Abuse and Comfort

With Kaito at School, Shinichi was slowly becoming restless, also as if he'd start crawling up the walls just to escape the slow ticking of the clock down the hall, or the endless silence that the house held without either of the Kuroba's. Here he was thinking as Kaito left that he'd enjoy the peace and quiet, now he was wishing for time to go faster and the other boy to get home sooner. He turned to his side and looked at what could be called a bookshelf, if you didn't count the random items also scattered along with several well used books and what possible might be a smoke bomb.

He slowly crawled up onto his hands and knees before jumping off the bed into the mess on the floor. He then looked around the room, and went down stairs for a couple trash bags and cleaning supplies. He made his way back into the room and started sorting out the trash, cloths, and the piles of magic supplies. He threw the clothes onto the bed, any trash slowly made it's way into the trash bags, and all magic supplies/items went off to a corner of the room so he wouldn't accidentally set something off.

"Wow, there's actually a carpet here." Shinichi said to himself when he finally made it through everything. By the time he was done, he was feeling a little sore and stiff, probably from the yellowing bruises that still littered his skin from Ran's hits. He set the bags of trash near the door and looked around at the now organized and clean room. I'll make Kaito take those down when he gets back...so sleepy. He yawned as he climbed back into the bed, he curled up under the covers and fell asleep.

"What happened to my room!?" Kaito whispered as he opened the door to his room, spotting the bags of trash, to the spotlessness of his desk that now held all of his magic items, that were, when he looked, organized by types. "I knew he was bothered by my room...but he didn't have to move everything!" Kaito whined to himself quietly as he searched his room for what he went in for. Now he couldn't find anything at all! The detective had completely ruined his organized mess! Kaito sighed as he silently glared at the small sleeping detective, but then smiled softly. At least he's feeling better...Kaito turned to leave the room, after finding the correct bunch of papers he came in for, when he heard a slight whine from the bed. "Shinichi?" He whispered softly, moving towards the bed.

"I'...orry.." Shinichi murmured as he turned in his sleep, now facing the approaching Kaito, hand curling under his youthful face. "..an...orry...n...ore.." Kaito felt a surge of anger at the Mouri girl for hurting the currently small detective. He couldn't help thinking again how such a normally sweet girl could hurt the currently, while occasionally disturbing, cute detective. "oh, tantei-kun, it not your fault for her..." Kaito sighed as he crouched over the detective, and placed a soft kiss on the detective's check, blushing lightly as he pulled back and quietly left the room, leaving the door open on a crack.

Shinichi smiled in his sleep before curling in closer to Kaito's pillow.

"Mouri-Kun, You shouldn't worry about the boy, I've found him with a friend of the family and they are taking really good care of him. They even took him to the doctors for the last couple days to make sure that everything was healing good." Kogoro smiled as he let out a sigh of relief. Despite how much he complained about the little guy, he really did hold him close to his heart and loved him as his own son. "Mouri-kun, I think with everything going on with Ran-chan, it might be a good idea to leave him with them."

Kogoro sighed, looking towards his unopened can of beer that he desperately wanted to chug down and continue doing so to ignore all the problems around him. "I think you might be right; but could you keep tabs on him for me? I don't want him thinking that we don't care about him."

"I will, and I don't think you have to worry about him like that, he's a really smart kid." Kogoro placed the phone on the receiver and looked over to his daughter that entered the house from school. He watched as she put her bag away and went to the kitchen to start on dinner, not even asking about the little boy that was missing. He ached to say something to the troubled teenager, but he was unsure as to what to say. Nakamori had given him a full report as to what injuries Conan had received from his daughter. It made him sick to think that his kind and gentle daughter could do that to such a small child, even it she was upset about something.

"I got a call from Nakamori," He watched as she rushed back out to him.

"Is Conan-kun...Is he okay?" She bit her lip as she looked hopefully towards her father.

"He'll be okay, just needs some rest and to heal." He looked down towards the desk, unable to look as her hopeful expression.

"When is he coming home? Is he in the hospital? Can we visit him?" She got closer to her father with each question.

"No, Ran, "WE" can't go visit him. He's with friends and they are going to take care of him while he heals. I think that maybe while he's away, you get some help." he couldn't even believe he was mentioning this, he didn't believe that it helped, but maybe it would help his little girl. "I talked to your mother and she's more then willing to let you stay with her for a while, and she has this friend that can help you." He looked up at her as her face twisted into anger.

"I don't need to see a therapist! I need to see Conan-kun! He needs to know that I don't hate him!" Tears build up into her eyes again as she shouted at her father. "I-I-I Don't need to leave!"

Kogoro stood up and embraced his daughter, "Ran, You know you need to talk to someone, and I can't help you like your mother and her friend can. If it doesn't work out you can always come back."

"No, Otou-san, Please don't do this!" She cried gripping her father's shirt as if trying to find a lifeline in her down spiraling life.

"I'm sorry, Ran"

Shinichi sighed as he watched Chikage roam around the kitchen getting ready to make dinner. The elder woman smiled at the young boy sitting at her kitchen table kicking his short legs back and forth as he watched her. "You know, Shin-Chan, you could always help me make dinner~!"

"Are you sure you'd like my help? I've been told that I'm really bad in the kitchen." Shinichi sat up from his relaxed position on the wooden chair as Chikage placed several vegetables in front of him.

"I'm sure that you can handle a little chopping" She smiled as she set the water to boil. "So How does Curry sound?"

"I was hoping for some good old fashion fish and rice, myself" Shinichi replied with a smirk as he heard the front door open.

"Mau, Shin-chan, Finny-things aren't good for you!" Kaito whined as he entered the kitchen, sitting down next to the small detective.

"Actually, they are very healthy for you." He mentioned as he finished cutting up the carrots and moving on to the potatoes. "What's the harm in trying some?"

"Ugh! How could you even think of eating ….THAT!? I'm getting goosebumps just thinking of it!" Kaito shivered rubbing his upper arms as the small detective continued on with his dicing.

"Na, Kai-Chan, You know what my favorite food is?" Shinichi smirked as he handed the chopped vegetables to Chikage who was giggling at the two boy's banter.

Kaito perked up at the thought of finding something out about his small not-crush. "Oh? I bet it's something that has to do with ikky finny-things"

"I love sushi!" Shinichi said with a big smile, watching as Kaito continued to twitch as he started labeling off all the different kinds he could eat.

"Don't you think it's wonderful that Shin-chan is so active today, Kai-chan?" Chikage smiled as she stirred the curry and then went to start the rice maker. Shinichi blinked as Kaito started laughing.

"Yeah, Oka-san. Though I just with he'd stop talking about those horrible Fin-things! Mau! Make him stop!"

Shinichi smiled as he watched the two tease each other. He was honestly feeling a lot better then when he first got her a little more then five days ago, when Kid found him in the alleyway bleeding from the injuries he received from his best friend. Every day was spent checking on his injuries to making sure that he was happy. He didn't know how he could ever thank Kaito for doing so much for him.

He knew that he had to go back soon. After all, he needed Kogoro to find the BO, and Haibra to find the antidote for his child-like state. For now, he could enjoy being with such a warm family.