In this story I want to make it that with not just with Kaito's growing sibling-like relationship with Satou, but also with Conan. There'll also be times he'll take a temporary cure and be himself again for Aoko's sake like what Shinichi does for Ran, but later on ... something will happen that will set events into motion and make Kaito make a life changing decision.
Also this first case might be a bit too fast and to the point, but I kind of wanted to get it over with. I'll do something different for another case and make sure it lasts longer and I at least TRY better at it then.
Chapter 4:- Like Standing On Ice - "Koori no Ue ni Tatsu You Ni"
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 4
Like Standing On Ice
~~~ 4:35pm - ? - ? ~~~
"OI!" Lee felt a large amount of force hit his stomach, causing him to sputter and cough. The shrunken teen could still taste residue of what he knew was chloroform in his mouth which meant as soon as he has been grabbed ... he had been drugged with the stuff and taken somewhere.
Where ... he didn't know.
Yet...
He turned his head in the direction the voice had come from and saw a man; he didn't look very memorable in Lee's opinion. He had short black messy hair; not as wild as Lee's, a scruffy beard, slanted eyes and a pointed nose. His figure was thin which meant he was the athletic type and hadn't been at this for long.
The shrunken thief narrowed his eyes at the man.
'Kudou, always looks for motives in criminals...' His eyes scanned the man before him, now eyeing his disheveled and dirty clothe, frowning. 'A possible break-up? No, why would he target children then...'
It was as if it clicked in his head as the man grabbed the faux child by his shirt collar and pulled him up off the ground and to near the man's face. He caught sight of the sadness in the man's eyes, but also a hint of anger in them as well.
Lee lowered his head in understanding the man's current predicament, but going as far as killing children ... was wrong on so many levels to the boy. 'I see...'
"Ojisan?" The man lifted a brow at Lee; also seeming somewhat surprised by how the boy's voice held no fear in them. "Why are you hurting kids?"
The surprise vanished from his face to be replaced by a manic grin. "Boy, I'm doing you and those other kids a favour. I'm sending them somewhere where they'll be safe."
Lee lifted his head up and glared at the man. "So you're taking the lives of children just so that they'll be safe from harm?" The man was taken aback by the sudden glare from the child, swallowed, but kept a straight face. "Or is there another reason you're doing this?"
Lee eyed the room he was in with his captor; it looked like an apartment of sorts, abandoned one too from how the wood was rotting in the walls and floor, furniture was overturned and windows were broken.
"Maybe ... you once had a family; your child was elementary school age and was killed which is why you go after kids around that age." Lee noticed how the man's eyes widened, knowing he got him red-handed. The man dropped the faux child onto the floor, staring at the boy and backing away at how highly intelligent this six-year old was. Lee however only narrowed his eyes at the man, standing to his feet and dusting himself off. "You're jealous of the fact that they come from happy families, aren't you?"
This caused the man to shake, but he nodded nonetheless.
How could a child have figured it out so quickly?
If Conan had been the one kidnapped he would be revelling in the fact the culprit was frozen in fear at a child's genius; Lee however was furious.
This man had killed four or more children just because he was jealous of their happy lives.
"You disgust me..." The man was shocked at the child's words as Lee clenched his hands at his sides. "How dare you kill innocent children just because you're envious of their happiness with their parents. You don't even know the full story of each individual child you've killed..." There were tears starting to trickle down the boy's cheeks.
He tried desperately to wipe them away.
"Don't you dare think that ... you're the only person in the world t...to lose someone..." His bottom lip trembled as he tried to keep his pokerface together, but the harder he tried the more tears came. "...Us kids do too ... missing them each passing day ... wishing they were still h...here..." He let out a soft whimper that nearly wasn't heard to the culprit's ears. "O...Oyaji..."
~~~ 4:50pm - Beika District - Metropolitan Police Department ~~~
"What?" Satou turned around, eyes wide with surprise written across her face as she stared at her partner. "He turned himself in?"
Takagi nodded; a frown set on his face. "Yes. He said that the child he kidnapped talked too much and made him begin to feel guilty..." The police detective began to look confused at this.
