Author's notes: Hi! I'm a die-hard fan of Detective Conan (and Sherlock Holmes, including BBC's Sherlock), and discovered the enigmatic world of Fan Fiction a year back. I wanted to make the leap from passively reading to actively writing, and thus decided to plunge in without any thoughts as to the consequences that arise as a result of undertaking such a strenuous and enjoyable activity. Please bear with me, for this is my first fan fiction story. I'll try minimise OOCness, but please tell me if you spot any, for I don't want to stray from the path Aoyama-sensei and Sherlock's scriptwriters set.

This story features the existence of both the 19th century Sherlock Holmes, as portrayed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the 21st century Sherlock Holmes, who, by a curious coincidence, shares his name and profession with the world's singularly greatest detective. The only explanation I can conceive of for this, besides it being a bizarre and strange coincidence, is that he was simply born with the same family name as his predecessor, and was named "Sherlock" in homage to the great detective.

While the story itself is in English, it is important to note that the characters are Japanese, and are more comfortable conversing in their native tongue. To that end, any dialogue in English is expressed in italics, and the lack thereof is used for Japanese dialogue.

The prologue is written from the point of view of Diana Kingston, the rich British woman who offered to pay for the trip to London. It helps set the context as I aim to show how grateful she is to Kogoro for finding her cat, and thus set the precursor for the events to follow. The rest of the story will then be narrated through Conan's POV, with occasional changes as and when appropriate.

Furthermore, I will be referring to Conan as Conan in the third person narrative when he's in Conan's body, and as Shinichi only when (if?) he's in Shinichi's body.

While I will use Japanese honorifics and try to incorporate the concept of politeness into my pseudo-english Japanese dialogue as much as possible, I will abstain from using any other Japanese expressions and words.

Finally, most references are from Detective Conan File 743 (Episode 616) and key parts of the Holmes' Revelation arc. However, this applies only to the first chapter and a few pivotal moments.

Prologue

"That's right. It was this strawberry that was the spark. At that time, I didn't have an inkling of what was to come."

Edogawa Conan's thoughts wandered back to that fateful day when they met Diana Kingston.

The wealthy English heiress could not for the life of her find her cat. Where could her precious Venus have gone? This wasn't England after all, and she hadn't a clue of the intricacies of the Japanese language. Alerted to a scream and the unmistakeable purr of her feline companion, she rushed into the café across the street. She was rewarded for her efforts when she saw Venus being held by a irate Japanese man.

"Oh, Venus!" was all she could say, as the fanciful trepidation that held her heart in constant fear finally abated. With a sigh of relief, she exclaimed, "I'm so glad you're okay!". Reunited at last, Diana knew that she had to repay the saviour next to her. Thanking him profusely, she heard the teenage girl next to him say something in unintelligible jargon. The girl then said, "My father is a detective, after all."

Wait, a detective? She loved crime stories and felt that inviting this seemingly smart detective over to London was probably a good idea, and thus expressed the same. She halted when she noticed the blank looks on their faces. "Was I too fast for them?" she wondered. The little boy next to them, however, had a look of pure delight. Addressing her, he accepted her offer, and gushed about how he loved crime stories in the same vein as her - in perfect English no less. That was unexpected, but Diana was glad that she could host the kind Japanese family at London.

Ending Notes: As you may have noticed, I did extrapolate quite a bit here, but I felt that it was important to take Diana's feelings into account as sponsoring a trip to London is by no means a trivial matter, even for someone with royal blood.