The Ally You Never Had

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Mouri Kogoro would have to be very careful. More careful than he'd ever been, and more intelligent. This was going to be painful. He needed a beer. No! He shook his head. I must remain focused. He gritted his teeth and stole a sidelong look at the tiny kid calmly reading on the sofa. Despite himself, he leaned back in his desk chair and allowed himself a brief respite to reflect upon his situation.

Perhaps it was that one afternoon when the brat suddenly stopped beside a store window and stared, gaping, inside. It took a moment before Ran and he noticed, as they were in the middle of a delicate discussion of his drinking and gambling habits. Ran hurried back and grabbed the brat's arm, scolding him about wandering off in public. The kid barely noticed. He craned his neck to continue looking inside the store and only twisted away when he could no longer see inside. Ran kept a firm grip upon his wrist and no amount of squirming could escape it. The kid finally turned away and fixed him with the most damning gaze. Kogoro merely stared back at him, but he could swear the kid peered into the depths of his very soul with those cunningly deceptive eyes. What was going on?

Since then, the kid had kept a subtle eye upon Kogoro, turning his expression to deep thought when he thought the old detective couldn't see him. A few days later, Kogoro had backtracked to the store to peer inside. It was an electronics store, and inside several new plasma TVs displayed a multitude of shows. It wasn't until a clerk squealed – yes, squealed – at him that the famous Sleeping Kogoro was in the store that he could finally start to pinpoint the answer.

"We just aired your interview with Yoko Okino the other day!" the young clerk chirped, beaming at him.

My interview? Oh, right. Yoko-chan... Kogoro was lost in thoughts of his idol singer that he barely caught what the clerk was saying. What was that? Oh, right, something about a case I worked on.

"Well, being the great detective that I am, I must keep my mind sharp at all times! That's why you need to get as much sleep as you can, bwahahaha!" He burst into manic laughter as the clerk giggled politely, yet something still nagged at the back of his mind. What was it?

As he left the shop, he froze mid-step, horror flooding through him. Through his star-struck daze, he babbled on about details in this case to Yoko. The finer points of detecting using his famous Sleeping Kogoro act. But the case he referenced... that was a case where he had been soundly asleep! He nearly smacked his forehead in frustration. No wonder the kid had been dumbfounded. Here he was talking on TV about details he should never have known!

Alright, Kogoro. You walked... correction: you sprinted headfirst into this mess. Now it's time for some old-fashioned police ass-covering. Kogoro wandered aimlessly around town, hoping that he could get some clue to how to get that hauntingly intelligent child off his case.

Kogoro might be foolish. He might be a drunk. And he might be a shameless flirt. But in the beginning, he was a cop. A detective. And as hopeless as he was now (okay, and even back then), you didn't get to be a detective by not realizing you were being duped by a six-year-old kid. Repeatedly. Okay fine. It did take him until just last month to pick up on it. The shock of waking up in the middle of one of his Sleeping Kogoro Deductions certainly was hidden by the fact he sat in a fireplace. A fireplace! That was when he heard himself telling the astonished crowd exactly who had done it, why, and with what. Kogoro sat back and listened in amazement. Before the deduction show was over, he had quickly gone from shock to puzzlement. Who? Who could pull off this astounding power of deduction?

His first thought was Hattori Heiji, the genius detective from Osaka. He was certainly around often enough and history showed he loved to disguise himself as famous detectives. Granted, his subject was usually Kudo Shinichi, but still.

He quickly tossed that idea out because there was no way for Hattori to know of the details of so many cases from so far away. Unless he was being fed information by that brat. They were certainly close enough to be brothers. It was possible... Kogoro kept it in the back of his mind.

His next guess was that eccentric – no, crazy – professor that lived next to Kudo Shinichi's house. The kid was always over there and the professor fancied himself a decent detective when one was lacking in a case. Agasa was dismissed for the same reason as Hattori. But if they were working together... Hmm. This was something he would have to think upon.

He spent the next week listing all possible suspects. He had hundreds of questions and few answers. In fact, he tended to primarily have only one answer. That brat. Somehow, that kid was always around when just the right nudge was needed, and before he could say Yoko Okino he woke with a throbbing headache and congratulatory backslaps and distressed criminals.

