The Journal of Conan Edogawa

So I kind of wrote myself into a corner with the whole kidnapping thing...but I'm just gonna run with it and hope for the best! Sorry it took me a whole month to actually write something! Hopefully it won't be too bad! Thanks for not abandoning me! I was surprised when I still got updates about people who were still favoriting and following this fanfic! Because of that, I decided that I should probably actually write another chapter so here you go!

Chapter 16: Don't Leave

That night, Ran locked herself in the room that the three Tokyoites were sharing at the Hattori residence. Kogorou had tried to cheer his daughter up but nothing he said got through to her. He ended up going to the police station to help with the investigation. Meanwhile, Heiji and Kazuha were waiting in the hallway, trying to convince Ran to let them in.

Ran ignored them. After all, they couldn't really help her feel better since they couldn't understand how painful this was for her. Not only did she lose Conan, but she had also lost Shinichi…and that was so much worse. She found herself drawn to Conan's backpack which contained a few notebooks that he had claimed was his homework. She pulled out the one that she was looking for and opened it.

She had thought that maybe reading his journal would help her to calm down but it only made it worse. She had been trying hard before to give Conan more freedom since she figured that it had been stifling to continually be treated like a kid…but that had only left him to be worried about her. It had also led him to being kidnapped. Ran cried as she realized that if she had kept a closer eye on Conan, than none of this would have happened! Shinichi would be right here beside her, safe and sound!

"Ran, let me in! Ku-Conan's tough! Just ya watch! He'll probably have that guy tied up by the time we find him!" Heiji's voice broke out.

"What are ya talkin' about, Heiji?" Ran heard Kazuha hiss. "Conan's a kid! He may be pretty smart and all but there's no way that he can catch a criminal on his own!" Ran ignored Kazuha as she realized something from Heiji's words.

Ran opened the door and looked at the two teens through puffy red eyes. Kazuha gave Ran a big hug, telling her that it was going to be okay. As much as Ran appreciated Kazuha's efforts, she was not the one that Ran really needed to talk to. When Kazuha finally released Ran, the Tokyo teenager looked at her Osakan counterpart. "Kazuha, I need to talk to Heiji for a moment. Is that okay?" Ran's voice was shaky and horse but the desperation was clear.

"Yeah. Go ahead. I'm gonna go home anyway." Before leaving, Kazuha handed Ran a charm. "It's an omamori…more specifically a kanai-anzen. It's meant to bring safety for one's family. I know that it's not much but…" Before Kazuha could find the right words, Ran had the charm held close to her chest, as if it was a priceless treasure.

"Thank you," Ran said through her newly-formed tears. Kazuha nodded, reassured Ran one last time, and left. As soon as Kazuha was gone, Ran looked at Heiji. She took a deep breath before starting. "I need you to find Shinichi."

Conan's eyes opened slowly. As much as his head hurt at the moment, he forced himself to look around and take in his surroundings. The room that he was in was dark and had a musty smell. The only light came from a single dim light bulb that hung from the center of the ceiling. The walls were cement and Conan noticed that he was laying on an old mattress. He guess that he was probably in a basement. He noticed that his shoes and watch were gone, leaving him pretty much defenseless. Even though he couldn't see in the corners of the room, he could hear faint whimpering and crying, signaling that the other kidnapped children were probably hiding in the different corners.

Before Conan could call out to them, the sound of a door unlocking broke through the quiet yet foreboding atmosphere followed by bright light streaming into the darkness. Once Conan's eyes adjusted, he noticed a tall silhouette in the doorway.

"I'm going to ask you kids again!" The man demanded. The kids seemed even more scared. "Which one of you is responsible for his death!" The children cried, frightened.

Conan didn't know what was going on but he knew an opportunity when he saw one. "If one of us confessed, would the others go free?" He asked. Despite the light that was flooding into the darkest corners of the room, the man couldn't see which of the kids had spoken up.

"Yeah. I'd probably just leave you all in the park but the one who was responsible for my brother's death would have to stay here with me."

Conan sighed, knowing what he had to do. He stood up and time seemed to go in slow motion as he looked the man in the eyes. "It was me," Conan tried his best to sound like a scared little kid. He figured that it wouldn't be believable otherwise. "Please let everyone go home! I'm the one you want!"

