A/N: Whooo it's been 4 weeks. Sorry? School's kindaaa been kicking my butt. Honestly thank y'all so much for sticking with me (even though I"ve been terrible about updating haha every time I see a "new follower" notification my heart rate just spikes cause gOTTA UPDATE)

Guys, I promise, I am going to GET THROUGH THIS AND FINISH IT SO DON'T YOU EVEN WORRY, I AIN'T ABANDONING SHIP EVER.

As proven by a 4.5k chapter. Seriously. What happened to the days when my chapters were like, 1.3 k words? Lots to cover this chapter. The formidable east and west duo is back, and there's also a focus on KaiAo. Ten years really can do a lot to people.

Anyway, if you liked it, please drop a review in the box~ It makes the authoress happy (and motivated) lol

Something pressed down heavily on his arm, then there came a frantic drumming of feet against the floorboards.

Kaito groaned and turned onto his side."Five more minutes."

A small finger jabbed into his rib.

He cracked open an eye cautiously.

"Kaito-nii-chan…" Sleep made her large eyes droopy but she was definitely awake. "Why are you in my room?"

The girl seemed to comprehend her own words before he did, and he watched her eyes widen almost comically as she realized that her surroundings were, in fact, not her room.

Bright, big eyes turned back to stare at him. She stood completely still, with a statue-like posture and complete mastery of her limbs,uncanny in a child of her age.

Though, he remembered, faintly, perhaps she was not a child of her age after all.

"I get it," Proclaimed the little girl-Ran, though it seemed weird to call her that. When he'd been at the police station he'd merely read her name upside down in squiggly letters from her homework. At the time he'd attached no special significance to it, though he wasn't blind. He figured it must've been nostalgia or something similar, a physical manifestation of Tantei-kun's regrets come back to haunt him. But now, it was different. Now, her name held different meaning.

"Get what?" He managed to say, pushing himself up on his elbows, feeling his bones crack. Damn. He really needed to invest in a cot. Ten years down the road, though as a magician, he paid a great deal of attention to maintenance, he had to admit that he wasn't really as springy as he had been as a teenager. Though where to put the cot was another thing entirely, since Aoko's apartment was so itty bitty. She didn't like "the batcave," (artfully dubbed by herself), though, said the place gave her the creeps. He was unsurprised, considering how much she'd been terrified of ghosts.

Still, she'd come, after the fallout. She'd come and she'd sit, silent, for hours on end. He hadn't been sure whether she'd been afraid of the dark or of him then.

"It's a dream," Ran pronounced seriously, startling him out of his thoughts.

Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Is it now?"

Of course, given the theory that this was really her-shrunk, by that drug Tantei-kun had called APTX...he'd have to have Jii-chan look that up too-he'd considered that maybe, just maybe, Mouri Ran had been faking the amnesia. For what reason, he hadn't picked out, but he assumed it would've had something to do with Tantei-kun. Now, though, it appeared as if she really thought she was just a child, too.

"Mmmhmm." Ran was very determined. "Shiratori-sensei says when we think about something a lot during the day, we dream about it."

"...So all you think about all day is an itty bitty apartment complex?"

She shook her head, leveling a glare at him. "Not that!" A pause. The expression on her face melted into one of disappointment, and she pouted. "Since this is a dream anyway...I know Kaito-nii-chan from somewhere, don't I?"

Oh yeah. Speaking of. He was going to have to reconcile the fact that she left with Kaitou Kid and now she was here, huh? "About that-"

"Not just at the police station either. From before."

He paused at that. "Before what?"

The girl gestured at her head. "Before this."

Before the start of her now very regrettably short memory, then. "...Why do you think so?"

"Because!" She insisted, then stopped as she realized. "I don't know. I just know."

Kaito bit his lip.

Mouri Ran had been in contact with Kaitou Kid frequently. The daughter of a detective and best friend of Suzuki Sonoko, she'd been at nine out of ten heists. But he'd kept his identity from those closest to him-from even Aoko-for years. There was no way she would've been able to tell just from what few encounters they'd had.

That left only one option.

Slowly, he lifted his hands to his hair. Smoothing down half of it with his palm while leaving the rest sticking out in every which direction, he looked up again.

Ran stared.

He'd worn Kudou Shinichi's face many times before. He had the detective down to the cowlick.

"Is this-"

"Your eyes." Her voice was still high pitched, but the tone and her words was anything but childlike.

"...What?"

