Detective Conan and Magic Kaito characters, settings, and ideas do not belong to me but to Aoyama Gōshō.

Guardian Angel

By Taliya

II: Reincarnation

"I'm back, Aoko!" called Kuroba Kaito as shut the front door behind him.

"Welcome home, Kaito!" Aoko's voice drifted towards him as he swapped his outdoor work shoes for house slippers in the genkan. He shuffled down the main hallway and into the kitchen-dining area of the Kuroba household, where Aoko was busy preparing dinner.

"Hey love," he murmured as he greeted her with a quick kiss to the cheek and washed his hands. His wife was in the process of making gyoza, her fingers nimbly sealing the edges of the dumpling wraps in neat, even folds. He eyed the two full trays she had already made. "You leave work early to make that many?" he asked as he poured a layer of sesame oil into a tall frying pan and set the heat on medium to warm up the pan.

Aoko sighed in affirmation. "Satou-keibu let me off the hook after a particularly bad case this afternoon." She shot her husband a wry grin. "I heard Otou-san explode this morning. That would not, by any chance, be your fault now, would it?"

Kuroba Aoko, formerly Nakamori Aoko, was Kaito's childhood sweetheart. When they were teens in high school, they had begun to become aware of each other in a way that was not strictly platonic. During Kaito's sixteenth year, he discovered that his father, Kuroba Touichi had not only masqueraded as the internationally wanted phantom thief Kaitou 1412, but that he had also been murdered because he had refused to seek out Pandora for them. In order to see his father's killers put behind bars, the young magician had taken up the iconic suit, cape, hat, and monocle in order to draw them out into the open.

Aoko had initially despised Kaitou KID for making a fool of her father during his thefts, and Kaito had been deathly afraid to tell her the truth. When they both went to college at Touto University, she had finally cornered him during the beginning their second year and forced him to confess after noticing how odd his behavior had become—not that anyone else would have known, but Aoko had known her friend since they were five, and she knew something had been up. She had initially been appalled and furious beyond belief, but after she had had time—several months—to cool down and think it over, she understood that her best friend was, despite knowingly and willingly breaking the law, trying to fix a wrong that had gone uncorrected for far too long. And to that end, she had reluctantly offered to run interference for him, especially when people like Hakuba Saguru and a recently reemerged Kudou Shinichi, or even Hattori Heiji were around for a heist.

The pair had begun dating after Kaito's confession in spite of their conflicting class schedules and other… activities. Kaito had gone into medicine and Aoko into forensics. She now worked as an officer under Inspector Satou Miwako in Division One's Homicide Unit, and was therefore quite familiar with seeing Kudou Shinichi in police headquarters. Hakuba had joined the Division Two forces, working under her father Superintendent Nakamori Ginzo. The half-Japanese was an Inspector and the current head of the Kaitou KID Task Force.

The gentleman thief himself was a neurosurgeon, having taken his father's teachings to heart to save every life he could, and he specialized in neuro-oncology—brain tumors. Despite his ability to perform as a professional magician and the endorphin high he felt at the end of every show, nothing compared to the overwhelming relief and elation he experienced when he was able to tell his patient and the patient's loved ones that the cancer had gone into remission or was finally eliminated post-operation. Though to be fair, a successful KID heist came pretty damn close.

They lived in Kaito's home, next door to Aoko's house, so that the phantom thief could continue his search for the elusive Pandora. Kuroba Chikage had found herself a boyfriend during her travels around the world and currently lived with the accountant in Singapore. Kaito was expecting an announcement of marriage sometime in the coming months, and he could not be more pleased that his mother had once again found love.

Kaito laughed as he sat down at the dining table to fill the third tray of the pot stickers with his policewoman wife. "Maybe," he hedged with a cheeky grin on his lips, his fingers making quick work of wrapping the gyoza. "I hope this'll be the last one."

"You say that for every heist target," she rebutted affectionately. "Just don't give Otou-san a heart attack."

