Day 1. Study in Scarlet (Favorite scene)

She turned the door lock with a cold snapping sound. Sometimes she wondered how limited Kudo's amazing brain was working in that kind of situations. She didn´t know if it was just the fever or rather something (or better to say someone) that made him forget that somebody could walk in on him, changing back into a grade schooler in the men's restroom. Or was it because he still had hoped that the antidote would cure him for real?

Haibara shook her head with a sigh.

'I'm a scientist- no magician, Kudo.'

She tore the wig from her head and turned around to take a look at the scene in front of her. It was still Kudo Shinichi leaning against the washbasin of the restaurant – for now.

The high schooler went back and forth form being conscious and muttering something beneath his breath, before a new spasm went through him. She put the bag she'd brought along down. It hadn´t been hard to make Mori her personal driver. A few hints from ‚Conan' about what could happen between a young couple in such an expensive place was enough to make him spy on his beloved daughter.

The little chemist pulled out some needles along with a bunch of blood collection tubes, disinfection agent and a strong elastic band to stanch his blood. She had to be fast if she wanted to examine what the poison and the antidote were doing with his body.

He owed her to satisfy her scientific curiosity after all.

But before she was able to prefer anything else, his scream tore through the white tiled room and made everything clatter from her hands. She looked up in fear.

Kudo hadn´t screamed like that yesterday.

Was changing back to Conan so much worse than rapidly growing into Shinichi?

Or was her poison finally finishing him off?

She hastily made her way over to him, nearly flinched away when her hand touched his forehead. He was burning up!

"Kudo!"

Haibara couldn´t hide the worry in her voice, but he just grunted in response, gasping for air as he tried to speak.

"Why… too soon…" he whimpered, a sound that made a shiver run down her spine.

A sound she never wanted to hear from him.

"R-Ran… I need to go back…" Shinichi winced, it felt like his heart was about to give in any second now.

"I want to tell her- I – "

But a scream tore his sentence apart.

The pain was stronger this time, his mind was clouded by the heat, but one thought still prevailed.

"I promised…" he whispered, before a new wave of pain mingled her name with his screams.

"Ran!"

The strawberry blond girl bit her lips.

Her again.

Of course.

It had always been her.

Ran.

It seems like he didn´t have the time to make his confession.

'Yeah, because you haven´t told him about the assumed time limit.'

'Shut up.' She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to get rid of the dirty little voice of guilt inside of her.

'You don't want to share him,' it teased her.

'That's not true,' she argued back, but it wouldn't let go so easily.

'So why didn´t you tell him?'

Why?

"Ai… Why are you doing this?"

His voice was full of genuine wonder and maybe also a little bit of confusion, but it was the question itself that froze her in place.

"If there's an antidote, wouldn't you want to be the first one to change back?"

He was looking down at her with that curious expression, too cute for his own good.

'You wouldn't understand…'

She shook her head with a sigh, clearing her mind form this memory.

Even the great detective Kudo Shinichi wasn´t able to figure out why her heartbeat fastened at his question. Or why she had blushed when she'd first seen his adult form for real, 24 hours ago. He hadn´t allowed her to be close to him when he changed, so she had agreed to wait in front of his door at least. It wasn´t like she could do anything for him if something went wrong anyway. She remembered his shallow breath and a hiss of pain through the wooden door, but this… this was anguish on a whole new level.

And she hated it.

She couldn´t bare to see him like that, his body and his soul going through such a torture.

Shinichi's hand clung to his shirt, sweat was running down his temple, dripping on the tiled floor of the cold restroom. One last scream tore through the silence and she watched his body slowly loosing it's form.

Haibara bit her lips, she had felt it herself but seeing it was something totally different.

His face was loosing it's sharp edges, while his body seemed to vanish, into his now too big clothes, until all that was left behind from Kudo Shinichi was a small child on the cold floor.

Edogawa Conan.

She should have told him about the time limit she had figured the antidote would have, maybe he would have used his time wiser then.

After all… she was waiting for him.

His breath had calmed down, his sweaty skin had a dangerous pale shine, but at least his face had relaxed into the bliss of being unconscious. She sighed and grabbed for a towel, turned up the water to make it wet and cold enough, before he brushed the sweat from his temple. But the sudden cold made him flinch.

"H-Haibra?"

He blinked in confusion, it took him some time to recognize where he was and what had happened. Conan pushed her hand away with a groan. Back to being the little shrimp. He bit his lip and looked down at his best jacket which now seemed to swallow him.

