Beauty and the Beast

Author's Note: Hello! Writing chapter one here, it's taking a while… Having to cross-reference, re-read, research, etc, locations, characters, canon plot lines and the lot. And, technically, Beika City is in fact a part of Tokyo; it's a 'fictional' section of the 23 towns/cities that make up the whole Tokyo area. Right now, just as background information, the world is of almost modern times, with technology, no cars though and whatnot, but 'magic' plays a role in this world's society, though it is called a 'rare gift.' It's a weird place where castles, creepy forests and cities coincide. (I know, I'm crazy.)

And life is getting a bit hectic, lots of work to be done, so little time, assignments, tests, so on, and so-forth. I'm taking my time with writing this story; I don't really want to rush it. I hope you'll like quality over speed? I don't know; I'm not even sure how great (good or bad) this story is, so please review and tell me! ; w ;

And just so everyone is clear, our heroine cross-dresses. Just had to put that somewhere. And, I think you'll all be happy to know I have a plotline that starts end of this chapter onwards. Ohohohoho~ It's hopefully something that will surprise you all. And please don't kill me if I add riddles that are awful. Or codes. Yeah… If anyone can help, or want to suggest something to me, I will take it into consideration!

Warnings: KaiShin pairing, fantasy-themes, in a sort of Naruto-like setting (seemingly old fashioned but with random technology here and there), and female Shinichi, DCMK story.

This story is set in an alternate universe, makes use of 'magic' and characters that belong to Gosho Aoyama, and I in no way claim them as my own. (Nor is any of this story written for profit.)

Act I, Scene I: Edogawa Conan, Child Detective

Beika City was one of the more populated make-ups of Tokyo City, it wasn't too crowded nor under populated, and was prosperous in its own rights. Beika was large and spacious, consisting of many districts of houses as well as some more notable features such as the Touto Tower. The buildings of Beika City were built to be tall and sturdy, the parks and shops all reflected on the humble wealth of the many city-dwellers.

The people of Beika were lively, cheerful and kind; however, the one thing that set Beika apart was its apparent high crime rate. Or, to be precise, the City's ability to catch, notice and disrupt crimes in its vicinity. This was not due to the apparent ability of their Police force; instead it had more to do with a certain person's presence, their brilliant mind, pure heart and deduction reasoning. Though, if the truth were to be told, no one would believe that this person was anything more than an annoyance during police investigations, because this person was but a child.

This child had bright blue-eyes, short dark brown hair dangling downward just above his eyes, and appeared to be no more than eight years of age. This child was no ordinary child – in fact, was not a child at all – this child, a young boy, was actually the famous High School Detective – the Heisei Holmes – the 'Savior of the Police force.' How did such an ingenious, renowned detective become a mere child? The simple answer was that he screwed up, big time. His arrogance against unknown criminals had lead to his forced consumption of poison meant to kill him, and thus, somehow landed him to become Edogawa Conan, child detective. Prior to his poisoning, Conan – no – Kudo Shinichi was a proud as any other teenager could be, but was demure in nature to anything that did not involve his innate fixation of mystery or crime.

The crisp, morning air of Beika City and the gathered droplets drooped against Conan's windowpane. It was early morning, and the scent of rainfall pervaded the air from last night's thunderstorm. Conan groaned as the sunlight entered the room, annoyingly, through the window and blearing his eyes with a torrent of brightness his mind couldn't handle so early in the morning. Pulling the covers over his head, Conan grumbled something about 'early mornings' and 'I need coffee.' Throwing the covers off of him after sleep couldn't reclaim him, he glared at the window that he was sure he had closed the blinds of last night – unless of course, his ever-so-nice 'friend' Haibara Ai had decided to get pay back for the stunt he pulled a week ago – it wasn't like he could help it, if he hadn't jumped in and tried to disarm the bomb on the cruise, steal a boat and apprehend the criminal, and then almost die of hypothermia as the rescue helicopter narrowly almost missed him; well let's just say they would've died. Conan rolled his eyes in annoyance, he had gotten a large cut to his side after that little episode, and was forced to stay in bed for the past week because, 'Your body needs recuperation, just stay put or else.' So, perhaps Haibara didn't actually say those exact words, but her tone didn't exactly leave a comforting feeling at needing rest.

