I originally wanted to add a scene or two more to this chapter, but it sort of got out of hand and got really long so I'll just end it here and include it in the next chapter. Other than that, Shinichi's kind of an idiot here.

Anyways, I really appreciate it everyone who has read up to now and put up with my attempts at an update schedule.

The next few days were not kind on Shinichi's mood. At school he would barely acknowledge anyone except Ran, to whom he only responded to out of obligation. After school he would just head straight home and spend the rest of his day in his library and trying to read a nice mystery novel or two to relax before ultimately failing because he just ended thinking about that argument he had with Kid days prior.

It was the same thing day in and day out for the next couple of days, and even Ran had gotten overly concerned and tried to talk to him about it yesterday.

"Shinichi, I'm worried." She had said with a frown on her face and arms crossed. "You're not paying attention in class and you barely talk to anyone anymore. Did something happen?"

"Nothing." He had replied back, earning the evil eye from his childhood friend. "Okay. It's just a case that's been bothering me."

"Geez," Ran sighed. "And here I thought something happened at the Kid heist." Shinichi almost choked on air, causing Ran to stiffen up in worry again. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Shinichi nodded quickly. "Fine, fine. It's just a difficult case, no big deal. Once I figure stuff out I'll be back to my usual self in no time." He tried to smile, but he wasn't sure if he got it down properly.

She didn't look very convinced but reluctantly accepted his answer. He hated lying to Ran, but Kid's situation wasn't something he could just easily disclose to others. He had to keep everything he knew about Kid, outside of what the public already knew, a secret.

"Okay…" She still looked anxious, and Shinichi felt something in his heart break when he saw a familiar looking loneliness in her eyes. "But promise me that you'll talk to me if you need to. I'll always be here."

"Yeah, I promise." Shinichi said quietly. "Sorry Ran."

He'd have to make it up to her, once he figured out what to do about Kid. It killed him every time he made Ran sad, but this was something he was going to settle on his own. It had to be.

But he could barely concentrate on doing anything as his thoughts tended to wander back to a certain annoying phantom thief whenever he tried to think.

Who does Kid think he is anyways? Who gave him the right to forbid Shinichi from solving crimes and doing his job? He's a detective, and he sure as hell wasn't going to stand by when there are criminals out there who still aren't behind bars. He could put Kid's offenses in the back burner for now, as there were more urgent things out there, like those people after the thief's life.

He could still remember their conversation-turned-argument that night as if it were just yesterday. Just thinking about made it made him angry. Kid was incessantly insistent on trying to make Shinichi give up on catching Snake and whoever else was after his life, while Shinichi himself argued back about the ethics of being a detective. Things escalated from there and it ended with an untimely smoke bomb to the face and a missing Kid.

But it wasn't like Kid could actually stop him from doing what he wanted, which was why he was now walking back home with a thick stack of files that detailed every single Kaitou Kid heist from his debut to his revival to the fake heist a few days ago tucked away in his bag. It hadn't taken much effort to obtain them. He phoned in to Inspector Nakamori yesterday evening and went straight to the Ekoda police station in the afternoon, as it only took a quick train ride from Beika to get there. The Inspector and the rest of the taskforce were up to their noses in work while the entirety of Division Two was in disarray over that last heist. He even got turned away by the officers when he tried asking if Inspector Nakamori was available.

So technically, he didn't receive the files from anyone. He just sneaked into the office and made copies of Kid's criminal file and left with them hidden away in his bag, but no one saw him, so he should be in the clear. Besides, he did speak to the man in charge about it and had gotten a reluctant okay so he wasn't doing anything illegal per se. And with how much he helped out with the police, he was already considered one of their own, so it's not like making a few extra copies was going to harm anyone.

What he planned to do was compare the police files with the personal file his father gathered up for some more information and clarify a few things for himself. He didn't think his father's records would have much about Kid's more recent endeavors however, given how it was rarely updated because of his parents rarely stayed in Japan for long.

And then began his next course of action, as he rang the doorbell of the Professor's house and was greeted by the man himself.

