A/N: Finally. Its over. This dang long arc done! *cheers* Sorry it took so long to update! Thank you for still supporting me through it, and I hope this chapter pleases you all!

As always, major thanks to LadyShadow26 for her amazing betaing skills. She's been such a big help!

Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Adventures in Beika

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Part 4

Earlier that day, Ran had decided to stop by the Kudo household. She had been repeatedly going there over the past few days, hoping, or rather wishing at this point, that Shinichi would somehow show up. He never had. At least, not until now.

After checking the mansion, and maybe cleaning it up a bit, she had been planning on going to hand out flyers. They had a picture of Shinichi in his school uniform, and information on him. She had decided to take this step after the missing persons report had brought in no information on the tufted detective. There was a chance someone had seen him and not thought that there might be a missing persons report on him.

She had heard Yukiko's shout of "Shin-chan!" just as she was turning the corner. She had had a moment of surprise and shock, then her feet had started moving on their own. She had ran as quietly as humanly possible, not quite sure why she was doing so. Her momentary silence had been broken, however, when she came up just past the open gate. She had seen Shinichi's face then. At least, what she thought must be Shinichi's face.

She had felt euphoria when she had seen him standing on the doorstep of the Kudo household. However, that had quickly transformed into a burning rage, as well as a feeling of betrayal. If he was alive and well he should have just let her know! Yet, he seemed to have kept her in the dark, leaving her to worry endlessly about him, losing sleep over it. The nerve!

Ran had dropped all her flyers as soon as she had seen Shinichi standing there, his mom hugging a small child with a cast and pink hair. Ran had wondered briefly who that small child was, but soon, her mind was taken over by one thought: Shinichi. He was there. He was safe. He... had a different haircut.

"Shinichi?" She had uttered. Her voice was met with abrupt tensity. Slowly, the trio had turned around, fixing their saucer-wide eyes upon Ran.

"Where have you been?" She knew there were tears in her eyes, falling to the pavement, she knew her voice was shaking a little. She didn't want the tears, she didn't want her shaking voice, but Shinichi was standing right there. The one that had abandoned her, filling her thoughts with worry. He was actually okay.

Their silence was filled with the chirping of birds and the whistling of the breeze as it blew through the trees. The sunset set the mansion in an orangish glow behind Shinichi, his mom, and the strange child. Ran could feel her tears dripping at a faster pace down her cheeks. Dang it.

"Ran-chan! I'm so glad you came to visit us. And just as Kaito was coming to visit, too," Yukiko exclaimed, pulling herself together and bouncing to her feet.

Ran drew her brow together in confusion, then quickly decided that Kaito must be the little boy. Now that she thought about it, he had the same haircut as Shinichi's new one. They both had strangely messy hair. He also looked strikingly like a younger version of Shinichi. Was it just a coincidence, or was something else going on here...?

Shinichi pulled himself together as well, holding up a hand in greeting as he gave a lopsided smile. "Hi there! The name's Kuroba Kaito, magician extraordinaire. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he introduced with a small bow, flourishing a yellow rose from out of thin air.

Ran moved her mouth up and down a few times, shocked. Was this teenager really not Shinichi? That couldn't be... they looked exactly alike! Even their voices were the same! Was Shinichi actually trying to trick her, lie to her? That thought struck Ran hard. He was always going on about how "one truth prevails" and such. Still, he would lie to her?

Ran's tears were flowing even faster now, and she glared at her trembling hands as "Kaito" gave her a concerned look. She didn't want this teenager's sympathy. She didn't want him to look at her like that.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked softly, placing a hand gently on her shoulder and lowering his head to try and meet her eyes.

Ran flinched away, squeezing her hands. "Of course I'm not okay, baka!" She shouted, feeling the heat of the moment. "You... you..." She trailed off, sliding to the ground as she choked on her tears. Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot. She really was an idiot.

"Neechan?" The voice was small, and for some reason, it managed to draw her out of her internal despair. Ran blinked a few times, then looked up. Standing right in front of her was the young boy. He was biting his lip, his eyes pained as he gazed at her. What...? There was something in his eyes that was strangely familiar. Had she met this boy somewhere before? She must have. But where?

"Shinichi-niichan... he'll come back. I'm sure he will," the boy promised, rather out of nowhere. It was as if he knew just what was going on in her head, the exact words she wanted to hear. Just who was he? There was something almost surreal about him.