"You know I would never hurt anyone," he answered. His smile faded as a thought crossed his mind. "Aoko?" She hummed questioningly, her eyes on the half-made dumpling in her hands. "What do you think of Kudou Shinichi? Have you noticed anything different lately?"

She blinked and paused in her work, eyes swiveling upwards to stare quizzically at her husband. "Kudou-keibu?" she asked.

"Yup," Kaito said, his expression uncharacteristically serious.

"Hmm…" she mumbled as she collected her thoughts, considering his request carefully. "Kudou-keibu is in and out of the office like he usually is—much like I am too, so I don't see him all that much," she answered thoughtfully, gazing absently at the small ball of mixed pork and vegetables resting on the center of the dumpling wrap on her flour-dusted palm. "But whenever he and I are in the same vicinity, I have noticed—though not that often—that he sometimes spaces out for a while as if in a trance, and then wakes himself up. Other times he'll be doing something then seem to come to and not realize that he was doing whatever it was he was doing." She frowned. "It's really strange, now that I think about it." Aoko, after surviving college, had dropped her habit of referring to herself in the third person. She glanced at her best friend. "Is there something wrong with him?"

Kaito blew out a sigh. "I've noticed that too, during heists. His lapses are becoming more frequent and longer in duration, and it's worrying me." His eyes caught hers, and Aoko read the concern there. "I paid a visit last night to a close friend of his—Haibara Ai, a researcher in neurology and biochemistry, amongst other things—concerning his condition. Meitantei-san apparently hadn't told anyone, so it was news to her that his memory is failing. Both of us independently came to the conclusion that Kudou-san is suffering from the very beginning stages of early-onset Alzheimer's."

Aoko sucked in a sharp breath, eyes wide in shock. "You're serious?" she whispered.

The thief sighed again. "Unfortunately, yes. I'd suspected for a while, but wanted confirmation from someone else in the field," he murmured. "I then suggested that since it is an age-related disease, we might…" Kaito seemed to struggle with the words before he spit out, "… shrink him back."

The policewoman stuttered. "Sh-shrink him? Into Conan again?" Kaito had also explained the detective's brush with an organization of his own, and the effects of the experimental poison they had fed him from what he had gathered over the years as Kaitou KID. She had never let on to the detective she sometimes worked alongside that she knew of his past. "Will that halt his memory loss?"

"I don't know," Kaito sighed in frustration. "I honestly don't. For all Haibara-san and I hypothesized, he could be fully cured by shrinking, or maybe it'll set it back by a few years, giving us time to find a complete cure. Hell, it might even wipe his mind completely, since neither of us knows how additional poison will affect him. He still has both the drug and the antidote floating around in his blood, if I'm not off my mark."

Aoko finished wrapping the dumpling in her palm and placed it on the nearly full tray. Kaito set his down next to hers and peeled another wrapper from the stack. "So what are you going to do?" she asked quietly, watching her husband eye the amount of filling mixture and pinch a bit off with chopsticks.

He dabbed his finger in a small bowl of water and wetted the edge of the wrap before beginning to pleat one of the edges so that the dumpling would sit upright in the pan. He made five in quick succession, and Aoko marveled at how adept her husband's hands were, from all of his years of training as a magician. "If worst comes to worst and he loses his memory entirely, I'm considering who would be the best person to be his caretaker."

His wife frowned slight. "Shouldn't his parents suffice?"

Kaito snorted, though not unkindly. "Yuusaku-san and Yukiko-san left him alone when he turned fourteen, opting instead to fly around the world while avoiding Yuusaku-san's editors. Sounds a little negligent to me."

"And yet your mother did the same thing," Aoko quietly rebutted.

The phantom thief winced. "Well, she was actually tying up a few loose ends from her past life at the time," he said, and Aoko shook her head, wondering how she, a daughter from a long line of policemen, had ended up marrying into a family of phantom thieves. Even to herself, it sounded like some terrible fantasy drama. "His parents, on the other hand, travel around to escape their responsibilities for the most part."

Aoko regarded her childhood friend, who had grown from a scruffy, mischievous boy to the accomplished, handsome man she was proud to call her life partner. "So if worst comes to worst…?" she prodded.

