PART ONE

This day sucked.

I mean, really sucked. More than the rest of my week, which was a fact I was finding hard to handle because I'd already had a pop quiz sprung on me, been chased around with a mop (which wasn't very new, actually), and barely gotten any sleep due to my recurring heists. I need better schedule management, I told myself bitterly. And maybe a bodyguard.

Because what made this day suck more than all the others was the fact that I was lying in a dark street, my leg bleeding from a bullet wound...in the rain. See where I'm coming from?

In a way, though, I was kind of glad it was raining. Rain kept people off the streets, and that way no one stumbled along and found the elusive Kaito Kid just lying on the ground, in full costume, bleeding onto the asphalt. It would completely ruin my reputation, not to mention my clean prison record. But just because rain kept most people off the streets didn't make it impossible for someone to wander by and find the grand prize. It was this thought that spurred me forward, my hands grasping at the brick wall of the building closest to me. I used the cracks between the bricks as handholds and pulled myself painfully to my feet.

"Ow," I muttered. "Ow, ow, ow..." Water dripped from my hair into my eyes, and I realized my hat was lying in a puddle, having been flung to the ground when I had fallen. I wanted to grab it-it was my dad's hat, really-but if I bent over for it, I wasn't sure I'd be able to come back up again. Screw it. "Bye, hat," I mumbled sadly, and started limping away.

As I staggered along, my mind helpfully offered up places I could go. Aoko's. "And let her see me like this?" I argued with myself. "No way." Jii. Yes, Jii. He was my best bet. Why on earth did I think of Aoko first?

My foot slipped on the rain-slickened sidewalk, and I stumbled forward, most of my weight falling onto my injured left leg. I yelled a swear, thanked the rain for covering up the sound, and found myself leaning heavily against a shop window. "I hate that guy," I muttered. "I'll get him back for this." Watch your back, Snake.

More rain water dripped into my eyes, and I reached up with one hand to brush my hair away. But my fingers didn't reach my hair. Instead, my sleeve, drooping over my hand, pushed against my bangs. "What the...?" It fit this morning! But now my sleeve hung way over my hand, as if I were a little kid playing dress up. Curiously, I glanced down at my feet, and then I easily saw why I was slipping. It was simple.

My shoes were now too big. Many sizes too big.

"No way," I breathed. "This is nuts..." And then I caught sight of my reflection in the shop's window. I felt the air whoosh out of my lungs, my eyes wide with shock. I turned quickly, smacking my hands flat against the glass, and stared. I..., my mind sputtered. I look...I look exactly like ten years ago! It was impossible. Yet there I was, seven years old, looking like a child who'd just stepped out of a washing machine and into a gunfight.

How...? I had blacked out for only a moment, just for a second, while the pain was still fresh and Snake had still been standing over me. That couldn't have been enough time for...for...this. "What did he do?" I asked my little reflection, and I noticed for the first time how high-pitched my voice had become. All those years of puberty for nothing now.

Where could I go now? Definitely not Aoko. Jii wouldn't know what to do. If I called Mom, she wouldn't believe me, even with this voice. No one would believe me. I had too many disguises, had pulled too many pranks for them to take this seriously. Except...

If I was right, then he would. This had happened to him, after all. So he would get it. He'd believe me. Right?

Even if he didn't, he was my only hope now. Besides, now that my initial shock had worn off, the pain in my leg started throbbing again. It needed to be treated, and it needed to be treated soon. Tantei-kun, I thought, stumbling forward a couple more steps. Tantei-kun. Here I come.

Mouri Detective Agency.

It was written in bold black letters across the windows on the second story, above the coffee house. Just like I knew it would.

I lingered in the alleyway across from it, hesitant. I knew I couldn't just waltz up and ask to stay, like Tantei-kun had. I didn't have the family-friend status that he had, the you-owe-me card to pull. I needed a plan. A foolproof one.

Too bad that wasn't my specialty.

My heists were usually based off what Nakamori would do, not a plan for what everyone else who happened to stop by might have planned for me. My plans never really had a back-up. In fact, I worked mostly on luck and good magic. But luck wasn't going to help me here, as evidenced by the obvious bad luck I was having. I needed a real plan.

I could sneak in. No, that's very untrustworthy-what if that girl of his found me? I could play lost, but then they might just turn me over to the police. Orphaned? No, then they'd send me to a foster home, not necessarily take me in...

And then I thought: If only I had a family friend, too.

Then I wondered for a moment at my stupidity, because the plan was simple. It was foolproof. No one would suspect I was lying...if only I could get Tantei-kun to go along with it. But, with nothing else I could do, I limped to the nearest phone booth and prayed he would answer.

The phone rang exactly nine times, almost went to voicemail, before an annoyed voice came through. "Oi. Who's this?"

I felt a smile stretch across my face. "Tantei-kun!" I said, relieved.

"Eh?" His voice was confused now. "Who's this?" he repeated, and I remembered that my voice was different. He wouldn't recognize it.

"Listen," I said quickly, urgently, "I know this is going to sound crazy, but I don't know who else to call and-"

"You've got the wrong number," Tantei-kun interrupted. "If you want Uncle Mouri, you need to-"

"It's Kaito!" I burst finally, exasperated.

