Prologue: The Shooting

A/N: New ficcie time ladies and gentlefolk (I plan on doing another Heiji/Shinichi oneshot for the ITWIFLTD series before I start the next arc too, so don't fret! (Pandakitty! *grin*)) It's not going to be half as dark as the last one was, but there's definitely going to be some darklike moments, like this prologue for example…as if you couldn't figure out there was going to be a shooting just by the title, detectivework is not for you! LOL On with the fic.

Today was supposed to be fun, we were supposed to go and look at different universities today, going to college was one thing that I knew was going to cramp my style as Kaitou Kid but I had to do it to make my mom happy. I also decided to go because we finally brought down the Black Organization, and well, I kinda accidentally fell in love with Shinichi in the process, so we decided to come to this thing together. What I didn't expect was how many of our friends decided that they wanted to show up to this stupid orientation too. It turned out being us, obviously, Hakuba, Hattori Heiji and his what I'm assuming girlfriend Kazuha, but I'm assuming by the evil death glare that Heiji's giving Hakuba at the moment, there's a little bit of sexual tension that needs to be let out sometime today or else they might kill each other, Akako (joy…get her the hell away from me now!), Aoko, Sonoko Suzuki, and Ran. What none of us expected was that over half of that group was going to be dead by the end of the day.

"Two college students walked into the university a few moments ago, they seemed like normal students, until we heard they had guns. Five high school students all from varying high schools were here for their orientation today, and ended up dead in the process. Since they were high school students we can't relay their names to the public." A news reporter said.

FLASHBACK:

"Shinichi, quit looking like they are still around, it's not like you're going to die today or something, I mean really you're being ridiculous."

"Kaito, there's something not right about being here today can we just come back next time they hold an orientation?"

"Kudo, he's right you're being ridiculous, we brought down the organization who did that to you, you had the cahonies to finally tell everyone what had happened to you, just have fun today okay?" Heiji said.

"YOU'RE BACK!" a boy yelled as he started running.

"Eisuke! Stop running you're going to hurt yours…" Shinichi started as the boy tripped over himself and fell over. Shinichi, Ran, and Sonoko shook their heads. "I take it the going to the US to better yourself didn't go as planned?"

"Who cares? You're back, how long has it been since you were, well, you know?"

"They all know Eisuke, I told them after we brought down the organization."

He hugged Shinichi as if he had wanted to forever, I looked at him with a scowl.

"AHH! He looks just like you! Please don't let him hurt me Shinichi!" he said "I mean I hurt myself just fine on my own!"

"He won't hurt you, he just has a little bit of a jealous streak is all, this is Kuroba Kaito, my boyfriend."

"Hondou Eisuke." He said holding out his hand to me. I couldn't help myself, his eyes were almost bluer than Shinichi's, I shook his hand.

"This is Hattori Heiji and his childhood friend Kazuha, Hakuba Saguru, Nakamori Aoko, Koizumi Akako, and you know everyone else."

"We should probably go in. I mean we've been standing here forever." Sonoko said. "Besides I want to go look at older hot men!"

Everyone in the group sweatdropped except those who didn't know Sonoko…

We entered the convention hall, it seemed kind of empty, Shinichi was right, something was incredibly wrong, there were supposed to be high school students from all over the country coming to this stupid orientation, it was then we saw one of the students through a window, mouthing something. That was when I saw them. Two men with guns, and I realized what the girl was mouthing.

"GET OUT!" I yelled and then I felt it, I heard the gun go off, I just didn't expect that it would be me that it would hit. Again, and again, shots were going off, someone dropped next to me I looked over and the person I saw next to me was Shinichi, but there were three more, two already dead. Hattori and Hakuba took their final breaths. Shinichi took my hand, "I guess you were right." I said between bated breath, it hurt to breathe. "Something did go wrong today."

"I love you Kaito." He whispered before he stopped breathing and his hand went slack in mine.

That was when one more shot went off, another body fell to my other side. Hondou Eisuke just stared at me, and it wasn't because of the fact that he was shot, it was the fact that he was dead on impact, shot through the head. I couldn't hold on anymore, my mind was swimming. "I'm tired." I whispered to no one in particular, as I closed my eyes never to open them again.

The five of us watched on as our bodies were looked over by the police. The girls crying because they lost the people that they cared for, telling their statements to the various cops who showed up. It was strange watching it go down like this. I didn't expect to even become ghostlike.

Then we heard a voice that I NEVER expected to hear again. "Shinichi-Niichan!"

It was odd seeing Conan again, but how I will never understand.