Conan stood behind the two and smiled to himself. 'It looks like that idiot somehow worked his magic...'
"Conan-kun?" He turned around to see the Detective Boys behind him, noticing his smile. "Did they find anything?"
He nodded at them. "Yep. Apparently Lee-kun talked too much, causing the kidnapper to give himself in."
The kids grinned at each other and high-fived each other. Haibara approached Edogawa, tapping his shoulder to gain his attention. "What was it he really did?"
"He caused the kidnapper to 'feel guilty' for his actions..." Conan said, looking down with a frown on his face before letting a smirk spread across it. "It seems he took a page out of my book."
The shrunken scientist blinked before smirking as well. "It seems so, but let's hope he doesn't catch the same bug you seem to have."
Conan glared at her for a brief moment before turning his attention back to the police officers; who seemed to be getting ready to leave. Satou turned towards them and smiled. "Come on; we're about to go pick him and the culprit up." The group nodded at her before following them out of the office.
~~~ 5:20pm - Beika District - Abandoned Apartment Complex ~~~
The Police and the Detective Boys arrived at the abandoned building where Lee was being held only half an hour after the culprit called the station. They heard the sounds of gunshots and shots from inside the building, shocking the officers and the kids; who had just come out of their cars.
"YOU GAVE US IN! YOU COWARD!"
'Must be the partner who'd been driving...' Conan thought to himself, frowning.
A loud crash was heard and a startled scream from a child causeed everyone to look up and see the small form of a child thrown out of the fourth story window, shattered glass surrounding him; his hands and feet tied behind back as he curled into a ball.
"LEE-KUN!" The Detective boys exclaimed, seeing their friend flying in midair with his hands and feet restrained behind his back.
The officers stared, horrified, but then snapped out of it, hurrying over to the trunk on one of the vehicles to get a large blanket ready for him to land in while another squad went inside to deal with the kidnappers.
They had stolen the lives of many children from their families ... they needed to be dealt with.
Lee was falling fast - too fast; because he was curled up like a ball it allowed him to fall at a faster velocity than normal instead of stretched out which made it hard for the officers to get the blanket out quick enough. Satou grit her teeth together before finally deciding to run to the spot she realised the boy would most likely land in. If he had been in his normal body he'd be able to survive a fall like that and end up with at least a sprained ankle or both with how nimble he was, but in a child's body ... he'd break both his legs or worse.
She kept her eyes on the shrunken teen as his body neared hers; opening her arms to catch him.
As he finally came closer to the ground he felt a shift in weight and arms wrap around his shivering, curled up form. He blinked, looked up to see Satou looking down at him with a soft smile on her face. "Satou-keiji?"
She rubbed a hand over his messy brown hair, shushing him, causing the shrunken teen to blink. "You're alright now..."
That seemed to start a chain reaction as Lee's eyes started to water, sniffing; he grasped onto Satou's uniform and cried like the child he was meant to portray himself to be. "S...Satou-keiji!"
A small, irritated smile tugged at Conan's lips as he watched the thief cry into the detective's uniform. He could even notice Takagi and Shiratori staring at the way Satou handled the boy causing both men to blush.
"He's a pretty good actor, isn't he?" Conan turned around to face Haibara; who just gave him a wry smile.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Yes. Maybe too good for his own well being..."
"Oh? But at least it makes people think he's an average child and not an oddball-genius with a split personality," she snickered out.
'Oi Oi...' The two watched the shrunken magician cry into Satou's chest; glad that he was okay. 'But ... I'm glad that the idiot is okay...' He gripped the hat in his hands and approached the two as Satou finally decided to put Lee down, undoing his restraints in the process. The boy wiped his eyes, noticing Conan was standing not too far away from him before having his hat shoved in his face. "Here's your hat back."
Lee blinked, taking it and putting it on his head with a smile on his face. "Thanks for holding onto it for me, Conan-kun!"
