AN: This is just a small side story I had the idea of after writing 'Tonic'

Another Time

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"'Evil' is quite a blanket term. People aren't the demonic characters we would like them to be sometimes."
- David Morrissey

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Conan held the small hourglass in his hand, unsure if he was to believe what he'd been told.

Apparently, the hourglass, which couldn't possibly time an hour with how small it was, could do more than fail to keep time. How someone could travel through it with something that seemed like it would lose a fight with a spatula, he wasn't sure.

"You activated it, you have to use it. Hurry up, I want it back. That took a long time to make."

Conan shook his head, the teenager in front of him dressed really light for the weather they were having. No matter how many times he tried to hand it back to her after she dropped it, she insisted he use it.

"You know, I'm not even sure how to use it. Besides, it can't really travel through time." Conan lifted it up to her once more. "I have to go meet my friends."

"You'll leave from this second and I told you, you can't travel through time, only back. You're still going to be anchored here, and the future is too unpredictable to travel to." She sighed. "Here I wanted to use it to find out some embarrassing things about him when he was little."

Conan's shoulders fell a little. "Okay, so if it doesn't work, will you take it back?"

"Sure. You'll only be gone a short while. I'll take it back after." The girl touched the top of the hourglass with her finger. "Think of someone you want to go back into the past and see. I have it set to childhood so there's not much I can do about that. You need to concentrate on who you want to see."

Conan humored the idea for a second. "Do I need to know their name?"

The girl shrugged. "You shouldn't. It searches for the person that's in your mind. It can't really go through time searching for names. It would be strange if it cataloged people that way, though I suppose it would be easier."

Conan shrugged. "Okay, so I'm thinking about them. Now what?"

"Give it a second."

Nothing happened for that one second he gave it. In the next few, a red light seemed to travel over the hourglass, flowing over his hand and outlining his skin in a strange light. He almost dropped the hourglass, watching the world around him fade into the colors and swirl before him. Feeling off balance and like someone had just thrown him into a dryer, Conan had to fight off being sick..

Suddenly, the colors stopped and he seemed to be outside a school. Looking around, a lot of the kids around him were his own age. Nothing really seemed all that different and he found it hard to believe that this wasn't some kind of joke and she hadn't somehow drugged him and dropped him off somewhere.

No matter what time or place this was, a scream was the first thing to get his attention.

Conan spun around, having heard some of the kids behind him, though there were a lot of them there. A half dozen or so were in a circle, the others a looser clump that allowed Conan to push his way through to see what had made that girl scream and run off as a few of the other girls had.

For some reason he had expected to see a dead body and a pool of blood. To be fair, there was some blood and Conan shoved his way into the tighter knit group that seemed to be hitting some kid who wasn't even standing, half curled up on the floor to protect themselves from the worst of the kicks.

"Knock it off!"

Someone pulled his shirt from behind and Conan coughed, pulling the front away from his throat so he could breathe. "You back off. This isn't any of your business."

The kid behind him was taller but that was all he could tell. The aggressors didn't seem to care about him after he'd been stopped and went back to beating on the other kid. He shouted at them a few more times, at least trying to get the attention of someone who could do something. He could stop the kids, but the force he'd have to use to do it would be excessive.

The few minutes the one-sided fight went on seemed endless. The group of kids around slowly disbanded and the aggressors, snickering and high-fiving one another, went off, the larger kid holding him letting go of his shirt.

Conan knelt down by the kid, thinking his hair was kind of long for a boy as it almost reached his shoulders and hid most of his injured face. "Hey, you okay?" It was a stupid question but the only one he could think to ask. "We should get you some help."

The kid's skin was really pale, his hair a very fair color as well. He wondered if he was foreign. It was even lighter than Haibara's.

"I'll be fine." The boy shaded his eyes, looking around. One of them would be black in the next few hours and there was blood running out of the side of his mouth. "Did you see where they kicked my hat?"

Conan looked around, finding a plain black hat nearby and handing it to him, watching the boy put it on and some relief appear around his eyes as he blinked them. Conan had to wonder if he had light sensitivity. With how light his features were, that wouldn't be surprising. "You sure you're okay? You're bleeding. It'd be better if you told a teacher what they were doing."

"No it wouldn't. I hit Tamaki-kun first." He wiped the blood away and stood, nothing but bruises and scrapes that were bleeding a bit. "And they'd probably call my parents."

The other kid had a few inches on him, somewhere around Mitsuhiko's height, and he had to look up to meet his eye. Conan hated being short for his age, considering this boy looked around seven or eight. "Still, this shouldn't be common."

