Freeloader

by Kiamii

"Jeez," Kogoro huffed as he walked up the steps leading to his home. He had just gotten back from losing in Mahjong once more and it was really pissing him off. Why did he lose? He was THE Mouri Kogoro! He chould be tramping those fools left to right! The man huffed irritably before he slammed open the door, intending to get a beer to drink away his anger into stupor but he halted and looked at the scene in front of him in surprise.

The little freeloader he had agreed to take in many months ago was asleep, his face pale and clammy as he rested on the coffee table in front of the couch. The boy had been shot a few days prior to today and on the mend, staying home for school for the past week now. Kogoro frowned as he saw the second grader shuffle, a whimper escaping his mouth as he seemed to be dreaming about something. He debated about getting his beer but sighed and muttered under his breath as he kneeled down in front of the boy and slowly prodded the boy, watching out for the bullet wound that had been afflicted into Conan's stomach.

"Oi, brat," he called only to get no answer. Great, now what was he supposed to do? Strangely, he was reminded of his life with Eri and when Ran was this small...

"Kogoro! Idiot!" Mouri Eri snapped before she abruptly left the agency, slamming the door as she did so leaving Kogoro growling in frustration at his wife's antics. He kicked the desk in frustration before he heard small sobbing in a corner. Turning around, he guiltily noticed it was his daughter, his only child. He remembered before Ran had been born Kogoro desired a son, but he didn't anymore. Not when he had his Ran. She was a frail thing and he often forgot that fact, until she start bawling on him. He was planning to sign her up for karate and Eri agreed with him in that he needed to be protected, especially since he was a police officer.

"Ran," Kogoro called and when she didn't answer he sighed and gently scooped her up. The little girl sniffled and buried her head against her father. The man smiled gently as he heard her murmur 'daddy' to him, as if afraid he'd leave her too. Their fighting had constantly been going on and he had never considered his child's worry about them. Maybe just this once he'd forget about the worries and just hold his child... He never realized this was perhaps the last time he'd hold Ran like this before she gained independence when her mother left approximately a month after this moment in time. He never realized that he'd be quitting his police job when Eri would get shot by him two weeks later. Sometimes, ignorance was the best.

The case was certainly different than when he had held Ran. For one thing the brat wasn't even his kid. But he was good as one a voice informed him in his head and Kogoro shook his head irritably, his eyes glancing at the sleeping child in front of him. Edogawa Conan was an enigma... and a pain in the ass too. The boy had come here when he was six and now Kogoro couldn't help but realize the brat had been living with them for two years. Perhaps it had gone by so fast because the boy was constantly getting hurt or into trouble. Often Kogoro was remarked as the death god, but now maybe it was this boy?

"Brat," he tried again, "Conan."

The boy stirred but didn't so much as move and Kogoro was tempted to leave the brat to sleep when he heard mumbling. Straining his ears, he got the shock of his life.

"Dad," Conan mumbled.

Dad? Kogoro had never met the boy's father, only his mother now that he realized. An uncomfortable feeling settled into the pit of his stomach but he shook it off. Maybe the brat's father was gone, or never traveled with the wife. He sighed and it dawned on him that he couldn't leave the child sleeping so uncomfortably like that especially after what the boy had been through.

Slowly, as if afraid of waking Conan up, he slid his hands under the boy's arms and pulled him into a standing position before one hand slid to lift the boy up, the other under Conan's chest to support him. The seven-year-old hardly stirred, only leaning his head against his chest. Kogoro couldn't help but feel shocked at his own actions once it had happened. First off the boy was incredibly light, as if he was eating on enough to survive. But that might have been because of the surgery from the gun shot wound. The second was that Conan's glasses had slid off his face and Kogoro got a real good look at the boy.

Uncle! She followed me! I didn't even want her to come.

No. Kogoro firmly shoved Kudo Shinichi's face out of his mind. The brat looked incredibly like that annoying detective brat, but at the very least Conan wasn't so damn smug and like that. The kid was a lot more innocent, though Kogoro had always been disturbed how easy it was for Conan to see a dead body and was always willing to.

Still he huffed as he recalled the numerous times Kudo returned with his precious daughter scratched and bruised in various places. Growling ot himself, he almost stomped into the kitchen when he remembered the boy he was holding in his arms.

"Your relative is a moron," Kogoro informed the unconscious boy, not caring at Conan couldn't hear him as Kogoro carried him upstairs and into his room. Their room really. Kogoro idly wondered if he should see about getting the child his own room. That'd be awhile though and he wondered when the day would come when Conan was no longer living with them. Probably the day he stopped being a detective, snorted Kogoro.

Conan shifted a little and Kogoro got a clear view of the stomach wound as the boy's shirt raised. He grimaced at the sight of it on such a small child. He kneeled down and, tucking Conan against his left shoulder, one-handedly unfolded the boy's bed and drew back the cover. He laid Conan down on it and pulled it up over him. Marvelling at the sight of the normally warily boy looking so childlike. It was almost cute, but Kogoro would never admit that. He put a hand against the boy's forehead and sighed when he felt a fever coming on. He stood, intending to prepare the necessary equipment when dealing with a sick child, and wondered what the boy would be like when he was Ran's current age. He shivered, deciding he didn't want to know.

Edogawa Conan awoke the next day, blinking in confusion as to how he ended up in his bed. He remembered falling asleep downstairs in the agency section. Maybe Ran had carried him upstairs like she did before. No, he realized, she was staying over at Sonoko's house for the weekend and would pick him up from school today if he was going. Then how... ?

He put it out of his mind and stood up, wincing at the pain in his stomach throbbing intensely in protest. Damn robbers had shot him and it severely hurt. He'd have to get used to the pain for awhile, a doctor had told him with a sympathetic look. Probably because he was a child. Conan sighed at the reminder of who he was now and he trotted downstairs to hopefully find breakfast though since Uncle didn't cook, he was doomed to have to go get something from the first floor.

Dressed in a hoodie and jeans, he opened the agency door to find Kogoro watching the news at his desk to the boy's surprise, especially when he saw an obento on the table. What...? Conan's eyes bulged slightly in surprise before he caught Kogoro staring at him and he looked at the man questioningly.

"Ran cooked the obento for you the other night," Kogoro grunted before barking at the boy, "Well? You seem to be better. Get to school brat!"

Grabbing the obento, he smiled a little in amusement. Yeah, uncle would never change in his ways, that was for sure. As he left, he never noticed Kogoro's twitch of his lips as he stifled a small smile in amusement.

Author's note: Yeah I don't know when this takes place. But hey it could at anytime really. Hope you liked this one-shot.