"Your eyes are the wrong shade."

"Wrong shade for who?"

"I...don't know…" She was visibly distressed, but couldn't seem to tear her gaze away, and her eyebrows scrunched up. Her hands flew toward her head, fingers tangling in her hair. Tears sprung into her eyes, welling. "I don't know. I don't know. I don't-"

The door opened.

"Good morning-" The cheerful sound died in Aoko's throat, and she whacked Kaito in the good shoulder.

"Ow!" he complained, tipping over.

"I said explain, not make her cry!" The woman stepped over him carelessly, glaring. Then, transformed into the paragon of patience and kindness, "You're ok. You're ok. Kaito's just a baka." Another glare.

Jeez. Unfair.

"S'Ok," Ran sniffed a little, allowing herself to be fussed over as Aoko wiped the tears on her little face away with handkerchief conjured magically from nothing. "S'Not Kaito-nii-chan's fault."

"Sorry," Kaito scratched his head. He hadn't really expected the child to have such an adverse reaction…After all, it seemed like Ran had remembered Kudou, at least subconsciously...

"You're an idiot," Aoko informed him again.

Kaito pouted. "Yeah, yeah."

Her brows furrowed at the lack of a smart remark. "Did I get your bad shoulder accidentally?" Already, her fingers were brushing over his arm.

"I'm fine," he promised, and pretended not to notice how she'd pinked slightly at the extent of her own concern.

"...In any case, I've made pancakes. You two can have breakfast, and then you can take her home."

"Actually," Kaito cut in quickly. "Before that."

This gave her reason to pause, and she raised an eyebrow. "...Kaito?"

"I have to take her to Jii-chan."

"...for what?"

"...Some tests. I'll tell you when I'm sure."

"But-"

"Aoko, I know I promised no more secrets...but...this one isn't mine to tell."

She didn't speak.

"...Can you trust me?" The question fell from his lips and he hated that he asked it, hated how he'd needed to ask it. Hated how he felt as vulnerable as the very first he'd asked it every single time. It's been six years, but it still felt like he didn't deserve the answer, somehow.

She sighed, and answered, as she always did. "With my life."

A pause.

"Thank you."

The sound of a stomach growling. Aoko turned around.

Ran grinned sheepishly. "Your pancakes smell really nice, Nee-chan. Even if they are just part of my dream."

Aoko laughed. "A dream?"

Ran nodded solemnly. "A dream."

"Well then. My name's Aoko. What's yours?"

"My name is Ran! Nice to meet you, Aoko-nee-chan!"

And he was aware of the question he'd just raised-after all, Ran lived with Tantei-kun. If Tantei-kun didn't look like himself, Kaito didn't know who would. So why hadn't Ran been reminded of Kudou as consciously as she had been, first at the heist, and then here, but not before?

Kaito had never really been one to ponder ceaselessly things he had no control over. He would make a point to call Jii-chan later, and call tantei-kun once he got his hands on another burner phone. For now, though he allowed himself to be distracted by homemade pancakes (delicious!).

Across the table, Aoko caught his eye, and smiled.

Really. He didn't know how he used to do this without her.

The train came to a complete stop, knocking his face against the glass.

Not really the best way to wake up. He needed coffee, and he needed it fast. Stupid Kudou, dragging him all the way out there this early. Were there any cafes even open at this hour in the morning?

Stifling a yawn, he stepped out onto the deserted platform.

Really didn't know what he was expecting there.

Hopefully there was at least taxi service. Did Kudou even still live at the old mansion?

Ten years. Ten years of radio silence, and when that was finally broken, all he got was a four word phone call.

Dammit.

He rounded the corner, stepped out of the station, and was confronted with the sight of a yellow bug parked by the street.

The window rolled down.

"Hattori-kun." An even female voice, familiar in tone and inflection, came from the driver's seat. Haibara Ai leaned out the window, strawberry blonde hair the same length, carefully trimmed.

It was almost creepy how she was exactly like the little girl he remembered from ten years ago, just sort of...stretched. It was different in her case. Heiji had never known her as anything other than a child, so it was a little strange.

"...The little-nee-chan."

"Long time no see, Hattori-kun." Even the eerie not-quite smile was the same.

"You too." The whole thing was surreal somehow. He almost never went to Tokyo after the incident. There wasn't really reason to, and he certainly never expected to be coming back to...well, this. He'd dropped his stuff off in the back and climbed into the passenger seat when he finally realized. "...Where's the professor?"

