Hello, everybody! As usual, I deeply appreciate your kind response.

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As Ran was walking with Shinichi, she couldn't help wondering what would she do from now. Of course, the girl needed good source of information, but she still had some doubts if she really had to live under the same roof as her childhood friend.

Ran looked up to Shinichi who was holding her hand. It was quite unusual to see him from that angle. Her childhood friend was so much taller compared to her now.

But it wasn't the matter now as the girl noticed Shinichi's concerned look. Besides, he was silent for quite a while.

"What's happened, Shinichi-niichan? Are you angry with me?" Ran put on one of the most innocent and childish smiles. Sometimes it was really useful to have a great actress as a mother.

"No, no," Shinichi shook his head. "You've done nothing wrong. I simply was wondered about acquaintance of mine…"

"By any chance, wasn't you thinking about that Ran-neechan?" the girl smiled mischievously.

"You know, Irene-chan, I was really reflecting about her," replied Shinichi, looking somewhere up. "Ran is really weird with all her crazy love for mysteries and cases. Besides, it seems she has a talent to get herself into trouble. She never thinks of consequences while she looks for criminals…"

The girl slightly frowned. Her childhood friend had told her that for thousand times. When he was angry, he even called her dumb and utter fool, so she was ready for something like that to follow. However, Ran heard something completely different.

"Really, her love for mysteries often goes too far…" said Shinichi. "And still, I think I can understand her. Modern society is full of crime, but most people pretend that nothing is wrong… Yet the murders occur nearly every day and some of them become cold cases. Ran has always had a strong sense of justice, so she can't let the criminal get away without punishment. We're quite similar in this. Maybe, that's why I like her so much…"

Shinichi suddenly froze. Did he actually blurted out his feelings to a random person? Luckily, he thought, it was only six-years-old girl. He never noticed that Irene blushed like tomato.

"Look, Irene-chan," Shinichi laughed nervously, trying to hide his embarrassment. "I think I chose incredibly complicated and boring topic… Anyway, it's too early for you to know about something like this… I think, it'd be better if you tell me something about you…"

'Oh, no,' thought Ran in panic. 'It's bad! Edogawa Irene has no background. If Shinichi continues to question me he'll catch me on lie for sure!'

"Ehm, you see…" murmured Ran trying to invent some story. Luckily, they got to Mouri's detective agency just in time.

"Here we are," said Shinichi.

"Do you live here, in detective agency, Shinichi-niichan? It's great!" asked the girl innocently. It was the perfect opportunity to change the dangerous topic.

"Yeah, I think so," replied Shinichi with weak smile as he suddenly remembered that the agency was in a great mess. He hadn't cleaned his flat yet, and he seriously doubted that his father would be bothered about throwing out all the litter. What would Irene-chan think about it?

His train of thought was interrupted as the taxi had suddenly stopped near the agency. Next moment he noticed middle-aged moustached man - his father, the infamous detective Mouri Kogoro. He seemed to be in hurry as he passed his son with the yell:

"Shinichi, I have an immediate case! I need to hurry before some annoying meddlesome brat pokes her nose there!"

Ran huffed. By 'some annoying meddlesome brat' Kogoro definitely meant her. As if that looser detective could really solve the serious case and she was only getting on the way! The girl was so enraged that she got into taxi as well, followed by quite confused Shinichi.

Kogoro was so excited about his case that he had noticed extra passengers too late.

"Shinichi, what are you doing here?" asked the man.

"I don't know," shrugged the teen. "Irene-chan rushed to the car all of sudden…"

"Irene-chan?" at last Kogoro noticed the little girl.

"Yay! We're riding the car!" Ran exclaimed in extremely childish and high-pitched voice.

The moustached man winced. That's why he didn't like little children. They were too noisy.

"Shinichi, where did you find this brat? I really hope she is not your illegitimate child, is she?"

Ran mentally facepalmed. As usual, Kogoro's sense of humour was as poor as his deductive skills, or, maybe, even worse.

"Of course, no!" replied Shinichi. "She is…"

He never finished his explanation as his father was more concerned about the case and didn't listen to him at all…

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It was kidnapping case. Quite typical, as Ran thought. Somebody kidnapped Akiko, the little daughter of the client. The only witness was the butler. The girl could solve something like that very quickly.

The problem was that for everybody she was Edogawa Irene, only six-years-old girl, not Kudo Ran, great detective. Of course, nobody let her investigate, moreover, Kogoro even tried to kick her. Fortunately, Shinichi stopped his father just in time:

"You haven't tried to kick Irene-chan, dad, have you? For God's sake, she is only little child!"

"I don't care! That brat is getting on the way!" growled the man.

Ran went aside quite disappointed. She definitely couldn't solve cases while treated like a silly kid. Nobody would listen to her words even if they were reasonable.

The girl stumbled upon a ball and began to kick it absent-mindedly.

That kidnapping… Something was definitely off. That butler was quite suspicious. And his words…

Shinichi looked at little girl with interest:

"You have rather impressive skills, Irene-chan. Do you like football?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"And I thought that Ran was the only girl who really liked to play football… She even said once that kicking the ball helped her to put her thoughts in order," continued the teen. "But you're as good as her".

Irene looked at him attentively. Had he any suspicions? No, it didn't seem so. Her childhood friend was still oblivious.

The girl lost concentration for a moment and the ball flew away. When she was chasing after it, a big dog barked at her.

That's was it, the odd thing in the butler's evidence! If there really was a kidnapper, the dog had to bark. And the owner confirmed her suspicions as he said that his dog was incredibly good watchdog. The case suddenly became clear as noonday. Even Kogoro understood everything.

The butler, Aso-san, had confessed about his lie. He told to his angry master about Akiko's whereabouts. The case seemed to be closed. However, something was still not right.

