(A little note for the ENTIRE STORY before you sue me: This fanfiction is based on the concepts of Aoyama Gosho, and I DO NOT take any credits for the characters... unless they are originally created by Me, Myself and I, so does that make it clear now? ^^)

(Another little note for the ENTIRE STORY before you whack me: WARNING! I may have written some spoilers in this fanfiction without even realizing it (so dumb of me, d'oh!). Thanks! ^^)

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A Shinichian Conan
Chapter 1: The truth about Conan
A Detective Conan Fanfic

"Argh!! What is this.....NO!" Conan gasped as he woke up, covered in sweat. He sat up, face twisted with pain and agony. THIS, is his life. An unreal reality... something that totally contradicts any scientific explanation. He just couldn't accept the fact that his almost perfect life was totally wrecked, all in the wink of an eye.... by THE DARK SYNDICATE! A high school detective trapped in the body of his own childhood...

Conan gave an impatient look at his watch as he awaited for the lesson to end. Life wasn't as smooth as butter in high school, but definitely much less of a bore compared to this. "RING!" went the bell at long last, marking the end of the dull school day.

Conan was greeted by the gang as usual. Together with Mitsuhiko, Genta, Ayumi and Ai, they make up the Detective Boys, something which Conan agreed with much reluctance. He wasn't that much of an eager beaver when it comes to involving others in unnecessary risk, especially when it comes to the involvement of children... as for Ai, (another victim of the drug, APTX 4869, not to mention the inventor of the drug itself) he had promised to protect her from the Dark Syndicate. But it seems to him that she is always in a world of her own. Whatever it is, the strangest part of this whole affair is that the 3 children have actually proved to be life saviors in a few occasions... other than that, they were just total burdens. Whereas for Ai... he would just leave her be. She's just full of secrets... a little too many of them. Still, Conan feels that she could be trusted, to a certain extent though.

There were days where Conan wondered to himself how in the world he had ended up to be so pathetic as to run around with children, playing their game and not to mention solving cases with them, not to leave out to actually have the need to deploy little tiny gadgets that the Professor provided (even though he couldn't deny the fact that he thought those were some pretty cool gizmos). However, despite having a brilliant mind, he couldn't figure out an answer by himself. Or rather, he refused to come to the fact that the result was simply caused by his own curiosity to find out the truth. If only he had realized that curiosity killed the cat... Nevertheless, he continues in his pursue for Truth and Justice.

Amusing as it seems, the drug which Ai (a.k.a. Shiho/Sherry) created was supposedly thought to kill, but instead of performing it's expected task of killing Conan (a.k.a. Shinichi) and turning him to nothingness, it shrunk his bones and made him 10 years younger. The irony of it. And now, the inventor herself is trapped, in a strange but familiar body, by her own creation.

"Hey, Kudo," whispered Ai, "what are you thinking of? A penny for your thoughts?"

Conan hesitated for a while, before saying out in a haste, "We'd better catch up with them!" as he ran off chasing after the gang with his short legs, legs which he should had long grown out of. Ai, as usual, followed behind, with a pace of her own. The gang walked for some distance before ending up in an ice-cream parlor.

"I want a strawberry ice cream!" shouted Ayumi.

"I want a vanilla ice cream," continued Mitsuhiko.

"I want everything on the menu!" ended Genta.

It's just so typical Genta that everybody (except Ai, as usual) couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Hey, Conan, don't you want anything?" asked Ayumi, her eyes big and wide with concern.

Conan said nothing, and just shook his head in answer.

"Ai, don't you want anything?" Mitsuhiko asked.

Ai did the same thing as Conan did earlier. She wasn't into ice-cream very much, being a scientist and such.

For a while, Conan sat there, as though he was in a trance. There were just too many questions in his mind, but the only obvious thing that appeared right before him was... Ran. Ran Mouri, his childhood playmate... his love.

Ai said nothing, her eyes on Conan all these while. She easily figured out that he was thinking about Ran again, but she didn't bother to probe. After all, who was she to care? To him she might not even be a friend... maybe just someone who could help him to return back to his old self...... She turned away at this thought, just to go into her own world again.

The 3 children were busily eating their ice-cream when Conan stood up suddenly and announced that he was going to make a phone call, after which he just dash out, without waiting for anyone to react.

Ai looked at him as he disappeared from sight. She sighed, 'I hope you know what you are doing Kudo... one wrong step, and you'll drag everyone into the depths of darkness... and that would include the 1 you care most.'