Ch2

"I don't believe this," exclaimed the 18years old Edogawa Conan with rage as he opened the door to his new home.

"Get over it already," said the girl who followed him close behind.

"I can't, " he spat as he sat himself down on the couch, brought in by the movers a few hours earlier, angrily. Pushing his fingers through his long hair, he gave a quick 'arrg' before letting loose his hair and letting it hang from his elbow that he rested on the top of the couch.

"I don't know how you can get so worked up about this," the girl sighed.

"They put me with a partner! As if that wasn't enough, they tell me that she will be my, quote 'supervisor!'(makes quote signs with his hands)" he shouted.

"Beggars can't be choosers," she chuckled.

"Yeah yeah, everything is your amusement isn't it Haibara," he growled.

"No, just you," she smirked.

"Your sarcasm never dies," he sighed.

"Neither does your arrogance," said she.

Rolling his eyes, he made his way to the kitchen where he poured himself a cup of milk.

"Make sure you heat that up before you drink it," Ai called from the guest room.

"Sure thing mother!" Shinichi said sarcastically as he placed the cup in the microwave.

Hearing the 'ting' of the timer, he took his beverage and brought it to his room, (They had already worked out who takes which room, which was quite easy for neither cared about the matter) dragging his luggage with his free hand, and motioned to close the door behind him, saying, "I'm going to sleep." Before closing it completely. Chugging half the content of his cup, he continued his cursing mutters under his breath.

Ai followed him with her eyes and after seeing the door close, took her things

Taking a folder out from the laptop bag that dangled from his shoulder after settling his items to random areas of the room, he ran a quick look through the papers inside.

"Damn it, I'm too tired to look through this," he rubbed his eyes and turned to the clock; the clock stated it was 3:00am, "guess I will sleep after all."

He nearly knocked over the easel running through the living room to the kitchen, all the while screaming, "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" as he grabbed the slice of toast off the plate prepared by Ai who ate calmly at the table.

"There's no point for you to be in such a hurry," she said without the slightest tone of urgency.

"I over slept and I'm gonna be late!" Shinichi shouted with agitation, "What do you mean I don't have to hurry."

"Well, the bus won't come for another 14minutes so you might as well settle down and eat your breakfast," Haibara said casually as she forked her scrambled egg.

"14minutes! You can't be serious, it's still rush hour!" Shinichi said resentfully, but knowing that he can do nothing, he sat down at his seat and shoved his toast to his mouth.

"I told you to take that one next to the C-train (city train) station but you wouldn't listen and said it was too small," Haibara shook her head.

"Yeah well, I don't regret it," Shinichi spat.

"Who's your partner anyways," Ai asked.

"I don't know, some lawyer."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

'I probably should have expected this to happen," Ran sighed as she took the case file and placed it back down again, 'His late for his first meeting.' She looked up with anxiety as she recalled the memorable 'adventures' she had gone through with him…which started peculiarly soon after his arrival. 'But he better arrive soon or…'

knock, knock, knock…

'well, think of the devil…' "Come in," she called, spinning her chair around so the back is turned to the door.

"Hello," the voice of a boy sounded timidly behind her.

"Edogawa Conan?" she questioned.

"Yes," he replied.

"You're late," she said strictly.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I missed my bus today. It will never happen again," he apologized.

"I don't tolerate late arrivals," she growled as she turned her chair to him with her head tilted down, rested upon the back of her interlaced fingers.

'Wow, she's…nice,' Conan thought as he apologized once more with a bow.

"But, seeing as how we're old friends, I'll let it slide this time," she said and looked up, "Long time no see Cona…kun…" her words seemed to get sucked back into her lungs as the boy's face came into full view.

Conan looked to her shock awkwardly, then, as his eyes drifted to the name placed on her desk, he snapped his head back up to her with shock, "Ran!" he exclaimed, then quickly remembering his cover, he added, "neechan," to the back.

Shaking off her imagination, she smiled. "How have you been Conan-kun," she asked.

It took the teen some time to react to his supervisor's question but eventually he managed to mutter out an "I'm fine." Shaking his head he forced a smile to his lips.

'His hair is longer but that face is…' Ran thought. She could not help staring at him. Conan was always like Shinichi, even as a child. That was probably why she liked him so much. She has never gone by one day without thinking about Shinichi. His cool confident smirk, his selflessness that conflicted ironically with his selfishness that evolved to an actual physical characteristic of his smile. The dark eyes, pointed nose, the thin cheekbone that rounded at the bottom, they were all, the same.

