Declaimer: I don´t own Detective Conan.

Words: 4 140

A/N: Nope, I am not dead... at least yet... Enjoy :)

A strange murder

It was a rather disturbing picture, now that Shinichi thought about it. A man covered in his own blood, handing from the ceiling, warped by strings, his throat sliced in half… However, as soon as she saw him, she had no time to think about it.

Running toward the door, she violently closed it after her, not allowing anyone to see it. They were in a school, in which more than half population never saw a dead body, even more a dead body covered in blood. She couldn't allow them to see it, or else there would be panic all over the place.

"No one, and I repeat, no one can enter this room, got it?" Shinichi asked, not even waiting for an answer as she turned around, facing a confused Hakuba. Speaking in low voice, she approached him. "There is a body in the room. And it was a murder."

And with that, there was no need to say a thing. As Hakuba took off to call the detectives, Shinichi sighed. Maybe she was cursed after all… The bodies seemed to surround her more and more, and she didn´t know how to deal with it. It´s true that her job was to solve murders, but for her to stumble upon them so regularly was somewhat… creepy.

"Hey, what´s happening?" Pushing the sleeve of her shirt, Kaito´s violet eyes searched for hers with worry. Ever since she came out of the room, the air around Tantei changed. Suddenly, she was more serious, and he started to fear there was a body. "Did someone get killed or something?"

Kaito´s figures were crossed, as he wished he was wrong. There were still so many things he wanted to show her… and if there was, indeed, a murder, than she would spend all her time solving it, forgetting immediately about the festival. However, to his sadness, there really was a murder.

"I am sorry…" She mumbled, her face sad all out sudden. It wasn't how she wanted to end her day with him… Not even knowing if there would be another day like that. "I guess that witch was right about me after all…"

Blinking, completely forgetting there were people looking at them, Kaito quickly pulled her into a tight hug. "She´s not, don´t believe her!" He stated, smirking. A depressed Tantei was cute, but he liked her more when she smiled. Wait, liked? "Actually, we should be happy you are here to solve this quickly, otherwise the festival would end!"

Blushing at his attics, Shinichi smiled a little bit, giving him a mumbled thanks. Yes, he was right… Unless she solved that quickly, the festival would end. And she still had to see if 3-C won or not… "What are you guys doing?"

Surprised, Kaito and Shinichi immediately separated, both flushing looking at the detectives which just arrived, followed by a smiley Aoko and for-some-reason angry Hakuba. "N-nothing!" Shinichi stated, trying to get rid of the red coloring her face. "Anyway, you should see this…"

"Hm…" Narrowing her eyes, Jodie repressed a smirk, following the girl inside. She instantly closed the door when Jodie, Sato and Hakuba were inside, refusing to let anyone else, (Kaito included, to his irritation) see the murder scene.

Before them, a teen was hanging like a marionette, tiny wires around his body, deepening the cuts already created. Those silver strings rose to the metal bar which was bolted to the ceiling, surrounding it a few times before continuing their cursed way towards the window. Shinichi quickly approached it, noticing they were connected to a yellow construction track, which happened to be in the middle of the track flied.

"Oh god…" Sato mumbled, her eyes still on the dead teen. Even form there, you could see the completely terrified expression he had had, as well as every little detail of his sliced throat… "We can´t let anyone else see this…"

The rest of the police force, along with Megure-keibu, arrived pretty fast and took control of the room and most of the floor. Considering that happening in a school, they needed to move fast, or else parents and other citizen would feel too fearful to even step out of their home, not to mention allowing their kids to go to school…

The body still hung from there, as no one dared to take it off, knowing they could be compromising evidence. After all, how on earth did someone manage to do that? "Considering the rigor mortis still hadn´t installed, the murder occurred between two and four o´clock." Tome-san, one of the forensic experts, stated, his eyes flying to the detectives around him. "However, I can give you a better time of death after I examine him closer… Can we lower him?"

"I believe it is for the best…" Jodie added, looking around concerned. Her mind was working thousand an hour, as she tried to figure out what happened. The dead teen didn´t appeared like that by chance… and something about that whole murder scene bothered her. Like she was forgetting something really important.

