((Disclaimer: Still don't own it.

A/N: I would respond to reviews but I have work in the morning. Maybe you'll get those for Chapter three. Also- this is definitely movieverse :P))

"I want you to investigate the death of Kudo Shinichi" The thief's words seemed to hang in the air with a thick silence as the other tried to wrap his mind around what Kid had just said.

Surely, he'd heard wrong. Either that, or it was a different Kudo Shinichi. It wasn't possible that he meant The Kudo Shinichi because last the detective checked he was still alive, and very much not murdered.

"What?" The detective felt the word tumble off his tongue before he could stop it as he stared, dumbstruck at the white clad thief.

"Yesterday, a newspaper in Tottori printed that Kudo Shinichi had been found dead in an abandoned warehouse scheduled for demolition." Kaitou explained.

"O-oi... you said Tottori?" Conan felt his blood starting to run cold. It could just be a scary coincidence but-

"Mm, they claim that the dental records match and there's no mistaking it." Dental records. This was going to be all over the news very soon. Before he could even think about what he was doing he'd pulled his phone out and was quickly dialing in Ran's number. Before he could finish, however, the phone was snatched away by a white gloved hand.

"Hey!" Shinichi protested, trying to snatch it back.

"I'm sorry Meitantei, but they have dental records- records I'm sure you know are fake considering the fact that you are Kudo Shinichi. Whoever said the dental records match has either been paid off or they're part of this. Someone is trying to lure you out." Kid said seriously as Conan remained quiet. "I'm afraid I cannot allow you to call your precious girlfriend, as I'm sure they'll be monitoring the agency."

"But-" Kudo faltered. He hated to admit it, but the Kid was right. Whoever published that he was dead did it for a reason- and not a nice one. He bit his bottom lip, thinking about how badly this would effect Ran. He couldn't let her think he was dead- there had to be a way around this. But... that paper was printed in Tottori and that was not a good sign. Even if it seemed too obvious to him it really wasn't something he wanted to chance.

"It's for her own safety that she go on to believe you to be dead." The thief reasoned. "Please listen to me, just this once." But Kid was asking hell of a lot more than he realized. Shinichi knew he could never stand to see Ran be so upset. He needed to fix this. He sat in thought a moment- trying to think of ways he could prove to Ran he was still alive without revealing his true identity.

"...We have to expose those dental records as a fraud." Shinichi stated. Kid nodded, pleased with this idea.

"Precisely- but you must do so under the pretense Kudo is still missing." And that was going to be the hard part. Anyone who claimed to be witness to seeing Shinichi after the allotted time of death would probably find a dark criminal organization at there doorstep. ...That was a thought.

"...What did the article say the time of Death was?"

"Two days ago." Kaitou stated calmly.

"Ran is going to know it's a fake then." Shinichi explained, unable to hide how relieved he was. "I talked to her yesterday." Now it was Kid's turn to look unamused as he knew this would probably cause some sort of problem later on- especially once it hit the news at six in the morning that he was dead. With a small flick of the wrist he tossed the phone back to it's owner, his eyes narrowed dangerously. He didn't have to say it- the moment it was back in his hands, Shinichi was dialing.

Just as Shinichi had probably predicted, the first try went to voicemail after several rings. Rousing Ran had never been an easy task but right now it was imperative that he get through. He snapped his phone shot and tried again. Once more, his efforts were rewarded with her answering machine. He couldn't leave a message- a voice mailbox like that could be too easily hacked into and really there was enough risk using a cellphone.

On about the fifth try he finally managed to wake the sleeping Ran and put the bowtie a few inches from his mouth, having already adjusted it to the proper frequency. "Ran?" There were several moments of silence and Shinichi feared she had just fallen back asleep but then, finally-

"Shinichi? Don't you know what time it is?" He could hear the yawn in his voice and turned away from Kaitou to allow himself a small bit of privacy.

"A-ah... sorry..." He said sheepishly. "But, this is is important. Please listen carefully." She groaned in the background and he could only assume she was sitting up as to not be tempted to fall asleep on the phone.

"I'm listening." She finally muttered sleepily. He pressed the phone closer to his cheek as he thought about how best to explain everything.

"Tomorrow, it should be all over the news that I was found dead in a warehouse, so I need you to-"

"What?" He could practically feel the worry laced in her voice and bit his lip. He hated this. Hated the whole situation. He was going to be able to call her after this- he wouldn't even be able to use his real voice or try out temporary antidotes. He didn't even want to think about what Haibara would say about all this. "Shinichi!" Her voice brought his thoughts back. "Shini-!"

"Don't worry! I'm not really dead!" Shinichi hurriedly explained as he heard the distinct sound of Kid face palming at his lack of tact. Conan shot him a glare before turning back away. "So I need you to-"

"Shinichi." Ran tried to get his attention. He must not have heard her as he didn't stop explaining what he wanted her to do.

"And I need you to call Hattori and have him call-"

"SHINICHI!" She interrupted, finally getting his attention. He was forced to pull the phone away from his ear and winced, turning back to glare at Kid for snickering at him.

"O-oi, don't yell in my ear." Shinichi responded. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say as Kid shook his head and the reaction he got from Ran was less than desirable.

