Authors Notes:
Thank you Neyane for going over this chapter again! I decided to go ahead and update the chapter...
Also, I had a guest review from "Joe" who gave a very nice review, I'm glad you're liking the pacing... I worry about that a lot. I mean thanks for saying the story is well written- in any regard- that is nice!

I am sorry my spelling is so awful... I've been working on it for a very long time and it makes me feel like a fool (yep...) for making such weird and silly mistakes... words that sound and look the same get me- even if they only kind of sound or look the same (spell check can only do so much, lets be glad I have that much or this would be completely unreadable...). Sorry for those and I'll ad fool and full to my list of words I mix up so I'll try to keep an eye out for the next time around. Thank you! XD

The Lycanthropy of a Shrunken Detective

Chapter Nineteen

Shinichi sat at the breakfast bar in Professor Agasa's kitchen waiting for Haibara to come back with the blood work. Waiting to turn back into Conan. Absently, he was chewing his bottom lip. The small stimulus helping him ignore the light scent of blood and alcohol that came from a blood draw. The sound of traffic was loud but droning in the background and every once in a while he heard the scraping sound of pen against paper from the lab. It was irritating that even now after a month of torture his senses were still fluctuating.

Though after the full moon they seemed to have calmed down a bit. Or maybe he was just getting used to it. Either way, sometimes it felt like he could hear everything in a hundred foot radius all at once, other times it was focused on a specific sound. Like the nest of pigeons that lived in the gutters right above Mouris window. Or the sound of the coffee maker in the little cafe right below the office. A kind of hyper-focused hearing.

If he weren't a high schooler in mined classes would have been impossible. But since he knew the information even being overwhelmed to the point of not hearing a single word of the lesson Kudo was able to complete his assignments just fine. It was the test that had been a struggle because he wasn't able to focus through the sounds of chewing, tapping, and snoring. The strange and unsettling smells that kids gathered and created. His teacher was understanding for the most part and had allowed him to complete the last few tests in a separate room by himself when he'd started rocking and murmuring to himself. Whether out of concern for him, or the other students focus, he was grateful.

The house itself was overall quiet at the moment. Agasa had left a bit after the kids had to talk with someone about one of his inventions. The inventor had been out a lot lately actually now that Shinichi thought about it. Though he couldn't be too sure, the last month was a blur. He frowned as the sent of rocket fuel hit his nose, and he realized that the professor's last attempt to perfect his foldable jetpack left more than a black stain on the back wall of the living room.

He let his head fall to the countertop and let out a long sigh. With nothing else to do, he began to evaluate the events that had happened since he'd been bitten. He cringed. He had never been one to follow his emotions. In fact, he prided himself in his ability to set his emotions aside to focus on the situation at hand. Always following logic. It just made more sense to him. Approaching the world with fact. Not that he didn't ever take things like feelings into consideration. Gut feelings often stemmed from subconscious observations after all- but emotions on the other hand… they could cloud one's judgment. As Mouri Kogorou often, unintentionally, demonstrated more often than not.

Somehow, over the last month, he'd found himself swallowed by emotion- and he hadn't even noticed it had happened. He rubbed his brow in irritation at the realization.

Being proud as he was about his level head this was… shocking to say the least. The only logical conclusion he could come to was that the curse he'd found himself under (and didn't that thought just claw at the logical side of his brain) somehow was heightening his emotional response. Though, the overwhelming and sudden bombardment of sensation probably did not help in that regard. It was obvious what had happened. He'd tried to block the world out and hid himself away out of a desperate act of self-preservation. In doing so he'd lost most of the tools he'd normally use to check himself.

He was human after all. It was impossible to just be logical- though admitting that was hard… Which is why he would never admit it outright, but quietly in the back of his mind, as he sorted everything out, was fine.

He'd gotten wrapped up in his own pain and his own struggles. He'd become, for a lack of a better way of putting it, self-absorbed. He felt sick to his stomach.

Recalling how after the first 3 days of being back in the detective agency that his recluse moping had gotten on Mouri's nerves so badly that the older detective had whacked Conan on the head and told him to snap out of it. Conan had been so overwhelmed with sensation that that smack had been enough to bring tears to his eyes. Kudo could remember fighting them with all he could and the fact that they still fell made him feel so horrid that he ran back to his room and shut himself in for the rest of the day. Mouri hadn't touched him since.

Shinichi knew the man had sent him worried glances for a few days after, but at the time he didn't know what to do about it. He wasn't concerned about how Mouri felt exactly. He did want to show that he was okay but as much as he wanted to he just couldn't. As much as he said it over and over Ran never looked relieved when he said he was fine.

