2016, 29th of January

Heyyy there :)

So, this was pretty fruitful! Thank you for all the reviews, I'm so happy about the positive feedback :3 You were all so quick and eager that I'm just gonna upload the rest here already. This is it for now but if you guys really like it (and tell me so!) I might think of another one-shot or two and make this a kind of AU collection, who knows. More discussion at the end, now read first, my pretties. I got a little carried away with details in the middle there but bear with me haha.

Please enjoy :3

But Satisfaction brought it back

~.~

Chapter 02

It was not only his hand, it was his face and his body too. Before Ran's very eyes, in the matter of seconds only after she stopped speaking, Kudo Shinichi had shrunk to the size of an elementary school student. He also stopped panting and sweating, his pulse was almost back to normal and he was breathing more freely….

Also he was a goddamn 7 year old?!

Her words left her. She still had the phone to her ear and the operator was asking questions with an urgent voice but she didn't hear them. As if in trance, she took the phone from where it was and shut it, putting it back into her jacket pocket very slowly. Seriously, how was she going to explain…this? Was she hallucinating?

Carefully, Ran leaned forward and touched Shinichi's face. It WAS Shinichi, she recognized that face from what, 10 years ago?

"This is crazy. Totally impossible." She shook her head. Her hand still held his but now it was so small she could enclose it into one of hers. His fever was down a ton and he looked to be almost sleeping if there wasn't that blood on his head and the ground.

Well…what was she going to do now? His vitals were returning to normal and besides the obvious….change, he seemed to be through the worst of it. Was the poison…gone now? What kind of poison just shrank a person like that?

"Shinichi? Shinichi can you hear me?" she touched his shoulder, feeling weird for doing so to such a small person lying in the clothes of such a big one. He wasn't reacting at first but then his face moved and a grunt escaped him.

"What…ouch!" he protested, his free hand flew up to his head.

"Don't touch it.", Ran scolded, halting his hand midway. "We'll bandage it as soon as we get home."

"Didn't you want to call an ambulance? I figured you would as soon as I lost….consciousness." he paused, startled when he spotted his hand in hers.

His small hand…

And his strangely high voice. What…

"Um, Ran...what…what the hell happened? Wasn't I…dying just a second ago?" he asked with a confused voice, sitting up and lifting his gaze to Ran's face. Why was she so big?

"You were…and then you…kind of just…" she paused, looking down on him. He did so too, feeling himself turn pale as he did so. He was still wearing his clothes alright but they were ten sizes too big…

"…shrunk." Ran finished, still obviously in shock from her discovery. She felt her eyebrow twitch but tried to suppress it. Her shock was nothing compared to what Shinichi must be going through after all.

And she was right, Shinichi was freaking out.

"I shrunk!? What the hell? That's not even possible! There is no drug like that! And why would they…" he paused. "Maybe it was an accident?" he mused. The detective turned elementary schooler stood up now, certainly intending to pace but immediately falling over due to his too big clothes (And concussion, probably). Hadn't she been in shock, Ran would have laughed. In the distance, she could suddenly hear voices. Maybe it was the ambulance she had almost called or the park security searching for them, she didn't know.

She only knew one thing: They couldn't find them like this.

"How about you wonder about that someplace else and we get out of here for now?" she asked, her face also pale and she got up on her feet, knees still a bit shaky but certainly more stable than Shinichi was. The little boy nodded and before he even knew it or could properly answer, Ran had scooped him up in her arms and ran off in the opposite direction of the voices.

"Oi! I can walk by myself!"

"Yeah I bet you can but you just almost died and you're in clothes that are ten sizes too big so I think it's a little bit less conspicuous like this don't you think, great detective?" she asked mockingly, looking down at his baby face. Even though he might be younger, the pout and eye-roll was still the same and she found comfort in that. At least his mind still seemed intact in its 17 year old self…weirdly enough.

Even with some weird stares and a short panic at the exit of the park where a security officer looked her over particularly interested, they somehow made it out of there. Wandering the streets of Tokyo with her shrunken best friend in her arms was certainly not something Ran had planned for this evening. As she walked, Shinichi seemed deep in thought about several things and he assessed his limps and checked if everything else was okay (except that it was damn small).

"Apparently it was just my body, too. My mind is perfectly clear and I don't really feel small…oh man, this is messed up." Shinichi drove his mini-hand through his messed up hair where the wound didn't hurt him.

"You tell me, you just shrunk in front of my eyes. That was certainly an even more bizarre experience than the beheading just a few hours ago. And that's saying something." Ran sighed, again wondering how her life got messed up like this. Shinichi nodded, not really knowing what to say, his thoughts still racing with all the consequences this could have.

