shizuka nodded and followed, but not before a final tug at her loose shorts.

When they arrived at the kitchen downstairs, they saw Kaito's mom, Kuroba Chikage, sitting in a chair and looking anxious. She was a pretty woman who looked quite young. She had blue eyes, a different shade from her son Kaito's, but there seemed to be a familiar mischievous twinkle there as well. Whenever the teens saw her, she was always smiling and looked quite happy, but not this time.

Upon seeing the two teens, she stood up from her chair and approached them, asking worriedly, "Did something happen? Kai-chan looked quite upset and suddenly stormed off the house."

Heiji and Shizuka looked at each other, wondering if they should tell her. Well, she already knew about the mission they did last night, so might as well tell her everything that happened during the night and the aftermath.

After the explanation, Chikage stood in front Shizuka and looked at her carefully, as if appraising her appearance. She then asked, putting her hands on the now-girl's face, "Is this really the new you, Shin-kun? This is what you're going to be from now on?"

"Yes," came the reply.

"Are you sure?"

"..yes." This time, the reply was a bit hesitant and seemed unsure, which did not escape the woman's notice. She let down her hands from the Shizuka's face and said, "If you want to convince Kai-chan, you have to believe your decision whole-heartedly first."

The boy-turned-girl looked at her, surprised. She also noticed Heiji nodding his head, as if supporting what the woman said. She looked down and said, "It's just.. Of course, I want to go back to my old body, but I don't want to keep my hopes up too much. I might just end up disappointed after all."

"But it's still better to try, isn't it?" Chikage said with a smile.

"Yeah. And ya'll have me an' Kuroba here ta help ya' out, ya' know," Heiji added.

Shizuka looked at the two of them and smiled a little as well, saying, "You're right. Thank you."

Chikage put her hands on the girl's shoulders and said, "Now just tell Kai-chan that and I'm sure the two of you will make up. Speaking of, he's here!"

True enough, they heard the front door open and slam shut. There was also the sound of footsteps going up the stairs and of another door slamming shut. There was a short silence before Shizuka spoke up, "I think I better talk to him now."

"Want me ta come along?" Heiji offered.

"No. I think it'll be better if it's just the two of us," came her reply. She then looked at her two companions in the room before heading upstairs.

Though she said all those, in all honesty, she wasn't really prepared to confront her friend yet. Thus the slow steps she took as she ascended the stairs. And when she reached Kaito's door, she wished that she was still downstairs and talking to Heiji and Kaito's mom. Hell, she wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment.

She then shook her head of such thoughts. Kaito was one of the very few friends that she had and she didn't want to lose him. After all, they had gone through so much.

Flashback

It was just a few months after Shinichi had gotten his old body back. Ever since he 'returned', he had been asked to help again the police with their cases. He helped them, on the condition that his name would never be mentioned whenever the case was solved and published in the papers. This baffled the police, especially Megure-keibu who knew the boy so well, since they knew that Shinichi practically wanted to be in the spotlight whenever he solved cases. But since he would be helping them anyway, there was no reason to question his sudden change of heart so they agreed.

It was actually to keep himself, and in turn, those around him, safe from the Black Organization, but they didn't need to know that.

It was one of those times that the police asked for his help, but this instance was much more unique since it involved a KID heist. Heiji was also called in to help so the police were much more confident this time.

However, like any other KID heist, the gem was stolen and the police out-tricked. The only thing that was different was that there was a newbie in the police force, who were broken into groups and assigned to different areas of the city that night.

KID was escaping using his trusty hang glider, but the two teen detectives were hot on his heels as they followed him using Heiji's motorbike.

The chase continued until they were in the heart of the city, where there was moderate traffic and tall buildings all around. Both the pursued and the pursuers caught the attention of the people: the thief with his white glider and outfit, and the two detectives with Heiji's reckless driving.

Suddenly, Shinichi heard a shot. He looked around and saw that a group of the police force were assigned to the area they were currently in. Just as he and Heiji sped away, he managed to catch a glimpse of one unfamiliar police officer lowering his gun. And was it just him or did he really see an evil grin cross the officer's face?