Kaito took a deep breath. "I want to take care of him."

"Kaito…" Aoko breathed, speechless. "I—you realize what you are proposing is definitely not a temporary solution? That—that you are asking someone to live with us?"

"He doesn't have to live with us," the magician was quick to qualify. "But I just—" He sighed, struggling to explain his rationale. "He was the one who put Oyaji's killers in jail. Not me. I would have never been able to do something like that… not as Kaitou KID, and I… I need to repay him somehow. I owe it to him." Kaito's eyes dropped to his lap for a moment before he lifted them to catch his wife's. "Even he doesn't remember, I will."

The policewoman had to look away from her husband. His eyes were so intensely sincere and so utterly grateful to the formerly shrunken detective. How could she refuse such a request? And considering Kuroba Touichi had been like a second father to her when she was young, she understood all too well where Kaito was coming from. She chuckled ruefully to herself, meeting Kaito's pleading and perplexed gaze. "Of course if it comes to that we'll take care of him." She gazed at her husband fondly. "I owe him too, you know."

Kaito finished filling out the tray, and the two of them carried the gyoza over to the stove where the frying pan was heated and ready. Kaito individually dropped the dumplings upright into the pan while Aoko arranged them as they sputtered and hissed. "So you know I'm going to make a visit with Haibara-san tonight to discuss Meitantei-san's condition again. Hopefully I won't be out for too long."

"He's important to you, whether he realizes it or not. To both of us," Aoko clarified. "Something like this… take as long as necessary." When the pot stickers were arranged neatly in concentric circles, Aoko added a centimeter's worth of water into the pan and covered it, washing her hands clean of flour and filling. Kaito, having already washed his hands, circled his arms around her waist and nuzzled and kissed her hair.

"Thank you," he whispered, and she leaned back into him with a content smile on her lips as her eyes fluttered shut, her now dried hands interlocking her fingers with his.

"Fancy meeting you here, Meitantei."

Shinichi started so badly he nearly flipped himself out of the armchair in Haibara's living room where he had been rereading The Hound of the Baskervilles. "Shit," the inspector swore fervently, his book having flown into some corner of the room as he gripped his chest with a hand. "Why can't you knock like a normal person?!" Shinichi wheezed.

The white-clad thief shrugged, examining the collar-style necklace featuring a massive fire opal. "That would defeat the purpose of being a phantom thief, don't you think, Meitantei? Pardon my intrusion," he announced belatedly as he flicked his wrist and disappeared the jewelry.

"Ah, konbanwa, KID-san," Ai greeted upon entering the room. "I figured you'd be back tonight."

Shinichi's eyes snapped to his friend. "You figured…" he parroted before cutting his gaze to the thief with a betrayed look. "That's right, you told on me. To Haibara."

KID brushed imaginary lint off his ruffled shoulder clasps. "It's not like you would have sought help yourself, Meitantei. You're too stubborn."

"Like someone else I know," the detective muttered under his breath. Unfortunately for him, he was close enough to the scientist for her to hear him.

"Ara?" she cooed sarcastically, "And here I thought homicide detectives were the only ones who could out-stubborn headstrong phantom thieves."

"I'm hurt, ojou-san," KID said with an exaggerated pout. "To pick on poor defenseless me in such a manner!" The thief's gaze switched to the detective and his expression changed, going from playful to cautious in the span of a breath. "Meitantei…?" he queried softly, discretely checking the time on a pocket watch. The detective's eyes, normally bright with intelligence, had suddenly gone dull, as if the inner glow that spoke of a presence within had suddenly been snuffed out. There was also a slackness to his posture that was normally absent. Kudou swayed ever so slightly on his feet, his instinct and reflexes the only things keeping him upright.

Ai instantly caught the abrupt tension in the air, her eyes snapping to her friend's. "Kudou-kun?" she asked, stepping towards him but stopped at the abortive gesture from KID.

The thief was slowly easing his way closer, pausing at every step to repeat his question of, "Meitantei…?"

