Truth's Sanctuary

"Sorry, Ran! Go on ahead of me!" Kudo Shinichi yelled, running down the alley he'd seen the suspicious man in black go.

"Eh?"

"I'll catch up with you right away!" He snuck quietly after the man to a clearing in the bushes under the Ferris Wheel. The man met another guy, some company bigwig Shinichi recognized from TV. They said a few lines before the suspicious one demanded money. The business man opened the case and there had to be at least 100 million yen in there! The man took it and tossed the other guy a canister of film. Shinichi pulled out a camera he had brought with him, photographing the scene as the man in black reached in his coat pocket and began to draw a gun.

The detective jerked in surprise when another man, the companion he'd seen earlier of the man in black, seemed to appear behind him and attack him, slamming a metal pipe against the back of his head. Half conscious, Shinichi noticed the business man run off and the men in black share a few words. He could barely understand it, but it looked like they were debating the best way to kill him.

His head throbbed as the man with long hair jerked him up by his bangs and forced something into his mouth. They were kind enough to aide him with a glass of water that appeared out of nowhere and the small pill-shaped object slipped down his throat easily. The man dropped him, his head thumping against the grassy floor, and walked off, his partner in tow. Then, it started. Pain, like nothing he'd ever experienced. All he knew was that his entire body felt like it was on fire, everything was hot, hot, hot. Too hot, he felt like he was burning, his body was melting away. 'Gods, make it stop!' He pleaded with his last coherent thought. The gods were kind to him and he fell into the realm of unconsciousness.

It was dark. Everything around him was dark. His body was heavy, his eyelids immovable. But it didn't hurt. He must've been numb, that was the only way his head injury could've been painless right now.

Suddenly, the darkness changed to a sudden flash of light. The light was dim, not at all like sunlight, but more resembling a light bulb. 'Heh, funny the things you think up when you're dying.'

"Hey, c'mere! We've got a dead body!" Someone shouted close to him. Oh, so he was dead already? Kinda sucked…not really the way he'd imagined it to be.

"Wait, he's still breathing!"

"Hurry, call the paramedics!"

'I am alive?' He thought vaguely. His brain didn't seem to be functioning and everything around him was taking a long time to process. Finally, his eyes began to creep open, catching sight of policemen, and lots of them. 'Oh, I guess they were checking the area. That murder case just happened earlier, right?'

"Damn, his head's all bloody. Hey, kid, you awake? Can you walk?" The man closest to him asked.

'Kid! What the hell were they talking about? He was in high school for god's sake! Wasn't that old enough not to be considered a kid anymore?' His thoughts cut off when the police officer shined the light in his face.

"Are you okay, kid? How'd you hurt your head?" He was bending down, approaching Shinichi almost cautiously.

"I –" He rasped, blinking in surprise. His voice was high-pitched! And, ow, blinking made his head hurt. Damn that guy for whacking him with that stupid pipe. Speaking of which, where was that pipe? They could use it as evidence to find the guy that attacked him. Shinichi didn't think he was wearing gloves, so they should be able to get fingerprints.

He glanced around him before he noticed something weird. Was it just him or was he a lot closer to the ground than before? He was sitting up, right? Huh, maybe that blow to the head screwed with him more than he originally thought. But…no, it was still strange. His clothes…when he'd put them on this morning, they'd almost been small, but now…now they were huge. They should not have flown well past his hands like that. And his pants…was he even sitting in those anymore? He couldn't feel the waistband at all.

He yelped when the officer picked him up. 'Holy shit, this guy should not be able to pick up a high school-er that easily. What was he, a giant? But no, that was completely illogical. Then again, nothing about his situation right now seemed logical.

"You must've been scared. But don't worry now, we're here, kid." The policeman smiled pleasantly down at him while another one near them pulled out a radio.

"Uh, yeah, we're at site B and we've found an injured boy. We're taking him to the medical room, over." He said calmly. "Hmm, I guess his age is around five to seven. Definitely in grade school."

"What!" Shinichi yelped, once again hearing that high-pitched voice. Why did he sound like a freaking girl?

The officers took him to a medical station at the theme park. The doctors patched his head up easily and the adults were all being very good-natured over everything. In the mean time, Shinichi was quickly becoming more and more frustrated. Why wouldn't these imbeciles believe him!

