-Love of Four-

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: I just want to sleep for a long, long time. Too many 4hr nights...humans were not meant to survive with only 4hrs of sleep.


03: It's not all Science

Shinichi was all set to take another bite of food when the door opened without ringing. For a moment he tensed when there was very little noise coming from footsteps, fearing that it might be some unknown assailant or vengeful partners seeking his blood. Then, the noise grew louder, more rapid, and he remembered only one other had access to the house.

"Kudo-kun, I swear you better be having an actual meal rather than coffee and whatever you find lying around the kitchen counters…" Haibara's voice dropped off suddenly when she was confronted with the scene of four individuals sitting around a dining table, two of which should not have existed physically at the same time. Three if Shinichi had to be technical and include himself.

"Ai-chan, good morning." Ran greeted genially now that her own shock had worn off. She had been chatting happily with Shiina, learning that the girl, and subsequently Shinichi, were somehow quite knowledgeable in fashion and makeup.

Haibara blinked once, twice, and three times before taking a rather deep breath and counting to ten. She walked out of sight from the kitchen, waited for several seconds, before coming back round the corner.

"You're not hallucinating Haibara. You are really seeing all of us." Shinichi unhelpfully added when the girl (woman?) stood too still.

"How and why Kudo-kun. Don't tell me you were poisoned again and led to a lab and experimented upon whereby they managed to clone various versions of you." She looked over at Conan, who gave a jolly wave, and Shiina who nodded in greeting. "They should not be here."

Reluctantly, Shinichi explained the story a second time. Haibara seemed all too calm as she observed the three of them.

"I need samples, from all three of you." She declared. "Just in case."

Shinichi knew she would not be so easily swayed by a simple "it's magic" (something that Conan offered halfway through the explanation. It was the most logical explanation that even Shinichi could not help but agree). So this was her way of ensuring what Shinichi was saying was actually the truth. Though Shinichi also had a small flame of hope for the young scientist, hoping that she could find a more grounded explanation. Saying everything was because of magic just seems to grate on Shinichi's nerves.

"You can't really blame me for being too cautious. There's a chance that this...split...is more like ripping pieces of time out of your person, thereby managing to create previous copies of yourself. If that's the case, it's highly likely that Conan could still have traces of the APTX inside his system and that Shiina might still be suffering the side effects of the antidote."

Shinichi shuddered at the two revelation. While having the APTX was by no means good, it only lowered his immune system and made him more susceptible to viruses and infections. With the antidote, it had literally caused him to be bed bound for a week where he felt as though his whole body was aflamed and that every movement he made were like a thousand needles stabbing into his body.

"I don't really feel any different." Shiina, most likely not wanting to be subjected to being a lab rat, stated. But a single glare from Haibara managed to cower her into submission. "Alright. After school? It's a school day today..."

"As soon as possible actually." She glanced over at the wall clock. "There's still time. If you stay right here, I'll go grab the equipment and take the samples. I can easily take the day out of school and run the tests."

"You skip school entirely too often to have enough attendance rate for you to graduate primary school…" Shinichi muttered.

"I have good enough grades to allow my entrance at major universities. Not having graduated from primary school would not be so bad as long as I pass the entrance test to later schooling institutes."

Previously, Haibara would have watched her words around Ran. But after Shinichi told the scientist he had accidentally let slip of the Conan Incident during his hospitalisation, her lips became looser. Though it was not all bad seeing as she managed to actually become friends with Ran rather than holding her at a hand's length.

"Ai-chan, you're supposed to be keeping a low profile and that means going to school as a child." Ran reminded, cutting into her pancakes, "and I'm sure Ayumi-chan would miss you not being there."

Sometimes, Shinichi had to wonder how close they were. Looking at the fondness from Ran's eyes, he concluded that her feelings might be a bit more than normal friends. Though it was still unfounded and there had been no evidence of a possible further development between the pair. 'It could be because Haibara sees Ran as a sister, part of family, and elicited such emotions from the pair.'

"So, are all your minds linked right now or are you an individual?" The conversation turned back towards the three should-be-identical persons.

"No telepathy yet." Shinichi replied as Conan looked quite constipated and Shiina frowned at the rather unscientific term.

"You say yet, which means you're expecting?" The teasing glint in Haibara's eyes made Shinichi shudder.

"No. I don't really think we would, or even should, be talking with our minds. People will think us insane." Shinichi winced at the use of the pronoun. It was strange to refer to himself as multiple, or even in third person. He had already stuttered over the names, as though he instinctively knew they were supposed to be himself.