He's having a memory lapse right now, she realized with horror. I understood in the abstract, but to actually see it happening…

By now KID had eased his way beside the incognizant inspector. "Meitantei…?" he murmured. "I'm going to lead you to that chair over there for you to sit down," he directed carefully, then proceeded to gently grasp Shinichi's hands and slowly walk him towards the chair he previously sat in. "That's it," KID coaxed, "now sit down." Gloved hands lightly pressed on the detective's shoulders, and the man sat mechanically in the chair, slumping slightly. KID kept his hands on Shinichi's shoulders to keep him upright, eyes intently watching the detective's for any sign of active awareness, and Ai was suddenly acutely aware of how much KID cared for her friend.

It was… inspiring and humbling to see that her friend, her personal savior, held the loyalty of an internationally wanted criminal—the loyalty of Kaitou KID himself. Ai knew that the man behind KID's monocle was a certifiable genius—if a little (or okay, a lot) on the eccentric side. KID, had he felt so inclined, could have easily had the entire world at his mercy with the skills that he possessed. But the thief was a good person at heart, and years ago the gentleman thief had told Shinichi the reasons behind his thefts, who had then disclosed them to her. She wondered what kind of man KID was in his normal day to day life, if his flamboyant and cocky attitude was merely a part of the Kaitou KID costume and persona.

KID straightened after ensuring that the detective would not slump over in his seat before he turned his gaze upon her. "He's been out of it for ten minutes already," he informed her. "Do you have any results?" Though he had stepped away from the inspector, he remained in Shinichi's line of sight.

Ai nodded, crossing her arms across her chest. "PET scans showed higher than normal amounts of beta amyloid plaque in his brain, though the MRI did not show any unusual tissue growth or damage." The researcher eyed the magician speculatively. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

The phantom thief nodded. "My specialty is in surgical neuro-oncology," he said simply, and Ai was stunned speechless.

KID was a neurosurgeon?! she thought dazedly.

"And what of his blood work?" he asked.

"I've managed to recreate the apoptoxin—it took me less time than I thought." In reality, because she had spent her entire life working on it, making the original after all the work on the antidote had been easy, though that was almost never the case. "I ran some tests, and he will de-age, as expected. I have no idea what it will do to his mental state, however."

"Fair enough," KID replied. He glanced at his pocket watch once more. "Fifteen minutes," he said softly, tucking the device away and shooting his rival a worried glance. "Do you think he'll take it?"

"I don't know," Ai replied, "since neither of us knows how his brain will react to the drug."

They had hit the eighteen-minute mark when Shinichi finally snapped to. The two doctors knew immediately when the detective jerked suddenly, his head bobbing unsteadily as he took in his surroundings. Disorientation, Ai clinically catalogued in her mind, temporary reduction in motor skills and delayed active recognition.

"Wha—?" Shinichi's gaze eventually focused on the figure in white. "Who're…?" he started before he asked uncertainly, "KID?"

"That's right, Meitantei," KID replied softly, sweeping towards the confused man. "Do you know where you are?"

"I…" He glanced around before he said, "Haibara's?"

"Yes, Kudou-kun," she answered, stepping into his line of sight and stopping by his side. Watching him come out of that episode had been one of the most painful things she had experienced—to see this intelligent man that had grown to be the brother she never had suddenly acting like a drowsy three year old tore at her heart. She kept a calm exterior though. There was no need to alarm him more.

Shinichi blinked. "I… had another episode, didn't I?" he asked resignedly as he came more fully back to himself.

KID nodded sorrowfully. "That's actually the reason why we're here," he said softly. He turned to Haibara, and she nodded resignedly, taking over the explanation.

"Kudou-kun," she said, and her heart clenched painfully. "We've—well, I've—diagnosed you with early-onset Alzheimer's." She swallowed thickly, hating herself for being the cause of Shinichi's expression crumpling into horror. "The scans and the blood work… They're indicative… Plus with the symptoms you've been exhibiting that were first recognized by KID—" She paused, breathing deeply to hold back the tears that demanded to make their presence known. "I'm so sorry."