"Shinichi!" the Professor greeted him with a smile. "Did Ai-kun call you for a checkup?"

He shook his head, stepping in and carefully taking off his shoes and took of his coat to hang on the coat rack. "No, not today, but I do have something to ask of her." Looking up, he realized that the Professor wasn't the only one in the living room, and was greeted with the familiar grinning faces of three seven year olds who were gathered around a small piece of paper.

"Shinichi-oniisan!" Ayumi-chan was the first one to greet him. Mitsuhiko and Genta both followed after.

"Yo. Trying to solve one of the Professor's riddles?" he asked, peeking over them to take a look at the paper.

Mitsuhiko nodded. "I think we figured out some of it but-"

"It's way too hard!" Genta interrupted loudly, rolling onto his back and holding his stomach. "I want to eat eel..."

"Genta-kun! Don't give up so easily!" Mitsuhiko scolded.

Next to him, Ayumi-chan nodded vigorously. "We're the Detective Boys! We can solve anything!"

It looked like Ayumi-chan's pep-talk had helped, because Genta rose back up and focused some of his attention back to the riddle while Mitsuhiko began to explain one part of it that was related to the name of a bird.

Shinichi looked on with a feeling of nostalgia mixed with loneliness. Up until a few months ago, he was still one of them. He could still vaguely remember Haibara's suggestion on telling them the truth. He was still on the fence about it, and he kept putting it back further and further since there weren't any good opportunities for him to tell them, considering how busy he was lately with the amount of cases he received and now with the recent Kid issue.

"Shinichi, didn't you say you needed to talk to Ai-kun?" the Professor went up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "She's down in the basement."

Taking one last look at the kids, who had a glint in their eyes that showed they were so close to solving the puzzle and all they needed was just one more connecting thought to figure it all out, he turned away to head towards the basement where the little scientist did all her research in.

"Haibara," he said, opening the door and shedding light into the tiny dark room, revealing a small figure sitting in front of a brightly lit computer. Closing the door and flipping on the light switch, he said, "You should stop doing research in the dark. It's bad for the eyes."

The girl spun her chair around slowly as she took off her headphones. "You're four days early for your next check-up, Kudou-kun." She said, ignoring his comment. "What brings you here today?"

"Well," he began. "There's something I sort of need you to look into."

Haibara made a motion with her hand, gesturing for him to keep going.

"I wanted to ask if you can find any information about Kaitou Kid's previous heist targets." Shinichi continued, absently running a hand through his hair.

The little girl raised a thin eyebrow. "What brought this all of a sudden?" She paused momentarily before her mouth twitched up in an amused smile. "I thought you weren't interested in Kid anymore?"

Shinichi looked away from her. Why did she always have to use his words against him like this? Why did he have to endure this kind of suffering? "That doesn't matter. I just want to ask if you can look into the jewels he's stolen in the past."

She looked pointedly at him for a little bit before sighing, smile wiped off her face. "Don't tell me something happened at the heist?"

He froze momentarily. It was almost scary how intuitive Haibara was at times.

"A lot of things happened." Shinichi didn't elaborate. "But there are people who are after Kid's life."

"After a heartful thief like him?"

"He said –well, suggested- that it was because he was looking for the same thing they were. I was thinking that it must be important enough for him to be targeted."

"So that's why you wanted me to look into his previous targets." She said. "To see if there's any connection between the gems he's stolen."

"Yeah." Shinichi responded, shrugging his shoulders. "Police reports don't exactly elaborate the history of the targets very much."

"Is there anything specific you're looking for? For example, type of gem or previous ownership and such?" Haibara asked.

"Well," Shinichi began. "He said that the gem he was looking for was 'life itself', whatever that means."

Haibara hummed quietly to herself. "Interesting. He told you this himself?"

Shinichi nodded and attempted to give the girl as little details as possible in fear of her using them to her advantage in the future. "We talked for a while."

"And so you think Kid is looking for a gem related to life." Haibara restated, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "And that this supposed life jewel is worth killing over."

It was a situation that they were no strangers to.