"You better tell her to wait for you a little longer than just tonight."

Her voice ripped him from his thoughts, he had already forgotten that she was there as well. Conan swallowed and looked back down on his hands, covered by his overlarge sleeves.

"I… I'm not sure I can ask that of her," he murmured, a sad smile forming on his lips.

"It wouldn't be fair…"

She blinked at the rare vulnerable moment. She had never seen him that broken.

It was time to change that.

"Of course you can," Haibara argued and got his attention again.

"That was our first try Kudo, once I'll get the formula of the poison, I can make a working antidote."

The little boy looked at her in awe.

"I promise."

'To both of you…'

"Haibara…" he started, but she blocked him with a rising eyebrow.

"What are you staring at? Go, change already before she decides that you're not worth waiting for."

Conan looked at her, eyes big in surprise, before a smile broke free on his lips.

"Right."

XXX

He was out of breath, he could still feel the strain the change had caused on his body. Some of the tables were empty by now, but they still blocked his few of their table. Conan cursed, he nearly had run into a waiter before he finally caught sight of the table he'd so carefully had chosen for tonight.

She was still there… waiting for him.

A warm laugh was on her lips while she chatted with one of the waitresses before she got aware of him.

"Conan-kun!"

Shinichi swallowed. It was hard not to flinch at the surprise in her voice along with a hint of disappointment. Conan took a deep breath, searching for a smile to put on his lips.

"Here, the credit card," he offered, putting the card on the table.

"Shinichi-niichan said to give it back," the little boy stuttered. Conan could feel that he grew more nervous with every second, so he rambled on. "Uncle Kogoro sent me to check up on things and I saw him along the way."

"Dad's here?"

He nodded. "Yeah, he's in the parking lot below."

"And where's Shinichi?"

This time he couldn't hide the nervous twitch of his shoulders. There it was… the question he had been waiting for and yet was afraid to answer all the same. She looked down at him, hope still gleaming in her eyes, even when something inside her already told her that he would not come back today.

Conan swallowed, he tried his hardest to hold her gaze, but the realization that slowly began to shine in her eyes, broke his heart.

"Uh… he got a call on his cellphone. He has a lot of trouble with the case he is on and left in a hurry."

"I see…"

Her words were barely more than a whisper, tears where already burning in her eyes.

'Ran…'

It hurt to see her like that, to see her in so much pain. A lump had formed in his throat, making it hard to breath as he tried to lighten the mood, just like Conan always did.

"Shinichi-niichan is stupid, to leave Ran-neechan behind."

It was the truth, he really was an idiot. He should have let Megure solve the case. It seemed like he still hadn´t learned anything from his mistakes. Instead, he could do nothing now to ease her pain.

"He left me again."

The sadness in her voice tore him apart. What must she be thinking about him, when he not even took the time to tell her goodbye but simply disappeared again.

He was a miserable friend.

Conan's eyes hardened.

He would make it up to her, he had to.

The little boy inhaled deeply. The air shivered in his lungs while he clenched his small hands into fists.

"Shinichi-niichan said…"

"No, stop it!"

Her voice was harsh, full of sadness and anger.

"I don´t want to hear it!" she pleaded. "I don´t want to hear excuses anymore."

That was it, she had enough. Enough from his lies and the false hope he was feeding her with.

She had enough of him.

'Ran.'

He was about to lose her…

"Shinichi-niichan said…" he started anew, not looking up to her again, he was too afraid of what he might see.

"Someday…. I'll definitely return."

His hushed voice grew dark.

"Even if I die."

It was Shinichi Kudo who was talking, not Conan and the detective meant every word he said.

He would return to her, even if it was the last thing he did.

But when he finally met her eyes again, filled with too much tears his voice suddenly broke.

"That's why…"

He could hear his heartbeat drumming in his ears, time seemed to stand still, when he finally allowed himself to ask her the favor that would decide their future.

"That's why… I-I want you to wait for me."

Hey everyone – so that's it my first try on the Conan week! I have to say it's quite a challenge, since I saw it so late I had to write all that stuff in a minimum of time while the wetter is soo nice outside. I've four more to do so yeah.. time to get things done.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the scene as much as I do! Shinichi's and Ran's pain are so alike and yet I think the most important thing is that Shinichi finally asked her to wait for him!

A amazing thank you to Tobina who had to beta it really fast and did an amazing job by it!

Of course I would love to see your reviews below ^^

Till tomorrow!

Shelling ~