Noticing her stare, Conan asked, "Is something wrong?" trying to act ignorant.

Ran snapped to attention and straightened her back with a jolt. "No, no, its just…um…its been such a long time since I've seen you," she replied. 'What am I thinking? His Conan-kun, not Shinichi' she thought wit ha quick grin to herself. "So how have you been all these years?" she changed the topic.

Feeling a new sense of security, Conan took a seat in a chair adjacent to her calmly. "I'm living with Haibara now," he laughed.

"You two are siblings now right? I heard from professor that your parents adopted her?"

"Yeah."

"She's here with you?"

"Coincidence actually. She came as a representative from Harvard research center to speak with some profs here or something. Since we both were headed to Calgary, she just decided to tag along with me even though she's meeting them next week."

"I see."

"How have you been Ran-neechan?"

"Me? Studying, papers, MSN, papers, eat, papers, I think I can see my entire life scheduled before my eyes."

"Sounds like loads of fun."

"Indeed. We should probably get going. They're waiting for us down at the lab,"

"The lab?"

"Yeah, the CSI lab where they keep the files of the case, we are suppose to meet some investigators there to go over the case."

"I see, alright lets get going."

They made their way down to the parking lot to a small silver civic (looks new). Conan took a seat in the passenger seat while Ran went to the back and placed her bag in the trunk.

"So where is this lab at?" Conan asked with just a simple mission in mind that---to start a topic.

"It's in downtown," Ran replied taking a seat and starting the car.

The topic died with that reply. Ran backed the car out of her parking space and they were off. Conan was watching outside the window as they left the campus gates. Something about the bright glow of sunshine raining down on the pureness of the freshly fallen snow upon the trees and grass settled his mind. For that brief moment, his nervousness about keeping his cover disappeared.

The car made a turn into an underground parking-lot of downtown Calgary. It wasn't the building that they were suppose to go to but she said it was the cheapest one.

"So how far are we from where we're suppose to go?" Conan asked as they walked out to the street.

"1 maybe 2 blocks?" Ran replied and began walking.

Conan nodded and followed. The streets were filled with Asians, Chinese people. He could see 5 blocks down but not a single blond could he find. The hair color that wasn't black was summer red, worn by "Stylish Asians". "Boy, do I feel like a FOB(Fresh Off the Boat) here," Conan chuckled.

"Everyone at one point was a FOB," Ran giggled, "Even us."

The walk to the crime lab was quiet. Short sentences and one word answers were all that they could manage. 'What am I doing? I'm happy to see Conan again after all these years. There should be lots of things I want to talk with him. So why can't I?' Ran asked her self but she knew the answer. The quietness was awkward, but this awkwardness was mutually accepted with a slight feeling of guilt, afraid that it might be appearing as though they didn't want to talk with one another. But, they just kept walking, ignoring such minor sentiments.

The crime lab was in the basement of the government building. It was a large structure. An escalator was placed in the middle of the first floor, slightly off center to the left, which climbed diagonally right as though to correct for the engineering mistake of failing to place it perfectly in the middle. The place exploited an aura of high security. It wasn't that there were lots of guards, no, there were only 2 guards he could see. It was just the general atmosphere, so dense, so thick, an atmosphere that Kaitou Kid would stutter a moment if he was to step in.

They made their way to an elevator located in a small cozy area in an opening of the left wall. Shinichi looked about the area curiously like a cat would in finding an empty grocery bag. "Nice place," he said.

Ran smiled in reply just as the elevator door opened. The lab, which Shinichi saw as he walked out of the elevator, wasn't exactly something he was expecting. It wasn't his first time working but it was the first time he had actually stepped into such a lab. Series of intercrossing hallways, not much wider than 5 meters, were guided with arrows to the nearest emergency exit. Blocks of rooms lined both sides, some the size of a small office while others were obviously roomier.

"Rachael my dear, I hear they finally let you have that Miller case you've been questioning about," an old lady called as she turned the corner, seeing Ran, "And this must be that boy they were talking about, the one that you were suppose to train."

"Uh, yes, this is Conan Edogawa. Conan, this is Mrs. Jackens. She's my senior and has helped me a lot throughout the years," Ran introduced.

