Hey guys, I wish you all a Happy New Year and I hope you all stay safe. Thank you for reviewing, favoriting, and following 'Dearly Beloved'.

I do not own Detective Conan.

Kuroba Kaito was one hell of a fool and he knew it. Taking care of a kid couldn't be that hard, right? All they needed was a place to sleep, eat, and lots of love. But other than just entertaining them, he knew next to nothing of taking care of a six-year-old properly. The magician hadn't thought of the consequences of taking care of a kid and had merely suggested that he stay with him in the spur of the moment. He supposed it was due to getting to know the little guy before questioning him on his situation. The little brunette beside kept his head down, one hand fiddling with his spectacles and the other clutching onto his frozen hand. Kaito opened the door of his home and grimaced slightly at the unwelcome sight of pillow cushions scattered across the living room and his kitchen filled with ramen cups. He closed the door behind him and watched as Conan assessed his temporary home.

"Um, well, er, welcome home?" Conan shot him an unamused look.

"I kinda didn't expect to be taking someone home with me. Let me show you to the guestroom."

"Alright, lead the way.", the boy mumbled back. Conan followed close behind him. Kaito felt his mind wander as he led him to an unused room across from his own. Throughout their little tour, Conan hadn't sounded as truthful with his responses to Kaito's questions. Years of following his father's advice had taught him to analyze each person he was to come across. Everybody lied, he had been told before, but the question was what they were exactly lying to you about. The six-year-old beside him had been giving his half-truths from what he could tell and others were nothing good. All personal background information he had searched for and given to him were useless. Kaito suspected it was due to the boy not wanting to be figured out early. He would speak to Conan about it later. Anything that involved commentary about the city and school had been truthful so far, nothing in his body language or tone had told otherwise. He stopped before a teal painted door just as the little boy tugged on his sleeve.

The teen opened the door to reveal a simple and organized room. A queen sized bed set to the left hand side of the room with pristine white sheets and throw over tucked tightly underneath the mattress and a white dresser set across from it. Black ornaments with simple, yet lovely kanji were placed onto the dresser and a desk situated beside the window to the backyard. The former being 'family' and the latter reading 'hard work'. The room was painted in black and white stripes which seemed to remind Conan of something when he suddenly snorted as he examined the walls for a moment.

"It kinda reminds me of the clothing some criminals wear when they're in prison.", Conan muttered. Kaito raised a brow and glanced at the wall again. He chuckled slightly and ruffled the boy's hair.

"You're right, I never really thought of it that way." Maybe he should mention it to his mother when he called her tonight. Kaito set the worn, brown book bag and set to helping Conan escape from his jacket. The elementary schooler huffed a bit as he took off Kaito's gloves to bring his messy hair back to order. Kaito took this time to analyze his appearance to search for some semblance of someone familiar. He knew everyone in Ekoda, if he was able to identify a little bit of his facial makeup from someone else then maybe he could give his parent's a piece of his mind. He made a mental note to ask around his neighborhood if they've seen Conan before.

But nothing, no one came to mind. Conan didn't remind him anyone and his foreign name gave no clue as to who could be his family. He had never heard of anyone named 'Edogawa' other than an author within Japan and said author had yet to wed or have any news of having an illegitimate child with a woman. It was as if the little guy had just appeared out of nowhere. His eyes widened slightly as he once again took in Conan's appearance.

"You kinda look like me, you know that?", Kaito blurted out. Conan jumped in slight surprise. The shrunken detective had forgotten the young man was still in the room with him. Conan blinked owlishly at him as he took a moment to process the statement.

"I guess we do.", Conan replied. He didn't know what else to say to something like that.

"We could pass off as cousins if someone questions us. I guess.", Kaito said. Conan shrugged as he removed the children's medicine from his shorts' pocket.

"That's a good idea, I kinda don't wanna be bothered by curious people or something.", the boy replied. The little brunette glared at the bottle as he read the dosage instructions and clutched the bed sheets in a vice grip. The magician watched the exchange silently, the boy's cerulean eyes expressing some worry and fear at the object. He supposed the younger boy wasn't used to medicine.

"Don't like medicine?", Kaito teased.

"It makes me really sleepy and it tastes nasty.", Conan grumbled childishly. He made a face at the picture of grapes on the sticker. Kaito grimaced slightly in sympathy. Grape flavored medicine was disgusting.

"So you're saying you can't handle it?" Kaito grinned as he snatched the bottle from the little brunette and read the dosage instructions. The medicine would be more effective if Conan ate something healthy with this. He noted to go grocery shopping tomorrow and ask Aoko about some easy recipes. He didn't want to set his kitchen on fire. Again.

"Wha-no! I'm a big kid and big kids can handle anything! Even yucky medicine!", Conan retorted. The magician chuckled as he lead the other back towards the kitchen/ living room. He took the time to show his new guest where his own room, the restroom, and his mother's room were located. Kaito turned back abruptly when he heard Conan tumbled to the floor and the boy's gasp of surprise.