Sato nodded, her eyes still on the strings. What kind of person would do that…? No, wait, that wasn't the main question… How did they manage to lift him up and leave him like that without calling attention on themselves? It would leave innumerous blood stains on their clothes just to kill him, not to mention lift him up…

"Did you send someone to check the yellow truck?" Shinichi´s voice resounded through the cold room, and everyone finally remembered she was still there. Ever since they came in, she somewhat disappeared. However, she wasn't the only one, as Hakuba Saguro entered the room after her, his face strangely serious.

"You should." He added, his eyes flying to the window. "We just came back, and there are strings attached to the wheel, as well as some short of machine... Most probably, the murder surrounded the victim with strings, attached them to the wheel, and used the trucks strength to lift the victim up."

"Takagi, take some man and go there!" Inspector ordered, walking quickly towards the teen detectives. "Kudo-kun what are you doing here?" Shinichi smiled a little bit, but it never reached her eyes, which reminded the same: cold and piercing.

"Well… I was in the neighborhood and decided to visit my friend´s school festival… when this happened." Her eyes quickly flew Jodie and Sato´s way, but they said nothing, pretending they never heard a thing. And maybe they didn´t, considering their eyes and mind were completely focused on the current case.

"You should visit the station too sometime… You have been missing for too long, and everyone is starting to worry." The teen just smiled gently, nodding thou she knew she would never do it… At least not until the organization was gone and she had her original body back.

"Keibu, the room is ready for use." One of the many policemen on duty informed, waiting as some of the people left the room. Considering they needed to talk with those who knew the murdered boy and those who had grudges against him, and that everyone was still underage… it was decided to interrogate them in a vacant room, so that no one would see the dead body.

However, unlike everyone else who quickly left the room, Shinichi reminded there. Her blue eyes searched the room from one corner to another, looking, analyzing, finding clues… In her current body, it was a pain when there were many people, since they would constantly ask questions and justifications for her actions. Damn, who knew she would think being small had its advantages?

Freezing on her tracks in a corner, she looked strangely at the object she found. What was a broken violin string doing there? Ok, it wasn't a whole but… Even a little piece, not more than 5 cm long, what was it doing there?

Picking it up, her hands already wearing light blue gloves she snatched from Tome-san, she carefully examined it. It was a steel core string, but it showed ages of use, and the corners appeared to be ripped, as if the string broke. It also had something dark on it… like, blood. "Hm…" Humming, she approached Tome-san´s kit, taking out luminol. She just needed to make sure...

"I never knew you were so inattentive when trying to solve murders, Tantei-chan." A voice suddenly broke her concentration, and the teen looked up irritated at the annoying thief. Did he really have to appear now? Deciding it was better not to answer, she sprayed the substance quickly, smirking when she noticed it started to glow.

It only lasted thirty seconds, but it was enough for Shinichi. "I should give this to Tome-san…" She mumbled, quickly putting the broken string inside a bag. The place she found it was too far from the corpse, so that blood couldn´t be his. What means: either it belonged to someone who had practiced there some days ago and got hurt when the string broke, or it belonged to the culprit who did something which made the string brake… "Either way, it´s worth analyzing…"

"Tantei, don´t ignore me!" Kaito suddenly warped his hands around her waist, pulling her closer to him and he pouted. Shinichi yelped from shock, almost allowing the bag to fall, only to glare at Kaito right away. "I don´t like when you ignore me…"

Blushing madly, the female tried to run away, only to get hugged even more. Did he really have to hold her that close? She could hear and feel his breath near her ear… "I am not ignoring you, I just need to solve this fast…" Shinichi mumbled, trying to hide the fact her voice wanted to go on vacation, so faint it was. "Now let me go, or else…"

Smirking, Kaito pulled her even closer. While he waited in the corridor, he came to one conclusion: screw that stupid question in his head. He was Kaitou Kid, and he would do what he wanted. The questions and answers would have to wait, since his mind was way too focused on that lovely maid detective. "Or else what, Tantei-chan?"

His face slowly approached hers, as he inhaled her sweet and yet dangerous scent. That day it was sweeter than normal, maybe because of all sweets she had been forced to eat… And yet the coffee scent he so loved was still there, bewitching his senses as he drew closer and closer.

And in no time, his nose was driving circles on Shinichi´s neck, who became paralyzed from both sock and happiness. She had dreamed of being that close to him for so long… Except they usually were in her room, or his; and he usually wore less clothes than that…

"Be right back." Jumping forward when the door opened, Shinichi came back to earth red as a tomato. What. The. Hell. Just. Happened. It was all she could think off, her face turned toward the wall so no one would see her. Or at least she hopped they wouldn't. "There you are. We are waiting for you, Kudo-chan."