"It's nice to meet you Conan. Such a handsome boy, you're much more younger than I had expected cause they told me you had graduated you know. Blue suit with a white shirt, very nice. I personally don't like white, or any color that spells virgin, that's why my pet peeve is women in their forties wearing flashy white dresses. Virgin, ewhe, I hate the word. I'm glad I got my niece thinking in the same way. Oh she's a nice girl, a bit older than you Conan, Virginia. But boy I'm talking too much, I have things to do, I'll see you Ran dear," without giving the two to say a good bye, she walked off.

"Yes, well she's like that," Ran laughed as she watched her off.

"Seems like a decent person, an interesting one at that. I like her," Shinichi smiled as he sweat dropped, "What's with Rachael?"

"Friends had trouble pronouncing Ran properly so my English name became Rachael. I'm still known as Ran amongst my Japanese friends though," Ran answered.

"Ahh, here it is, room 103," Ran said and knocked.

"Come in," a voice came from inside.

They walked in. A middle aged, friendly looking man, sat behind a wooden desk waved to them in hello. "I am investigator Park but you can call me Jason. I was told that you two wish to have a second look to the Miller case. I was sent to discuss the case with you two and give you some information on it," he spoke solidly, "Please, have a seat," he signaled to two chairs placed in front of him.

The two did as told. "The case itself was thought to be settled, you see," he started again, pulling out a file from his drawer, "But seeing how persistent you two were and I did owe one to Ms. Irashiko in the Kingston case from a year ago, I decided to give you two a chance."

"Thank you sir," Ran bowed in her seat. Conan did like wise but said nothing.

"I suppose you two have gone over the case?" he asked.

"Yes," Ran replied, "The case is on the murder of Jack Miller. His wife Sandy Miller states that she saw Jack getting shot twice from behind by his friend Dolton Smith, who was a quote "Close Friend" of Jack. Dolton claims that Jack had attacked him by stabbing him with a knife and he had shot him in self defense but the knife was never found, thus Jack was trailed guilty for the first degree murder of Jack Miller."

"Very good," Park nodded. Then, turning his attention to the boy he raised his head and looked down to him, "How old are you son?" he asked.

Conan jumped slightly but held his seat. "I'm 18 sir," he replied.

"18…I see," he raised a brow and had a face that seemed to be chuckling to the young teen, "He is your…pupil I suppose?"

"For the next while I suppose," Ran laughed as he turned to Conan.

Conan didn't really like being called the pupil of Ran. If anything, he should be the one teaching her the bases of observation and deduction. But for the moment, he was forced to live with that fact.

"So tell me Ms. Mouri, what made you want to reconsider the case, given all the evidence against it?" Park questioned.

"It was the wife's testimony. According to the file she says that she heard them arguing, heard a shot so she ran out to see what was going on, then saw her husband getting shot as he was running away," Ran answered.

"Explain," Park demanded.

"Dolton stated that Jack was facing him when he shot him. But if the wife says that Jack was running away, then Jack could not have been facing him. This means that one of the two is lying," she answered.

"I see," Park nodded, "and what about you, boy, why did you hold interest to this case?" he asked, half serious, half interested with hope and amusement in hearing some crazy idea shoot from Conan's mouth.

"I found two things peculiar about the case," he replied coolly. Ran immediately picked up on his tone, the cool confident tone she had heard so many times before. She turned to him. He was sitting cross-legged with a deep thinking frown and was holding his right hand over his lips as he spoke with thought. The resemblance was almost pinpoint to her memory of him. "Something wrong?" Conan asked, noticing her stare.

"Sorry," Ran shook her head, "Please continue."

Lamenting a knowing sigh in his mind, he returned his attention to the matters at hand. "As I was saying," he continued, hiding his knowledge of the situation. The way he explained his theory had become an art that had taken him years to perfect. He was incapable of delivering the fact in any other way, so, he continued on in the same manner, "There are two things I found peculiar about the case. Number one was the wife's testimony."

"Like what Ms. Ran here had said," Park cut in with a smile of amusement at the new recruit.

"There is that, but the part I took interest in was the fact that she had heard the first shot and ran out to see the second shot," he said smoothly.

"I don't find anything peculiar about that," Park said with a shrug.

"From the pictures I was given, I managed to picture the house in my mind. It is a cozy small home with both a front yard and a back yard on the side of a busy street. There is a kitchen that leads out to a patio, which is fused, with the back yard. Their garage is a separate garage, next to their back yard," illustrated Conan.

"That is more or so Correct, yes," Park nodded, growing more interested in what the boy had to say.

