"Life is only precious because it ends, kid. Take it from a god. You mortals don't know how lucky you are."
- Mars, from Son of Neptune, by Rick Riordan

. : WITHOUT MORTALITY : .
... "shibō nakute" ...

a detective conan x magic kaito au fanfiction
feat. immortal!Shinichi and immortal!Ran

One Step Down

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan nor Magic Kaito.

... hajimeru ...

Drip. Drip.

The moon, glowing red, a halo surrounding its shape. Liquid sliding off its round surface - tears, blood-like in the light of the solemn orb hanging in the sky.

Drip. Drip.

Pooling on the ground. A puddle of crimson, shimmering, surrounded by the forest's lush grasses.

Drip. Drip.

Hypnotizingly steady, agonizingly slow, the drops continue, but the pool does not grow.

Drip. Drip.

The grass shivers, the red seeping into the soil, into its roots.

Drip. Drip.

A hand stirs the liquid, and then withdraws, trembling. Another does the same.

Drip - !

Vanishing, the ruby orb leaves behind only a phantom image, its original, ghostly white self, resting calmly in the sky. There are no tears. The pool has gone.

Time flies past. Day and night, chasing each other even though they cannot meet.

The red moon returns, but vanishes quickly, before it can cry.

Stained by ashes and blood and death, all the forest dies but for the grass.

Nobody touches them, the cursed plants, for a long while.

Time flies past. Day and night, fleeing from each other even though there is nothing to fear.

Then, hands dig up the earth, the grass, scooping it up, and passing it on. Moving.

Stopping. End of movement. And the pain begins.

Time ticks, slower than before.

End it… Please.

Tick. Tock.

Burning desire. What? What is it?

!Ti DnE

Tick. Tock.

Who - ?

!EmOh KcAb Em GnIrB

Tick. Tock.

Desire. No words, only feelings, and pain.

- eSaElP ,yKs EhT

Tick.

I don't understand -

!pLeH

- what you want -

!hCuM oOt S'tI

- stop, stop, stop!

The raw emotion, crushing, suffocating, helpcan'tbreathe - !

( t. o. c. k. )

It stops.

( t. i. m. e. 's. u. p. )

But he feels only worse.

( y. o. u. 'v. e. l. o. s. t. e. v. e. r. y. t. h. i. n. g. )

Blue eyes snapped open, gasping pants wrenching the breath from his lungs.

I'm - I'm alive?

"Hey, wake up!"

Of course I'm alive. The curse -

"You okay?"

Shinichi squinted, trying to make sense of the colorful blurs in his eyes. Were those - police officers? Great, at least now the Organization won't be able to check on my corpse, or lack thereof…

"Can you stand up, little boy?"

Little what?

An intelligent "huh?" escaped his mouth as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. Maybe he hadn't heard properly. His ears were ringing rather harshly, anyways. That poison was something else - a torture device, maybe. For someone like him, anyway.

"Are you okay, little boy?"

Man, the policeman's flashlights were blinding. Shinichi leaned away from the bright beam, but his attention was soon caught on something else. "Little boy?" he echoed distractedly, looking up at the police in confusion.

What the hell is he talking about? I'm a junior in high school - for now, anyway - surely that's old enough not to be considered a 'little boy' anymore, right?

"How'd you hurt your head?"

Hurt…? Oh. Right. That guy - Gin, I think? - he smashed my head in from behind… Touching the wound, he hissed when it stung sharply at the contact. That was pretty stupid of me, not watching my back. Too used to Ran, I guess.

Wait.

"Eh?" Shinichi stared at the too-long sleeves, heart stuttering. His gaze followed the loose clothing down his body, and ended up gazing dumbfoundedly at the huge pants on his legs.

What?! What the - I haven't worn anything that was this freaking big since the last time the cycle bounced back to start and I tried on my old clothes - Ran laughed at me for days, how could I forget -

"You must've been scared…" said the policeman, putting his hands under Shinichi's arms. "But we're here now, so don't worry, little guy!"

And with that statement, he lifted Shinichi into the air quickly and easily, eliciting a startled noise from the high school detective. He yelped again when the man nearly tossed him into another policeman's arms as the original one pulled out a walkie-talkie.

How freaking strong is this guy, tossing me around like that? Shinichi thought sourly, eyes wide with shock and panic. He quickly focused on the man with the walkie talkie, listening in on the conversation.

"… at site B, and we've found an injured young boy. We're taking him to the medical room, over!" Someone on the other side of the walkie talkie crackled back a question. "Well, I'd guess his age at around five or seven. Grade school…"

But Shinichi didn't hear the rest. All he heard was his age at around five.

Five? I'm not supposed to be five, I'm supposed to be seventeen already, dammit! What did that poison do to me? To the curse?

And then he flinched.

Aw, shit. How am I supposed to explain this to Ran?

Pacing in miserable silence back and forth, Shinichi used all his will to refrain from running out the door that very second.