The other shrunken teen just shook his head and sighed as he brought the other boy in for a hug. "Don't ... do something like that again..." The thief felt Conan gripping his shirt, tightly and blinked.
A small smile spread across the other boy's face. "You know me by now..."
Conan couldn't help it.
He'd grown to like the thief even before he was shrunk.
KID was someone he matched intellect and cunning with at times and knowing that that could end if he was in danger ... made him worry.
Not only that ... he had started to see KID as the brother he never had and it messed with his head a little seeing the thief as family.
He was a detective after all and KID was a criminal and yet ... he was better to have around than most others he knew.
"Just promise me you won't..." Conan's voice wobbled a little and Lee noticed how the detective's hold on him tightened.
"K...Kudou..." Lee muttered, sounding surprised at Conan's words yet also grateful. A thoughtful look crossed the boy's features before a smile finally crossed it. "How about I spend the night at the Agency?"
Conan blinked, getting out of the hug and staring at the other boy. He looked down at the ground before nodding meekly. Lee smiled before letting go of Conan and rushing over to Satou to tell her what he just told Conan. Haibara took that chance to approach the distracted boy with an amused smile on her face.
"I'm surprised." He jumped and turned around to face her. "I didn't think you were so close with the thief ... or sentimental for that matter."
The shrunken teen glared at her for a moment before turning his attention to the ground. "It's not that I am ... I just see him as the brother that I never had; an annoying, intelligent and jokester of a brother. I can tell by the way he looks at me he sees me the same way; as family."
"I get that he'd want something like that." Haibara let a small smirk spread across her face, causing Conan to look at her with a small frown and sigh sigh a shake of the head.
Lee came rushing over with a grin on his face, nodding at Conan. "I can come over." He rubbed behind his head with a sheepish look on his face. "I'm allowed to do what I want since my 'guardian' knows that I'm not really a kid."
Conan gave the boy an envious glare, eyes narrowed. "Lucky..." he muttered under his breath, annoyed.
"Satou-keiji offered to drive us there!" Lee grinned at Conan; who blinked at the boy's sudden personality change. He glanced at Haibara in worry before looking back to the shrunken thief. "Come on!" Lee began marching towards the Ferrari; not even bothered it was a policewoman's car he was hopping into.
They said goodbye to the Detective Boys and hopped into Satou's car.
Conan took another glance at Lee and swallowed.
Was it him or did the the magician do all this on purpose?
~~~ 5:38pm - Beika District - Mouri Detective Agency ~~~
"Kaito-kun, if you're spending the night I expect a call," Satou told the shrunken thief, eyeing him which caused the boy to smile and nod.
"Alright. Thank you, Satou-keiji!" He exclaimed before following Conan up the steps of the Agency. He turned his head to see the red Ferrari take off and leave, causing him to sigh.
Sure, she had agreed to help him and Kudou, but he never wanted anyone that wasn't involved to actually get involved.
She was a police officer like she had told him, so what could he have done?
She had seen him shrink and there was nothing he could do about it...
They all just had to make sure no one else got involved.
The two had walked up the stairs to the office, but Conan frowned when he heard arguing inside. It sounded like it was between Ran and another girl.
Why was that?
Ran was usually relatively calm ... unless something involved Shinichi...
Oh boy...
"FOR THE LAST TIME! THIS IS MY FRIEND AND I WHEN WE WENT TO TROPICAL LAND!"
"AND I'M TELLING YOU IT'S MY FRIEND! THERE'S NOW WAY TWO GUYS ARE OUT THERE THAT ARE NEAR IDENTICAL!"
"THAT IS UNLESS YOU COUNT IDENTICAL TWINS!"
"WHATEVER!"
Conan's eyes widened and hesitated from opening the door. Ran was in one of her 'moods' which wasn't good to walk in on. He took a glance at Lee; who seemed to have the exact same look as him only different.
He looked at Conan and nudged his head to the office. "The girl in there ... I know her. She's probably looking for me."
Conan looked down with frustration. "Shit..."