Heiji stared at Ran before laughing nervously. "What're ya talkin' about, Ran? Kudou's probably too busy with somethin' else to help us find Conan!"

Ran pulled Heiji into the room and closed the door before continuing. She didn't want to risk being overheard. "I know the truth, Heiji. I know that Conan's really Shinichi! Please! You have to find him!"

Heiji sighed. "Alright…Let's say that the kid is really Kudou. How would ya even know who he really was? Besides, how could a teenager turn into a kid? What you're suggestin' isn't really makin' sense."

Ran shoved a notebook at Heiji. "I found this under his mattress one day. I felt bad but I couldn't help but read it since he was being so distant from me! I just wanted to help him…" Ran trailed off. Meanwhile, Heiji read each of the entries. When he was done reading, he looked at Ran seriously.

"Does he know that ya read this?" Ran shook her head, which was hanging low.

"I…I didn't mean to find out his secret but I feel like I should let him tell me when he's ready. Until then, I just want to make it a little easier for him." Ran suddenly remembered why she had wanted to talk to Heiji in the first place. "You have to find him! I don't want him to leave me for good!" Ran started to cry all over again. "I don't know what I'd do without him!"

Heiji put a shoulder on her arm and smiled encouragingly. "We'll find him! If I know Kudou, he's probably already escaped and is heading for the nearest police station!"

As if on cue, Heiji cell rang. The Osakan picked it up. As he listened to what the person on the other end had to say, his grin grew. He finally hung up and turned back to Ran. "The kidnapped children were found unconscious in a nearby park! Let's go over there and get Kudou!"

When Heiji and Ran got there, the children were being coddled by their parents. But no matter where they looked, there was no sign of Conan. Police officers were going around, asking the children questions. Ran and Heiji overheard one of the kids being questioned. The kid was a 9 year-old boy. Heiji recognized the kid as Ren Yukou

"I've been there the longest. It was really scary. Every day, the really tall man would yell at us, telling us to confess for killing his brother. He was really men too. Sometimes, if nobody would speak up, he would hit one of us. We were too scared to speak. But the new kid today was really brave. I honestly thought we were going to die but the new kid stood up and said that it was his fault. He said that so that the rest of us could go home." Ran grew pale, somehow knowing exactly who the kid was talking about.

"Do you remember the kid's name," the officer asked. The kid nodded.

"When the new kid confessed, the man asked for his name. It was kind of a weird name but I think it was Conan Edogawa."

When the man came back from taking the re-chloroformed children to who-knows-where, he glared at Conan as if he was nothing more than a disgusting rat.

"Do you remember playing by the convenience store?" Conan nodded, despite having no such recollection. If the man found out that he had been lying, there was no telling what he might do. "My brother, Daisuke, was playing with you when I was just picking some stuff up. You came up with the great idea to play in the middle of the street. You told the police that you didn't see the car coming but that was a lie!" The man's voice rose. "DAISUKE PUSHED YOU OUT OF THE WAY ONLY TO GET HIT HIMSELF! THAT WAS YOUR PLAN THE ENTIRE TIME, WASN'T IT!?"

This wasn't good. The man was only making himself more and more angry. Conan looked at the man with the calm eyes of an experienced detective. The man noticed this look and calmed down a little, though he didn't know why. However, his thoughts were still in an angry frenzy.

"Now you're going to suffer just like my brother did as he clung onto what was left of his life."

Heiji and Kogorou escorted Ran back to the Hattori home. Ran was completely silent the entire way there. She couldn't even cry. She went straight for the guest room and locked herself back inside.

Ran leaned against the door, slowly sliding down it frame, unable to keep herself up. When she was sitting on the ground, she wrapped her arms around her knees and cried. "Why Shinichi! You're always doing something so stupid and reckless! Don't you even care that I may never get to see you again!?" She subconsciously glanced up and noticed Conan's glasses sitting on the nightstand. There was something about those glasses that gave Ran a little bit of hope. She stood up and went to grab the glasses. She hugged the glasses close to her heart, accidentally hitting a button on the plastic frame.

Ran was surprised to see the left glass turn blue, almost like some sort of radar. What was really strange was that there was a single yellow dot flashing. Ran put the glasses on and realized that the dot was coming from somewhere not to far.

Ran knew without a doubt that the dot was signaling where Shinichi was. The teenage girl rushed out of the room and past a very confused Kogorou and Heiji.