Haibara Ai was in a situation similar to his own, difference being she had no intention of turning back. In fact, she was the creator if the poison, APTX-4869, that had gotten him into this predicament in the first place. But, there wasn't much she could've done at gunpoint and being made to make poisons for who knows how long. Conan shuddered; the thought of having to work for those people unnerved him greatly. Good thing Haibara didn't want to change back, being a child again was a great cover after all. Which was probably for the best for her, but Cona – no, Shinichi – needed to be himself again. He had too much to give up from his original life. Like telling Ran, with his own voice and body, that he couldn't love her anymore than a sister, tell Sonoko to bloody suck it and that she had always gotten on his nerves, and to just resume life as he had before, maybe tell everyone about the fact that he wasn't—Conan shook his head, he couldn't ever say that, that secret was going to stay in tact until it was time, hopefully.

Conan sighed again, finally willing his body to get off the bed after much deliberation. He stretched, yawning, reaching for his over-sized glasses, and setting them on his face out habit. Still in a slight daze, he left his bed unmade and opened the door out of his room. Walking across the hallway to the bathroom and started his morning rituals. In the back of his mind, he wondered where the Professor was, before shrugging and figuring it wasn't important – it was a Saturday and who knows what that usually-scatterbrain-Professor-friend of his did on those days. As long he doesn't blow up the house again, he was quite happy to just let things be.

Initially after being poisoned, Shinichi was in a panicked daze, and almost nearly risked living with his childhood friend Ran. As much as Shinichi'd be comfortable with her, it just wouldn't do if she'd somehow learned of his secrets (and Shinichi knew she was good at that, seriously she was) and be exposed to the danger of knowing the Crows too. And with Professor Agasa being almost blind enough to force him to live with her, oh, that was fun. His eyebrow twitched. 'Damn, I shouldn't get so annoyed in the morning… It's all in the past now, after all.' Splashing his face with water, he wondered what he should do today.

Saturdays, for him, were great days. No kiddy-school, no annoying first graders following him like little ducklings (endearing as that was, it just got so exasperating most of the time) and no real need to do anything. Except for solve murders; he really didn't understand why they were so attracted to him, but it was a great distraction if nothing else in this dreary child-again life.

Being unbothered to making breakfast, Conan walked out to the living room, moving one of the smaller chairs to reveal a trapdoor. Without preamble, Conan opened the door and jumped down, groping the wall to his right until the plastic texture of a flashlight was in his hands. Turning it on, he closed the door on top of him and walked through the tunnel, which was nicely tiled if not a little dusty, until he reached another door with a switch. Casually pressing the switch, he didn't so much as falter as the ground beneath him swerved and was now on the other side of the wall – the Kudo home library. If people called him a mystery nut, they must have never met his father, Kudo Yusaku; the man lives, breathes and writes mysteries all day if he could. And, actually, he did until he met his mother.

Finally able to get himself to relax, Conan picked one of the older, worn books to start reading – A Study in Scarlet. The Kudo library was extensively filled with books from all over the world – and they weren't just mystery books, either. There was pretty much every book on any subject you could image, from poisons, human biology, legends, historical books, ancient language texts, the list went on and on. It was treasure trove for anyone aspiring to be a detective – and also the reason most of the books were worn – and were read often when he was a child the first time around.

By noon, Conan had had enough of reading books, enthralled as he was, he was getting antsy after being cooped up for the past week. Placing his books neatly back to the selves they belong, he shuffled back to Agasa-hakase's house where an angry Haibara – she was eight, well not really, damn it, how could she still look eighteen? – awaited him.

"Kudo-kun…" A warning.

Conan raised an eyebrow at her; he was sorely tempted to roll his eyes in exasperation. "Yes—" Glare. "Oi, oi, I didn't do anything."

"Yes, you didn't do anything. But come back here with internal bleeding, a large gash to your torso and a concussion. And with two, narrowly missing, bullet wounds! If you call that not doing anything, then sure, you did nothing. But lose your sense of self-preservation. Again."

"It wasn't… that bad…" He muttered, his head turned to the right slightly; he couldn't meet her gaze, the gaze that could, and would, freeze hell over. Even so, he could feel her stare bore into his skull – her glare was worse than Ran and that was saying something!

"Fine, fine! I get it! Just don't put me under house arrest again, damn it, I like rest as much as the next person but if I have to stay in that bed again for another week—"

"Of course not." Came her cool reply, her voice held trace amounts of a smirk. He fell into her trap, just great. "Now that you're all… well, I have a present for you. But if you insist on acting like the petulant child you very much so look like, go ahead, just means no 'present.'"

"Present…?"

"Yes, present."

"And that would be…?" He asked, impatiently, and wishing she'd get to the point already! Sometimes, Haibara really was infuriating.