But he didn't have enough time to dwell on that because Heiji's shout brought him back to the current problem at hand, "Oi, Kudou! KID's descendin'!"

When he turned to look, sure enough, KID was slowly losing altitude. He was currently only around a few feet above them and on level with the buildings. He then made a sharp turn and disappeared behind a building.

Heiji made the same turn and found an alley. He and Shinichi got off the motorbike quickly and split up to search the area. They found nobody though, so they decided to look around the surrounding area a bit more.

Still, Shinichi found nothing. As he was walking back to the vehicle they used, he heard Heiji shouting once again.

"Kudou! What the hell happened ta ya'!"

He looked at himself and saw nothing wrong, so he wondered what the Kansai detective was shouting about and where that shouting was coming from.

He walked a bit more and saw Heiji on the other side of the street. He was supporting someone and slowly, people were starting to gather around them. Shinichi quickly crossed the street to see what was going on. To say he was surprised at what he saw was an understatement.

Heiji was supporting a wounded person who had been shot in the stomach. However, that wasn't what surprised Shinichi, but that the person looked so similar to him, only with messy hair and wearing different clothes.

It was then that Heiji looked up and saw the stunned look on his friend's face. It took him a moment to process that the person standing before him and the one he was supporting looked so alike. He looked between the two back and forth, as if checking whether or not his eyes were deceiving him.

Suddenly, it was as if detective-mode kicked in and Shinichi returned to his senses, as he asked, "Did you call an ambulance already?"

It was then that Heiji forgot his shock and confusion as well, and he answered, "Yeah. That must be it now."

True enough, an ambulance's siren could be heard then. It slowly became louder until it stopped on the street they were in. The medics carried the wounded person onto a stretcher and into the vehicle while Shinichi and Heiji were allowed to sit with the victim. The two exchanged glances but said nothing, saving their words for when they were alone.

At the hospital, the doctor told Shinichi and Heiji that the person, who was identified as Kuroba Kaito, would live. Thankfully, the bullet wasn't able to penetrate deep enough and it was taken out safely. The doctor also said the patient's room number, in case they wanted to visit him. And so they did.

When they got to the room, there was a woman there. She introduced herself as Kuroba Chikage, the patient's mother. In turn, Heiji and Shinichi introduced themselves as well. She thanked them for saving her son's life, but they said it was nothing; it was normal to help other people after all.

"Kuroba-san," Shinichi said, but was cut off when the woman interrupted, "Please, just call me 'Chikage'."

He nodded and continued, "Chikage-san, we want to talk to your son when he wakes up, privately, as much as possible. Is it alright if you leave the room for a moment?"

He was surprised when the woman shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, but I can't."

The two tried persuading her more, but she wouldn't budge. Suddenly, they heard a voice say, "Whatever it is you want to talk to me about, I'm sure my mom's good enough to hear it too."

They turned to look at Kaito, who was now awake and sitting up on the hospital bed. He gave a small smile, but the two detectives didn't trust it. They looked at each other, thinking whether they should continue with talking to him with his mother in the room as well.

"Come on, let's just get this over with," Heiji said impatiently. Shinichi thought for another moment before finally nodding. He turned to look at Kaito and said, "It's good to see you're alright, Kuroba-san. Or should we say, Kaitou KID."

They were expecting a surprised or defensive reaction, but they sure didn't expect the smile from earlier to stay in place, which actually seemed to have grown a fraction.

"My, I thought detectives gathered clues and evidence first before pronouncing the suspect? But now I'm being accused of being someone I'm clearly not," Kaito said.

"Don't play games with us. We know you're KID," Heiji said and looked sharply at him.

"And what exactly is your basis for that?"

"Because we saw a police officer shoot and hit KID, making him crash behind a building. We didn't find him, but then we see you who happened to be shot as well. Coincidence much? I don't think so," Shinichi supplied.

Kaito was planning to retain his mask, but the police officer bit surprised him, and this did not escape the detectives' notice. They looked at him even harder and seeing that nothing good would happen with continuing lying, he gave up. "Alright, you're right. I am KID, but what are you going to do about it? Hand me over to the police?"