"No, but I don't want to, okay?"

"Okay." Conan raised his hands, backing up a bit. "But it's not right and you shouldn't let them get away with it." Teachers wouldn't be able to listen to it and not tell his parents. Why the other was so adamant about them not knowing, Conan wasn't sure. He held out his hand. "I'm Edogawa Conan. I'm… new around here. What's your name?"

The kid glared at his hand a bit before relaxing, sticking his hands in his pockets instead. "Junsuke. I'm not new around here."

Okay, no last name. The kid didn't seem friendly. Still, that wasn't an excuse to get beat up and the other kids were still wandering around, though he did notice they were giving the both of them a wide berth.

Reaching into his pocket, the boy took out a few pills and swallowed them dry, making Conan wince. He found even he had trouble dry swallowing, those that did it frequently the only ones he noticed not having a hard time with it. "Pills?"

"They're for my pain." Junsuke pulled the hat lower on his eyes. "Need some?"

Conan quickly shook his head. "I'm good. They just kind of kept me from getting involved. No one hit me. Do you always keep pain pills on you?"

"They're not for that, they're for the headaches. The sun kind of bothers me. We done here?"

Conan let his eyes wander without moving his head. "I don't know. If you're alone again, is anyone going to go after you?"

Junsuke looked around like he had, though under the brim of his hat to make it less noticeable. "I don't know."

"Then I think I'm going to tag along for a while."

Junsuke sighed. "Just what I need, a sidekick. Don't you have something better to do, like go to school? I think I'm going to skip the rest of the day." He walked off, Conan following behind.

He frowned at that thought. School had been over when he'd run into that girl around Ran's age. "I'm not from around here so no, I don't have anything to do."

Conan didn't relax until they left the school grounds, subtly watching the other boy as he showed similar signs, just not as obvious. "Does that happen a lot?"

"Only when someone picks a fight with me, maybe once a week. They're all idiots so I don't really care. If you're going to be in the neighborhood, I wouldn't hang out with me. I'm bad luck."

Conan tipped his head. "Bad luck?"

"Yeah." He raised his hand, looking out of the corner of his eye instead of facing him. "I have the same condition my mom has. It's not like it's deadly or anything, but apparently not being normal is a bad thing. I also have a bad memory, doctors call it 'selective amnesia'. I might not remember who you are come tomorrow, so there's no point in getting to know me."

"I don't really see how that makes you bad luck."

"Not me myself, just for those who want to know me. Like I said, I forget people easily. I can't control it." Junsuke shrugged. "I'm the bad luck that people run into, the bad friend who forgets their names."

"I don't think that's bad luck." Conan had never heard of something like that, though he was sure now about the light sensitivity. He had to guess the boy had some for of albinism. It was rare and he'd never gotten a good look at anyone with it before. "I don't plan on staying around here either, so I don't care if you forget me."

Junsuke stopped, looking him over for what had to be the dozenth time, though doing so obviously now. "Thanks, I guess. No one's ever said that to me before."

"You should go home and put some ice on your face." Conan didn't know what else to do if he wasn't going to go inform anyone. Fights like that once a week were far too often.

"Might as well. My dad's not home yet and my mom won't care what time it is. Are you going to follow me all the way there?"

Conan had to stop too or get too far ahead of him. "I need to see something and my phone hasn't been working."

Junsuke frowned hard. "You have one of those portable phones they just came out with?"

Conan swallowed, afraid of that. There wasn't much that could keep his cell from getting reception when he was at ground level and obviously somewhere well inhabited. "Yeah, it's not that good though." Had he… really gone back in time? If he had, there were so many kids around, and- No, he had been thinking about…

"Keep going. Left at the second street." Junsuke looked around a moment before going into his pocket and taking out a cigarette. "I don't want my mom to smell it."

"You smoke?" It was more than that too. He watched him light it, striking the match and throwing it to the side of the road. He was left-handed.

"Yeah. I stole some from my dad last year. It's relaxing. Why? Going to tell on me? I'll just say you're lying."

"No, ah. No, I'm not going to tell on you or anything. I was just surprised. You're… kind of young to be smoking."

"I'm kind of young for a lot of things. Dealing with idiots is, apparently, not an age thing. So, are you going to start walking or are we going to stand around here all day?"

Conan didn't want to turn away. If what that girl had said was true and this wasn't some type of drug-induced dream, he was staring at Gin right now. Gin before he became the man that Conan knew. Gin when he was only a child.

