Anonymous Review Replies:

Conan4wardstone: Awww! Only kinda pissed? I was expecting enraged but eh ;D Whatever~ Shinichi's getting there! The world just hates him right now xD Here's your update! Sorry for the wait!

Lizard: lol soon! …maybe ;D –troll- I wanna see that reaction too! I know! It's taking him soooo long to realize Conan's not evil enough to be in the BO :P Oh. You'll LOVE this chapter then. Conan realizes more than a FEW things. …frack him ._. You'll see what I mean in the chapter and at my last AN. Here's your update! ;D

Ivi: YOU. I LIKE YOUR LOGIC. REMEMBER THAT AS YOU READ THE FIRST HALF. Anyways yes x3 yes he is cute when he blushes. Especially with Kaito. You're very welcome for the chapter :D I personally this is a but rushed and sloppy but eh :/ such is life. Here's your chappie none the less!

Firepaw: …I'm a troll and because why the hell not? :3 I loved that conversation with Heiji xD I laughed while writing that in class. Yes! Yes it is a plus! Here's your chapter!

Hikaru: HERE'S YOUR UPDATE.

A/N: Few things: DEAR GOD IS THIS SHIT LATE. AORDOGJSLJ. Sooo sorry Dx Been busy and lazy and ffff. Sorry D: But it's eight pages and soooo much shit happens. More than I would have liked but Conan sucks -_- You'll see what I mean. Now before you start reading: PROMISE YOU WON'T KILL ME. DO IIIIT. Remember: If you kill me I can't make it better~ :3 but yeah this chapter proves how much of a troll I am. I even have Dai-chan anxious! Mentioning her this is unbetaed for the time being and WILL be fixed when it's not almost 2 in the morning and she's available to edit. Preeetty sure I found them all but eh. There are some stragglers. –grumbles-. But yeah. I'll try to have the next chapter up ASAP but we'll see. Thank you for your patient! And happy new year! 8D

Disclaimer: Lawl nope. Don't own. Just the plot and the evil trolling.

Chapter 18: Secrets Uncovered

Hakuba let out a yawn as he sat down at his kitchen table, a cup of steaming hot coffee in his hand. He'd been out late last night, scoping out a good portion of Tropical Land for any clues on where Shinichi could have gone.

Much to his great annoyance, there had been nothing.

Oh well. He'd known that it might have been a dead end, but he had to check out the scene anyways, just to be sure. All he'd really gotten out of his endeavor was meeting up with Conan once again and going over his theory again as he repeated it to the young detective.

Letting out a sigh as he took another big gulp of coffee, Hakuba went over everything in his head again, trying to figure out what to do next. He highly doubted that he'd be able to get anything out of Kaito, and there wasn't anything that Conan could really help him with. As a result, Hakuba was out of leads for the moment. He could always talk to Akako about the whole thing again, but seeing the self proclaimed witch usually left Hakuba with more questions than answers.

Finishing his coffee, Hakuba stood up and left the cup in the sink, beginning to make his way up towards his room. Well, if all else fails, he could look up more information about Kudo Shinichi. There had to be something that would lead Hakuba to the whereabouts of the Heisi Holmes.

Hakuba quickly sat in front of his computer and began to search for any and all information on Shinichi. Luckily there was plenty of information on the detective, unfortunately, they were mostly news articles on cases he had solved and thus, unimportant to the half Brit. Hakuba narrowed his eyes at the screen and quickly pulled up the article he had been looking at only a short while ago: the article on Kudo Shinichi's case at Tropical Land the day he, supposedly, went on a long case.

Having read the article itself multiple times, Hakuba let out a sigh and scrolled down the page, past the article on Shinichi. It was a news website, so there were more articles under the one about Shinichi. Hakuba ignored those ones, however, looking for something else that could possibly be about the MIA detective. He knew that there was a slim chance, but if there was anything on the young detective—

Wait. What the hell was that?

Hakuba scrolled back up to an article that took place only a few days after Shinichi left. It was about a murder and the person that had discovered who the killer was. Who was that person?

Edogawa Conan.

Hakuba frowned and scrolled up again, trying to see if there were any more articles around that time about Conan. As the half Brit suspected, there were none before that one. Scrolling back down, Hakuba saw plenty of articles about Conan, but only after Shinichi disappeared.

So… Conan began making a name for himself shortly after Shinichi went off on that supposed case of his. Coincidence?