"So what now?" she asked. They would soon be passing Shinichi's house. Maybe that was really the safest place right now, after all it was empty except him for most of the year.

"We can go to my house and I'll change into some child clothing I should still have in the basement. But after that we'll have to leave there probably. I can't live in there as if nothing happened. They think I'm dead…" just at the end of his sentence, they reached his house and Shinichi looked up at the giant gate before him. Has it always been this big and intimidating? No, that was nonsense. It was still his home. Ran opened the gate by shifting Shinichi's weight in her arms and Shinichi fumbled for the key in his jeans pocket. Oh shit, they weren't there!

"Shit…I lost my keys. They must have fallen out because the jeans are too big." He felt his face pale even further in panic but Ran lifted an eyebrow.

"Doesn't Professor Agasa have a key?" she asked. Shinichi wanted to facepalm. Of course! But wait…

"Maybe I shouldn't involve him in this, it could be dangerous…it's bad enough you know-"

"Shinichi! Don't talk nonsense. The Professor has known you since you were a baby, I doubt he would lose a word to anybody and I bet he'd want to know if his friend got into a situation like this." She paused, glaring at him intently "And what are you trying to say by that? If I hadn't come looking for you, you would have just lied to me and disappeared because you shrunk, huh?" she glared and Shinichi let his head hang low, defeated. She was right….probably about both things. If she hadn't actually witnessed the whole shrinking thing he might have lied to her about it for sure, if not to dodge the embarrassment then to protect her from those guys in black.

"Fine. We can ask the professor for the keys, I guess." He avoided her last question and just crossed his arms, looking away from her. It was difficult to dodge her burning gaze from a position right in her arms but he still tried with all his tiny might.

So Ran made it over to the Professor's house, ringing the doorbell. Agasa Hiroshi opened his front door, finding Ran and a little boy in her arms.

"Ran-kun! What brings you here? And who's that little guy?", the Professor asked. Ran glanced at Shinichi to shut up for now and was glad he understood.

"Hey, Hakase. Can we come in? He needs his head treated, I'll explain inside." Somehow, she didn't feel comfortable standing outside like this, or in summary didn't feel comfortable with little-Shinichi in her arms at all. The Professor immediately stepped back when he saw blood on the boy's head, nodding in thought. Ran sat Shinichi down on one of the high chairs, impressed that until now, the boy hadn't protested. He was being quiet…oh damn that wasn't like him!

"Shinichi? Are you alright? Hey!" she leaned down closer to him, calling out quietly so the Professor wouldn't hear and touched his cheek to get his attention. Slowly, he looked up at her, big blue eyes shining. Looking at him like this, it overcame her too what just happened to them. Shinichi had almost been killed, that poison was supposed to murder him! Those guys had tried to kill Shinichi…

Suddenly, she had her arms around him and was fighting tears for the what, fourth? time this evening. It was strange how her body completely encompassed his and she buried her head in his neck, not really paying attention if he was opposing the touch in any way, because she really, really needed it right now. She almost lost him. And as that realization hit her she wanted to never let him go, no matter his body size. It startled her even more when suddenly, his little arms closed around her too, tightening in her sweater's fabric and his head snuggled into the base of her neck as well. Under different circumstances she might have blushed but not right now, right now they both needed the contact to ensure that this was really reality.

"I'm sorry, Ran." He mumbled into her shirt with his tiny voice and Ran felt her heart break into teeny tiny pieces.

"Shinichi, what the hell do you have to be sorry for?" she asked. This time she had spoken loudly to assure he heard her, drew back a little to look at his small face, widening the distance between because really, this was too close to kissing and it was a little bit weird with his body like that.

"I dragged you into this. If you'd gone home-"

"Stop right there! If I'd gone home I might have never found out. Or you might have just died right there and I'd never know what happened. Do you really think I would have found that to be better?!" she almost yelled at the end, tears still in her eyes while she gestured into the direction of the park to emphasize her point. Shinichi looked up, startled, and met her gaze full of tears. His big blue eyes were full of confusion and guilt and he looked so much like the child his body made him out to be. Then, after a second his resolve changed and his blue eyes turned serious.

"You're right. I can't change what happened. Let's make the best of it. Hakase?"

The professor had watched their exchange with a bewildered expression. He now nearly fell over from the shock of being addressed that way by a child he didn't know. Or did he…?