He breathed out a sigh. "That's what I'm thinking. He kind of vaguely hinted at what it was, but it wasn't specific enough. It's not much to start on."

She smiled to herself, as if she heard something amusing. "Life itself." She repeated aloud. "A farfetched goal for a man like him."

Shinichi let out a huff of laughter. "It's Kid." he said. "His entire existence is unbelievable." Unbelievably irritating.

The corners of Haibara's mouth twitched up. "Well, he does seem to have a knack for doing the impossible. How many times has he dived out a window to save your life?"

"That was only a few times, okay?" Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Anyways, I want you to look into the old targets to narrow down a list of potential candidates. It might help with catching Snake and whoever else might be involved with this."

"Snake?" Haibara frowned, her playful demeanor hastily extinguished as her eyes narrowed and she tightly gripped the handle of her seat. "Is that a codename?"

"Seems like it." Shinichi answered. "He tried to use the fake heist as a trap to take Kid's life. I was also wondering if his name rang any bells."

"I barely knew anyone outside of my division." She replied, voice stiff. "But if he was involved with… Them, he wouldn't be so foolish as to show himself at a public event like a Kid heist after what happened to the organization."

That much was true. Any logical thinking would lead to that conclusion, but Shinichi couldn't help but think there was some sort of connection.

Shinichi leaned against the wall, drawing in a long inhale. "But what if…" His breath caught in his throat. "What if it was something that constituted as important enough to do so?"

"As in, something they wouldn't risk letting go, even if it meant revealing the remaining members?" Haibara scoffed, shaking her head. "That's unlikely, Kudou-kun. They're extremely careful with everything they do. And besides, 'Snake' isn't a part of the naming scheme, as far as I'm aware."

Then it was just him that felt like there was something a bit deeper than just competition over who found what first. But he just didn't have enough information to be able to make a clear deduction. If only Kid would tell him more, then he could actually see if there was a connection between Snake and the Black Organization other than just taste in clothing and guns. He thought about the stack of files in his bag outside in the living room and felt a sudden urge to go through all of them right this instance for anything that might give him a lead.

Haibara relaxed slightly, watching him for a few seconds before releasing a long sigh and turned away from him to face the computer again. "I don't know what happened between you and Kaitou Kid, but…" she started, fingers clacking on the keyboard below. "Give me some time, and I'll compile whatever information I find onto a flash drive for you."

"Thanks…" he felt the tension in his shoulders being released, and it left him with a tired, groggy feeling.

"Oh and by the way," Haibara turned her head to him, a smirk of amusement on her lips. "You should tell Mr. Heartful Thief to use your front door next time instead of sneaking into your room through the window. If it were anyone else looking, they would have gotten the wrong impression."

Shinichi blinked twice. "What?" he stopped, a hand came up to scratch his neck. "Well, I did tell him to use the front door because I would have let him in…" But what did she mean by the wrong impression? Unless, of course, she meant that people would have called the cops if they saw Kaitou Kid breaking into his house. Although he'd at least give the thief the benefit of doubt that he wouldn't be careless enough to be seen by other people while dressed as an internationally wanted jewel thief.

"Nevermind." She gave him an annoyed look before returning to her research. "Wait outside; I'll be out in a moment."

He nodded slowly, still confused on what she was going on about, but listened to her nonetheless and left her to her business.

Upon climbing the stairs back up to the living room, Shinichi's ears were assaulted with a high pitched squeals of the kids as they apparently were playing some new game the Professor made. Quietly, he sat himself down on the couch opposite of where the action was taking place and waited for Haibara to finish her research.

And then a white mug was thrust into his vision, along with the scent of freshly brewed coffee, just as he was about to close his eyes and think. He traced the mug and the hand holding it back to the Professor.

He smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Professor." He took a sip of the nice warm drink. The Professor smiled before telling him that he was going to go back upstairs, which Shinichi acknowledged with a nod.

He let the warmth seep into his hands as slowly drank.

"Shinichi-san?" came Mitsuhiko's voice.

"Hm?" Shinichi looked back at him, who, along with the other two, looked strangely concerned. The game was momentarily paused. "What's up?"