Hakuba didn't believe in such things.

Conan did resemble a younger Shinichi, and the small detective was living with Shinichi's life long friend. Plus, that boy did seem much smarter than any grade-schooler should be. And he was quite comfortable around dead bodies, despite being so young…

Moving away from his computer, Hakuba walked out of his room and headed downstairs, grabbing his keys and wallet before leaving his home, heading straight for the train station. A smirk rested on the detectives lips as he all but ran for the station, determined to see if his hunch was right or not.

If it was, which was highly likely, Kudo Shinichi had been right under their noses the whole time.

Conan let out a sigh as he mindlessly switched from channel to channel, trying to find something to keep his mind from wandering too far. Usually in times like these, he'd either go out with the Shonen Tantei, or go and hang out with professor. But, he'd promised Ran that he'd stay home today and out of trouble while Kogoro and her were out for the day.

He hoped at least one of them returned soon, itching to get out and just do something right now. The ideal thing to do would be to head back to Ekoda, but Conan wasn't sure if going back so soon would be such a good idea. He still wanted to tell Kaito who he was, desperately so, but he had to build up his nerve to do so, having lost it when he left earlier that morning.

Stupid Ran and her stupid worrying.

Sighing again as he merely just through the remote to the side after turning off the TV, Conan all but shrank into the cushions, wanting something to do right now.

He was moments away from calling Heiji again when he heard a knock at the door. Looking over the back of the couch, Conan debated just ignoring the door, figuring it was someone looking for the 'Sleeping Detective'. That debate was quickly settled, however, when there came another loud, annoying bang from the door. Well, whoever was outside really wanted Conan's attention right now. Shaking his head from side to side, Conan hopped off the couch and made his way towards the door, his annoyance growing when another bang sounded from the door.

"What can I do for—Oh. It's just you," Conan said, deadpanning when he noticed that it was just the half Brit. He'd been expected a costumer for Kogorou, but oh well. At least he wouldn't be bored. "Sorry about yesterday…" Conan said, rubbing the back of his neck as he moved to the side, granting the half Brit entrance to his home. "I just… had to follow up on a lead."

"It is quite alright, Edogawa-kun," Hakuba said, a smug tone in his voice as he walked into the agency, his head held high and an air of superiority pouring out of him. "Or should I say Kudo-kun?" he said, turning around and smirking at the boy behind him. Conan paled at that and slammed the door shut, bracing himself against the door as he looked up at Hakuba, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Wh-what did you just say…?" Conan said just above a whisper. "What did you just call me…?" he added, his voice beginning to borderline hysterical.

"I believe I just called you by your name, Kudo-kun." Hakuba said, not surprised by Conan's reaction at all, but curious as to why there were something akin to terror in his eyes.

"Stop saying that." Conan hissed out, rushing into the house, looking out a few windows before closing the blinds and looking around the house, seeing if anyone was hiding. Once he was sure no one was around, he looked back up at Hakuba, his face still pale and his heart pounding. "How… how could you have known?"

"So, you do not deny that you are, indeed, Kudo Shinichi?" Hakuba said, raising an eyebrow. Conan blinked at that and let out a small stream of curses, realizing too late that he could have at least made a small effort to try and hide his secret. "And I found out on accident, in all honesty." He said, causing Conan to blink. "I was merely looking up information on Kudo-kun when I came across some information on Edogawa Conan. Edogawa-kun appeared only a short time after Kudo-kun and well, I merely connected the dots that were placed in front of me."

Conan let out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose, his heart pounding so hard in his chest it almost physically hurt. "Does anyone else know about this?" he asked slowly.

"Not at all." Hakuba said, walking further into the house and sitting down on the couch, Conan moving to stand in front of the other, hands in his pockets as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. "I reached my conclusion before making my way over here." Conan nodded at that answer and looked away from the other. Hakuba was definitely not the person he wanted to have this conversation with. It should have been Kaito, not the half Brit. "So… Kudo-kun," Hakuba said, dragging Conan from his thoughts. "Care to elaborate on what happened to you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Conan took a deep breath, letting his shoulders sag as he looked up at the other, a small look of defeat on his face.

Well, at least he wouldn't be bored for a while.

A week had passed since Conan's little… confrontation with Hakuba had taken place, and Conan was still rather sore about the whole thing. He had wanted oh so desperately to have that conversation with Kaito that very same day, but alas, God, or whatever entity was out there, clearly had it out for the shrunken teen.

