A/N: Once again, thanks for the wonderful reviews, you guys! Your words get me in the mood and motivates me write more. Definitely one of the best feelings an author (a newbie, no less) could feel. Anyway, here's chapter three. Please forgive any typos on my part but I would appreciate it, if you point it out to me. I do tend to miss out some even after proofreading it but that's just natural, right? I will fix it up right away.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Detective Conan. I just 'borrow' them in hopes of writing a decent fic. All properties belong to their respective owners.

His lungs were burning. His eyes were bloodshot and he felt that familiar feeling of fatigue trying to claim his consciousness. He struggled to keep his eyes open, not bothering with the rimmed glasses that were askew across his face. Looking around, he could make out numerous shelves around him stocked up with boxes all the way to the top. A few of them, from what he could tell, were wine bottles and other hard drinks.

His eyes swept across the room only to find it in flames. Quite a few shelves had already caught fire and blazing inferno was not stopping at all. He tried to hold his breath as he became aware of the thickening grayish-black smoke in the room. Looking around the shelf he was hiding behind, he could make out the figure of a man dressed in black, a silenced pistol in hand and looking around himself in a slightly frantic manner, but with a murderous intent among the sea of crimson.

He knew he was looking for him. He was looking for the boy. Or rather...

The little boy looked over his shoulder to find a barely conscious injured girl, around his age, holding on to him by the shoulder. Everything in his sight was hazy, fading in and out constantly. And the thick smoke hanging in the air coupled with the fatigue he was sustaining didn't make things any better. The boy felt his eyes drooping and all he wanted to do was give in.

But he kept himself awake.

"Nee-san..." He heard a whisper as a breath tickled his neck.

It was the girl.

The boy's lips parted slightly and his eyes widened. "No..." He began quietly. And without thinking, his voice grew loud enough to be heard over the crackling of the fire.

"No! Stay awake!" He urged.

"Stay with me!" There was clear franticness, dread and worry, the kind of tone when someone was trying to keep someone from falling through. Keep them away from the light at the end. Keep them awake and have them stay in this world...

Her forehead slumped against his shoulder, breath weak. A cold feeling washed over him. He needed to get away from here, find help or whatever he could. He needed to get away from this place. Quickly.

But quickly wasn't to be in his state. Stumbling around, he could barely walk steadily while hoisting another person on his back. A loud crash echoed in the room.

"Damn it..." He gritted out. It had to be either a part of the ceiling or one of those shelves. If he was lucky...

"Put me down..." He heard the whisper again, a weak voice that could be barely heard even at close proximity.

He gritted his teeth and tried to ignore it.

"Why...?"

"Shut up!" The boy yelled as he turned to look at the disheveled girl on his back, bangs matted to her face with a number of cuts and bruise. He caught sight of her eyes, strangely empty and taxed before her eyelids slid shut.

The girl fell silent but he could still feel her breathing.

'Hold on...' He pleaded mentally.

The boy pushed himself to make a quick dash to the door through the narrow spaces of fire. All thoughts of trying to stay hidden flew out of his mind. All he knew was he needed to get out.

Three steps.

'Just please hold on...'

Another crash among the daunting crackles. He turned the knob with one hand as he tried to balance the weight on his back and the first blow of conditioned cool air hit his face.

'Haibara...'

He took a large gulp of air before his vision was met with blinding light.

Shinichi woke with a start, bolting up-right and immediately collapsing back down on whatever he was sleeping on due to an uncomfortable head rush. His head hit something which felt like a hand rest of a sofa seat. Cracking an eye open, he took a deep breathe and looked about without moving in an attempt to reassemble his bearings. First thing he could make out was, it was dark but barely bright enough to make out things around himself.

He assumed evening was drawing close but one glance at his digital wrist-watch which replaced his tranquilizer watch he wore when he was shrunk, it told him otherwise. It was approaching daybreak – dawn.

There was about an hour left before morning proper but he knew more than anyone that he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. Stretching, he sat up-right and rubbed his eyes. It seemed he overslept for a short afternoon nap but it didn't matter. The cool air conditioned atmosphere suddenly seemed stale and he stood up immediately with every intention to step out into the open.

With quiet almost stealthy footsteps, he slipped through the second floor hallways and made his way towards the stairs that would lead to the roof.

With his eyes trained on his feet, Shinichi climbed the stairs with a seemingly absent mind. But in actuality, he was trying to distance his thoughts away from the dream that so persistently tried to keep flooding back in. He sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose stopping for a second to lean against the staircase railing. Suddenly, the thought of heading outside did not seem appealing anymore. His mind changed swiftly as if unsure of what to do. Turning away from the door that stood at the top of the stairs, he took the two steps back and continued down the hallway.

