Yes, you read that summary right. 1sentence. ConanAi. Angst, introspection, arguments, and understanding. Fluff. Someone shoot me now.

Note: not all of these will be ConanAi though most will include both characters. Also, these stand alone, so something that happened in one may not happen in another...and most (unfortunately) will never officially happen at all.

Fandom: Detective Conan/Case Closed
Pairing: Kudo Shinichi/Edogawa Conan x Miyano Shiho/Haibara Ai (/Sherry)
Theme Set: Gamma
Rating: K+

Disclaimer: If I owned Detective Conan, Shiho would've had more than one true appearance in over four hundred episodes. Who else thinks that statistic is ridiculous and unfair?

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#01 – Ring
It was nothing much, a mere piece of circular plastic, but it meant quite a bit to Haibara - enough that it was still in her pocket as the man said, "You may now kiss the bride;" but Kudo found it sitting on top of a small package labeled "From Ai" as the wedding gifts were opened.

#02 – Hero
Shinichi would never be able to play the hero again, she thought numbly, but there was a high price to pay for his "safety"; and Shiho found herself uncharacteristically wishing that the dead teenager would come rushing in to save her from herself once more.

#03 – Memory
"Who are you?" she asked several days after he'd failed to wrest the pill from her, and staring at the woman as she gazed curiously at him from her bed in the amnesia ward, Edogawa Conan found he no longer knew the answer to that question.

#04 – Box
If the Black Organization had been a cage, Agasa's house was a box, complete with four walls, top, bottom, and presents inside.

#05 – Run
Shinichi, who as a famous teenage detective barely ran at all (and even then only to score a goal in soccer), thought it extremely ironic that he spent most of his time running now that his legs were a quarter their original size.

#06 – Hurricane
"It'll blow over," Conan assured a shivering Ayumi, "and then we can go home," but the optimism was lost on Haibara, who at his other side in the cramped space muttered into the darkness and Conan's ear, "No, it'll blow away, and then we'll be home."

#07 – Wings
Haibara was speechless when he gave her the pendant as the headquarters collapsed around them, and couldn't muster coherent thought for almost a full minute after he told her the flying bird was, "To remind Shiho that she's free."

#08 – Cold
She couldn't feel the snow even with bare feet, couldn't feel the bullets even as her blood splattered red-on-white, couldn't feel the fear as Gin pointed a gun at her head…but then the voice that was Kudo and not Kudo yelled at her, and though she still couldn't feel, she could move.

#09 – Red
"Like a blood red rose, Sherry…your favorite color," she clearly recalled Gin saying, but she couldn't remember why she liked it until Kudo dragged her out of the lab to see a particularly beautiful sunset.

#10 – Drink
It was quiet in the Professor's house as Haibara relaxed after a fourteen-hour stint in the basement, a sort of mind-numbing silence she later blamed for the thought and subsequent experiment: I wonder if Paikaru is the only alcohol that affects APTX-4869…

#11 – Midnight
They were both insomniacs, a fact each had discovered when Conan started living at Agasa's house, so an agreement was made in the middle of one particularly quiet night: neither would ask, but either could tell.

#12 – Temptation
The little capsule was taunting her as it sat mute on the table, but eventually she picked it up and walked out the door – after all, "The best way to protect something is to set it free."

#13 – View
As they stood on the balcony together, Conan stared at Haibara's small smile long enough that she asked what he was doing, to which he responded simply, "Admiring the view."

#14 – Music
It never occurred to him to ask what kind of music she liked, especially because she had never showed interest in any type, but when he caught her humming along to a classical piece on the radio as she worked, Ai found a CD in the lab a couple days later.

#15 – Silk
Once Conan caught himself wondering if her hair felt as silky as it looked, but then he snorted, thinking: Considering its unique color and her 'unique' personality, it probably has a unique texture – like "bristly"; it wasn't until years later that he discovered he was right the first time.

#16 – Cover
He walked in to ask her what had happened to his favorite copy of the first Sherlock Holmes novel, only to note that her latest fashion magazine looked suspiciously thick…so he let it slide (but when the rest of his Holmes collection disappeared the next day, he stole her magazines).

#17 – Promise
"If the coin lands on tails," said Kudo seriously as she flipped it, "then you have to promise me you won't follow;" and Haibara nodded silently as she thought, Two heads are better than one, and caught the trick coin just right.

#18 – Dream
Gin was shooting, blood was everywhere, precious people were dying…and then Conan woke in cold sweat and reflexively fumbled for his glasses, though he was no longer sure they'd be enough to hide "Superman."

#19 – Candle
The lights were out and Conan was stuck at Agasa's house because there was a blizzard outside, but as he watched Ai move around the lab with practiced ease in the light of a single candle, he couldn't bring himself to care.

#20 – Talent
If she didn't have this talent, she would never have interested the Black Organization, lost her sister, had her childhood torn away - or gotten a second chance, and met Kudo.

#21 – Silence
Though extremely talkative when outlining a case or discussing Holmes, Conan was generally silent and observant, as was Haibara, which made it all the more remarkable that the two could talk (or more commonly, argue) for hours on end.

#22 – Journey
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single shove," misquoted Kudo from behind her as he started her off: she'd been staring at the newly discovered headquarters for all of ten minutes.

#23 – Fire
There was fire in his eyes as he yelled at her, and ice in hers as she responded – and once more the result was not water.

#24 – Strength
There were many kinds of strength: the strength to do something, or not to; the strength to say something, or not to; the strength to be something, or not to…Sherry fingered the little black pistol and knew she was weak.

#25 – Mask
They wore hard masks, both of them, though the face painted on Kudo's had a smile (for Ran, her malicious half inserted, but she ignored the thought).

(Notes)

- A not-quite-spoiler: Paikaru is the Chinese wine that Heiji gives to Conan, and it temporarily counteracts the effects of APTX-4869

- The quote in number 12 is from the second book of T.A. Baron's excellent Lost Years of Merlin series.

- "Superman" from 18 is a reference to the banter Conan and Haibara exchange in episodes 176-178 (about volume 24 of the manga), just after he lends her his glasses.

(Closing A/N) This is the first 25; the next set will be posted…eventually.