It wasn't like that would achieve much. His head was throbbing (thanks a lot, Gin you jerk, for hitting as hard as you possible could), the gem's effect fighting furiously against the doctor's medicine, so he'd probably run into the wall instead. Besides, there were a couple police officers standing in front of that very door, watching over him carefully.

One of them was muttering something about "ran away from home" and "searches", neither of which was a very appealing topic for Shinichi. They wouldn't find anything, anyway.

He caught another glance of himself in the mirror and scowled fiercely at it, pausing his pacing to glare at the reflection. Despite what the officer said, he was seven, not five. Which wasn't really much better, but added even more to the mystery of why and how. If he shrunk because of the poison, he expected to be a bit smaller, really. Why seven? Why the difference?

"Oh well…" one of the policeman said. Shinichi glanced over at them. "Get in touch with HQ, we'll take him to the creche there…"

He nearly choked. A creche? Of all places - no. No way, not ever. That's it, I'm gone. Bye!

Quickly, the shrunken boy scanned the room for an exit, before spying a window. It was still open, for whatever reason - perfect.

By the time the police turned to baby-talk him into going with them, he was long gone, streaking down the streets as fast as his little legs would carry him.

Shouts of alarm resounded behind him, but he ignored them steadfastly, intent on fleeing like his life hung in the balance.

Suddenly, he heard a low growl from behind him. Risking a look back, Shinichi groaned upon seeing the large dog emerging from the shadows, lunging at him with furious barks. Its leash was held by a policemen, who proceeded to declare unneededly, "There he is! Don't let him get away!"

Even more desperate, Shinichi veered around a corner and pulled up a mental map of the area, picking and choosing which roads to take.

It was kind of hard to concentrate with the shouting and barking behind him.

Give me a break! I'm not a freaking criminal, let me go already, geez!

A short time later found him panting for breath, leaning heavily against a wall. Exhausted, he pushed himself off the wall and staggered off, keeping safely to the side of the road.

At least I lost them… Good thing it's raining, the mongrel can't catch my scent like this… Arg, I almost forgot how little endurance kids have, this is totally ridiculous. Shinichi frowned, pausing. Speaking of which… I knew the crows were experimenting, but why poison? They're more of a "shoot to kill" type. I'll have to ask…

With a roar, a large truck barrelled past, cutting his thoughts off and spraying dirty water all over his small figure, completely soaking him to the bone.

"Well," he deadpanned as he looked at his dripping clothes, "this is absolutely pitiful."

"How the hell am I supposed to get in?"

Shinichi glared at the tall gates as if they'd betrayed him. Can't even get into my own house. These things are too damn tall. First thing I'm doing is lowering them. Or at least putting something kid-sized friendly in.

With a sigh, Shinichi decided to resort to climbing over them. He reached out to touch the metal grates - boom!

Flinching away, he took a hesitant step back. The explosion came from the wall separating this house from the next house over… Oh. Regaining his confidence, Shinichi sighed in relief, "It's just the hakase… Who can help me. Right. Hey, Agasa-hakase!"

Coughing, the old professor waved away the remaining plumes of smoke and stood up. Noticing Shinichi's call, he straightened and looked at the sopping wet little boy.

"Hm? Who are you?" he asked, straightening his glasses.

"It's me, Shinichi."

"Ah, one of Shinichi's relatives!" Agasa exclaimed, nodding. Shinichi made a disbelieving face at him. Did he not hear what I just said? "You look just like he did at your age…"

He gritted his teeth - of course the hakase wouldn't recognize him, or believe him; the idea of a person regressing age was so outlandish to most everyone that they automatically dismissed it, even subconsciously. But then how could he prove it…?

The old inventor was uselessly ringing the bell when Shinichi came upon an idea. Ah. In the way only that Shinichi Kudo can…

Haughtily, Shinichi adopted a confident pose and said, "Hakase! You just came from the restaurant called 'Colombo', and you were in a hurry, too!"

As expected, the old man froze. "What? H-how did you know that?"

"From your clothes, hakase. There are signs of it having been wet on the front, but not on the back; that's proof that you've been running through the rain…" A smirk slid onto Shinichi's face with practiced ease as he continued to explain his deduction. "There's also some mud on your pants, and the only area around here that could've been that muddy is the construction area in front of Colombo, not to mention you have some of their special meat sauce stuck in your mustache."

"Y-you…" Completely blindsided by the deduction, Agasa only stared at the boy incredulously.

Shinichi, for his part, only tsked and waved a finger at him, condescendingly stating, "It's elementary, Agasa-kun!"

Bah! Who's idea was it to be so egotistical? … Right, it was mine. Ugh. Well, at least it's easy to identify me like that.

And as if to prove him right, Agasa's eyes widened and he choked out, "Sh-Shinichi? You're really Shinichi-kun?"

"The one and only," Shinichi assured, now fully relieved. "I ran into some - some men in black, and they drugged me with something. I'll tell you the whole story inside my house, just open these stupid gates for me, will you? I'm too short."

