Darkness Off shots.

Because the original fiction did not intend to have a sequel! Thank you Luna-kitsune-blu! (smile)
Last of three. (Name changes not at the bottom of first part will be under the part they first appear in.)

Off Shot Three: Shadow.

The golden rays of the late afternoon sun pour down over the group of people assembled in the spacious grounds.
Despite the recent bouts of hot weather, most of them are in formal evening wear, white, black and grey suits for the men, a wonderful variety of elegant and shimmering dresses for the women.
Of course, there are also those with a more traditional taste in formal wear. Some wonderfully embroidered kimonos catch my eye, as I walk trough the crowd of our guests.

I am very grateful for the cool breeze that prevents today from being a long hot nightmare.
And yet, although not a cloud has graced the sky, I cannot say that the day has been without shadows...

His shadow is haunting me, for one.

My eyes glaze over as I look in his direction.
A shadow of a man... A shadow of the man he used to be.
He is broken, I can see it.
I can see it in the way he bows his head, the darkness in his eyes, the way he simply shadows away at the edge of the crowd.
Had I not been told the truth, I would think he was a ghost.

...And, just as if he were a ghost, I no longer see him...

I sigh as yet another one of my relatives comes to congratulate me, blocking him from my view.
I smile. Yes, it is a day for congratulations after all, is it not?
I cheerfully, at least I hope, answer their questions and laugh at their jokes, before moving along to the next guest to ask what were their thoughts about today's ceremony.
The threads of merry conversations reach my ears from hither and thou. Every one seems to have enjoyed the ceremony, and hardly a face I put my eyes upon isn't smiling.

Somehow I find myself wishing that this is his case too...
Of course, I know deep down that it is unlikely.

" Ran, dear... "

I lift my smiling face towards the man who is now my husband. I notice his concerned frown.

" What is it? " he says. Pointing at his forehead he adds: " I know you're worried about something. You've got that crease there again. "

" Huh? I have? " I say, startled not only by the fact he was pointing out, but also by his choice of words.
I had heard such a phrase before. Without realising it, I squint and raise my hands to my face.

" Ha ha ha, well if you didn't have one before, you definitely have one now. "
He laughs. I like his laugh. It's so merry and bright.

" Meany. " I reply, giving him a playful punch.

" Sorry dear, but I know you are worrying about something, even if you weren't frowning like you are now. "

I sigh. I just had to fall for someone with a great sense of observation.

" Sorry, " I answer him. " It's just... " My eyes wander off to were I saw him last...

" Ah. Conan. I see. " And he does. Sort of.

He... My Husband... He knows my story.
He knows of the tragedy of my first love.

Ten years is a long time to wait for someone, especially when that someone no longer calls.
One loses hope, one loses faith... One yearns to find Someone to just Listen!

And that someone had been the man who is now my husband.
And as these things go, with time and frequent meetings, we had learned to love each other.

It was most unfortunate for Him that he returned just before our wedding...
Somehow, I guess, this ill timing is all my fault.
I had simply expressed my wish to the three remaining Detective Boys of seeing them whole once again for the event. A silly, silly wish...

I hadn't known the truth then.
I simply believed what I had been told: that Conan had gone back home to his parents, and that he was happy, and that Shinichi was being his own stupid detective self and had got involved in some even harder case that made it impossible for him to get in touch with any one save Professor Agasa.
I still remember talking with his parents about how selfish he was.

...Thinking about his Parents...

" Ah Ran! " Yukiko and her husband are coming our way.
I smile seeing their happy faces.
For them too, their son's situation has come as a shock ... But their joy at having him -BACK- where they can -Check Up- on him seemed to have returned some of their dwindling spirits.
Yusaku is even looking quite smug, a sight that used to be quite common, until a few years back.

We exchange wishes of good will and a bit of gossip, before my other half steers me over to his aunt Fumiko.
I stifle a laugh, as I glimpse the Detective Boy threesome behind the old dear.
My, my. Are they not looking ill at ease?
Well, it is understandable. After all...

And the grim reality of his dark fate sobers me once again.

...After all, those three teenagers had never seen their friends in their adult forms.
It must be most unnerving not only to find out that your childhood friends' growth has been stumped, but also to be faced with them showing their real, and much older, age.
In other words, Genta, Ayumi and Mitsuhiko are nervously avoiding a Shinichi Kudo, 27, and... What was her real name, well a Ai Haibara aged 28.
I have to admit, I find it rather disturbing too.