"I'm telling you, I saw these suspicious guys blackmailing this other guy! Something about gun smuggling! But his friend found me and he hit me over the head!"

"Okay, kid, you've been watching too many police dramas." An officer laughed.

Shinichi groaned. 'Stupid, stupid police officers! Why did they keep calling him a kid, anyway?'

Two of the cops to the side were whispering…or trying to. Shinichi could hear them perfectly and they were a great deal taller than he was. "Hey, maybe he'd a runaway."

"You think so? A kid like that…?"

"Go check if there are any requests for a search!" One of them ordered. Shinichi grumbled. Before this, he'd actually had a pretty high opinion of police officers, especially since he thought they were from Megure's division, but now…standards must be dropping.

His head ached and he moved to inspect it in the mirror. He jerked back in surprise when he caught his reflection. Damn, he looked like shit. But that wasn't the problem. No, the problem was…he was freaking tiny! Why? Why was he so small? What the hell had happened?

"Sir, there are no reports of missing children fitting his description." An officer announced.

"Oh well." The other said. "Get in touch with HQ. We'll take him to the daycare there."

"D-daycare!" Shinichi whispered, horrified. Oh hell no, he wasn't going anywhere near there! He scrambled around looking for escape and found it in the form of a low window. Jumping out, he took off as fast as he could, heading to the first place he could think of.

Thousands of thoughts ran through his mind. 'I'm tiny, oh dear god, I'm an elementary kid again! What happened? A daycare! Hell no! What am I gonna do? Where can I go? Who would believe me? People don't just shrink. Oh gods, that's what had happened, isn't it? He'd shrunk!'

The circus in his head abruptly shut down when he collided with something bigger than himself. 'What isn't bigger than me?' Something in the back of his mind spat. The rest of his mind concentrated on scampering away and seeing what in hell he'd hit. A person. A nice-looking young man, by the looks of it. Then again, he couldn't really see very much from where he was, down by the guy's ankles.

"Hey, kid, are you okay? What's wrong?" He asked kindly. Funny, he sounded kind of familiar. Maybe Shinichi had met him before.

Just then, a stampede of footsteps erupted behind him and the officers burst onto the street. "There he is!" One of them shouted. Shinichi scurried around the legs of the man he'd run into, hoping he'd make a good shield.

"Hey now, what's the problem?" The man demanded. Interesting, not many people stood up to a horde of policemen.

"O-oh, Takagi-san!" The officer in the front blurted in surprise. "Sorry sir, but we found this kid at Tropical Land, unconscious. We were going to bring him to headquarters and find out what to do with him when he ran away."

"Is he a missing child? Is there a search out for him?" The man, Takagi, asked slowly. His voice seemed to quiver just the smallest amount. Not very confident in himself, it appeared.

"No, keiji, there's nothing. We were going to bring him to the daycare at the station and find out who his parents are."

'Keiji?' Shinichi's brow quirked upward. Yes, he had seen this man before. 'That's right! The murder case on the airplane when I was 14.' Yes, that was one case he remembered quite well. It had been his first formal appearance as a detective, after all. 'He was sort of like Megure-keibu's right hand man, wasn't he?'

"Oh, really?" Takagi smiled nicely. "Hey, boy, is that true? You don't have need to be scared, they won't hurt you. They're just going to help find your parents, okay? So, why don't you cooperate?" Still smiling, he reached out and hand which Shinichi took.

'Crap, what now? My parents don't have a little kid, they have a teenager for a child! What can I tell them?' No one would believe he was Kudo Shinichi. What should he say?

"What's your name, boy?" Takagi asked.

Shinichi blinked. "Uh…" That's right, name, he needed a name! He couldn't be Kudo Shinichi…but where could he take an alias from? Where would Sherlock Holmes take his alias from, in a situation like this? Wait…Holmes? 'I got it!'

"Conan!" He exclaimed. "I'm Edogawa Conan." Okay, so his name sounded like some weird foreigner's but…well, at least Edogawa Ranpo was Japanese, so his chosen family name didn't make him seem completely foreign.

"Edogawa…Conan? That's an…interesting name. Well, Conan, we're here at the station now. Can you tell us where to find your parents?"

Actually, he didn't even know where his parents were at the moment. "I think they're somewhere in America. Could be Europe, though. They travel a lot." He said absently, not even realizing he was speaking aloud.