"G-gun smuggling?" Agasa sputtered, stunned.

Shinichi nodded distractedly, slipping on his kiddy clothes. Didn't think I'd have to use these for at least another fifteen years or so… Well, it's a good thing I have them prepared and all. Anyway… "Yeah, and there was a guy blackmailing him, too."

"So they gave you some sort of prototype poison to keep your mouth shut, right?"

Shinichi nodded again, satisfied that the clothes fit. Not quite five, after all. I'm definitely seven. Still strange nevertheless.

Meanwhile, Agasa continued to muse. "Hm… So the mysterious effects of this unfinished drug shrunk your body… That's a really strange side effect."

Well, yeah, but if they were testing on what I think they were testing on, this sort of 'strange' is really common - more of the norm. I wonder how this'll affect me… But I should probably find a way to reverse it, first.

"Hey, hakase, do you think you could make the counter-drug for this?" Shinichi asked. "Since you're a genius and all," he added slyly.

"Definitely not without knowing what they put into it in the first place," came the immediate reply. "I need to have the compound to know how to break it down without breaking you down in the process!"

"… Right." Should've expected that. "What if I went after these people and got you some of this drug?"

"Yes, if you get some, I might be able to do something," Agasa admitted. He paused, though, and a strange look crossed his face. Suddenly, he lunged forward, grabbing Shinichi by the shoulders and shouting, "Shinichi-kun! You mustn't tell anyone about this!"

What? "Eh? Why?"

At this point, the old man was obviously panicking. "If they find out that you, Shinichi Kudo, are still alive, they'll come after you again! Not to mention the danger they'll pose to everyone around you!"

Shinichi hesitated, inwardly scoffing at the idea - I've kept you all safe for this long, haven't I? - but Agasa plowed on, nearly shrieking with hysteria, in Shinichi's opinion.

"Understand? The fact that you are Kudo Shinichi is a secret between you and me! You must not tell anyone else! Especially not Ran-kun!"

Knock, knock. "Shinichi, are you there?"

Speak of the devil. He glanced at the professor. Dammit, how am I going to explain this? 'Oh, Ran will actually kind of recognize me on sight because we're used to seeing each other cycle through the ages of five to nineteen-twenty-ish together'?

Another knock. "Shinichi, are you there? You could at least answer the phone if you're home! You left the door unlocked, too…"

"Quickly! Hide!" Agasa hissed, shoving the shrunken detective away.

Deciding to go with the plan, Shinichi dashed behind his father's desk, just as the door opened - "Oh, Agasa-hakase," Ran greeted.

"R-Ran-kun! I haven't seen you in a while!" Agasa laughed nervously.

She raised an eyebrow at him, but let it slide, and looked around the large room instead. "Wow, I'm always amazed by how many books there are," she said, gazing at the ceiling-high bookshelves approvingly. "And they're all mystery novels… How does he even reach the ones on the top?" She muttered the last part to herself, chuckling a bit.

Agasa continued to ramble out nonsensical things. "Yes, well, you know that Shinichi-kun's father is a world famous mystery novelist…"

"Growing up with these books turned him into a crazy detective, didn't it," Ran continued drily.

"Shut up," Shinichi retorted quietly, annoyed. Then he froze, remembering that she had crazy-sharp ears, and slapped a hand over his mouth belatedly. Oops. There goes that plan.

"Hm? Who's that over there?"

He could picture the gleam in her eyes. He knew that she knew she'd found something. But with the hakase stammering, "He's, uh," Shinichi decided to hell with it all, he'd make something out of Agasa's suffering, and dove into one of the drawers, yanking out his dad's spare pair of reading glasses. Pushing the lenses out, he slipped them onto his face just as Ran cooed at him and turned him around.

She froze, eyes wide. She mouthed, Shinki?

"Um, hi," he said shyly, putting a finger to his lips. Shh. The hakase.

She gave him a very deadpan look before saying, "This kid…"

Shinichi panicked for a moment. Nooo, just play along please!

"… is so cute!" she finished, smirking devilishly at Shinichi before suffocating him in a hug. Aw, crap, no, lemme go! After a moment of tightening her hold on his desperate writhing, Ran finally released him. He scrambled away, pressing himself against the nearest bookshelf. "Who is this kid?" she asked, directing the question to Agasa.

The inventor sighed in relief before replying, "Oh, he's a distant relative of mine."

Humming, Ran turned back to Shinichi. She raised an eyebrow, asking sweetly, "And how old are you - five?"

"Seven, actually," he replied, looking her in the eyes to make his point. She nodded very slightly before asking another question, inching closer.

"So you're a first grader?"

"Y-yeah."

She grinned evilly, kneeling so that her face was centimeters from his. "What's your name?"

Dammit, Ran, you know I suck at the name thing! "Um, uh," he averted his eyes, his gaze landing on the books closest to him, and he shakily read off of the books, "Ah, Conan! Edogawa Conan!"

She muffled a snort. "Conan? That's a weird name."