"Is there something wrong?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"Are you hungry?" Genta added in. "Being hungry always gets me in a bad mood."

"But you're always hungry, Genta-kun!" Mitsuhiko shot back.

Shinichi blinked, slightly taken aback. Did he look that bad? It was one thing for Ran to notice, but when the kids began to notice then he was doing a terrible job hiding his troubles. He tried to give a reassuring smile anyways. "I'm alright. I've been working on a hard case lately."

The boys instantly brightened up at the statement, spouting out things like "Can we help?" or "Tell us! Tell us!". Ayumi-chan, however, still looked at him with dubious eyes.

"But Shinichi-oniisan looks different when thinking about a case." She said. "Since whenever he is, he looks like Conan-kun."

Shinichi almost dropped his mug. He froze for a slight moment, realizing that the kids were very close to figuring out who he was. They even found out about how his mannerisms didn't seem to change from the transition from Conan to Shinichi.

"Ayumi-chan is right." Mitsuhiko nodded, quickly regaining his composure from earlier. "Shinichi-san always gets this kind of look whenever he's solving a mystery, just like Conan-kun."

"So that means that you're lying, Shinichi-niichan!" Genta pointed at him, looking proud of himself as if he had made the deduction himself.

Shinichi kind of felt like he the culprit at one of his murder cases.

"My mom told me that when someone does that weird eyebrow thing, it means they had a fight with their lover!" Ayumi-chan exclaimed, looking scarily enthusiastic.

Weird eyebrow thing? Wait, lover?

He nearly choked. "Uh, hold on, Ayumi-chan-"

"Does that mean you had a fight with Ran-san?" Mitsuhiko.

Well, it wasn't really a fight so… "N-No, not Ran."

"Well if it isn't than who did get in a fight with?" Genta.

"Wait, you guys-"

"You have to make up with them, Shinichi-oniisan! It's not good to fight!" Ayumi-chan.

He wasn't going to win against three fervent children, was he?

He sighed heavily. "It, uh, wasn't with Ran. It was with…" An irksome phantom thief. "Ha-Hattori."

"Heiji-niichan?" Genta repeated. "What'd he do?"

Shinichi shrugged. "Nothing really. We just argued over a case." Sort of.

"What was the case about?" Mitsuhiko asked right after.

Shinichi looked back at the Detective Boys, each looking very much interested in what he had to say. He took a quick peak back to the door that lead to Haibara's research room and prayed that she would come out soon so he could get out of this uncomfortable situation being interrogated by three seven year olds. Unfortunately, she didn't. Of course. It was like she could sense his misery and prolong it however she wanted to.

"It wasn't really about the case exactly." He answered, hoping that they would be satisfied with that.

They weren't.

"Well? Why did you argue?" Ayumi-chan was practically right up in his face, grabbing onto his pant leg and tugging incessantly. It almost knocked the coffee out of his hand. "Shinichi-oniisan."

"He…" Shinichi sighed again. It wouldn't be that bad to tell them a little bit, right? It wasn't like he was specifically saying that it was Kid. "Er, he had this case he was on, and he was talking to me about it. I wanted to help out, so I offered to give him a hand but then he got angry and we just started yelling at each other."

"So you wanted to help him but he didn't let you?" Mitsuhiko summarized Shinichi's little dilemma in a few words.

Shinichi nodded. "I have no idea why." He took a large gulp of coffee, remembering the argument yet again. "We've never really competed in a serious sense so I don't know why he's so intent on doing things by himself."

The three children nodded in acknowledgement, their previous game now forgotten as they became completely immersed with what Shinichi was saying.

Shinichi continued. "It's not like solving things on his own makes him better than me." Shinichi rolled his eyes. "He has some kind of weird, displaced pride or something."

Kid was prideful, that he knew. Someone who could jump across buildings and fly through the air while facing a team of trained police officers just had to be prideful. But at the same time, he was strangely humble to the point where it seemed like he was only mocking. Of course, that had nothing to do with the argument from that night. That was just Kid being his irritating and conceited self. Why else would he think Shinichi couldn't handle a few criminals with guns, despite the part he played in taking down a large-scale criminal organization? And if they were a part of the organization, then it was even better.