"America? Europe! Conan-kun…did your parents…erm, did your parents…leave you here?" Takagi asked, hesitantly.

'Leave me? Well, yeah, but that was a few years ago. Still, why dismiss a perfectly good excuse?' He nodded, forcing his eyes to water. It was surprisingly easy, but he supposed the fact that he was really in pain helped. "Y-yeah, they did." He murmured. He hoped he didn't sound totally fake. Couldn't fate bless him and let him inherit his mother's acting skills?

Apparently it had, because the officers in the room all turned to him, sympathetic looks in there eyes. Takagi even looked like he was tearing up as well.

"W-well, Conan-kun, we're going to have to contact a social services agency, you understand?"

'Conan's' eyes went wide. Social services? He was going to have to be adopted! Well, yeah, it made sense, given the story he had told them, but…he didn't want to end up living with some stranger god knows where!

"No!" He yelped. He bit his lip hard and tears leaked from his eyes. "No, I dun wanna go!" He whimpered. 'Crap, I think my lip is bleeding.' Shinichi thought. 'Dammit!'

Takagi looked sadly at him. "But, Conan-kun, if you have nowhere to go…" He trailed off. The guy looked really sad. Interesting, it wasn't often you came across people that kind. Made him seem pathetic, though.

"P-please! Dun make me go!" He cried. Gods, his dignity was really suffering right now. Well, groveling on his knees, sniffling and crying…no one would mistake him for the great Kudo Shinichi at least.

"W-well…I guess you might be able to stay with me, at least for a few days. Would that be okay, Conan-kun?" Takagi asked, his eyes pleading for him to stop crying. Looks like the guy couldn't handle tears.

Now…nice police officer over random stranger… "Can I?" He asked, eyes shinning with hope.

"Sure." Takagi smiled, relieved the boy was looking happier. "In fact, I'll take you home right now. You could use some washing up." The other officers stared at Takagi. "I'll drop in in the morning and take care of the paperwork, okay?" Takagi told them. He picked Conan up and walked out the door, heading for his apartment.

Conan was indignant about being picked up so easily, but…well, he was tired and this Takagi guy was nice and warm…Besides, living with a police officer couldn't be that bad. At least he'd have access to cases and have a better chance of finding the guys who shrunk him than he would with some other stranger. And maybe, in the morning, he'd wake up and find out this was all just a bad dream.

With such thoughts in his head, it wasn't long until Conan was fast asleep, curled up against the young police detective. Said man smiled softly. He'd always liked kids and with this one he was able to do a bit of good. Maybe the kid would grow to like him enough to stay? It was possible…but then, there was still police procedure to deal with. Oh well, he'd worry about that in the morning. In the meantime, his apartment was just up the road and a warm, soft bed was very appealing right not. Though, actually, he'd have to sleep on the couch. He only had one bed and the kid was more deserving of it than him. Plus, the kid was injured. Takagi would need to take him to a proper doctor tomorrow and make sure there wasn't any damage. Those police officers had taken him to a medical station, so if he'd had a concussion, they'd have told him. So, no need to worry until morning.

Shinichi's eyes blinked slowly open. God, his head hurt! What the hell had he been doing? Did he piss Ran off yesterday or something? He blinked again and looked around. This was not his room. Where was he?

He threw the covers back and tried to get out of the bed, but the sheets got caught up in his clothes and he fell in a heap on the floor. "Ugh…" The hell? His voice sounded funny.

He could hear sock-clad running across wooden floor before the door slammed open and a panicked voice was calling out, "Conan-kun!"

Conan…oh, that's right. The events from the previous night flooded back into his mind while Takagi fawned over him.

"Conan-kun, are you okay? Jeez, you're a mess. Why are you even wearing clothes that big in the first place? We're going to have to go shopping and find some stuff for you. Do you have anything with you? Did your parents leave anything?"

"Um…Takagi-san?" He said slowly. The man blinked.

"Oh, that's right, I never did introduce myself. Sorry about that. I'm Takagi Wataru."

"My head hurts." He mumbled. Takagi rushed from the room to get him a couple of painkillers and he struggled out of his pants. They weren't doing much good, anyway. His shirt more than covered his entire body. That was really rather depressing…

Takagi came back and handed him a pill and a glass of water, pulling him into a sitting position on the ground. Conan glared at the pill in his hand. Stupid things…it was all their fault he was like this. Nonetheless, he took the Advil and sighed in relief when the throbbing on his head eased.