"Shut it," he hissed, blushing slightly. Then, louder, "Nuh-uh, My dad's a Conan Doyle fan, so he named me after him, see?"

Ran shrugged, straightened, and wandered a little ways away.

"Conan?" Agasa repeated in a whisper. "You sound like a foreigner!"

"I couldn't think of anything else, and she was pushing me," Shinichi huffed. And she knew it.

"Hey, hakase, where's Shinichi?" Ran inquired, having finished her brief examination of the room. "I don't see him anywhere…" She wasn't looking in Shinichi's direction at that particular moment, so that statement technically wasn't a lie.

"Shinichi-kun? Oh, he, uh, he was here earlier, but he had something to do and left," Agasa quickly improvised vaguely.

"Hm," Ran mused, looking carefully at Shinichi. He returned the look evenly.

Suddenly, Agasa lifted Shinichi off the ground and held him out to her. "Oh, Ran-kun, would you mind taking care of him at your place for a little while?"

Ran blinked, taking Shinichi into her arms. He twisted, freeing himself almost instantly, and landed safely on the floor as Ran voiced, "Eh?"

Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, Agasa elaborated, "Well, you see, his parents are in the hospital because of an accident, so they asked me to look after him, but I live alone and don't know the slightest thing about taking care of a child…"

"I'm fine with that," Ran agreed, "Though I'll have to ask Otou-san."

"That's great," Agasa beamed. "You can take it up with him, then."

Idly, Ran pulled out her phone and dialed her dad's number to do just that. Meanwhile, Shinichi padded over to the hakase, murmuring, "Not that I'm not okay with it, but why'd you ask that?"

"You can't stay in your house - that's the first place they'd check," Agasa explained. "And mine is too close to yours. But Ran-kun, her house is also a detective agency…"

"Ah," Shinichi realized. "There might be cases about those people - nice thinking, hakase." Internally, though, he hoped and prayed that no such cases would come up.

Just then, Ran clicked her phone shut. "Well, he'll be fine with it either way," she announced, and Shinichi suddenly very much doubted that the old man had given his expressed permission, but Ran wasn't exactly one to care. "Shall we get going, then?"

Shinichi hopped up to her cutely. "Yay!" I'm in such deep trouble.

She smirked at him, then took his hand and led him outside. "See you later, hakase!" she called, waving at Agasa.

"Yeah," Shinichi chimed. "Oji-chan, bye-bye!"

"Bye, Conan-kun, Ran-kun!"

"Alright, now that we're alone, tell me what happened."

Ran looked expectantly at the significantly shorter of the two, who sighed. He stuck his free hand into his pocket as they walked along.

"I may have accidentally forgotten to watch my back."

"Uh-huh. This is why you don't go anywhere without me, Shinichi."

"Conan," he corrected instantly. "You never know when a crow's watching. Besides, changing identities, remember? We've gone through this. I'm just a bit early."

Ran conceded. "Very early, more like. So what happened to the flock next, Conan-kun?"

Oh, so we're doing that now? Fine. I love bird stories, anyway.

"Two adult crows were dealing stuff with a fat pigeon," Conan said happily, shifting into a more boyish tone. "Daddy raven saw one of the crows and the pigeon, but the other crow came from behind and hurt his head. Then the crows stuffed something into the raven's mouth and flew off with the pigeon. The thing in his mouth was red and poisonous and really new! But the raven woke up fine a little later, surrounded by robins, so obviously it didn't work. He looked like a baby bird, though. Then he flew away!"

"Wonderful," Ran said drily. "And what did the daddy raven learn from this?"

"Don't go anywhere without the mommy raven," Conan deadpanned. She's never going to let this go, is she. He paused, then said, "I think one of the crows was named Gin - he was all silvery! The baby raven who painted herself black with blood told me so."

"The - oh, her. Is that why you ran after them so fast?"

He shook his head. "Actually, I didn't know they'd be there… But crows are omens of bad things, right? That's what mommy tells me. Maybe the daddy bird got worried and got ahead of himself a little, trying to stop it."

"And left the mommy bird to get swept up in the rest of the flock," Ran finished. She sighed.

"… Sorry, Ran," Conan whispered, tugging on her arm.

She stopped. Turning to him, she knelt so they were face-to-face, and said quietly, "I was scared. I knew it was Them, and… They were experimenting on the grass. Using it for drugs and chemicals. We know that; our little painted bird told us. They could've broken the jewel's affect on us without even trying to - it was a prototype, nobody knew what it did - "

"I know," Conan breathed. "I'm sorry." I didn't mean to worry you.

Wordlessly, Ran enveloped him in a hug. Unlike the times in his house, Conan didn't struggle against her. He just closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.

She held him like that for a few minutes, inhaling his scent, glad for his safety. Finally, she let go. "Don't do that ever again," she insisted fiercely.

"I promise," he agreed solemnly. Then, a slight smile appeared on his face. "Well, as much as I can, anyway." We're trouble magnets, have you forgotten?