Shinichi sat in the chair, stunned, his jaw working soundlessly as he processed her analysis.

"While there are no proven cures now, Meitantei," KID picked up tentatively, "there is an option that might postpone any permanent damage to the brain." The detective's eyes latched onto KID's, silently pleading desperately for some miracle cure. "Trials have been able to reverse the effects of Alzheimer's in mice if the condition was caught in the earliest of stages. Unfortunately you are past that early detection stage. What we could do… is give you the apoptoxin to de-age you in the hopes that it will put the Alzheimer's in 'remission,' so to speak."

The inspector considered KID's offer carefully. After a long while of silence, he asked, "What are the risks?"

Again, KID and Ai traded unsure glances. "We don't know," Ai admitted. "We don't know if it would wipe away the plaque entirely, if it will simply go into remission, or if it'll even wipe your brain clean. We honestly have no idea."

"But as it stands I will assuredly lose my mind," Shinichi stated softly. "Is that correct?"

"Yes," the thief confirmed. "We cannot even give you percentages for chances of success."

Shinichi shakily exhaled. "Well that's it then, isn't it? I really don't have anything to lose by taking the poison."

"But you could lose your memory entirely!" Ai argued, fear adding a tremor to her voice as the first tears ran down her cheeks.

"Haibara," the detective said, gently grasping her hand. "If nothing else, then at least in this moment, I will have known that I did not idly sit by and passively accept my fate."

Ai laughed despite her tears. "That's just like you to say that, Kudou-kun," she said before nodding. "Alright. I'll go and get it." She disappeared into her laboratory, leaving the two males behind.

"Meitantei," KID murmured, and Shinichi turned his attention to the thief. "Kudou. Shinichi." KID paused, and Shinichi suddenly realized that the magician was nervous in the extreme.

"Yes, KID-san?" he asked, to verbally prod the suddenly tongue-tied smooth talker.

"I…" KID swallowed before trying again. "I… If, upon taking the apoptoxin you lose all of your memory… I would be—gods this sounds terrible any way I phrase this—it would be a privilege to be your caretaker."

Shinichi blinked, processing KID's offer. "Why?" he finally asked, honestly confused.

"Because I owe it to you," the thief said, "for putting Oyaji's killers in jail."

"Your father…?"

KID knelt before the detective and pulled off the top hat. "My father," he said as he took off the monocle, "and your godfather, Kuroba Touichi." And KID knelt barefaced before the surprised Shinichi. "My name's Kuroba Kaito. Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise," Shinichi replied mechanically, eyes drinking in KID's unadorned face.

A cough interrupted them, and KID—Kuroba—Kaito—replaced the hat and monocle in a flash. Ai ambled out of her lab, a slim, metal pillbox in one hand. Wordlessly, she presented the container to Shinichi, who opened it with equal parts dread, anxiety, and hope. The white and red capsule rested on a bed of foam, its shiny coating innocuously reflecting the lamplight. "It's your choice, Kudou-kun," Ai said thickly. "Neither of us is going to persuade you one way or the other." Shinichi's eyes drifted from the scientist's slightly red and blotchy face to the completely blank one of KID's.

"It's your decision," the thief confirmed.

Shinichi's gaze fell back to the small capsule, the one that had caused him more than several lifetimes' worth of trouble. "What of my assets and the like? I want my assets to go to whoever takes care of me in the event that I do lose my mind."

"That can be arranged," KID said, and Shinichi felt a little more of his anxiety lessen, knowing that the thief would help smooth things over in the aftermath if he was not there to do so himself.

"And my parents? Ran? Hattori?" he asked, suddenly reminded that if he did indeed lose his memory, he would not know them.

"We can postpone this so that you have time to think it over and talk to them," Haibara said neutrally.

The detective closed his eyes. "I would like that, now that my panic is over for the moment." He opened his eyes to gaze gratefully at the two standing before him. "I'll let you know when I'm ready."

Over the next two weeks, Shinichi discussed his condition and his future plans with his parents, Haibara, the Hondous, the Hattoris, and the Kurobas.

