NOTE:

I do not own the Detective Conan manga, though I wished I did, it belongs to Gosho Aoyama, so I can only write fictions based on the story.

It will be AU and have also taken the plot from 13 and 15 movies, I will be adding and omitting the movie scenes, or twisting them around to suit my whims and improvising a lot. So don't get confuse ok. Its kaishin, so you have been warned, don't read it, if you don't like the pairing.

"Normal conversations"

"Thoughts"

"Writing"

Please excuse me for my grammar mistakes and enjoy it.

CHAPTER 1:

CHANGE IN FEELINGS

Shinichi POV;

As he watched the phantom thief disappear in the night once again on his wings of white after another heist, he couldn't help but envy him his freedom and he knew that he couldn't lie to himself, not anymore.

He was tired of hiding, of lying, of life, of everything. He was sick of people handling him like he was a sacred fragile china piece, a child needed to be sheltered from harsh reality of life. He had enough of illusions. He was deluding himself, he now admitted, thinking he needed to be with Ran to protect her. When in reality, he was only putting her in more danger, the encounter of Black Organization with Kogoro during Rena Mizunashi case had been a very close call and he knew that if another doubt was cast on Kogoro, the family won't survive. He didn't regret his decision to leave her, not really, he just mourned for the love that didn't even have a chance to blossom, a bud cut off before it could bloom.

"Agase, are you ready? You do remember, what you must say to her, right?" Shinichi asked, while handing him the phone.

"Of course Shinichi-kun, I remember but, are you sure you want to do this?" Agase asked worried for the little boy whom he had come to love as his own son.

"Yes Agase! I have thought about this thoroughly, while your decision to use Mouri was a good one at the beginning but now knowing what we do know about the black organization, it's too dangerous and I really think it's for the best. Now call her and remember no matter what she says, be firm." Shinichi told him, while avoiding looking him in the eyes.

"As you wish Shinichi-kun, as you wish" Agase said as he dialed Ran's number.

Ran had just finished making dinner wondering when Conan-kun was coming back. He really was a very strange kid, he reminded him so much of Shinichi. She wished that Shinichi would be there besides her but she had long since realized that it was a futile hope. And just when she was getting depressed by thinking about that mystery obsessed freak, the phone rang, she jumped up and ran towards it, hoping it would be him, after all he had a knack of knowing when she was depress and it had been two months since he last called and she wanted to talk to him about Conan-kun.

"Hello Detective Mouri…" Ran said almost automatically, after picking up the phone.

"Ah hello Ran-kun, it's me Agase Hakase speaking."

"Oh Agase Hakase, how are you? Is Conan-kun going to be late?" she asked.

"Ah no Ran-kun, I needed to speak to you about Conan-kun."

Picking up on his grave tone, she tensed "What is it? Is Conan-kun alright?" Ran asked ready to run to the rescue of her young charge.

"Yes, Yes! Nothing to worry about, Conan-kun is just fine." Agase assured her. "What I wanted to talk to you were about his custody. Ran-kun I will be taking Conan-kun under my wing through temporary guardianship, until his parents come for him."

"What? You can't" Ran told him aghast.

"I am sorry Ran-kun but his parents also agree with me and have agreed to sign the papers. Their only condition is that I take care of him."

"But I am also taking care of him" Ran told him desolately, not believing that Conan, her only link, her only reminder of Shinichi, was being taken away from her.

"Yes Ran-kun I know but I think it's in his best interest if he stayed with me and Ai-kun, who is near his age, it would be better for him."

"But…"

"Sorry, Ran-kun" Agase continued as if she hadn't interrupted him "but I agree with his parents decision on letting Conan-kun live with me."

"Why would they suddenly come and separate me from Conan-kun, when they don't care about him at all" she burst suddenly, she didn't want to lose him.

"Ran-kun control yourself" Agase scolded her "They are his parents; they worry no matter how far away they are. And I didn't want to tell you this but they don't want Conan living with you anymore. They are worried about how bad an influence your father is on Conan-kun and they are worried that someone will hurt Conan-kun in revenge against your father and that's why Ran-kun he would be living with me from now onwards. Please pack his things; I will pick them up tomorrow" Agase told her firmly, in no nonsense tone "Goodnight Ran-kun."

And she was left to hear the dialing tone of the phone.

"It's done Shinichi-kun," he told the young boy after hanging up the phone.

"Yeah, for now, she will come again tomorrow, to deter you from your decision but remember you can't change your answer. Break her heart, if you must. Play on her emotions; you must make her give up on me. I will handle the rest," he told him.

"You are right" Agase agreed with him "It's getting late, unless you don't wish to go to school tomorrow, you should rest." He told him, "I am going to bed. Good night Shinichi-kun."

"Yeah I will go to bed soon. Night Agase" Shinichi answered, while deep in thought.

