A/N: the picture is of wolf chan and Arthur Kun's collars. Yes, author chan made them herself.
Shinichi's (conan's)POV:
I woke up, groggily wiping the sleep from my eyes. I was still half asleep, but I noticed two things. One, I was covered by a thermal sheet, and two, I was kudo shinichi again. The magician was sat on the edge of the cushions I was on, but he seemed smaller. It took me a few moments to realise what had happened, and my had shot down to my trouser pocket to confirm my fear. The container was shattered, and my cut had gone. I had changed back, but only for about six hours. I opened my mouth to speak, but Kid got a word in first.
"Glad to see you awake, meitantei kun" he teased. The other boy's eyes were the only thing that betrayed his true feelings. He was worried about me, I could tell. He continued to speak;
"You've been shin~chan for two hours now, you changed in your sleep. My assistant told me to keep you warm and to feed you up, she says you are too thin. I am truly sorry for not introducing myself properly earlier, I am Kuroba Kaito, magician, thief and high schooler. I steal gems in an attempt to get revenge for my father by having those who killed the first kaitou kid arrested and the gem I seek destroyed." He paused, watching my reaction. I shake my head sleepily and looked away from him. Why? Why does he trust me? And why, why oh why did I only have four hours left of being a teen?
"Why? Why? Why?" I mutter, almost inaudibly, hoping the thief would leave me alone. He was attractive, I could see that, and I wanted to get to know him better, as kudo shinichi. Not the brat Edogawa Conan. Kuroba kun shifts his weight, so that he can hold me in his arms, just like he did when I was conan a few hours ago.
"Because I care about you kudo, and I want to help you." Kuroba kun held me close, and I felt oddly comforted by this. I'd known for several months that I was gay, but I didn't have the courage to tell ran, or anyone else. Kuroba was hot, and I wanted to tell him, but I was too afraid. What if he only cared about me as a friend? What then? I mean, the thief had stolen my heart a long time ago, but I kept on denying it to myself. (What I hadn't realised.... ran already knew, she was just waiting for her best friend to admit that I was gay. At least she didn't know I was conan yet.).
Kaito's POV:
"I've been out for two hours like this, I only have four left" shin~chan whispered sadly. He was leaning into my hug like it helped with his torn soul, and I felt a pang of sadness as the detective, my worst critic, admit he didn't have long as himself. I put my face to his ear, and whispered to him:
"Shin~chan, I felt so wrong, falling in love with conan, but now I know who you really are, I love you so much more" I confessed to him, hugging him tighter with each word. He was covered by the thin blanket and his tiny Conan clothes barely keeping him decent. A sigh escapes from his lips and he turns himself slightly, looking me in the eyes. His clear blue eyes shine with an emotion I couldn't recognise, fear? Happiness?Hope? Sadness?
He pulls me into a proper embrace, holding my body tightly. I heard him mumble something that was too indistinct to hear, but to me it sounded like thank goodness. The embrace was over far too soon, shin chan pulling away from me. He grabs my head suddenly, pulling me close and kissing me. His breath is sweet and warm, as we kiss gently. I shake with the effort to control myself. I want him, I want him, I want him. My heart was screaming to me. I felt his strong thin arms snake around me as he pulled me close, into another hug, this time without the kiss.
Much to my dismay, he pulls away all too soon and looks at me with small tears in his eyes. His face is drenched in sweat and he's shaking. with pain. "Only three" he whispers, as a spasm practically throws him backwards onto the cushion bed. He's shaking in pain, but he picks himself up and pulls me close again, holding me tight, like he needed the support. I hold onto shin~chan with my life, my heart begging me to ease his pain when he screamed in agony repeatedly as his body Shrunk again. He was edogawa Conan again, and he looked pale.
Wolf's POV:
I left the two teens in peace for a while, so I could check on Arthur. He was still a puppy after a year and a half, the drug seemed to have affected his ageing. He was still only a six month old pup, when he was actually a year older. I'd stopped him chewing the furniture several times, and today was no exception. I barrelled into him, knocking him over. Growling at the puppy as he guiltily spat the remaining bits of table leg out. I asked him to play, to take his mind of being bored, and we spent a good while chasing each other and play fighting.
I stopped dead mid fight. Arthur did the same. I could hear a faint, almost silent scream echo around the house. No human could possibly hear it, but my sensitive dog ears could. Arthur could hear it too, and followed me as I raced toward the hidden room behind the picture in kaito's bedroom. Arthur had never figured out how to get into the hidden room, and I heard a thump as he raced into the wall.
At the bottom of the slope, I saw kaito holding onto the detective, hugging him from behind. The poor thing had changed back into a child again. I did a quick calculation in my head (a dog doing math, I know, I know) and figured out that the drug must have been affecting him since shortly after being shot seven hours ago. (It was now seven thirty am). If kudo kun was right, then by rights, he should have changed right away into a teen, but I gathered due to the slow release rather than the usual burst of chemicals from the capsule, that the process had been delayed, giving him only three hours as an actual teen. I turned to my laptop and typed as such, letting my master know what I was thinking.