The kids looked at each other for a few moments, hands coming up to their chins in a classic thinking pose as they apparently attempted to think of a solution to Shinichi's problems. Ayumi-chan looked particularly deep in thought as she furrowed her brows. She always seemed so much more invested in these sorts of things over the boys.

Able to enjoy the brief moment of silence, Shinichi took another drink of the coffee that was starting to get cold. He allowed the children to contemplate on their own, as this was much safer than say, a murder or crime of some sort.

Then, the three turned away from him and huddled together, whispering to each other. Except Genta wasn't exactly the best at keeping his voice down. Shinichi was only able to hear a few bits of conversation that slipped, which didn't make too much sense when he tried to piece them together.

He looked on with slight amusement until they turned back around, looking exceptionally proud of themselves.

"We figured it out!" Genta exclaimed happily, a satisfied grin stretched across his face.

Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Figured what out?"

"Why Heiji-oniisan got mad at you!" Ayumi-chan added, like she was saying something as obvious as the sky being blue. "It's because he cares about you!"

"What?" Shinichi said, completely and utterly confused.

"We think Hattori-san was angry at you because he didn't want you to get involved, Shinichi-san." Mitsuhiko clarified, but Shinichi kept looking at the three of them as if they had suddenly fused into one single being.

"You two are best friends, right? So it's obvious he got mad 'cause he didn't want you to be in trouble." Genta nodded to himself. "That's what I'd do."

"And that's what Conan-kun did." Mitsuhiko piped in with a small frown. "Conan-kun didn't want us to get hurt, so he'd always rush off by himself and tell us not to help."

Shinichi stayed silent, finding truth in the freckled boy's words. It was true that he always went off alone whenever something dangerous came up that could potentially threaten the kids, but that was because he was the adult in that situation. He had to protect them and keep them out of as much danger as possible. He may have been the same age physically, but he was still responsible for their wellbeing, since they were so keen on playing detective no matter what he told them.

"But we really wanted to help Conan-kun too, you know!" Ayumi-chan practically jumped with how much energy she had. "We didn't want him to get hurt either, so we know how you feel right now, Shinichi-oniisan!"

Was that how it was? The reason why Kid absolutely didn't want his help wasn't because he didn't trust in Shinichi's abilities, but because he was worried about Shinichi's safety? The realization hit Shinichi like a tidal wave, washing over him. He should have known. After all, Kid always had his "no one gets hurt" policy, and there were also all those times where Kid came to his aid when there really wasn't a reason for him to do so. That's why Kid had always pretty much worked alone. He didn't want anyone to be in danger because of him.

Shinichi wanted to hit himself. Of course that's what Kid would have thought. Even Shinichi himself had made the same decision of keeping as little outsiders as possible from the organization. That was even the entire reason he took on the identity of Conan in the first place, because he didn't want Ran or anyone else to get hurt.

And that's what Kid wanted as well.

"Shinichi-san?" Mitsuhiko's voice brought him back down to earth.

He blinked a few times, as if every time he did, it unveiled more and more of the truth he sought. He finally realized what he had to do.

He grinned down at the three children. "Thanks you guys. I think I finally understand." He gave them all pats on the head while Ayumi-chan giggled, Mitsuhiko smiled back, and Genta flashed him the peace sign. "I'm glad you three wanted to help Conan whenever trouble came up, I'm sure he understands that as well. He's really thankful that you three are his friends." His smile faded into something a little more somber.

"It's weird." Ayumi-chan tilted her head curiously. "When Shinichi-oniisan says that…"

"It's like Conan's saying it." Genta finished, eyes wide.

The kids looked at each other briefly and nodded in agreement.

"It's almost as if Kudou-kun is Edogawa-kun, isn't it?" And Shinichi could recognize that tone of voice anywhere, belonging to one resident seven year old scientist.