The person who interrupted Kaito´s fun, or maybe even did him a favor, since his next move had something to do with Tantei´s lips…; stared at the teens confused, before a creepy smile rose to her limps. After all, it wasn't hard to imagine what could have happened in a room with two teens, especially since they were so red they could win the sunset.

"Sorry, sorry." Shinichi mumbled, screaming in her head. Her mind was still unable to register what just happened. It needed more time, and more space between her and Kaito. Or else she may just blur out some things which shouldn´t be said. Moving towards Jodie, who still had the same strange smile, Shinichi tried once again to concentrate on the case. "Do you know who the victim is?"

Taking out her note book, Jodie quickly read the notes she had taken when Megure-keibu spoke earlier. "Named Fuji Gon, 19th years old, was part of 3-D here at school. Famous for repeating a year and bullying people; his height is 1, 80 m and weigh 70 kg. Used to attend a gym nearby, but got kicked out for injuring another fighter. Has a dragon tattoo on his left shoulder, but no connection with Yakuza or other known gangs."

Finishing her brief report, she hid the note book, leading the teen to the improvised interrogation room where people were already being asked questions, information was handled much faster than normal. But then again, there was nothing else they could do. Half way there, Jodie realized something really important when she turned around to ask Shinichi a question. And it was that the girl wasn't following her anymore, not even a trace of her presence left. "What the…?" She mumbled, sighing irritated. For some reason that brought memories… which involved a certain missing child.

Walking by the full corridors of the third floor, all alone, Shinichi´s mind was somewhere far away. It was with the broken string she had found earlier, and for some reason, she felt like she had seen it somewhere. However, her memory couldn't provide her with anything more than that feeling, annoying the hell out of her.

Sighing irritated as she stopped somewhere she didn´t knew where anymore, she allowed her eyes to travel around when she spotted the class 3-D. If she remembered right, the victim had been from that class… Shrugging, what would she lose if she went there? Nothing.

"Excuse me…" Entering the dark classroom, she realized the class was almost deserted, only two people left in the room, who looked at her scared. Well, not that she could judge them. "Can I ask you some things?" The two girls looked at each other, shrugged and nodded. "Do you know Fuji Gon?"

"That bastard?" The taller of them stated, relaxing all of sudden. "Yes, I know him. We all know him, he is form out class… But you already know that, don´t you?" Smiling a little bit, Shinichi closed the door after her, approaching them. "If you are searching for him, he isn´t here now."

Nothing the phrasing, while sitting near them, Shinichi nodded. "I needed to talk to him but I can´t find him… He said he would be here the whole day, so…" Allowing her voice to fade, she sighed rather loudly, noticing the smaller one averted her eyes from her figure.

"Yes, he was here. But then somewhere around two he just disappeared, without even explaining once." The taller one, who also had bright blond hair, ignored her friend flinch and continued. "Not that I care, but are you his girlfriend by any chance?"

"What? Me?" Laughing, remembering the ugly face of the victim, she quickly shook her head. "No way. Some time ago he injured my friend, and I wanted to make him know I would take revenge… He thought I liked him the last time I saw him... But why? Does he have a girlfriend?"

"He had at least. However, I believe she dumped him or something… Not that I find it strange, him being the brute he was…" Sighing, the teller girl stood up, catching her long hair in a pointy-tail. "Well, I need to go. Oh, and when you take your revenge, please add something on my behalf."

Bidding farewell, she just exited, leaving the small girl behind who kept looking at Shinichi from time to time, as the detective analyzed the situation. So that guy was hated by many people… "Is Fuji-kun dead?"

Turning around to face the girl completely unprepared, Shinichi had no time to come up with a lie or to take control of her expression as the little one sighed. "How did you know?" The police had only warned the principal and the victim´s parents, so no one else should know. If she knew, could she be the…?

"I know you, Kudo Shinichi-sama!" The little one stated, jumping up excited, a white paper and a pen in her hands. "I love your work, and thou you did disappear for such a long time, I still remember you! So if you are here, asking questions, that must mean he was killed." The calm and quick deduction the girl made impressed Shinichi, who smiled a little bit.