"Wh-who are you?" She stammered out, not being able to hold it back. She needed to know. She needed to understand this boy's connection to Shinichi, his connection to her. Why this boy seemed to be able to read her mind.

"Kuroba Sharokku, Kaito-niichan's younger brother," the boy introduced, his expression becoming unreadable.

Ran gaped. She wasn't exactly sure why she felt so surprised. It could be the name. Yes, maybe that was it. Sharokku, or rather, Sherlock. Shinichi's favorite fictional character and obsession. It felt like it was too much of a correlation to be a mere coincidence. It could only be a coincidence, really. She was starting to overanalyze the situation, curse her imagination.

An unsure expression then developed on Sharokku's young face. At least, it looked unsure. There was something else about it that she didn't quite get. Something like regret, or maybe sorrow?

Ran's mind travelled back to Sharokku's previous words about Shinichi. It was quickly becoming less likely that Kaito was in fact Shinichi. It could be some elaborate trick, but that seemed improbable. Now she was feeling kind of bad… scratch that, she was feeling terrible. She had just called a stranger "baka". There was one thing she needed to ask before apologizing, though..."Do you know Shinichi?"

Sharokku shuffled his feet a little, then nodded sheepishly. "Yeah. He's our, uhm, cousin. He ran into... into... a case. A really complicated case that's pretty far away," the boy explained.

"How do you know that?" Ran then inquired, trying desperately to keep more tears from flowing.

"He stopped by a few days ago." Kaito came up next to Sharokku, intervening just as the child had been about to speak.

"Oh," was all she could say. Somehow, Shinichi had managed to contact his cousins she had never heard of, but hadn't managed to contact her. What was wrong with him? How could he do that to her? Ran bit her lip, turning her face away from the trio. She didn't want anyone to see her cry over this any longer. It hurt her so much, though. She didn't think she could hold back the tears even if she tried.

Suddenly, Yukiko was at Ran's shoulder. "Come on, Ran-chan. Let's get you some tea," she said gently, pulling the girl up.

Ran let her body go mostly limp, sniffling. Heck, who cared? She didn't have the energy to fight it any more. She might as well just go with it. Some tea sounded nice, anyway…

Yukiko patted Ran's shoulder gently. Giving the teenage girl an apologetic smile, Shinichi's mom pulled her into the mansion, using her shoulder to support Ran's weight.

She couldn't help it. Ran sent a glance back at Shin-, no, Kaito, and Sharokku, the sunset illuminating their still forms. Kaito was looking down, but she managed to catch Sharokku's eyes. There was something akin to pain in them, filling the sky-blue orbs. It was probably just her imagination again. He was just a child, after all.

1412

Sharokku clenched the blanket in his fists, glaring daggers at his knees. After the whole mess with Ran was over, Sharokku had escaped to his old room. He didn't know exactly why he had chosen it. Maybe it was because he was most likely to be left alone there. It might be because of the memories it brought back, or the fact that he felt comfortable there.

Whatever the reason, he was there now, beating himself up. He couldn't help but feel that it was his fault Ran had cried, his fault that she had been so upset. After all, he was the one who had followed those men in black and started this whole thing. If only he'd prepared himself more, noticed that the one with the murderous eyes hadn't been there, or even just not gone at all.

Sharokku knew he would never choose the last option. He was glad he had the chance to stop these people with such dangerous weapons and such large amounts of money. He just wished he didn't have to keep undercover to do it.

Ran had clearly been searching for him. The flyers on the ground had explained it all. Sharokku had to briefly wonder whether she had put up a missing persons report on him. That… wouldn't be good. Well, if she had, he'd have to make sure that was changed. They didn't need those men in black becoming suspicious. It was probably better that she knew Shinichi was fine, though he still felt like it might end up putting her in danger. Heck, in this situation, just knowing him put her in danger.

Sharokku clenched the blanket tighter. He was the worst childhood friend Ran could have. He put her in danger, lied to her, hurt her. He wished now that he could be a better person for her. She probably would have been better off with someone else.

That was when the door creaked open. Sharokku didn't look up. He knew who had entered.

Kaito had followed Ran and Yukiko, going to make sure everything went smoothly and that Ran would be okay. Sharokku had silently cursed himself. She deserved a childhood friend more like Kaito, someone who wouldn't put her in danger. Someone who would care for her and put her first.

"Hey." Kaito's voice was only a little louder than a whisper. He pushed the door gently closed behind him, walking over to the bed on silent feet and plopping down next to Sharokku. "You doing alright?"