"Wait. What's going on? Do I know you? You do seem familiar…" he mustered the little one that addressed him like he was an adult. And that addressed Ran like he was very familiar with her and an equal, that hugged her and called her by first name. And that looked strangely like…

"Shinichi? No that's not possible." He shook his head and frowned, stepping closer. "But you certainly look like him, are you related to the Kudo's?" but Ran just did call him Shinichi, right? But this was a child! He stared hard at the child until finally, the child's patience had ended.

"Hakase, I know this is difficult to believe but I am Shinichi."

"No, you're a child. Ran, I think he has a serious concussion, maybe we should get him to the hospital?"

"I don't think that's a good idea…" Ran hesitated, looking at Shinichi, who started to be a little annoyed by the disbelieving Professor. He sighed.

"You're Hiroshi Agasa, 52 years old and an inventor who lived next door to me all my life and you constantly wake me with strange explosions from your lab because you think you're a genius but most of the stuff you invent is pure junk. You're a friend of my parents Yusaku and Yukiko Kudo and at the moment we rang the doorbell you were just about to go out to eat at your favourite restaurant." He spoke in an explaining manner, sitting up straight in the high chair, pointing a finger out into the air and half grinning. Ran had to suppress a giggle. It was almost comic how he looked so much like himself but also so much like a child at the same time. The professor just stared. Shinichi looked at him, awaiting an answer. He had left out the part he'd wanted to say about Agasa's mole because really, Ran didn't need to hear that. Finally, the professor spoke.

"But how would you…know all that?"

"Tztz my dear Professor. That's Elementary."

"Shinichi! It's really you...how is that even possible?" Agasa stepped closer, crouching down a little to get to Shinichi's height on the chair. Shinichi sighed and sunk down to the chair, holding his head which obviously still hurt.

"I really don't know.."

"Professor, can you get your first aid kid please?" Ran interrupted their conversation, deciding that it was enough for now and that Shinichi needed treatment right now. His head wound was still bleeding as head wounds normally did for some time so she needed something to pressure the wound and wrap it properly. The Professor nodded after being shaken out of his utter shock by her words and rushed off to get what she had asked for. In the few seconds he was gone, Ran sat down on the chair next to Shinichi, scooting closer and leaning down to examine his wound. For this she had to feel the back of his head and scoot aside his hair until she finally found the spot and made him wince upon touching it.

"Sorry." She mumbled, but still leaned in closer to get a better look.

"Don't make it even worse! Seriously." Shinichi complained, suppressing the urge to push her away to escape further pain. It was just an urge, of course he didn't really mind her being close to him.

"It doesn't look that deep." She concluded, visibly relieved about that. The Professor arrived with the medic kid and without words, Ran got out some disinfectant and cotton to sterilize the wound properly. As she did so, Agasa leaned in and also examined the wound. Shinichi tried not to move too much but it was really weird to have the two of them hovering above him like that.

"Looks like it's just a surface wound." He also concluded. Good, he could get away with not going to the hospital then. "You probably still have a concussion though. Let me look at you." Suddenly the Professor was in front of his face, looking into his eyes. He tried not to muse on how fascinating it was that he was his child self again after he had just seen him this very morning, being an almost-adult teenager. Focusing on his eyes, he saw the two different pupil sizes and nodded.

"Yes, looks like a concussion all right. You need to take it easy for some time, Shinichi." He said seriously, leaning back again to get out of his personal space. Shinichi sighed, visibly annoyed and crossed his arms, ironically looking like the child he seemed to be. Ran giggled and shook her head, finally wrapping up the wound and fastening the bandage. Now he just looked like he had an accident on the playground.

"Can we go to my house now? I need clothes that fit me. You still have the spare key, right?" he addressed the Professor, who nodded. So the odd team of three made their way over to the Kudo residence, searching in the basement for Shinichi's child clothing. When they found it, Ran and the Professor let Shinichi be alone in the bathroom while the two of them got the boxes back into place (Ran dusted them all off some, even the unused ones) and made their way up to the library. When Shinichi finally joined them he was wearing a small blue suit and red bow tie, looking cuter than Ran would like to admit. And yes, she meant cute in the sense of how that child was just adorable. She remembered several occasions of him wearing that suit at age 7, pretending to be much more mature than his classmates. Now he actually was much more mature.

"So, back to elementary school now?" Agasa mused, obviously humoured by his appearance. Shinichi glared, then pursed his lips.

"I don't know, probably? I can't live alone in this house now, they may come looking for me here and a seven year old living alone..?" he seemed to muse over the idea and contemplate the several outcomes in his head.

