EDIT(9/9/2011) The Late A/N: I wrote this when I was working on chapter 6. Pretty late, indeed. But I felt a great urge to spit this out of my mind, so here it is.

If you're a quite decent DC fans, unlike me, you must've been aware since long ago that Shinichi had confessed to his long-awaiting girlfriend in destiny. And it's definitely NOT a good news to certain pairing supporter. Yes, that's us.

So after reading the confession chapter, I was temporarily shocked. It was not fair, I thought. But still, what can I do as a mere reader anyway, to erase this painful truth and fact? To keep my faith in a little hope that still exist in my dream?

That's right. I can write (or continue to write) fics.

It's dedicated to you, fans of this wonderful pairing.

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CHAPTER 1 - What's Wrong, Haibara?

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It was one bright Sunday morning when Conan was yawning audibly in Hakase's couch.

"Fuwaah.. What a boring Sunday!" he cried out desperately to nobody in particular, "a teenage boy in my age should go hang out on this kind of day, not just sitting here alone!"

"My, my, Shinichi-kun," Hakase commented from the kitchen, washing the dishes, "There are a lot of things you can do. It's Sunday morning, for God's sake! Start doing something."

"Yeah? Like what? Going to the park with those kids from Detective Boys? Geez..." Conan sighed.

"You know, you act like a real kid sometimes," Hakase sat down the couch and grabbed the remote. He heard Conan grumbled and Hakase turned on the TV, practically ignored the whining child.

"Where's Haibara, anyway?"

"Oh, Ai-kun is probably at the lab."

"She's never bored in there, isn't she?" Conan scoffed.

"The same applies to you, Tantei-kun, when it comes to murders and cases," Agasa chuckled. Conan chose to ignore it. "Why don't you come over there to see her, Shinichi-kun? She's working hard for you, you know..."

The boy didn't respond. He just stared flat at the TV and muttered something of disapproval. Hakase finally got enough of his patience.

"Fine. If you want to stay here, then you have to watch this," said Hakase and changed the channel to Kamen Yaiba series. Conan's eyes are wide for a second and hurriedly went to the lab. He decided that it's better be with Haibara's apparatus than be with that stupid series.

Hakase grinned in victory.

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-0-

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Conan walked the stairs almost lazily and when he hit the door to the lab, he didn't bother to knock and pushed the door open. He took the first step and examined around.

He had to blink a few times to adjust to the familiar darkness surrounding the room, despite that it's a bright morning.

He screened the room to search for any sign of living being.

"Ah, there you are-"

"You didn't knock," said the girl in the room, still facing to the monitor in front of her.

"You know, your eyes would get hurt if you keep on working in this light," he said, ignoring the complaint and took a seat in nearby chair. "What are you working on, anyway?"

Haibara shot him a look for a second and continue working, "What do you think?"

"Hey, what's that look for? I'm just checking you," Conan protested at the coldness in the girl's tone and looked somewhat offended.

Haibara Ai only shrugged, "Whatever."

A silence followed later, making Conan shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Sure he just want to make a conversation with the girl, but it seems that she won't make it easy. Well, things have never been easy with her! He should've known that!

Haibara noticed a frown on Conan's face and she leaned back on her seat, hands massaging her temples.

"I'm sorry," she said, "it's just that... Nevermind."

Conan's frown softened for a while, Haibara looked suddenly so tired. He felt a pang of guilt in his chest. Of course she was tired. Dealing with chemicals and compounds should be hard, and a teenage girl at her age have dealt with horrible things you had never imagined.

"Have you slept yet?" Conan asked suddenly.

"... I guess not,"

"Well, go get some sleep then, I guess," he stood up, offering the girl a hand to help her get off her chair too, "Do you want to get sick or something?"

Haibara sighed and took Conan's hand, used it as leverage to lift herself up from the chair. "I guess you're right," she said and walked past the detective to head on to her room and yawned, "Turn off the PC, will you?"

"Geez..." Conan sighed to the passing figure, his kinda concerned mom-like look suddenly turned into a frown.

"-And don't try to peek at any files, or you'll gonna regret it for the rest of your life."

"Fine, fine. Just go to sleep already!" and with that, he was left alone in the darkness.