Shinichi turned his head stiffly at Haibara, who had on a look that was a mix of wanting to laugh and wanting to frown. Was she really doing this right now? He hadn't even prepared!

"H-Hai-"

"Haibara-san!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed, suddenly brightening up significantly. "What do you mean?"

"Oh nothing." Haibara shook her head slightly, her voice as unexplainable as her current expression. "Kudou-kun just reminds me of Edogawa-kun, that's all." She sent him a look Shinichi was unable to describe.

"It's true that they do…" Mitsuhiko trailed off.

Ayumi-chan sprung into action. "That would mean that we can come to crime scenes, right? If Conan-kun's Shinichi-oniisan!"

The other girl shook her head. "I don't think so. Edogawa-kun wouldn't dare allow it." She kept her gaze straight on Shinichi. "Right, Kudou-kun?"

"Uh." Shinichi's words caught in his throat. "Y-Yeah! Crime scenes are off limits, but if I ever get stumped on a case, I'll turn to you three, okay?" He forced on a smile, hoping to throw off the potential suspicion and appease the children. Haibara frowned at him, and he keenly ignored it.

"Really!?" All three of them spoke at once, their eyes sparkling with childish excitement.

"Yeah. I promise."

The kids all cheered, spouting off things they could potentially do to help Shinichi solve crimes. He looked back at Haibara, who still had an odd expression on her face. Instead, she raised her hand up and gestured for him to go over to her.

Taking a glance back at the kids, who were now talking amongst themselves, Shinichi finished the rest of his now cold coffee and went over to the little girl.

She looked at him silently, and he crouched down to her height with a quiet exhale. Haibara, of course, looked unimpressed at his considerate gesture, like she always did.

She then pushed a tiny hand into Shinichi's, handing him a flash drive. "Here. The information you wanted." She spoke quietly, making sure the Detective Boys didn't listen in. "Remember what I said about using flash drives."

Shinichi nodded. "Right," he replied back. "Don't be connected to wi-fi and delete everything afterwards."

It was a set of rules that Haibara had drilled into him out of either her own paranoia or concern for Shinichi's wellbeing. Nevertheless, Shinichi had long ago learned to listen to her demands, lest she did something unspeakable to him.

"Good." She sounded satisfied enough, but her eyes were still cold and piercing. "Need I say anything more about the kids again?"

Shinichi smiled weakly. "I know. I'm not trying to make excuses, but I have a lot of things to deal with at the moment."

"Right." Haibara sneered. "Kaitou Kid."

"Yeah. Kid." He shifted his eyes back to his bag full of case files next to the sofa and gazed at it longingly. After his previous revelation, he really wanted to look into the files and the data Haibara had given him, but he knew he had to at least wait until he was at home. It wasn't going to take long to get there, but there were still things he had to do here before he left.

Haibara let out a deep sigh from next to him. "Fine then, Kudou-kun." she said. "Go."

"What?" Shinichi turned back to Haibara. "Really?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes. If you're that invested in Kid, fine by me. I'm sure he's thrilled." Shinichi kind of doubted that. "But we're continuing this," she flicked her wrist in the direction of the Detective Boys. "Later."

Shinichi laughed awkwardly and moved his arm to perform a salute with two fingers. "Yes, ma'am." She shooed him away as she walked towards the other three kids, and then he was able laugh a little more naturally.

He went over and gathered his bag and coat and headed to the door.

"Are you leaving, Shinichi-niichan?" Genta asked.

He looked back, making sound of confirmation and said, "I wasn't lying when I said I had a case to work on."

"Shinichi-oniisan!" Ayumi-chan called out, waving her arms. "Make sure to make up with Heiji-oniisan!"

Haibara, who was speaking to a very happy looking Mitsuhiko, looked in his direction with an incredulous look on her face. He decided to ignore that, too.

Instead, he waved back to them and shut the door behind him.

And so began his next course of action.

I have a pretty bad habit of accidentally adding a bunch more scenes than I initially planned so now the plot now progresses at the rate of a snail. 7 chapters in and we're still in the pretty early beginnings of this thing.