The two boys, one seventeen and one seven year old, sat like that for a while, the young boy sleeping fitfully. The pouch around my neck had information that could help him, but I wasn't about to give it up to anyone but shiho San. The boy was shaking with pain as the drug worked its way out of his system, the effects seeming to take forever to fade. It wasn't until about ten in the morning that he began to look better. A whole nine and a half hours after first exposure.
Narrators POV:
The Mouri detective agency was in turmoil. Mouri kogoro was cowering against the couch, begging his daughter to calm down. Ran wouldn't listen, but shouted at him angrily.
"What do you mean conan kun wandered off at the heist? You were supposed to watch him. He hasn't been back since then, he hasn't called, or messaged me. IF SOMETHINGS HAPPENED TO HIM OTOUSAN, I WILL MAKE YOU WISH YOU HADN'T COME HOME WITHOUT HIM!" Her voice was rising with each word, and the famous yet stupid detective muttered something about already regretting not looking for the brat. He got a well aimed karate kick in the stomach for his efforts, as ran continued to rage at her father.
Conan was like a little brother to her, and ran was worried. The last time he went missing like this, not telling anyone, he had been kidnapped and nearly killed by a car crusher. She couldn't lose her little brother, not after she lost her childhood friend shinichi. He'd been missing for nearly a year and a half, showing himself a few times, only to disappear without a trace soon after. And idea suddenly came to mind and she picked up the phone, forgetting about her terrified father for the moment.
The phone rang for what seemed like an eternity for the distraught karate champion, until finally someone picked up.
"Moshi moshi, ran chan, that you?" Kazuha asked quietly in he Osakan accent.
"Hai, is conan with you or hattori kun? He disappeared in the kid heist two days ago. He hasn't called or anything" the Osakan girl replied with no, not since ran had left the hotel for the detective agency last evening. A sudden noise was heard as someone snatched the phone off of Kazuha chan and cut the phone off.
Kazuha looked at her dark skinned friend as he glared at her.
"Conan kun is fine, I've just gotten another message from him. I don't know where he is, he'll tell me that when I call him later" the Osakan detective lied, guiltily thinking about the kid note he'd just received. The brindle dog had just left another note, and address, and the animal was currently waiting outside the hotel for him, a white and blue lead in its mouth. Hattori was now certain that kid had kidnapped his shrunken friend, but it was so unlike the usual MO of the thief, that heiji was worried.
He jogged back down to the hotel entrance, and watched at the brindle dog handed him the lead. It was already clipped onto the white collar, and the dog began to walk of, stopping y now and then to push the detective of the west in the right direction. The dog led him through Ekoda, until they reached a nice neighbourhood. The dog led him up to the front door of a detached house and barked twice. The door swung open, the big white malamute from the heist wagging its tail at him. The detective took a step back. Had this big dog opened the door?
As he went to enter the house, heiji felt a sting on his neck and mentally cursed kudo. That felt like the unmistakable hit of that tranquilliser dart from the shrunken kudo kuns watch. He woke up to find himself tied up, in a rather fancy looking room. A huge case in the middle of the room was wide open, a monocle, cape, top hat and white silk suit hanging up in it.
"Yo, tantei Han, sleep well?" An annoyingly cheerful voice teased. Hattori glared at the figure in white as he appeared seemingly from thin air. The magician thief grinned as the western detective struggled to escape. "My my, aren't we eager." He smirked. The dark skinned detective yelled loudly;
"Where ku...ku....conan kun? What did ya do ta im?" The Osakan detective was furious, until a familiar voice made him stop struggling.
"Oi, hattori, calm down. Kid here knows who I am, he saved my when I was shot and fell off a building during the heist. I had one of the antidotes in my pocket, I was going to apologise ran and ask her to stop waiting for me, and it changed me back. Kid here saw me turn from Conan to kudo and back. I know I haven't messaged anyone since the heist, I know it's been nearly thirty six hours, but I've been getting to know kid and his two assistants" the Chibi detective scolded his friend, whilst pointing to the two dogs that were sat either side of the magician thief.
The Osakan looked at his small friend and then at the thief. All he could say was "eh?" The infamous magician laughed, reminding hattori of the no one gets hurt rule, and then pushing a white silk sleeve up to display a clean white bandage. The thief had been shot too.
Conan's POV:
After spending some time getting to know the phantom thief, we decided it was time to let people know I was safe. First we tackled heiji, basically kidnapping him, letting him know I was safe, and not being held against my will, then knocking him out again and leaving him back at the hotel he was staying at with kazuha. After that I called ran neechan. Conans phone had been broken by the fall, but shinichi's was still in one piece. Using my voice changing bow tie, I called ran, expecting a barrage of insults for not calling her for so long.