"I've got a riddle. For the next Kid heist."

Now, that got his attention, his head whipped up so fast Haibara was surprised he didn't experience any form of whiplash. "Woah! Really? Seriously?" And contrary to popular belief, Conan – and even when he was Shinichi Kudo – was interested in catching thieves, well, thief – only one thief. He still remembered the excitement from his first childhood when his father had taken him to Kid's heist, and that was over ten years ago. And, once he had gotten older – uh, and younger again – he realized the great reprieve of a Kid heist was: no one died, no one got hurt (except for their pride), and there was a great mystery in Kid that was always drew him in. He just hadn't had the time to attend one, usually missing the whole event due to some untimely murders crossing his path – for the umpteenth time, again and again, was fate against him, or what? And then, Kid's sudden disappearance didn't help things either.

"So, I take that, yes, you want this?" Haibara withdrew a note from her pocket and smirked; she knew that would get him interested. Lately, whenever anyone even mentioned 'Kid,' 'Kaitou' or '1412,' he'd jump right into the conversation. Besides, Kid's heists were 'safe zones' in her book, Kudo just had to dodge the mass media, but she trusted Kudo to not screw things up for himself. Or, so she hoped, sometimes he was just downright unpredictable when he was smug after 'following all the clues' like the detective he was. And it was frustrating when he was one step ahead of her – but she was a chemist not a detective, so she guessed it was to be expected.

"Ye—I mean," Conan tried to act nonchalant, and coughed. "Yes." He held his hand out expectantly.

'It's great when he's being predictable for once.' "Fine, but you owe me Kudo." She deftly placed the folded piece of paper into his waiting hand, and without preamble turned to the basement. "And, the Professor said something about a knew gadget, and to meet him in his workroom – be careful in there, it might as well be a warzone…" She muttered the last part, and Conan could see her shaking her head in annoyance.

"Right, thanks Haibara." Unfolding the note, Conan stared closely at it, making sure to read, reread and decode everything in the message. Or, well, first he had to check it was a code and not just one of the 'I will steal this jewel' types of note.

"Oh, and Mouri-san and her father are out of town for a few days, I'm sure that will give you some space, right?" She closed the door to the basement – her laboratory really – before he could answer.

"…Hm…" Deciding to think more about the note later, he stuffed it – neatly – into his pocket and walked towards the Professor's workroom – the place where most of the explosions in the house occurred. Knocking once, he called out, "Professor? I heard something about a new invention…?"

The door swung open, revealing a stout, balding old man. The man, Professor Agasa Hiroshi, was as eccentric as they came. Friendly, scatterbrained and sometimes a downright genius, other times a downright nightmare of an inventor. He smiled excitedly at Conan, a wide grin on his face with satisfaction – which meant, whatever it was, it was big and was successful too.

"Ah! Shinichi, you'll never guess what!"

Conan raised his eyebrow at this. "A new… invention?"

"It's more than that, it's…it's…"

"An antidote…?" Conan ventured, knowing well it wasn't – if it was, Haibara'd be the one to tell him, and she wouldn't be cooped up in that basement lab of hers.

Agasa deflated a bit at that. "No… sorry, Shinichi, but…" Suddenly, as though the grim thought of not being able to help Conan's predicament never passed his mind, the brightness in the professor's eyes renewed once more. "No, but, I've got a new invention that will definitely help you more from now on!" He motioned for Conan to follow him as he turned and excitedly walked back into his workshop.

"Hm?" Conan raised an eyebrow at this, and quickly made to follow the professor, his interest piqued and his curiosity soaring. As he walked into the workshop, he noticed that, yes, it was a mess as it usually was, and that the Professor was holding up a plastic lift-up lid case that contained several things didn't seem to belong together in one case – a blue version of his stun-gun wristwatch that had was more octagonal in shape than his current one, a blue, red and black click-pen and some other stationery, a phone strap with a lotus charm with red, purple, pink and white petals interchanging with blue petals, blue earphones with a soccer insignia at the ear piece and a silver, rectangular, pocket sized electronic. His mind went through the possibilities of the smart gadget hidden in each item.

"I dub this, the All-You-Need-For-Detectiving-Kit!" Conan's sweat dropped – the Professor still hadn't changed in his naming department. Continuing, the Professor's smile widened as he opened the case and picked each item up and explained each item, their function and then a little demonstration of how it worked.

