AN: heh heh heh. No I haven't dropped of the face of the planet. I sorta burned myself out trying to keep TIA of a schedule and haven't been able to write for months. Trying to get back into the swing of things.

Rating went up for this chapter. There's nothing explicit, but it deals with some dark themes

S$

"Damn...Damn...Damn...Damn!"

The punching bag, a relic from a time long ago when he had tried to learn to fight like Ran, shuddered horribly, the chain suspending it from the attic rafters creaking. It was actually a good quality model, made to take a lot of abuse. It had met it's match, though, in the superhuman strength of a halfa and probably wouldn't make it through the evening.

But Shinichi could care less about the punching bag's fate, glowing tears running down his cheeks. He just kept hitting it, trying to drown his internal pain in a flurry of punches.

'I can,'t let the job effect me, that's all.' Those callous words he had said to Ran on what would become of of the worst nights of his life were now haunting him. He had become desensitized to death a long time ago. He had turned off his ability to empathize with the victims. The unknown people were just pieces of evidence.

She wasn't a piece of evidence.

Her name was Nozomi Hinako; she was in his elementary school class. She read books with fairies and unicorns. Her favorite color was peach and she and Ayumi sometimes had sleepovers together.

Now she was dead. A pervert – he wouldn't give the creep the honor of calling him a man- had tried to kidnap her. When she had screamed and fought back he had decided she wasn't worth the trouble and...

Nozomi wasn't the first.

Since becoming a halfa he had spied on people, pranked people, and scared them senseless. This was the first time he had hurt someone. He wasn't going to go on a useless pity trip about loosing his humanity, because he would have done the same thing if he had been completely human. The man wasn't even that injured, roughed up yes but no broken bones.

So the punching bag took his place, Shinichi pummeling it without abandon.

What was the point? Everyone called him a superhero. Danny was a superhero; he stopped the bad guys before anything really serious (or at least irreversible) happened to the victims. Shinichi was just a detective suffering from an overdose of ectoplasm mixed with a stupid poison that should have just killed him and gotten it over with. All his life he had wanted to be a detective, but now that he thought about it, being a detective was like closing the barn doors after the horse had escaped.

He was so immersed within himself, he was surprised when he heard a small voice call out "Conan-kun?"

He turned around to a face he was sure he'd never see again.

The small fiddled girl with her hands, a habit she had when she was nervous. "You are Conan-kun, right? The other ghosts said you were, but I think they might have been teasing me."

"Nozomi-chan?" he gasped, shifting back into his smaller living form.

Nozomi's eyes lit up. "It really is you! That's awesome, you're like a superhero!"

At the hated description Conan winced. "I'm not a superhero. If I was I could have saved you."

"But you stopped him right? You gave the police the evidence to catch him, then stopped him from escaping all by yourself."

"It's not enough," the tears were back, "What good am I if I can't protect people?"

To his surprise the small girl laughed. "You're Conan-kun alright! Always trying to put the weight of the world on your shoulders." She drifted over to him, "It was less than ten minutes between when I first saw the man and he killed me. You didn't even know I was in danger, much less where I was. Besides, I talked to some of the other ghosts. They said I'm lucky he killed me when he did. If he did what he wanted me for, even if I survived I wouldn't be able to live." She shrugged. "I don't know what that means but I met some of the other girls he killed, they're all still here you know, and I think I get what they mean. They're happy they're dead." Nozomi shuddered.

"I don't want to know what could make someone happy to be dead. Even in death they weren't free. But now that he's caught...it's like someone flipped a switch. They can be happy again, most of them are moving on. A lot of ghosts find it awkward to talk to you but you're very popular. One of the first things I heard when I woke up was 'Don't worry, Conan's on your case'. Even if you can't always save people's lives, you still help them find peace. So from all of us, thank you." Nozomi flew over and gave the halfa a hug.

"Really? I am helping people?" Conan almost couldn't believe it.

She giggled. "Of course you are silly." Then she blinked as though remembering something. "I was wondering, were you the one who scared Yamada-sensei away?"

Conan lowered his head, "Yeah, I know that wasn't a very good thing to do but-"

Nozomi nodded approvingly. "Good, she was mean. I'm glad we got Kobayashi-sensei back! Thanks Conan-kun!" she waved and flew away.

Conan was quiet for few moments before he took down the punching bag and flew home. He knew she should have been the one thanking her. Maybe there was something to this hero business after all.

S$

BTW the name Nozomi means 'Hope'.

YumeTakato: I'm hoping this works. I have been trying to get in touch with you because I've been dying to read what you've written for 'All Grown Up'. Posting it on LJ or emailing it to me, either way I want to see it :)

candidus-lupus-full Moon: I am the pun queen

Meitantei ChibiMoonPhantom: The question is, how long can he keep wearing it?

Shadewolf7: Thank you, I try :P

Thunderstorm101: Updates are sporadic. Have you tried knightus's site for reading the Conan manga?

EelvenGirl: And the thing is, no one is going to look at him funny for being covered in ofuda. After all, he's Kaito.

egyptianqueen777: I'm not the best on updates. I apologize for this.