He knows I'm looking for him now so he'll be prepared…. And since he saw my shoes at work he's going to think that anything on me is a weapon. I kind of hope I'm wrong and this isn't the building he ran into… Conan thought. He pressed the button on his homing glasses and a blinking dot appeared on the screen. Got'cha.

As he followed the blinking dot he found that he had to climb higher and higher up the floors of the building. Finally he found himself on the top floor, but there wasn't any sign of the man. The room was plain, it didn't hold any furniture in it, but the wall had many windows and across the room was another staircase that most likely led to the roof. A small button in the middle of the floor caught his eye. As he approached he recognized it as the tracker he had placed on the man's coat. When he bent down to pick it up he felt the floor shake as if something heavy had landed on it.

Conan whirled around and came face to face with the very man he had been chasing, Yamada Nobu the wanted criminal. Conan reached for his watch and tried to back away, but was stopped by a large hand that grabbed his blazer and pulled him from the floor. With his free hand the large man grabbed the watch that the boy had been trying to use.

"Is this one of your little gadgets too?" He asked with a wicked smile. Nobu pulled the watch off of the child and threw it behind him. Panic started to set in, but Conan didn't let it show. He kept up his poker face. The man's face held a puzzled look as he saw the map displayed on one of Conan's lenses. "These as well, eh?" He took the glasses off of the kid's face and threw them to the side. Conan watched the glasses soar across the room and hit the floor. Even as strong as the lenses were a crack spread through the left one.

Conan began kicking his legs out wildly and writhing around to try and free himself. He scratched at the hands that were clenching his blue blazer so tightly, but his efforts went almost unnoticed by the criminal.

Of course Yamada Nobu has to be the largest man in Japan.

The man grabbed the kid's white undershirt with one hand and ripped his blazer off with the other. As much as Conan fought he couldn't keep the jacket on and it was finally thrown, fluttering to the side.

"The police are going to catch you Yamada-san. You might as well turn yourself in." Conan commented, plainly. Even while being held above the floor by his shirt he didn't have any fear. At this point he could usually talk himself out of the situation and since he looked like a child he escaped from certain types of situations with ease.

"I don't think they will." Nobu told him. "Because you wouldn't tell them I was here if you didn't have definite proof. You wanted to see that I was here before hand so that you could be sure that you were correct, right? How will they find me now? You've become a useless detective. You couldn't positively assume I was here even with a tracker. You're nothing but a showoff." The man didn't wait for the boy to reply instead threw the child-sized detective into the closest wall.

Conan's back hit the surface with a dull thud and he quickly slid to the floor. The man was over him again, but instead of lifting him into the air the man pushed the boy into the floor by his shirt. The boy knew immediately where this was going. Conan tore his shirt free and scrambled out from under the man, but to his great dismay felt himself being pulled back.

"I don't think someone as worthless as you could help the police with this. Someone as useless as you couldn't protect anyone much less yourself." The criminal talked down to the boy again

Conan tried to pull away from the large man again, but Yamada grabbed hold of one of the boy's feet. After dragging the child back underneath him he pulled the shoe off of the boy's foot. The man found the kids flailing hands and pinned them one after another over his head with one hand. With the other hand the large man removed the other shoe and tossed it to the side with its match.

"We wouldn't want your dangerous toys to get in the way now would we?" The boy could feel the Nobu's breath as he said this. He looked into the face of his captor.

What now? WHAT NOW? I have nothing, no weapons, no high ground, no options… He kicked at the man's underside in vain. The power behind his kicks was practically nothing especially since his feet were bare. The man leaned closer, making kicking impossible.

"Do you know what my crimes were before this murder, little detective?" The gruff voice enticed. Conan swallowed hard not wanting to know, but the voice continued despite his silent disapproval. The man leaned close to the boys ear and whispered "You're about to find out." Nobu bit on the small detective's ear lobe. A childish whimper escaped Conan's lips as he tried to force his back further into the ground to escape his captor. Yamada trailed down to the boy's neck near his clavicle then bit down making Conan cry out softly. With a swift movement the man moved back slightly. He tore open Conan's shirt and placed his hand on the boy's chest. Conan couldn't keep himself from flinching from the ice-cold touch of the large man's hand.

"Get off me!" Conan growled, bravely, but almost regretted it. The man hit the boy hard across the face. The boy remained silent, but watched the other carefully. The man reached into his back pant pocket for a moment and when his hand returned to Conan's sight he immediately knew what was going to happen. The man flicked his wrist and the blade of the butterfly knife shot out like a bullet. Conan began to squirm once more and tried to pull his arms away, but they were firmly locked in place by the other.

Someone…. Anyone… please help me.

