Mitsuharu

Title: Mitsuharu
Rating: T
Fandom: Detective Conan
Summary: There were only three kids of the Akai Family, right? There was no way that Masumi had a third older brother. So why the hell were these people calling him Akai Mitsuharu? More importantly, how the hell was he even alive!? [OC Insert as Akai Sibling]

"H-Haru?" Ran stuttered at the sight of her friend.

"Yo Ran," Haru greeted. "What will it be today?"

"Uh, a breakfast platter for each of us," Ran managed to say as she, her father, and Conan sat down at an empty table. "Sorry, I'm just surprised that you cut your hair,"

His hair was no longer long and down to his waist; it now rested a bit above his shoulders. "I figured that since it'd be easier for me to manage if it were shorter," Haru said as he began to prepare the order. "You know yourself, Ran, that long hair gets tangles and knots easily," 'Also since I keep getting head injuries, I mind as well have short hair so that it's easier to clean the blood from,'

"Haru-niichan, I heard that you were attacked yesterday," Conan brought up.

"There were three fake police officers that tried to kidnap James-san," Haru informed. "I managed to take out the two that approached Uncle James. The third one was in a modified car that resembled a police car and fled. As I was heading home, the third culprit struck me in the head,"

"But who shot the third man?" Conan inquired.

"Who knows?" Haru shrugged. 'I can't let him know that I was kidnapped by Cognac. He'll end up asking how I escaped and what he and I discussed,' "I was knocked out and ended up in an alley,"

"So you walked all the way home?" Conan asked.

"Of course not brat," Kogoro interrupted. "He was probably too disoriented,"

"Some people found me and helped me. I didn't want to go to the hospital so they treated my wound themselves since it wasn't too bad," Haru replied.

XXX

After exposing Itakura's murderer and managing to get a copy of the victim's diary, Conan and Ran were walking home. Inspector Megure still had things to discuss with Kogoro so it was just the two of them. "Hey, Conan-kun," Ran asked. "I wonder if people change. Do hearts grow apart if they're separated?" She closed her eyes and looked upwards. "All I do is keep waiting, but it's so hard,"

"Don't worry," Conan assured her. "I'm sure Shinichi-niichan is just how you remember him. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about,"

"I wish you were Shinichi," Tears were visibly welling up in Ran's eyes. "Silly me. What am I saying?"

'No, Ran, it really is me,' Conan thought. 'But I can't tell you, not until I bring down the Black Organization!'

The two stopped in the middle of their walk as the phone booth door opened and Akai came out into the streets. Conan protectively put an arm in front of Ran. It was silent between the three of them for a moment. "You're crying again? You're always crying," Akai commented, thinking about Akemi.

Ran wiped some of her tears away. "Is it wrong to cry?"

"No, it just occurred to me," Akai started to walk pass them. "You remind me of someone who cried in the dark, who foolishly refused to burden anyone with her tears," 'What am I saying? She resembles Akemi but she isn't her,'

"Ran-neechan, who was that man?" Conan asked after Akai was out of sight. "Do you know him?" 'He has a dark aura but I feel like he isn't a criminal,'

"Yeah," Ran answered. "I met him when I went to New York with Shinichi and Haru. Haru and I were waiting in front of an abandoned building for Shinichi. He came up to us and asked if we had seen a Japanese man with long, silver hair,"

Conan's eyes widened as he recalled the events. 'That's the building where that serial killer was hiding!'

"But I don't think he's a bad man," Ran told him. "He and his friends were wearing FBI jackets. He also addressed Haru by his whole first name,"

'Why would the FBI be in Japan? How does that man know Haru?' Conan thought. 'Come to think of it, Haru said that he was the one to inform the FBI to get Haibara's sister out of the organization. Haru has two older brothers. That man must be Haru's eldest brother. He was also on the bus when it was hijacked. If I recall correctly, that man's name was Akai Shuichi,'

XXX

"Pierrot?" Haru stared at Akai who had been waiting for Haru's shift to end. "Why are you here?"

"Let's head to your place," Akai said, pulling up his face mask even more. "I'm going to teach you how to fight,"

"Fight?" Haru questioned. "Why?"

"Self-defense," Akai claimed. "You're always getting hurt. I'm going to teach you Jeet Kune Do so that you could protect yourself when confronting a criminal,"

"I have a gun and a knife," Haru reminded.

"And if you run out of bullets?" Akai pointed out. "If you are disarmed? You need to be able to protect yourself without weapons,"

'He does have a point,' Haru silently agreed. 'I've been practicing aiming with a soccer ball and have fairly improved. But I won't always have enough soccer balls if there are multiple criminals. I've been saying that Conan himself is cocky but I'm also getting arrogant,'

XXX

It was early the next morning that Haru awoke to knocking at the front door. "The professor and Kudo-kun haven't returned yet," Haibara said.

