Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Rating: M

Genre: Romance/Supernatural

Summary: The problem with being young, single, famous, and a rare rabbit hybrid is that you attract a lot of attention. The problem with being all those things and a detective is that a lot of that attention comes from criminals.

When the Fox Comes Calling

Chapter 1 - In Hindsight

If he could go back in time and do the day over again, there were many, many things that Kudo Shinichi would have done differently.

The first thing he could have done was to obey his own wishes that morning and just gone back to sleep after shutting off the alarm clock. He could have just stayed in bed all morning then spent the afternoon happily buried in mystery novels until it was time for bed. It was, after all, a Saturday.

But Shinichi had always been too responsible to waste an entire day like that when there were unsolved cases waiting to be closed, and there, he supposed, was his problem. But short of getting a personality transplant, there isn't anything he can do about that. Besides, a personality transplant would make him someone else, and then he wouldn't be himself anymore, and so that would be kind of like committing suicide. And clearly the fact that he was thinking about such silly things at all was a sign. Though what kind of sign it was, he had yet to decide.

The next thing he could have done differently was to say no when Ran invited him to have lunch with her and Sonoko. But he had to skip so many outings with her because of his work as a detective that he made it a point to attend any outing she invited him to that he could actually make it to. It was, after all, a best friend's duty.

He had met Mouri Ran back in elementary school. As people, they had had very little in common. Shinichi had been a bookworm even then, and he'd been obsessed with applying the observational skills he read about to his daily life, which had led to him pointing a lot of things out to his classmates and teachers that they were not always happy to have pointed out. For instance, he hadn't been able to resist pointing out that the first edition and extremely rare collectable card one of his classmates was bragging about was actually a fake and that this other classmate couldn't possibly have written the poem she claimed she'd written because he'd seen it in a magazine that published only works by college students just last week. This had not made him a lot of friends.

Ran, on the other hand, had been quite popular as she was outgoing and friendly.

But the two of them had been the only rabbit hybrids in their entire elementary school. According to the history books, rabbit hybrids had been rare ever since hybrids had begun appearing more than three hundred years ago in the year now referred to as the Advent. In that year, humans had begun having children who sported the features of other animals. This had started all around the world at exactly the same time, but no one had been able to explain it. In only a few years, every child being born was a hybrid. At first, people had been afraid the way they always were about new and unusual things. Over time, however, people had come to accept that the human species as a whole had changed.

The advent of hybrids had brought about many changes that went beyond the cosmetic. Some people began to be able to understand and communicate with animals. Others became more empathetic. Still more developed a sense for the environment that was almost supernatural. These changes had led to a worldwide movement towards better environmental policies and a deeper respect for life that had, it was generally agreed, changed the world for the better. The results had inspired many people to claim that the Advent had been an act of God. Of course, no proof could ever be obtained one way or another.

Of course, though the world as a whole had become greener, cleaner and more peaceful, the human half of the New Race was still, well, human, and you still had your greedy and selfish individuals who committed crimes to satisfy their own desires. But we'll get back to that later.

Of the twelve types of hybrids that now made up the human race, only lizard hybrids, the only reptilian hybrid, were more rare than bunnies (dogs and cast were the most common, possibly because they were the animals that humans had always had the greatest affinity for—or so the scientists had hypothesized. Another fact that puzzled everyone was how hybrid genes were unpredictable. A cat hybrid who got together with a dog hybrid could give birth to a squirrel child. There was no real logic to who was born what). So, quite naturally, Shinichi and Ran had been rather curious about each other. Rabbit hybrids tended to be athletic. They were always fast runners, and they excelled at any sport that required kicking. Every time the two of them were on the same team during PE class for games like soccer, their team would win. One thing had led to another, and eventually they had become friends.

Though Shinichi had learned over the years to hold his tongue about certain things, he still didn't have many friends. This didn't bother him even if he had to admit, if only to himself, that it could get a little lonely sometimes. But that was all right. For one, he had begun doing detective work, and that took up most of his time. And, for another, he just didn't understand and couldn't connect well with most people his own age. They cared about silly things that he just didn't care about like celebrities, looking good and finding love. And they often didn't care enough about the things he did find important—like education, literature and the latest changes in criminal laws. Anyway, long story short, he wasn't and would never be a social butterfly, but he did understand the importance of appreciating the friends he had.

