Heya !

Here I am, for another story !

First, this one isn't related to my other one, Unexpected Alliances. It is completely another thing.

I had this idea of a Kaito / Heiji coop in the head, so I started with that and that gave me the fic title ^_^

Though it's perhaps a bit less appropriate now : this story was supposed to be a short one but looks like it'll be a longer than expected and it matches a bit less... Nevermind, too late to change !

SUMMARY : After a heist turned horribly wrong, Heiji has to face Shinichi's death. But his encounter with a certain thief leaves some doubts in his mind... What if his friend wasn't dead ? And what if he was in fact in the hands of his worst enemies ? A fight against the clock will being for the detective and the Thief, forcing them to work together to find their lost friend. And that fight will lead our heroes far further than expected.

CHARACTERS : The main characters will be Heiji, Kaito and Conan. We'll be following Heiji but he'll be with Kaito or Conan or both.

SPOILERS : For a bit more freedom in my writing, this story is happening somewhere just after Vermouth arc, so the spoilers will be kept at a minimum. Everything that could have been happening after will be ignored. I'll also be mentioning the movies from time to time.

PAIRINGS : Canon pairings though I might have put some innuendo of other pairings, but that was just for fun, that story won't adventure in those forbidden territories... ; )

WARNINGS : T for violence and language.

The beginning is really dark and sad but this isn't a death fic so keep on reading, it'll get lighter after a few chapters ; )

Pour mes français : Comme pour A. I., je commencerai la trad un peu plus tard, dans un mois peut-être mais je referai des double parutions dans la mesure du possible pour rattraper rapidement la fic anglaise.

Introduction - Chapter 1 - Burying

"- ...- chan ! ... Hei-chan ! Answer me !

- Otaki-han ?"

Heiji had a coughing fit just from whispering that name. Disoriented as he didn't understand why he was lying on the ground in the middle of the street, he tried to get up, to be stopped by the officer.

"- Stay still, ya've breathed a lot o' fumes, medics should be here in a minute.

- ... What happen'd ?" the teen asked with a feeble voice, suddenly noticing the roaring of the sirens from firemen's and the police's vehicles around him.

He also recognized the heat and the cracking noise of a fire.

"- Ya don' remember ? Ya jumped into an ablaze office buildin', ya're lucky that guy found ya... "

"A fire...? Come on, focus... "

Heiji closed his eyelids to try to remember what he was forgetting. He knew it was important but...

"- Kudô ! " Heiji jumped on his feet, brushing off the hand of the policeman who tried to stop him and looked with widened eyes at the building on fire.

"- Hei-chan, wait ! " The man grabbed firmly his arm as the dark-skinned detective tried to walk towards it on his shaking legs.

"- Ya don' understand, he's in there !

- Who's in there ? Don' tell me ya were with someone else ?!

- Ku... Conan-kun was in there, that's why I got in!"

Otaki's face paled several shades as he looked once again at the fire. It was impossible for someone to be still alive in there, Heiji was already lucky someone found him.

"- Hei-chan... there's no way...

- No ! Let me go back in there !" The detective pledged, before falling to his knees from another coughing fit.

"- Calm down, ya can' help anyone like this..." The officer stated, rubbing his back. " Over here ! " He called when he spotted two medics crossing the crowd of the officials, apparently looking for something.

Both men crouched to the teen, one putting an oxygen mask on his face while the other was checking his vital signs.

"- I'm goin' ta ask the firemen if they didn' see anyone, I'll meet ya in the ambulance, ok ? "

Heiji didn't want to stop to look at the fire but he felt he was too feeble to struggle and reluctantly let the men in white put him into a stretcher. They probably gave him something to calm him down when he wasn't paying attention.

"Damnit Kudô, tell me ya found a way out o' this hell..." He thought with one last look at the flames.

o.O.o

As the teen was starting to doze in the ambulance from the drugs, the sound of the door opening woke him up.

"- Any news ? " He asked eagerly, putting away the mask on his face.

"- Please keep it on, sir " the medic scolded, sticking it back in place.

Heiji felt a knot forming into his stomach when he spotted Otaki's long face.

"- Hei-chan... I'm sorry...

- No ! " He jumped to sit, pushing away the medic and the mask again, looking with utter disbelief at the policeman.

"- We'll have to wait for the dental recognition to be done but the body they found is probably his...

- Probably ?!

- He was badly burnt but by the size and the clothes left... There's no doubt, Hei-chan. Conan-kun is dead.

- I can't... " Heiji felt water rolling on his face dirtied by ashes before he even noticed he was crying. "I can't believe it..." The boy lied back on his stretcher and crossed in arms in front of his face, trying to hide his tears but they quickly turned into choking sobs.

"- I'm sorry... " Otaki repeated, gulping with difficulties, touched by the teen' distress.

Dressed up in his school uniform, Heiji picked up a white rose and walked with a sigh towards the centre of the room. He barely dared to raise his head, unable to look at the too small coffin in front of him, with the picture of a smiling Conan on it.

He clenched his jaw as he put the flower with the others on the dark wood.

"Rest in peace. I'll protect her for you, pal..."

o.O.o

Two days had passed since the fire.