"As if you're not insane already…" Ran muttered underneath her breath, Shinichi could not help but glance over for explanation. "There are speculations on how sane you really are. You've been party to too many bodies and crimes to be psychologically sound and I remember hearing from Megure-keibu about wanting to have you see a psychologist…"

"No." Shinichi was more alarmed now.

"Well, it is natural. I mean the officers undergo periodic psychological assessment. If you're a consultant, you'd need to go through the same mental health check..." Haibara oh-so-helpfully added with a rather cheerful smile. Shinichi was not sure whether it was because she anticipated actual, qualified, doctors stating his possible (in)sanity or because she finds it amusing to have a professional dig through his brain much like how he digs through others. "A taste of your own medicine Meitantei." Yep, Haibara was looking forward to the latter then.

"Though," Ran added, "Shinichi might actually talk in circles just to confuse the psychologist, or reverse the situation where the psychologist will turn crazy because of overexposure to a detective geek."

"Ah yes, there is that risk."

"Can we not talk as though I don't exist?" Irritated, Shinichi forcefully joined into the conversation. The two giggled, even his own counterparts giggled as though it had nothing to do with them. "Just so you know," he addressed his counterparts specifically, "if I'm crazy, so are the two of you."

"I never thought myself as normal or sane in any sense. After all, I'm the forcefully turned child." Conan chirped. Shinichi had to wonder why the boy chirped in that overly sugary tone the whole time.

"And I technically am just a figment of imagination." Shiina proudly announced. "I am more like a character in well written novel. Too much detail but not enough personality."

"Arg, why am I surrounded by abnormal people." Shinichi muttered softly, turning away from the table and picking up his dirty plate. "I'll just go change first. You guys...chat or something."

"Oh, and don't forget to call Kuroba-kun." Shiina helpfully reminded. "He texted this morning."

"Is this the lovey-dovey phase I see?" Haibara teased, earning a rather pinkish tinge on his face and a round of laughter.

Not wanting to stay inside the kitchen and become the object of further embarrassment, Shinichi made a quick escape.

Upon reaching his bedroom, he unhooked the phone from its charger and went to browse through the message history. At the very top was a read message from Kaito. Shinichi was not sure how to feel, on the one hand Shiina was himself so her reading of a private message addressed to Shinichi was actually quite logical. On the other hand, Shiina was now her own person so in theory it is an invasion of privacy. His head spun when trying to consider was would be appropriate amount of privacy for them when they were all the same person at one point.

"I'll come pick you up after school." There was an attaching kaomoji, winking playfully back at him and Shinichi could not help but feel the blush creeping up. Shaking his head, he tries to calm himself down to pen the reply message.

"Busy this afternoon. Maybe some other time." Looking at the text, even Shinichi feels it sounded suspicious. Normally, he would give some reasoning or another reschedule date. His finger hovered over the send button, internally debating whether to lie to Kaito about having something important to do.

"Why are you half-dressed?" Shiina leaned on the window jamb, arms crossed and amusement in her eyes. "Just tell Kuroba-kun the truth."

"With the possibility of him thinking I was messing with him? I don't think so." His eyes looked at the paper bag being set down on the bed. Shiina slowly pulled out the various articles for Teitan High uniform. "I don't think the shirt would fit." His eyes landed on the rather flat chest of Shiina.

"Yes, Ran is rather well endowed. Maybe I'll just nick one off you." She quickly discarded the pastel blouse she had been wearing and went to rummage around the pile of clothes. "We should probably stop by the clothes shop and actually buy me a uniform."

Shinichi turned his head away when Shiina stripped down to her undergarments. They may be essentially the same person but Shiina was still a female and Shinichi was still a gentleman at heart. Most likely an effect from being exposed to too much of a certain phantom thief. 'Speaking of which, KID hasn't made an appearance in a very long time.'

"There's no need to turn away, you've seen this body before." She giggled.

"Not like that." Shinichi blindly pointed, eyes focused on the patterns of the floor. He may not be that attracted to the female body, but even had to admit Shiina is well proportioned even if she was somewhat lacking in certain areas. Unfortunately, Shiina chose the exact moment to step closer and Shinichi found his eyes landing on the hip area. He noticed the exact same gunshot wound that Conan would undoubtedly have, a jarring white blemish against the skin.

"Looks like we really are exact replicas, with the exception of gender and age difference of course." Shiina fingered the old wound. "Anyways, shirt?"

"Yes, here." Shinichi handed over the one he was about to wear, "I'll grab another. You...dress first."

He left the phone, with the unsent message of black text against a bright white screen, on the bed and headed for walk-in wardrobe.

-TBC-