Now as he looked back on it he could see why. He really hadn't been okay. Taking a breath, Shinichi felt like the oxygen was filling more than just his lungs. Like his mind was breathing clearly for the first time in weeks. Like a pressure had finally loosed from around his heart. He wasn't fine yet… but he was finally able to look at things with logic. He felt a chuckle leave him at the thought. It was weird to realize that he'd been being illogical.

"What's so funny?" Haibara's dry voice reached him making him startle slightly. Realizing he'd been so deep in thought that he hadn't heard her come up. Turning to see the child-sized scientist he shook his head.

A small smile pulling at his lips. "Nothing." He was finally starting to feel like himself again. There was no need to go into some awkward heart to heart conversation with Haibara. Still, the little biochemist snorted in disbelief, but she did not push.

"So what did the all mighty scientist find in her gloomy lab?" He smirked as he leaned on his palm his elbow resting on the bar top.

Haibara sent him a half-hearted glare in response. "Glad to see you're feeling better." Shinichi only shrugged in response. Then he looked at the door as he heard tires pull into the drive. The sound of the old Volkswagen engine cut out and he could hear the professor shuffling bags. Suddenly his attention shifted as Haibara jabbed him in the side. "Are you even listening to me?"

Shaking his head Shinichi gave her a sheepish grin. "Sorry, Haibara… the professor just got back and it kinda distracted me-

The front door opened and Shinichi swallowed glancing at the bag the older man was caring. "Ah! Shinichi! I'm glad you are still here! I decided to pick up some dinner."

"Take out?" Haibara asked disappointed accusation in her voice.

Professor Agasa rubbed the back of his neck laughing awkwardly. "When was the last time I ate?" Haibara glanced at Kudo as he spoke still staring at the bag and practically salivating. She sighed. She didn't know if he'd eaten at Ran's that morning but at school, he'd only picked at his food. Like he'd been doing for a while. "I guess one time won't hurt. While we eat I can tell you what I've found."

The actual conversation had to wait till Kudo got halfway through his meal as he was so focused on eating Haibara knew he wouldn't hear her. As his eating slowed from ravenous to a more controlled intake she began. "I'm not a hundred percent sure what is happening with the APTX 4869, but it seems like it's being repressed somehow. It's not being destroyed or removed but its effects are being blocked."

"So… what does that mean exactly?"

"You are probably going to continue to shift between Conan and Shinichi at random… I don't know what causes the suppression of the drug, and without a reliable way to predict it, this puts you in danger of discovery." Haibara pressed her lips.

"What are you saying?" Shinichi's eating came to a complete stop.

"I think it would be wise to distance yourself from the Mouris- at least until this all settles or you have a better handle on the situation."

Shinichi picked at the last of his food glaring at her. "Distance myself? I'm living with them!"

"Well, maybe you shouldn't be." Haibara glared. "You do realize that if you are discovered that it's not just your life on the line here. If your condition is revealed it will most likely lead them to me as well."

Shinichi frowned. "I get what you're saying… but what can I do? I can't really stop going to school- I can't just leave-

"What if you change in school? This is happening without an antidote- without you getting a fever and you're horrid at noticing the signs of a change."

Kudo bit his lip. "Well on the bright side you get to be you more…" Agasa said softly.

Haibara sighed giving Kudo a serious look. "That may be true, but the strain of shifting from child to teen is not easy. The strain on your body could end up killing you, and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

Shinichi swallowed staring down at his empty plate. His stomach turned. "Well," He said quietly. "There's only one thing to do."

"What's that?" Haibara asked.

Kudo looked at her steadily steal in his eyes. "See if we can't lift this curse."

Authors notes:

So I wanted Kudo to just snap out of his funk as he realized what was going on and as he became aware of the rising danger of being discovered, but I felt like it was too... sudden... and I don't really feel comfortable writing from Shinichi's point of view (I think his thinking is just different from mine so it's hard to write) but I felt this time around it was necessary... so he still snaps out of it... we just get to view a bit of the process as it happens... and here I was hoping to stay away from the overly introspective side of things... oh well.

I don't know what's going to happen with the update time right now... I've had some positive changes lately- I got full time at one of my jobs and was able to quit the other. So now I can actually set a sleep schedule... even if my sleep will resemble those living on the other side of the globe more than those around me... we'll see what happens, I'm going to do my best to keep updating once a week at least though. :)

I really hope you are all enjoying this story so far. Let me know if you are or aren't. ^-^

(Words used 1667. Date posted 04-27-2018)