She laughed.

"We're home," Ran said, looking up at the window that doubled as a sign. "Might not be as big as your house, but it does the trick."

Conan shrugged. "I like to think that the Kudo family has maybe too much money to spend. Anyway. Are you really sure that the old man's okay with me staying?"

"He will be," Ran said cheerfully.

Conan blinked uneasily. "Um, okay. I really - whoa!"

A blur suddenly blasted right behind Ran, nearly knocking her over with the gust of displaced air. She managed to stay on her feet. The other person, however, didn't quite manage to keep his balance, and tumbled onto the floor.

Ran held a hand to her heart, exclaiming, "Otou-san, you scared me!" She frowned at the groaning man on the ground. "And where are you at this time of the night? Drinking and mahjong again?"

"It's a job!" he shouted gleefully, springing to his feet. "I got a call earlier," he continued as he ran to the side of the street. "A little girl's been kidnapped by some men in black, and her parents called for me - they want my help!"

As he hailed a taxi and got in, Ran and Conan exchanged looks. The Organization was notorious for being dressed in black. And that something that the old man couldn't face, especially not by himself.

"Hey, otou-san!" Ran called, diving into the cab after him. "We're coming too!"

"Take me to Yayoi, to the big mansion called 'Tani'," Ran's father told the driver excitedly, seemingly not noticing his daughter nor her words. "And step on it!" he added, cackling with laughter. "A case, a case! A case is calling me, the great detective Mouri Kogorou!"

"More confused than great," Conan interrupted. He grinned innocently up at Kogorou, who, true to Conan's statement, looked positively puzzled.

"Who are you and what're you doing here?" he demanded, leaning threateningly towards the completely unfazed smaller boy.

"He's a relative of Agasa-hakase," Ran explained. "We'll be taking care of him for a while."

Kogorou scowled. "No, we won't. He'll just ruin my job! Take him back!"

"No," Ran retorted. "Besides, we're in the the middle of the highway, we can't stop now."

Conan snickered at his expression. "But-"

"Yes, otou-san?" Ran asked sweetly, visibly clenching a fist.

Her father froze in dismay and quickly took back his words, saying, "Nothing, nothing."

She smiled. "That's what I thought."

Conan rolled his eyes, murmuring so softly that only Ran could hear him, "You're one scary lady."

She patted his head in mock sympathy. "Don't worry," she responded drily. "Once the daddy raven gets big again, I'm going to clock him, too."

It took hardly a minute before Conan and Ran came to their conclusion.

"It's not Them," Conan sighed, sitting on Ran's lap. "Any and all witnesses would've been killed, and yet this butler is still alive. Why would they kidnap a kid, anyway?"

"Evil minds work in strange ways." Ran shrugged. "Who knows?"

Humming in agreement, Conan turned half of his attention to the interrogation Kogorou was conducting. A few minutes ago he had only just managed to stop himself from going over there and questioning the people himself, belatedly remembering his shrunken status. Thankfully, he was at least allowed to listen in, given that Ran was "watching over him" and "keeping him occupied".

A few times, Ran had to clamp a hand over Conan's mouth to stop him from interrupting with his own interjections, but it went relatively well. With a few prompts from Ran (from Conan), Kogorou steered the conversation in the right direction.

While the butler recounted the tale, Conan scribbled a couple things down onto his notebook - but suddenly stopped. He muttered a curse.

"Conan-kun?"

"Hm?" He blinked up at Ran. "Oh. Um, the daddy raven can't fly the way he usually does, because then the crows might recognize it."

Realization flickered across her eyes. "And he can't just change it because little chicks aren't supposed to fly at all… Right?"

He nodded, sighing. Then he ripped the page out of the notebook and thoroughly shredded it. "He'll just have to make do without his wings," Conan said, rolling the paper into a ball. Unsure of where to put it, he hesitated.

Ran produced a lighter from her pocket. "Stole it from the disabled hawk," she explained quietly with a glance at her father, taking the paper into her hands. Raising her voice, she called to him, "I'm going to the restroom, otou-san!"

When he voiced back the okay, she winked at Conan and went off to burn the evidence.

Now alone, Conan turned his full attention to the discussion - "… but other than his yelling, it was really quiet," one of the women was saying.

As usual, nobody knows what's going on. Conan kicked a rock, bored. If only I could ask them some questions myself.

The father suddenly began raising his voice, shouting something about money, and Conan paused to refocus. So that's not what the butler heard from the kidnapper, huh… Unidentified voice, requesting money, this really is a run-of-the-mill case -

Wait.

Conan's eyes narrowed. Something was off.

Damn. There wasn't enough information; he'd have to sneak around a bit to find out more.

Withholding a sigh, Conan strolled casually around the bickering adults, coming to a stop beneath the tree the kidnapper was said to have climbed. He reached out a hand to touch the bark, but a sudden growl stopped him.

He turned, eyes wide.

Two massive dogs, teeth bared fiercely, lunged and barked loudly at him.