It was pure luck the next time "Sleeping Kogoro" went into action, the dart missed! He noticed movement in the corner of his eye – the kid crawling around surely – and turned to yell at him. He could have sworn he saw that kid take a blocking stance – feet firmly planted on the floor and his wrist blocking his body as if he held a shield – when something grazed across his neck. He slapped at it. It felt like a paper cut. But paper cuts didn't make you woozy, did they? He wobbled slightly on his feet and with a flash of brilliance that came to him only once a year he decided to play along. He staggered to the floor and slumped down. Due to the gasps of excitement around him, he guessed he did the right thing. Now let the games begin. He was distinctly aware of a small body pressed against his back. The kid? His voice spoke up, correcting what he had just blurted out in full confidence minutes earlier. Kogoro sat and listened as the kid presented the entire case to its conclusion and with evidence to back it up. The kid darted away after the deduction ended and when Kogoro finally decided to open his eyes, the kid was beaming up at Ran, his face twinkling with childish innocence. But Kogoro knew better. It had taken him months to catch on, but finally he knew.

"Sleeping Kogoro" was the result of a genius child.

Over the next week, Kogoro wanted to sink into an endless spiral of depression. His newly found confidence in his detective skills, the sudden rise in fame, the brilliant mind of Sleeping Kogoro... it was all an elaborate sham by a child smarter than the entire police force combined. But, damn him, that genius brat wouldn't cooperate. He dragged them into case after case and solved them all. Well, "Sleeping Kogoro" solved them all. Kogoro carefully noted how the kid tried to get the police to notice the vital details. His innocent yet accurate questions showed them all the clues. And Kogoro even picked up a neat little trick for avoiding falling asleep so he could be aware of "his" deductions. He stabbed himself with tack when he felt that foreboding prick on his neck. The tack, hidden inside his cuff link, was within easy enough distance to provide a jolt of pain to keep him from succumbing to the hypnotic effects of that dart. He simply pounded his hand on his wrist immediately after that pricking sensation and he stayed awake.

He couldn't even take credit for that idea. He saw it on a movie a few weeks ago. The hero stabbed himself with a nail to prevent surrendering to sleeping gas and managed to stagger to a hidden hidey-hole before collapsing into a safe sleep.

That's not to say that he hadn't found out a few useful facts while asleep. For instance, that kid shot him with a dart embedded in his wristwatch. A deadly little gift from the professor, no doubt, along with that fascinating bow tie he used to imitate voices. So that made two people in on the sham. And when that Hattori kid came over, he shared an amused grin with the brat after a "Sleeping Kogoro- Hattori Heiji Duet Deduction". That made three.

But what finally snapped Kogoro out of his self-pity was an inadvertently overheard conversation between the brat and another child. They had discarded their childish tones and were talking to each other as equals.

"All these cases and I still feel we're no closer than when we started. It's irritating, you know, hiding behind that fool of a man while he takes credit for my work."

The other child sniffed primly. "If you wouldn't place yourself in so much danger I might have sympathy on you. For now, I take enormous relief in knowing they aren't within arm's reach."

"But they are, Haibara. They always are."

"I know."

There was a long pause, then another sigh. "I'm just so tired of this. Argh!" Kogoro heard the sound of a rock being kicked several long meters. "If only that stupid idiot would actually detect something once in a while, I wouldn't have to exhaust myself every case!"

Anger welled up inside Kogoro. He nearly leaped out from behind the building to confront the two when he realized another feeling was welling up inside him also. Shame. The kid was right. He slumped down against the bricks and continued to listen.

"If you would stop involving yourself in every case that comes your way, you wouldn't be so tired," the girl told him pragmatically.

"What am I supposed to do? Not help out people?"

"Yes."

A grumble. "I should have expected that from you."

"This isn't like you. You're used to this man and now all of the sudden he's gotten under your skin. Something else is bothering you."

A dark chuckle. "Again, I should have expected that from you."

"Tell me."

"It's..." The kid sighed, finally resigning himself. "Fine, I ran into Agent Jodie the other day."

"The FBI agent from America?"

"Yeah. She wanted to ask if I had heard anything about the Organization from any of the cases that old man has come across."

"She knows you would have contacted her if that were to happen."

"I know. I told her that. She said she was just using that as an excuse. She wanted to tell me... Akai Shuichi died." Though the name meant nothing to Kogoro, he heard the sounds of bitter defeat in the boy's tones.