Well, might as well...

She didn't know what to do. She wanted to turn away. She wanted to run. But every wish seemed to be denied. Instead, the little girl was rooted to her spot, expression frozen into a blank look.

The sound of the slide being cocked back to load the gun echoed and reached her ear. Suddenly quite alert, she focused her eyes up front. A clear figure of a man in black, coldly training a pistol against her stood a few yards away, a black hat tipped over his eyes. The light from the headlights of a car behind him engulfed his figure making it difficult to make out anything. But she didn't need any clue other than the black suit and slacks the man donned. She froze.

Silent laughter hummed at the back of his throat. "Didn't think it would take long now, eh?" The man asked.

"Escaped our attempts numerous times... Attempting a retaliation... Siding with the Silver Bullet."

'Move... Damn it, move!'

A smirk curved his lips. "You've caused us quite a grievance..." Raising his head, his cold sadistic gray eyes zeroed on to the little girl. "This little game ends here..."

His finger moved to pull the trigger with a grin splitting his face.

The girl held her breath and braced herself. So this is how it's going to end, huh...? After months of dodging them left and right with a few close calls...

Is this really how it would end...?

She smirked suddenly, effectively hiding the cold fear that ran amok inside her.

It seems her time had run out.

To be caught in this trap that was so obviously laid out but-

"Haibara!"

Almost in slow motion, the smirk on her face fell as the girl turned towards the sound of her name to find another boy running towards her with a hand outstretched. As if trying desperately to grab on to something that kept moving ahead of him and out of his arms reach. Desperate... and foolish.

...He wouldn't make it.

Two shots echoed from the barrel of the gun.

She smiled in resignation.

The boy did not stop.

The bullets zoomed towards their intended target soaring gracefully through the air, intending to spill crimson.

Ten seconds... All in ten seconds.

She felt herself being propelled with force, giving her a floating sensation for a moment - in which direction, she wasn't sure but that didn't matter. She waited for a pair of cold arms that would claim her but no such feeling reached her. Just a dull stinging pain that she later would recognize from a scrape and her back landing against a hard and rough surface.

What's going on...?

The little girl forced her eyes open and gritted her teeth as her head throbbed from the impact. She felt someone sprawled half-way over her and she sat up. Her eyes widened as her eyes fell on the boy's figure.

Two shots.

A reddening blue clothing.

Two bloody holes... At the left shoulder and lower left abdomen.

Two holes that were meant for her.

He had taken the shots.

She broke out in a cold sweat.

It can't be right... He wasn't moving.

A hand reached out slowly disbelievingly towards the boy but almost immediately, it shot towards his figure quickly. Turning him on his back, his cut and bruised face with skewed glasses that rubbed against the concrete tilted towards her with half-lidded eyes. His lips tried to curve into a smirk but it ended up expressing a grimace.

"You idiot..." The boy said with a silent chuckle."I told you, didn't I?" A few short breaths escaped his lips.

The foremost thought that broke through her was about that trap.

But what came out of his mouth practically stoned her out.

"I told you, didn't I?" He forced out.

"I told you I'd protect you..." He barely managed to get out before the blue eyes rolled back as his eyelids shut, consciousness being claimed by exhaustion and fatigue and due to blood loss.

The promise...The hands of time stilled.

The girl lost almost every sense. Her hearing narrowed to her frantic heartbeat that was painfully beating against her ribs. Her sight was limited only to the figure of the boy with his head on her lap. She grabbed his shoulder and shook him repeatedly. She wanted to call out his name but her tongue wouldn't comply, either.

She couldn't speak. She couldn't say anything.

She couldn't hear. She didn't hear the warning shots fired by authorized policemen, the shouts of 'Shizouka Police!' and the collective authoritative commands of 'Freeze!'. Only the repeated thuds that seemed to echo in her ears.

She couldn't feel anything. She was numb. She didn't feel the stinging sensation that stung her eyes. The few tears that rolled down her cheek as the breeze hit her face.

The poker face she had so long ago perfected slipped off without any effort of resistance.

The girl just helplessly kept shaking the boy's shoulder. Sense of time faded completely until she felt a hand landing on her shoulder from behind. A stiff and wary hand of a police officer. That's when the girl regained her bearings as if time flowed over her like water, once again, with her senses kicking back. Her lips parted, her tongue moved to call out the name of the unconscious boy.