His parents had offered to settle in the Kudou home to take care of him if things went south, but Shinichi gently but firmly rebuffed their offer. His parents, despite being in their late fifties, were too flighty to remain in one place for too long, and by the inspector's reckoning, stability of any kind—location included—would be key. Ran and Eisuke had also offered their home to him, but with a baby due in seven months, Ran would be too busy with an infant to care for a deteriorating invalid. The same excuse went for Heiji and Kazuha, who was six months along.

The Kurobas, however, were not so easily dissuaded. Shinichi had argued for placing himself in a care facility with nurses to help him so that he would not be a burden. Kaito and Aoko were having none of it. Kaito had finally won the argument by saying, "Kudou-san, normally I steal jewels, but I'm pretty sure I could pull off a heist where a person was the target if I wanted to." And having had chased Kaitou KID for almost two decades, Shinichi had little doubt Kaito could pull it off, and so he grudgingly acceded to their request. The next week after was spent getting his documents in order.

The four couples gathered at Haibara's home for moral support, each of them praying to every deity they could think of for a good outcome. Shinichi and Ai had locked themselves in the third bedroom attached to her laboratory while the eight guests loitered nervously in the living room.

A piercing shriek split the air, and they hugged each other with gritted teeth as Shinichi's cries of pain grew louder. The screaming continued for several minutes, the detective's voice finally softening into piteous, broken moans. By this point Yukiko was buried in Yuusaku's chest sobbing, with Ran, Kazuha, and Aoko in similar positions. The husbands had their arms curled tightly around their wives, though they too shuddered as tears crept down their faces.

At length the scientist opened the door to her lab and the eight people practically lunged at her, stopping short of colliding with her once they beheld the bundle in her arms. "It seems there was an unexpected side effect," she murmured tiredly. In her arms was a five-year-old boy, whom she had swathed in blankets. The child was asleep, with residual beads of sweat dotting his brow and traces of tears flowing from his closed eyes.

"Shin-chan," Yukiko murmured in astonishment.

"Do you think…?" Kaito began, his question trailing away uncertainly.

Ai caught his eye. "Somehow I think the addition of apoptoxin overwhelmed the antidote, though I don't understand how or why. The amounts were equal, so I'm not sure what went wrong…"

"Does he remember anything?" asked Ran apprehensively.

The researcher shook her head. "We'll know once he wakes up," she said and carried him over to the couch to settle him. The adults hovered about the room, too nervous to sit still for more than a few minutes. Kaito and Ai quietly discussed theories with each other in a corner, while Aoko conversed with the Hattoris and the Hondous chatted with the Kudous.

A small moan instantly silenced the entire room, and all eyes turn to the small boy in their midst, who was beginning to wake up. They all flocked to ring the couch, desperate to see if Kudou Shinichi's memory remained. The child opened his eyes then shrunk back upon seeing so many faces staring intently at him. He pulled the blankets up to his nose, shielding his face while keeping his eyes on his spectators.

"Shin-chan?" Yukiko whispered hopefully with tear-blurred vision. "Do you know who I am?"

The boy's eyes—bright, intelligent eyes—roved from face to face, but there was no spark of recognition. There was a collective instantaneous realization among the group that stunned them more thoroughly than the detonation of a nuclear warhead.

Kudou Shinichi, Edogawa Conan, Kudou-kun, Shin-chan, Tantei-kun, Meitantei—whatever name he had once responded to—the person who had responded to those varied names—that person was gone.

Yukiko released a wail of despair and was quickly engulfed in Yuusaku's embrace. Ran had stood, shell-shocked and insensate, and Eisuke had made his excuses and guided his unresponsive wife out to door to take her home with the Hattoris in tow, as they were staying with the Hondous for their visit to Tokyo. Heiji had stared numbly at the small child in disbelief, only able to mutter a repeated, mournful, "Kudou…" He too had to be led out by his wife.