The man returned his attention to the boy's now bare stomach with his knife in hand. "If you struggle it will hurt worse." The man grinned down at him, but Conan didn't care. He had to keep fighting…

As the knife came close to his skin the boy bit his lip, but kept fighting against the hands that held him there. Then his left leg became pinned by the others leg. It kept him far more still than before. First he could feel the coolness of the knife against his skin though after the cut started to be made he froze. His body just wouldn't move.

"S-stop.." he whined in pain, but still he could feel the blade carving into him. He clenched his eyes shut and even started to yell, but the pain kept coming. Suddenly it paused and Conan felt a slight relief. When he looked down all his fear came back again. On his side he could make out the beginning of a character, but it wasn't done yet. The man's cruel eyes stared down out him.

"I'm not done with you, worthless little detective." He bent back down to finish his work, not bothering to smother the boy's yells of pain.

"I can't believe he ran off on his own for this criminal." Kaitou Kid muttered to himself. He had been waiting for any sign of the boy, but it seemed like the kid had just vanished. "He does know about the man, right Ji-chan?" he asked to the speaker in his ear.

"I'm not sure he does, young master." The speaker replied. "This information was hidden from even public view."

"Shit…" KID snarled, but a faint cry reached his ears. It was a child's and he knew who's. "Ji! Can you locate the noise I just heard?"

"Of course, but give me a moment, sir." Ji answered over the speaker.

Please be okay. Please. Please…

Conan felt a warm liquid slipping from his left side. He was panting and tears were trailing down his face for the first time since becoming a child again. He opened his eyes and stared at the man still hovering over him. The sight that was now in his vision horrified him even more. The large man licked the blood from the knife in delight and returned it to his pocket. Conan would have shivered if he had the strength.

"Don't worry the cuts aren't too deep. You probably won't bleed to death." The boy flinched at his words. Conan eyed his side again carefully. The man had lied the cuts were deep and it seemed the man had pulled his shorts down slightly so that he could start the words a little below his hip.

So the phrase would fit properly… Conan thought to himself sourly. He was shaken from his thoughts when he felt something pull at the front of his shorts. iNo…/i His eyes were wide with terror as he turned his attention back to the man who was now pulling the child-sized clothes off of his body.

"N-no stop!" he cried, but as he tried to wriggle free the pain shooting up his side kept him from doing much. Fear filled him to the brink as he realized that was why he was carved. So he wouldn't put up too much of a struggle and keep him in place for… for… He was gasping for breath now and couldn't even begin to smother his panic. The man leaned down so he was close to the boy's body again.

"D-don't…" he pleaded, softly in a broken voice. "Please… Please don't." fresh tears ran down his cheeks, but the man didn't stop and ripped his shorts down.

"Is the little detective scared now?" The criminal asked in a dangerous tone. "You're in far too deep now and there's nothing you can do. This is your fault." Nobu hissed.

As he began to unbuckle his pants the sound of a bullet made the man freeze.

"GET OFF OF HIM!" a voice roared from behind the man. The man stood slowly bringing Conan up by the wrists as he did so. He turned to face the new opponent, but was surprised at the white cladded person that stood a few meters away.

"Kaitou?" the captive child questioned weakly, but the other didn't answer him. In fact Kaitou Kid's expression hardly changed at all. In the back of the thief's mind there was panic at the sight of the child. Bleeding heavily from one side with his white under shirt torn open and stained with the same red up and down his complete left side, a fearful sight, his small shorts barely hung around his ankles. He also noted that the boy's glasses, watch, shoes, and a single sock was missing. How long had he been here exactly? Conan was still trying to catch his breath and looked horrified, but couldn't struggle at this point.

"Set him down." He ordered, pointing his gun at the crazed man, who complied by letting go of the boy. Conan hit the ground with a thud at the man's feet, but he didn't move. The boy simply sat there with a blank look on his face. As he huge man reached for a weapon Kaitou shot his gun. A net flew at an amazing speed toward the criminal and dragged him to the ground. He scooped up Conan's watch that was strangely close to him and hurried to the boy's side.

"Use this!" He told the boy and Conan obeyed. After he used the watch his arms fell limb to his sides and he stared at the floor again. Only after the man in the net fell limp did Kaitou Kid's poker face begin to fade from his expression. He quickly moved in front of Conan, kneeling down as he did so he could read the boys expression. "I called the police. They could be here at any moment." Kaitou Kid paused when it didn't seem like the boy was paying him any mind. "Kudou?" he questioned, but the child didn't quite respond yet. After a moment of the child staring at the same place in the floor he tried again. "Kudou, can you hear me?" It was then that Shinichi blinked himself back into awareness. He looked around the room and took everything in. The boy awkwardly pulled his shorts back over his underwear and stood in the place he had been dropped.