"He's a part of Shinichi who died before he had a chance to do anything substantial. He's been helping me with cases since you came back…so much for a long return and college huh, Kudo?"

"TAKAGI-KEIJI!"

"I've been able to see ghosts since I was a kid. It's just something I would rather people not know about or they'll think I'm crazy."

"So it's true then, we're…"

"Hondou Eisuke was shot in the head and yet he's standing there with you, what would be your first clue."

"It looks like we're not going to be hunting down Kaitou Kid anymore." Hakuba said with a grin over to me.

"No point in hiding it now is there?" I said.

"So what's the point? Why are we still here?" Heiji asked "Why do we have to watch ourselves be taken away in bodybags?"

"It's the first part of what you five have to go through as grim reapers."

"Excuse me, but say that again?" Eisuke said.

"The five of you are the replacements of the five who have hit their quota of souls, you five now have a quota to fill, there were actually six, but Conan here…"

"Hasn't hit his quota yet."

"Considering he's a child, he can't reap human souls."

"I'm a pet reaper." He said angrily. "I get stupid little notes saying "Happy the Cat dies at this time on this day…so annoying! So I help Takagi with cases when I'm done."

"How do we know what to do?" Shinichi asked still affronted that he had to essentially kill others to go onto the next life.

"You'll get notes, sort of like how Conan does, with a name, a date, and a time of death. You have to take care of it before that time, or…well it won't be pretty for anyone involved. I've seen what happens, and I don't want to see it again, so because of the fact I would like to stay alive a bit longer, please do this on time."

"Who sends the notes?" I asked.

"I do." My eyes closed, I felt like I was about to cry when I heard that voice, I turned around and looked into the eyes of Kuroba Toichi, my father. "Otousan…"

The four other boys looked kind of awkward at this moment, and it wasn't until I actually started sobbing and I went to hug my father that they decided to look away. "So let me get this straight…We're dead, but we have to steal people's lives because it's their time to die….we send them off to the next world…and our boss is Kaito's father?" Heiji asked.

"That's the jist of it, I just help out when I can." Takagi said.

"And we don't get to pass on until we hit this quota in which we don't know what it is…" Hakuba said.

"Yep."

Eisuke was freaking out…he was clutched onto Shinichi so hard that he wasn't sure how to take it, I wasn't really sure how to take it. All five of us were scared, we weren't sure how to take this, and I got to see my father for the first time in nine years. "At least you two took down the ones who did this to me." He said outloud so that Shinichi could hear too. "Conan's been quite helpful."

"Yeah, it's not like I have a choice." He said playing with Takagi's hair while sitting on his shoulders, I mean he's a child after all.

"So, when do we start?"

"First you guys have to find new bodies, and a place to live." Takagi said.

"NEW BODIES!" All five of us exclaimed…

"You can't reap people in ghost form! Are you frakking crazy or something?" Takagi said, "I mean a good portion of you guys are detectives, find a good cop body or something!"

"Takagi we're leaving!" Megure yelled.

"Coming Keibu, you coming Conan or do you want to stay here?"

"I'll go with you.." he said.

"Trader." All five of us said in unison as he gave us this crazy grin. "I'll be back, I promise." He said.

"You five should go and find your bodies, I mean if Conan can find one, I'm sure you five can." Takagi said quietly before taking leave with Conan on his shoulders.

"Why do you bring that child everywhere, I mean it's like you're hauling Conan with you everywhere." Sato said as her voice faded.

"Well I'll leave you to find your bodies and a place to live, until then, you won't have new jobs…" Toichi said as he walked away from the crime scene.

"So off to find new bodies then…" Heiji said

"That just sounds so creepy." Eisuke said still gripping on to Shinichi for dear life.

"Can we keep him?" I whispered in Shinichi's ear looking at the terrified boy in interest.

"Let's give it time okay?" he whispered back.

And with that as terrified as we were the five of us went off in search for bodies that could be used while we did our work. But first I had to bug a specific detective of the West… "So..um..Hattori, how long have you been wanting to get down Hakuba's pants?"

Hakuba and Hattori glared at me with that same death glare they gave each other before this happened. And that's when I realized, even though we are dead, I can still have my fun.

Look out for the hi-jinks and the stuff that happens between these six characters (and Takagi) go through to get to the quota that is needed for them to pass on to the next world…I plan on making this quite funny in a dark way…so feel free to review…because this is something different that I didn't plan on doing in the beginning! So let me know what you think of the whole Dead Like Me twist I put on Conan, it's not a crossover, just the same sort of idea!