"At home, in bed." A pause. And then a faint smirk. "I don't actually have a license yet, but you know, I am technically twenty eight."

He shrugged. "I'd trust you driving more than Kudou at this hour in the morning."

"I never sleep anyway."

"...Please tell me that means you have some damn good coffee."

"I've got a pot. Foresaw the necessity. You've been busy lately, Hattori-kun." Her gaze flickered momentarily to the gold band on his left hand.

"News travels fast." Kudou really could not have picked a worse time. His mother was going to kill him, not to mention his fiancee. The very thought sent shivers down his spine.

"So it does. Congratulations."

"Thanks."

A pause.

"So." He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Edogawa-kun didn't tell me why he called for your help. I wasn't informed that you would arrive until this morning. But. I suspect it may have something to do with this." This time, her gaze did not leave the road, but she inclined her head ever so slightly toward the glove box.

Heiji leaned forward, and pulled out the stack of papers stashed there. His breath caught in his chest.

"Oi, oi-"

"I'm a scientist, Hattori-kun. The numbers don't lie."

"But this...this isn't possible."

"You know, they never did find a body." Haibara remarked, almost conversationally, as she turned a corner.

Heiji stared for a long time. "It was that warehouse then? The one that was all over the news a couple of days ago. That was them." He swallowed. " I was going to congratulate you but…" But he'd looked down at Kudou's contact, buried at the bottom of his phone, and lost courage.

It would've seemed mocking anyhow. He didn't know why he hadn't deleted it over all these years-after all, he'd lost hope that there was ever going to be a call.

"I think we both know what Edogawa-kun's bottom line is." Haibara remarked lightly, as if she wasn't fazed at all. "And I think we both know how he gets when someone crosses that line."

"...What happened to her? Wait-don't tell me," Flipping the papers to the right page, he squinted at the lines, "-that weird drug you developed?"

"Yes. Though they've modified it, so it is technically no longer mine."

"...Kudou must have lost his shit."

"You would do well not to use that name, Hattori-kun."

"Why?"

"Because Kudou Shinichi is gone, just as Miyano Shiho is gone. These ten years have not been kind. He is no longer the same as before."

"I don't know about that," Heiji grumbled. "Seems to me he's always been a petulant brat."

"You'd be surprised."

"Not pleasantly, I take it? Come on. Edogawa Conan, or whichever stupid name he's going by now, can't be that bad."

Haibara smiled. "I'm glad you have so much faith." A pause. "You'll need it."

They pulled into the driveway at the Kudou Mansion.

Ten years since he'd been anywhere near the place, and it looked about just as old. The windows were drawn closed, there was dust on the windowsills, and the garden was unkempt. It looked deserted. No, not even that. It looked haunted.

Heiji stepped out of the car.

Haibara did not follow.

"You're not coming?"

"I have tests to run, Hattori-kun. I'm in no mood to be dealing with, as you so elegantly put it, Edogawa-kun's shit."

"...See ya later, little nee-chan."

"I'll remind you I'm technically older than you." With that, Haibara rolled up the window and drove down to the professor's, just next door.

Heiji went up the front steps, but before he could even raise his hand to knock, the door had been pulled open.

"K-Kudou."

Damn his goddamn mouth. Literally just stuff his foot in it.

In his defense, it would be hard for anyone who knew not to slip.

Conan glared at him, through the glasses, but he looked like the Kudou Shinichi that had been plastered all over the papers a decade ago, looked like the same brilliant, cocky boy who had disappeared into the shadows, only sharper, somehow, more like...well, more like a weapon, than a boy, really.

"Hattori."

It was like they only just became connected-Conan and this boy-this teenager with a mind as old as Heiji's-melded together, but it wasn't quite Kudou, wasn't quite the same. Something had changed in the eyes, half-hidden behind lenses of the glasses that were now a permanent part of his identity, something fundamentally wrong even just to look at. The feeling caught in Heiji's chest, beat against his ribcage, pushed him to speak.

"Ten years." He found himself saying, anger rising in him as he realized that it really had been that long.

Conan waited, arms folded. The sheer lack of emotion was irritating.

"It's been ten years." Gray eyes met blue ones. His hands balled into fists at his side, shaking. All those years finding himself glancing at a contact at the bottom of his phone, wondering if his friend was dead or alive. Conan managed to stop caring. He didn't.

Conan's lips flattened into a thin line. "I didn't ask you here in all haste to waste time."