"Conan-kun, are you alright?" Kaito was by him in an instant, kneeling down to lift the child into his arms. He peered down at the boy's face to find it had paled and his body was trembling from the strain he had probably put on it walking out there with him for three hours. Conan squeaked in embarrassment and covered his flushed face with the palms of his face. Effectively fogging up his glasses and causing Kaito to laugh at the other's reaction. Kaito was relieved, he had feared that Conan had hit his head on the way down or fainted.

"Are you alright?", he asked urgently.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just got really dizzy.", Conan replied. The little brunette lowered his hands to reveal his eyes to peer up at the frightened teen.

"You scared me there for a minute. Just lay down and watch the news while I whip something up for us."

"O-okay."

He gently deposited his guest onto the sofa and searched through the closet for some blankets. Once wrapping the boy up and placing a pillow beneath his head, Kaito headed into the kitchen with his mother's turquoise apron strapped on. He took his time to grab the remote control left on the counter to turn on the television that was set up across from Conan and flipped onto the news station. He watched the newscast with trepidation as a mysterious dressed in a white tuxedo and top hat obscuring the camera's view of his face as he made his escape from atop a building in Tokyo. It was a recording of the past heist, the phantom thief's come back apparently. His gaze shifted over to Conan's cowlick bobbing up at attention and watched in interest as the sick child turned his head to peek at the teen.

"Who is that?"

"That, my fine friend, is Kaitou Kid- infamous for stealing priceless jewels and returning them to their owners the next day.", he explained briefly. After he had been informed by Aoko about the thief that early morning in class and the challenge he had accepted, Kaito had decided to conduct some research on his competitor. Kaito could've went on about what he knew so far of the phantom thief but, at the moment, he didn't want to waste time. He was starving, considering they both only had melon bread to eat earlier that day.

"Why?"

"I honestly don't know, no one does. The only thing we know about him is that and the fact that Kid has never threatened or harmed anyone in heists.", Kaito replied. But Kaitou Kid sure knew how to humiliate the Task Force and, dare he say, was one heck of an interesting fellow magician.

"Mm." Conan's head bobbed up and down from behind the couch. He grabbed two instant bowls of chicken ramen and a pot to boil water. This was the best he could really do at the moment, maybe he should've taken his mother's suggestion to learn from her before she left.

"And upon further investigation, Kudo Shinichi has yet to be found. Clues have yet to have surfaced of his current whereabouts. His home has recently been investigated for any clues that could possibly lead to a kidnapping of some sort. Authorities have finally reached the parents of the sixteen-year-old, high school detective and friends of the missing teen have yet to give statements of his whereabouts. Inspec-", Kaito paused the channel and eyed the young detective's features and thought back to his earlier analysis. There was no way Conan could be related to this guy, even if they looked so eerily similar. As far as he knew, the Kudos' never had siblings and news had yet to reveal anything saying other wise.

"I hope they find him someday.", Conan mumbled into his blanket. Kaito watched the television set display the picture of young teenage boy around his age with an appearance identical to his own as he conducted an inspection of a crime scene from two weeks prior to his disppearance. He has heard about Kudo Shinichi but never cared much for crime scene investigations to really know about him nor about the guy personally. He could really only imagine his parent's distress at the moment over the disappearance of their only son.

"Me too."

Kaito had taken the time to tuck his guest into bed and treat him as best as he could with a wet towel to lower his fever and a box of tissues to use on his nightstand. Conan had fallen asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. The teen closed the door to his bedroom with a tired sigh and set his book bag onto his desk study as he thought over his day.

He meet a supposedly foul mouthed kid on a park bench, flipped Aoko's skirt to peek at her (white) underwear, found out said kid was homeless, was threatened by Inspector Nakamori, in trouble with Aoko and probably due to a future beating via mop, and he was expected to call his mother to explain his current situation. He huffed slightly before heading out of his room towards the end of the hall where a large photo frame was situated. The magician glanced over at his father's photo frame hanging beside his book case and mused over his challenge again. If he was going to go up against this 'Kaitou Kid' character, he was going to need all the luck he'll need if the guy really has been stealing for so many years without getting caught. He supposed that the guy's eight year haitus would promise newly acquired skills to set off on him and the Task Force.

"Kuroba Toichi. I had the best teacher in the whole world. He was one of a kind.", he whispered. He was going to do his old man proud by taking down this worthy opponent. High school magician with the training taught to him by his father versus a phantom thief with far more training and years of experience than Kaito. This was going to be interesting.

'Kaito, no what what comes your way. Remember-never forget your poker face!' The brunette leaned slightly against the frame of his father's portrait as a feeling of melancholy washed over him and a slight smile tugged at the corners of his lips. The whir of machinery sounded so abruptly, he hadn't the time to brace for impact with the portrait opened and swallowed him whole.

'I will steal the Moonlight Eye at 11:54pm tonight!'

-Kaitou Kid

A.N.: Oh yes, enter the Kaitou Kid.

I suppose some of you are and have been somewhat annoyed of what timeline the story's in. Well I think this answers your question. And if Magic Kaito doesn't start around the same time as Detective Conan in canon then-screw it, tis fan fiction after all!