Sharokku smiled up at him. He wasn't going to let anyone else see how injured he was feeling. Especially not Kaito. "I'm fine, just revisiting my old room."

Kaito quirked his brow, not believing it. Instead of harassing him, however, Kaito merely shrugged. "Makes sense. You grew up in this room, right?"

"Yeah…" Sharokku trailed off, glancing around his room. Heh, it was kind of weird being in his old room as a child again. Except, instead of being filled with kid detective kits, some model cars, various soccer-themed objects, and books, it was just filled with books. There was a single soccer ball, though.

It came out of seemingly nowhere. Suddenly, Sharokku was pulled to the side by an arm that had slipped around his shoulder. He looked up in surprise, eyes wide and he stared into Kaito's soft, strangely understanding, indigo eyes.

It only lasted for a moment. Kaito gave his shoulder a squeeze, then grinned and ruffled his hair. "Come on, if you don't hurry you're going to miss dinner. We skipped lunch, you must be starving! I know I am," Kaito then hopped up, his hand leaving Sharokku's hair.

The shrunken detective watched him as he walked out, staring after him for a second. Then, he cracked a smirk with a small snort. That idiot magician...

1412

Dinner had been tasty, albeit filled with an uncomfortable silence. No one had really talked nor addressed anything, just ate. Ran's face had still been a little blotched from crying, but she had managed to calm herself. Yukiko had undoubtedly wanted to say something at the beginning, but in the end had decided it would be best to leave it unsaid.

Kaito sighed, drumming his fingers on the arm of the chair he sat in. Ran held a mug of hot tea protectively in her fingers, while Shinichi was back to inspecting his cast. Yukiko had went to get dessert, at least that's what she'd said. There had been a mischievous glint in her eyes that Kaito had been a bit unsure of.

Every now and then, Kaito noticed Shinichi send a forlorn glance at Ran. He knew it hurt him being near her in the state he was in, but there was really nothing that could be done at this point. She was here, they were here, and they would all just have to get through it. Maybe he could even form some sort of connection with Ran. It would be good to be in contact with her, for multiple reasons.

"So, Ran-san," Kaito grasped for something to say. The heavy quiet was becoming unbearable. "What do you like to do?" Might as well try and find out something they could connect over. That was the first step to building a friendship. At least, in this case.

Ran started, almost spilling her tea. "Uh, well, I like to do karate…" She replied a bit sheepishly after recovering from her initial shock, giving a small smile.

Kaito nodded thoughtfully, then gave a wide grin himself. "That's great! I know some martial arts myself."

Rans shoulders loosened a bit, her posture now less tense. There, he was making progress. "What type of martial arts do you do?"

"I practice parkour." They then lapsed back into silence. Thankfully, it was a more comfortable one than before. He was definitely getting somewhere. Now if only Shinichi would chime in. But no, it looked like he was much too busy gazing at his blue cast, tracing all the lines of texture with his eyes.

"Sharokku, why don't you tell Ran a bit about yourself?" Kaito pressed. Maybe he could get Shinichi to talk about something that would differentiate Sharokku from Shinichi in Ran's mind. "Like how you enjoy eating chocolate, reading fantasy, and playing baseball." He might also just be trying to torture him. Oh well, it was fun.

Shinichi tore his gaze away from his cast and turned it to Kaito. One of his eyebrows was reaching for the sky, and his whole expression just screamed: "What the heck?" Kaito had to stifle a laugh.

Ran turned her eyes curiously towards Shinichi, taking another sip of her tea. "Really?" Dang. She must have already picked up on Kaito being a prankster. She looked skeptical.

"Uh, yeah," Shinichi sent a quick glare Kaito's way, then turned his attention to Ran. "I just love those things."

Kaito was giving that guy some acting lessons for sure. He was good, but he could definitely be better. In so many ways. He just needed to be trained right. Who knew, Kaito might even attempt to teach him to change his voice. Might. He'd have to think on that one. It was a thing that took some time, after all. And with a child's voice, he would only really be able to imitate other children and teenage girls. It could potentially be a very useful skill for him.

Ran didn't look incredibly convinced. Kaito sent a pointed gaze to Shinichi, trying to nudge him into pulling out his better acting skills. Shinichi glared daggers at him for a moment, then just looked resigned.

"Fantasy is my favorite! Especially books with, um, dragons," Shinichi exclaimed. Kaito gave an amused chuckle. Shinichi had such an adorable child act, even if he went a little overboard with it sometimes.

