Detective Conan and Magic Kaito characters, settings, and ideas do not belong to me but to Aoyama Gōshō.

Gestures of Kindness

By Taliya

II: Saturday, April 30

Definitely hair, Kaito thought as he trotted back to his house, bags containing several containers of yakitori, gyoza, vegetable tempura, rice, and dango, several bags of fried snacks, a couple bars of chocolate, and several bottles of carbonated fruit drinks from White Duck in hand for lunch. That cowlick of his is much too characteristic of Kudou Shinichi, I think, but I don't think I can change the direction in which his hair grows, so… color, perhaps? It really was strange, watching a younger doppelgänger of himself walking around his house. Kaito had given Shinichi—to be now known as Edogawa Conan—a walking tour of his home. Before he had left to buy the pair food, he had handed the detective his laptop—clean of anything incriminating—asking him to pull up as many news articles of his former self's exploits—or more specifically, his pictures—as he could find. The phantom thief was after the pictures, to both get a more accurate image of Kudou Shinichi and to figure out how outwardly he could change Conan's appearance.

"I'm back," he called, toeing off his shoes and slipping his feet into his house shoes.

"Welcome home," a voice called back from the living room.

And voice, the thief thought. Voice is a little too deep for a child of six. Diction too, is too mature, unless he wants to be known as a child prodigy. He set the boxes of food on the table as Conan ambled over, tripping slightly on the hem of his borrowed shorts. Maybe some other aspects of his true self besides his brain made it into his new body? They hungrily dug in, Kaito flipping through the images of Kudou Shinichi on the laptop as he ate. Kaito noticed a few minimized windows from the Internet browser with several searches on Kaitou KID and grinned. "Background research, Conan-kun?" he asked breezily.

Conan grinned. "Of course," he replied. "Did you think I wouldn't?" the boy asked rhetorically before refocusing on his meal.

After the thief finished scrutinizing each of the photos, he turned a hard gaze onto Conan, studying him intently. The boy valiantly refrained from squirming, though it was clear he was uncomfortable under such focused observation.

A thought drifted across his mind and Kaito blinked, his concentration shattered. It was honestly a good question, and one he had meant to voice at some point in the near future. Might as well be now. "So who'd you kill?" he asked casually, turning his attention back to his food and popping a piece of chicken from the yakitori into his mouth.

Unlike Kaito, Conan literally inhaled his rice when he heard the question and ended up choking. The thief watched, ready to perform the Heimlich maneuver if need be, but the boy managed to begin properly breathing again before the exercise became a necessity. "What?" he wheezed, blinking back the reflexive tears that had welled up in his eyes while he had coughed.

Kaito rested his chin on his left hand while his right skillfully twirled his chopsticks, his gaze lazily but intently trained on his houseguest. "You had to have done something to get their attention. How exactly did you shrink? I saw those two men dressed in black; I saw how they knocked you out and fed you something. Do you have any information on those two men or what that stuff was?"

Conan shook his head. "I know nothing about them, only what you saw. They seemed to know who I was as the one that hit me said my 'detective game ends here', but then again they saw me solve a case when someone riding the Mystery Coaster with Ran and myself was beheaded prior to me getting shrunk. The pill they fed me was an experimental poisonous drug, and they mentioned that I would be their first human test case. Apparently it's undetectable once ingested. However, right before they left the one that hit me said, 'Abayo, Meitantei…' 'Meitantei' is a recent nickname the officers and media have started calling me after I'd solved a few cases with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department."

"… beheaded?" Kaito repeated, nose wrinkling in revulsion.

"Un," the boy agreed. "The murderer was a gymnast who was also the former girlfriend of the victim. She used a piano wire strung into her necklace and a grappling hook, looped it over the victim's head while we were in a tunnel, and the velocity of the coaster cart sliced his head off when she used the hook to catch on the rails. Because she was gymnast she was able to—"

"Okay, okay, I get it…" Kaito shivered. He never understood why people killed others—especially if it was done because they loved the one they killed. But with regards to the other information the detective had provided…

The phantom thief sat back in his chair, mind racing. An experimental drug that de-aged someone, though that aspect was an unforeseen and highly improbable result. A gem that, when held up to the full moon under the light of the Volley Comet, would shed tears of immortality. The men in black outfits, who would do whatever it took to cover their footprints, and were part of a large underground syndicate. It's too coincidental. It definitely has to be related, one way or another, Kaito thought. It was even possible that this experimental drug was a derivative of Pandora, and that sometime back this organization had lost the fabled gem. That or it had been stolen, and they were hell-bent on retrieving it.

