AN: I tweaked chapter 1 and 2 only slightly. The only real difference, I think, is that Kaito's mom doesn't know that Conan is Kudo.
After Kuroba-san finished cleaning and putting away the dishes, Aoko thanked Kuroba-san and said her farewells giving one last passing glance at Kaito before she left. Kaito and I thanked Kuroba-san and went upstairs. We needed to start planning how exactly we were going to draw 'them' out. I had called Jodie-sensei and my dad earlier that day, as well as Hattori, to inform them that we were going to move soon. Hattori insisted on being present for the planning, so we made plans to meet him at my house, my real house, around 6.
"So what exactly do you have in mind Kaito-san?"
"I was hoping that you would have an idea. I don't think that you would like mine."
"Why is that exactly?" I threw the magician a questioning look. He pulled out a few items from his pockets and started juggling them.
"Kaito Kid has always been more direct then you average guy. I think I should send out a heist note revealing the fact that I have the gem's location."
"I thought you said you already found the gem?"
"I have found it tantei-kun, but I haven't retrieved it yet. I would have no leverage against them then. They would focus more on figuring out who I was, and it wouldn't take a lot of brains for them to link me to my dad. I've just been lucky so far that they never checked to see if Toichi had a son." Kaito's eyes darkened for a fraction of a second, and then they were clear again; fast enough that I almost doubted that I had even seen it in the first place, almost.
"So you want to send out a heist note, practically saying 'I found the jewel, come take it if you can.' Right?"
"Pretty much, but I don't want them looking into who I am. That would put my mom, Nakamori-Keibu, and Aoko in danger."
"Does Nakamori-Keibu now that these people are after you?"
Kaito glanced at me without ever skipping a beat with the various items he was juggling.
"No, he knows that someone has taken shots at Kid before, but he doesn't know who or why."
"He might be able to help if you told him."
"Ha! Nakamori-san has a problem with underestimating people. He would most likely rush in without knowing all the facts and get himself killed."
I thought on this for a few minutes while watching the magician continue to juggle even more items being pulled from various hiding place on his person.
"You don't have to tell him everything. Just tell him that there are people who want to stop you at any cost and he needs to keep an eye out for his men. Assure him that you will take care of them, legally. Tell him that you will turn them in when you catch them, but also tell him that they are just a few street thugs and he needs to keep his focus on you, or you will get away again."
"I get it. As long as he doesn't think that they are a threat, he will try to chase me, rather than them. Throwing in a few taunting words will just better serve that. This way he will keep his attention focused on me, but he will be aware of anyone else coming on or leaving the scene. I'm going to have to get used to intelligent thought coming from someone so small." My eye twitched at his comment, but I made no remark.
Kaito made sure to tell his mother that he would be staying at my house for a while before we left. It wasn't a long walk to my house; it had only taken us about 10 minutes to get there. Hattori was waiting by the front gate when we arrived. Kaito had not wanted to go as himself to meet the other detective, so he settled on the next best thing…me.
"O-okay, either Haibara-san really likes dressin' up as you, or I missed somethin'." Hattori glanced back and forth between me and Kid, waiting for an explanation.
"I'm down here, Hattori. I'll explain what I can when we get inside." I handed the key off to Hattori, seeing as how in my current state, I couldn't even reach the locks on my own gate. Once inside the questions that Hattori had been holding in spewed for like a volcano.
"Who 's that, an' why the heck is he dressed up like you? Is he involved wi' them…"
"Hattori! I said I would explain, so would you sit down and listen for a few minutes?"
He listened well enough. But I didn't get far before he exploded again.
"What the heck do ya' mean, he is Kaito Kid? Why are ya' with 'im?" He then turned his attention to the thief. "You didn' kidnap him did ya'? Are you part of them?"
"No, Hattori-san. If I kidnapped him would he be here meeting you? If you would listen to what tantei-kun was trying to tell you, you would know that I came and asked him for help. For reasons I don't feel like voicing to you right now, I need his help to take down this organization. He can explain everything to you. If you don't mind tantei-kun, I'm going to rest a bit. I didn't get as much sleep as I had wanted to, all things considered."
I had begun to wonder how the thief was still coherent after last night, and today. I had snuck in a nap while he was at school, but I'm sure he would have stayed awake to keep Aoko from attacking him with her mop. A lot of good that did, he ended up making her mad anyway and still got himself hit.
"I don't mind. Take your choice of the bedroom if you would like. None of them are being used right now anyway." I tried to hide the distaste and bitterness in my voice, but all it did was make my voice lower. The thief ignored this and left the room. Hattori shot be a questioning look, but patiently waited for an explanation.
"Damn, so even th' Kaito Kid has been affected by 'them'?"
"It seems that way."
We sat in silence for a few more minutes. It had taken me the better part of an hour to explain the situation with all the Osakans interruptions. I had left out anything that might give away Kid's identity; I hated hiding anything from Hattori, but it wasn't my secret to tell.
"What are ya' guys plannin' to do?"