Heiji had to stay the night to the hospital, with some oxygen, to get rid of the last traces of smoke in his lungs. Early the following morning, Otaki had confirmed the boy's death : the dental comparison came back positive, based on the data from a check up the small detective had with the school three months beforehand. The whole thing had been classified as a dramatic accident, apparently part of the roof fell on the kid as he was in that building, breaking his skull. His death had been swift, almost merciful.

With a voice still coarse from fume inhalation and from grief, the Osakan had called Agasa to give him the news and so the old man could warn Kudô's parents. He also asked Otaki to be the one to announce it to Ran and Mouri.

They both stayed overnight in the hospital, waiting with anguish for the police's conclusion and, of course, Ran broke at the confirmation, sobbing loudly against her father's shoulder. Heiji would remember Kogoro's shocked face as he patted his daughter's back : apparently the man was more attached than he thought to the boy.

o.O.o

The dark-skinned detective was now in Tôkyô, assisting to the wake of his best friend. He had a small nod at Kudô's parents, both under a disguise, receiving condolences from the different persons who surrounded the boy. He didn't recognize half the faces but with all the victims the boy helped, was it that surprising ?

Spotting Ran, the Osakan walked in her direction, when he noticed she was at the phone.

"- Shinichi ? It's Ran again... I can't seem to be able to reach you... Well, I'll try again, it's important, call me back if you can... "

His heart in his mouth, he gulped and turned to the door, unable to stand it anymore.

"- Heiji ! " Kazuha called as she saw him, noticing he was back.

"- Sorry, Kazuha, I just need ta... have some fresh air...

- But it's pourin' outside ! " she stated with concerned eyes.

"- Nevermind... " The teen took his cap out and put it on his head as he walked out of the temple.

Ignoring the rain, he wandered aimlessly in the Zen garden and sat on some stairs, bending the visor to hide his face and bringing his knees to him to put his forehead against his legs.

It was so difficult not being able to tell her the truth. But he promised.

o.O.o

Not long after that case where Conan had been shot and succeeded to get hold of his real body for a little while, they had spoken through their phones one night of what could have happened if the boy had been hurt in a more deadly way.

"- ... An' ya'd prefer her not ta know the truth ?!

- Yea... to be honest, I'd prefer to know she weeps over "Conan" 's death and is angry about "Shinichi" 's absence." The boy sadly shook his head. " I don't see how knowing she lost both would help her in there...

- So ya'd be the bad guy ? The one who left her in her distress ?

- Isn't she already lonely because of me ? Wouldn't change much, eh...

- It'd be just so..." the Osakan stopped, trying to find a word to put on the uneasy feeling he had to learn his best friend would prefer to stay in his lie even in death. " ... unfair ... fer ya.

- Yea, maybe, but I wouldn't mind in that case, right ? Just promise me... Keep an eye on her if anything happens, would you ?

- Ya don' have ta ask fer that, o' course, I'd be there...

- Thanks...

- But I got a better idea : just do yer best ta stay alive, okay ?

- I'll try to keep that in mind." The boy smiled. " Why are we discussing such an depressing subject by the way ?! Come on, tell me, how was your last case ?

- Haha, this one was funny, it was... "

o.O.o

The Osakan never imagined it would be that hard to have to deal with both the death of his friend and the fact Ran was desperately calling for Shinichi, tears in the eyes, without being able to give her the truth.

"- Tantei-han ? "

Heiji raised his head, to see a hand on his drenched shoulder, belonging to a teen in dark clothes with an umbrella. His eyes widened when they fell on his face, his body shaking from both cold and shock, as a recognized the high-school student features of his late best friend.

Frozen for one instant, his mouth opened, the name "Kudô" almost on his lips, but he stopped when his brain started to work again, remembering how the teen called him...

"- How dare ya use his face on this day, Kid !" He snapped, getting up to grab the Thief's collar, knocking his umbrella on the floor.

"- I wasn't planning to... It's mine. My true face. A bit like a parting gift... "

Heiji squinted his eyes at the boy in front of him, spotting the small differences, the eyes more indigo than azure, the unruly hairs when his friend's were flat, their colour a bit lighter...

"- Sorry... " He apologized, letting the Kid go, bending to get his umbrella and giving it back to him. "He was so sure ya prob'ly looked like him..." The Osakan had a small nostalgic smile.

"- He's always been the smart one..." The Thief stated with a smirk. " Tantei-han..." He started, his face suddenly serious.

"- Yea ?

- I'm not sure he's dead. "

The dark-skinned detective stared at him. "Dude, the damn dentals say so...

- I know but... " He stopped when a couple walked by, looking at them suspiciously. "We can't speak here... Where are you staying ? At the Mouri's ?

- Yea, fer the next couple o' days. " Heiji was still looking at him with interrogative eyes.

"- Meet you on the roof, later tonight... Two a.m. ?

- Noted but...

- Laters, Tantei-han."

And he left, quickly disappearing in the crowd in front of the temple as he went out of the garden. The Osakan was still looking at the last spot he saw the Thief, lost in his thoughts when Kazuha approached him, an umbrella in his hands.

"- Ahou, ya'll catch a cold if ya stay like that, come back inside." She asked with sympathetic eyes, knowing how hard the death of the boy hit her childhood friend.

With a nod, he followed her.