"Well, we need to go shopping for clothes for you, I need to check in at the station to fill out paperwork about you, and…I suppose we need to enroll you in school?" He asked, thoughtfully. Conan shuddered at the thought.

"Um, shouldn't that wait until I have a definite place to stay?"

"Yes, I suppose. In that case, you'll have to come to work with me. That means you'll have to stay at the daycare."

Conan blanched. Hadn't he done all this to get out of staying at the daycare? Also…school. If he was going to go to school, he'd need school records. Who did he know that could forge the records he needed? He didn't know anyone on the side of the law that would be able to do that. Besides, what criminal would want to help him, anyway? And really, what sort of excuse could he give in the first place to explain his need of forged records?

Wait, there was someone who would know how to forge records that might actually help him. But how to get in contact? And when? Almost anything he did, Takagi would notice. Maybe…if Takagi left him at that stupid daycare place, he could sneak out and do something, just so long as he got back before they noticed. He didn't need another group of officers looking for him. Last night has been quite enough.

"Well, lets get you some clothes first, then I can go into the office. My shift doesn't start for an hour so we should have enough time." Takagi smiled at him, pulling on a jacket and stuffing his wallet in his pocket. "You ready?" Conan ran a hand through his hair and nodded.

"You do realize everyone on the street is gonna look at you funny." He said. Really, who wouldn't? He'd be walking along with a kid whose head was bandaged and whose face was probably bloody, who was wearing an adult size shirt and nothing else, and who didn't even have shoes that fit him!

Takagi looked him over. "I guess we'll be needing to buy more than just clothes." He chuckled, locking the door behind them as they headed out.

By the time they got started buying things, Takagi began to worry that one hour might not be enough. Once they got the clothes, they had to look for shoes and toiletries, as well as anything else that caught their eye. His wallet was going to take a long time to recover.

But, when all was said and done, Conan looked much better than he had before. He also looked somewhat strange. He'd decided he wanted these particular glasses, ones that were way oversized for his face, and told Takagi he'd take care of the details with the lenses. The police detective waited outside while Conan chatted happily with the eye doctor working in the cubicle in the department store. When he came out, the only difference Takagi noticed was that the tag on the frames had been taken off and that glasses cost more than he'd ever thought. He supposed the lenses weren't very strong because Conan's sight seemed the same as it had been before. Maybe he was nearsighted?

Conan sighed. Who knew it was so hard to botch an eye exam. Next time, he'd just take the frames without glass in them if he needed to. That was pretty much how it was, anyway. The prescription the doctor had given him was too strong for his eyes, so he'd popped the lenses out as soon as Takagi's back was turned. He hoped no one would notice the glass was missing.

Finally, all their shopping was done. They ran by the apartment to drop everything off and had to hightail it to the office in order to make his shift on time. Wataru dropped Conan off at the daycare and got to work on filling out the paperwork from the previous night. Carrying it back to his desk, he soon realized that this, combined with the papers already waiting for him, would take him most of the day.

So focused on his work was he that he didn't even notice when his partner on the force came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He yelped, almost tossing the papers into the air. Luckily, he kept a hold of them, and he turned to see Satou Miwako giggling lightly.

"I'm sorry, Takagi-kun. I thought you knew I was here." She smiled vibrantly and he easily forgave her. "Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch in an hour?"

His gazed at her in surprise. Satou-san was asking him to lunch? "S-sure. That'd be great!" He grinned. She laughed and went to her own desk, leaving Takagi to a pile of work that suddenly seemed a lot less tormenting.

While Takagi was rejoicing his date, Conan was finding out exactly why he'd always hated daycares.

"Okay, children, why don't we color now?" The enthusiastic teacher said. The toddlers cheered. Conan groaned.

"Um, sensei?" He asked. "Could I use the computer?" He pleaded. He did not want to color.

She frowned at him, but nodded. Apparently she decided that he was old enough to be trusted with the technology. Thank god.

He logged on and quickly started searching. It took him a while, the better part of an hour, but finally, he'd chased down a name. Now, to get in contact with him…

With Takagi, the hour had passed in blissful joy and, before he knew it, he was sitting in the break room eating lunch and talking pleasantly with Satou.

