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No sooner than Conan had stepped inside and called out "I'm home!", Kaito was walking by him with a pat to his head, heading out the door.

"Take care of the house for a while, okay kiddo? Mom'll flip when she finds out I left you alone, but I should be back later tonight. I trust you to not burn down the house while I'm gone, and I know you know how to use the microwave, so there's some instant ramen for you. I'm really sorry I've got to run off, Conan-kun, but something important's come up and Aoko demanded I come over or else. Take care and do your homework, I'll be home before midnight!"

And with that flurry of words, Kaito was out the door and gone, leaving Conan blinking at the woodwork of the front door.

It was when he passed the coffee table and saw the newspaper that he remembered - Kaitou Kid had a heist tonight. So that's why Kaito had dashed out the door without telling Conan where he was really going. And with Kaito's mother gone until tomorrow morning to attend an old school friend sick in the hospital, Conan was officially alone until Kaito returned.

He sagged in relief. It would be nice to have an evening to himself, so he could be Shinichi without having to be Conan as well. Throwing his backpack carelessly onto an armchair, Conan began padding towards the kitchen, before pausing in mid-step, looking thoughtful.

Kid had sparked a memory - he had been intending to research Kaito's nots on the mysterious organization here, hadn't he? But what with constant surveillance and Kaito not likely to spill all of Kid's secrets to a seven-year-old, he hadn't had time and had let it slip his mind. It would be bad form to try to find them while any of the house's other occupants were home.

But now, he had a wonderful opportunity to do just that.

Resuming his trek towards the kitchen for an early dinner, Conan gave a small smile. It wouldn't help with all the conflicting feelings from this week, but any progress was more progress to returning to Shinichi's life and not having to deal with those feelings anymore.

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About two hours later found Conan sitting idly on the ledge that was the entrance to the secret hideout of Kid, pile of papers balanced in his lap and cookie jar by his side - if he was going to be stuck as a little kid, he was going to exercise a base right and try to stuff himself with as much junk food as he could while not under adult supervison - looking occasionally up form his papers at the TV inside the rec room. A stack of more papers, binders, and folders almost as big as he was sat behind him.

It had taken a long while - and trying to reach the secret catch at the top of the painting to make it stay open when it was taller than he was had been a major pain in the ass - but he'd found the secret to opening the door and had raiding Kaito's note stash.

He had the TV tuned to the channel televising the Kid heist - it wasn't due for another few hours, but the reporters were already covering the scene and making a fuss every a dust particle changed direction. They claimed it was some sort of "Pre-Heist Special" they did at every heist, but Conan could care less. It was useful to help him keep track of time - as soon as Kaito stole the jewel, Conan knew he would have to work fast to restore the room back to how it had been before he'd been in it, so Kaito wouldn't suspect him.

Deciding nothing new was happening at the heist scene aside from a sparrow very affronted at the reporters invading its roof, Conan returned his attention to his current stack of notes, shoving a cookie into his mouth to hang and munch on as he scanned the words.

Surprisingly, the majority of these weren't written by Kaito - but instead by the previous Kid, the long-deceased Kuroba Toichi. So Kaito's father had been working just as hard as they were to bring down the organization, but he had been a little too late and a little too obvious, resulting in his death.

Having come too close to that fate himself, Conan forced the dark thoughts about following a dead person's path out of his mind and focused on the words being written. Apparently, Toichi had discovered several factions within the group, all having code names after different things. The group working on the jewel Pandora and immortality research were all nicknamed after predatory animals, while the division Shinichi himself had had a little brush with was actually that of the assassination department - those who all named after various alcoholic drinks. There were several other branches, but none would be really related to Shinichi's work - embellizing and the like.

He spent several hours like that, depleting a large chunk of chocolate chip cookies and working through a sizable portion of the notes, though he was still nowhere near halfway done with the whole stack when the crowds went wild over the television - the heist wa sin full swing, and Kaito would undoubtedly steal the jewel any minute.

Snapping closed the current binder he'd been flipping through, Conan stood and stretched, groaning slightly as a kink in his back cracked. Sitting still for so long took its toll on even Shinichi's newly-youthful position, and he had a feeling he was going to be sore from several hours hunched over. Ah well, that was the price to pay, and he busied himself with rearranging the notes just as he'd found them.