To his surprise, the answer he received was, "No. Well, not yet. We want to hear your reasons for doing this first. From there, we'll decide whether we will hand you over to the police or not."

"And why should I trust you?"

"Because Kudo's perception of law an' justice are different," Heiji said. "He's willin' ta break the law if it means catchin' the culprit an' obtainin' justice. At the same time, in your case, he'd be willin' ta lie ta the police if he deems your reason justifiable enough. After all, ya' never really hurt anyone. An' on top of that, ya' return what ya' steal. Though stealin' is still bad."

Shinichi raised an eyebrow at the sudden analysis of his personality. He dismissed it quickly though and turned to Kaito again, "Well, that, I guess. And because I trust you. You knew about 'Conan Edogawa's' identity before, and you also helped me a few times when my identity was in danger of being found out. For that, I trust you."

Kaito thought for a moment. Yes, he knew Conan's real identity and didn't disclose it to anyone, but it was only because it was fun to play with the detective-turned-chibi. He always did make the heists more interesting. So he decided he'd take a chance at telling the two. Besides, they already knew his identity anyway.

Just as he was about to speak, his mom beat him to it. It was her who told everything, from Kuroba Touichi, his father, being the original KID; to his being killed by an organization who wanted him to retrieve a gem that would give immortality; and to Kaito discovering about his dad and taking on his identity in order to lure out those who killed him.

The other three occupants of the room stared at her. Heiji spoke up first though, turning to Kaito, "Your mother knew 'bout this?"

Kaito seemed genuinely surprised that his mother actually knew so much, but he still said nothing. Meanwhile, she continued speaking, "Of course. What kind of mother would I be if I didn't even know that my son had been risking his life every time he went out on a heist?"

Shinichi and Heiji went and talked in a corner of the room so that Kaito and his mom could hear nothing of their conversation. The latter pair looked at each other and it was then Kaito realized that even thinking of being able to keep a secret like this from his mother was actually just absurd. Of course she knew about his dad's identity; he was her husband, for God's sake. So when he died and another Kaitou KID appeared after some time, she put two and two together and realized that it was now her son who was playing the part of the phantom thief. She probably just kept quiet about her knowledge because she was waiting for him to tell her himself. Now he understood all those times she would send him worried glances when she knew that a KID heist was up.

He then tried to convey his apology to her for never telling her through his facial expression that he sent her way, but she just smiled at him in a kind manner, like mothers always do, as if saying, 'It's alright. I understand.'

It was then that the two detectives finished talking by themselves and announced their decision. Kaito and his mom waited, and when it was said that he wouldn't be handed over to the police, he found out that he wasn't really surprised.

From then on, the three saw each other more often. At first it was only because of a common subject: the organization that killed Kaito's dad which was actually the same Black Organization that Shinichi and Heiji were trying to bring down. But their meetings soon took a friendlier turn and they actually started to hang out at times just for the heck of it. They may be intelligent teens quite mature for their age, but they were still teens nonetheless.

Kaito still continued with his heists, though he was more careful now, and Shinichi and Heiji still 'pursued' him. But mostly, the latter were just doing it for the fun of solving the riddles thrown their way, to which Kaito would happily oblige.

End Flashback

Shizuka smiled at the memory. It was a curious thing, really, the way the three of them got together and became friends. She didn't have much friends before because she was deemed too mature compared to her peers. To think that she'd actually find people who were on pretty much the same wavelength as her, of course she wouldn't want to lose these friends of hers.

With that, she was more determined to make up with Kaito, when his voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

"Done reminiscing?" he asked.

She looked at the door she was standing in front of and saw him leaning by the door frame, an amused grin on his face. She felt embarrassed that she was caught spacing out like that, but then she remembered what she was supposed to be doing there.

"Listen, Kaito. About earlier-"

But she was immediately cut off when he raised his hand, silencing her. He then said, "It's..alright. I realized that I didn't have any right to be mad at you since that was your decision. In fact, it's our fault you ended up like that, remember? Because we made you disguise yourself last night. So.. Sorry." He then scratched his head sheepishly.

"I'm sorry too," Shizuka replied. "I was just afraid to get my hopes too high up since I might just get disappointed. But after talking with Auntie and Heiji, I realized that it is better to try and fail than to give up immediately. Besides, you'll be helping, won't you, Kaito?"