So Shinichi had met Ran and Sonoko, a cat hybrid from one of the city's wealthiest families who had befriended Ran around the same time he had, at a new fusion restaurant downtown that Sonoko had been itching to try ever since it had opened two weeks ago. As expected, the place was packed and noisy—qualities Shinichi did not particularly appreciate. But the place also had great food and, better yet, some of the best coffee Shinichi had had in a while. He could forgive it for all its other faults just for that.

"Uncle Jirokichi still won't let me wear the necklace for the heist tonight," Sonoko was complaining, brown tail waving in indignation. "He just doesn't understand how these things work!"

Shinichi let out an involuntary snort into his mug.

Sonoko rounded on him instantly, eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Nothing," he said hastily.

"Don't lie. You were laughing at me."

"Not at you," he objected. "I just think it's weird to say that your uncle doesn't understand how heists work. His property has been targeted by Kaitou KID more often than the property of any other person or organization. If anyone should know exactly how KID heists work, it's him."

"Ignorant as usual, I see," Sonoko sniffed. "I wasn't talking about the heist."

Shinichi blinked, now honestly confused. "You weren't?"

"Of course not. I was talking about life."

"…Huh?"

"If he really wants to stop Kaitou KID like he keeps saying he does then he would let me wear the necklace," Sonoko explained, confusing Shinichi even further. "When KID comes to take the necklace, he will realize that my heart is what he's been missing all along. He'll steal me away, and we'll take a wonderful, romantic trip together after which he'll ask me to be his forever. And he'll tell me how, if he could have my heart, he would never need to steal another jewel because he already has the most precious jewel in the world. Then we'll get married and live happily ever after."

It wasn't until Sonoko was done outlining her fantasy that Shinichi realized that his mouth was hanging open. He shut it with a click. He honestly couldn't think of a single thing to say—except maybe to suggest that Sonoko go see a therapist. But he had learned over the years that that was one of those comments that he should keep to himself.

"But Uncle Jirokichi just doesn't understand the ways of the heart," Sonoko concluded dramatically. "He still thinks he can actually outsmart KID-sama with all his fancy security technology."

"I'm sure he's also thinking about your safety," Ran put in. "I mean, I know that Kaitou KID doesn't kill people, but he's still a criminal."

"But when he falls in love with me, he won't have to steal jewels to find fulfillment anymore."

Shinichi suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Sonoko was making a lot of big and baseless assumptions there.

The Kaitou KID had made his first appearance when the three of them had started high school. He was a thief who styled himself as a magician. He tended to target large jewels, and he always sent out a notice in the form of a riddle before he stole anything. He also had a peculiar habit of returning the gems he stole. The thief was best known for the fact that his heists were usually spectacular, magical productions. His skill as a magician and the mystery of his identity and motives had won him a huge following of fans who saw his criminal activities as harmless, free entertainment.

The police did not share their point of view. Even if KID didn't keep his loot, they argued, he was still breaking and entering and causing property damage. HE had been known, for instance, to blow things up to cause power outages and other such less than innocent things. He had also, they pointed out, assaulted several officers and civilians in order to impersonate them. Just because these antics did not cause lasting harm did not mean KID was harmless. Besides, they added, what if he changed his mind one day and decided that he wanted to keep some of those jewels after all? Or, heaven forbid, what if he decided to turn his formidable talents to crimes of a more deadly nature? Small crimes often led to bigger crimes after all. It would, therefore, be best for everyone if the police caught KID before that could happen.

Though their arguments were all valid, very few members of the general public seemed to care what the police thought on the matter. They simply wanted something exciting to look forward to and someone cool to root for. KID and his heists fit that bill nicely.

All the general public knew for certain about KID though was that he was male, and he was a fox hybrid (which surprised no one. Foxes were known for their wicked senses of humor, their cunning and their penchant for mischief. Be careful when dealing with foxes, everyone said. They can be either your best friend or your worst enemy). Shinichi, however, had been to several KID heists as a detective, and thus he had learned a few more things. One of those things was that KID had a greater purpose for stealing jewels than just to entertain himself and his adoring public. What that purpose was though, Shinichi wasn't sure. He just knew that it had to do with a specific jewel since the thief had told him on more than one occasion that one or another jewel was not the one he wanted. Because of that, Shinichi was a hundred and ten percent sure that KID wouldn't change his ways just because he found love.