"What do you expect? You just call in the middle of the night to tell me the papers are going to print that you're dead. You don't even explain why." She hiccuped. He felt his heart sinking. He'd made her cry? But what did he do? He was just warning her about what was coming.

"O-oi... you're not... crying are you?" he asked quietly, listening to the sniffles on the other end. He swallowed thickly as she took a moment to respond.

"Why shouldn't I? You haven't told me anything. Just that someone's going to print your dead. Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Huh? O-of course not!" Shinichi stammered.

"You left saying you're off on a case and when finally get to come home you have to leave again. You can't even have your name in the papers and suddenly-"

"Hey... c-can I stop by?"

"What!" Kid spoke up, not liking where this was surely going. That little brat. He grumbled about stupid detectives while he sat down on the roof to wait for Conan to finish screwing everything up.

"Of course you can but-is someone there with you?" Conan shot Kid a dirty look and laughed nervously into the phone.

"J-just a client. I'm almost done here so I'll see you soon. Bye!" He clicked the phone off and let out a sigh as he snapped it shut. "Oi. Can you be a little quieter when I'm on the phone?" He asked. Kid gave Conan an equally annoyed look at that and crossed his arms.

"Tell me, Meitantei- how do you intend to meet with Mouri-san while stuck like that?" The look Conan gave him told him everything. This time it was the thief's turn to sigh. This was not going according to plan.

"Alright. But while I explain things to your lover you call your friend from the west- you might find you'll need his help." Conan snorted at that idea and shook his head.

"You really think I'd leave you alone with Ran?"

"This is hardly a good time to get jealous, Tantei-kun." The thief sighed, exasperated. "You'll be in the next room 'sleeping' so you can keep an ear out, good enough?" Conan gave him a long hard glare before begrudgingly agreeing to the plan. "Now, I have an idea as to how to get you back in without raising her suspicions."

"Oh-H-hey! What are you-!" He immediately objected as the thief swooped down on him and covered him in the cape. When he pulled it away Conan found he was now covered in dirt. What was he planning? He looked up at the thief, only to find he'd already disguised as the high school detective of the east.

"Trust me Conan-kun!" The thief winked, giving Conan a nervous feeling in his stomach.

oooooOOOOOooooo

Kaitou followed the detective up to the third story living quarters with hands in his pockets. He grinned evilly and waited for Conan to ring the bell before bending down and swooping him up, holding him like one would a foot ball. The kid let out a quick 'Oi!' before the door opened.

"Shinichi-Conan-kun!" Ran's eyes immediately went to the boy in her childhood friend's arm. 'Shinichi' nodded and set Conan down, putting a hand on his head so that he wouldn't run inside.

"I caught him trying to sneak back in." He explained. "You've got a long way to go before you can sneak past me, Conan-kun."

"Shinichi!" Ran rounded on him. "Don't encourage him! He's too young to be out at this time of night!" 'Shinichi' shrank back and gave her a small, nervous nod. She really was scary. "Conan-kun." She used her scary neechan-voice, looking down at the boy. "What were you doing out so late?"

"R-Ran-neechan! I-I found Shinichi-niichan." The look he received told him very clearly he was still in trouble.

"What were you doing out so late?" She asked again, giving him a very stern look.

"I-I heard a noise outside and went to see what it was." He spoke quickly. Well, it was was the truth, really.

"Mou..." She sighed, defeated. "You should have woken me or Dad up. What if it was something dangerous?" He gave her the best puppy dog eyes he could manage before hanging his head, ashamed he hadn't thought of that.

"I-I'm sorry." He muttered, sounding very much like the small child he resembled.

"Anyway," Ran sounded less angry. "You should get back in bed." She was going to let it go? Kid's plan to get him in trouble failed?

"Yes Ma'am!" He nodded quickly and dashed in to the room he shared with Kogoro and shut the door behind him. The moment he did he let out a heavy sigh and slid down the door to his bottom. He sat there long enough to listen to Ran offer 'Shinichi' coffee which the thief accepted and asked her about her well-being.

The real Shinichi pulled out his phone and quickly located Hattori Heiji's number before giving it a call.

A very groggy and irritated kansai detective picked up at about the fourth ring. "Oi, Kudo, some of us are trying to sleep."

"Hattori- I need to talk to you about something important!" He stated, rather than apologizing for waking him up. Heiji didn't seem surprised as the next thing Shinichi heard was a noise suggesting that the other detective had sat up.

"Alrigh' 'm listenin'"

"Tomorrow, all across Japan it'll be in the news that I died about two days ago."

"WHAT!" Came the shocked response. "Who's been spreadin' that rumor?"

"It's not just a rumor, Hattori. They claim to have dental records."

"O-oi-but that means-"

"Ah, someone is trying to lure me out. Someone in Tottori."

"You don't think-"

"I-I can't think of anyone else that could get away with something like that. They-they might be trying to smoke me out. Which is why I need you to prove those records are fake. Without revealing you know for a fact that I'm not dead." Hattori was silent, thinking over the plan.

"What about neechan?"

"Kid's talking to her disguised as me, as we speak."

"Alrigh' I'll start on it as soon as I wake up and get a look at th' papers." Heiji agreed.

"Thanks." Conan went to hang up but stopped at the sudden "Kudo!"

"Yes?"

"...Be careful."

"Ah." He snapped the phone shut and stored it back in his pocket. Now, to listen in on Kid and Ran.