Shiho bolted up-right in her bed, her sudden movement flinging the blanket covering her body to the side. A painful scream clogged her throat that tried to rip it's way out but she bit her lower lip and forced it back down. Her face was covered in cold sweat, hair mused up slightly, breath coming out in rapid short gasps as she stared wide-eyed for a moment. The ambient from the dream seemed to remain realistic in her ear and her body tensed automatically.

Without moving, her eyes darted around taking in her surroundings trying to catch a trend of reality. The familiarity of the four walls seemed to sooth her insecurity and she relaxed, albeit just a little bit. Propping an elbow on her raised knee, Shiho rested her forehead against her slightly sweaty open palm and shut her eyes. Images from her dreams flashed to the forefront of her mind's eye and immediately she forced her eyes open in a flash.

If only she had listened to him for once... He had predicted it was a trap and told her to stay back.

But hell, she just had to go against it and tailed him. It wasn't something of a norm to her. Why would she care about him...?

Whether it be from that moment or somewhere along, she realized she was changing slightly. The secure walls were being torn down without her noticing... It was pathetic, she would think, to allow her emotions to surge like that even once. But in actuality, it was for the second time now.

And in his presence.

Shiho felt as though the earth's axis had tilted. She feared feelings and connectivity to people. She was unwilling to accept people into her life fearing they would, as always, become target boards. But to think that he managed to get close and break through her almost 'touch-me-not' exterior. She was frightened of change, of these foreign feelings. Everything that she successfully erected around herself was being shattered like a fragile glass prison. And she getting too close to him.

She was getting too close to a light that she tried to ignore, a light that was just warm yet managed to thaw her heart and those frozen suppressed feelings.

And why did he risk himself to save her in the first place? It's not like he owed her anything. Not at all. Her mind circled around that more than once. She couldn't understand his intent at that moment. Doesn't he value his life? What if he had died? She knew she couldn't allow that. She kept going in circles, but as in with the figure, the end was always the starting point.

The antidote. She held the cure and potency of creating one. And she owed him that much at the very least. She promised herself to come up with it, if not for her and his sake, then for redemption however unacknowledged it would be. After all, that was why she stayed back at Beika, for all intents and purposes.

And...

With one fluid motion, Shiho jumped out of bed and headed for the door. 'Stop...' The thought kept ringing in her head.

Shiho spared a glance at herself at the wardrobe mirror. Her clothes looked like a mess in her state but she didn't bother much with it. With a single attempt of smoothing them out which didn't do much, she stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her. Just before she could turn towards the staircase to head downstairs, her eyes caught sight of a faded yellow hue disappearing behind a corner in the opposite direction.

Shinichi stood by the railing of the veranda of the house that overlooked the street. His neck was stiff, thanks to a night spent on the couch but the dull throbbing pain would fade eventually. He just basked in the morning air that blew across his face, as it swiped his bangs out of his eyes. Taking a few deep breathes, he shut his eyes and let himself loose, leaning against the concrete railing. He could feel his tense body relax quickly as his tongue rolled a refreshing mint drop around in his mouth.

His keen senses broke his stupor-like state, as his eyes darted to the corner, under his eyelids and he stilled his breathing. Training his senses to other areas, he listened.

"So, you've woken up..." Shinichi heard a soft voice over the stealthy footsteps.

Shiho.

"Yesterday's heat wore you out?" There was a hint of a smirk this time, a taunting tone, in her voice.

He let out a scoff. "Well, you could've generously woken me up if you're that worried." Shinichi replied with an air of cockiness. Sending her a smirk of his own over his shoulder, he continued. "But then again, why bother with me, right?" He tossed a packet of the mint drops in her direction as he finished.

Blinking at the pack that she caught with her left hand, she non-chalantly popped out a piece into her mouth.

"No." Shiho crossed her arms and looked at him with a straight face. "I wouldn't - especially with someone who chose to crash at someone else's home just for the sake of it."

'Hey, hey...' Shinichi's eyebrow twitched comically as he hunched over slightly. Recovering not a moment later, he turned around to face her.

"How are you doing?" He asked. "Your fever, I mean. Shouldn't you be resting?" He added as an after thought.

"I've faced worse than a mild cold, Kudo." She replied shortly. "What are you doing up so early, anyway?"

"I could be asking you the same thing." Shinichi replied flashing his wristwatch , the digital figures reading 5:39am, as he passed her by on his way as he moved over to the bench kept on the spacious balcony. Plopping down on the bench, he turned his head to look at her.

Shiho shrugged a shoulder into a half-shrug.