"You know," Ran said carefully when Sonoko finally stopped her tirade about how the world (in her mind, anyway) was supposed to work. "For all we know, KID could already be in a relationship. Remember when he stole those jeweled slippers? He said something then about giving them to his girlfriend. I know it was a while ago and he didn't actually take the slippers, but it does kind of suggest that he's been dating."

Sonoko opened her mouth then shut it again, looking stunned and horrified. Then she rounded on Shinichi. "You! You've talked to KID-sama. Is he dating someone right now?"

Shinichi blushed. "Wha—what? How am I supposed to know that? That's not something he'd tell me."

"You're a detective aren't you? Deduce it!"

"I don't really—"

"Just give it your best guess."

Shinichi squirmed in his seat as certain memories that he had been trying to ignore flooded through his mind—memories of a razor grin and lips brushing across the back of his hand, of a red rose being held out to him in a white gloved hand, and of strong arms spinning him into a dip as a voice murmured into his ear, "Dance with me, Tantei-kun."

"Well?" Sonoko asked impatiently.

"He probably isn't in a serious relationship," Shinichi muttered, burying his nose back in his mug. "And I doubt he wants to be."

Sonoko brightened at the first half of his statement but frowned at the second. "What makes you say that?"

Shinichi gave a one-shouldered shrug. "It's just the way he acts," he said vaguely. "He's always flirting with the women at heists." The women and one Kudo Shinichi, but he probably only flirted with Shinichi because he knew it put the detective off balance. He couldn't really be serious about his advances.

Sonoko didn't look satisfied, but Ran had apparently picked up on Shinichi's discomfort because she hastened to change the subject.

That was when Shinichi noticed that they were being watched. He would have noticed sooner if Sonoko hadn't been distracting him. He had always been extremely sensitive to being watched.

He shifted discretely in his seat so that he could get a better look at the restaurant's other occupants. He immediately spotted several tables of high school and college students who were sneaking glances at them and whispering. He dismissed most of them as harmless. But there was one table of three who stuck out to him as potential trouble. One was a stocky, older man with ram's horns curling down on other side of his broad face. The other two were probably only a few years older than Shinichi himself. One had short, silver hair that shone under the restaurant lights, and the other had black hair and a thin, sharp face. They were dressed mostly in black. The younger two had leather jackets. Their older companion was actually wearing a trench coat. All their clothes were high end. It wasn't their attire that bothered him though. It was the feeling he got from them. Shinichi had always had an innate ability to sense trouble, and he was getting that vibe from this group.

Before he could look away, one of them caught his gaze. The silver-haired fox hybrid leered at him, and Shinichi looked away quickly. Despite that, he continued to feel those eyes raking over him.

He had gotten looks like that before, and they heralded trouble. Sometimes it was relatively harmless, everyday trouble. Sometimes it wasn't.

Another area of life that the Advent had impacted was that of relationships—or, more specifically, the sexual aspect of relationships. It turned out that a person's human half and non-human half were not always the same sex. Lizards could actually change the sex of their lizard halves. This disparity between the human and non-human halves of hybrids had come to light shortly after the first generation of hybrids began reaching maturity.

It was observed that mature hybrids had certain periods of time where their interest in sex would spike. For a while, everyone assumed it was a combination of mood swings caused by the social unrest of needing to adapt to the existence of hybrids and teenagers being horny teenagers. But prolonged observations revealed that they were experiencing mating cycles akin to those experienced by many other mammalian species.

The discovery had caused an instant uproar. At first, there was a lot of fear and, as was typical for the human race up until that point, that fear led to anger and obstinacy. But the facts were the facts. Arguing against the facts didn't make them less real, and so the world as a whole had been forced to move on.

The following years were fraught with confusion. Everything from public policies to the layout of facilities suddenly had to be reexamined and adjusted. School locker rooms, for instance, had sparked a heated debate. There were those who wanted every school to have four sets of locker rooms instead of the original two. Others wanted to pretend nothing had changed and keep the original two, pointing out that it was difficult to tell whether a hybrid's animal half was male or female before he or she hit puberty. Besides, information of that nature was very private and might lead to discrimination. By Shinichi's day, locker rooms were generally formatted into a series of cubicles so that everyone would have their privacy (which, ironically, led to most laces having co-ed locker rooms since everyone changed in separate stalls anyway).