Albeit a child with more knowledge and apparent life experience than a child should have, but a child nonetheless, and one with no reason to hide anything from him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Huh?" Conan had to get his head back in order. "Like what?"

"Like I'm a toy on sale you've been wanting to buy."

"Was I? I'm sorry." He smiled and put a hand behind his head. "I didn't mean to."

"Smoking isn't good for you. Don't be jealous." Gin, or Junsuke, took in and let out a practiced breath of smoke, letting it out slowly. "There's just not a lot that calms me down. Find your own habit."

"It's all yours. Don't worry about it." Conan backed up, unsure of what to do now. He could follow him to his house but the odds of Gin still living there were slim to none. He would have erased a lot of his true life from his current one. A last name would be a lot to go on. Even a first name and finding out where he was right now would be great. Since he couldn't use his phone, he'd have to watch the street names.

There was a scream again. Conan was so used to turning and heading towards the sound of one that he quickly forgot about everything he could get out of this younger version of Gin and found his feet taking him towards where they had just come from and down a few alleys before arriving at a small mart, a man pressed up against a wall with shaking hands as the few behind the glass were scrambling around, one of the men inside on the phone and hopefully calling the police.

"Wait up you idiot."

Conan was startled a second time when Gin was behind him, panting with his hands on his knees as he got his breath back, the cigarette he had nowhere in sight.

"What the heck was that about?"

"Why did you-" Conan had his attention quickly pulled back as a woman cried out someone's name, Kashimama if he'd heard her right, and fell to the floor, near a man who had a large amount of blood on his head and wasn't responding to her.

"Don't touch him!" Conan moved forward, stopping before he messed with the scene too. "Back up. The police have to take care of this. You might erase some of the evidence." He looked around at the others, going closer to the man himself to check for a pulse. "Did anyone see what happened?"

"Ya-yeah." The man with the shaking hands spoke quietly, getting Conan's full attention as he stood, having found no pulse. "There was a woman. She walked past. I didn't see her face but she had light colored hair and I think she was wearing some kind of dress. It looked like she said something to him." The man looked down at the deceased. "I don't know what it was. I was only just leaving and then… then he just kind of fell on the ground. I think I heard something hard fall too, but I don't know what it was."

"Try and remember everything that you can. Go inside and write it down so you don't forget." Conan turned to the woman. "Ma'am, do you know him?"

The woman nodded, tears streaming down her face. "Yes. He's my husband. We were shopping, only shopping. Why- why did this happen? What happened?" More tears came and Conan felt a part of himself go out to her, knowing it was taking a lot to keep her hands off her husband's body.

"Is he dead?"

Conan stiffened, Gin leaning over his shoulder and looking the man over, not seeming fazed. That was, until he put a hand up to his nose and mouth and took a step back.

"Ah, he smells."

"Death isn't pretty. Stand back." Conan wasn't sure how much Gin would listen to him but, as a seeming child to an actual child, he should at least be no more difficult than anyone else.

While he was listened to, a few of the others from the mart started to come out to see what had happened. He ushered them all back in, the body too close to the door to risk them walking out. Informing the owner of what happened, they all had to wait for the police to come and take everyone's story.

From what Conan could pick up, he'd been a financial consultant at a nearby law firm. There were a lot of reasons he could have enemies and the police were looking into it. He didn't miss the fact that the man had been shot, at close range, and likely with a silencer attached to the gun.

Having nothing to say himself and not recognizing any of the policemen who came up to him, Conan backed off once he was sure they had all of the facts. One of them, a man with short, dark hair and a kind face listened to him almost as well as Takagi-keiji would have.

Gin was sitting off on the other side of the street, playing with a small stick between his fingers, likely not risking smoking near the cops, though Conan doubted they'd care.

There was the frailty he saw in his eyes that scared him.

"Kind of seems peaceful, doesn't it?" Gin started speaking to him quietly as he moved beside him. "He's alive, doing all this meaningless work for people who quickly forget his name and now he's dead with nothing to worry about." Gin looked up at him. He wasn't sure what scared him more, the new weakness or the apathy he'd shown off earlier.

"It wasn't peaceful. It might have been fast but I'm sure it hurt. On top of that, he had things he wanted to do still. No life is meaningless. No one has the right to take something so short from someone else." Maybe his own eyes were a little hard, but Conan hated Gin, hated that he'd become someone who killed others so easily. "Can't you understand that?"