"Kudou?" The phantom asked again, but all his worried words seemed to go unheard by the detective. Shinichi walked away from the thief and found his missing sock and put it on. After that he picked up his shoes, then his over jacket, then his cracked glasses and put these back on as well. After having all of these things back he stood still with his back to the thief.

"Kudou, are you alright?" Kaitou asked him. It was many moments before the boy answered though when he did it wasn't very confident sounding.

"Y-yeah…" He answered, but his shoulders were shaking telling the magician otherwise.

"Shinichi you're bleeding heavily you really shouldn't be moving around a whole lot." He suggested. Sirens wailed outside and Kaitou took that as a cue that they needed to leave. He approached Shinichi and knelt down behind him. "Kudou we need to leave." Conan nodded "where can I take you?" He was pretty positive that Shinichi was supposed to stay out of hospitals as much as possible, but he needed a findable destination.

"Professor Agasa's." his voice was seemed to tremble and as he turned around Kaitou could see the tears flowing from the child's eyes. The magician nodded and changed his outfit in a flash. Instead of his usual white attire he seemed to wear the exact same thing except in black. Even his top hat had changed to match.

"I know where it is. Just hang on to me" He moved closer and tied a safety belt around him that tethered them together. He held his arms out for Kudou to grab onto him and the boy ran into the thief's middle and latched onto the other's chest.

"I-I… C-can't stop" he hiccupped through his tears.

"It's alright. You don't have to." Kaitou answered, wrapping his arms around the trembling boy as he turned to exit the roof.

As he set down before the house of the professor he felt a spare set of eyes watching him from the house next door. He had to ignore it for now. The thief set the boy down beside him, who miraculously stayed up right while the thief and untethered them from each other. After that he removed his monocle, cape and top hat and them vanish in a puff of smoke before lifting the boy up again. He approached the door and rang the bell.

"Hold on a second please" After a moment Agasa reached the door and opened it. Kaitou stormed passed him and set Kudou on the couch.

"I need a med kit right now!" he stated sternly. Haibara, who was sitting in a chair in the den closed her book and walked toward them while Agasa ran out of the room for the kit. Kaitou quickly removed the boy's blue blazer and pulled off the shirt underneath it with little help from the boy. "Shinichi," KID said carefully "I'm going to need to take your shorts of as well because of how low set the words are. Is that alright?" When the boy nodded he proceeded to remove the child's shorts. He set all of the articles on the couch next to where Conan was placed.

Haibara scanned over the boys injuries. He seemed to have a gash in the side though the wound was not seeable through the blood the boy also had a dark bruise forming on his right cheek and a strange mark near his neck. She leaned a little closer to the black cladded boy so she could see it better. The scientist's eyes grew wide at the realization. It was a bite mark.

"Wh-what happened?" Agasa asked in shock upon returning. He could see the blood now and it scared him.

"We ran into a little trouble." The thief answered plainly. Kaitou then removed the boys shoes, socks, watch, and glasses, placing all of these things to beside his legs where he was kneeling. "Does he have any extra clothes here? If so he will need them soon." With that Agasa ran out of the room again to find some. When he was gone the magician grabbed the boys chin softly and brought it up so that the child would be looking in his direction. "Shinichi I need you to talk to me. It can be about anything, just talk." At that point Haibara moved to stand beside the strange man. When she looked at Kudou she noticed that his eyes were still trailing down away from the other boy and seemed to be getting really heavy. "Shinichi talk to me right now!" He growled to the almost unconscious child.

"When... When Ran and I were little we tried to solve mysteries together and often got in a lot of trouble for it…" The boy started drowsily.

"That's great keep going. No matter what I do I'm listening just keep going." Kaitou told him and Shinichi did. He rambled through his childhood memories with Ran. Kaitou Kid inspected the boy's side once again. His face softened a little when he realized that the pressure he had been putting on the child the entire way over had in fact stopped most of the bleeding.

Haibara left briefly and returned with a wet rag from the kitchen. The girl got on the couch and sat behind Shinichi, who didn't seem to quite notice her. She began washing the dried blood from his side and even commented in his stories from time to time with something like 'What did you do then?' or 'What happened next?', but said nothing to the stranger. Eventually she could read the characters that were engraved in Shinichi's side. She inadvertently let out a tiny gasp once she read them over.

Worthless Little Detective

After she had washed the all of the dried blood away the thief cleansed the wounds and wrapped it as well as he could. He simply had to patch some areas. "He'll need some water, since he's probably dehydrated. Can you get that for him?" He asked the girl and she nodded simply and left the room again. While she was gone he put Shinichi's glasses and watch on the table and took the kid's shoes to the door. He placed the boy's shoes and his own there before coming back quickly to listen to Shinichi talk. Though Kudou's dialogue seemed to have gotten far quieter than before.

Agasa and Haibara had returned then. Agasa moved toward Shinichi and the story stopped completely. The boy let out a startled cry and moved as far back into the couch as it would allow. His breathing was getting faster and faster and he drew his knees protectively into his chest.