Another huge wave of confusion had, rather naturally, surrounded reproduction. Years of observation and study later, it was determined that all hybrids with female characteristics, whether those be from their human or animal half or both, could conceive, but when and how easily varied. Hybrids as a whole had fewer children but longer lives. Those who were female on both the human and animal sides had the easiest time conceiving. Those who were male on their human side but female on their animal sides could only conceive when in heat—and even then it was very rare. It had something to do with both basic probability (two Y chromosomes couldn't produce a human being) as well as a general genetic predisposition (and, since they couldn't lactate, they needed to hire wet nurses or rely on baby formulas for nursing). Those who were female on the human side but not on the animal side were the opposite in that they were unable to conceive while in rut. They could sire children at that time, though, due to human biology, this had to be achieved with medical assistance. It was all rather complicated and led to yet more debates and uncertainty over gender and sexuality. The old labels eventually had to be done away with. Once things had settled down, however, people had slowly grown to accept the new state of things, though some people had teased those who were male on both their human and animal sides with being not strictly necessary anymore to the continued survival of the human race (though that sort of teasing died down as it was learned that, again due to the new genetics, couples where one partner was male on both sides and the other was female on both sides had the easiest time conceiving children. This was a relief to people worried about the sudden drastic drop in birth rates around the globe).

The long and complicated history aside though, with the disappearance of old stereotypes had come new ones. It was disheartening, but it was human.

Shinichi didn't care much for stereotypes. He was a detective, and a good detective didn't make baseless assumptions about people just because of some aspect of their biology or background that they had no control over. But that didn't mean he wasn't aware of the stereotypes and how many less intelligent people did indeed base judgments on them and act accordingly. One of those stereotypes (one that Shinichi really hated) was that rabbit hybrids were promiscuous about sex. Both he and Ran had received a considerable amount of unwanted attention because of that rumor from people who weren't interested in serious relationships and only wanted to 'have fun' (their words, not Shinichi's or Ran's. Neither of them were the type interested in casual flings). Because of that and the many unpleasant situations it had spawned, they could count the number of times either of them had gone out with anyone on the fingers of one hand. Sonoko thought this was a tragedy, but Shinichi would rather be prudent. Besides, he'd never met anyone he would actually want to date.

The image of a razor grin and one indigo eye flashed through his mind, but he shook it away hastily. He might be able to admit to himself (with great reluctance) that he found the insanely brilliant thief (emphasis on the insane) attractive, but he knew better than to even entertain the idea of a relationship. It could never work out. Besides, he was sure KID's advances towards him weren't serious.

Their current predicament wasn't about KID anyway. It was the two suspicious strangers who had been eyeing them who were now making their way over to their table. Unfortunately, Sonoko had gone off for a bathroom break, leaving two empty seats next to Ran and Shinichi respectively.

The silver-haired fox hybrid slid into the seat next to Shinichi while his black haired canine friend slid into the seat next to Ran. Shinichi pulled away when the stranger tried to put an arm around his shoulders, but this didn't seem to discourage the man at all.

"You're Kudo Shinichi, aren't you?" the silver fox asked, leaning in far too close for Shinichi's comfort. This fox hybrid was a lot taller than Shinichi was, and Shinichi didn't appreciate how the man was trying to use his height to intimidate him. He considered stepping on the fox's foot but decided against it for now.

"That is my name," Shinichi replied stiffly. "And you are?"

"Call me Sylva. My cousin here is Kuro."

Shinichi wondered if those were very uncreative false names or if the two had had very uncreative parents.

"And what's your name?" the so-called Kuro asked Ran with a smile he probably meant to be charming but which just looked sly.

Ever polite, however, Ran answered. "Ran. And I'm sorry, but my friend is using that chair. She'll need it when she gets back."

"Then I can use it in the meantime, right?" the dog hybrid quipped. "I'll just make sure she still has a chair when she gets back."

Ran blinked, apparently not sure how she should respond to that. Eventually, she shrugged and let it be. After all, she reasoned, the two strangers had yet to do anything actually wrong.

The fox scooted his chair another inch closer to Shinichi's. "You know, I've always wanted to meet you."

Shinichi's eyes narrowed warily. "Why?"

Sylva grinned, apparently unfazed by the note of suspicion in Shinichi's voice. "I see you in the news all the time. I'm a big fan."