"No you can't do that, not in this house and not in that body," the Professor agreed. Ran lifted an eyebrow. They were right, that would be far too obvious and suspicious. But what else was there? He moved in with the professor next door?

"You could live with me. I'd say you're some distant relative living over for a time because his parents are sick." The Professor voiced her thoughts just a moment after but Shinichi just shook the suggestion away with one hand, beginning to pace the giant library in his small steps.

"Too close by and I really don't want to drag you into this too. Those people were dangerous, not something you would be –or should be- able to deal with." The other two nodded, understanding but still contemplating their possibilities.

"What about my place?" Ran suddenly blurted out without really thinking. It was possible…but what was she thinking? Shinichi, live with her? But he was in a difficult situation here…

Both the Professor and Shinichi stared at her, shock and disbelieve written on their faces. She felt flustered and tried to explain herself, waving her hand in front of her defensively.

"I mean, just for a little bit. My father has a detective agency after all, maybe you can find out some stuff about those guys through him. I bet I can convince him somehow…what?" Shinichi was still staring and she was slowly getting annoyed, feeling the blood creep to her cheeks.

"Amazing. That could even work." Shinichi finally breathed. But he was also red all of a sudden and he coughed. "I mean, actually, if you want to, I-I mean." He paused, taking a breath to catch himself. "Are you sure that's okay though? I didn't want to drag the professor in and you would be in just the same kind of danger. I really don't want you to risk that for me…" he gazed up at her questioningly, not sure if she really thought that suggestion through. But Ran just nodded eagerly, swallowing her blush for now. This was more important than what she was thinking about right now and Shinichi needed her, was in real danger and a pitch here, how could she turn him down under these circumstances?

"I'm sure." She said, her shoulders square. Shinichi bit his lower lip, apparently still unsure and Ran finally sighed. Crouching down to his level, she put two hands on his shoulders, making him look at her.

"Shinichi. Just this once, accept help. This situation can't be taken lightly and you don't need to always shoulder everything by yourself." She knew that he tried to, even after accepting their little help for the clothes and head wound. He had always been like this and Ran knew him well enough to see when he struggled with it.

"Of course I need to!" he suddenly burst, turning around and therefore bursting from her grip. "This is my fault alone for following them! How can I even let you guys know about it, let alone take your help and put you in danger because of my damn curiosity?" he sighed, a cruel laugh then leaving his lips as he looked down.

"I guess now I really know what the saying 'curiosity killed the cat' means, huh?" he buried his head in his hands and Ran felt like hugging him again. But she held back, instead pressing her lips together and thinking about what to say, choosing each word carefully to convince her friend.

"But you weren't killed. Only shrunk. You can go into hiding and strike back at them. That saying you're referring to isn't just 'curiosity killed the cat'. My mother talked about it the other day. That saying goes on with 'but satisfaction brought it back'" she smiled at him, trying to make him look her way again. It was really strange how he was still acting like himself but had a body from 10 years back. But she was sure that she would be able to get used to it. "You'll get back as soon as you deal with them."

Her words seemed to slowly sink into him and he began to nod, his thinking face on and his first two fingers around his chin.

"Yes…you're right. With this changed body and your father's agency it might be possible to strike them back, find out where they are and maybe get an antidote." He looked hopeful again, confident even and it made Ran's grin widen and even gave the Professor a reason to smile with them. But the older man still seemed skeptical.

"But Ran's father knows your face and it can easily be found in your childhood pictures. Maybe you should disguise yourself somehow," he suggested.

And with that, the disguise marathon began. Several suggestions were made, some helpful, some ridiculous. They thought of a new name for the boy they were creating –going by Kudo Shinichi would be a bit obvious- and Shinichi finally settled for the reading glasses of his father without the lenses and he opted out for getting a new haircut maybe.

Edogawa Conan was born in this hour.

Ran had told him that this name was really ridiculous but Shinichi had insisted, thinking it was alright and a nice mix of his favorite authors. When she teased him that he would be bullied in school he just blushed and glared at her until she had to giggle and gave in, saying that it probably didn't matter anyway. She could live with Conan as a name, since he was already such a big Conan Doyle geek anyway. He didn't really know how to argue against that.

"If you're going to live with me you'll have to follow some rules though!" she insisted on their way back to her home. She wasn't sure if to hold his hand or not. With a small child she would have but she knew that he really wasn't.

"And you're going to have to pretend that I'm a kid much better than you are right now." He countered, glaring at her from below with his hands in his jacket. With a grin, she complied, suddenly bowing down and grabbing one of his hands from his pockets.