And to say that Heiji had known all along. When Kazuha found out, she really gave him a piece of her mind, or so I am told.
He knew...
He knew that my mystery man had been shrunk.
He knew why my first love had stopped calling me.
He knew that Conan was Shinichi, and he also knew that Conan had lost all hope of ever returning to adulthood.
When I knew of this, I felt quite an urge to demonstrate to the Osakan detective just how good at karate I still am... But something stopped me.

A thought. A random thought.
'If he knew all this, why did he not go and fetch Shinichi from his hiding place? Why did he not expose the truth?'

And then I remember. I remember the face Shinichi... no, Conan had given me, upon seeing me again.
I recall the tone of his voice, the glint of sorrow in his eye, the honest and no-nonsense approach he had taken to deliver the truth to both me and my fiancé...

The whole Truth.

He didn't need to tell me he was Shinichi, he didn't have to.
He could have pretended to have only and always been Conan Edogawa, a small boy who had not grown.
But no, he had to tell me...

Heiji had understood this too.

Shinichi's greatest pain is that he still loves me.

...That Idiot...

I still want to be his friend though. No way will I let him go back to being alone.

-

- Shadow gap.

-

He stands in the shade of a tree, to the side of the outdoor reception.
His fringe of hair sways in the gentle breeze as he looks on with sad eyes.
Shinichi Kudo sips a cool drink, as his mind invariably dwells on the past...

'Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come, after all...' He thinks. 'Or to come as...Shinichi.'

He notices the strange looks some of the guests give him.
Others just look at him curiously, as if trying to figure out to which of the two he was related to.

Whenever someone tries to strike up a conversation with him, he politely declines, giving only the shortest answers. Noticing this, Hattori, who had decided to hang around with him for most of the ceremony, got a bit mad.
After a somewhat heated exchange, the Osakan man had decided to go off and find his wife for a change.
Shinichi can't blame Hattori, but he just can't help it.
All this is just... Too much.

He had thought coming as Shinichi was a good idea, at the time.
After all, he had been one of Ran's closest childhood friends, and she so wished for him to come, even just as Conan.
He thought it would be a suitable way to say goodbye...

He had known that it would be difficult, he knew that the ceremony would be painful for him. He had expected being back in his original body would be tiring both physically and mentally...

But he hadn't thought of the pain it would be to be recognized by others.
Megure, Takagi, Sato (or was it Mrs. Takagi now?), Shiratori...
And then Sonoko, with a rather curious Makoto at her arm...
Even some of his old fans and classmates!
All of them had talked to him as if he still was that Detective-geek he was when... when...

'Enough of this!' He thinks, shaking his head.
He has tears at the corners of his eyes.
He's just been through a rather stressful moment in the person of the 'no-longer' sleeping Kogoro.
He had totally forgotten about that little ordeal until then...

He leans back against the tree trunk and closes his eyes.
Perhaps he can leave just now. He sat through the exchange of the vows, and the newly weds know where to find him...

Yes, he shall just slip away, unnoticed, and go and lie down in some dark room, or bounce a ball waiting for the effects of Haibara's 24 hour antidote to wear off... For the final time.

No. He can't just go. He promised himself he would see this through.

Just half an hour... Only one more half hour and it would be over.
After this, he can simply return to being the 'not growing' Conan, and lock his feelings away.
He doesn't want Ran to be disappointed by his sudden departure.
This is supposed to be her happy day.

" Are you feeling alright, Kudo? "

He jumps upon hearing the female voice addressing him.
It comes from barely a foot away from his left ear. He hadn't heard anyone approach that close.

" Is it an after-effect of the pill? You might want to go and sit down, have something to eat..."

He stares at the woman talking to him for a moment, before his brain kicks in once more.
" Oh. No, no, Haibara. I was just... Elsewhere. "

" Oh. " Says the auburn haired woman.

Her eyes that had shown concern turn away.
If Shinichi looked, he would read guilt and sadness there.

" I see. " She turns to look at the reception, staying by his side.

She was feeling slightly out of sorts...
Mainly because hardly anyone here knew her, and she was most baffled at what name to give them when they asked...
Especially when they had known her as little Haibara.
She isn't very comfortable with the fact that she is attending the wedding reception either.

