Disclaimer: Detective Conan does, of course, not belong to me.

Note: Black Organization is a tad annoying to type out, so I'm just going to use B.O. And yes, this abbreviation amuses me for some reason…

Again, please understand that this was written years ago and does not include recent events nor does it mention newer characters.

To Know

Conan stirred as the door was shut loudly by Mouri Kogoro who was coming back from another case. Kogoro stilled as he noticed the sleeping boy on the couch in his office.

Even Kogoro had noticed the change in Conan and was beginning to worry. After three years Kogoro had grown fond of the boy. One of the biggest changes was that Conan had stopped begging to be brought along on every case that Kogoro received; in fact, he only went on occasion now. Conan was also eating and sleeping less and zoning out all the time. The boy had become quieter by the day since Ran had started staying out later. Kogoro believed that was why and he himself was upset about it.

Ran, it appears, had moved on and began a relationship with a boy from school, Uda Hiroki. The Uda kid seemed all right; just not good enough for his daughter. He sometimes wished Kudo was the one Ran was dating and not Uda. Kogoro at least knew Kudo and had known him for a long time. Another reason was that because he had to take care of Conan more since Ran wasn't home as much. It wasn't that he hated taking care of Conan, just that the boy seemed to need more taking care of now.

Kogoro sat and studied the boy from behind his desk.

Without the glasses, Conan would have looked a lot like Shinichi. He was also sure Kudo would have done something similar to what Conan did, in trying to protest against Ran's relationship in any way he could. Conan had tried to demand more of Ran's attention, followed her on dates, and other things. Kogoro then remembered that Conan did know Kudo. It was highly possible that Kudo had asked Conan to do something as if he wouldn't already try to protect someone who was like a sister to him without being asked.

It suddenly hit him—"Maybe you aren't really what you seem to be, hmm, Conan?" he said aloud to himself. Kogoro thought about all that had happened since Conan had moved in. He had become unusually sharp because he had to solve the cases without the random hints of Conan. He always seemed more mature and more intelligent than any kid his supposed age. "I've seen Ran suspicious of you. Why?"

Conan's Dream:

Once again Shinichi found himself in the underground portion of the Black Organization's HQ. In front of him were Vermouth, Gin, and Vodka. From then on the dream turned fiction as he was suddenly Conan again and then as his parents, Professor Agasa, Haibara, the Detective Boys, Sonoko, Kazuha, Hattori, Kogoro, and Ran—those who knew Conan—appeared from the air behind the people in black, all tied and bound with rope and staring straight at him.

"NO! LET THEM GO! THEY'RE INNOCENT! THEY KNOW NOTHING! NO! LEAVE THEM ALONE!" Conan shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Shut up, kid, or we'll soon have one less hostage," Gin commanded.

"No, Ran," Conan stared in horror as Gin pointed his gun at her temple. The terrified look on her face made Conan furious and sick.

"Welcome Edogawa Conan. Or should I call you by another name?" the sickly sweet voice came from Vermouth.

"Maybe you aren't really what you seem to be, hmm, Conan?"

"You already know the answer to that Vermouth. I'm not Edogawa Conan," Conan retorted and suddenly he was Shinichi again.

Suddenly, there was a big BOOM. The building shook with the force as the three members of the B.O. ran. There was another BOOM and the ceiling over the hostages came down, crushing them as Shinichi cried out.

Conan! Conan! Snap out of it! Wake up!

End Dream

[Kogoro and Conan may be a touch OOC because they haven't been getting much sleep]

Conan woke up to find his throat hurting, his eyes stinging from unshed tears, and to see a worried looking Kogoro standing over him.

"Jeez, what was that about?" Kogoro inquired.

"Nightmare. Is Ran-neechan out again?" Conan said bitterly.

"Yes, she is. That was more than a nightmare, the way you were screaming. What were you screaming about? What about Ran? Wasn't Vermouth part of the Black Organization? Who are you, if you're not Edogawa Conan?" the boy was questioned by his caretaker.