"So, Takagi-kun…" She started. Funny, she seemed kind of nervous.

"Yes?"

"Is it true? Yumi-chan said you came in this morning with a child!" Ah, Yumi-chan. The head of the gossip circle within the police. If she knew about that then so did half the station by now. No wonder he'd been receiving odd stares all morning.

"Oh, yeah, its true. One of the squads at Tropical land yesterday found a young boy. He didn't have a family and he was afraid to go to the social services, so I took him in for the time being." Takagi said.

"Oh, that's right, you were there at that murder at Tropical Land yesterday. But, really? You took him in?"

"Yes. I mean, he needed somewhere to go, right? And I don't mind. He's awfully cute, anyway."

Satou grinned and they launched into another conversation, this one about children. Takagi was feeling very giddy by the end of it.

Lunchtime. Why oh why did people think that all little kids should have healthy food for lunch? It wasn't like he was against healthy food or anything – his diet was actually very healthy, if he didn't cook for himself – but that didn't mean he restricted himself to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apples! Why did they serve an apple, anyway? Most of the kids here didn't even have teeth!

About the time the other kids started running around screaming, Conan decided it was time to bow out. He slipped out the door while the teacher was trying to comfort a particularly whiny child. Once out of the station, he caught a bus to Ekoda. From there, he walked to the high school he'd mapped out on the computer beforehand. The receptionists stared at him when he walked in, but he ignored it and politely requested that they summon a Kuroba Kaito to the office so that he could speak with him. Shrugging, they obliged and, within minutes, a boy who looked remarkably like Shinichi was walking towards them.

"Hey, kid," He smiled. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yes, actually." He said, leveling the man with a piercing blue stare. Kuroba raised an eyebrow. "Is there somewhere we could talk?"

Kaito motioned him into the corner. "So, what's up?"

"I need your help." Conan whispered.

Kaito looked surprised. "Me? Well sure, but how?"

"My name is Edogawa Conan. I need the assistance of Kaitou Kid."

Kuroba stiffened. "Kid? Well, why come to me then?"

"Anyone who knows how to research can connect you to the thief. Whether you really are him or simply an accomplice would take more evidence to discover, but I honestly don't care. Either way, I need Kid's help."

"With what, kid? Why would you want help from a criminal?"

"Because I need to see if he can forge documents." Conan said, voice very low. Kaito simply stared at him. "Nothing too extreme, but I need my identity as Edogawa Conan solidified."

"Um…and why do you think he'd help you?"

"I was thinking of a trade. I don't turn over the research I've done to the police and Kid makes me a 'legal' citizen, with school records and medical records, the whole nine yards."

Kaito thought for a moment before nodding. What choice did he have, after all? If Nakamori-keibu, or worse, Hakuba got a hold of something linking him to Kid, it wouldn't take long for them to hunt down enough evidence to incriminate him. "Fine, when do you need this done, kid?"

"As soon as possible, preferably within the next few days."

"Fine, I'll see what I can do. But you know…you really don't sound like a kid, kid."

Conan smirked at him. "I'm not."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not. That's why I need my alias to have records."

"Riiiight. You know, I think you and me should have a nice long talk later." Kaito said.

"Fine, but not now. You need to get back to class and I…have somewhere I'm supposed to be."

"Okay, but how can I contact you?" Kuroba asked.

"I'm currently living with a police officer, but I don't think you'd be exactly comfortable there. Um…oh, I think I have a cell phone somewhere. I'll have to find it, but you should be able to contact me from there." Conan scribbled the number onto a piece of paper and handed it to the high school student. "Oh, and thank you."

"For what?"

"Well, for not sending me to an insane asylum, for one." Conan said. He nodded to his look-alike before turning on his heel and heading back to the station. He hoped the crazy teacher hadn't noticed his absence.

Okay, so this is the first chapter of a new fic. I hope you liked it and, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Conan gets taken in by Takagi becuz Ran is too close to his other life, but he can still access cases with a police officer.

Takagi adopts after a few days. He gets attached to Conan and, when the social services people show up, he decides to adopt, if its okay with Conan.

Kid forges the needed documents and makes him gadgets that help him live?

Conan play detective still? Yes, leads Takagi on with helpful hints. No sleeping dart stuff. Chalks up his knowledge to lots of reading.