"You know something, don't you?" Conan asked shrewdly, eyeing the magician.

Kaito grinned, Poker Face in full effect. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't," he said in a slightly singsong tone with a shrug. "But at any rate, I would like to sort out my thoughts a little before I share my conjectures, however farfetched they might be. Need to get it all straightened out in my head first, adding in what you've told me. If it has even the smallest relevance to your situation, I promise to share it with you. But if it doesn't, then…"

The shrunken teen nodded in concession. "Fair enough."

The magician stood and began clearing the table. "Come on, Conan-kun, let's clean up before we take you clothes shopping since I doubt you want to run around in mine. Your choices will help me further build your persona, and we can talk about disguising while we're out and about."

They spent the afternoon browsing various shops for both new and used clothing around Nerima City, with Kaito doing all of the purchasing. Conan, as a six year old, would have garnered very odd looks if he had walked up to a register and pulled out Kudou Shinichi's credit card. As it was, the boy had already stubbornly declared that he would reimburse the magician when he had the chance for all of the expenses incurred on his behalf. Kaito had simply grinned and ruffled his hair with his free hand, purposely forcing Conan's hair to mimic his own messy style and reinforcing the image of the two posing as brothers, though the younger boy had swatted at the teen's hand in irritation but missed.

"Will you stop that?" Conan hissed as he combed through his hair with his fingers before trying to pat it down as the pair headed back to the train station to catch the Seibu Ikebukuro Line rail back to Kaito's home. He was wearing one of his new outfits, the style louder than what he would have preferred since he preferred plain, solid colors. Kaito, however, had contended that boys his age—physical, not actual—generally liked bright colors and flashy graphics. And so now after much compromising he strolled down the street wearing a bold blue checked collared shirt over a plain white tee, khaki shorts, red sneakers, and a pair of oversized glasses. Conan had initially balked at the frames since he had perfect vision, but Kaito had insisted, citing it was one more way to differentiate between Edogawa Conan and Kudou Shinichi. So instead of beginning instruction in the basics of more child-like behavior for Edogawa Conan, the pair had ended up spending most of their time arguing over clothing choices.

Kaito raised a brow at his "younger brother," redistributing the bags from one hand into both. "We're supposed to look like we're related. Having hair that resembles mine will reinforce that image."

The younger boy glared at his "older brother," ambient light glinting off his non-prescription lenses. "I get that, but I don't want to run around looking like a 'Mini-Me' of you!"

"Oi!" the thief protested in mock offense, though he grinned as he held up a pointed pinky finger to the corner of his lips for a moment, "I'll have you know I cut a rather dashing figure, if I do say so myself. You should be thankful that you'll grow up to look like me, Conan-kun!" he said with more than a hint of puckish delight glittering in his eyes.

Conan mimed vomiting in his mouth, clapping a hand over the lower half of his face. "Gods, you are so full of yourself, Kaitou-nii-san. How do you ever manage to stay upright with a head as big as yours?"

Kaito smirked. "You're one to talk with your ostentatious deduction shows, Meitantei-san," he teased quietly enough not to be overheard by passersby. So far he had done his best not to allow the detective to sulk about his situation, keeping him mentally too busy to slide into the depression he knew followed situations like this—thus the teasing.

"Don't," the boy interjected harshly, tilting his head down so that the reflection from his glasses hid his eyes even as they continued walking down the busy sidewalk, and the magician immediately realized his mistake as he watched Conan's face crumple. "Just… don't. That's not who I am…" There was a pause, and Kaito had to strain his ears to hear the added, "… not anymore."

The thief swiftly freed a hand of its baggage and gently but firmly clamped it on Conan's shoulder, steering them to a spot out of the way of traffic. He set the bags on the pavement and twisted the detective so that they were face to face with him kneeling on the ground, hands on the child's shoulders. "Don't start Shinichi-san," he said quietly and with a tone of warning, using his—friend?—ally?—rival?—dependent?—his true name to emphasize how serious he was. "Don't start thinking you'll never get back to where you used to be. If you allow yourself to lose hope from the very onset, you've lost the war before it's even started."