"These pens each have their own functions, the blue pen acts a small camera whenever you click the pen open and close, the camera's located on the clip of the pen. The red one becomes a miniature magnifying glass by lifting the clip perpendicular to the ink cartridge; it's made of a special fiberglass that magnifies and is retractable and also takes pictures by using the click function. The black one is actually a break-in kit, just untwist the joint and attached to the ink cartridge is a metal wire that's able to bend to any shape and back. What do you think, Shinichi?" The professor smiled at his handy work, obviously having thought for a long time how he could've helped Shinichi in his work more even if he was in the body of an eight year old.

Conan had a determined look on his face; it filled with excitement of the prospect of new tools – even if most these tools should never have been given to a minor, that didn't really matter. He wasn't much of a minor anyways, not in mind at least. "That's great, professor! You've really done it this time!" Conan was thoroughly impressed; the professor had really outdone himself this time. Then it 'clicked' him, if you would excuse the pun. "Ah, so the photos get sent somewhere right?"

"Right, right! That's what this is for," Agasa passed the pens to Conan, retracting the pocket-sized electronic that had caught Conan's eye earlier. "This is a Multi-Purpose-Pocket-Gadget!" The professor lifted the lid of the electronic, a flap opened to the left of the device and it turned on automatically. "It receives the pictures using infrared signals from the pens, is hooked to a special internet wi-fi satellite dish, and can be used in conjunction with your tracker glasses – you can superimpose the tracker image to a map of the area you're in and pinpoint their exact location given a moment or two while you're on the run. It also comes with these earphones which have soccer ball-shaped trackers equipped with a microphone in them so you can hear wherever they go." Agasa beamed as Conan looked at the gadget in awe, and winced at the face Conan made when he told him the name of the gadget. 'Yes, I know I'm bad with names, but it's not my fault, now is it, Shinichi…?'

"Ah, and the phone strap…?" Conan asked expectantly.

"Oh, I just thought you might like a new phone strap so I made this on a whim. I wanted to make all the petals blue but ran out of the blue ink. Sorry," the professor laughed, embarrassed.

"Oh…"

"That aside, Shinichi, there's something else I wanted to show you."

"There's more…?"

"Yes, not something that will help you but I think I've finally completed that."

"You mean…" Conan started with child-like excitation, though more reserved than any other boy his apparent age. "You've finally completed the multi-media tablet?"

Agasa merely grinned, nodding his head excitedly. "Not just completed, it's been modified since I showed you the blue prints Shinichi. Here, look and see for yourself!"

Conan had never anything quite like it in his life. At first, it appeared to just be a long, thin metallic tube, pressing a red button at the end of the tube, a glass-like green screen the size of an A4-sheet of paper extended outwards from the tube. The glass looked very fragile, in fact the whole thing looked fragile as well, but it wasn't actually as flimsy at it appeared. Tapping the glass carefully, Conan had a look of surprise as the glass bent and unbent each time he tapped it. "How does it work, professor?"

"You just need to click the blue button opposite the red one, and it turns on. So far, I've worked a simply program that allows the tablet to store information and other nifty entertainment functions – I haven't even tried connecting it to the internet yet, I haven't found a transmitter or receiver that'd work well with the tablet yet but I'm working on it. It's just like a touch-screen tablet, but obviously much lighter, and it's flexible and durable." Agasa was proud of this invention; it was perfect for trips and the like. 'Though, if I could get that Jet-Pack in working order…'

"That's awesome! You've really done it this time, Professor!"

The Professor laughed merrily. "Hahaha, it was nothing really!"

"Ah, by the way Professor, where did Ran and Occhan go to anyways?"

"I heard he was called to investigate some haunted house in the Ekoda district; nothing serious has happened but odd things have been happening to one of the old castle still about in Ekoda's forest."

Conan raised an eyebrow at that. "It's probably just some apprentice magician causing a ruckus. Anyways, Occhan took Ran with him?" He asked incredulously. "She's been terrified of the supernatural and all things magic since she was the age I appear! What was he thinking?"

The Professor nodded. "He's not as bright as he used to be."

"… Or ever going to be…" Conan muttered; he was looking at the floor as though it were the cause of his irritation. He'd always been very protect of Ran, she was his best friend even if he could never see her anything more than a friend – not that Ran noticed that his lack of confession to be more because of a lack of romantic attraction rather than him just being oblivious and, perhaps, he should have cleared that up sooner – and a very important friend at that. What kind of father was he to take his daughter to the place that would scare her most? "Did you hear for how long?"

"No, but it will probably will take a few days at most." Agase mussed.