Dogs again? Come on, wasn't that police dog from earlier this evening enough already?

Backing away quickly - and relieved to see the dogs leashed, unable to follow him past a certain distance - Conan stopped just a few feet out of reach. The animals snarled, but quieted, watching him carefully. Then, they blinked and leaned forward, almost in curiosity.

That's right, Conan recalled with a slight smile. Give them a few moments, and animals will love or stare at us, unless we startle them or they're trained otherwise. Then, his eyes narrowed in thought. Wait. Dogs, by the tree… That doesn't add up. They barked at even me, when they first saw me. So…

Conan took one step in Kogorou's direction, but halted. They wouldn't listen to him, not while he looked like a seven-year-old. So, he relented with a sigh and amused himself with the ball lying around, kicking it as he would a soccer ball, and waited for a chance to speak up.

A few moments later, he spotted the butler trying to edge away while everyone else was speaking. Conan narrowed his eyes as some more pieces of the case fell together.

Unfortunately, Ran still hadn't returned - he wondered if she encountered any trouble, but decided it was unlikely - so he'd have to do this himself. Setting the ball down, he went over to the sneaking butler and blatantly asked, "Where are you going?" The man froze, and he continued, "Are you going to the place where you hid the girl?"

His horrified face was good enough proof for Conan, and he backed away with a cheery, childish smile, having achieved all he needed to achieve.

Now, I just have to figure out how to get the oji-san to realize this, too… He turned his eyes to the said person thoughtfully. Well, maybe…

Approaching the tree with the leashed dogs again, who had at this point become even more curious at his strange presence, Conan kicked the ball over to the base of the tree. The dogs looked at the ball, and then at him.

He smirked, making direct eye contact with both of them.

And blue bled to red.

Thoroughly spooked, the dogs switched back to barking furiously at his approaching figure, loud enough to startle the adults.

Conan, pretending to be innocent, reeled backwards with a cry of, "Waa, oji-san, help me!" As the owner rushed forward to calm and restrain the dogs, he continued, "I went near the tree to get the ball, and then they started barking at me really madly!"

Kogorou thought for a moment. "Well, it makes sense that such a large house would have a couple of dogs or so."

No, that's not it! Ugh, okay, less subtle. Conan looked to the owner and said, "These dogs seem to bark loudly at anyone they don't know, neh?"

"Well, yes," the owner replied. "They're really superior guard dogs."

Comprehension dawned on Kogorou's face, and Conan heaved a relieved sigh. He understands now, right? If it was so quiet, then that means the dogs didn't bark, which means…

The butler was sneaking away again, Conan noted. He was about to make a move to delay him and allow Kogorou some more time to ponder it, but his worries were unfounded.

"Where are you going, Asou-san?" Kogorou asked lowly. "There's something odd about what you told us…"

Cheering internally, Conan bounced eagerly on the balls of his feet. Yes! Go on, go on…

Backing away a little, the butler opened and closed his mouth wordlessly, but Korogou plowed on. "If the kidnapper escaped by that tree, then the dogs would've barked like mad! But when the maids came out, they heard only your voice! Also, your account of the culprit is so stereotypical and ambiguous - there really was no man in black at all, was there? No, there wasn't, Mr. Kidnapper!"

And there you go, Conan mentally applauded. While half-listening to the cowering butler stammering to the owner and detective, Ran re-emerged from the building.

"What happened?" she inquired, sitting down on a bench and gesturing for him to join her.

"Your 'tou-san took a hint," he replied, hopping up to sit beside her. "Although it's still bugging me - something about this case isn't right." He looked to the distressed butler, who was confessing where the girl was - in a hotel nearby, it seemed.

Just as Kogorou gleefully proclaimed the case to be closed and was about to fetch the little girl from the hotel, Conan's eyes widened and he leapt back onto his feet. Ran turned to him, worried and questioning.

"Something's still not right!" he hissed, turning the bits of information over in his head and examining every piece thoroughly. An idea started to form, but before it could elaborate, he noticed the maid ran up to the owner, babbling about the telephone.

"Who'd call at a time like this?" the owner grumbled grouchily, snatching the phone. "Who-"

"Have you prepared the three million yen yet?"

Everyone tensed. "Who are you?" the owner demanded.

Conan cursed under his breath.

"I'm the one who called you a little while ago," the other side of the connection said. "The man who kidnapped your daughter. Remember?"

Kogorou immediately turned to the butler and rapid-fired more questions at him, but Conan knew he couldn't have been behind this, not even if he had accomplices - which was unlikely, as that part of the case had been rather simple to puzzle out.

A little girl's cry came over the telephone, saying, "Papa, save me!"

"A-Akiko," the owner choked out, terrified.

Unable to bear it any longer, Conan dashed forward while the back-and-forth between the culprit and father continued a little longer, but when the father hesitated, echoing Kogorou's question, the culprit snapped out a threat if the police were to be involved. However, soon after, the little girl screamed, "Papa, I'm in a school warehouse! I'm at some school where I can see a big chimney out the window-"

The line cut off with a shriek as the kidnapped silenced the daughter and gave a few final, harsh words before hanging up.