"Hey," Heiji called as he ran to keep up. "Where are ya goin'?" Ran didn't even break stride as she continued to run in the direction that the glasses told her.

"I'm going to save that reckless detective geek!"

The man was coming after Conan with a baseball bat. Even though he didn't stand a chance against the man without his gadgets, Conan kept dodging each blow. Of course, the man did graze him a few times, making it harder for the pint-sized detective to keep dodging.

Conan was back into one of the room's corners with nowhere else to run. The man raised the bat over his head for a fatal blow. Conan saw that the man had left his guard down. He jumped as hard as he could and head butted the guy in the stomach. The man doubled over, clutching where Conan had hit him. Meanwhile, the shrunken detective had opened the door and ran out of the room.

He realized that he was in a Western-style house. Conan could hear the man yelling after him as he gave chase. He looked around for a place to hide or a way out. It didn't help that he didn't know the layout of the house since he had been unconscious when he was brought there and was locked in the basement the rest of the time.

He turned the corner of the hall and saw a big red door. Hoping that it was the front entrance, he made a beeline for it. However, he quickly discovered that the door was locked and that he was too small to reach the door knob. He could hear the man's footsteps getting closer.

The man paused before jumping from the corner. He was sure that the little brat had been heading in this direction yet the kid was nowhere to be found. "Did that boy already go outside? I won't let him get away!" The kidnapper rushed to the door only to be startled by the doorbell ringing. "Now he's trying to scare me into putting the bat away!" He grinned wickedly as he unlocked the door and swung it open.

The man froze. Standing on his front step was a teenage girl. Realizing that he was still holding the bat, he set it down on the wall beside him. "Sorry about that. There have been some recent robberies in the area and I was afraid that you might be a robber."

"It's alright," the girl replied. Then she looked at the man right in the eyes. "I'm looking for a small boy who's been missing since yesterday. Do you know where he is?" The man went very pale. Before he could deny know anything, something small ran past his legs.

"Why you little brat!" The man yelled at Conan, forgetting about the girl who was watching, her face now the spitting image of a demon's. The next thing he knew, he was lying flat on the ground, unable to move.

Ran exhaled as she looked at Conan. He was covered in bruises and scrapes. She noticed that he was limping as well. Still, the boy smiled as if he hadn't gone through a traumatic experience. Ran couldn't hold herself back as she broke out into tears, pulling the small boy into a tight hug.

"Ran-neechan, it's okay," Conan started to say. Ran continued to hold him.

"It's not okay! I was so scared! I was afraid that you would never come back!" Ran pulled herself away a little to look into Conan's eyes. "Promise me that you'll never leave me again!"

"But Ran-nee-"

"Just promise me. Please?"

Conan sighed. "I promise," he said quietly.

Entry #16

I'm not really sure how to begin this entry. I just got kidnapped, beaten, and rescued all in one day. To say that I'm exhausted is an understatement. Ran is probably just as tired as me. When Hattori saw me, he pulled me aside to scold me for making Ran worry so much. It's not like I asked to be kidnapped!

Ran made me promise not to leave her. Even as I promised her, I couldn't help but feel guilty. I know that she was talking to Conan, not Shinichi, but I couldn't help but feel a huge sting in my heart. It was as if she were trying to convince herself that if she made Conan promise, then Shinichi would be doing the same thing. The worst part was that she'd be right. I know that Ran is everything to me and I don't want to see her get hurt.

Ran, I promise you that I won't leave you…no matter what form I take.

Just to make some things clear, Conan hasn't been filled in on how they had found him and he's honestly too tired to even care at the moment. Also, Conan obviously wasn't really responsible for that kid's death…they never even met. Finally, I'm really sorry if it seems like there's something missing or if the kidnapper's behavior makes no sense. I have said this before but I'm not very good at coming up with crimes. I know practically nothing about the criminal mind so crime-related chapters may turn out kind of lame.

On the bright side, Conan's safe! Big thumbs up for Ran's awesome karate at the end! (It happened so fast that I couldn't even type down the moves!) I wanted to end this chapter kind of sweet since I'm kind of out of practice right now. Please let me know what you think! Also, if you have any ideas, let me know! I will probably be able to come up with more chapters a lot quicker! I'm already working on the next chapter so it should be up pretty soon! Don't forget to review and thanks for reading!