He recalled his own experiences, the first time just after his father died and he had considered quitting magic altogether, and the second time when he had learned his father had actually been murdered by a crime syndicate with more people and resources than he knew what to do with. Conan's eyes remained on the sidewalk, his expression visibly indicating how upset he was. Some Poker Face lessons were in his near-immediate future, it seemed. "Look at me," Kaito entreated, and the shrunken teenager slowly raised his eyes. "Shinichi-san, keep in mind that by all rights you should be dead. But you're not. You've been de-aged, true, but you're still alive. You're still here, and therefore you still have a chance to expose them and take them down, right?"

A small half smile curved the boy's lips before he sighed sardonically. "Yeah," he exhaled at length, "You're right. I just… I should know better…"

Kaito shrugged slightly. "It happens to the best of us. You're in an unprecedented situation; it's expected that you would react somehow to it. But just… don't lose sight of what you still have, yeah?" Kaito smiled encouragingly, though it soon turned a bit more mischievous. "And besides, since you've teamed up with the internationally infamous Kaitou KID, it's possible the impossible can become possible—ne, Conan-kun?" he said with a wink.

Conan snorted at that with wry humor. "You are impossible," he remarked, eyes once again bright, though the shadows of resignation lingered behind them.

"I aim to please," was his cheeky rejoinder. Conan rolled his eyes in response, an amused quirk curving his lips. Knowing that was as good as he was going to get, Kaito grabbed the bags in one hand and straightened, offering his free hand to the youth. "Come on. Let's find a snack to eat, my treat. What would you like? Personally I like ice cream, the more chocolate the better."

The boy gingerly took the thief's hand, small fingers curling around Kaito's long, slim digits, and Kaito once again marveled at how tiny Conan's body was compared to his. Were all six year olds this small? It made him realize how fragile a child's body was, and he recalled the previous night where he had instinctively manhandled the shrunken detective with as much carefulness as he could under the circumstances.

"I don't really like sweets," Conan replied, oblivious to the magician's musings, though his answer startled Kaito out of his thoughts.

"You… don't… like… sweets…?" he said blankly before he repeated with mounting dismay, "you don't like sweets?!" His horrified expression had the detective wincing. "How could you possibly even say such—such blasphemy?!" he wailed. "Wait, how am I even related to you again?!"

By now they had caught the attention of those immediately surrounding them, and Conan had flushed a bright cherry red. "Nii-san," he hissed through gritted teeth, belatedly remembering to keep in character, "would you mind stop making a spectacle of yourself?"

"But you don't have a love of all things sugary and sweet!" Kaito moaned. "Why do I have a younger brother who doesn't like sugary confections?"

"Lemon cake," Conan offered hurriedly, and the thief was brought up short. "I like lemon cake, don't you remember?" he verbally prodded.

A wide grin curved the magician's lips and he said, "How could I have forgotten!" He slapped a hand on his forehead dramatically. "Well come on then! I know a bakery that I've heard has exceptionally wonderful cakes!" And snatching Conan's hand, he pulled his younger brother off in the direction of the shop, a bounce in his step as he hummed happily under his breath. Conan, for his part, stumbled as he was dragged in the wake of his hyper and melodramatic older brother.

They ended up sitting on a bench in a small park after visiting Pâtisserie Ueno. Kaito had bought a slice of lemon cake for Conan, along with a wedge of chocolate cake for himself and a handful of canalés the bakery was particularly known for. They munched in comfortable silence on their respective snacks, watching rosy clouds inch across an early evening, gold-hued sky. "Ne, Kaito-san?" Conan asked quietly after he had finished his cake and wiped his mouth clean of crumbs, his voice soft and hesitant.

"Hmm?" replied Kaito absently, nibbling a canalé. When no question was immediately forthcoming, the magician transferred his attention from the dessert in his hand to the boy at his side, though he remained quiet and allowed the shrunken teen to herd his thoughts into some semblance of coherence. When it seemed as though Conan had no idea how to put into words what he was thinking and feeling, Kaito took the initiative, having an idea of what the shrunken detective wanted to talk about.