There had been times in the past when Shinichi imagined that he would enjoy having fans. Once he became a great detective, after all, a fan or two was only natural. They would be part of the proof that he was doing his job well, and the idea of being acknowledged for his skills was understandably appealing. But that was before he realized that fans were only one small step away from fanatics. Not to mention the way publicity inevitably led to the eroding of any and all your privacy. To make a long story short, now even hearing someone claim to be his fan gave him an overwhelming desire to run away as fast as was rabbitly possible.

But he reminded himself that no one should judge another based on a few bad experiences and no real knowledge. The so-called Sylva didn't seem to notice his lack of enthusiasm as he leaned in just a little closer. Shinichi inched his chair away again and wondered why all the foxes in his life seemed equally unable to respect the concept of personal space.

"If you have the time, we could really use some advice," the silver fox continued, finally catching Shinichi's attention.

"Advice about what?" he asked with the professional interest of a detective.

"A trivial matter, really," Sylva replied. "We're new in town, you see. We moved here with our uncle. We'll be starting a business, but we'll be needing a few more people for our team. Perhaps you and your friend here would be interested?"

So it wasn't a case, Shinichi thought. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed. He settled for the former since he still didn't like the feel of these two.

"Thank you for the offer, but we've only just started college," Ran said politely. "We're not looking for jobs just yet."

"Perhaps just for the summer?" Kuro suggested. "The university should be letting out for summer vacation soon, right?"

Ran hesitated. "It is, but…"

"We've already made plans," Shinichi supplied. It wasn't a lie either. Megure-keibu, a longtime friend and police inspector, had asked if he would like to spend his summer with the force so he could learn more about the ins and outs of police work that went on outside of the actual crime scenes (with which Shinichi was rather more familiar than even most police officers). Shinichi had accepted the offer eagerly, though he hadn't yet made up his mind if he wanted to join the police in the future or begin his own practice as a detective. Ran herself would be attending a summer camp with the university's karate club and doing a bit of work with her mother, a prominent lawyer, and checking in on her father, a private detective with a small practice. Knowing Ran, she also had plans to attempt to get her stubborn parents to spend time together. Or if she didn't have plans, she no doubt would be making some soon. Ran had never given up on getting her separated parents back together. Shinichi had always very carefully refrained from pointing out that, though Mouri Kogoro and Kiseki Eri clearly cared for each other, no power on earth could ever make them live harmoniously under one roof.

"At least think about it," the dark-haired canine pressed. "It'll be fun."

"You haven't even said what your business is," Ran pointed out.

Shinichi didn't miss the way the two men exchanged conspiratorial glances before the fox spoke.

"I'm afraid we aren't at liberty to share the details just yet, seeing as we have competitors, but we'll be offering a variety of products and services. Arranging events and the like."

"So you mean like event planning?" asked Ran, slightly interested despite herself.

"That's right." Kuro grinned at her. "Interested?"

Shinichi could see Ran's curiosity kindling, but he had decided that it was time they bid these two goodbye. The scent of trouble he was getting from them was thickening. For all their apparent friendliness, these two were not what they pretended. He committed their features to memory even as he cleared his throat.

"Like I said, we already have plans," he said firmly. "But I'm sure there are plenty of other students who would be more interested in a summer job, especially if you're planning parties."

"Perhaps you could show us around town at least?" Sylva persisted, once again moving to lay an arm over Shinichi's shoulders.

Shinichi shrugged the arm off, beginning to get irritated. "No. And I think you should get back to your uncle's table. Our friend should be back soon." Frankly, he felt Sonoko should have been back long ago, but there were so many people in the restaurant that there was more than likely a line for the restroom. Casting a quick glance in the direction of the restrooms, he saw Sonoko's light brown hair. He stood up. "In fact, she's coming now. So we'll be going."

Ran took the cue and got to her feet as well.

The fox followed suit. "Don't be like that," he said, catching Shinichi's arm. "Your friend can join us too, if she'd like. Come on. Let us buy you dessert, and we'll all get to know each other better."

And here was the next moment in the day where Shinichi felt he could have turned things around. He could have politely explained (with more emphasis this time) that the offer was thoughtful but they would have to decline as they had prior engagements. Then they might have been able to part ways amicably. Instead, Shinichi, already at the end of his patience with this Sylva's unwelcomed advances and more than a little on edge with the sense of danger that had been gnawing at him since these two had approached, had instead said, "I would rather die."

When he looked back on that moment later, even Shinichi had to admit that that had been dumb. But like they said, hindsight was twenty-twenty.

-To be Continued-

Notes: And there's the beginning! I hope you enjoyed it.