"What the hell were you thinking?"

A coolly raised eyebrow. "Are you quite finished-"

Before Heiji even had time to think about it, his fist had connected with the smooth underside of the teenager's jaw.

Conan dropped like a ton of bricks, soundless except for the sharp intake of air on impact.

Heiji froze. And stared.

The boy sat on the front steps of the house, just breathing.

And it was-wrong. Wronger than anything that Heiji had already witnessed.

The way he sat, noiseless and expressionless until he could school himself, until his breathing evened out again, and he was able to regard Heiji with sharp eyes clear of pain-it was painful to watch, almost.

"Are you quite finished?" The boy asked again, peering up through dark lashes, as calmly as the first time he had stated the question.

Heiji reached for him. Wanted to say something because he had expected pigheaded stubbornness, he had expected overwhelming grief, but he had never expected-well, this.

His fingers grasped at the air and he let his arm drop to his side again, biting down on the inside of his cheek. "Fine. What've you got for me?"

Somehow, a short walk to Jii-chan's stretched into a few hours of hiding from the rain. Kaito should've seen it coming. He and Aoko had had arguments over when to have the heist-because reportedly there would be thunderstorms around this time frame, and Aoko hadn't wanted him to be caught out in the rain.

Had it been only the two of them, Kaito and Aoko could've gone on. But Ran, for reasons unexplainable to everyone, was terrified of thunder. Which was how they ended up in a shopping mall on Saturday during rush hour. At least the cheesy music covered up the rolling storm outside.

Aoko went altogether too overboard.

"Look! Isn't this cute?"

"...Aoko…"

"Oh! This too!"

"Aoko…"

"And this is adorable-sorry! I know you don't like fish, but they're just so-"

"Aoko, can you even afford all that?"

"Yep!" Aoko grinned. "I just got promoted."

"Wait-you got promoted? When? Why?"

"No thanks to you, Bakaito," Aoko stuck her tongue out, still holding the (Kaito shuddered to think of it) large blue and orange goldfish bow next to Ran's head and trying to decide if it was cuter than the pink one. "Akiyama-san's leaving the force. That, and my breakthrough from a couple of years ago, you know, the one where I nearly caught you?"

"The worst day of my life, where I had to stand on the edge of a rooftop for two hours and tell you everything, while it was snowing, wondering whether or not you were going to murder me?"

"Shush. It's Bakaito's fault anyway. They reviewed my resume and thought I would be better used as an analyst, so I'm going to go work with Hakuba-kun."

"Hmm. No more tackling me on the job, huh? Too bad." He skillfully ducked around Aoko, grabbing little Ran's hand. "It was the highlight of my day."

Aoko was sufficiently distracted with blushing to the roots of her hair, and Kaito was able to steer her and Ran toward the counter, where he proceeded to pay for everything himself anyway.

"I figured Tantei-kun deserves something as an apology," He shrugged, upon her questioning gaze. Though he still made her handle everything and anything goldfish-related. The thunderstorm outside seemed to be ongoing, and Ran was starting to complain that her feet were getting tired, so they went and found a resting area, where Aoko and Ran proceeded to sit while Kaito found the nearest electronics store and bought a phone to call aforementioned overprotective detective.

Hopefully Tantei-kun hadn't begun to exact revenge yet. He might not have had any concrete evidence, but Kaito would come under suspicion again if the infamous high school detective was so positive that he knew the identity of Kaitou Kid. It was generally annoying to dispel suspicions, especially of people around him. It made Aoko have to lie more than she was comfortable with, anyhow.

Tantei-kun picked up on the second ring.

"...Well?" Came the unforgiving voice.

"Jeez. Cold."

"I'm in no mood for your games, Kaitou Kid."

"Probably don't have the time for that, huh? Busy tearing apart Bell Tree Tower for evidence?"

"Worried?"

"I have enough faith in you to hope that you remember who the real enemy is. I hope you have enough faith in me."

"...I just want Ran back."

Kaito shrugged. "Sorry. We're stalled out here. It's raining. As soon as possible though, I'll return her to you."

A pause. "Thunderstorm?"

He grinned. "So the little ojou-chan's been like this since before, huh?"

The scowl from the other end of the line was almost audible. "None of your business. What are you doing in that part of Tokyo?"

Damn. Should've remembered that that brat was a detective.

"The same as you, I would assume, Tantei-kun. I'm looking for answers. Though I'll admit, this is raising more questions."

"What do you mean?"