He let out a sigh before reaching for the PC and try to locate the power button. But darkness made him hard to see anything, so he switched the flashlight from his watch and complete his job. It was after unplugging the cable when he noticed that the room was kinda peculiar.

Next to the PC, there is a large wooden table with few devices on it. Conan had seen it many times with Hakase when he's showing off his latest inventions, so he didn't bothered with that. What's bothering him is the half-opened drawer under the table, with messy papers inside it.

"What's that? I never see Haibara left her work disorganized," his detective instinct told him.

Driven with curiosity, he took few sheets of paper from it and examined them, one by one.

And his eyes went wide on every observation.

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-0-

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"How is it, Hakase?" Conan asked to the professor in front of him, hands under his pocket. It was Wednesday. And he was dragged early from school to Hakase's house along with three kids from his class who never get off of him since...forever. They even made up a group called Detective Boys with him, because they found out that his ability to solve riddles plus his unusual knowledge is just too much fun.

"40 degrees..." the professor replied shortly with a concerned look from his face and a thermometer in his hand, "Not good..."

"Geez, Haibara. What have you done this time?" the boy shot a flat stare to the girl in question, as if blaming her.

"Be nice, Conan-kun. Ai-chan is sick!" Ayumi hissed.

"Heh, what was that, Conan? It's not her fault for being sick!" Genta glared.

"Yeah, Conan-kun. Behave yourself," Mitsuhiko commanded.

Hakase sweatdropped, Haibara coughed a few times.

"Ah! You see? You're just making Ai-chan get worse!" Ayumi cried frantically to the girl in bed, "Are you okay, Ai-chan?"

"Don't worry- cough- I just need- cough- some rest..." the girl managed to speak.

"Well, kids, Ai-kun is right," Hakase said gently with a reassuring smile, "So you better be home now, and let Ai-kun rest. I'm sure she'll get a lot better tomorrow."

The three looked hesitant to leave for a second, but they left eventually after wishing Haibara to get well soon. Haibara, on the other hand, was fast asleep after taking medicines given by Hakase. Taking the chance, Conan confronted Hakase in the kitchen.

"She's overworked herself, wasn't she?" the boy said, "again."

"Well, Shinichi-kun, she always worked so long in the lab, and I already tried my best to keep her under control..." Hakase trailed off, sounded still worried, "but this time... It's different. She's overdone herself for something, and I don't think it's because of her work..."

"Did she tell you anything?"

"No... She didn't tell me much about her work, even when she's working the antidote. I respect her secrecy, of course, so I never questioned her or anything..."

"Did she... get out lately? Maybe, you know, she encountered one of them and not telling us that she did..."

"That's not possible, Shinichi-kun. She's always in her lab afterschool and she won't come out until the next morning... It's been three days straight, and I-"

"She's been working three days straight?" Conan's face bewildered.

"-ah, yes. Since you came over last Sunday," Hakase took a seat on the couch in the livingroom, "If only I knew what's bothering her."

"Well, it's not like you'd get straight answer from her if you ask. She always makes things complicated whenever it comes to her being and her life..."

"What do we do now, Shinichi-kun? Can you at least help her?" Hakase suggested with panic tone.

"Oh, I wish," Conan sighed.

"Please, Shinichi-kun. I kinda feel bad to let her suffer things on her own... I feel like I need to do something to help her, but what can an old man like me do to understand such complicated, young, fragile spirit? If only I could turn myself into one of-"

"Alright, alright, Hakase. I'll try to figure out," Conan cut off the frantic whining from professor. Hakase only grinned wide in reply, happy to know that his trick worked to the detective. "And now, I shall go to the lab to investigate, if you don't mind."

"No, not at all!" Hakase sounded happy.

"And one more thing, Professor. What is the password to your PC?"

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TO BE CONTINUED

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A/N: So I was bored and decided to write this Ai x Conan (and hopefully Shiho x Shinichi) fics. This is just the beginning of upcoming adventure which I predicted would be unrevealed on next chapter. The main plot had been planned and I hope I could finish writing them off soon.

So, for the mean time, why don't you share your thoughts and hit that lovely review button?