So, kind of choppy, but. Here.
Chapter 11
Being set back a few weeks was disappointing, but not unexpected with how many times Haibara had needed to start over even once she had the initial steps figured out. Of course, the fact that they'd had to move far too often had something to do with that, but still.
"It's fine, Kaito. We knew it was a possibility. What was this about heist planning?"
"I was thinking we could return that ridiculous book tonight—Togano-san's schedule allows for the dressing-down against his murder-plan and we'd finally have it taken care of, and then plan a proof-of-life heist. Something simple, like Kid's stretching his wings after a recovery."
"Said return has been thwarted a few times, hasn't it?" Shinichi mused, "Sure, that'll get it out of the way."
Kaito beamed, "Great! So, school?"
The switch was visible, and Conan sighed and picked up his backpack, "School. Boring."
"No arguments here," Kaito agreed. "At least Togano-san should be entertaining?"
"One can hope," Conan mused, ducking under Kaito's arm to open the door. "I should probably hide what I look like, and… hm…"
"Oooh, evil plotting noise," Kaito observed, shutting the door behind him. "Is there going to be fire?"
There was a tempting thought…
xxxx
Kaito was just far enough away to not be able to tell what Conan was saying, and he was fairly sure that the lack of any mind-mending illusions reaching him was deliberate, because he'd never seen anyone with quite that look before.
He watched with interest as the man went from confused, to worried, to afraid, to utterly horrified, and pouted when he realized that the utter lack of sound was definitely Conan's fault. Togano looked like he was yelling or close to it, after all, and Kaito was out of low-volume speaking voice earshot but definitely not out of shout-range.
Which, considering they were in a neighborhood and it was fairly late, was a reasonable move.
But had he really needed to include Kaito in the illusionary noise-cover?
(Then again, he'd always insisted it was easier to blanket an area than to pick targets. He only excluded people when it would be dangerous not to—Kaito knew that, but still. He wanted to know what his mini-Shinichi was doing!)
Quite suddenly, Togano wobbled and crumpled to the ground, leaving Conan blinking at him. "Kaito," he called, suddenly audible. "Will you help me get him out of the road?"
Kaito stared for several seconds, "Did… you just scare him into passing out?"
Conan toed at the man's side, looking disappointed. "You know, for a guy who was willing to kill a lot of people because he was offended over someone writing a book, he's kind of a wimp."
Kaito couldn't disagree.
Nakamori found out about the book's return the next day, and his half-elated, half-enraged crowing was audible for hours. Heist planning was a definite must. Of course, first would be the Haibara issue…
xxxx
"Hey," Conan greeted a worn, terrified girl two days later, Kaito producing some size-appropriate clothing for Conan to offer her. "Are you okay? Do you need a safe place?"
She shook her head, and Conan wasn't surprised, because this was the woman who had taken her own poison so as not to get any more innocents killed, secure in the knowledge that her sister was beyond her aid… or ability to harm.
"Come on," he sighed, dropping part of his this-time 'Conan' façade. "Your name is Haibara Ai. You have a sister about twelve years older than you named Haibara Miya. Miya found distant cousins living in the States and is starting to think about moving, but meanwhile you're staying in Tokyo's Beika area in a small efficiency apartment."
She stiffened.
"I knew it wouldn't kill you and that you'd have a much better chance of getting away clean this way. Tell us where you broke out and we can make sure they think you're dead instead of escaped."
xxxx
Shiho was sure she was hallucinating, still trapped down in that underground lab's (emptied) storage room and waiting to die. She couldn't be a child, running into another child who had too-knowing eyes, one telling her things with other meanings layered in and around and beneath, things that gave her glimpses of a hope that she didn't dare reach out and grasp.
But if it was a hallucination and she was soon to die, she might as well tell it what it wanted to know. It wouldn't harm anyone, and maybe it would be a good dream to end on.
She watched as her hands reached out to accept the clothing the little boy offered, tugging on the sweats awkwardly underneath the too-big white blouse she was wearing before gratefully removing that white (poison-stained, too-clean white) reminder of where she'd come from, listened as her own off-pitch voice listed an address with a clinical distance.
Watched as the shadow her eyes couldn't quite make out shifted and disappeared, leaving her with a little boy taking her hand and leading her down the street.
Then she was at a ground-floor apartment, small but tidy, the little boy's knock answered by a woman that was painfully familiar and she couldn't make out anything beyond the rushing in her ears as the little boy tugged her forward, quick words of explanation blurring to white noise she couldn't decipher.
And the woman fell to her knees, dragging her into a desperate, too-tight hug and all she could do was hug back. She was dead, she had to be, and this was Nee-san welcoming her home again. Nevermind that she was a child while her Nee-san was still an adult, because no one said the afterlife had to make sense. The little boy had told her she wasn't 'Miyano' anymore, or 'Shiho', and that she and Nee-san were Haibara, she 'Ai' and Nee-san 'Miya', and if new names were the price of this, she would pay it gladly.
(It wasn't until a full day had passed that she managed to truly accept that she wasn't dead, hallucinating, or trapped any longer. Someone had bought her sister's life and her freedom, and she would never, ever forget.)
xxxx
"Well, it's going to take a while for her to figure herself out," Shinichi decided, once Kaito was home and Shinichi was assured he was safely in one piece. "No evidence?"
"None of me," Kaito informed, sounding quite certain. "And it'll look like her clothes collapsed in on themselves with something shrinking inside… and since she pointed out last time that the residue's the same…"
Shinichi made a face. "Thanks. I so needed that reminder."
"Point being," Kaito continued, "It'll look like suicide. Both of them will end up on the 'dead' list."
"Good," morbid as it sounded. "That means that it should be safe for them to stay in Tokyo, for now. We could probably even swing forever, with some hair color and style changes, but… they might be happier with a fresh start."
Kaito nodded. Haibara had stayed for Shinichi's sake, last time around, and… she wasn't the same, wasn't going to be the same, not with her sister still alive and no shared memories. This time, they didn't need her research, and as good as she'd been for the Hakase…
Well. They'd see. Or maybe ask—the Hakase first, probably, because if the girls wanted somewhere stable and conspicuously inconspicuous to stay, it was best the poor man had some warning.
xxxx
Agasa Hiroshi had known, long before Shinichi-kun actually turned up in miniature, that the physical possibility existed. The boys had told him what had happened in their future-that-wasn't. He hadn't expected it to actually happen, though, not—this time. He worried.
Not as much as Kaito-kun did, though.
Either way, when the boys turned up and asked what he thought of taking in two… they weren't fugitives, but he supposed it was close enough, his first thought was to wonder why.
Little Shinichi shrugged uncomfortably at the question, "I… well, the other you seemed happier, with Haibara here. I can't say this—these—Haibara will want to stay, but if you wanted me to, I could give them the option."
Oh. That meant… Shinichi worried about him, too. Agasa was touched. "I have plenty of space," he agreed. "If they wanted to live here, I wouldn't mind."
Shinichi smiled, half-relieved, and Agasa wanted to hug him. He looked just like he had as a five-year-old, except so much more serious… and maybe a little broken, hidden behind his eyes.
"I'll ask them, then," he offered.
Agasa gave in and hugged him, smiling behind his moustache at the startled squawk and Kaito's cheerful cackle. He might not like that Shinichi was stuck in a too-small, too-frail body, but at least both the boys could still smile.
xxxx
*I try to do language-appropriate plural conventions. I don't always remember, but I do try—and words don't get the 's'-type thing in Japanese, or an obvious equivalent thereof, from what my only actual Japanese-speaking (he's American, took it in school) friend says.