"It's hard, especially at first—learning to live with telling lies every day of your life. Combined with the pressure of knowing that if you slip up even the slightest bit, you put your loved ones in grave danger… it's overwhelming at best and devastatingly crippling if you let it get to you." He finished his canalé, licking his fingertips before wiping his mouth and hands with a napkin and leaning back in the bench, his gaze wandering up into the burnished heavens. "When Oyaji died when I was eight, his death had been explained away as an accident—malfunctioning equipment during one of his shows." His voice was soft but rough with still raw emotion, full of longing and admiration. "It wasn't until the first reappearance of Kaitou KID that I found out that he didn't die by accident, but that it was premeditated murder, framed to look as though it had been accidental. Oyaji was as meticulous with his magic shows as I am with my heists—and I am absolutely paranoid about every little detail regarding my equipment—which means that I have backup plans for my backup plans." Kaito's gaze fell to his hands, which he held palms up and curled them into fists. "These people—this organization that wore black for all of their 'jobs'—had approached him with hope that he would find a mythical gem for them—a gem known as Pandora. They wanted to find Pandora with the intent of obtaining an elixir that the jewel would produce under the light of the combined full moon and the Volley Comet; an elixir that would grant the drinker immortality."

Kaito could feel Conan's incredulous stare and returned it with a sad, wry grin. "Sounds surreal, doesn't it? But then again, who would have thought an experimental drug could shave ten years off a person?" Gazing back up into the deepening sky, the phantom thief continued. "So here I am, a few handfuls of heists into being Kaitou KID, chasing after a jewel that I'm not even sure exists—just to ensure that they don't get their hands on it."

"So what happens when you find it?"

"I'm going to destroy it." The statement was said with such conviction that Conan blinked. Kaito blew a sigh through his nose. "I'm going to make sure that no one will kill for that gem again. If one group of idiots got it in their heads that they would murder for the chance at immortality, who's to say someone else might get the same idea?" Kaito's eyes found Conan's. "I will ensure that Oyaji did not die in vain, and I will make sure that no one else gets hurt in the process—be it those close to me or the random bystander."

The youth turned his eyes to his hands, which rested in his lap. "Do you think your men in black are the same as mine?" asked Conan quietly.

Kaito carefully considered the question. "I'm not sure, but I would wager that they are probably different branches of the same organization. And if that's the case, you need to be extremely careful." The warning in the magician's voice was abundantly clear. "They are ruthless and extremely good at covering their tracks, from what I gathered from the few run-ins I've had with them. They didn't take my family out when he died out of some perverse sense of pity, but I know—as does Kaa-san—that it's a false sense of security. They know who we are, and can come after us at any moment." There was pain in the eyes of the phantom thief. "So far I've managed to trick them into thinking that I am Kuroba Touichi, and that they had failed to kill me all those years ago. I'm just glad that Kaa-san is out of the country. If she wasn't, I'd force her out. I'm just glad they haven't made a move yet, so it's just me for now…"

Conan turned away from Kaito to stare at his hands. The thief watched as the boy's body language screamed of shame and guilt, and Kaito supposed that KID's actual purpose had taken the detective by surprise. And all things considered, KID's intent was actually rather noble, if one was privy to that sort of information. Time to kick the boy out of his self-imposed funk.

"So since you asked me a rather difficult question, I'll throw one back at you," Kaito said, causing the child to glance up at him. "Why did you trust me?" he asked. "From the very beginning you only knew me as Kaitou KID, and even then we had never formally met. So why would you trust an absolute stranger with your life?"

Conan's eyes dropped to his lap, and when he answered it was hesitant and carefully worded. "Despite the fact that I sometimes help out Division One of the TMPD—homicide division—I still read the newspapers." He shot the thief a dry, flat look. "And you generally make the front page with your… exploits. But what wasn't reported in the news were the two gunshots heard immediately after the theft of the Blue Birthday Sapphire, which happened about two months ago. HQ was positively buzzing with everyone wondering if the heist and the shots were related." His gaze sharpened on the magician. "I'm of the belief that they were related, considering the shells fired were found on the helipad of a tall office building—a perfect place for Kaitou KID to glide from."