"Kid is planning to send out a heist note for the gem, when he does we will have the FBI, along with some of my dad's contacts from America, set in place and we will try to at least capture whoever is taking shots on Kid."
"Ya' said the guys name was Snake, right? I thought all these guys had alcohol code-names?"
"I think that there is a possibility that he isn't ranked high enough to have received a code name, or his name was possibly Sake, but somehow got confused and Snake just stuck. I'm betting on the former of the two though. Considering that they knew the first Kid's identity and they killed him, but they don't know that the second is his son. If they were higher up, the family would have been the first place they checked."
I cringed at that though. What if someone higher up decided to get involved and found out who Kid was. This situation could get even more complicated very easily.
"I'm going next door. I need to talk to Haibara. Don't try anything, if you get him riled up, you may hurt him worse than he already is."
"No worries here."
He gave a smile that was as innocent as the detective could achieve. That's what scares me…I knocked on the professors' door, and heard Haibara come towards it.
"How can I help you Kudo-kun?"
"The last time I was here, you told me that you were extremely close to a breakthrough on the antidote. I need to know how much longer it will take you."
Haibara had successfully managed to recreate the drug about a month before, but all the antidotes she had managed to create up until this point would have either killed me or only lasted a few days at most.
"Don't you read your messages anymore Kudo-kun? I sent you a message last night, but you never replied."
I pulled out my phone and looked at the display. It was completely dark; my phone had died at some point, probably while we were still at Jii's.
"My phone is dead…What did you find out?"
"I found out that you are a pain in my ass."
"What is that supposed to mean?" I was looking at her with clearly confused eyes, but all she did was laugh.
"Follow me Kudo-kun."
I glared after the not so young girl for a few seconds before following her down to the basement lab.
"Haibara, I'm not interested in any temporary cures unless they are going to last me at least a month."
"You don't think highly enough of me Kudo-kun."
She reached into the desk drawer where she kept all the failed antidotes, for further study, and pulled out a blue and white capsule that was a bit bigger than your average cold pill.
"Haibara?"
"Congratulations Kudo-kun, your patience has finally paid off. I don't advise you take it just yet because you aren't very good at the keeping yourself hidden part of this situation yet, and you will also need to take this before you take the antidote."
She held up another pill slightly smaller than the other, and red and white instead of the blue. I fumbled for words, but I just couldn't get any out. She had created an antidote just in time for me to help Kid take out the organization. I was just wondering one more thing.
"H-Haibara…What exactly does this pill do?" I asked referring to the red and while pill she had just handed to me.
"It will give you the symptoms of a severe cold. I thought back to your little incident with Hattori and realized that the only reason that the liquor had such an effect on you was because you had a severe cold that weakened you immune system. So I figured that if I found a way to weaken you immune system and then find a way to make the alcohol in the other pill to cling to the poison in your body, then you would be able to return to your own body. After you do, we can run some tests and I should be able to completely remove the poison from your body, but I can't do that while you are still a kid. That's why it never worked permanently before."
"Okay, not much of what you just said makes sense to me, but what I did get was; I take this red pill, I get sick, I take the blue pill, I grow up, and I come back to you and you take more blood and I stay Kudo Shinichi and Edogawa Conan is gone, correct?"
"Basically."
My thoughts were running through my head like a marathon. I was trying to figure out when the best time to take the pill would be. I came to the same conclusion every time.
"I can take this anytime right?"
"Yeah, there is a 90% percent chance that this will work perfectly and I was able to stabilize it enough that the chance of you dying is less than 2%."
"H-Haibara…You have no idea how much this means to me right now. I finally found a lead to them, but I wasn't going to get to act on it full force, because I was stuck like this. We might be able to end this completely now…"
"You have a lead? What is it?"
"We believe that the main objective of the organization is immortality. They are after a stone that is said to grant just that."
"Pandora…I heard it mentioned a few times while I was there, but I never really cared. I slipped my mind completely, but how is that going to help?"
"That is jewel that Kaito Kid has been looking for. He found it. We are going to work together to bring them down, and the jewel is going to be the bait."
"The thief and the detective working together; this could become interesting. The first pill will take effect with a few minutes. You will need to wait about 15 minutes after you start feeling symptoms of a cold to take the next pill. The pain from this will be at least 3 times that of the past ones, and will last about an hour."
So if I take the fist pill now, then I can go explain the situation to Hattori and Kid and then get my clothes together; by then, enough time should have passed for me to be able to take the second one. No, I need to tell Hattori and Kid first, just in case. I thanked Haibara again and ran back to my house.
"Hey Kudo, what' yer rush?"
"Where's Kid?" I ignored Hattori, I was ready to talk to the both of them, and I didn't want to wait to explain it several times.
"He's still sleepin' in th' guest room…What's goin' on. You're usually not this hyped up after talkin' to that girl. Unless…Kudo, did she?"
"Yes, I'll tell you about it after I wake Kid up. We can calculate this into our planning and see if it would be more beneficial to have me as a kid or as myself."
