Lost in the Shadows

AN: Hello everyone again! Sorry for the long wait. Blame it on writer's block, laziness and a hectic college life.

Disclaimer: HELP! HELP! They want to send me to an insane asylum for saying I've met the Conan and Kaitou cast, but don't own them!

Chapter 2 – Revealing

"R…Ran, please don't make me do this."

"You have three minutes, Shinichi. See you then."

Oh, great. Now what am I supposed to do? Conan wondered as he too hung up the phone and walked out of the booth. I don't think that the phone call was such a great idea now.

Shinichi walked down the road, his heart aching more with every step he took. Only one thought ran through his brain: Should I tell Ran the truth? As usual, the two parts of his brain argued with one another, representing both sides to a conversation he'd had many times before. This time was no different in the results.

She deserves the truth. I should let her know.

No! If she knew, they might find out!

It won't matter. If I lose her, they might as well find me.

They won't be satisfied with just your life, you know. They'll get Ran, Hattori, Toyama-san, Agasa-hakase, Ayumi-chan, Genta-kun, Mitsuhiko-kun, Ai-chan, and who knows else. We can't put them in that kind of danger.

It won't matter if she doesn't want us in her life anymore!

Shinichi continued to argue with his mind, his brain going over both sides. By the time he reached the apartment where Ran lived, he still hadn't come up with any answer to his problem. Sighing, he slowly pushed open the door and headed in to face the music, certain of Ran's reaction and expedient rejection of both sides of him if she finds out.

-

"Ran-neechan?" Conan stuck his head into Ran's room and looked around for any sign of the missing teenager. His eyes found the curled up form of his girlfriend sitting on her bed. As he walked closer, he could make out the tear trails on her cheeks and hear her heart wrenching sobs. "Ran-neechan? What's wrong?" Conan put his small hands on her chin, forcing her to move her head to look at him.

"Oh, Conan-kun!" Ran cried out, her arms snaking out and wrapping around his small form, pulling him close into a hug. "Oh, Conan-kun, he doesn't care after all."

Conan's mind went into overdrive as he tried to process this information. Who didn't care after all? "Ran-neechan?" Conan spoke into her shoulder, "Who are you talking about? Who doesn't care?"

Ran squeezed him harder and spoke one name; one name he longed for her to say to him; the one name of his true identity: "Shinichi." Ran started crying harder and Conan felt his own shoulder growing wet from her tears.

"Why do you say that, Ran-neechan?" Conan asked her, bewildered by how she was acting. He hadn't gone over the time limit, had he?

"I…I told him…he had five minutes to tell me the truth…" Ran bawled, "and that was 20 minutes ago!"

All of the sudden, things clicked into place for the young detective. The reason for her tears; the reason for her fears; the reason it took so long to find her: she was as terrified of losing him as he was of her. Conan realized he two options left: he could tell her the truth and endanger the rest of them, or he could let her think he didn't care and keep her safe. Either way, she was going to hurt. Either decision, she was going to cry and there is nothing he can do about it. All of his argument and decisions had been reduced to one choice: does he tell her? Thinking about it for a few more moments, listening to Ran's pain and tears, Shinichi came to a decision.

"Ran-neechan," Conan started, not knowing how he wanted to proceed. He finally decided to take the direct approach. "He…he does care for you."

Conan watched the almost instant results. Ran's sobs stopped midway through, though her tears where still flowing. "What did you say?" she asked, not quite sure she heard correctly.

Conan grimaced, but repeated his words. "He does care for you…a lot."

"How…how do you know?"

"Because…" Conan took a deep breath and readied himself. "Because I am him," he finished in a soft voice.

Conan heard her gasp and felt her shaking her head, her tears still dampening his shirt. "No…not possible. It's not possible." Ran pushed him back and looked right into his eyes. "Please…let it not be true."

To Conan, Ran looked lost and afraid. Who wouldn't, after finding out their love is stuck in a body 10 years younger than you are? Especially when you are only 17 year old.

"Kami-sama, please let it not be true! You can't be…what about all the proof I have? What about all the times I saw the two of you together? It just isn't possible!" Ran was bordering on the line of insanity as she tried to deny what her heart and her love were saying was true.

"Ran!" Conan half-shouted, using the voice of authority he always seemed to have when solving a case. A voice type that was unmistakably Shinichi. "I. AM. HIM."

Ran let out a loud wail and pulled Shinichi closer to her. Conan was glad for the fact that Ran's dad was out buying more beer and cigarettes, otherwise he might not have the time to calm her down and explain the situation to her before he came up to see what was wrong with Ran.

"Why, Shinichi? Why?" Ran's tears heavier as she searched for some sort of support from the 7 year old.

"Why did I hide from you? Why did I lie to you? Why am I in this body?" Conan could feel Ran nod. "It's a long story. Do you remember when we went to Tropical Land after you won your karate championship? That was when it all started. Those guys in the black trench coats that were sitting in the back are the ones who did this to me. When I ran off that night, I was chasing one of them. I found him making an illegal deal with someone else. Because I was too engrossed in what he was doing, I never heard the other come up behind me. He hit me over the head and then feed me a pill called Apotoxin 4869. They left me for dead, but instead of killing me, it turned me into a child. I eventually woke up and went over to Agasa-hakase's place to see if he could undo it. He told me that unless we had the original pill, he couldn't do anything. Then you came over looking for me and he convinced me to go with you. You know the rest from there."

"That…that still doesn't explain why you hid from me," Ran mumbled.