Shinichi met her eyes and for the first time that morning, he looked at her properly. Two months had whizzed by since Shiho popped back in unannounced. To his surprise, four months apart didn't seem to have any impact. They treated each other the same as ever, as in the days when they were shrunk, after her first day in Teitan High. Suffice to say, the moment Professor Agasa found out that Shiho was in town, he literally tracked her down and convinced her to stay with him again.

Shiho accepted with her usual non-chalant mannerism but he could read between the lines that she wanted to stay. After all, the Professor was like a father figure to her. The one who took her in when she collapsed in front of the Kudo Residence. He was also certain that the old scientist with the knack for a crazy inventions saw her as a grand daughter he never had. And with that, everything reverted back to old days.

Professor Agasa would constantly think of weird inventions and develop video games, that the Detective Boys would test out whenever they came over to visit. Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta still ran their little group despite the absence of Conan and Ai.

Shiho would sometimes help the old scientist out and as always, with some nagging, force him into a healthy diet in an effort to try reduce his weight and put him in a better shape. Shinichi would come along and visit the Agasa Residence almost everyday since he practically lived all by himself in his home next door, with next to no company besides his collection of detective novels and other books in the library. Somehow, he was becoming to think of this house as a second home to himself. Ran would join them on weekends and, if it permits, during school days.

Breaking away from his musing for a moment, he noticed Shiho's hair was extra-ordinarily red than normal, the locks flitting around her face in the morning breeze as she looked at him. His eyes drifted away from her face and out to the horizon and distant sky that peaked over the numerous roofs lining his view. A crimson orange figure glowed with radiant light staining the dark blue daybreak sky with red and orange.

"Sun rise..." He pointed out quietly as he nodded towards the horizon. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Shiho glance at the direction he was looking at.

"What's so great about it?" He heard her ask, as she turned back to him.

"What do you mean?" He asked while raising a slightly amused eyebrow.

Looking back out into the distance, her eyes swept over the house rooftops and the streets in between, watching as the sunlight slithered its way across, illuminating the previously dark recesses and alleyways. Those secluded spots of the city, away from prying eyes of man.

"Don't you think it's unfair sometimes?" Shiho asked. "To people who prefer to be left unseen. Sunlight is just a bane that breaks them away from what they want."

"Sunlight and sun rise are a chance." Shinichi replied, almost right after she finished.

Shiho glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes with a strange look.

"You know, if a person sees a rising sun, what do you think they are thinking of it?"

"How would I know?"

He ignored the bored tone in her voice. "Something along the lines of 'It's beautiful'." Looking up, he fixed her with a grin. "But do you know what they see in that glowing mass?"

Shiho remained silent, slightly intrigued.

"Hope." He stated simply. "That's why it 'rises' to give people another chance. You might never know that you missed something with the previous sunrise." Leaning back in his seat he continued. "That something is what you might see when you open your eyes the next day." Looking back out at the sun, he leaned forward as the grin dissolved into a soft smile.

Shiho smiled inwardly hiding it behind an amused expression. Him and his optimistic personality. She wondered how he could think of something so cheesy yet make it sound... kind of mature. He was just a complete opposite of her personality. She often thought darkly of such things, yet he would intensify that dim light whenever he spoke. She had learned to not trust in such abstract and ambiguous things. And if she was to be honest with herself, she was still hesitating to let go of those principles.

Out of his peripheral vision, Shinichi noticed Shiho's slightly silhouetted figure in red move towards him and he wordlessly, scooted away to make space on the bench. He felt more than see her sit down. His eyes never left the sun in the distance, and the two slipped into a rare relaxed silence.

He just found himself admiring the sun. Amidst the haze, his mind wandered back to the events of last month. A life without that manic organization trying to hunt them down was definitely something he appreciated now. Nothing seems to be demanding anymore. With nearly no pressure from anywhere, he saw the dawn of a normal life once again at the core of the blazing figure that was slowly casting it's golden veil on the city.

As seconds turned into minutes gradually, he found his eyelids drooping and himself nodding off to sleep. He almost choked on the sweet and instantly crushed it between his teeth like chewing an ice cube, as he leaned back and mentally shook himself awake.

"Hey, did the professor take a look at the tracking glasses?" His voice was low and husky as he spoke. It was one reason why Shinichi was here yesterday.

Before he could expect an answer back, he felt his friend's head drop on his shoulder. Startled at the shift of weight, he cast a quick glance towards Shiho and kept his eyes on her face suspiciously. He thought of shaking her to wake her up, but when he noticed her soft and steady breathing, he stopped.