"That FBI agent that infiltrated the Organization?"

"Yeah," the kid confirmed.

"Was it them?"

"Yeah. Kir, on orders from Gin apparently. She couldn't compromise herself."

"I'm sorry."

Conan slammed his foot against a rock, sending it sailing hundreds of yards away. He turned and smashed his fist into the garbage can, denting the side. "I hate them! They just go and destroy lives around them! I will bring them down. One. By. One." Kogoro heard him beating the side of the trash can to each syllable. "First, I'll take on that muscle man. Vodka." Slam. "Then, those two snipers. Korn. And Chianti." Two more slams punctuated the snarled names. "Then, Vermouth." Another slam. "And finally, Gin." The kid stepped back, surveying the beaten trash can with ragged breaths.

"If they're anything like that trash can, they don't stand a chance against you," the girl said acerbically.

"I'm serious, Haibara."

"I know. I'm just saying not to be too rash. Think of the-"

"Yes, I know," he snapped at her. "The danger to all those around me."

"I'm not joking, Kudo. Think of Ran. And even that foolish man you're annoyed with right now. They'll all be killed."

Wait, did she just say Kudo? Must be my imagination.

"They nearly killed you and Kogoro when they suspected he overheard them," the girl said.

"Yeah. I remember. Jodie and James tried to get me there as fast as I could, and even in the end we would have both died if it wasn't for Akai." The kid slipped into silence again as Kogoro tried to process what he just heard. People had tried to kill him and he wasn't even aware of their presence. And even worse, other people – this kid included – risked their lives to protect him and he never knew.

"Come on. I'll call the professor and tell him to not pick us up. You need to walk home."

An inaudible grumble sounded from the boy as they both started down the sidewalk.

Kogoro remained seated behind the wall, digesting what he had just heard. In that moment, he made a resolve. That kid – whoever he was – was wrapped up in something far larger than he ever imagined. And if that kid had any hope of helping the American FBI to bring down this organization, then he couldn't be the useless detective that he was any longer. He resolved to not be a burden on the kid anymore. That any cases he found he would solve. Not that brat. And maybe, just maybe, then the kid would have enough energy to deliver a few well-placed punches on behalf of Kogoro at that main man. Gin, was it?

But here he was again, gone and screwed up. He shuffled down the sidewalk and thought hard and fast on how he could avert suspicion from himself. He couldn't have the kid focusing on him now. The boy needed to concentrate on putting his brains to catching that mysterious organization he talked about with the girl.

He noticed the kid following him discreetly several blocks back, but he still had no idea what to do. He looked up and spied the police station in front of him. With another flash of once-yearly inspiration, he headed to the office and waited several minutes until he was certain the kid was inside and able to eavesdrop on him.

"Hello, Inspector Megure!" he cried out, extra loud just in case.

"Ugh, Mouri, what brings you here?"

"I was wondering if perhaps I could look over some of my old cases? I have several interviews coming up and I don't want to mix up the details in them all. Ha ha ha!" He burst out laughing.

Megure sighed. "This isn't protocol, Mouri. You're not a cop anymore."

"Aw, Inspector, but I solved those cases! At least let me review what it was I said. I might look foolish if I say the wrong thing!"

"Fine. But make it fast."

"Thanks, Inspector!" He hurried off to the archives. On his way, he stopped to peek out of the window and spotted the kid walking away. He smiled.

I'm trying, kid. It has taken me a long time, but I have decided I don't want to be the idiot who gets in the way. I'll do my very best, and I hope in the end you will regard me as the ally you never knew you had, instead of the fool you wish you didn't.

Author's Note: I was inspired to do this when I read a short one-shot about how Mouri Kogoro was aware of what was happening to him. I wholeheartedly support that theory, even though it is unlikely-to-impossible to happen (sadly). I don't believe Kogoro is a genius, but I do believe he can put up a good effort when he puts his mind to it. Additionally, I do not believe Akai is dead, nor do I believe that Conan believes this. I simply used it because it seemed to work for this story better than trying to pick the brains of the Conan team. The focus of the story was not on the Mystery of Akai, but rather on Kogoro, and so this was simply the easiest way to have Kogoro realize the gravity of the situation.

If there are any other mistakes or inaccuracies of the Conan Saga, I do apologize that I wasn't able to catch them upon proofing. Lastly, I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed brainstorming and writing it. :)