Shinichi sighed. "I didn't just hide from you. I hid from everyone. If ANYONE knew who I really was, whether good or bad, those guys could find out. They belong to a HUGE group called the Black Organization. They are a ruthless bunch of criminals. If you find out about them and don't belong, they not only kill you, they kill your parents, your fiancée, your siblings, your aunts and uncles, all your friends, and so on down to your third cousin's dog. What makes it harder, is they make all the killings look like accidents. They are very good at what they do. THAT is why I never told you. I don't want to see you in danger."

"But what about Agasa-hakase? Doesn't he know?"

"Yes, and so do two others."

"TWO OTHERS!" Ran shouted into Conan's ear. "Why did they get to know, when I didn't? Am I not that important to you?"

"Ran, calm down and let me explain. First of all, you meant too much to me for me to have to put you in this kind of situation. Now, you have to watch every single word you say. You have to watch how you act around me. You still have to treat me like your younger brother and not your boyfriend. If you make even one slip, that could be the last mistake you or I ever make." Conan took off his classes and rubbed his nose. "Now, about the other two people who know. One is Hattori." Conan could hear Ran once again gasp. "Yes, he does know and has been a big help. He, though, was an unexpected ally. I never told him. Instead, he figured it out and cornered me about it. You should have seen it. He had me admitting to everything in under seven seconds." Shinichi didn't like to admit how he'd been perfectly set up by the Osakan detective, but he thought Ran needed a laugh.

Sure enough, he could hear Ran's faint chuckling. "You, the great detective of the East, were forced into revealing something in under SEVEN SECONDS!" Ran laughed harder as Shinichi blushed. "Okay…okay…so who's the other one?"

"The only other person who knows is Haibara Ai."

"Wait, little Ai-chan? The one that hangs out with you and the Detective Boys group? The same Haibara Ai?"

"The one and only. And again, I didn't tell her. She's in a similar situation like me. Her real name is Miyano Shiho, and she used to work for the Black Organization. In fact, she's the one created the toxin that shrank me."

Conan felt Ran's grip tighten. "She…she's the one who made that poison that made you like this? How can you stand being around her? OH, NEXT TIME I SEE HER, SHE'S GOING TO REGRET IT!"

Not for the first time, Conan started to worry for Ai's life. "Ran! Calm down! Ai-chan has no loyalty to them. She never did! She was just used by them. They kept her sister hostage to force her to work. When her sister died, she refused to continue to work. They were going to kill her, but she took the Apotoxin instead waiting for them to do what they wanted. Instead of dying like she thought she would, she became what you see today. Now, working with the professor, she's trying to find a cure for both of us." Conan was glad when he felt Ran relax once again.

"So, she's trying to undo what she did. I guess I won't do anything. Don't think I trust her, though."

"Just leave her alone for now. That'll be good enough."

Ran nodded once again. She moved around so she was lying down, pulling Conan with her. "Stay with me tonight, Shinichi. Please?"

Shinichi smiled. "Sure."

-

"Hey, did you hear we get a new transfer student today?"

"Yeah. I hope it's a boy. We need more boyfriends."

"No way! I hope it's a beautiful girl."

Ran looked up at the group that had gathered, talking about the new transfer student. She'd heard about it from Sonoko that morning, but neither of them knew what the person's gender was.

"Come on, Ikan-kun! It's got to be a boy! I swear I saw him. He had brown hair and a cute face. Enough to make anyone fall for him!"

"Now that you mention it, I think I did see him, but it was black hair."

"No, no. It was a dark blue, you know like Akane's from Ranma 1/2."

Ran smiled at that thought. Sonoko was crazy about Ranma. She had every single anime episode on DVD and all 38 manga volumes in mint condition. She'd even 'forced' Ran to watch most of the series. Of course, Ran wasn't complaining. In her opinion, Ranma was pretty cute as a guy. Still, unlike Sonoko, she thought Akane and Ranma belonged together. Sonoko thought Ranma should be with Ukyo.

Ran shook her head and returned to listening to the conversation. As it turned out, it seemed to follow the same train of thought she had.

"I wonder, if we splash him with cold water, will he turn into a girl?"

"Michako-chan! Get real! That only happens in anime. Get your mind out of the Ranma universe and back here to help figure out who the mystery boy is.

"I think he's going to be brown haired, blue eyed and doesn't have a girlfriend."

"If he doesn't have one, I call first dibs!"

"Hey, you already have a boyfriend!"

"So? Who says I can't have another one?"

"Class, please take your seats!" Everyone turned to look at the teacher and noticed the tall, thin, medium blond, green-eyed male standing next to her. Quickly, everyone sat down in their seats.

"Class, please welcome your new classmate," the teacher continued.

"Ohayo. My name is Chikato Atan. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ran froze while she studied his face. The face had looked so familiar. Too familiar. Hey! That's Shinichi's face. Wait a minute, Shinichi is really Conan. Then who is this?

AN: Well, I've introduced a new character, a new problem and solved an old problem. Not bad for one chapter! Now, I also am very grateful to my beta reader, Meitantei Mystery for helping me with my story. It wouldn't be as good with out his help. (Plus they wouldn't get out as fast…) Sorry to say, everyone, but for the next while, I'm not going to be answering the reviews. I'm just getting bogged down with school that I'm barely finding time now to write the actual chapter. So, it was either write the chapters without review responses or don't write period. Sorry! When school calms down, hopefully I'll be able to write responses again! But, I do want to thank the following people for reviewing, just the same!

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