There was silence for a moment. Then an incredulous, "What?"

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered. "I had that reaction, too."

"Who's voice did you steal now?" he demanded. "Or is this a prank call? This better not be a prank call at..." There was a pause. "Two in the morning!"

"This is my voice!" I insisted. "I met up with this guy named Snake, and he shot me. I blacked out for a bit, and when I woke up I...I was like you!"

"You are kidding me."

"No! Look, I didn't know who else to call..."

"This Snake guy," interrupted Tantei-kun, "he had the drug? He's..."

"Shut up for a minute and help me first!" I shouted into the receiver. "We'll figure that out later. But, right now, I have a plan."

"A plan?" Tantei-kun asked. He sounded wary.

"Yeah." I found myself grinning. "You're gonna love it. But first, I need you to throw an outfit out one of your windows."

"An outfit? Why?"

"Do you want me to come into your house in a bloody Kaito Kid costume?"

"Wait, come in-"

"Just do it!"

I heard him grumbling on the other end, the sound of a drawer opening and closing, and I quickly hung up the phone and staggered as quickly as I could back around the building where I knew the bedroom windows were. As soon as I came into view of one, I saw a small bundle tumble down onto the concrete, then a small face peering curiously after it. I came closer until I was directly under the window, then waved slightly up at the face.

"So he really did shrink," I heard above me, and I scowled. Would I lie about that?

Slowly, wincing at the pain in my leg, I lifted the clothes off the ground, then looked back up at Tantei-kun. "Be up in a bit," I said as loudly as I dared.

"Kid, wait!" Tantei-kun whispered down, but I was already gone, slipping into the shadows of the nearest alley to change quickly into the clothes he'd tossed to me. I scowled at his taste-white t-shirt, blue vest, shorts? This is so old-fashioned-but I slipped into them anyway, leaving my costume in the closest, most abandoned-looking dumpster to hopefully come back for it later. Then I started back for the agency.

Tantei-kun, I thought, you had better help me fix this.

I got all the way up the stairs and to the door marked Mouri Detective Agency before I realized I was so short now that I'd have to stand on my tiptoes to reach the door knob. "Jeez," I muttered, and reached for the knob. "Just...a little...closer," I said, stretching towards the door knob.

Then I heard, "Oi, Kid. Up here."

I fell back to the balls of my feet and looked up the stairs to my right and saw Tantei-kun at the top, his head poking out a different door. "Apartment's up here," he explained.

I fought back a sigh, wondering how many more stairs my leg could take. I was afraid it'd bleed through my new shorts, and then how would I pass off as a normal kid if they noticed the bullet wound? I wouldn't, that's how, but I braved the other set of stairs and painstakingly made my way up.

"Hurry up!" hissed Tantei-kun.

I shot him a glare. "I'm going as fast as I can," I snapped. "I told you, I got shot!"

"You better tell me what this 'plan' of yours is," he replied simply as I got closer to the top step.

"Hmph." I held out my hand and he helped me up the last step. Then he opened the door and I stumbled into a shadowy living room. I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the darkness, and I heard him shut the door behind me.

"What's your plan?" demanded Tantei-kun.

"Jeez," I said, and I smiled a little. "No hello?" When he just looked a me, I knew he was in no mood for my humor. I wasn't really in the mood for it, either, but how else would I cope with all this? "My plan," I started, "is very simple. It involves you..."

"I figured," Tantei-kun said, "considering you called me."

"...and me being brothers."

There was a small pause before he said, "Did I hear you right? You want to play my brother?"

"Conan's brother, really," I said. "Can I sit down? My leg's killing me."

"You will have to get that treated, you know," Tantei-kun said, and I noted a slight tone of concern. I wanted to laugh-he was worried about me? Never seemed that way before.

"For now," I said, "just help me to a couch."

There was a sigh, then his hand gripped my arm and I was being led across the dark room. "Really," he mumbled, "you're a death wish walking." Then my knee bumped into something soft and I was being pushed onto a couch. "Better?" he asked flatly.

"Much," I replied.

"Why do we have to be brothers?" he asked after a moment. "Couldn't you just...I don't know...play that butler of yours' grandkid?"

"Jii's grandkid?" I repeated, and I nearly burst out laughing. "If I go to Jii like this he'd lose his mind," I explained. "Saying things like 'Your father will never forgive me.'"

"So you're just going to let him think you're missing?"

"Even if I'm missing," I told him, "I'll still be Kaito. Not...this. Better to be the brother of someone in my same condition."

"Condition?" He snorted. "You say it like it has a cure already."

"It may not yet, but you're looking into it, so a cure's a possibility." I raised an eyebrow. "Right?"

Silence for a minute, then, "We're looking into it."

That answers my question, I thought sarcastically. "Until then," I said aloud, "call me brother."

"I didn't agree to any of this," objected Tantei-kun. "I mean, how do I explain you to everyone? A mysterious brother coming out of nowhere?"

"Use the cliche." At his blank look, I grinned. "I'm your long-lost twin."

Thought I'd start uploading this. Would like feedback on the idea! -Wynter Fyres