Conan felt a wave of emotion. He was being asked directly about his identity and since he had no reason to hide the truth from Kogoro anymore:

"I said that aloud, huh? I guess there's no reason to hide it anymore. Do you really want to know the truth…? I'll tell you—just, please, don't tell Ran," Conan's voice had taken on the mature, deeper tone he used when being serious.

Outside the door, Ran paused as she heard her name. Knowing it was wrong; she put her shopping bag down and pressed her ear to the door to listen.

Kogoro didn't bother to scold for the dropped honorific to his daughter's name. He just nodded and went to sit down at his desk again.

"All this has to do with how you've been acting recently, doesn't it?" Kogoro said this as more of a statement than a question, earning a nod from Conan. Ran shifted guiltily, realizing for the first time how much Conan had really been suffering these past weeks and how badly she had been neglecting him.

"Well, first and most important, I am Kudo Shinichi. Ran has been right every time she suspected me," he took his glasses off as he said this, "I'll tell you about Vermouth. She was part of the B.O. I've known her for a while and have had a few encounters with her. Actually, Ran has also met her. She's a master of disguise. She's been both Vineyard actresses, a serial killer in New York—one that Ran and I saved—and she disguised herself as Dr. Araide after the real one moved, though not anymore. She was first one of them to realize who I really am." Kogoro was already stunned beyond words; he leaned back in his chair, listened to what he was being told, and believed. Ran felt numb-she couldn't even think—so she just slid down the door and listened along with her father.

"It started with one mistake leading to another. The first being when I left Ran at Tropical Land to investigate two suspicious people dressed in black. I later learned they were Gin and Vodka. I followed them and was so focused on what Vodka was up to, I forgot about Gin, who snuck up behind me and knocked me out. I was semi-conscious when they forced me to take a pill, poison, they believed would kill me. As they've just found out it only put me through hell as it shrunk my body," Conan's eyes were unfocused as he relived his first moments as Conan.

He told Kogoro, and unknowingly his childhood friend, how he woke up and realized what had happened, then convinced Agasa of his real identity, and came to live at the Detective Agency. "Agasa told me how he believed it dangerous to tell anyone what had happened. We both believed I might find leads to get a sample of the apotoxin to find an antidote if I lived here I realize now how foolish it was. You were all in danger anyway, if they ever found out, as if they wouldn't kill anyone involved whether or not they knew who I really was," Conan winced at the last part.

"You were the one behind my success as a detective," Conan let out a dry laugh at this dumbfounded statement from the deceptively famous detective.

"Yeah, sometimes I dropped hints, other times I took over and you really were Sleeping Kogoro. Since I shrunk, I had no way to get anyone to believe me without blowing my cover. No one believes a child, right? I also had no way to defend myself if something happened, though Agasa helped with that. He invented some gadgets for me and later the Detective Boys." Conan explained the gadgets and how he used them.

Ran wondered from behind the door who else was keeping secrets.

"Who else knows besides Agasa?"

"Well, as you know, the first was Agasa. My parents know; they pretended to be Conan's parents also. They offered to take me with them out of the country, to where I would probably be safer. I refused; I would be able to get more leads if I stayed. I also couldn't bear even the thought of leaving Ran even if she believed I had. I couldn't leave her unprotected," his list continued, "Haibara, who went through the same thing. Kaito Kid. Hattori found out, he is a detective. Jodie-sensei, Vermouth, and a few others in and out of the B.O. also know."

"What about the times you showed up as yourself?" the question was bound to come up soon. Ran nearly stopped breathing, trying to listen harder.

"Haibara. Haibara Ai. The first time, though, was before I met her. I had a cold if you remember, that was when we first met Hattori who decided alcohol would help cure the cold. In reality it made everything worse. I later found out that the combination of the cold and something about that certain alcoholic drink caused me to temporarily change back into Shinichi, allowing me to solve the case that day. Later, Agasa found Haibara outside his house. She came from the B.O.; well escaped from it by taking the same poison that had shrunk me.