She hadn't wanted to come, even when Ran, learning of her reappearance, had sent her an invite. Haibara did not want to feel more guilt, see more of the pain caused by the results of her product, and her failure to reverse them.

But she is there.
She is at the reception, and she is in her adult form.
She isn't there for Ran. She really isn't there for some selfish reason either.
Nor because the professor asked her, or because the Detective Boys begged her.
She is there because Kudo asked her...

Kudo asked her.

" Haibara, can I ask you a question? " Shinichi says.

" Fire away. " She replies, without looking at him.
He never called her anything else as far as she remembers.

" Why did you follow me? "

" Follow? " She frowns expressively at him, obviously wanting more information. " Where to? "

He sighs, looking slightly embarrassed.

" Follow me into hiding.
Why did you stay with me in that dark flat for these last ten years?
Surely you could have continued your research at the professor's? " He stares fixedly at his drink.

Ten years before, she would have answered him sarcastically.
Before that fatal day, she would have delayed her answer with another question.
Before they had become shadows, she would never have told him her reasons...

But time does change people, and so does tragedy.
She has dropped some of her masks, discarded a few walls, hardened some of the others...
But in ten years of living... well, what for lack of a better word... living together, she had become more attuned to Conan's moods, to Conan's pain.
She had seen him change.

Sighing, she answers him truthfully.
" I don't really know.
The professor seemed to be worried you might do something stupid, and as for me...
Well, I don't think I knew what I was doing myself.
I just knew you would want to get away, and I didn't think I could let you get away that easily.
You are not on your own in this. "

She turns to face him, looking ever so slightly ill at ease.
" Satisfied? "

Blushing, Shinichi nods. Haibara is right.
She too is in an awkward situation. He can be such an idiot at times.

" Thanks. " He whispers.

A long silence, like many they had had in the dark flat they shared, stretches between them.

Both wander around in their own thoughts, staring vaguely at the wedding crowd, and barely noticing the odd passing miko in red and white.
Suddenly, Shinichi notices his companion whispering something.

" ... It is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness... "

Without realizing he heard her, she turns to face him once again.
He only then notices the dress she is wearing. A green frock his mother had lent her, which complimented the colour of her eyes and hair.
It is very disturbing to look at someone you have been living with for ten years and all of a sudden not see her as just a girl.
Mentally shaking himself, he wonders why she whispered that phrase, before listening to her question...

" Kudo. Can I ask you a favour? "

" Go ahead. " He says, mildly wondering what it could be.

" I would like to go back to my real name. I don't want to... be called Haibara anymore. "

Now this surprises him. He puts his glass down on the grass with a frown.

" Why on earth do you want to do that? " He asks.

" I want to leave my fear behind me.
Sherry was the name I had at the Organisation.
Haibara Ai was a name I took to hide behind in fear.
It's not like the name Edogawa Conan, that you took on to bring them down. I want to go back to my real name, the name that has probably yet to live... "
Her tone is determined, and something close to exasperation can be distinguished in her stance.

Shinichi ponders this response.
" A new beginning, sort of? "

It made sense, in an odd fashion.
They no longer are hiding. And there is the sentimental link with her sister's name.

" Is it okay with you? " She asks, not really expressing any interest in his opinion.

" Certainly, Miyano. " He answers with a rye smile.
It seems he isn't the only one facing changes.

" As for me, I'd rather not be called 'Kudo' any more. "

She smiles back.

And then he notices the couple approaching them.
He mutters under his breath, shifts uneasily, before forcing a smile on his face.

It's Ran and that other guy.

-

- Shadow Gap 2.

-

" Hi you two. " Ran says, bowing at them with a smile.
Her husband is doing the same.

" I hope you are enjoying the reception. " He says.

Shiho just bows her head uncomfortably, with a non-committing smile.

" We are. " Lies Shinichi, returning the saluting gesture.
It isn't because of the reception he is feeling depressed, after all.
" And I'm glad to say you make a nice couple. "

His smile is plastered onto his face, very much like when he had been living at Ran's as Conan, and promising her that Shinichi would certainly return soon.
The only positive thing he can think of now about that ordeal, is that it taught him how to lie convincingly and act cheerful.
He is probably going to have to do both a lot in the years to come, considering his situation.