That was when Yukiko came back with Yusaku in tow, carrying a tray of treats. She had a wide smile, her face radiating joy. "How's it going in here?"

"Great!" Kaito responded. "Sharokku was just telling Ran about his love for fantasy," he took a quick glance at the tray of treats, which consisted of a wide variety of things, from lemon bars to truffles. He couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Shinichi at this point, though he was joyous himself. "And chocolate," he added, hoping to hint to Shinichi that he had to ignore the lemon treats and go for the chocolate ones.

Yukiko nodded happily, tugging Yusaku, who had been about to wander over to a bookshelf, into sitting next to her. "It's been such a long time since I've seen you two! Sharokku was a baby last I saw him. I can see he's grown to be a lot like you, Kaito-kun! He must look up to you~!" She said this in quite a dreamy manner.

Kaito put his hand behind his head in embarrassment, chuckling once again. "Yeah, he's just the perfect little brother, isn't he?"

Shinichi didn't seem to like being talked about in this way. His expression was a mix of disgruntlement, annoyance, and shame.

Kaito plucked up a double chocolate chip muffin, taking a bite immediately. "Mph, tis 's goom," he mumbled while chewing, then swallowed. "Sharokku, why don't you try some?"

Shinichi looked as if he were about to retort, then reluctantly took a muffin himself, his hand only hovering for a second above one of the lemon bars. He took a bite of it, exclaiming in phony delight about how delicious it was.

Ran took one herself, setting down her now empty cup of tea. "This is really good! Isn't it, Sharokku-kun?" She commented.

Shinichi gave a happy nod, looking much more realistic about it this time. Oh, the lengths one would go to for a childhood friend.

Kaito gave a huff of relief. Things had gone better than he had expected. Ran seemed to be a very understanding and kind person. And, heck, she really did look like Aoko. With a horn. What in the world was up with that anyway? Was it natural? Nah, it couldn't be. That was when Kaito swore he was going to try and do it himself someday.

Ran paused, as if remembering something, then her head fell in what looked like guilt. Kaito tipped his head a bit, worried. She peeked up at Kaito, playing with her fingers. "Um, I'm really sorry for calling you baka earlier…" She apologized, looking even more guilty.

Kaito stared at her for a second, then gave a soft smile. "It's fine. I don't mind, I get called that often enough by this little guy," he ruffled Shinichi's hair, much to the shrunken detective's displeasure. "As well as my childhood friend, so it doesn't bother me much."

Ran didn't seem sure what to think at first, a guilty look still lingering in her eyes. After a little while, she just settled on a half relieved look, nodding. Then, she paused again, her eyes wandering to the ceiling. She had an 'oh!' moment, then looked at Yusaku. "I guess I thought it might be good to mention, since you drabble in detective work and all, but my dad just got a letter yesterday. It was written using clippings from newspaper articles, and from someone names 'Asou Keiji', who was requesting investigation."

Yusaku's interest peaked, and he leaned over, his eyes glinting. "Intriguing indeed! What did the letter say?"

"Well, it was a bit creepy. It read: On the night of the next full moon, the shadows will again begin to disappear on Tsukikage Island." Ran explained, furrowing her eyebrows a bit. "We couldn't figure out what it meant…"

Yusaku looked like a child who had obtained his favorite candy as soon as Ran said that. Kaito was enjoying watching the older man, as it gave him some very good insight on where Shinichi had gotten his habits and enjoyments from. He clearly followed his father in detective work, as well as that expression when coming across a puzzle of some sort.

"Ah! Well, that'll be a fun case… I wish I could come myself, but we'll be out of Japan by the time the next full moon swings around. Why don't you invite these two along? They might come in handy," Yusaku suggested, smiling broadly. He sent a discreet wink Kaito's way, which Kaito, of course, caught.

"That would be great! I dabble just a little bit in detective work occasionally, and Sharokku's really into mystery," Kaito's face brightened as he said this, and he did his best to look completely excited. In reality, he was cursing his fate.

Ran considered this for a moment. "I think that would be alright… I don't see any problem with it. I'll have to ask my dad about it though…"

"Great!" Kaito exclaimed happily, going over to her. He grabbed her hand gently, and kissed it, causing her to blush. "It'll be our pleasure to accompany you. Here, I'll give you my phone number so you can contact me once you've gotten permission. We can set up a meeting time then-" Kaito gave a grunt of pain, interrupting what he had been about to say.