The six year old propped his chin in his hand, focus turned inwards as he thought out loud. "Based on what I know, KID hasn't killed anyone, and he returns what he steals. Really the only thing he can be accused of is breaking and entering, and property damage—petty crimes in the grand scheme of things." His focus returned outward, and he glanced at the phantom thief. "KID is not a bad person, or even much of a criminal when it comes to down it; he has morals that he stands by, and does help the police when a situation arises that calls for it. KID is so different from the criminals that I deal with that I oftentimes wish more criminals would be just like him—just like you. That and I think I'm a pretty good judge of character. Does that answer your question, Kaitou-san?"

Kaito, for his part, grinned languidly though internally he was reeling. He knew he was not a truly terrible person, but to be vindicated by one of the brightest minds of his generation was flattering in the extreme—by a detective, no less—as well as somewhat embarrassing. While Kaito was used to and adored the attention of the masses, receiving honest praise from an individual was not something he was accustomed to in the least. "Aa, Meitantei-san." Grinning widely to hide his discomfiture, he bounced off the bench, grabbing the shopping bags and remaining canalés. "Let's head back and drop off your clothes, grab some dinner, then head over to Agasa-hakase's place. Sound like a plan?"

"Yup," Conan agreed, hopping off the bench. Kaito ruffled his hair again, earning another missed swat, and the two chuckled as they headed towards the train station with an easy camaraderie more firmly established between them.

A late dinner that night consisted of visiting a local ramen shop in Beika that Conan—when he had been Shinichi—had frequented whenever he had a case that ran long. The proprietress, a middle-aged woman with a kind smile, had initially mistaken Kaito for Shinichi, which the magician had hastily corrected. He even continued the illusion that Conan was his younger brother, introducing the shrunken detective to the lady. Kaito had requested the more exotic miso ramen, while Conan had ordered a traditional shoyu ramen. They slurped the noodles with vigor, both anxious to get to the home of Kudou Shinichi's eccentric inventor-neighbor. As they walked towards 2-Choume, 22-Banchi, Kaito began to lay out the new personality that Conan would adopt.

"We're not going to change that much about you, since most of it would be difficult to 'rewire,' as it were, Conan-kun. So you're going to be passed off as a genius distant relative of Kudou Shinichi with a head full of random trivia and a knack for deductive reasoning, the likes of which have not been matched by anyone in recent history, save your older self, Hattori Heiji, and Hakuba Saguru—all of whom are high school-aged and detective prodigies in their own right. You are an unknown here because you just transferred from America due to your parents having abrupt job transfers, and even in America you were not exposed to murders, so therefore have no publicity. You like soccer and reading, and excel in academics, but you should take care not to come off as too smart in school unless you want to draw the attention of our… friends. That and they might try to get you to skip a few grades. Unfortunately, you're going to have to enroll back in elementary—sorry, nothing I can do about that—though if you like I can get my own classwork to you so that you don't fall too far behind. That, of course, is highly dependent on who you end up living with. For now, we're going to have to time your first official appearance in public at least two weeks away, though a month would be ideal, since we don't want them to connect the current you to the former you. I'll let you keep your hair how you normally like it, but we are going to dye it a lighter color, got it?"

"Yes yes," Conan grumbled, exasperation coloring his tone. He knew that Kaito was only trying to help, but was all this detail really necessary?

"You know, if you want this to truly be believable, you're going to want to inform your parents…" the thief broached. "That way if you come across any legal issues they can step in, albeit in disguise."

"I'm not involving them, Kaito-san!" the boy snapped fiercely. "It's too much of a danger to get them or anyone else involved. Isn't that why you'd keep your mother out of your affairs as well?"

Kaito held up his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying, though my situation is slightly different since I'm not masquerading as someone else twenty-four-seven. It would help, since I've already started thinking about all the documentation you'll need to be a real person. Having them know the names of Edogawa Conan's 'parents' would certainly keep everyone from getting their stories mixed up. I've already decided on the mother's and father's names to put on your birth certificate. Next will be vaccination records, health and dental history, and past academic career right now, though it's helpful to have Kudou Shinichi's files to base it all off of. I'll save your naturalization papers for last, since I have to create records for your 'parents' as well."

There was a pause. "I'm not even going to ask," Conan eventually stated, an eyebrow twitching at the thought of Kaito somehow having the ability to find his records in the national database of the Ministry of Justice.

