Disclaimer: continue to see first chapter now and for the rest of the story if you forget what it said.
No, this is not the end of my computer hiatus, I just managed to talk a friend into letting me use her computer at work long enough to type and post this. So the half dozen of you who actually care about this story owe her a thank you.
I try to keep these notes short, so I don't respond publicly unless requested. However, as some of you have undoubtedly noticed, I get quite chatty via email. Obviously, this is not possible if you don't leave an email (hi, there, Xeno. You too, Tabytha), don't have an email available from your profile (waves at Billie Jukes), have an email set up not to accept mail from unfamiliar addresses (grins at rabby93), or I get persistant 'failure delivery' messages (shrugs sheepishly at Kayla).
Has this been planned for a good while? Oh yes. (grins)
And there's an (authorized) homage to manzanita's excellent fic 'Little Kid' in here. It was just too fun an idea not to borrow…
Ran sighed as she let herself be carried along with the flood of students pouring out of the school building. Conan had been acting so strange lately. Not that he was ever exactly normal for his age - probably no relative of Shinichi's, however distant, ever could be, she thought with a smile - but he had been unusually moody in the last day or so. Just like last weekend, come to think of it. The chemistry sessions with Professor Agasa had seemed to help, but something had put him back in a funk. She should probably ask one of his friends or his teacher or someone to find out what had happened. Though if Shinichi were here, he would probably have had no trouble figuring it out at all.
The repeated thought of Shinichi and his continued absence darkened her mood further. He hadn't even called recently. Where was that mystery-loving idiot, anyway? Ran fumed to herself along well-worn mental channels. Even now, she found her eyes automatically straying to the spot by the wall where he had waited for her to get out of class…
Where a familiar hairstyle was being ruffled by the breeze, a familiar form leaning with one hand in a pocket visible for an instant through a break in the crowd.
Ran froze for and instant, then began pushing through the other students, any regard for politeness thrown to the winds. As she got near the bottom of the steps and lost sight of the spot she pushed harder, caught by the desperate fear that by the time she broke through she would be too late again and he would have disappeared. Again.
Instead, she found herself suddenly through to the wall. A head turned, and heartstoppingly familiar blue eyes met hers, flashing in a cheerful grin.
"Hey, Ran!"
"Shinichi!" Ran stood still for a moment, then practically launched herself at him in a hug, prompting a surprised, laughing, "Hey!" from him. Then she pulled away and fixed the teenage detective with an impressive glare.
"And where exactly have you been all this time?" she demanded fiercely. "How long are you going to stay before you go running off again? Hmm?"
Blue eyes were wide in incomprehension. "All this time?…What are you talking about?"
Ran's own eyes narrowed.
"Come. We need to have a talk."
A half-hour later found them strolling down a shopping street in Shibuya, having an animated discussion.
"See, that's the thing. People keep asking me where I've been, and when I have to tell them I don't know they start thinking I'm an imposter or something. People I don't even know have asked me the strangest things and then accused me of being an imposter!"
In the crowd, a boy bearing a striking resemblance to Shinichi froze at the sight of the detective, but only for an instant. A smile dropped back onto his face like a mask a split second later as he turned and said a few words to the girl next to him, who herself bore a passing resemblance to Ran. Whatever he said was apparently not sufficient for the girl, who yelled something exasperated at him as he took off running. The boy merely waved cheerfully over his shoulder, and the girl made as if to follow him but almost immediately gave up, rolling her eyes in disgust and continuing on her way.
Shinichi, absorbed in his conversation with Ran, did not notice the small mini-drama play out behind him. Neither did he notice that that same boy, while appearing completely uninterested in the two of them, was following a seemingly random course that somehow kept him nearby while remaining unobtrusive. Not always within listening distance, but always within viewing distance. Or lip-reading distance.
"So you really don't remember?"
"Nope. Everything since Tropical Land to…well, sometime in the past few days is a blank." Shinichi scowled absently. "I've been having blackouts since then, too."
Ran stared at him searchingly. Finding no trace of deception and a good deal of displeasure at a situation not understood, let alone controlled, she nodded, slowly, once.
