AN: shut up i'm allowed to put random song references in
and also this didn't turn out the way i wanted it to but when does anything?
Kaito sat in the alley, wondering how on Earth everything had gone so wrong. It had begun with a single, normal heist...
Yes, the heist had been normal enough (well as normal as it could be anyway). He had tricked tantei-san, tantei-han, and somehow even taintei-kun, and then had vanished simply into the crowd before making his way into a small, secluded dark alley a little ways off to the side. It was around then that he started to feel a presence nearby, but just as he turned around
WHACK
He crumpled unspectacularly to the ground. A man with creepily long blonde hair stood tall above him, and was joined by yet another man with dark sunglasses who came seemingly out of nowhere. He noted quite offhandedly that they were both wearing black. He also reminded himself that this wasn't exactly the time to be caring what their current fashions were. But them being dressed in black... not only did it give him the chills, it also sort of rang a bell...
His head was in just the right position for him to see out the alleyway, where a girl with long, brown hair stood. She looked like Aoko, so she was Aoko, right? He pleaded to her with his eyes to go away, to not get caught, to just get the hell out of there alive. He didn't want her dragged into this. But even still he couldn't refute the fact that the girl had neater hair than Aoko, so obviously she wasn't Aoko, and if she wasn't Aoko then it was obvious that she was -
Mouri Ran stood frozen for what felt like forever in just one spot, just standing there in front of the alleyway with nobody but the boy on the ground noticing her. She had seen everything and God she felt like she was going to faint or throw up or something. But she had been around enough burglaries, enough kidnappings, enough (not murders not murders don't say murders this isn't going to be a murder she told herself) whatever. She was used to this. And as long as she didn't make a sound they wouldn't see her. If they didn't see her then everything would be fine. She kept telling herself that as she attempted to read their words off their moving mouths, unable to hear their conversation and forced to only watch in silence.
She could tell by their body language, sort of, what they were speaking about: a gesture to one's loaded pistol, meaning that yes this was going to end up being a murder case if she didn't act; a shake of a head, which meant no they weren't going to shoot him, which gave her some relief but at the same time none at all; and the the presentation of a small, dark case which worried her even more. A pill - poison? - was taken out and fed to the boy, and the men left as quickly as they had come.
A trill of fear shot up her spine as she realized that they were leaving him there to die. And they hadn't cared at all.
What was she supposed to do, though? She stood stockstill as she remembered that those men - those murderers - were the same men that Shinichi had chased before he disappeared. And - and just everything seemed so familiar, everything felt like déjà vu to her. It felt like this had all happened to her, and it just so happened that she happened upon his face with her glance. He even looked like Shinichi. So... so perhaps he was...
She rushed to his side, not at all feeling crestfallen once she realized that, upon closer examination of his face, he was not Shinichi. Because he was still dying, and he deserved her full attention for his last moments. It made her feel awkward, that she was a complete stranger and that she was the only one there for him during this time. Certainly someone else would've been better? But there was nobody else, there wasn't any time for her to get anyone else, so she just stayed put and started babbling, like she did every time she panicked. "I saw everything and are you okay I mean do you feel okay? Tell me if anything hurts? Did they feed you poison I saw everything do you want me to call anyone for you oh my God I'm so sorry I should've done something -"
"Sh" he gasped. He was sweating hard and burning up from the poison. "But I guess... you should call... the emergency... number... and dammit... the cops can't... can't know about this... just don't call..."
"Huh?" She gawked at him, almost about to hit the "call" button on her phone. But wishes of the dying were to be obeyed, weren't they? She put her phone down. "But then... the ambulance could be here so quick... you won't die..." The last part was whispered slowly.
"Just... stay - with - me," he looked hard at her, or at least tried to what with his eyelids attempting to shut forever, "cause you're... all - I - need"
Ran easily resisted the urge to chuckle at the accidental song reference the guy had just made. Instead she wiped her tears from her face and took his hand. It was hot to the touch. "Are you sure?"
He stared hard at her before slowly deflating. "Yeah no just call the hospital or something. I don't care."
Wait what.