"Hmm… That's true. Well, thanks for the new gear, Professor." Conan said, already walking towards the door.

"Ah! Shinichi, the Shounen Tanteidan wanted to go camping tomorrow, are you going?"

Conan twisted his body to face Agasa, his hand not moving from the knob of the door, and shook his head. "No, not this time. I've got a code to crack and some preparations to be done."

This had the Professor looking confused, and out loud he wondered. "Preparations for what, Shinichi?"

"For a moonlight magician that's been getting a little to arrogant lately – wouldn't do if he gets a bit rusty, don't you think, Professor?" The glint of light reflected on Conan's faux-glasses as he answered Agasa, a predatory smirk took over his face. Not a moment later, it was gone, and Conan walked away without another word.

"Moonlight… Magician…?"

Conan scrunched another piece of paper and added it to the ever-increasing pile of doodled paper. He almost had this heist note figured out, he knew it, but he was missing something – something very simple – and almost kicked himself when he finally figured it out. The clue from what he could see were: 'D = 13,' 'do you your digital roots?' and 'convert, convert, covert!' He read over the note again.

To the Police,

I wonder, my dear pursuers, I wonder, do you know you digital roots? If I told you, D = 13, would it make a difference? Well, now it's time: convert, convert, and convert!

561,824
902,715
390,394
128,715 (three identical column of numbers are side-by-side to this one)

Z – F = (A in a sun scribble)
A + 2 = (C in a crescent moon scribble)

128,902
182,517
281,972
615,109
821,539
(W – R)
920,456
920,517
812,218

Good luck! 28/14/12/27/14/29
- Kaitou Kid

Conan smiled as he went over his calculations again. He had used the hexatridecimal numbering system, and was glad he did. Everything worked using it.

3,5: 35: Z
1,4: 14: E
2,7: 27: R
2,4: 24: O (x 4)

So, the first four columns spelled "zero" four times, and Conan noted, this must be the time of four zeros, '0000,' or midnight to put it in simple terms. He checked over the next section of the note, it used the same concept.

Z – F = A
35 – 15 = (10 with a sun scribble)
A + 2 = C
10 + 2 = (12 with a moon scribble)

Considering they were in Japan, and that Kaitou Kid was more than likely Japanese – or at least, lived in Japan – then the 'sun' would symbolize day, just as with the kanji system, and the 'moon' would mean month. So, the date was the tenth day of the twelfth month. One last time, Conan did a double check on the last part of the number puzzle.

2,1: 21: L
2,4: 24: O
2,9: 29: T
3,0: 30: U
2,8: 28: S
W – R: 32 – 27: 5
1,6: 16: G
1,4: 14: E
2,2: 22: M

Conan smirked victoriously as he found no mistakes, a determined look set on his face. He was excited to finally join one of those thrilling joy-ride heists that Kid always managed to pull. 'At midnight, on the tenth day of the twelfth month, you will be aiming for the five-coloured Lotus Gem, huh? That's being displayed at Beika Museum at the moment – I wonder if he's staked the place out yet. Knowing him, he's already broken into the museum in some previous heist and doesn't need to stake it out again.' Conan rolled his eyes at that. Kid, was, by far, the most brilliant, childish and confusing criminal there was. He smiled as at that thought.

'Yes, he's brilliant, childish, original and showman to a fault, and yet surprisingly honourable. He's a common paradox – and that in itself is a paradox.'

Conan leaned back into his chair and stared out the window of his room. The sun had set a long while ago - he'd spent hours working on the heist note without him realizing so – most of it was spent on wondering what "D = 13" could mean – and some of it was him dawdling. Taking off his glasses, Conan closed his eyes and he let himself drift into a dreamless sleep, a small smile plastered on his face.

'Heh, I guess I really do get on a high in regards to that elusive thief.'

'Can't wait to meet again… Kaitou Kid-san.'

To Be Continued…

Author's Note: Yes! So it's done, and has taken me like, more than a week! Sorry, as I said, I have been piled with work over the past week. I can't promise to update faster though – I'd rather take my time and make sure all is in order than rush. I hope you enjoy this chapter though!

Is it good, bad, neutral? Please tell me by reviewing, please!

Also, thank you very much to serene saber for reviewing; they always help! :)

Please vote on the poll on my account if you'd prefer this as a shounen-ai KaiShin, or whether it's fine as Kai/FEMShin (it makes no difference to the plot, really, it doesn't. :)

Next Chapter: The cursed Prince makes his appearance once more – and Kid's heist soon underway!