He'd debated whether or not to say this, for many reasons. He didn't want to give Conan hope, and he also didn't want to end up dead in a ditch if it happened to be just a blip, an outlier that could not be counted on. "...She said your name in her sleep. Not this one. Your real name." Kaito spared a glance at where Aoko and Ran were sitting. They were caught up in conversation with a kindly old lady and didn't seem to pay him any mind. "It must've been the flying that jolted her memory...though you'll recall, that time at the sunflower museum wasn't exactly you."

Silence on the other end.

"Tantei-kun?"

Nothing.

God. Did he finally break the infamous detective of the east?

Then the dial tone sounded in his ears.

Kaito cursed.

Not the most gentlemanly thing, he'd readily admit it.

But. After a week of planning, a week as Kaitou Kid living in the skin of Kuroba Kaito instead of the other way around-well, he was tired.

After ten years, he was tired.

So he supposed he understood how Tantei-kun felt after all.

Aoko was red-faced again when he walked back toward the two of them, pocketing the burner. He'd have to get rid of that later too.

"Storm's passed," she said, though she wouldn't look at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"Nothing."

The old lady who he'd spotted before poked her head back. "And you must be the husband." A sideways glance at Aoko, whose efforts to control the blush spreading across her face was failing miserably, "Goodness, I thought young people these days were supposed to be bold."

Kaito put on a flawless smile, for reasons that he couldn't really explain. "I suppose so, Obaa-san."

"I was only pointing out that your child is adorable-quite like the mother. A happy little family." The little grandmother cooed at Ran, still seated, and half asleep. Then turned to Aoko. "I'd cherish it, ojou-san."

They stood side by side a moment, watching the obaa-san as she walked away. Like a real, happy family, just for a second.

"...You didn't deny it."

"Hmm?"

Aoko looked up at him. "You didn't deny it."

"...Was there a necessity to?"

"No-" She cut herself off, looked away again. "No."

He cleared his throat, fiddled with their bags.

"...Kaito…"

"You don't have to."

"Kaito."

"I just…" Kaito looked to her with pleading eyes, "I wish..."

"Me too," She offered quietly, with great difficulty, "But you know that's not…"

"-possible." He finished for her, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes. "Yeah. I know. It can't-" Subconsciously, his fist had clenched into the plastic of the bag, and he willed it to loosen. "It doesn't matter."

She didn't speak anymore.

Sometimes he really did hate being Kaitou Kid.

Was this how his father felt in the final months of his life? That this spectre in white, as unattainable by the person who plays its part as those who watch the show, would take and take and take, until everything was gone, and he became nothing but The Act?

Dropping down to the level of the child, he poked Ran's cheek.

She woke, blinking, and his heart twisted because it wasn't hard to imagine, because Ran really did look so much like Aoko-

"C'mon," With infinite tenderness, he lifted her up and hoisted her over his shoulder. "Let's get you to Jii-chan's. Then we can get you home."

"If I'd known you only wanted me for my shiny credentials," Heiji huffed, "I wouldn't have come at all."

"It's your own fault for carrying your badge on leave." Conan snorted.

"It's not my fault I run into murders on a daily basis. Besides, this isn't even within my jurisdiction."

"When you're the son of a police chief, it can be."

"Thought you weren't into the whole 'using power to get places' deal."

"Guess you don't know me that well," was the nonchalant answer.

Tch. Kids these days...

Heiji pinched the bridge of his nose and wondered if he really was getting old. "That old man won't be happy that we're getting our mitts over his crime scene though."

"Nakamori-keibu? He's used to it."

"You haven't been at a Kid heist in years."

"It doesn't really matter, does it?"

"Didn't you get rid of that organization?"

"Crime networks aren't ever gone completely. With its main branch out of play, I had hoped their activities would be limited, but we all knew they would never just disappear. And besides," A sharp grin. "We don't even know that this is the same crime network. Which is why our next stop is the police station. There, at least, I'll have no need of your credentials."

"...I want in anyway."

"...Suit yourself."

Heiji rolled his eyes at the other one's tone. He hadn't quite figured out how to handle Edogawa Conan yet. After all, it'd taken him a while to figure Kudou Shinichi out, before.

But.

They'd fallen into something not exactly familiar, but not altogether different. A middle ground, so to speak. A gap bridged, at least while they worked together.

Just like old times, then.

Heiji grinned, reached up for the hat he'd been wearing all morning, and twisted it around.