However, Conan didn't quite care about anything spoken after 'school warehouse' and 'big chimney out the window'. That was all he needed to know. And with the culprit probably panicking by now, they were running out of time; walking or running wouldn't cut it.

"Ran, cover me," he murmured. At her hesitant nod - she was worried, he could see it in how her eyes were bordering on red - he ran over to the leashed dogs once more.

They back away, whining, but he held out his hands for them to sniff. A moment passed, but they regained their courage and approached, nudging his palms.

"I'm going to need you for a minute," Conan whispered to the bigger of the two, sidling over to where the leash was attached and quickly unraveling it. Grasping it tightly, he jumped onto the dog's back. When it turned to look at him, confused, he stared right back and let his eyes shimmer. Once more, red blossomed into his irises, and the dog yelped, barked, and ran.

Perched on its back, Conan steered his canine steed with the leash and let the dog run outside and through the streets. Most of his mind was busy on deciphering on exactly where the kidnapper and girl were, though. He mentally blazed through the gathered information, piecing together theories and taking them apart just as quickly.

It hasn't been long - they must still be in the area - the chimney could be of a bath house or factory - and only five schools fit those conditions -

He spotted the first school-and-nearby-chimney set and wheeled the dog to the warehouse. A quick examination later, he ran the dog back on to the road. Not here!

The second - No!

Third - No!

Fourth, fifth - No, they're not here either!

Dammit, where could they be? Conan whirled through his mental database, trying to come up with solutions and reasons, but eliminating them just as fast as they came up. They couldn't have gotten much further than this, could they?

Beside him, the exhausted dog panted, now too tired to even run from him and his unnatural eyes without suitable prompting. Conan looked up and around in desperation; he couldn't keep this up for too much longer -

Wait. That building.

And then he was back on the dog, once again dashing through the streets. He only went for a little bit, turning around to look at the tall skyscraper, and quickly found his solution.

That's it, she must've seen this building - from the side, it looks like a chimney - and the only school at this angle - is Futatsubashi middle school!

Slamming the door open, Conan shouted, "Stop!"

The culprit turned to him, eyes promising death, blade in hand. He was startled for a moment at seeing that a child - and a dog, to be fair - had discovered him, and gasped out, "Wha-"

Pure, undiluted terror caught his voice, and he choked on his words. Conan smirked, giving the kidnapper ample time to take in his blood red irises - glowing eerily in the dim lighting - before he clicked his tongue.

With a ferocious snarl, the dog lunged and attacked the kidnapper mercilessly. While it distracted him, Conan reeled the curse's power back in, his eyes returning to blue, before running over to the little girl lying on the ground.

"It's going to be okay now," he promised gently, removing the tape on her mouth and moving to untie her limbs.

She blinked up at him, half in shock, half in awe. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Edogawa Conan," he responded, finally releasing the knot binding her arms together. After a moment, he added drily, "Detective." True, isn't it? Even if I'm just a bit small.

"A detective?" she echoed.

A sharp whine cut off whatever she was going to say next, and the dog skidded across the floor towards them, blood seeping from a gash on its shoulder. Conan grit his teeth - that hadn't been nearly enough time, though he expected that such a thing would've happened.

"Jambo!" the little girl cried in worry, inching towards the dog. On the other hand, Conan took several steps back when the culprit turned to him, spitting mad.

"I don't know what trick you pulled, but don't you dare mess with me like that!" he growled, while Conan's mental process continuously repeated shitshitshit, bad idea, abort, because he as a kid definitely did not have enough kicking power to retaliate properly, no sir, not at all, so it was time to scram.

Only able to jump out of the way when the culprit swung his weapon - a bat, good, the dog must've gotten rid of the blade - at him, Conan kept a steady defensive, mind now split between ranting over how stupid he was, predicting and dodging the wooden weapon, and trying to figure a way out.

He almost tripped over a bunch of soccer balls - no good, can't use these since I have no kicking power at all - but did manage to scatter them everywhere - slow him down, just a little bit, this is all Yusaku's fault for the goddamn detective-curiosity he infected me with - and continued his quick reflexive dodging.

Something thrummed through his veins, colder than the adrenaline that was already flowing. Eyes shifted, blue seeping to crimson. But that wouldn't help.

Narrowly avoiding a strike directed at his chin, Conan flinched when his back smacked into the wall without warning (he'd forgotten about the dimensions of the warehouse), and he had no time to recover before the culprit raised his bat and brought it down - hard.