"Well… It seems I can´t lie to you." Taking the peace of paper, wondering what she should do with it, she smiled again. "You are right, he was killed… and not in a pretty way, may I tell you… So, you know more than your friend does, right?"

Smiling, the girl took out her phone, showing a picture of Fuji leaving the class. "I was responsible for taking pictures of everyone, since my phone´s camera has great resolution. He left exactly at 2:05, saying he was meeting his girlfriend." Not noticing that she had started to scribble the information on the paper she was given, Shinichi knew there girl had more to tell. "However, he broke up with his girlfriend a week ago, and she hated him from the core of her heart. Her name is Fujioshi Hana, class 3-C."

Blinking, completely taken by surprised, she wondered why Hana even dated that guy. He was neither kind nor cool, not even handsome! "Some days ago, her friend, Hayashi Naru, came here looking for Fuji. He was really angry for some reason, but he never said why, as since Fuji wasn´t here, they never spoke to each other. And the next days, Hayashi Naru appeared with a black eye."

Standing up, taking another blank paper off, the girl asked Shinichi to sign it. "This is all I know, Kudo-sama." Her grey eyes were shining, and Shinichi found herself blushing. It really had been a while since someone showed her that reaction… or attention.

"Thank you." The detective mumbled, writing her name quickly. Someone paying her so much attention was kind of embarrassing… "You have a really god memory… Can you do me a favor?" The girl looked at her confused, the paper already hidden deep inside her school bag, being treated like a special treasure. "Can you keep a secret I was here? I am currently involved in a special case and if they find out I was here… Well, things can get pretty ugly."

The girl´s eyes shone more and more, and she nodded vigorously, happy she could share a secret with her idol. Picking up her bag, aware she should be going, the girl hugged Shinichi. "You know, you are my hero. The fact that you followed your dream even though you are so young made me believe in myself." The detective smiled again, and the girl walked towards the door. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself… I am Maria. In case you need more info about the things happening in this school, just look for me!"

Being left all alone in the room, Shinichi sighed for the time being. God, Kaito´s school sure was strange… Wait, maybe that´s why he was so strange! Or maybe the school was strange because of him...

Shaking her head, Shinichi went out, walking aimlessly through the corridors once again, while her head examined the pieces of information she knew. The room where the murder occurred had been locked before it happened, and there were only two keys. However, one of them got lost three days ago… About the same time Naru appeared with the black eye.

Furthermore, inside the construction car there was found a device which allowed its owner to move the car, even if they weren't there. Wait, now that she thought about it, Kaito had one of those at his house… "Oh no!"

Picking up her pace, the blue eyes teen crossed her fingers, wishing it wasn´t his. Honestly, the last thing she wanted was to prove that idiot´s innocence. "Please, please, please…" He used to have pretty good luck, unlike her; so maybe, just maybe, it was just a complete coincidence and it wasn´t his…

"For the thousand time" A voice she knew sounded just a corner away, and all hope disappeared from her heart. So her bad luck was greater than his good one… "I did not kill him! A couple of my devices were stolen a couple of days ago! I even told it to Hakuba, didn´t I?"

"Well, indeed he did." Hakuba stated, sighing loudly at his… friends… behavior. Losing his cool would not help his cause. No, it would actually make him look a little bit guiltier. After all, why panic if he knew he didn´t do it? "Three days ago, Kuroba asked me to look for his stolen devices, but I had another case and couldn´t do it."

"He did not do it!" Shinichi yelled suddenly, gaining everyone's attention as she, not only yelled, which was pretty out of character for her; but also appeared out of a corner red as a tomato. Her breath was fast and unsteady, what made her wonder if it was for the run or for other reason´s… "That idiot is incapable of hurting someone. Trust me, I saw him run away from my soccer balls when he could have put me to sleep…" Realizing she said something she shouldn't, she just shook her head. "You know what, forget the last part…"

As the black audience watched amazed the detective of the east slide down a fall, tried and breathless, some of them worried if she was alright… while others thought about another person they knew who shot deadly soccer balls, wondering if it was only a coincidence. After all, when Conan disappeared, Kudo appeared…

"Anyway, it wasn´t me!" Kaito stated once again, quickly approaching the fallen detective with a couple of sweets, which she tried to refuse right away… Only to receive a warning glare from Kaito, Sato and Jodie! Didn´t they knew how to mind their own business? "I was with Tante… I mean Shinichi the whole day! I only left to buy some food, and only because she asked!"