He hadn't found out much new - both Kaito and his father had been as depressingly low on leads as Conan himself was. The organization was too good at hiding in the shadows, there was no way they would be taken down by just watching and note-taking.

Conan frowned. He needed a better game plan than this...sitting around and waiting for Kaito and his mother to be in the house, just on the off-chance that Kaito might find something worth-while wasn't a lucrative plan so far, and he doubted it would be. Kaito just didn't work in the right circles for that to happen - the thief could draw them out, yes, and knew their goals, but the only way to do that was in costume, and while Kaito was sharply intelligent and a wonderful multi-tasker, pulling off a heist and trying to lure the bad guys in for a conversation at the same time was too much for even the magician to handle.

What do I do...? Conan bit his lip as he set the last of the files in place, going back to the entrance and moving the cookie jar out of the room before working on the painting's latch. Okay, think Shinichi...what's the first step needed against these guys?

The answer came soon enough. He needed Kudo Shinichi - needed the detective's older body and influence. It would get him out of the dangerous situation of being Conan faster, and Kaito could hide him so they wouldn't know Shinichi was back. And to get his body back...

I need the antidote to this poison, if there is one. Failing that, I need someone who can make it. The professor is a genius, but he always was crap at chemistry and biology, both of which I need...

He would have to research some more, then. The guys who had poisoned him had said their organization made the drug themselves...so they undoubtedly had a science department.

Conan sighed as he let the painting swing shut, picking up his cookies and heading towards the kitchen to put them away. There was no way he could find the science department alone and without direction, but perhaps there was a way. That would be his priority, then - all information relating to that department and possible leaks to get information from.

Getting an antidote was first and foremost, and the best decision all around. For both his and Kaito's sake.

He was just shoving the jar back into its proper place when the front door creaked open. Once the jar was sure to not fall over, Conan headed for the living room - he wasn't really worried about being caught up late, tomorrow was Sunday after all - but frowned when Kaito wasn't in the living room or entrance hall. Had the other teen already retreated upstairs? Conan had left the house dark - perhaps he thought Conan was already asleep and had not heard him in the kitchen?

He headed back upstairs, looking around curiously. Kaito hadn't even opened Conan's bedroom door - but the other teen's bedroom light was on, the door open just a crack. Kaito appeared to be talking to himself, his voice a soft, continuous murmur. Curious, Conan continued forward and peered into Kaito's room, widening the door just a centimeter more for a better view.

"...And you really ought to come home soon you know...life's really boring without you around to talk to. Course, you may not be coming home at all...but I'd rather not think about that. You've always had a knack for showing up unexpectedly. Anyways, the heist went great tonight, though it wasn't the jewel I wanted, as always...sometimes I think I'm just chasing smoke and mirrors, but...if I was, then you wouldn't be missing, now would you? Well, I better hang up before I wake up Conan, so...please, call back or come home, Shinichi..."

Conan jerked back from the door as if burned, having the presence of mind to angle himself as not to be seen as Kaito snapped his cellphone shut with a sigh, staring forlornly at the small bit of technology.

Kaito...was calling him? But Agasa hadn't mentioned any phone calls to the Kudo house recently...his cellphone! Kaito must be calling his cellphone and leaving voicemail messages for Shinichi...

With a dry mouth and a strange ache in his chest, Conan turned from Kaito's door and headed for his own bedroom, managing to open the door silently and letting it close behind him with a soft click.

Tomorrow, he'd go to visit the professor and discuss his newest plan. Yes, that's what he would do. The sooner they got everything together, the sooner all this would just be over and Shinichi could go back to his nice, normal life without hurting or disappointing Kaito anymore. Yes, that's what he needed to do.

Crawling into bed without even changing into pajamas, Conan reached for his pillow to complete the habit that he was indulging in too often lately, pulling it over his head and blocking out the sound of Kaito opening his door to check in on him.

And he'd get his cellphone, too, and start erasing the messages after he listened to them all.

His voicemail inbox needed to be clear, after all, to make sure Kaito kept calling. It was the only spark of hope he could give the teen, but as long as it was there, it could always be fanned into a flame. So long as it was kept alive...

There would always be room for Kaito in that inbox, even if it killed Shinichi.

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