So did the boy in the crowd. Not that Shinichi hadn't lied to Ran in the past and been believed – anything but! – but as one accomplished in the art of deception himself, the watcher was certain that Shinichi was telling the truth this time. Of course, it didn't hurt that he had taken an interest in the detective and knew a bit about his mannerisms.
As the two under observation parted with a final "and don't you dare disappear on me this time!" from a fierce Ran to a bemused teen detective, the other boy saw his chance.
Waiting until Ran was a safe distance away, he called, "Hey, Kudo!" and jogged up to the Great Detective of the East. It was risky, but he had to know.
Shinichi turned and regarded him with polite confusion. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"
The other boy blinked, although internally he nodded, suspicions confirmed. "Well, yeah. Don't you remember me?"
Shinichi slowly shook his head. "No. You look vaguely familiar, but nothing definite."
The other teen sighed theatrically. "After all the time we've spent together? I'm hurt."
Shinichi gave him a bland look. The other boy grinned. "Fine, just call me Arthur." He winked. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around, but I have to go now. Bye!"
Shinichi watched the wilder-haired teen dash off, marveling at the bounciness of the other boy's stride. He did not even attempt to pursue, it being near his note-imposed curfew, and he somehow didn't think it would be a good idea to push it this time. Turning to head back to his house, one question lingered in his mind.
How come all these strange people who seem to know me can run so fast?
If anyone else had been inside the large house in Beika, they would easily have been able to tell the moment when Shinichi Kudo awoke as Edogawa Conan. The empty house resounded with the sound of swearing, some of it quite creative. It was extremely fortunate that Ran was nowhere near the area, as she would have been shocked and horrified at the language her 'sweet, innocent little Conan' was utilizing with impressive skill.
The diatribe finally wound down with a despairing wail.
"My other self is an idiot!"
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Of course he – I – would go to see her. She's my best friend, isn't she? And maybe also – no, not going there, especially not now.
I should have specifically mentioned in the note to avoid my old classmates. I have to remember I can't rely on myself to be sensible, since I won't – don't – know so many things. And that I probably won't behave according to plan.
Ye gods, is this how other people feel when they have to deal with me?
Conan was extremely grateful for his practice at keeping a straight face that afternoon. It was all that saved him from a very un-Conan-like grimace at Ran's nearly bubbly demeanor. She was humming a cheery tune to herself as she cooked dinner, and smiled at Conan much more than usual. She even ruffled his hair and called him a sweetheart when he offered to help.
When the topic of Shinichi inevitably rose at dinner – obviously not from Conan – Ran merely smiled, a genuine, self-satisfied smile, and said nothing. Even Kogoro noticed the dramatic difference from her normal reaction, lowering his newspaper to get a better look at her, though Conan did not even try to guess what he made of it.
By bedtime, Conan had to reluctantly admit to himself that perhaps his other self had not committed such a terrible blunder, after all. Ran hadn't mentioned seeing Shinichi even to Conan, much less her father. Perhaps she could keep a secret, after all. And it did make her so happy…he had spent too much time seeing her in distress because of him. If he could make up for it in some way…
Ruthlessly, he pushed the thought down. He couldn't endanger Ran farther; it would be selfish to act otherwise.
That evening, Kuroba Kaito found a text message on his cell phone.
"Very funny, Lupin. If you're Arthur, I'm Holmes."
He merely smiled.
Footnote: Arsene Lupin, the original gentleman thief, was a contemporary of Sherlock Holmes written about by Maurice LeBlanc, a contemporary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I suspect Lupin isn't as famous among English speakers as Holmes because his stories were written in French. They are now in the public domain; I rather like the translations at Gaslight. (http/gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/lupnmenu.htm) (link slightly mangled at the 'http')
Blackmask has more, thought they're listed by alphabetical order, not storyline. It won't let me post the link, so Google 'blackmask' and search for 'leblanc' on the internal search function, and the category will come up.
(sighs) Something else to blame Icka's stuff for getting me interested in…