"Now the wife stated that she had heard the first shot, then ran out where she saw the second shot," Conan said and waited for Park to finish his nod, "That means that she was at a location not able to see the back yard but still close enough to not mistake a gun shot for background noise from their busy street. Then there must be only 1 place she could have been, in the garage. An average person takes 0.2seconds to respond to something…extra-ordinary, about 0.8seconds of confusion before deciding upon taking an action. After hearing the first shot, she would have spent a minimum of 1 second wondering about what she had just heard. Then, it will take her 1-2seconds to run outside of her garage into the back yard. If what Dolton said was true, that he was attacked by and shot Jack in self-defense, then he would have took the two shots one following the other. It takes about 0.3 seconds for him to pull the trigger a second time. This means that it would have been highly unlikely that the wife did saw the shooting, but rather only saw Dolton with the gun in his hand after she had run out and filled in the blanks afterward, which evolved into reality for her panicked mind in seek of answers."

Park looked at him amazed at what he had just heard. "That might be true," he nodded with a new found respect, "Typical eye witness flaws. But if she didn't see the shooting that could change his standings in court greatly. You said two I believe, what is your second suspicion?" he asked.

"The second suspicion is one that I am not yet certain on. However if you give us 24 hours, I shall give you an answer," Conan answered.

"I see," Park nodded. Despite the fact that Conan did not provide him with an answer, his confidence previous suspicion through observation showed Park that he did have something and was not simply making up an excuse for not having an answer. "Very well. You've, both of you, have managed to catch my interest. This was an interview created to make sure that you too weren't wasting time. You two have proven to me that there are still things to look at in this case and that is what I shall tell my superiors," Park closed his eyes with satisfaction to what he had heard.

"Thank you sir," the two replied in unison.

"Very good, I wish you both luck and you're both excused," he said waving them off.

It wasn't until the two were outside the building that Ran finally spoke again. "Do you mind…if I drive you home for today?" she asked sadly, "There's something I needed to check on that I forgot about and its really important," she said, forcing a pleading smile to her face.

"Oh…sure, no problem. I'll meet you at your office tomorrow at 9:00am than?" he asked.

"Don't be late again," she joked.

"I won't," he laughed.

It was a 20minute ride back to Conan's home. How quiet was the ride. Both had zoned out to their own thoughts…about each other. He wanted to ask, but he didn't, he couldn't, he was afraid to ask. He didn't want to know the answer, no, he knew, he just didn't want to hear it coming out of her lips. 'Are you still thinking about Shinichi-niichan?' A part of him did want to know the answer though. A part of him wanted to hear her say, 'Yes, I still love him,' those precious words, relieving yet painful at the same time.

Conan waited until he couldn't see the car anymore before turning to his home. Ai looked up from her seat as she heard a breach at the entrance. "How was work," she asked casually.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said as he kicked his shoes off with a sigh.

"It can't be that bad," she rolled her eyes.

"Ran is my supervisor," he muttered.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said Ran is my supervisor!"

"Ran…Ran who?"

"Who do you think, how many Rans do you know?"

"Ran as in Ran-san? Mouri Ran-san?"

"Yes, now if you'll EXCUSE ME…I need some time alone," he finished off softly and dove into his room. Ai watched him close the door behind him and narrowed her eyes.

Oooooooooooooooooo

Ran collapsed on her bed the moment her hand released from her bag. Tears filled her eyes. 'I can't do this,' she thought, 'He was always like 'him' but this is too much! His actions, his character, even his appearance, everything about him are like a reflection of Shinichi.' Turning sideways to the framed picture that still rested in the same place as the previous night, pouring her tears out to the side.

Sitting up, she pulled her knees to her chest and leaned against the wall. Her eyes were still cloudy but it no longer rained. The short day was coming to an end. The sky was just beginning to darken and the lights of the streets have already been turned on. A bus roared by out side but once it was gone, all was silenced once more. As she sat in the noiseless room, her mind began to settle. Logical thought redeemed her mind, allowing her to think calmly. The storm had passed and she could see the light again.

For hours, she sat there with her depressed eyes and hunched back, gazing periodically to the picture on her desk. The sun had completely set and a dense fog hung outside. The street light's rays were reduced to a mild glow and she couldn't even see the houses across the street. A knock on the door shifted her eyes toward it.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

(Knocking)

"I don't want to be disturbed," a call came from the inside.

Ignoring those words, Haibara pushed the door open (There's no lock on the door). "It's not okay," she said as she entered.

"What do you mean it's not okay," Conan looked up from his bed.