Ran couldn't believe it; Conan-kun was being taken away from her. Her only reminder of Shinichi, she couldn't let it happen. And so she decided to go to Agase tomorrow and ask him to let Conan stay with her.

Next morning both Conan and Ai went to school. Ai had been closed off in her laboratory, ever since giving Conan the go ahead in living with them. Working on a new improved version of the cure for the Apo toxin APTX 4869, so that he could meet with Ran.

Elementary school as usual was an extreme torture for Conan, but it did give him plenty of time to think about his plan. He hadn't told anyone about his whole plan yet. No doubt they will be against it but he had already decided and wasn't going to change his mind.

After school Ayumi, Genta, and Mitshuke dragged both him and Ai to the park to play since they had been unavailable over weekend.

Ran was distracted throughout her day at school and as soon as the home bell rang, she ditched Sonoko making an excuse about having to go home and make dinner for her dad and Conan and went over to Agase place.

Professor Agase had been expecting her and as Shinichi had asked him, he had been very firm about his decision of taking Conan under his wing despite her tears and threats. In fact he had been little bit harsh on her, playing on her emotions, he had made her conscience guilty by reminding her of her less than rational accusations of Conan being Shinichi and told her that she had already scared him and he won't be coming over again as he had been ordered by his parents.

Despite Shinichi's logical arguments, at not been able to stay over Ran's place anymore. Agase did not like lying to her like that and playing on her emotions, still he knew that Shinichi was feeling bad about doing this to Ran, but it was for her own protection.

Ran was in tears when she left, having been unsuccessful at making him budge from his decision on taking Conan under his wing and letting him stay with her. Agase watched her go, as he sighed tiredly, "perhaps Shinichi-kun had been right in his decision about not staying over at Ran-kun place anymore, she is getting more attach to him than it is healthy"he thought.

Both Conan and Ai came home after Ran had left, tired from their day with children. Agase told Shinichi about Ran's visit as Ai went to make dinner. After dinner Ai went to the laboratory to work on the antidote for a while, before going to bed.

On Friday Ai announced that she had a temporary antidote ready. She told Shinichi that it would probably last for about 48 hours and he didn't need to have a cold, for it to work.

Shinichi thanked her and took the antidote, the pain was intense as usual and he lost consciousness, when he woke up he had his body back. He quickly changed his clothes and then went to over to visit Ran; he needed to talk to her about certain things before other things like a dead body sidetracked him again.

Ran was surprised to see Shinichi on her doorstep; she wanted to talk to him about so many things and this time she swore never to let him go away again. She had been missing him so much, all the more so when Conan wasn't there to lighten her mood. She took him on his invitation to have dinner and they went to a nice restaurant, although she noticed it wasn't the same one as before though she couldn't help but think he might ask her that question.

Shinichi waited until they had eaten and were on their way back to Ran's house, before starting on what he had rehearsed to say. It wasn't an easy task, but he knew he had to say it; it wasn't right to keep her waiting like that, especially now that things were different and especially when the image that she had created of him was so different from reality.

"Ran, I wanted to tell you something" he said.

"What is it, Shinichi?" she asked, her heart beating excitedly.

"Ran, I wanted to tell you that I am sorry but I don't love you, the way you want me to. I admit I thought that we could have been together but I am sorry. I thought about it and we are too different, I can't see you as anything more than a sister. I love you, but not that way. Don't wait for me anymore, live your life to the fullest and go out and see more people. I won't be coming back for a long time. And besides I have someone else I like now, so I am sorry" he whispered the last words and left her standing there in front of her door, like a statue.

She was breathlessly waiting for Shinichi to ask her to marry him, or perhaps at last share about the case that had been keeping him away for so long. To tell her that he was back for good, but never in million years had she thought that he would break things between them just like that; she thought they would always be together, forever. She wanted to scream at him, to demand that he tell her that he was joking, that he was lying. But the words died on her tongue as his last words pierced her heart. Her worst nightmare had come true; he had left her for someone else. He was in love with someone else.

Shinichi ran back towards Agase's home, he felt like a jerk for leaving Ran like that when he knew that she was in shock, but he wanted to get out, away from her before her shock wore off and she became angry. He was scared of her he admitted, especially when she became angry. He hadn't been lying when he had told her that he liked someone else, not really. Only he knew for sure, that she would take it the wrong way. He had meant the like as in respect because in his line of work there weren't many people who had earned his respect, and he didn't want to correct her assumptions because then she would become persistent, something he wanted to avoid. He didn't want to share his secrets with her, to lay his soul bare for her to see, she was his best friend for sure, but only that, and in his time as Conan with her he had come to see her as a sister. He had barely caught himself in time before saying nee-chan to her numerous times during dinner.

He knew that she would confront him about it, when the shock wore off but for now he only wanted to sleep. His talk with Ran had wearied him more than he had thought and he would avoid her for time being till her anger had cooled and she had come to terms with her situation.