"Stop. Flirting. With. Ran-neechan, barou!" Shinichi growled, digging his heel hard into Kaito's toes. Kaito scowled down at him, clenching his teeth. "You have your own girlfriend, remember?"

"First of all, Aoko is not my girlfriend. Second, I was only trying to be friendly!" Kaito whined in response, lifting his foot so Shinichi's own fell off of it. Shinichi almost toppled over, catching his balance at the last minute.

"Well, we'll just show up on the island on the day of the full moon! You don't need to give her your phone number," Shinichi retorted, harrumphing.

"It still might be useful…" Kaito muttered, pouting down at his younger brother.

Shinichi just kept a firm stance, crossing his arms.

They were both shocked out of their argument when there was a sudden giggling, coming from Ran. They both turned to face her, wide-eyed. "Sorry, it's just that… you two… are so funny. It's like Sharokku-kun's the older brother here," she beamed.

Kaito and Shinichi blinked owlishly at Ran, tipping their heads to the side in unison. "Oh," Kaito said, not exactly happy that this was the case. Damn, Shinichi needed to act more kid-like! They had let their guard down.

"Anyway, I better get home. I'll just give you my phone number." Ran took a small notebook out of the purse she had been wearing along with a pen, scribbling down her phone number and tearing the paper out. She then handed it to Kaito, who accepted it graciously before Shinichi could have any chance to protest.

1412

Ran closed the gate to the Kudo household behind her, gazing at the large mansion for a couple seconds before continuing on her way home.

She stared up at the sky, hands behind her back as she walked. She was honestly kind of sad to part with Kaito and Sharokku… At least she had given them her phone number. They were definitely entertaining and fun to be around. It still kind of disappointed her that Shinichi hadn't been there, though… She had been so hopeful as soon as Yukiko had called out, "Shin-chan!"

Speaking of that, who had Yukiko been calling "Shin-chan"? He hadn't been there, obviously. She had been hugging Sharokku at the time, not Shinichi. Ran must have just mistaken "Sharo-chan" for "Shin-chan", or something like that.

Unless… was it possible for someone to shrink? Ran shook her head, clearing her thought train. Who was she kidding, that was only something that happened in fiction novels. There was no way Shinichi had been shrunken and become Sharokku. It was more likely that Kaito was Shinichi in disguise than that.

Ran continued on, letting go of her pondering over the matter. It was obvious Shinichi and Kaito were different people, and shrinking wasn't possible. She was taking things much too far.

…

"By the way, Shin-chan, why do you have a cast?" Yukiko inquired curiously, kneeling down and poking it gently.

Shinichi shrugged nonchalantly. "Eh, we ran into a kidnapping case before this. The criminal hit me with a wine bottle," he explained, pursing his lips a bit.

Yukiko put her hands up in over-dramatic shock. "Oh, my poor Shin-chan! Those mean criminals," she exclaimed, drawing him into a hug. Shinichi just hung limply in his mother's grasp, looking mildly irritated.

Kaito gave a nervous laugh, feeling a bit sorry for the shrunken detective. It had definitely been a long day, and he was back to being squeezed by his mother. Kaito himself was ready to just collapse onto a bed of any kind and catch some z's. "Yeah, it was a pretty long day… On that note, we got medical records from the doctor who worked on Shinichi's arm. He was a private doctor who worked with the kidnapped kid and his mother," Kaito informed, then gave a large yawn. "So, you don't need to worry about those."

Yukiko looked up at Kaito. "That's great! Well, Yusaku and I have the other papers pretty much prepared, so we'll give those to you when you leave in the morning. For now take Shin-chan," she stood up straight, taking poor Shinichi up with her, then handed him to Kaito. "And go get some rest in Shin-chan's room. There's a sleeping bag in the closet."

Kaito nodded, putting Shinichi down. "Sounds good, see you in the morning." He yawned once again, waving his hand in front of his mouth as he turned and headed towards the room, and exhausted shrunken Shinichi following suit.

A/N: How was it? Pleasing? Please tell me in a review! And thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed as of yet. It's a striking amount, and I'm so happy to have your support! *heart*

Answering of Guest Questions (thank you so much for your reviews, they really do mean a lot to me):

To Rockster: Yeah, according to research I have done (forum posts!) Shinichi is bloodtype B. I thought it was O at first, but apparently not! All the quizes say it's A for some reason as well... But, I'm pretty sure it's B (B-ve according to the Symbol of Faith).