"You're thinking, 'it's been 10years, there couldn't be any possible harm in telling her about the truth now.' I can tell. I'm telling you that, that is out of the question," Ai said in a lecturing, frustrated voice.

"Yeah, yeah," Conan growled, pulling the blanket over his face.

"I know you don't want to hear this but I have to make it clear to you," Ai said. Her voice was rising from frustration to minor anger, "The B.O is not something that you can get away from. Once you stumble into it, you're on their list for life. They know that it was me who confirmed your death. Your few appearances would have been impossible not to be noticed. I told you, after that night, Kudou Shinichi was dead. He no longer exist! We've been through this before. Our faces are not so hidden as we may wish it to be. Acceptance in to Harvard at the age of 14 must have made it into the papers somewhere and when something like that happens, you know the B.O. is keeping a close eye on us. We could be future candidates they are wanting to pull in. That is IF they didn't realize that we look unusually alike to Kudou Shinichi and Miyano Shiho."

"I know! I know that!" Conan cried, "But I can't just erase my past Haibara. I can't pretend that the first 17years of my life never happened. After that night, I couldn't face her anymore. That's why I decided to leave. I can't stand her right now Haibara, let alone work with her for the next, who knows how long."

Silence.

"I thought I had gotten over her," Conan started again, "for the past 10years, I've done everything I could to forget. I actually thought I had succeeded until today morning. But after seeing her, I realized that I've accomplished nothing. I still love her Haibara!"

For the next few moments, Haibara watched the teen in silence as he revealed his face from under his sheets. He didn't show much except his casual look but she could tell he had been fighting off his tears. Breathing out deeply, she said, "If what you say is true, then you should know what it is to be done. You're just experiencing some nostalgia," then changing her tone lighter, she said "I left your supper on the table. If you're not going to eat it tonight then put it in the fridge," and turned to exit the room.

"What is it," he joked to her exiting figure.

"Spaghetti," she replied and walked out with a smirk and shaking her head.

As the door shut again, Conan lay back down and gazed to the ceiling. 'I know, I know,' he repeated to himself softly, "I just don't know if I can protect her from myself."

Ooooooooooooooooooo

"Delivery for Ran Mouri," A man called from outside.

"Coming," Ran called as she hurried to the door.

It was just the magazine she subscribed to. "Bend Over and Reach for the Cash," it read on the cover with a picture of a businessman holding bills like one would to a poker hand.

Throwing the magazine on a table, she made her way to the cover and pulled out a can of chunky soup. She began eating but her mind was still stuck on the matter before hand. She couldn't stop thinking about it. The more she thought about Conan, the more she thought about Shinichi, and the more she thought about Shinichi, the more depressed she felt. When depression sets in, she wishes for Conan to say something to cheer her up like he had done as a child, but that only lead to the beginning, forming a spiraling abyss.

A bit of sadness but not sorrow, a touch of longing but no pain, it was just depression. She wondered why. She wondered how come she felt the way she did. Why was she feeling depression rather than sorrow? Her tears had stopped, which was strange for they had never stopped so quickly before when she recollected her pains that were connected with that boy.

Not only that, a part of her felt settled. Shouldn't it? She had seen her beloved little brother, Conan, again, a ceremonial reunion with the highest of joys and delight. But no, that was not what settled her. It was a feeling she had once felt before, thus is why she knew what it was. It was the same feeling as that night, 10 years ago, when she was sitting on that bench- the ground blanketed by snow, the wind crawling past- waiting for the boy she had waited for so, so long. It was the feeling that Shinichi was back…with her…forever.

Could a person be so alike to another that one can use this person to overlap, perhaps even, replace that other individual? 'No,' she thought to herself, "Conan-kun is Conan-kun, and not Shinichi," she muttered.

Something clicked inside of her then and there. Shinichi's departure, Conan's leave, and as she recollected, the countless peculiarity of Conan's behavior that morning, "He knows," she gasped.

TBC…

I finally updated this in between my midterms and tests. Hoe you all enjoyed it. Reviews are well appreciated. I enjoy reading comments, it lights my day haha.

Reviews

Juliechan: Glad you like it.

KudouRan: I take it you're a SR fan? Happy you enjoyed it.

KawaiiKaitou: Thank you

Iiiris: Haha, maybe, that is an idea I will consider. Haven't heard from you in a while. KNKF seems to be marching along. Good luck!

Kris: Yes, it will be SxR. My second attempt at a pure SxR serious fic.

Everlasting Innocence: How can I refuse a request like that haha!