To make matters worse, Conan had not been able to run off to Ekoda again and talk to Kaito, Megure having kept him busy with case after case. It seemed that there was a serial killer at large and it was up to Conan to catch him sooner rather than later.

Naturally.

Luckily for the shrunken detective, the case had only lasted a few days, much quicker than Megure had led him to believe. After dealing with the paper work that always followed a case, and assure Ran that, yes, he was fine and dandy and no longer had a crazed man out for his life, Conan finally had a day off.

So to speak.

Conan had no intention of sitting around today and relaxing, despite Megure and Ran advising him to do so. He had to get to Ekoda before anything else happened today. He just had to talk to Kaito about who he was.

Taking the steps two at a time as he ran down, Conan called out a quick goodbye as he made a bee-line for the door, not wanting Ran to stop him at all. Luck, as per usual, was not on his side as Ran called out his name, wishing for him to stop. Letting out an agitated sigh, Conan turned around and looked at Ran, pulling up his childish façade.

"Yes, Ran-neechan?" he asked, blinking up at her. Ran's small frown turned into a small smile as she looked at the boy.

"Agasa-Hakase just called. He'd like for you to stop by as soon as possible. Something about a new toy for you…" she said, trailing off a bit, frowning. Conan blinked at that, not having known that the professor had been working on a new gadget.

"Alright," Conan said, grinning as he turned toward the door. This could work to his advantage. He could probably just have the professor drive him over to Kaito's. It would be faster than the train, anyways. "I was just heading out anyways! I'll call you later, Ran-neechan!" he called over his shoulder as he slammed the door shut behind him.

He let out a sigh as he began to walk towards the professor's house, going over everything in his head for the millionth time. He'd go to Kaito's talk to the man, tell him who he was and promptly beg for forgiveness. It was the shrunken detectives fault that Kaito was slowly going insane, after all.

Well him and whatever mysterious trouble Kaito had gotten into.

Only problem was, how did he convince Kaito of who he was? Did he tell the other something that only Shinichi would know? Or did he prove he was Shinichi by being Shinichi. He scowled a bit at the thought. It was good way to prove to Kaito who he really was, but how would Kaito react to seeing Shinichi? After all, Kaito thought Shinichi was dead.

That was a lot to consider when dealing with someone who wasn't mentally stable.

Sighing once more, Conan walked up to the professor's door and simply let himself in, not even bothering to toe off his shoes as he walked in.

"Agasa-Hakase!" he called out as he headed toward the library, figuring that's where he could find his friend. Upon hearing an explosion, Conan rolled his eyes and quickened his pace, wondering what went wrong this time. "Agasa-Hakase?" he asked as he peered into the room, coughing a little at the smoke.

"A-ah Shinichi-kun…" The professor said, the front of his lab coat charred from the explosion, hacking up the smoke he just accidentally inhaled. "I am sorry to make you come all this way for nothing… but that had been my newest invention for you… Sneakers that not only increased your kicking abilities but also would have allowed you to walk up solid walls and such. Ah well." He sighed, looking down at the spot in front of him, which was still smoking.

"I warned you that this might happen, Agasa-Hakase." Haibara said, walking into the room with a fire extinguisher and putting out the smoke and flames. As soon as the task was done, she turned her attention back to Conan, a small smirk on her lips. "Glad to see you missed the explosion, Kudo-kun." She said as she began to make her way out of the room.

Not sure what to say to that, Conan just merely nodded, dumbfounded, He wasn't sure if he should take that as a compliment or an insult. It was hard to tell with Haibara sometimes. Turning his attention back to the professor, Conan smiled weakly, slightly amused by the professors mishap.

"I truly am sorry, Shinichi-kun…" the professor said, frowning a bit as he stood up, attempting to wipe some of the soot from his coat but failing horribly. "I shall have the shoes ready for you next time!" he promised, nodding to himself.

"It's alright, Agasa-Hakase," Conan said as he stood in front of the man, his hands resting in his pants pockets. "And I can think of one thing that you can do to make up for making me come all the over here on my day off." The professor raised an eyebrow at that, a bad feeling settling into his stomach. What was Conan involved with this time? "Do you think you could drive me to Ekoda?" he asked.