I ran out of the room before I heard anything else he has to say. Kid was awake when I ran into the room, but just barely. Seeing that the room was still the color it was the last time I saw it, I continued to the side of the bed. It took everything I had to keep from jumping up and down on the bed.
"Haibara-san finished the antidote, huh?" How good was his hearing?
"Yes. Now we need to figure out if it would be more beneficial to have me as Conan, or myself."
"I don' see any reason that he would need to stay a kid."
"I don't either. You will have more leverage with the FBI as Kudo, right?"
"Jodie would listen to anything Conan said, but it would probably be more helpful for me to be myself so that everyone else will be more willing to accept my help. I would also be able to gather help from the officers I know here. I would prefer not to get them involved, but we wouldn't have to tell them everything. They could just help with the arrests. Megure-Keibu would trust me."
I was exploding with excitement. So far nobody had come up with a reason to keep me as Conan.
"Ya now tha' yer gonna have to tell Nee-chan, right?"
Damn, of course Hattori would come up with a down side to this situation.
"I can have the professor call and tell her that Conan's parents came back to get him. It would probably hurt her, but she would understand. I will go see her after I get my body back and explain some of what I can without putting her in danger."
"That seems like a pretty good plan for the moment." Kid's calculating eyes were trained on something that only he could see. It made me feel better to know that he was with the plan and willing to go along with it.
"What if we do end up needin' a kid for somethin'. I know that he's talented, but I don' thin' he could disguise himself as a kid…"
"I should have asked her while I was over there. For her own reasons, I don't think Haibara will be taking the antidote. She may be willing to disguise as Conan if we need her to."
I hadn't told anybody about the conversation I had with Haibara right after she had recreated the poison. I had asked her if she was excited about getting to go back to herself. She simply replied that Shiho Miyano was gone and she needed to stay that way; there was nothing for her to go back to anyway, buy Haibara Ai had a place.
"That will work." Kaito casually replied.
"Well what are ya waitin' for, I would like to finally get a chance to talk to the real you."
"Hattori, that is the real him, or at least it was ten years ago." Kaito threw a sidelong glance and I saw the laughter in his eyes.
"Haha, very funny. It is a two part pill, the first will give me a cold that will last a few days, and the second will restore my body to its regular form. Last, I will need to go see Haibara, and she will remove the rest of the toxin from my blood stream, so that it won't be able to revert. She can't remove it though unless I am in my teenage form. From the sounds of it, I will be down for the rest of the day and possibly some of tomorrow, we can put our plan into motion after that though. I'll be back in about an hour and a half, hopefully as Kudo Shinichi."
I heard both the other teens wish me luck as I headed for my bedroom. Since I wasn't tall enough at this point to reach the clothes in my closet, I settled on a pair of sweats from my drawers. I had brought a cup of water with me from downstairs and I proceeded to take the first pill. The effects were almost instantaneous, within seconds of taking the pill I could feel my head start pounding and I felt the fever start to take over. I sat on the bed waiting for the fifteen minutes, that Haibara said it would take, for the pill to take its full effect to pass.
By the time it was safe to take the second pill, I could feel the full effects of the fever. I'm going to pass out if I don't hurry and take the second part…Now breathing heavily and shaking everywhere; I took up the pill from the table and placed it in my mouth and with a quick drink of water my body started to burn. My bones were on fire. It had worked too much faster than any of the temporary antidotes, there wasn't any warnings like before. I hadn't had time to prepare myself for it like I had in the past.
"AAAHHHHH!"
"KUDO! ARE YOU OKAY?"
"Huh-hu-hu…" I couldn't catch my breath enough to answer as Hattori came bursting into the room. At least I had slipped the sweat pants on before I had taken the pill. I could hear Hattori and Kid's tones as they rushed to kneel beside me.
"What's happing to him?"
"I never personally witnessed it before, but Kudo's told me in the past tha' it's excruciatin' when 'is body changes. I've never heard 'im, or anyone fer tha' matter, scream like tha' before…"
"He's burning up. We need to find a way to cool him down."
I need to tell them something…What was it? Damn I can't even focus my eyes, let alone my words. That's right. I remember now…
"AAAHHHG! Damn it!"
"What 'bout ice? If we pack some around his body, it will help to bring his temperature down."
"Hu-hu-hu, no…"
"Why not Kudo?" Kid asked panic apparent in his voice.
"I-it slows down…H-Haibara said to l-let it run its course…GAAHH!" Damn, it feels like someone just lit my insides on fire…It hurts to even talk.
"Kudo! If your temperature gets any higher, then you will really be in danger!"
"D-don't do…any-thing. Hu-hu-hu…It may slow the process down…i-if th-that happens, my body may give out…before I f-finish changing…AAAHHG!"
"We can't stand here and do nothing!"
"Y-you have to…"
'Damn, this wasn't good. If they try anything to lower my temperature, it will slow the process down, and I don't think I can do this for more than an hour. Shit, my vision is blurry?