Gin winced, looking away and back at the body. "I wasn't saying it didn't hurt. I mean, he got shot. Bullets hurt. But now he doesn't have to worry about anything. Sometimes I wonder if anyone would care if something like that happened to me. Even if they did, sometimes I don't think that I would care. It has to be better than this."

"What are you talking about?" In that second Conan realized that Gin wasn't associating with the killer, he was associating with the victim. He had no other recourse than to slap him. "Don't say stupid things like that! You're worried your mom would know you were smoking, how bad do you think she'd feel if you died? I'm sure even you have friends, somewhere! And if not now you will! Giving up on all of that is like making a mockery of the same life that your mom is living. You can't just say stuff like that like it doesn't matter!"

Gin was obviously stunned, wide eyes and now with a red mark on his face to go with the bruise. The next second Conan found himself in a very awkward position.

Gin shifted, getting to his knees and clinging to him, pulling him down to sit on the curb while the would-be assassin cried on his shoulder, shifting to hide the fact that he was, his expression hidden at the angle.

Not knowing what to do and caught off guard, Conan put his arms slowly around him, patting him on the back a little and trying to get him to calm down. It didn't take long, Gin getting himself together and wiping his eyes, far too used to composing himself. Conan had to wonder what had happened even before now.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. Just, don't go around saying things like that. Life is important."

"I know. I just wish it wasn't so hard all the time." He took in and let out a few breathes, composed enough that, aside from the slightly red eyes, it didn't look like he'd just been crying. "I suppose there's a reason for living out there past the idiots in the world. Wish I knew what it was."

"You'll figure it out." Hopefully. Conan didn't know if he could affect the past, but if he could, maybe he could get Gin to change. If he did, he wasn't sure what kind of effect it would have. He'd never looked into time travel before, but he wished dearly that he hadn't ever had to mess with it.

"Maybe." Gin sighed. "You know, I already forgot your name."

"It's not important." Conan hoped he never recalled it if this did have an effect on the future.

"I guess not." He was falling back into that strange apathy and Conan had to feel for him. Gin, as a child, was different. It was hard to be different. He'd never had to put up with anything like this.

Conan held out his hand again. "Whatever happens in the future, here and now, I'm your friend. Who cares about names?"

He didn't think Gin would smile. On his face it was something soft, like a flower that just got to see the sun. It eased up further worry Conan had as Gin took his hand and shook it. "Honestly, I've never had a friend before."

"Honestly, you're kind of scary," Conan said without thinking. "And I'm not going to be here long. Try loosening up. Not everyone is going to treat you badly. Go find the people out there who like you for who you are. It's a little soon to be figuring out any life decisions, but at least try and figure out what kind of person you are and what kind of people you want to be around. They tie in with one another."

"I guess. It's not that I think everyone's a bad person, I just don't know if I care to deal with their personal issues. I suppose I told you about some of mine though. Can't expect others to listen if I can't. Maybe I'm one of the idiots out there too."

"You shouldn't call yourself an idiot. You might start to believe it."

Gin smirked, pointing at himself. "Top in the class."

Conan smiled back, moving his arms and looking over younger Gin. He was a little backwards, but a few friends and some adults that cared enough, and he couldn't really see him turning into the Gin he knew. "I wish you could understand."

Gin lost a bit of his smile, raising and eyebrow. "Understand what?"

"Nothing." Conan shook his head, getting up and walking away, waving over his shoulder. "Go home and take care of your mom."

"Sure. Where are you going?"

"Nowhere important." Conan reached into his pocket, taking out the little hourglass. He had felt it in there when he'd bent down over the body. "Though hopefully home."

Color swirled his vision once more, making him sick once more with it, before he was again standing before the teenage girl, his bearings even worse than before as he fell on his butt in front of her.

"Good, you're back. Give it to me." The girl took the hourglass out of his hand faster than he could stop her, walking off.

"Hey, wait! Did that… did that really happen?"

She stopped and turned. "Of course it did. The timeline would have changed things around so it felt like a dream, but whatever you did would still have happened, it just becomes insignificant. If you were trying to change the current time period, you can't do that. What's happened has happened. Now don't go picking up things that aren't yours."

Conan watched her walk off, trying to deal with all this new information. He had Gin's real name now. He knew the streets he lived near. He could figure out the town, as it didn't seem to be Tokyo. He was going to look into that first, with Hakase's help.

What he'd do with that information, as it probably wouldn't end up leading him to Gin, he wasn't sure. He'd cross that bridge when he came to it.