The chemist might have been a natural actress - he didn't doubt that - but however hard she would try, she would never enact sleep perfectly. He had busted her himself several times.

She had really fallen asleep.

'Are you serious...?' He thought with an amused look on his face.

He wasn't surprised, though. A cold in summer is always the worst thing to put up with. Without thinking, his hand moved to softly swipe the golden tinted bangs out of the way of her eyes. With her face up so close, he found himself staring at flashing images from his dream. They were as clear as they could get, as if they were burnt into his memory and he wished they weren't.

'As a detective, I can't allow any deaths.'

It was just like himself.

That's what he had told her after she had woken up in a private clinic, after the surgery. But it was even before that, that he knew he didn't see the situation as he made it sound to be. No, he didn't want to see her hurt again. Not as a detective and not as a partner but as a friend. That was the moment when he accepted her as a fellow victim. He wondered what was the chance that two of them - with a seemingly impossible case of being shrunk – could have met?

Definitely next to none...

Shinichi suppressed a yawn as his face scrunched up. His eyes did not leave her closed eye lids.

Once again he felt his consciousness drifting, trying to slip away. No choice, he supposed. He didn't want to wake her either, so with a half-shrug he leaned his head back a little and closed his eyes.

With the morning breeze that played with his hair, the soft breaths of fresh mint that tickled his neck, the warmth from the body next to him and the sunshine that was brightening up progressively, he left for dreamland.

'I'll be blaming you for the stiff neck when I wake up...' was his last thought with a silent chuckle. 'Shiho...'

*Falling slowly*
-*Eyes that know me*-
-*And I can't go back*-

A slightly sleepy old scientist with gray hair walked through the living room not noticing a pair of glasses laid out at the coffee table, his hand clapped over his mouth hiding a yawn.

"Ai-kun" He called out but was met with silence. Glancing out of the nearby window, he saw that it was a clear day. He could hear the birds and summer insects chirp along with the peacefully rustling of green leaves. It momentarily distracted him as he stopped for a moment to admire the environment. The lawn on his house and tree leaves looked much greenier than normal.

'Where is she?' The scientist, Hiroshi Agasa thought. It wasn't as if she had disappeared again; he was pretty sure she wouldn't.

Checking up at her room, he found the bed slightly creased and the blanket thrown aside.

'Did her fever get worse?' He thought worriedly.

Shutting the door, he cast a look at the living room from the second floor banister but found no one. His head turned towards the parted balcony doors at the end of the hall in the opposite direction and spotted a familiar lavender piece of cloth peaking around the corner.

'Ah!' He thought in triumph as he moved. She was probably admiring the clear day, taking a breath of fresh air.

"Ai-kun! Good-" He started jubilantly but was stopped as soon as he passed through the door, at the sight that greeted him.

And it was how he had found them. Shiho in her sleeveless lavender blouse and plain milky beige shorts, and Shinichi in his faded yellow shirt and slacks. The both of them sleeping peacefully, the strawberry blonde's head resting on the raven-haired detective's shoulder.

The sight brought a soft smile on the professor's face, his mustache twitching slightly. It was such a warm sight. His best friends asleep, he turned around and walked the way he came from. He didn't have the heart to wake them up, even though it was already past ten in the morning.

Soft laughter hummed at the back of his throat. Looks like he would have to order take-out food for lunch with not much time left to prepare the meal.

But that didn't matter.

A/N: Alrighty. Another segment up and done with. Just a thought, but I think Agasa would personally think of both Shinichi and Shiho as best friends in his life. Shiho, as Ai, might view him as a father figure and I'm sure he wouldn't have any problem. But that's just my two-cents. Also, I hope you didn't find that 'sun-rise' scene cheesy and a bit cliche. I know it wasn't too orginial to incorporate a talk about hope with sun-rise but I hope your view shifts. (Hope... sounding like a broken record, ftw?)

Also, I never meant to portray Shinichi as a 'Gary-Stu' so don't take it that way. In my defense, I would say it was his knack for trying to save people. The first dream sequence was inspired by the Haido City Hotel case, which I've tried to tamper with. xD

I hope you guys aren't being scared off with my slightly lengthy (?) updates. I do know that most people prefer to read shorter ones but I hold on to making it a point of not writing anything less than 2,000 words. (At least I try to)

The centralized bit are lyrics from the song 'Falling Slowly' by Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, to those who are wondering. (Me no own xD)

Either way, just another slice from their lives, I suppose... I'll be leaving now with my ramblings. For once, I'd like to know what you think of the fic, as whole, up 'til this point - although it's only three chapters. So please, leave a review! :D

Thanks!