Written July 12 2021
Posted on Wattpad August 14 2021
Posted here December 17 2021

Kaito sighed, thumb powering off his phone screen. An action that didn't go unnoticed by Aoko, his adoptive younger sister who has yet to agree that she was actually the younger one. He'd grown in the four years since joining the Nakamori family, yet he was still smaller than everyone his own age.

"Are you still worried about that detective that you think is hot?" Aoko asked, tone teasing. Apparently the guy went from being constantly in the papers to dropping right off the radar.

Cheeks tinting, Kaito huffed "My concern is valid Aoko" The girl insisted on teasing him, he never should have commented on the detective's attractiveness around her "Kudo Shinichi is someone who thrived from attention, for someone like that to just suddenly go off the radar..."

Aoko grimaced, Kaito's concern was genuine "With all the cases that guy gets into, he should be fine"

"Yeah but..." Kaito hesitated before turning his phone back on, quickly getting to the news article that he'd been looking at "A little boy who looks exactly like Kudo-kun showed up right after Kudo-kun disappeared" They were sitting across from each other at the kitchen table so he just turned his phone around to show her "He's apparently called Edogawa Conan" Kaito bit his lip "Apparently a useless detective has suddenly become successful after taking the kid in" His tone became serious.

Blue widened "Oh" Aoko took the phone to get a better look, brow furrowing "That's suspicious" The timing was just spot on "Do you think...?"

"I went through some stuff, Edogawa Conan doesn't exist" Hacking had been easy, especially since he often had access to the police station for a more direct connection "He's also not being very discreet, I think he's Kudo-kun" Most people wouldn't have jumped to that conclusion, but most people haven't seen a drug shrink someone before. It also helped that he may or may not have looked up a lot about the Kudo family out of personal interest.

Aoko gasped "He's going to die" Kaito had beaten the Crows when it came to obtaining Pandora first, but his injury had prevented him from trying to truly destroy them.

"And make them suspicious of every smart child that they come across" Kaito added darkly, feeling sick. He let out a frustrated sigh "Why did he think that sticking close to his old life was a good idea?!" Kaito stopped mid-rant, forcibly calming himself "I'm going to kidnap him"

Ginzo paused mid-step, half in the room "Why are the two of you discussing kidnapping someone?" He asked, giving them a dubious look. He's walked into quite a few strange conversations between his kids in the past, but kidnapping was a new one.

Blushing, Aoko buried her face in her hands "It's not like that!"

Kaito replied with a smile, mischief radiating from his form "Someone most likely got shrunk and seems to not know what being subtle means" He reacquired his phone from Aoko "So I'm going to kidnap him to scare him into realizing just how much danger he'd in" He frowned, shooting the inspector a curious look "And maybe fix his paperwork up to make him exist as my long lost biological half brother and have him stay here instead of the place he used to frequent as himself?" He half asked.

The inspector sighed "He can stay, I don't want some person to get killed" He paused "So who got shrunk?"

"Kudo Shinichi, he's apparently going by Edogawa Conan now" Kaito explained.

Ginzo blinked "That kid? Damn..." He was Aoko and Kaito's age "At least he looks enough like you for your plan to work"

"Kaito thinks he's hot, but I don't really see what's all that hot about him" Aoko added, grinning. She used to refer to herself in third person, but wanted to seem more grown up like her aunt Misty. It had been hard work, but she'd eventually gotten the hang of referring to herself normally like everyone else. Aoko glanced at Kaito's face "It's probably narcissism because he's not hot"

"Excuse you! I am very attractive!" Kaito argued, he was smiling playfully.

The inspector chuckled "You can go kidnap him whenever, he's tiny so I doubt there'll be any funny business if the two of you share a room"

"Keibu!" Kaito squeaked, the inspector didn't need to add that last part!

Aoko giggled "Today should work since we still haven't found a replacement therapist for Kaito yet" Kaito's previous one had been great, but they'd passed away in a car accident a few months ago. Finding the right one was apparently very difficult since one hadn't really clicked with Kaito yet.

Kaito nodded "I've got physio tomorrow, and a consultation for another surgery the day after" While he couldn't move his lower half, he still kept it in shape by physically moving his legs with his hands so they didn't degrade in strength. Going over exercises was tedious but important for when he did someday walk again.

"I hope it goes well" Ginzo offered, coming over to ruffle Kaito's hair "Maybe you'll get that tingling feeling you did a year or so ago" A surgery had given them some progress, but the one after that had undid the progress.

Indigos squinted at Ginzo "The tingly feeling was painful" But had also been a good sign apparently "I wish magic and science mixed better" The surgeries mostly consisted of the doctor re-damaging the area that was injured in an attempt for it to heal right. It was hard because there were no precious records of a severed spinal chord healing before his mishap. Thankfully the injury had been around the T12 vertebrae so only his lower half was paralyzed.

Aoko just smiled nudging Kaito's elbow crutches "Go out there and kidnap your crush" Kaito had needed a wheelchair up until two years ago, then he'd used underarm crutches, and now elbow crutches for the last six months. Kaito's upper body strength was strange, his feet didn't touch the ground so he just used willpower and his arms to move around. Apparently he used to be able to walk on his hands for hours before his injury. Kaito's gait was even practised enough that he didn't move too funny.