Ai had crumpled to the ground, her expression the epitome of devastation. "What have I done?" she whispered, anguish and self-repugnance lacing her voice. Kaito had scooped her off the ground soon after and deposited her in the armchair, an arm around Aoko's quivering shoulders and a hand resting bracingly on one of Ai's. Aoko had retrieved the frightened youth, propping him on a hip and murmuring soothing words in his ear.

"You couldn't have known," the thief murmured, rubbing Aoko's arm soothingly as she pressed against him, still holding the twice-shrunken Shinichi. "Just like I—" his voice broke, "—couldn't have either. We can't blame ourselves for not anticipating this outcome."

"But I should have known better!" the scientist snapped. "I'd worked on this for years! I should have known all the possible side effects of the apoptoxin!"

"But Kuroba-san's right, Haibara-san," Yuusaku said, inserting himself into the doctors' stilted conversation. "You informed Shinichi that there were many unknowns, and he accepted the risk." Ai bowed her head, recognizing the truth of the mystery writer's words.

The remaining five adults watched the boy settle sleepily in Aoko's arms. "I suppose," Kaito said, "Aoko and I are his guardians now, unless you would like to take him," he said to the Kudous.

Yukiko shook her head even as she reached out to smooth Shinichi's ever-present cowlick. "Much as I would love to, I don't think I'd be able to look at him and not burst out crying," the retired actress admitted wearily. She glanced at her husband, and he squeezed her once around the shoulder. "Plus, we're getting on in age. I don't think we'd be able to keep up with a five year old constantly. Shin-chan trusted you enough to sign over his assets, and I trust his judgment."

Yuusaku nodded in agreement. "We'll help you financially in any way. All you have to do is ask, since you are taking care of our boy. You're more than welcome to live in our house since we'll be traveling, but we'll stop by often to see him." The Kudous left soon after, promising to open a joint checking account with the Kurobas for any of Shinichi's expenditures and to mail the couple a set of house keys for the Kudou home.

Aoko sat down on the couch, still cuddling the child. "He's so small," she said softly as Kaito settled next to her. Ai watched the trio from her spot in the armchair.

"Haibara-san," Kaito began, "Would you mind being his godmother?"

Ai felt her throat close up. "I—I couldn't possibly—" she stuttered, choking, "—not after what I've done to him—!"

"We can think of no one better," Aoko said warmly. "Yes, you made mistakes, but you would move mountains to help him."

The researcher ducked her head as she fought to control her tears. With a breathless mix of a sob and a laugh, Ai breathed, "I would be honored!"

The Kurobas beamed at her, their sincerity and gratitude overwhelming. The trio basked in their newfound bond of kinship, reveling in the warmth of their solidarity at protecting the little boy who slept peacefully amongst them.

"Are we changing his name?" Aoko asked quietly, so as not to disturb her newly adopted son.

"He keeps his first name," Kaito said decisively, softly carding his fingers through Shinichi's hair. "Though I guess it'd be better if we change his last name to Kuroba," he added reluctantly. He had no desire to completely sever the boy from his true past.

"Kuroba Shinichi," Ai murmured, eyes watching the thirty-five-turned-five-year-old boy who had helped her take down an entire criminal syndicate. "Edogawa Conan."

Kaito grinned sadly. "Tantei-kun," he said fondly as he gently stroked the boy's cheek. He lifted his eyes to meet his wife's. "We'll need to buy an entire collection of Sherlock Holmes for him to read."

Ai watched the newly created family unit and could not help but think of that one night, when KID had first appeared in her home with concerns regarding Kudou Shinichi's health solely on his mind. That Kuroba Kaito was Kaitou KID made sense to the scientist. She curled into the armchair and watch the three of them, Kaito in particular, and could not help but think, Guardian angel indeed.

Author's Note: So… yeah. I should also add in that I don't know exactly what people do when they have a mental lapse and sort of made that up, as I couldn't find any sort of data about it on the internet. And apparently I was spot on the money: uncontrolled apoptosis can cause neurodegenerative diseases, one of which is Alzheimer's. I hope you enjoyed it.

Completed: 20.07.2015