"Alright, let's go track them down," Haru took out his own homing glasses and slid them on, activating the tracking option. "We'll take a taxi," 'My body hurts too much from Akai's training that I can't properly drive my motorcycle. It's not like I'll be able to carry both kids on it either,'

By the time they reached the subway construction site, it was already daytime. They entered the subway station, telling the construction workers that their friend was inside. Haibara opened the bottom coin locker. "What are you doing in there?"

'Coin locker…coin locker…' Haru pondered. "Hey Conan, why are you in a coin locker?"

"Haibara, Haru, why are you guys here?" Conan asked.

"The professor wasn't home by morning so we tracked you down," Haibara answered.

"It's morning!?" Conan exclaimed.

"So why are you in a coin locker?" Haru asked. 'Wait, on the way here I read the news about Itakura's death. Itakura's name is familiar, but I can't really place my finger on it. Conan's hiding in a coin locker. Think…think…think…'

"A fox as clever as a detective,"

'Contact with the Black Organization!' Haru's eyes widened when he recalled Gin's words about Conan in one of the episodes. "You idiot! You're lucky he didn't find you or you'd be dead!"

"Haru, how did you—"

"Why else would you be hiding in a locker unless you were hiding from crows?" Haru scolded. "I know that you desperately want to bring them down, but you're no use to us dead. They're not idiots and they won't hesitate to murder a child,"

"You don't mean that they were here?" Haibara asked Haru with wide eyes full of fear.

"They were," Haru ran a hand through his short hair. "Look, let's just be thankful that Conan's not dead and start heading back,"

They exited the construction site. "Where's the professor?" Haibara inquired.

"He's alright," Conan reassured them. "He's with the police,"

Akai Shuichi, who had just passed the three, froze in walking and glanced at Haibara with a shocked expression. 'It couldn't be!'

Haibara looked back with a terrified expression. 'For a brief moment, I thought that I felt a dark aura!'

'Damn it Akai, stop scaring Haibara!' Haru frowned. 'I still remember the meme created using your glare! It was 'I'm in my happy place right now' or something along those lines,'

"By the way, Haru," Conan questioned. "Is your older brother Akai Shuichi?"

Haru quickly covered Conan's mouth. "Never say his name out loud in public like that!" He quietly hissed. "He's an FBI Agent and one of the crows' biggest enemies. He's known as the FBI's Silver Bullet. If they find out that we have a connection to him, they're willing to use us as leverage against him!"

XXX

Haru, unsurprisingly, received a call from Akai about an hour later. "Yo,"

"Who was that girl that was with you this morning?"

"Haibara,"

"Why does she resemble Akemi's sister?"

"You know, Shiho still hates you and the rest of the FBI. She wants nothing to do with you,"

"I promised Akemi that I'd find her sister and bring her to the US,"

"You can't really do that with her in that form,"

"Documents can be faked,"

"Akai, she doesn't want anything to do with you. Are you going to force her to go to the US?"

"No, I would never do such a thing. Akemi would hate me if I forced Sherry to do something against her will,"

"Besides, she has friends here. It's not like the crows are actively searching for a child,"

"I recognized her,"

"Hey, search up a photo of Grace Aihara," Haru recalled one of the OVAs he saw in his past life. "She's a former child actress that looks exactly like Haibara. You don't think the organization would go after her too? They're not looking for a child, they're looking for a full grown woman,"

The OVA Haru is referring to is OVA 11: A Secret Order From London.

And that's why Haru has short hair in the cover now. Long hair can be a pain sometimes.

So Akai's teaching Haru how to do Jeet Kune Do. Masumi is still stronger than Haru because she's been practicing longer.

I know some of these cases are going by kind fast but they mostly were the same as in canon. I'm mostly showing the parts where Haru appears in those cases because it'd be pretty boring to just read what you've seen happen in the anime and manga.

Fun Fact:
While writing the original drafts (in which Akemi originally was going to die) I was going to have Haru have a vigilante personality like Batman at night. He was going to have basically a black version of Char Aznable's helmet with a glowing red V, Kakashi's mask, sunglasses, black gloves, black boots, black pants, and a black shirt. He was going to have a black cape that turned into a hang glider like Kid's except it would resemble dragon wings. He was going to be called Red V. I don't remember why I chose the letter V. Maybe for Red Victory?
The reason why I scrapped the idea is because he would have very little sleep, he is not strong enough to go against any criminal he just stumbles across in the night, the police would investigate and eventually Conan would deduce his identity, Haru would probably get himself killed, and he would be unable to lose people that are chasing him if he wanted to head home.