"Good, because I wasn't going to tell you anyway." Kaito winked deviously. "Trade secret, after all."

Conan scoffed. "If you say so."

"Also, you realize you cannot go back to staying your house for the foreseeable future, right?" the thief said as they passed the gates to the Kudou residence. At Conan's sharp look, he expounded, "If these guys know who you are, they are going to be combing the obituaries for your name, so for tonight and tomorrow you should be fine. But when they discover that you are not listed in the next few days, they'll be by here to make a sweep of your house, if not several, since your death will be unaccounted for. I'd imagine they would be particularly keen on confirming your death since they used an experimental drug on you—the people who worked on that drug will be demanding results, after all."

Conan's eyes were wide with shock. "I—I hadn't thought about that…"

Kaito blew out a sigh. "Of course you wouldn't. You're not used to dealing with these types of criminals. Yet." And it saddened him to realize that Shinichi would learn—had to learn—very quickly.

They walked in silence until they cleared the Kudou property barrier before the thief asked, "So do you know how you are going to convince him that you are really a shrunken-down version of Kudou Shinichi? It is, after all, rather difficult to believe that someone could be de-aged."

The child shrugged. "I guess I'll just tell him things that other people wouldn't and couldn't know." His brow furrowed. "But how am I going to explain you?"

"Me?" The phantom thief smiled enigmatically. "Oh, he's not going to meet Kuroba Kaito. That would cause all sorts of problems for my civilian life." They finally reached the perimeter gate for the Agasa residence, and Kaito unlatched the gate with ease, making no comment about the detective's sudden lack of stature before closing it securely behind them. "No, if anything, Agasa-hakase should only know that Kaitou KID is involved with your situation." When they reached the front door, Kaito melted into the darkness as Conan rang the doorbell, nimbly climbing one of the trees in the man's yard and then switching into Kaitou KID's outfit.

Before the shrunken teenager could ask what the thief planned on doing the professor answered the door, blinking at the child that gazed up at him. "May I help you?" asked the portly man with a questioning tone, clearly wondering why a child his age would be out after dark.

"Agasa-hakase!" exclaimed the boy with relief in his voice.

The inventor blinked once more. "Who are you?" he asked, clearly bewildered that this strange boy knew him, and even addressed him familiarly.

"It's me, Shinichi!" the shrunken detective said, pointing at himself.

"If you are a relative of Shinichi-kun's," he said with a confused but cheerful smile, "his house is next door."

The child scowled. "I am Shinichi! If you don't believe me, I'll tell you all about yourself!" he said, clenching his fists in frustration. He pointed at his neighbor as he reeled out, "Agasa Hiroshi, fifty-two years old. You are a strange inventor. Although you claim to be a genius, all of your inventions are junk. And also, the mole on your butt has a long hair growing out of it!" From his vantage point, KID nearly fell off the limb as he stifled chortles at the child's furious monologue below. Well, he had known it would be difficult for the detective to convince anyone; he certainly would have a hard time believing it had he not seen the before and after with his own eyes. However, his own experiences with the… supernatural… made him more amenable to otherwise inexplicable situations.

The mustached man took a step back in surprise. "That's definitely a secret only Shinichi-kun knows!" His gaze turned suspicious and he propped his chin on a hand. "Would that kid have blabbed all of my secrets?"

"It's not that. I am Shinichi!" he insisted once more. The poor child appeared just shy of tearing his hair out in frustration, and KID held in a snicker. "I was forced to take a strange drug that made me shrink!"

That certainly caught the professor's attention. "Shrank because of drugs?" he asked, curiosity piqued.

"Yes!" the boy agreed.

The inventor seemed to grow upset. "If there is such a drug, I want some proof! Strange kid," he snapped, roughly grabbing Shinichi's arm. "I'll take you to the police!" He stepped onto his porch and shut his front door, intent on following through despite Shinichi's protests. Time to step in.

The phantom thief leapt down from his perch, landing softly in the grass as the inventor quickly locked up. "I don't think that'd be a good idea, Agasa-hakase," he chided softly. The pair whirled towards the sound of his voice, and even in the gloom, he was sure they could easily see the stark white outfit characteristic of Kaitou KID beneath the shadows of the tree.