The detective looked at him irritated, and Shinichi sighed. Why did that have to happen? Now the only thing which still hadn't happened was either her parents or Vermouth to appear, or someone aside from Maria to recognize her… Oh, that would be so fun! Haibara would kill her right away.

Finally standing up, the hateful sweet already eaten and being digested with a huge speed, she knew sitting around would do no good. Thou Kaito was not the murder, the fact his device was used indicated whoever did that knew him good enough to know where he knew them and how to use them. Which meant it was someone close to him.

"Hmm… May I know why we are in a deserted corridor?" She finally inquired, thou she knew it had something to do with Kaito´s behavior. And judging by Hakuba´s suddenly pink hair, it sure did. "No, wait, never mind… Who are the suspects?"

Smiling a little bit, Sato recited the names, including Kaito in there. Not that she thought he was the murder, considering Kudo-chan seemed to trust him a lot; but those were the rules. "There are a lot of people who have grudges against him, but considering the device only works in a certain are, we managed to reduce it to six people: Shimamura Mamoru, the guy from the gym; Kuroba Kaito; Fujioshi Hana, his ex-girlfriend; Hanayashi Naru, Fujioshi-chan friend; Tsuki Kana, friend of the two before; and Bandeira Maria, a girl from his class who he always bullied."

"So Hana and Naru are suspects too… But why Kana?" Shinichi mumbled, facing the wall who knows why. For some reason, she felt really include into leaning against it and sleep… A little bit too inclined. She had been using her brain a little too much for it liking, considering she didn´t have enough nutrients to supply it with. However, that wasn´t her fault…

That was when someone suddenly touched her, and she jumped from both shock and irritation, her fist instantly sty clenching. Honestly, who was the idiot who dared to touch her? Turning around, ready to punch that idiot even if it was someone she knew, or more like even if it was Kaito, since she would not to it if it was a police officer; Shinichi froze.

… Oh god… There was no way HE was there! There was no freaking, stupid, strange way that guy was THERE! She hadn´t called him, nor texted… She even ordered Haibara to keep quite! So WHAT WAS HE DOING THERE?

The other seemed as surprised as she was, his eyed unbelievably looking into her blue sapphires as he tried to pronounce her name. "Ku… Ku… KUDO?"

A/N: I am still alive, thou I did miss the deadline... I apologize, but I have a reason. And it is... wait for it... I know you will love it... HALLOWEEN! XD Ok, maybe not all, but more than half fault was Halloween´s. I had some test to study for and then my brother wanted to go ask sweets and we did it two days, since a closed condominium changed the date to 1st November because of school... But it is here, and I am still alive. Plus, I got a lot of candies! XD

You may kill me now.

Assasin8: I would pay... No, really, I wouldn´t mind paying, since my skills with camera are kind of poor... XD I wish there was a club like that at my school...

Yuri Kumiko: Nope, you are not the only one who thinks like that... However, my sister said I was evil enough, so I went easy on him... Guess who is the next victim, not that Kaito decided to screw the questions and act as he wants? Muahahaha

Sora Maro: You made me blush... *blushes even more* Thank you for your praise... Normally the chapters are a mix of a sleepy me, sweets and strange dreams... XD Hope you will keep reading this. :)

shinjichan173: What Kaito needs is a good night alone to think about everything... but everyone knows it will be hard to happen. Specially when I have a lot of sweet ready to be eaten and tomorrow is a Sunday. Muahahaha!

Liliana Pelangi: Hello! The school is going... fine... (My legs are hurting and I hate jumping right now... No one should be forced to jump for evaluation. NO ONE! I still wonder how I will manage to get a good grade in the end... ) Thank you. *bows*

Since I don´t have more tests for now, I will try to catch up with my writing... and since I have a whole of sweet now, I wonder how the chapters will end up... Muahahaha.

Well, review, comment, fav/follow! Thanks for reading!

Kaggami-chan

P.S. In case someone is wondering, my Chemistry test result is great 18.2 in 20 is amazing! Muahahaha (now just wait until my language test result... guess who will be crying then? ME -.-)

P.S. Yes, it is night... and yes, I ate sweets.. XD