Agase had gone to sleep, but Ai was waiting for him to test his health condition and asked him about his date. He told her the truth about everything, to say she was surprised, was an understatement. But after hearing his reasons she couldn't begrudge him. After all you can't force someone to remain in love with you and it wasn't as if he was giving up on ever returning to his life, he was just giving up on Mouri Ran or perhaps making her give up on him because he wasn't the same person she had cooked up in her fantasies, he was different. The harsh reality of the world had made him different, more mature; he was no longer an idealist. She mourned for the lost of his innocence but he hadn't given up or broken down, it had made him more resilient, so perhaps it was for the best.

Ran didn't know how she got to her room, but she managed to reach it. Before the shock wore off and she succumbed to the over powering grief and cried her heart out, on her bed. Next day when Sonoko came over to work on their project, it was to find puffy eyed Ran, who was very near her breaking point.

After Sonoko managed to get the whole story out of Ran, she was livid and wanted to go to Shinichi immediately to demand that he take his words back and to apologize to Ran. She wanted to hit him for what he did to Ran, but at that moment Ran needed her more so she stayed with her, making sure that she ate and slept. Next day, she went to look for Shinichi, only to find that he had gone back to his case.

She ranted at Agase's doorstep about how he was a selfish jerk for hurting Ran like that, and how she hoped he never came back; she finally left to go back to Ran. "No doubt to tell her about my disappearance", thought Conan.

Agase was shocked to learn about the break up between him and Ran, but he knew that Shinichi was serious and there was no making him go back on his words or actions.

Hattori had always thought that Kudo was a better detective than him especially after the Kimie Tsujimura case, not that he admitted it out loud. He was proud to say that he was his best friend, better than Mouri-chan; still he sometimes wanted to kill him for his absentmindedness, for example like forgetting to mention the fact that he had broken up with Nee-Chan and had started living with Agase Hakase. Learning this fact from an angry Sonoko had been anything but pleasant and not to mention Nee-Chan's tearful eyes when she begged him to tell her about his whereabouts, it had been uncomfortable, especially when Kazuha had joined in with them and started ranting about Kudo's insensitivity, he had become angry, but he had not been able to say anything.

He quickly escaped from there and made his way to Agase's house. The professor invited him in when he realized who he was; Shinichi was sitting in the living room, reading Sherlock Holmes 'The sign of the four'.

"Hello Hattori" he said, from his position on the couch, while sipping coffee. Shinichi privately admitted to himself that no matter what misgivings he had about leaving Ran, being able to have coffee again was worth it.

"Hello my ash Kudo, why didn't you tell me about your break up with Nee-Chan huh? And why did you break up anyway?" he asked angrily "Do you know what I had to walk in, at the agency. And that loud mouthed girl wouldn't stop shouting in my face."

"Sorry Hattori I didn't mean to keep it from you but it just slipped my mind and I didn't break up with Ran, we were never truly together for that to happen, I just told her to stop waiting for me because I don't love her anymore, at least not romantically. I like her only as you would, a sister." He answered "And you came without telling me, or I would have told you, so you deserved to have Sonoko in your face" he said and started reading again.

Hattori took several minutes to process what Shinichi had told him and was left gaping. He admitted it was a surprise, a huge surprise, because he was sure Kudo had loved Nee-Chan romantically, but perhaps his stay with her as Conan had made him see her more as a sister than a possible love interest. Later when Shinichi told him his reasons for relocating to Agase's house he admitted that perhaps it was for the best.

"So what are you doing here?" Shinichi asked him once he was finished telling him his story.

"I came to invite you to the Kid's heist. Thought we could go together, after all it had been a long time since we both got together to relax and discuss our cases. And you enjoy Kid's heist. God know why though, he is only a thief" Hattori told him.

"Fine, it had been a long time since I went to his heist. When is it? And where?" he asked, ignoring Hattori unvoiced question; he wouldn't understand his reasons anyway.

To Shinichi "Kid was like a light in his dark world, a ray of hope, in his never-ending struggle against the black organization. He was his reprieve from the dead bodies that followed him everywhere. He was someone who was his equal, who understood him on a deeper level, someone who was almost in the same position as him. Hattori was hisfriend; a great friend but he didn't understand him, not like Kid did. They were different, yet same. They were like the sun and the moon both giving light. Despite being the magician of the moonlight, Kid was the sun and he like the moon shedding light on the truth that was shrouded in the darkness, but only by the help of the sun. Both were like the different sides of the same coin.

"It's in Ekoda on Tuesday. A gem called Cat Eye, because of its green color that glows when placed in the dark, like the cat eyes. It's also said that the Cat God gave it to an Egypt Pharaoh, who was a great lover of cats and reverenced them with a passion. So it was named after the God's glowing eyes." Hattori told him.

And so Shinichi waited for the Kid's heist with great anticipation.