"We learned about her. Sherry was her codename when she was in the B.O. Her parents had been a part of it. And then her older sister was killed by them and she was to also die. In an act of desperation she swallowed the poison she created in hopes of death. To her surprise, she turned into a child and escaped. She was branded as a traitor and hunted. Ironic isn't it, the creator was forced to experience the effects of her creation. It was lucky, though; she moved in with Agasa and has been trying to find an antidote. She's succeeded in creating a temporary one and that's how I've appeared, always running out of time," with this Ran understood why Shinichi always left her and, yet, he hadn't really.

"The time when I appeared as the knight in the play, Haibara stood in for me as Conan using a mask as a voice changer. She was also one of the ones who persuaded me and drilled it into me the importance of telling no one of my identity," Conan continued to tell of his clashes with the B.O. and adventures with the FBI and CIA.

"Why haven't you told anyone now, especially with the danger gone? Why still keep it a secret from Ran particularly?" finally the question Ran had been dying to know the answer to.

Conan looked Kogoro in the eyes and stated: "Because I love her, I love Ran more than anyone—anything—and I always will; I have for a long time now. There have been countless times I almost told her my secret and my feelings. To the former—before, I didn't tell her because of the threat of danger. If she heard that, she'd probably say that she could take care of herself. She wouldn't think so much about their guns," Kogoro nodded in agreement, "She's probably the strongest person I know. But, as you saw, it took so much to get rid of them, many casualties. Ran would never have gotten the chance to prove her strength. The cowards would have shot her dead"—wince—"before she could even take a breath," a smile flickering on Ran's face, she finally shook off the shock she felt at hearing what Conan, no Shinichi, had said he felt towards her. She thought it was only fair now because she had told…Conan so much about Shinichi, not knowing who he really was.

"I didn't tell her because I love her. The last time I appeared to her as Shinichi, I told her to be happy, even if she had to move on, to forget me. The only thing I want for her is to be happy. If I'd told her I loved her, it would have made things harder on her, she most likely would not have moved on like she has now. Before, there was always the chance I could be killed. Now, there's the chance that I will never be Shinichi again, that I'll be stuck as Conan. Haibara has been trying to find the antidote for nearly ten months now. It shouldn't be much longer until I know for sure what my fate will be. Each time I take an antidote, it's a risk; there is less of a chance that it will work, that it won't last as long, or that it could kill me. There is also only a limited number of the apotoxin left to examine, even with outside help," Ran stored the information in her mind to consider later.

"And even if Ran knew, I've lied to her repeatedly for over three years as Conan and Shinichi; I have hurt her over and over no matter what I try to do to fix that. If it counts for anything, every time I saw her sad or crying I couldn't stand it! I've hated myself so much! I did my best to cheer her up as Conan—any way I could. She's told Conan so much, things Shinichi was never meant to know or find out unless that was what she wanted. As they say 'ignorance is bliss.' It's best if Shinichi slowly fades out of her life, calling less and less, until he's only a memory. Hopefully she'll only remember all the good and not the bad. It would have hurt her more no matter what, even if it made her happy, it would hurt," Conan fought tears as he said this and Ran fought tears as she listened.

"Well, you have my blessing," Conan's head shot up from the spot he had been studying on the floor, "if things work out; then as Shinichi, you have my blessing and permission to marry my daughter if she's willing." Ran was astonished, those were words she'd never thought she'd hear her father utter.

"Thank you, Oji-san. If I get my body back, I'll fight for her. I'll tell her the truth, do my best to fight, and hope I win. If I can ever get her back, I'll always tell her everything, no secrets and no lies, even if she never wants to hear it, even if she uses her karate and beats me beyond recognition. I can't take any more secrets and lies and half-truths," in the silence, Ran mulled everything over, knowing now that she would take him back no matter what, that she would do anything to be with him.

Note: Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it ^-^

Please review so I know how I can make my work better~thanks!