Lee stared at him for a moment before his gaze turned on the door, hearing the continuous arguing and sighed. "We might as well go in before they kill each other..." He pushed Conan out of the way, reaching up his arm and opening the door.
The yelling got louder as the door was opened and the two boys could now see the two teenage girls standing near the office desk with a photo on it, yelling at each other while Kogoro sat nearby, looking quite miffed and terrified as he watched the scene before him.
"I...I'm home!" Conan called out which didn't even cause the girls to look in his direction, causing a vat of irritation to form in his stomach. "Great..."
Lee wandered into the office and over to the desk, ignoring Conan's protests. He looked at the two; who were arguing over whether Shinichi was the boy in the photo or not. Lee took this chance of their distraction to snatch the photo from the desk and bounce back up beside Conan.
"Wow, you're good even when shrunk..." Conan muttered under his breath for only the other to hear.
"Thanks ... I guess..." Lee didn't know whether to take it as a compliment or not. He looked the photo over and blinked.
It was definitely him; the messy hair and darker shade of eyes than Kudou along with the fact that he wore more casual clothes than suits.
How could the Mouri girl not tell the difference?
Did she want him back that bad?
"I know this niichan!" Lee exclaimed, causing Conan to stare at him for his abrupt shout.
The two girls and Kogoro turned their attention to the child; both Mouris looked between Lee and Conan before landing their eyes on Lee since he was the one that currently had the photo.
Ran approached the boy with a smile on her face though it also looked slightly irritated, eye twitching. "It's Shinichi, isn't it?"
Lee looked at Ran with a confused expression on his face, tilting his head to the side. "No. Why would it be?" He turned the photo around to face the three. "I saw him once in the park. He showed me some really cool magic. He said his name was Kaito."
Ran scoffed as she folded her arms across her chest. "That could be Shinichi trying to hide from me with another identity."
The boy blinked his eyes and shook his head. "He wore an Ekoda High uniform and when he pulled his phone out of his pocket his student ID fell out and it stated he'd attended there since first year."
"You're as bad as that brat..." Kogoro muttered out, grabbing a beer and downing it.
Lee looked at Conan and frowned at him, 'That's not nessacarily true considering I can't stand dead bodies...'
He turned his attention back to the the adult and two teenagers; who he knew was were getting suspicious of him already. He swallowed and smiled like any normal child would. "I was curious. His Tousan was the late Kuroba Toichi and I really like magic, so I wanted to know more about it."
This caused Aoko to frown and approach the boy now as well. "How do you know Kaito's Tousan was a famous magician when he died before you were born?" She knelt down before him, giving him a suspicious look; eyes narrowed at the child.
"He told me when I saw his last name and started talking about how great his Tousan was!" Lee exclaimed with a huge smile on his face; eyes wide with fascination and wonder.
Aoko sighed, shaking her head. "That sounds like something that idiot would do..."
"So, we now know the boy in the photo is Kuroba Kaito ... so you two don't have argue anymore..." Kogoro grumbled out.
Ran stood up turning to Aoko as she did the same thing and the two of them bowed to each other. "I'm sorry! I was way out of line!" They blinked at how they had said that at the same time and stared at each other before bursting out laughing.
It seemed like this little dilemma of mistaken identity had come to a close.
Lee smiled while Conan sighed to himself, glad that Ran wasn't angry anymore.
He didn't want to see her smash something least of all him...
The karate champion hurried over to the kitchen area, saying she was going to get some tea for them as Aoko knelt down before Lee and put a hand on his head which was still covered by a hat. "Thank you..."
He gave her a huge grin in return, causing her to blink and remember where she'd seen a smile like that before. She'd seen it many times; in school before he did a prank, before he flipped her skirt or even before he did a magic trick. She grasped the edge of the cap and lifted it off only to stare at the messy, brown hair underneath along with the deep blue eyes that stared back at her lavender ones.
Conan stared at the two, not moving, his throat clenching as he stared at the girl before Lee.
This wasn't good...
It was Ran all over again...
"K...Kaito...?" Lee's eyes widened as he stared up at Aoko and bit his bottom lip.
'Oh shit...'