Prologue

I See You

"Are you ready for this?" Shinichi asked, raising the jewel. "All of you. I mean, when this thing goes off, They'll be done- you'll all have to… go."

"I know," Elena said, touching her husband's hand. "We're ready. We know Shiho… is safe."

"Bring it on," Akai said, putting his arm around Akemi. "I've been waiting for this since that bastard Gin killed you…"

"You always were notable for your cheery demeanour," Akemi laughed.

"I'm ready," Toichi said. His hand hovered above his son's shoulder.

"Yeah," Kaito said, though his voice was rough. "You will…?"

"I'll… I'll be all right," Shinichi promised-lied- softly. Kaito swallowed hard, then nodded.

"Let's do this," he said. Shinichi gave him that disconcerting double stare for a long, uncomfortable moment, the silence only broken by the distant sounds of gunfire as one locked door after another was forced open. A last look, perhaps. Then he nodded, raising the Pandora to the moonlight.

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Really short prologue… the first chapter will be familiar to those who voted on "The Back Burner". This will probably be a short fic, or short at least by the standards of my previous fic… XD

Also, partially because I've never done it before and I'd like to try, and partially due to the poll results, this one will be KaiShin, eventually. It's not a pairing I intend to do with any regularity, I'd just like to try it. If you don't like slash, that's no problem- you don't have to read. It's not going to start off that way, but it'll develop. And posting will be sporadic for a while, until I get a load more of it written. Now, read and enjoy!

I do not own or claim to own Meitantei Conan/Case Closed. If I did, I would be luxuriating in my royalties, not writing fanfic in the back of old maths jotters instead of doing homework. -_-