"Who are you?" the professor asked, instinctively shoving the child behind him protectively, though he refused to release his hold on the boy's arm.

"INTERPOL has me listed as Phantom Thief 1412, though most tend to know me by the moniker Kaitou KID." KID once more swept into a genteel bow before straightening both himself and his top hat. "Pleased to meet you." His monocle glinted in the dim light, sending his facial features further into shadow. "Now, I do believe it would not be in the best interests for everyone present if you decide to drag the poor boy to the police."

"And why is that?" the professor said warily, releasing the boy. Shinichi stepped away to give both give himself more space, and to watch the proceedings between Agasa and KID.

KID eyed the professor solemnly. "You wouldn't want to condemn that child behind you to death, now would you? Bringing him to the police would conclusively prove that Kudou Shinichi is, indeed, alive, when by all accounts he should be dead."

"What?!" KID's statement brought the professor up short, and he twisted to stare at the child behind him. Shinichi stared right back, a resigned half-grin on his face. "Shinichi?" asked the inventor, his voice unsure.

"Yeah," he said, reluctantly agreeing with KID's words. "That would be me."

The inventor swiveled back and forth, glancing at both the phantom thief in his front lawn and the shrunken version of the teenaged detective who lived next door. "I don't—how—?"

"Would you mind if we discussed this in a place where there are no listening ears?" the youth asked, his eyes surveying the yard. "Also, KID-san is a necessary participant of this discussion."

"Ah… oh…" Agasa was clearly speechless, though he nodded and unlocked his door, beckoning in both the child and the internationally renowned jewel thief with a baffled, "Please come in."

"Excuse my intrusion," Shinichi said as he entered, and KID followed up with a quiet, "Pardon my intrusion." Agasa sent the phantom thief an utterly mystified glance, for what thief—gentleman or otherwise—politely excused themselves whenever they visited someone else's property? KID snickered to himself. The unlikely duo toed their shoes off, and the professor wordlessly supplied them with slippers before leading them to his living room workspace. KID spared a more-than-cursory glance about the place, mentally noting various exit routes if he needed a quick getaway. After procuring tea for them the trio sat on the twin couches with Shinichi and KID on one side, Agasa on the other, staring at each other in stilted silence, though the thief had procured a deck of cards and was shuffling them absently. The white-clad magician had angled his hat so that it shadowed his face and kept his chin tilted down so that the professor had a difficult time discerning any distinguishing facial features of KID.

"I guess I should explain my situation in a little in more detail," the boy said after he had cleared his throat nervously, drawing the attention of both the inventor and the thief, who had been eying each other with wary interest and frank curiosity, respectively. He turned his attention to the coffee table between the couches as he began. "Yesterday—gods, was it only yesterday?—Ran and I went to Tropical Land to celebrate her first place win in the Metropolitan Karate Championships. Someone was murdered on a roller coaster we were on, and while I was solving the case I noticed two suspicious men who were on the suspect list. They both wore all black—even gloves—and they seemed to be in somewhat of a hurry. And that man's eyes…" The shrunken detective shuddered in recollection. "Those were eyes of someone who had killed before. Yet they were not the perpetrators. So I had to let them go.

"Later that evening I spotted them again and tailed them, leaving Ran behind. I found them on the edges of the park behind a few storage sheds, one of them closing some sort of illegal transaction involving a lot of money and proof of gun smuggling. I'd forgotten about the other one, and he hit me in the back of the head before feeding me an experimental poison and leaving me to die."

KID watched the emotions cycle through the boy's eyes as he retold his tale. They were haunted in a way that no six year old's should ever be—or even a sixteen year old's. It sickened him to think that he and Kudou Shinichi were in reality the same age. The child's eyes turned inward as he continued.

"It hurt, changing, oh gods did it hurt! It felt as though my bones were melting, my body on fire—and when I really think about it, I probably did melt in a way. I almost had to, in order to lose that much body mass in such a short period of time. I wonder why my brain didn't cook in my skull…" he muttered the last part to himself, and KID felt himself grow a little nauseous at the thought. Shaking himself, the child continued. "I think I might have blacked out for a while from the sheer amount of pain. I came to a little while later, just before two of the park's security policemen found me. When I realized that they were addressing me as "boy", I knew something was wrong so I ran. And that's when I met KID-san." Shinichi turned his eyes to the thief, who gazed steadily back at him, expression neutral.