Pain exploded across his temple, and he cringed away from the assault with a sharp yell, only to topple to the side when he was struck again and again, over and over. Ice turned to fire, flames of agony burning away at his ribs, stomach, and - his head…

Vision swimming, stars spinning across his sight, Conan just barely made out the panicked screams of someone calling his name over the ringing of his ears…

The little girl, he thought groggily, struggling to keep his eyes open. Can't -

"Kill one kid, kill two kids - it's all the same to me," the culprit was gloating, hefting the bloodied wood for a final blow, he knew he needed to move now but he couldn't, and -

Impactshockpain - fading -

Darkness - diS - aPp - Rov - aL - c - o - l - d -

Red.

…

Who the hell is screaming in my ear -

His head was an inferno of pain, and he flinched the moment he returned to consciousness. Struggling to keep his hold on reality, he forced himself to blink open his eyes, taking in his surroundings.

Blood was splattered all over the place - why is blood splattered all over the place? -

Words, someone was talking, shouting, huh, sounding rather distressed actually, he should probably pay attention to what the guy was saying -

"I just killed you, your brains are literally all over the floor,so why are your eyes glowing red, why are you blinking, why are you looking at me -"

"'Cause," Conan choked out in a gurgle of blood - owowow, broken rib must've pierced my lung, I hope he dies a painful death - "Ran-neechan's looking really mad right now, and she's hovering over you like one of those hellish crows."

"Language," she scolded.

"I have all the damn right to curse to my heart's content," he said, and passed out once more.

"Shinki."

Mrrph. Amarante. What do you want?

"Shin - ki."

Whaaat.

"One more time, mister, and I'm going to split your head wide open."

Right. Verbal. "'M shleepin'."

"You've been 'shleepin'' for three days, you old man. Woke up to eat your meals and went straight to bed afterwards without even blinking. Be glad I covered for you whenever 'tou-san was around."

"'M tired…" He knew better than to call her old, even though she was just as old as he was. "An' th' jewel needs sleep, r'member?"

"It's time to get up." Merciless much?

"Comfy."

"That's no excuse. Come on, the hakase has been asking for you."

"Screw him." Finally, Conan opened his eyes. "He insists I keep my identity a secret. Annoying."

"For a good reason," Ran pointed out. "He doesn't know about Pandora, and you should keep it a secret from everyone else. Just keep pretending I don't know. Not that hard."

Sighing, Conan sat up, rubbing his eyes. "… What happened?" he asked, at length. "I feel like I got run over by a truck."

"If you had been, the result would've been the same; you died," Ran reported drily. "Which is a bad habit of yours. Freaked out the kidnapper enough for me to sneak up on him and teach him what happens when he messes with the ravens. You were rushed to the emergency room, which probably messed up Pandora a lot, but you came out fine, obviously. Just dead to the world; they kept you a night for observation, just in case. Anyway, ends up that the butler and the daughter were fake-kidnapping the daughter because her dad was being a bit neglectful. They have everything worked out, now."

"That's good." Conan yawned, stretching out his sore muscles. Looking around, he recognized the place as Ran's room. He was sitting on a futon that had been set up beside her bed. He lifted a hand to his temple, where the wound had healed over already. "And?"

"You're staying at my house as my dad's good luck charm," Ran told him, half smiling and half smirking. "Which is probably a good thing, since now you've got a cover and I've got a way to keep an eye on your immortal butt."

"Great."

"Now get up, hakase has some - toys - for you."

"Oh?" Conan sighed, rubbing his eyes, and didn't protest when Ran put the glasses onto his face and pulled him to his feet. "Sounds interesting."

"I assure you it is."

"Are we thinking the same interesting?"

"How about some defend-yourself-even-though-you're-a-midget gadgets?"

"… I'm sorry, what?"

... tsudzuku ...

Author's Note:

Yes, I know. It was confusing. The format? Chaotic.

Well. That's because this is... an experiment, of sorts, of an idea I came up a long time ago with one of my friends, InsanityOwl, who will also be acting as my Beta Reader / Idea Bounce-Off Person. Basically I rant ideas to her and she filters the good from the bad. So thank her. A lot. Because otherwise this would be a whole lot worse that it already is.

I'm a bit annoyed, as this website's "Doc Manager" really hates it when I space out letters. So that whole "you've lost everything" line looks a crapton less legible and the formatting in general is icky. Oh, well. I'll work my way around it, if anyone's interested in more. (and I have more planned. Kami, do I have more planned. Movie storylines, anyone?)

Warning you now, updates will be sporadic or might not happen at all, for years. Just look at some of my other stories. Literally. Years.

(well, one year, but you get my point.)

Anyway - since I have and know the complete background information for this forward and backwards, I might have skipped over including vital / obvious details by accident, so if things seem particularly disconnected, feel free to let me know. Though some of the more perceptive readers, experienced in the whole DC/MK world, will know exactly what's going on, I imagine. Or at least have a basic idea.

Because, come on. Jewel. Red. Immortality. Or lack of mortality, if you're looking at the title. I even flat-out said Pandora.

Reviews are greatly appreciated, and help with motivation. Thank you for reading!

*posted: Sept. 29, 2014
*edited: Sept. 30, 2014
*edited: Oct. 2, 2014
*edited: Oct. 6, 2014