"I think you just shrunk," she moved away from him. This was getting weird. He looked down at himself, as if he hadn't realized it already. "Holy crap I think I did just shrink."
He looked at her. She murmured, "But how...?"
"Well you know what this means then, huh?" He started to stand up but utterly failed. Apparently he wasn't as well adjusted to his new body proportions as he would have liked. Ran looked at him and shook her head. "No, I don't."
"What do you - oh. Oh." She didn't know what it was that she was supposed to have realized but she let it slide. Instead he stated, "Well I guess this means that the poison didn't work."
"But - hm - huh - er - um," wow she was flustered, "hm. Well, um, now what?"
He looked equally confused about what to do, so they just stared at each other for a couple moments in thought. Finally, when she was going to inquire about whatever he decided to speak. "I don't think I can go back to my house."
"Huh? Why not?"
"Couple reasons. One, I live in Ekoda and it's too late at night for a kid to be riding the subway alone. Two, those guys might be watching my house, to make sure I'm really dead. Three, I don't know what I'd do once I get there."
She thought about this. "Well, maybe you could come to my house. They wouldn't think you were there, and my dad's a detective so he can track those men down and put them in jail!"
"No! We can't tell anyone!" His eyes were widened as he shook her by the shoulders. "Those guys were talking about some organization they were a part of! We can't get anyone else involved!"
"Okay, but then..." she looked to the sky. "Ugh, now it's raining."
He seemed equally annoyed at the sudden change in weather. "Let's do this: we'll go back to your house, sort this all out, and not tell anyone. Okay?"
She sighed, and he took that as a yes. He stood up, this time successfully, and rolled up his pants so that he could walk without tripping over them. Ran looked worriedly at him, but decided that he probably didn't want any help. The situation must be extremely embarrassing for him, she mused, leading the way out of the alley and towards her street. She glanced back to make sure he was coming, but was surprised to see him strolling along easily right next to her. She didn't question it.
About halfway to her house, she realized that they were still pretty much complete strangers. She glanced sideways at him, an embarrassed expression etched all over her face. "So what's your name?"
"Oh yeah. Um. I'm Kuroba Kaito," he outstretched his hand to her and she shook it. "I'm Mouri Ran. It was nice to meet you - I mean -"
"Yes, I'm sure it was very nice to meet me," he chuckled. "The circumstances were rather pleasant, weren't they?"
Good he was making jokes and letting her blunder go. What a nice guy. She made idle chatter all the way home, up until the moment they walked into the door.
"Ran-neechan, who's that boy?" Conan innocently asked as he peered up from his comic book. She was about to say, 'This is Kuroba Kaito,' but remembered the promise to keep it secret. However, she wasn't even able to get a lie out of her mouth before Kaito answered instead of her. "I'm your new little brother!"
"What?!" She gaped at him, awestruck at the terrible lie he had just said. This was supposed to be secret - what part of that did he not get?! Conan was an only child and would certainly notice a sudden addition to his family. She looked back at Conan and was about to clear up the issue when Conan, surprisingly, answered, "Oh."
"What's 'oh' mean?" This was getting annoying.
"Ran-neechan, that guy isn't a little kid," he said, which only made her more confused. She was the one who was supposed to know that, not him! She stayed quiet and decided to let the situation go in whatever way it wanted. The way the two talked... it was almost like they knew each other already. Which seemed quite ridiculous.
"I'm as much of a kid as you are!" Kaito grinned. Conan's eyes narrowed. "You're not a kid, you are Kid."
Wait what? Did Conan just say that Kaito was Kaitou Kid? She glanced at him. "Things go both ways. You're not 'kiddo,' you're 'Kudo'."
"Now hold on!" Ran shrieked. She pointed at Kaito. "Are you the Kaitou Kid?!"
A nod.
She glared at Conan. Her voice shrunk to a death whisper. "And are you Shinichi?"
Another nod.
Both boys backed away from her slowly, as if she was a bomb that was about to go off at any moment. She stared daggers at the two of them until she blinked and started walking away, to her bedroom. She called behind her, voice murderously calm. "I'm going to bed. And if I see either of you two when I wake up -" she cackled "- I will show you what a black belt in karate can do to lying idiots."
Gulp.