The boyish grin was back in place, though this time it looked sincere. He said, "Of course!"

Shizuka smiled and held out her hand, "So..we're ok now?"

Kaito took it and planted a kiss on the back of her hand, "Yes, Shizuka-chan." The name was said in his usual teasing manner but still made her blush and withdraw her hand quickly. "W-what was that for?" she asked, a bit nervous.

"But you started it by suddenly calling me 'Kaito'."

"Oh. Again? I was like that with Heiji too, awhile ago."

"I'm guessing he's ok with it? So it's ok with me too."

"Alright," Shizuka nodded and was about to return downstairs, before suddenly facing the thief again, blushing. "But don't do that..kissing..the hand..thing, ever again, alright?"

"Why not?" came the innocent reply.

"Because," was her sole reply before she went down the stairs, her cheeks still feeling hot.

A little while later, Kaito joined them in the kitchen where lunch was already being prepared by his mom. All three were eager to help just to prepare the food quickly because they all weren't able to eat breakfast.

While eating, the atmosphere seemed happy and friendly, since everything was ok with everybody now. Small talk between all of them was also made. At one point, what happened the previous night was brought up once again.

"By the way," Kaito said, turning to Shizuka. "Do you remember anything that you did while you were drunk last night?"

Almost immediately, Heiji choked on the water he happened to be drinking at that moment. When he recovered, he refused to continue eating or drinking. All the while, he was red in the face.

Shizuka noticed this but was clueless as to the reason. She responded to Kaito's question, "I remember dancing with you, as well as talking to Heiji. Why do you ask?"

"Ah," came the short reply that did nothing to enlighten her.

"Did..did I do something stupid?" she asked, suddenly worried. "I didn't strip and dance on top of a table or something, did I?" She then gave a nervous laugh.

Her three companions just stared at her. Even Heiji seemed to have forgotten his embarrassment while Chikage looked a bit worried. But Kaito was different.

"Um," he started, hesitating a bit with what he was about to say. "Actually, you did."

The reaction was immediate. Shizuka stood up from her seat so suddenly that her chair fell over. There was a look of unexplainable mix of horror, embarrassment, mortification, and plenty others. At the sight, the thief couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm sorry! I was just kidding," he said, trying to stop laughing.

She almost relaxed at that but Kaito continued in a non-chalant manner, "You did kiss me and Hattori though."

With that, she fell into a dead faint.

Author's Notes: *looks at the number of pages* WOW. I seriously didn't expect this chapter to be much longer than the first. O.O

As to how the chapter ended, I honestly didn't know where to end this. So I just opted for a kinda funny ending. It seemed much funnier when it was in my head though. -.- Anyway, poor Shinichi. Hehe.

One more thing. I know it's never really confirmed whether the organization Kaito's after is the same as the Black Organization who shrunk Shinichi. But for the sake of this story, let's assume that they're the same. I know the name Snake isn't related to alcohol, but apparently, Snake Wine and Snakebite are. So yeah, I'm just making random connections. XD

I wanna try replying to reviews. Hehe. ^^

CrazyGirl19: Aww. Thank you so much! I really appreciate your review. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! :)

Blind writer: Thank you for pointing out the things I have to work on! It really helped me! About thinking like the character for the POV, I don't think I'm that good yet. I read more about the characters to understand them better, and though I feel that I do understand them more, for some reason I found it a bit difficult to incorporate that into the story. Please forgive me. D: As for Heiji's unique speech pattern, I actually thought of putting it since the first chapter, but I wasn't sure then how to make it not too difficult to understand. But I still gave it a go here. Was it alright, too much, or too less? And here's the answer to 'how Shinichi and Heiji knew Kaito as Kid and why they didn't arrest him'. :D Once again, thank you so much for the review! :)

Kaida-14Kage: Thank you for the review! Hehe. Was this what you thought happened to Shinichi? I tried not to give it away too much in the first chapter, but I'm not sure if I was effective in not making it very obvious. XD Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! :)

That's it for now since I might just end up rambling here. XD Please do review! :)