"Mh? Oh yeah, Conan-kun, what would you like for dinner?" she tried to ignore his sudden blush and just enjoy the satisfaction but it was just too good to not grin at it.

"Ran, that's certainly not what I had in mind…" he grumbled but didn't pull away. Ran played innocent, turning serious and glaring at him from above.

"Oh? For you that should be Ran-Neechan, shouldn't it?"

"Eeeeeeeh?"

His disbelieving yell echoed down the empty street, followed by her delighted laugh. Maybe, out of this horrid situation, they had actually made something positive. And as the saying went with that cat, Ran was certain that in time, Shinichi would find a solution. After all, he always did.

Until that day came, she would be right by his side,

Helping him along.

I hope you liked it! If you're interested I have a few things to say as meta to the story.

So, a few points to clear up here. Professor Agasa is still home because in my theory, in canon, Shinichi was probably unconscious for a few hours. In the manga, they take him straight to the police station, probably because he was found in the park after it closed or was short before closing. So that's why this takes place a little earlier in the evening, because Ran was there to wake him (the canon happening later in the evening also explains why Ran is so worried about Shinichi in the first place and came to his house. She wouldn't be worried if it hadn't been quite some time that he was absent). I think his head wound should have been addressed better too, it's a little implausible for him to not be able to move from the impact but later walk around like everything's normal. He should at least have a concussion from that blow Gin gave him, come on. So that's why he has that in my story. Agasa might be a little OOC here..I don't really know how to write him, I think in this scenario Ran would say most of his lines haha. I just wanted him in the story because he'll be important later on and I really like him being there for Shinichi too. Just in this scenario he's a little passive, sorry.

I also want to clear up that it's in Ran's character to clear those boxes of dust but it also serves the purpose to stir up confusion in a possible future scenario where Sherry would find these boxes and have a harder time connecting things because not just the one with the 10-years-ago clothing are freed from dust and moved. Not that I hate Haibara, I think she'll still make the connection (maybe that phone call will help), I just think that was pretty sloppy and actually uncharacteristic of Shinichi to leave it so obvious like that.

Also, yes, you're right, PickleWitch, that phone call might come to bite them back later, especially since Ran said her name and those things are recorded I believe ;P that might be one of the one-shots I was thinking about.

I believe if this actually took place they would have chosen a better name for 'Conan' but I didn't really want to think of another one because i also think Shinichi would be stubborn enough to stick with his little fantasy name, even if it is ridiculous. Also, I wanted the parallel to be intact somehow.

The title (btw) is because of the saying that is connected to Shinichi getting himself into this shit due to curiosity and Ran being right next to him this time because of HER curiosity. So yeah. I thought it was fitting. Also that saying is really motivational if you know how it goes on.

Don't you think their dynamic in this AU is intriguing? They would still have a hard time coming together because now everything'd kinda weird and except the Professor nobody knows it's Shinichi anyway. But Ran will be able to support him and he will be less psychologically stressed and broken because he doesn't have to keep a big secret from his best friend and love-of-his-life. Also, now he doesn't have to give risky phone calls to agents and stuff because Ran is there and maybe Kogoro doesn't need to become a comatose doll as well. Who knows. I just think this situation is still complicated enough to be an interesting series (especially with the new characters like Haibara, Heiji, Jodie and Vermouth coming in) but it's also more realistic. Ran not having found out at this point is becoming almost ridiculous and I also think that by now, she couldn't easily forgive him anymore for all the lies (and seeing her naked multiple times). And the psychological pressure Shinichi is putting on himself isn't good either, not at all. He was also being really sloppy about his supposed death. Just after he vanished he goes on announcing he solved murders here and there. Come on, something is bound to leak out, even if it's not mentioned in the papers, it's in the files. And we know how easily the BO can get to Police files if they want to. If somebody would come looking into Shinichi's death it'd be easy as cake to see he's not dead. We saw that when Haibara showed up on his doorstep all of a sudden. I think with Ran aware and Shinichi not being 'forced' to keep contact with her, he could be much more efficient.

Of course all in case we're being really realistic here. ;P

SO! I have a few more things but these are the most important points. In summary, I hope you enjoyed the story and see where I was going with this. I hope I brought that idea into your head how cool this would be if it happened :) Do you agree with my meta points? Is it plausible that Ran is the one to suggest Shinichi staying with her? I dunno, tell me.

Please tell me what you think and thanks in advance for the support! :3

I'm open to ideas, I'll call this the 'Curiosity AU' from now on so feel free to send me ideas or something, I might write them ^^

~Kat