Agasa blinked at that, not expecting such a request. "Well… I guess I could. Especially since, knowing you, you'd run into a dead body of some sort on your way there." Conan laughed nervously at that, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Just let me change clothes and get cleaned up and I shall drive you to Ekoda." Conan nodded as the professor quickly left the library, off to get ready.

Eager to get going, Conan made his way back to the front hall, blinking when he saw Haibara heading towards him.

"Ah, Kudo-kun, I was just coming to get you." She said, blinking in surprise himself. "Someone's… uh… here to see you." She said, narrowing her eyes a bit in distrust. Conan blinked but shrugged, following her towards the entrance.

"Kudo!"

Was it too late for him to turn around yet?

Standing at the entrance of Agasa's front door was none other than Heiji, a wide amused smirk on his lips. Conan blinked at the sight of the Osakan, wondering what other surprises he was in for today.

"Happy ta see me, Kudo?" Heiji said, that grin still plastered on his face as he looked down at his scowling friend.

"Baaaro," Conan said, pouting a bit as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Usually when I see you, bodies start falling from the sky!" Heiji chuckled at that and shook his head from side to side. He soon turned serious, however, causing a bad feeling to settle in his stomach.

"But seriously, Kudo. Megure asked me to come here for something. Something big." He said, causing Conan to blink. How had he not heard of this? "Actually, it was Nakamori who contacted my old man. There's apparently been a break in some big Kaitou Kid thing."

Conan perked up at that. What had happened to his thief now? "What kind of break? What happened, Hattori?" he asked, his tone as tense as hid body. Kaito hadn't gotten hurt or worse, captured, had he?

"Well," Hattori started out slow, one of his hands going to his chin as he looked off to the side. "Apparently a lot of people, detectives, police, ya name it, have been, lookin' inta some of the stuff Kid's been takin'. So far they just thought it was random thin's. Turns out they're all connected somehow." Conan's eyes widened at that.

"Connected… how?" he asked slowly, fearing the answer. Heiji looked back at Conan, his face completely serious, an odd look in his eyes. Conan didn't like that look one bit.

"Well, from wat the police are sayin' is dat with the stuff he stole, Kid has the potential to… make some kinda gravity device or somethin'." He said, causing Conan's eyes to wide. What did Kaito need a gravity device for?

On second thought, Conan didn't want to find out.

Despite that, a voice kept nagging at the back of Conan's brain. This was completely against what Kaito usually did. Why would he need something that messed with gravity? He already messed around with physics, so why this?

Conan's eyes widened.

Someone else must be pulling Kaito's strings!

Someone must have been using Kaito to steal all those things, so that they could create the device. They must have been blackmailing him or something to get him to do—

Oh god.

The people who were using Kaito must have been using his "disappearance" as leverage. It didn't take a genius to notice that, despite being on opposite sides of the law, Kaito and Shinichi had a sort of… truce in a way. Inform Kaito that Shinichi was dead, and a little lie to say that they did it, and Kaito would be too terrified to disobey.

So that's why Kaito was so stressed out and paranoid. This… organization or whatever must have been blackmailing Kaito with the lives of his loved ones. Wait…

Organization…?

Oh shit.

Agasa had just walked into the room when Conan turned to him with wide, terrified eyes. "Agasa-Hakase! We have to get to Ekoda! Now!" he said, his heart hammering in his chest. Heiji blinked as he looked down at his little friend, suddenly worried about what had just transpired through his head. "I'll explain on the way!" he said, rushing out the door.

"M-matte, Kudo!" Hattori called out, rushing after the other. Agasa stood there blinking for a moment before snatching his keys and following the boys out, slamming his door shut as he did so.

Oh he was so going to get a speeding ticket if Conan's sudden mood swing was any indication.

A/N: I hate Conan at the end. Just saying. HE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO FIGURE ALL THAT SHIT OUT. HE. JUST. DID. Hakuba did what I want (Troll your sorry asses) but no. Conan had to go and mess it up -_- If it's not one detective being annoying it's another. Lajlajsdfsd /annoyed

Anyways… HI 8D DON'T FORGET. YOU ALL (hopefully) PROMISED NOT TO KILL ME. Killing is frowned upon and means I can't finish this fic. :3 And with this chapter I saw… three are left until it's done? Maybe? I'm getting close ._. We'll see what comes after this~ This is my giant, evil baby, after all.

I'll update ASAP! I'll try not to make it as long this time~

Review please? D: I enjoy the love, take into account the criticism, and lawl at your flaming and trolling~!

~Angel~