The phone rang once more and unknown person asked about the ransom. He wasn't joking: little Akiko was really with him. The girl shouted something about some school storeroom and that she could see a chimney from the window, but the kidnapper had already hung up.

That was it, that odd thing! Aso didn't know a thing about it, so Ran understood everything quite clear. Somebody kidnapped Akiko for real, and he wasn't as harmless as the old butler.

Ran didn't have much time to think about the situation as she took the dog and ran away searching for the kidnapped girl. There wasn't too many schools fitting Akiko's description. Soon Ran checked them all, but still hadn't found a thing. Maybe, it wasn't a chimney, but something that resembled it? As soon as that thought crossed the young detective's mind, she noticed a skyscraper. Really, from side it looked like big chimney. There could be only one place. Therefore, Ran hurried there riding the dog.

She hadn't mistaken. There was a little girl, as well as the kidnapper in that school's storeroom. It seemed Ran appeared just in time as that person was going to kill Akiko. The dog attacked the kidnapper knocking him off his feet. Ran rushed to the scared girl:

"Are you alright?"

"Who are you?" asked Akiko.

"Kudo Ran…" began the girl as usual, but then stopped. It seemed she couldn't use her real name for a while. "I mean, Edogawa Irene, the detective…"

"Detective?" whispered Akiko.

"Damn you, brat!" roared the criminal who had a bat in his hands now. The dog for some reason ran away.

Ran kicked the criminal, well, at least she tried to kick. Her kick used to be quite strong (even Shinichi admitted that fact) but now it was stopped with ease. Next moment the man threw Irene off. The girl hit the wall but still stood up. Despite the pain she had to try once more. Ran noticed the ball and kicked it. It was her famous way to take down the criminal – even adult man would be knocked out cold after receiving such a ball.

It hadn't worked as well. Only now Ran fully understood her situation. She didn't only shrank, but her physical strength decreased as well! She simply hadn't thought about that possibility beforehand and now had to face consequences.

The bat hit the girl really hard and she nearly lost her consciousness because of pain. Ran had never been in that kind of situation when she actually found the culprit, yet couldn't catch him. It was really humiliating and the girl barely fought back her tears.

The culprit lifted the bat once more, yet he never hit the little girl before him as he took the punch straight in the face. Ran looked in bewilderment at Shinichi who seemed to appear out of nowhere. The kidnapper tried to fight back, but all his attempts were futile. Well, after all, Shinichi was karate champion, besides, right now he was really pissed and didn't hold back at all. No wonder, his strong sense of justice would never let him forgive somebody who could hurt an innocent child. Ran knew it very well, but still couldn't hold back her surprise. The girl even forgot about the pain. She had never seen her childhood friend like that. Was Shinichi always so awesome? And why hadn't she noticed that fact before?

The culprit was knocked out, but Ran wouldn't be surprised if the man had some broken bones as well. Next moment, Kogoro rushed into the room, noticed the blacked out kidnapper, kicked him once for the sake of appearances and then proclaimed proudly:

"The great detective Mouri Kogoro has caught the criminal!"

Ran looked at him in bewilderment.

'Really?' she thought with sarcasm. 'I've found the criminal, Shinichi has knocked him out, and Kogoro refuses even to give us some credits! Of course, it was the great detective Mouri Kogoro, who has caught the criminal!'

Her train of thought was interrupted by Shinichi's worried tone:

"Irene-chan, are you alright? Does it hurt?"

"I'm OK," Ran smiled, ignoring the pain.

Shinichi sighed:

"You know, for some reason, when I saw you at first time, I noticed that you looked like mini-Ran… Then I thought it was a mere coincidence. However, even your personalities seem to be the same… When you rushed somewhere looking for the kidnapped girl, my first thought was 'it's so like Ran'…"

It was bad. Was her cover blown so soon? No, it wasn't yet, but it seemed Shinichi had some suspicions. It was quite natural taking into consideration that fact that Ran didn't behave as a normal six-years-old girl. So she needed to convince her childhood friend that she really was only little child.

"Shinichi-niichan, don't be angry with me!" she begged in the most childish manner. "It's not my fault. I didn't want to get away from you, but that big dog dragged me after it… It was too strong for me and I couldn't stop… And then we got here, and that scary man hit me with a bat… I was so scared, Shinichi-niichan!" and Ran faked some tears. Her mother could be proud of Ran: her acting was so good that Shinichi felt really ashamed and uncomfortable.

"Look, Irene-chan, I'm not angry at all! I've simply made a mistake… Please, don't cry… I simply tried to say that it's like having slightly disobedient little sister… Do you want a piggyback ride?" said the teen with nervous smile.

Piggyback ride? Seriously? Moreover, did he actually call her 'disobedient little sister'? Well, it couldn't be helped anyway, so Ran agreed with cute smile.

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"So what is with this girl?" asked Kogoro. The case was closed and they were riding home at the taxi.

"She is professor's Agasa distant relative," answered Shinichi, suddenly remembering that he still hadn't asked for his father's permission. "Irene-chan's parents left her with professor, but he couldn't take care of her, so he asked me… Don't you mind her staying with us?"

The teen slightly frowned as he predicted his father's reaction. It was no way that Kogoro would let some random child to live in his apartment. Moreover, it seemed that the detective didn't like Irene considering that fact that he tried to hit her before.

But Kogoro's answer was quite the opposite:

"She can stay. It seems this brat has brought me some luck!"

Well, after all, he was really satisfied now when he got his payment…

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I actually have some ideas for this fic. For now I don't think I'll switch somebody's else roles, because I always wondered what Kazuha's reaction would be if 'that Kudo' was actually the girl. In fact, I can imagine it :3 (poor Heiji!).