"Hakase," the boy said, addressing his lifelong neighbor, "KID-san saw everything that happened at Tropical Land from the moment I chased those two men. He knows who I really am, and has sworn himself to secrecy. As it stands I am completely in his debt, since he knows those men meant to kill me and that should he leak my identity I could very well and truly disappear." Shinichi fell silent, allowing the professor to absorb the information he had just given the elderly man while KID busied himself with practicing sleight of hand card tricks.

"So that's what really happened?" the professor asked after rubbing his moustache pensively. "The drug those men in black tested on you had a unique side effect and it made your body shrink."

"Apparently," was the child's bland rejoinder. "But you can help me, right, Hakase?" Shinichi's eyes glowed with hope behind the false lenses of his glasses. "Would you know how to make an antidote for this poison that would restore me?"

The inventor sighed heavily. "That'd be difficult, Shinichi-kun. I would need some of the original drug to identify the chemical basis, with because without it I wouldn't have the faintest idea of where to start."

"Then, I'll find where those people are, get the drugs, and give them to you!" Shinichi's eyes shone with determination.

"Just like that?" KID asked, finally inserting himself into the conversation. The neighbors turned to regard him quizzically.

"What do you mean?" the shrunken teenager asked, peeved by the thief's apparent lack of faith in his abilities.

But there was no censure in KID's tone, only the cool steadiness that bespoke of logical reasoning brought to its full conclusion. "Do you think that you can seek and find a hidden criminal organization designing experimental drugs, amongst other things, in the guise of a six year old? Who, might I remind, cannot tell anyone else that Kudou Shinichi-san is alive, and who also needs to enroll back in primary school in order to stay off their radar?"

"But I can't stand around doing nothing!" Shinichi shot back angrily, jumping up to his feet on the couch. The fact that it only put him at eyelevel with the sitting thief infuriated him more for throwing his situation squarely back in his face, as if in mockery. "They need to pay for what they did—not just to me, but to the countless others that they have harmed or killed!"

The phantom thief watched him, unruffled by Shinichi's outburst. "I never said anything of the sort," replied KID, eyes serious and expression blank. "I promised I would help you, and I will—you will find them, and they will fall in the end. But, you need to once again be reminded of the circumstances you are now in." When the shrunken detective began to snarl something in reply, the thief continued. "You need to understand your mobility now is greatly limited by your age, as are your physical abilities and credibility. No one here knows who you are; they will all think you are just one particularly bright kid who recently moved from overseas. That being said," and here his eyes turned to the professor's, "Shinichi-san will still be Shinichi-san, and he will continue his sleuthing, I presume." The last was said with a small smirk, and the child responded with a sullen blush as he sat himself back down on the couch. KID resumed expounding his thoughts, "Considering his seeming penchant for sniffing out perilous situations, it would be advisable then, to provide him with some means of protecting himself tailored to his current form. I will leave that particular aspect of his disguise in your capable hands." The thief noticed that as he explained his rationale, Shinichi had cooled considerably, listening to his logic with grudging admiration and a touch of embarrassment. The phantom thief pushed on, addressing the professor once more. "It should be readily apparent to you that Shinichi-san's identity must be kept secret—the fewer who know, the easier it is to keep and the safer he will be. I've already suggested his parents for legal purposes, but I think beyond that, I would highly not recommend it."

"What about Ran-kun?" Agasa asked, looking worriedly at the shrunken teenager. He knew how close the two of them were, and how badly this secret would hurt them both.

Shinichi gazed at his neighbor with wide, heartbroken eyes. "She—she can't know. She absolutely cannot know that Edogawa Conan is Kudou Shinichi." Determination and desperation blossomed in those mournful eyes. "I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her."

Abayo – A rather rude way of saying, "Goodbye"

Author's Note: Again 1999 and 2002 for the Austin Powers second and third movies, and 2014 for Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, if you caught the references… I feel like I'm getting rather caught up in a lot of little details, though it's necessary for future chapters in this fic. Almost done with the creation of Edogawa Conan! I hope you enjoyed it.

Completed: 08.05.2015