"Don't touch him!" Kaitou approached quickly and slid in front of the old man. He leaned on the couch. "Tell me about Ran again, Shinichi. What do you like about her?"

"I-I like that s-s-she's so kind to everyone." The boy answered shakily. His eyes were wide and stared at Kaitou, unsure of what to do. Kaitou noticed that even though the boy was looking at him he didn't see him. The boy's focus seemed to be far away.

"What else do you like about her?" Kaitou coaxed him.

"I like that she's independent and knows who she is." Kudou's form relaxed and his legs stretched out in front of him again. The thief took the water from a still shocked Haibara and offered it to the boy. "Do you want some water, Kudou?" he asked.

"Thanks, Kaitou." He drank most of the glass's contents then handed it back to the thief.

"Kaitou… as in Kaitou Kid?" Haibara asked darkly, but the thief wasn't paying any attention to her.

"K-kaitou…?." Shinichi stuttered. "We're at Agasa's right?" Kaitou nodded and the detective's gaze fell back to the cushions before him.

"Are you okay?" He asked the kid.

"Y-yes" he answered a little too quickly.

"Are you lying?" The magician asked in a flat tone. Shinichi stared at the cushions, but didn't answer. The boy seemed to be coming back to reality so Kaitou turned from the child and grabbed the clothes Agasa was holding. "Here these are for you. You can most likely dress yourself now. Find the bathroom and do so, but come straight back." The boy got up and did as he was told, wincing as he did so. He turned to the girl and the professor who were glaring down at him.

"What the hell is going on?" Haibara asked coldly.

"He got a little in over his head tonight." Kaitou answered, taking a seat on the couch.

"Why are there words carved into his side?" she growled.

"Because the criminal whom he was trying to apprehend finds great pleasure in carving the little birds he finds before he does what he wants with them." His voice echoed icily through the room. Haibara crossed her arms and glared at the boy.

"Is that all that happened to him?" She asked softly. There was more to this she knew there was.

"Look I'm sorry I didn't mean for any of this to happen." Kaitou apologized "I shouldn't have even let him get involved in this case."

"Don't even try to pin this on yourself. I was the one who wouldn't let it go." Shinichi told him. He had returned in his pajamas with an overly grim expression on his face.

"Kaitou you need to leave, I'll answer their questions. If anyone saw you come in here we'll be in even more trouble." Kaitou stood from the couch, but Shinichi walked up to him and grabbed the others pant leg to stop him from leaving too quickly. "Kaitou I-… Thank you…"

"Sure." Kaitou Kid answered, ruffling the child-sized boy's hair. "I couldn't just leave a brilliant detective like you."

"I…" He took a breath, not know how to take that kind of compliment after a night full of verbal and physical abuse. "Y-yeah." Kaitou turned and left the house without making much of a sound. Shinichi returned to his seat on the couch, clutching his side as he did so. Haibara got up on the couch and sat next to him. She reached toward his bruised face slowly and as her fingertips grazed his cheek he flinched away from her. The girl immediately drew her hand back.

"Shinichi… What happened?" Agasa asked this time. "Why are you with Kaitou Kid, what's going on?"

"The man I was chasing, that I thought was simply a man attempting to murder a woman today, ended up being a past offender to the law. His record was hidden from the public and was a lot worse than I anticipated." As Haibara opened her mouth to speak Kudou cut her off "Please don't tell me 'that's what I get for charging into a situation' I know. I'm a worthless detective." The boy rubbed his aching eyes. They were swollen from crying on the way here and… at that place. He figured he must have passed out from the pain at some point in the trip, but couldn't remember when.

"That isn't what I was going to say." She said, pausing before continuing. "You aren't worthless… Please don't ever believe that, Kudou-kun."

"Thanks, Haibara." He said. "But back to the professor's question. Kaitou Kid has run into the murderer before and knew what part of town he would mostly likely hide in after trying to committing another crime. I figured out where and went in the building I had decided that I should go on ahead even though I couldn't contact Kaitou KID. I didn't even know for sure if the man I was looking for was in that building yet so I didn't call the police yet." Shinichi sighed and rubbed his temples. "I'm such an idiot. I can't do anything in this little body…" Agasa was about to protest, but again Shinichi, this time unknowingly, cut his questioners off. "Do you mind if I go to bed?" Shinichi asked "and could you call Ran and tell her something for me so I can stay here."

"No that's fine, Shinichi. Go ahead and take the spare room." Agasa answered. The two watched him go and only when he was judged to be out of earshot did the professor speak up again.

"You don't think he was…." Agasa found the word lost in his throat.

"I'm not sure…" she answered, glancing in the direction the boy had left in "But I've never seen him that terrified."