The groom stares him in the eye for a while.
He returns the stare.

Shiho and Ran, trying to ignore the boys' glares, decide to talk about some of the dresses they saw. Dresses are a safe, impersonal topic, that they gladly both enjoy, more or less.

When he feels he has glared enough, Shinichi closes his eyes and grins before bending down to pick up his drink.
Glaring is useless. Both men know their place.
The groom knows Shinichi can no longer claim Ran's heart, and Shinichi knows that Ran had chosen someone who will make her happy.
Glaring is just the way they chose to show their approval of one another.
They both courted Ran. They acknowledge that this means the other has good taste.

The groom smiles sadly, before extending his hand to Shinichi.

" Take care, Conan. "

Shinichi shakes his hand.

" I guess it is time for us to go and catch our plane... " sighs Ran.
She looks at Shinichi... For one last time as an adult.

" Have a nice trip, Ran-Neechan. " He says.

She can't help but notice the taste of sadness in his words, but decides to play along.

" You know where to find us once we come back.
Don't hesitate to come and visit, Conan-kun. "

She has to resist the urge to hug him as she would have down ten years ago, in his small boy form.
People would question her if she let her emotions take over.

" Bye. "

And with that, the newly weds go off towards their car.
A group of relatives have clustered there to wave them off.

Shinichi lets out a sad sigh.

" You've really given up on her, haven't you? " his companion says.

He turns to look at Shiho.
" I don't really have the choice. I'm just glad she's... happy. " He replies.

The auburn haired woman nods, understanding.
She can't help feeling guilty, but she is glad he isn't clamming up.

" By the way... " She adds. " The professor and I have talked, quite a bit this last week... "

" Hmm? " Shinichi waits for her to elaborate.

" It really does seem impossible to make a definite antidote to return us to our original state. "

Shinichi lets out a small sarcastic laugh.

" But, " she continues.

Shinichi's attention perks up.

" I... We believe it just might be possible to work on the 'not growing' side of our problem...
It's not certain, but I think we'll be exploring that possibility.
It's useless continuing to look for The perfect Antidote when it's no longer much use for us. "

She shifts uncomfortably under Shinichi's scrutiny.

" I just thought you would like to know of the possibility, Ku-... Edogawa. "

No, she doesn't like the way Kudo's eyes are glistening as he stares at her.
Why isn't he saying anything? He...

He takes her in his arms into a tight embrace.
There are tears in his eyes as he whispers in her ear...

" You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that, Haibara. "
There are drops of joy, trickling onto his cheeks.

" Hey! Kudo! " She blushes noticing the odd looks some are giving them, but she can't help but smile, realising what this meant.

Edogawa has found hope again.
He is no longer just a shadow.
He has something to look forward to, something to live for...

'Friendship needs no words-
It is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness.'

Delivered from the anguish of loneliness...
Know where had she read that already?

- Shadow End.

The quote is from. Norvegian Nobel Prize winnoc prime minister Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961) (Which I found in a little (gift) book for a friend- Exley. A good source for small sweet quotes. )

Name Changes:
Megure is Maigret in French, but Maguire in Case Closed. Takagi, Sato and Shiratori are all his little minions, erm sorry, police officers that Conan meets on a regular basis.
Sonoko and Makoto are Serena Sebastian and her only steady boyfriend so far. He appears around book 22.
Sherry was Haibara's code name in the Organisation. Her real birth name is Shiho Miyano. She has yet to appear in the dub.


Author's End Note:
Imagine who you wish as Ran's husband, I ain't giving him a name.
As for the future... This IS the last Off-shot. I am not going to do MORE. (unless I am very heavily bribed...) So you can either imagine (or write for yourself):
A) Haibara doesn't find a cure to make them grow, and you can add dollops of angst there from.
B) She does! And Conan and Shiho just stay friends.
C) She does it! And you end up with a growing Conan-Shiho -happy- pairing. There, now may my harshest critic (aka Sister) stop bothering me with that. You've got your pairing! XcD
What ever happens, Conan and Ran don't get together. :c( You have to have some tragedy.
Of course, there's always solution
D) where you stopped reading at the end of the fist chapter-One shot.

Also, special thanks to all those who reviewed, in particular Luna-Kitsune-Blu, (and perhaps Astarael for getting me to change the format?) as well as my sibling, who needs to get back to reading DC fics some time.