"Moshi moshi?" She answered. "Yo, ran, sorry, can't chat, I heard about Conan kun from hattori kun. I've got him with me now, but I don't know when I'm going to be able to get to the detective agency, so I'm going to drop him off at my friend Kuroba's house. Ok?" Ran didn't know whether to be angry at me, or relived that I was safe. "Oh, ok. Where's this Kuroba live? I'll go and pick conan kun up." I didn't know how to reply, but Kaito kun snatched phone off of me and spoke.
"Don't worry Mouri San, I'll bring the boy home later. He's busy playing around with my dog at the moment. Ja ne" he says cheerfully, hanging up on her. The thief smiles at me. He looked just like me as a teenager, but has a slightly bigger build. We were in the kitchen, I was holding a coffee in my seven year old hands, and Kaito kun was making some sort of sandwich. He offered me one, but I refused. I wasn't hungry. He takes the plate away and puts it in his fridge.
A blue rose appears in front of me, as he performs one of his tricks. I look up and smile, the light not reaching my eyes. I wanted to be kudo shinichi again. Being Conan wasn't that bad, not really, but I couldn't be a proper detective, nor could I really act my real age. Back at the detective agency, I had to act like a seven year old, I even hung out with three kids, the detective boys, as camouflage. After all, five kids working together to solve crimes was less strange that one child solving a crime on his own.
When I was alone, I often read my mystery novels, trying to forget about everything for a while. I'd felt fine at first, but as time went by, even after I took down the black org, I began to feel worse. Haibara couldn't complete the antidote drug without her notes, and she couldn't get them, everything had been destroyed. I was looking at a lifetime stuck as edogawa Conan, and that wasn't too bad, growing up again was an ok experience. But I wanted to have a normal teen life. Not in ten years time, but now. I didn't have the words for how I felt, and that bothered me. If I could find out how to cheer up, I would. I hated feeling like this.
Narrators POV:
It was a typical Monday morning at teitan elementary, children playing around before school started. Well, typical save for one thing. The detective boys were all huddled in a corner of the playground, talking in hushed voices. Conan wasn't in, and they had asked his ran neechan where he was, but she didn't seem to know, only saying he was at a relatives house. Ayumi had asked ai chan if she knew where their leader was, but she had cryptically remarked;
"Edogawa kun is with half a pair of glasses, he's probably fine" and had walked off in a strop. Ayumi, mitshiko and genta had watched her, go, not noticing the well hidden fear in the shrunken scientists face. Ai chan was worried. A message from hattori kun to Agasa hakase confirmed her suspicion of kid kidnapping him, and not hearing from her favourite test subject (and secret love interest) was frightening her. What if gin had found them? Or vodka, or vermouth, or, heaven forbid, the elusive boss?
The detective boys were quiet all day, worrying about their friend, wondering where he had gone. None of them had been aware of the kid heist in Ekoda, so naturally didn't know that conan had gone to it. It wasn't until sonoko neechan, a friend of ran neechan, ran upto them asking if Conan had come back from the kid heist a few days ago, that they realised something was wrong.
"The kid heist was on Saturday, wasn't it?" Ayumi asked sonoko.
"Hai, kid sama was amazing, but some stupid teen detective set a dog on him or something apparently." She replied to the little girl.
"And Conan has been seen since, ne?" Genta asked, frowning with concentration. He was by far the fattest of the detective boys and He found it hard to focus when he wasnt thinking of a food related topic. Sonoko nods.
"Sihinichi kun, ran's husband, called her yesterday and told her that the brat... I mean conan kun, was safe, but she was worried because he didn't hear conan himself. She thinks he's hiding some seceret about Conan or something" sonoko said, the words coming out in one long breath.
"So that means conan kun went missing after the kid heist, ne?" Mitshuiko, the most promising of the detective boys, asked her. Sonoko shook her head.
"Hmmm hmm, im not sure, I wasn't watching him. Ran's Otou-San was supposed to keep the brat out of trouble, but he passed out drunk...." Sonoko said worriedly. She was concerned for her friend. She may not approve of ran's choice of boyfriend (that's what she considered shinichi, even though they both claimed to be just friends) but ran was upset enough worrying herself stupid about the detective geek, and now Conan disappearing seemed to have tipped her over the edge.
In sport, someone had made the mistake of kicking a soccer ball at her face, and had ended up with a concussion when she karate kicked it back to them ( some of the boys had run off after that when one of the dim witted ones had said 'it's white' to himself, earning a terrifying glare from the karate champion) one of her sensei's had sent her out to calm down for five minutes, only to regret their decision a few minutes later when she poked her head in the door and asked where the janitor kept the spare plaster for the walls. (She had punched the wall too hard, but her hand was somehow miraculously unscathed) and to top it off, at the end of the day, two of the boys from the soccer group had tried to take the mick out of her about shinichi, and both ended up running for their lives as a livid unicorn head charged at them. No, Sonoko wasn't worried at all, she was scared.